Turner (White Wolf Ridge 1)

"What were you doing out of town?" He never mentioned leaving, even for a short trip. Not that he has to say shit, but it would be considerate since he always keeps tabs on me.

"No offense, Maria, but I've had enough questions for the day. I just want to go to sleep,” he says.

"I understand. Take some meds and go to bed." He nods and walks out of the kitchen. I’m sure he’s exhausted. He’s been patched up, so he sought medical treatment somewhere. Ugh, I feel helpless, and it’s not something I care for.

I make some coffee and attempt to get over someone else’s problems. I should go and talk to Erik and see if there’s anything I can do to smooth things over, maybe talk to this little viper of a girl who thinks she can turn Jacob’s world upside down and leave him broken.

I’m in the middle of my first cup of coffee when I get a call from Erik. “Hey, Doug just called in sick. Can you cover for him?”

“Sure, but you know that’s going to put me at time and a half, right?” I remind him.

“That’s fine. Thanks to the added revenue in town, we can afford it. See you at the station in an hour?”

“Sure.” I guess today’s not my day off.

“Jacob, I have to go in. Do you need anything?”

“No. Thanks. Have a safe day, Maria,” he mumbles. The brush-off isn’t what I expected, but given the events of the past hour, I suppose that’s all the send-off I’m going to get.

I’m ready to go in ten minutes since I’ve already showered. I go out and drive to the station in my new Chevy Silverado. It’s the first time I get to have my own nice new vehicle, and I love it. It drives well in this area and it’s perfect for any snowfall we may get. It’s all black and has all the fancy tech I’ve never had before. I turn on the music, listening to the Beatles Station on XM because I’ve got an old soul. I barely get through Can’t Buy Me Love when I’m already at the police station. Boo. It makes me want to take a road trip, maybe visit some family down south. I do have a vacation coming in two months. Perhaps I can go to Texas and see my parents. It’ll be close to Christmas time then. I’m the only one in my family who hates the heat. They don’t mind burning up, wrinkling faster in the Texas heat.

“Good morning,” I say, entering the station.

“Wow, we’re surprised to see you back so soon,” Darren says, taking a bite out of a donut from the bakery down the street.

“Yeah, well, you know I’ve got nothing else to do in this town.”

“We need to find you a man.” Normally, I’d just ignore that, but in the back of my head, I feel like even talking about dating makes me feel uneasy. As if I’m betraying my nightly visitor. It makes no damn sense.

“Maybe I will.” I have a body that has all the right curves despite my athletic yet short physique, and I have a pretty face, or so I’m told. I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but I’m not the stereotypical, overly unfeminine female cop. I’ve got a lot to prove, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like looking like a girl. My hair’s a mix of curly and straight, but some days, I straighten it or I let it go all natural. Since I didn’t have time to prepare, my hair is pinned up in a tight ponytail, but it will get fluffy as it dries. Genetics.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Gretchen, the dispatcher, says.

“So where am I supposed to meet men?”

“I’m not sure, but maybe you should stop by the resort one of these days, and there will be a lodge full of men who can’t take their eyes off you. You are pretty damn hot,” Tony says. He’s been here as long as I have, and we both work patrol most days.

“He’s got a point. You could probably have any single guy that caught your eye,” Gretchen adds while filing her nails. I’m not even sure why they need me here. There isn’t much to do even with the growth of the town. It’s still pretty calm most days. It’s the nights that get a little unruly, but even so, I don’t take night shifts. Erik is extremely clear on that.

As the only female patrol officer on the force, he doesn’t want me to be alone. A lot of people are tourists, and so something could happen to me and no one would know who did it. He has a point. I dared him once, and he had me go to the mat with some of the larger men at the station. I held my own for a minute, but I’d always been taken down in the end. I might be a tough cookie, but not when going up against a brick wall. I learned my lesson and held off asking to patrol at night.