Town of Chance: Sweet Caroline (The Dare 5)

“Yes, this is Caroline. Caroline, meet the sheriff. He runs the town and makes sure that everyone is safe and happy around here.”

He chuckled as he reached out his hand for her to shake. When she did, her cast moved forward.

“How did you break your arm?” Caroline went to answer but got tongue-tied. She should have been better prepared for caring people like the sheriff, and their questions about how she broke her arm. Thank goodness Shelby answered.

“Oh she can be a bit of a klutz. She had an event to go to and wore very high heels.”

Caroline continued when the sheriff rested his hand on his holster and looked at her as if he weren’t buying it.

“Yes, it was embarrassing but could have been worse. The heel broke when it got caught in a crack in the concrete. I went down fast, nearly landed on my face, but I put my arm down and that was it.”

“Wow that is something else. Well if you need any assistance with it, or need to have your doctor send medical files to Dr. Anders, he’s really great. He can probably even help you take it off when the time is right. How long anyway before the cast can come off?”

“Three weeks?” Shelby said, but Caroline said four weeks at the same time.

They laughed. “Well my sister says four but I’m thinking I can only make it through another two weeks, not three, but we’ll see,” Caroline said.

He smiled softly. “Well if there’s anything you need, you don’t hesitate to call me. Will you be staying long or just visiting?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. Probably staying for a while,” she said.

“Martha just gave her a job as a clerk, so I would say she’ll be here for a while,” Shelby added with a smile. It was obvious to Caroline that her sister was relieved to have her in Chance and living with her. She should have left with Shelby two years ago when she took off for a new life.

“Well then, let me know if there’s anything I can help with.” He looked at her cast and gave her a kind smile. “Anything, Caroline, and welcome to Chance.” He tipped his hat and headed down the street.

“He’s very nice,” Shelby told her.

“He’s very suspicious. Totally didn’t buy the high-heeled story.”

“Well, you should have had a better story planned. When you didn’t answer right away I knew I needed to come up with something good.”

“Well now we need to stick with that story.”

Shelby chuckled. “I guess there’ll be no more wearing stilettoes and sexy dresses for you.”

“Bite your tongue, woman. I love that stuff, and besides, Martha’s has a lot of great clothing. Considering the small-town charm Chance emits, I don’t think stilettos and sexy attire go hand in hand,” Caroline said and Shelby smiled.

“You haven’t gone to Spencer’s for ladies night. The women come from all over the place. It’s pretty wild, and they run all these contests like best dressed and sexiest.”

“Sounds like a night made for guys to get lucky.”

Shelby chuckled. “I thought the same thing, but then I attended men’s night, and honey, there are some fine men living around this town and the surrounding ones. So fine, a woman could get palpitations.”

Caroline was shocked, but more so that she thought about the palpitations and remembered the state trooper from a couple of weeks ago. He was drop dead gorgeous, big, muscular, and made her heart race.

Shelby chuckled as she hugged Caroline’s arm.

“This is going to be great. You’ll see, everything will work out perfectly.”

“So how about a little lunch? Rita’s has great salads and awesome burgers.”

“Hmm, a burger sounds perfect.”

“I figured as much. I guess you’ll always have a fast metabolism. I don’t know why I didn’t get that gene.”

“You look incredible, Shelby. We’re practically the same size, except you’re taller.”

“Well whatever, at least we got the big boobs from grandma.”