Town of Chance: Sweet Caroline (The Dare 5)

“My sister is going through some stuff right now and prefers to just relax on her days off.”

“Listen, we just wanted to get to know her and maybe be friends,” C.J. added.

“Did you mention that to her when you met her?” she asked.

“I told her I was going to be here,” Hunter said, appearing angry and like he was getting concerned by Shelby’s reaction like C.J. was.

“Well then, there’s your answer. She’s not interested.” Shelby went to walk away and bumped right into Bender Pace, a detective with the sheriff’s department. He was also the brother to her boss, Kenneth.

“Whoa, where you rushing off to, Shelby?” he asked her and she appeared shocked. C.J. knew that the Pace men were interested in Shelby, but she always seemed to be avoiding them. It made him wonder why, but obviously not as much as the Pace brothers.

“Sorry. I need to go,” she said and looked at them and then hurried past Bender.

C.J., his brothers, and Bender watched her head through the crowd.

“Is it me, or is there a pattern here with her always running?” Bender asked.

“Beer?” Hunter asked Bender and he nodded his head.

“I think it’s a pattern,” York said as he took a slug from his bottle of Bud. Hunter passed a cold one to Bender.

“How about your brother Kenneth, no progress at the office? I mean he’s with her every freaking day,” C.J. said.

“Not really. She’s shy and gets nervous when he hints about going to lunch, or even grabbing a coffee. It’s driving the three of us insane,” Bender shared with them.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, it may be genetic,” York teased.

Bender squinted his eyes at him. “What?” he asked.

“Don’t mind him, he’s being difficult. We met Shelby’s sister,” C.J. told him.

“Oh yeah. She’s the talk of the town right now. I haven’t met her yet. I knew she moved here a few weeks ago, but Shelby doesn’t share much personal stuff. Is she shy, too?”

“Shy? I think she didn’t come tonight because she knew we would be here and she met Hunter yesterday at the clothing store.”

“Ah, so you scared her off?” Bender teased.

“Fuck you,” Hunter replied and Bender chuckled.

&n

bsp; “My brother Kenneth thinks that there may be more to Shelby’s private nature. Before Caroline moved here, Shelby was on the phone a lot and the other assistant heard her talking to a nurse at a hospital, arranging traveling plans, and made it sound like Shelby was afraid or something. When Kenneth asked her if things were okay and offered to help her with anything, she closed up and basically told him that he needed to respect her privacy. She got on the defensive,” Bender explained.

“Kind of like what she did just now when we asked about her sister and about getting to know her,” York said, squinting his eyes at Bender and then looking past C.J.

“We scared her off, too,” C.J. said.

“If you ask me, their behavior just warrants more questions and a need to ensure they’re safe. What about your mom? Caroline works in her store now, right?” Bender asked and took a slug of beer from the bottle he held.

“She likes her, that’s for sure,” York said.

“I can ask her tomorrow. I’m working in town and the library is doing the monthly book event,” C.J. said and they were all kind of quiet.

“How is Sam doing, Bender? Is he coming home next week?” Hunter asked him.

“That’s the plan, but then you know how it goes. He’s working on the base but they send him out for different shit last minute. I don’t hold my breath anymore and neither does Kenneth. We are hoping he’ll come here soon and maybe retire, like you, Hunter.”

Hunter nodded his head. “When it’s right, he’ll know it. You can’t force him if he isn’t ready,” Hunter added.