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With a firm hold on her emotions, she turned to Tanner. Instead of the angry look she’d expected, she found him gazing at her thoughtfully, a smile touching his lips.
She could have dealt better with anger.
“Supper…” His smile widened. “It’s Thursday, isn’t it? Still barbecue night at Delia’s?”
She nodded shortly. The one indulgence she allowed herself and Kevin. Because she could run up a tab at the diner.
“Mm-mmm,” Tanner growled. “About the only thing I like better than your pecan loaf is a plateful of Delia’s barbecue.”
“Really?” She wasn’t about to take the bait for an invitation. “If you don’t mind getting back on task here…As you can see, I have taught my son some manners. Still, I apologize for him, too.”
To her shock, Tanner just shrugged. “To me, seemed like the kid was only looking out for you.”
“To me, too.” For a moment, that feeling of pride pushed her to smile.
He shook his head. “Must be hard, him not having a dad around. Maybe I should talk to him. Teach him a little respect.”
Her smile slid away. “I’m teaching him—”
“Coddling’s not always the best way.”
“You don’t know a thing about it,” she snapped. What had she been thinking, sharing the tiniest moment of understanding with Tanner? He was the enemy, the man who could bring her life tumbling down around her, if he ever found out the truth. “And I can handle my own problems.”
One eyebrow slowly went up. “So, you admit you’ve got trouble with him.”
“Right now, the only trouble I’ve got is with you.” She stalked around him to pick up the clipboard with the team rosters. “Why don’t we settle our business, so you can be on your way?”
TANNER CHECKED OUT the roads around Dillon for a while, then turned back to town just near suppertime. It had been a depressing trip, for more than one reason, and he needed food. Company. And answers.
The reminder of Thursday and barbecue night headed him in the direction of Main Street. Even before he’d left, there hadn’t been much to the town of Dillon, just a couple blocks of businesses. And now there were a lot of vacant properties between Delia’s Diner at one end and The Book Cellar down near the other.
Thinking about the bookstore set him off again. He still fumed from Sarah’s quick run-through of the duty rosters, followed by her cold dismissal. He couldn’t understand her reaction. A single mother, with a young boy running wild. Things couldn’t be easy. He’d only tried to help.
Why had she bothered to co-chair the committee with him?
Maybe she’d caught on at last, made the connection between her kid and his mischief and the other problems going on about town. Of course, Kevin couldn’t account for all the complaints, but Tanner suspected that he was one of several kids involved in this “crime wave.”
Someone would have to keep track of that boy.
And, plain as day, Sarah Lindstrom hadn’t a chance of controlling her misbehaving child. No wonder, with what she said to him two days earlier.
She didn’t have a husband.
He frowned, recalling the tight edge of hurt in her voice when she’d told him. What had happened to the man? She’d had a husband once, someone she used to love.
Yeah, and she used to love him, years ago.
He shoved the thought away.
She hadn’t ever loved him, no matter what she’d said. How could she, when she’d so obviously hooked herself up with another man so soon after he’d left town?
Could be she cared for that other man still, and that’s why her voice carried such hurt?
That thought had him slamming the pickup’s door extra hard behind him.
He strode into Delia’s and sniffed at the tangy smell in the air. Nice to know some things never changed. Not like women.
Scowling, he directed his gaze to the back booth Doc Thompson always claimed as his own. And there the man sat, digging in to one of Delia’s Texas-sized barbecue sandwiches.
Almost everything in the diner came Texas-sized, including the owner herself, who charged around the end of the front counter, a grin splitting her face.
He met her halfway and returned her rib-cracking hug.
She stepped back, put her huge hands on her hips, and shook her head slowly. “Well, whoever would believe it, Tanner Jones, a deputy sheriff. Decided to stay on the right side of the law, huh?”
“Why not?”
Her laugh echoed around the room and bounced off the high ceiling. “Don’t playact innocence with me, boy, after all those times you helped me load stock in here. When all those jelly doughnuts grew legs and walked off with you.”
He shrugged. He’d forgotten about that. “Hell, Delia, those were my tips.”
She laughed till her eyes streamed. “All right, boy, what do you want to do me out of now?”
“Coffee and double special.”
“Coming right up.” She turned away, still chuckling.
When he reached Doc’s booth, the other man nodded at him, his mouth full, but his eyes twinkling.
Tanner slid into the vacant bench seat. It put him with his back to the door, not something he liked.
Doc swallowed. “Delia looks happy to see you.”
“Whatever happened to the Welcome Wagon?”
He laughed and took a swig of coffee. “So. How’s the law and order around town tonight?”
“Orderly.”
Doc eyed him. “Maybe I should’ve said, how’s the lawman.”
Tanner grunted. “Suddenly aware of all the changes around Dillon, and not for the better.”
“Yeah,” Doc said, “we were hit hard when the furniture factory closed its doors. A few of the longtime stores had to follow suit, and some people moved out, looking for work.” He shook his head. “At least the ranchers are still holding on.”
