Midweek shifts were easy to hate. Especially in the middle of the night on a Texas Panhandle road. But it was her turn. Life was totally different here as a Dalhart deputy after four wasted years trying to become a Texas Ranger.
Her brother was the one fighting real criminals. He’d uncovered evidence against one of the biggest crime bosses in the state. Garrison rescued witnesses, saved the day and who knew what else. The anger was building up again. It was definitely easier to tap it back into place, buried under the surface of everything job related.
Safe zone. Find a safe place to park all this emotion.
Knowing what to do and accomplishing it were definitely different, but she’d manage. Her self-improvement tapes would be easier to understand the second time through. But if she began listening to one tonight, she’d fall asleep.
This. Is. Boring. With a capital B, boring after being posted in Austin. No, after working anywhere.
An occasional flat tire. Watch a lot of shooting stars. Watch a lot of dust. Watch a lot of snow. Watch a lot of grass grow. Did she mention giving a ride to an occasional driver with a flat? Yep. Boring in every sense of the word.
“Car two-twenty-two. You around, Avery?” Julie Dunks’s perky voice broke the silence. “Are you still out on Highway 385 at the Supply Company?”
“Where else would I be, Julie? I always tell you when I go on break or move locations.”
“Oh good. But you know Bo sometimes doesn’t bother to tell me. Sheriff Dan always takes a break when his coffee kicks in—if you know what I mean. So it’d be understandable if you did the same while you’re out and about. I know you drink coffee.”
“You switched me to tea.” She yawned, wishing for some coffee.
“Did I tell you what Miss Wags did this morning? That terrorizing little diva wouldn’t let me leave the house today without feeding her a bacon treat. Isn’t that just too cute?”
“Julie, was there a reason you needed me?”
“Why, yes, there is.”
“And...”
“Oh. Right. You had a visitor here looking for you. He said he was a family friend. Pretty nice lookin,’ if you ask me. Of course, you didn’t ask, but I didn’t think that would matter.”
A good-looking family friend could mean only one person. Jesse Ryder. Avery was forced to listen. She couldn’t interrupt Julie on a two-way radio. Besides, what else did she have to do?
As Julie kept being her natural chatty self, Avery tuned her out and wondered what had gone wrong. What or who would force Lieutenant Jesse Ryder to come barging into her life? Barging all the way up here to the Texas Panhandle?
It wasn’t fair. She’d left Austin and Waco behind because she’d been upset for being passed over. But it was also because everywhere she looked there was a memory of her with the man. Memories she no longer wanted to think about. If he was coming to see her...there would be images of him at the café to haunt her mind every time she ate there.
Then at the Main Street Motel—where he would definitely spend the night, because he wasn’t staying with her. Each time she passed it, she would imagine seeing his car return for another visit.
“No way he’s staying with me.” She released the talk button and sank in her seat, knowing that Julie had heard her.
“What was that, Avery? Actually, he said he was on his way to find you. Isn’t that excitin’? He couldn’t wait until the morning when your shift ends.”
“Thanks for letting me know, Julie. Over and out.”
Jesse was on his way? To her? Right here at her favorite spot? Well, she wouldn’t be here. Her future would not be parking here night after night and picturing him sitting on the hood of her patrol car.
Nope. No way. No how.
She’d arrest him. Throw him in jail. He’d had her boss do it to her three months ago when Garrison got in trouble. Now, that was a good place she could picture Jesse...behind bars.
The second favorite place to park and wait for speeders was a little over two miles down the road. If she hurried, she could be waiting on Jesse as he sped past. This was going to be a blast.
A few minutes later she parked and took out the radar gun, pointing it toward town. It wouldn’t take him long if he’d left right before Julie checked in with her. But she waited and kept waiting. Maybe he’d changed his mind.
No headlights. It was more likely that he’d stopped at the motel first. And less likely that Jesse would get caught in her speed trap.
Disappointment. Plain and simple disappointment. Maybe she could give him a ticket for jaywalking tomorrow. Or maybe vagrancy. Something obscure where he’d never agree to pay the fine. Then off to jail he’d go.
Before Avery cut the engine, she lowered the window, letting the fresh summer air into the car. She leaned her head back after readying the radar gun on the dash. The stars were sparkling on a blanket of black. Her plan about limiting where Jesse created memories was completely shot now.
She’d remember him here because she thought about him here. In the jail, in the back of her patrol car and the same places she always thought of him. Just about everywhere.
“What I need more than anything else is to learn how to live with Jesse around. As long as he’s Garrison’s best friend, he’s going to be in my life.” She closed her eyes and let out a long soulful sigh, continuing her lonely conversation. “This is my life. I’ve worked hard to become independent, but I refuse to live in isolation any longer, because I’m petulant. I can be an adult about this.”
On a clear night like this, she could see a vehicle miles away. Out of nowhere, headlights were on the highway from the opposite direction. A local heading to town for an emergency?
She pointed the radar, placed her foot on the brake and shifted the car into Drive—ready to perform her duty. Ninety-two flashed in red. High school kids on a dare or a rancher in serious need of an escort to Keen Hospital in town. Either way required her deputy services.
The car lurched forward, the radar gun dropped to the seat and she flipped the lights on in one smooth motion as she raced after the speeder. She followed less than a minute when the car pulled onto the shoulder. The tags were obscured by mud.
It might not be Jesse, but it was a little bit of work. Anything was better than being bored.
The car pulled over well onto the grass at the side of the road. Plenty of blacktop was to their left as her vehicle lit up the area in red, white and blue. Avery ran the tag number, found it was a rental and got out of her truck.
What were the odds of two visitors in separate cars showing up in Dalhart within the same hour? Extremely high. If something had happened to Garrison, Jesse would come to take her home. But two cars?
The tiny hairs on the back of her neck were prickling. Avery unsnapped the thumb break on her sidearm holster. The door opened and a man swung one leg and then the other from the vehicle.
How pathetic of her...she recognized his boots. Relaxing a little during the seconds it took Jesse Ryder to unfold his tall body from the sports car, she snapped the thumb break back into place. Why hadn’t he phoned? It still irritated her that she didn’t know why he’d come in person.
Irritated or scared. The feelings caused similar nerves to gurgle in her stomach. Or maybe anticipation because...
Lord have mercy, he looks good. Bo and Derek were attractive young men. But they had nothing on Jesse. Six foot two, dark walnut hair