Wilde Fire (Forever Wilde 3)

I walked out through the doors to the sound of Nico and Stevie hooting and hollering with speculation about what I’d meant by that.

The rest of the day went by about as fast as a turtle riding a sloth. When it was finally the end of my shift, I passed off my notes on the day to the evening deputy, a woman by the name of Shayna Diller. She was whip smart and ten times more capable than several of the guys on the force in St. Paul I’d worked with, but I knew she still caught hell working as a sheriff’s deputy in small-town Texas with the unforgivable trait of being a female.

“Have a good night, Sheriff,” she said with a smile as I gathered up my things from my desk. “Looks like you have something to look forward to. Not sure I’ve seen you quite so smiley before.”

“Indeed. But that doesn’t mean you can’t call me if you need me, okay?”

“Sure thing. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Have fun and be safe.”

I raced home to what I was quickly beginning to think of as Jolie’s house. She wasn’t home from work yet, so I swung by my parents’ place to grab Tisha.

“Hey there, Tishie-poo,” I said as I entered my parents’ familiar kitchen. “How was school?”

She looked up from where she sat at the kitchen table reading a paperback book and grinned at me. “Good. Mrs. Alexander let me borrow her copy of Rump and it’s really, really good. Did you know there used to be a fairytale called Rumpelstiltskin?”

“I did, indeed. Is that what this book is about?”

“Kinda. But it’s more like…” She put her finger to her lips while she thought about what she wanted to say, and I almost burst out laughing. She looked so grown up and serious. “It’s like his story. Not someone else telling a story about him. And Mrs. Alexander says if I like it, there are more like this one by the same lady.”

“That sounds amazing. Maybe we can read the next one together,” I suggested while I gathered up her backpack and gave my mom a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Mom. I really appreciate you doing this.”

Mom’s face softened into an affectionate glance toward Tish. “It’s my pleasure, dear. She’s been nothing but easy-peasy. Isn’t that right, Tishie?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tisha said without looking up from her page.

“Eye contact when talking to a human being, baby,” I warned.

Her eyes flicked up to my mom and she had the decency to blush. “Sorry, Grandma.”

“That’s all right. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Mm-hm,” Tish said absently, clearly having a hard time not going back to reading her book.

“Come on. I need to take a shower and change out of this uniform. If it’s this hot in May, I think I might actually melt come summer.”

My mom’s smile dropped away and she looked at me with concern. “You wouldn’t ever go without your vest to stay cooler would you?”

I shook my head. “No, ma’am. Not a chance. Being hot is preferable to being dea…” I glanced at Tish. “To being dumb.”

“Thank god,” she said with a sigh of relief.

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Mama didn’t raise no fool,” I teased. “Thanks again.”

While Tish climbed up in my SUV, I stowed her backpack in the rear seat and hopped into the driver’s seat. We made the short stretch to the house before getting out and going inside.

Still no sign of Jolie.

I showered and changed while Tisha curled up on the sofa to read more of her book. By the time I was ready to go to the Wildes’, Jolie still hadn’t arrived.

After trying to call her and getting no answer, I finally decided to go ahead and feed Tisha dinner. I warmed up some leftover chicken and whipped up her favorite rice and peas combination to go with it. She chattered on and on about the book and about school, telling me her cousin Cody had gotten called a “stupid face” by a girl named Bevan. So apparently Cody and Tisha had decided Bevan needed to be shunned for life. I explained that sometimes people made bad choices and had to be given second chances but not necessarily third and fourth chances.

When Tisha was finished, I cleaned up the dishes and tried Jolie again.

Still no answer.

I called Shayna’s number.

“Hey, Sheriff, what’s up?” she asked.

“Any vehicle incidents this evening?”

“Couple of speeding tickets on Wachett and a failure to yield at that funky spot by the high school. Other than that, it’s been quiet. Why?”

“Nothing. Just haven’t heard from Jolie, and she isn’t answering her phone.” I didn’t love putting my personal business out there, but I also needed to know if she was hurt in a ditch somewhere.

“Tell you what, I’m close to the insurance office. I’ll run the route from there to the ranch and make sure I don’t see anything fishy, okay?”