“No, thanks, hon. Everything was delicious, like always,” the balding, seventy-something man returned with a smile that should have warmed Avery but didn’t.
“Great. Thanks for coming in.” Pivoting, she ran into Barbara for the third time that evening. “Sheesh, I’m so sorry, Barbara!”
With quick reflexes, the other waitress righted her tray before anything slid off. “I’ve got it, Avery.” As they stepped away from the table, Barbara whispered, “Is everything okay? You seem distracted, and a little upset.”
Avery stifled the urge to confide in her co-worker. If she couldn’t figure out why Grayson had entered The Barn last night appearing pleased with her company and interested in continuing her introduction to his proclivities and ended the evening with an abrupt coolness and displeasure in his eyes, then Barbara wouldn’t be able to make her feel better. His change of attitude had kept her from going through with her plans to reveal how they’d first met, but she still ached to get everything out in the open between them.
“I… I didn’t get much sleep last night, is all. I’m sorry, I’ll try to do better.”
“Foods not going to get to the tables by itself,” Gertie snapped as they stepped up to the counter. Flicking Avery a shrewd glance, her boss added, “Deputy Jase was in this afternoon, said as how Sheriff Grayson gave him the night off from patrol, took his place instead. Now, quit dawdlin’ and git back to work.”
Barbara giggled and winked at Avery. “You heard her. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Oh, Avery had plenty to fret over, but thanks to Gertie knowing everything that went on in Willow Springs, and, it seemed, with her, her sly comment lifted part of Avery’s unhappiness. At least she could quit wondering if Grayson was spending the evening with someone else at the club. She knew she didn’t have a personal hold on the sheriff, or any right to expect him to forgo playing with others just because he’d befriended her. Even though it pained her to admit it, there was no future with him, or for her here, and she needed to remember that.
But that didn’t prevent Avery from continuing to agonize through the night over the way Master Grayson had driven her home in silence last night and left her at her door with a cryptic, “Lock up,” as a goodnight. If only she could figure out what she’d done to displease him, then she wouldn’t have spent another sleepless, restless night and woken to the gray-cast dawn with a sense of foreboding. Stumbling out of bed Sunday morning, she rubbed her tired, gritty eyes, wishing she hadn’t volunteered to fill in for one of the waitresses this morning.
As soon as Avery entered the diner’s kitchen from the back door, she knew something was wrong from the looks on Clyde and Gertie’s faces. Her stomach cramped and a cold chill crept under her skin as Gertie slammed a pot down, mumbling, “Damn fool boy, going and getting himself shot.”
Avery gasped with the painful talons of fear gripping her insides. “What? Who’s been shot?”
Gertie’s silver-haired head whipped toward her with both concern and anger swirling in her blue eyes. “Connor Dunbar, the idiot. Out all night by himself and then tries going after those shit-faced rustlers. He’s damned lucky they didn’t blow his fool brains out.”
“Now, Gert, young Connor was just trying to protect what’s his,” Clyde put in, his face lined with worry despite his words defending Connor.
Conflicting emotions of relief and concern muddled Avery’s thinking. She couldn’t help the surge of gladness at hearing they weren’t talking about Grayson while bemoaning the thought of Connor injured in such a way. He’d always been so nice to her and she could see why so many at the club found his easier going, sexy dominance tempting.
“Where is he? Will he be okay?” The need to check on him and be there for Sydney and her family pulled at her. A quick peek out at the dining room showed few customers had ventured out this cold morning, but Gertie beat her to it before she could ask to take off to be there for her friends.
“Go on, girl. Weather’s coming in this afternoon, which is keeping people home or tending to chores early before it hits. Heard they took him to All Saints Hospital in Billings. But,” Gertie shook a finger at her, “don’t you be gone long. That rattletrap you drive won’t get you back here on slick roads.”
“I won’t. Thanks, Gertie.”
After looking up directions on Gertie’s office computer, Avery pulled into the hospital parking lot an hour later and found Sydney in the emergency waiting room, sitting with several people she recognized from either the diner or the club, including Nan. Wondering where Grayson was, she tried to push aside the ache to see him as she gave Sydney a brief hug before asking, “What have you heard?”
“It’s not bad, at least not as bad as it could have been,” Sydney answered, her eyes red-rimmed, her lips trembling. “The bullet went through the fleshy part of his shoulder but may have damaged the muscles. They won’t know until it heals and they can do physical therapy. Caden is so pissed.”
“Not to mention Grayson,” Nan injected with a grimace.
Dan came strolling in from the hall carrying a tray of paper coffee cups. “He’ll catch the bastards,” he said, handing out the steaming brews to the girls first.
Avery shook her head. “I just got here. I can go get…”
“Take it.” he stated, holding out the cup, his tone as hard and implacable as if he were at the club.
“Sheesh, are all you guys always so bossy?”
“Yes, always,” Grayson said from behind her.
She whirled around, sloshing the hot liquid over her hand. He swore, snatched the cup and pulled her red, stinging fingers under the water fountain. “Damn it, can’t you be more careful?” he demanded without looking at her.
“It’s fine, it wasn’t that hot.” Avery pulled out of his grasp and dried her fingers on the napkins Sydney held out to her with a compassionate look.
“We’re all on edge, isn’t that right, Sheriff?”
Sydney’s cool rebuke bounced off Grayson as he turned from Avery with a shrug. “Just watch yourself.”
Feeling both chastised and left out as the small group huddled and began trading stories about Connor, Avery took a seat and waited in quiet solitude. It was so easy to see the closeness they shared, hear their fondness for not only their injured friend but for each other as they joked around to ease the tension of waiting. That is what I want. Not just to be friends with a few women, but to be considered part of them, and their community. Her refusal to divulge anything of a personal nature about herself had kept her at arm’s length from fitting in, and from getting too close to anyone, including Sydney and Grayson. The tightness clutching her chest was of her own doing,