Delia set a platter and coffee mug in front of Tanner, and he dug in. By the time he polished off the first sandwich, he felt more like himself. And now that he’d satisfied a part of his hunger, he planned to do the same for his curiosity. “Tell me something, Doc. What’s with Sarah?”
“Ah.” Doc’s white eyebrows rose. “So that’s what’s got you going. Here, I blamed it on a trip down memory lane.”
“C’mon, Doc.” Some memories were best forgotten. And others…He shook his head. “What about Sarah? She’s raising that kid of hers alone, running that store by herself. Told me she hasn’t got a husband. What happened to him?”
Doc shook his head. “Don’t know. Never laid eyes on the man, myself.”
“What?” Tanner sat back. “How can that be?” Doc met everyone who set foot in Dillon.
The other man shrugged. “You weren’t the only one to take off years ago. You remember when you phoned a short while later, I told you about Sarah’s daddy getting sick, passing on.”
Tanner nodded. He did remember.
He’d called Sarah before he left town for boot camp, and she’d hung up on him.
A few weeks later, he’d tried her again and found the phone disconnected. With his parents already gone to live closer to his grandparents in Oklahoma, he’d done the next best thing and dialed Doc’s number. But Sarah had closed up the bookstore and left without telling anyone in town where she’d headed.
Tanner winced at the reminder of Sarah’s loss. He’d known her father well, had always liked him, had spent a lot of time with him growing up. And he hadn’t given a thought to offering Sarah his condolences.
He pushed his plate away, not sure even Delia’s barbecue could fill the sudden hollowness he felt deep inside.
“Happened quick,” Doc continued. “After, she went off to live with some relatives out in California, so we heard it later. She doesn’t talk about that time much.”
Tanner frowned. “When did she come back?”
“Just a few weeks before the baby’s birth.”
“With no husband tagging along?”
“Nope. Just her and the baby I delivered shortly after that. They’ve been here ever since.”
“What happened to the father?”
Doc shrugged again. “No use asking me, boy. Couldn’t tell you. You want to find out about Sarah’s coming and goings, you need to ask her yourself.”
He’d tried that, for all the good it had done him.
That didn’t mean he’d given up. He did want to know about Sarah, to learn what had happened to her in the years after he’d gone. Why, he couldn’t say.
Since asking had got him nowhere, he’d try something else. He had other ways to get information.
And detecting skills he could put to good use.
Chapter Four
The minute Tanner left the diner, Lily Gannett gave Delia the signal and proceeded to Doc’s booth in the back of the room. Delia followed, carrying a coffee carafe.
“How did it go?” Lily asked even before she’d finished settling across from Doc. She leaned forward, resting her forearms against the cool Formica tabletop.
“Yeah, spill it.” Delia dragged a chair to the end of the booth and plopped onto the seat. “What’d you tell him?”
He shrugged. “Just what we planned.”
Lily felt a momentary unease. “You don’t think we’re overdoing it? Delia, you should have seen Jeb Carter at the town meeting. I never knew he had such acting ability.”
“Wasn’t acting,” Doc protested. “Nobody made up any of those pranks going on around town. Exaggerated their concern, maybe, that’s all.”
“In the hope of catching Tanner’s attention. Which we did.”
“Which Sarah did.” Delia laughed. “Think he’s seen through us yet, Doc?”
“Uh-uh. Tied up in knots as he was when he left just now, he’s lucky to see past the end of his boots.”
“Good.” Delia slapped a broad hand on the table. “Can’t wait to see what happens when he figures it out. If he ever does.” She caught Lily’s frown immediately and said, “No regrets, now. We can’t expect the pair of them to manage things on their own. And Tanner always was thickheaded as a mule about some things.”
Lily had to agree.
All three of them had known Tanner—and Sarah, too—since birth. For that matter, Doc had delivered them both.
But as Tanner’s former teacher, she’d found more to him than stubbornness. “He can smarten up when he puts his mind to it. No, what’s worrying me is Sarah.”
“Plenty to worry about over her, with the load she’s had to carry.” Doc held his mug out to Delia. “Never one to make much about her troubles, though. Proud.”
“Too proud. And that could bring things down around her ears.” Delia topped off the mug, set the pot down again, and leaned forward. “You’ve got to talk to the child, Lily. Sarah’ll listen to you.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“You’ve got to,” Delia repeated. “We hit it lucky with Worth needing some time off. But Sarah’s pride could ruin all we did to get Tanner hired on at the County Sheriff’s.”
SARAH GRIPPED THE station wagon’s steering wheel so tightly, her knuckles hurt. Her heart hurt, too, as she thought of the phone call that had sent her hurrying to put the Closed sign on the front door, then rushing to the car.
She stared at Dillon’s one-and-only traffic light. Willed it to turn green. Felt tempted to drive through regardless. There was no one else in sight on this quiet Friday morning.
And, luckily, she’d seen no sign of Tanner.
She still felt a pang of guilt at coaxing Kevin into staying home for supper last night, instead of going to Delia’s.
When the signal changed at last, she shot through the empty intersection.
Normally she’d have walked the mile or so to the grade school, to save wear and tear on Daddy’s ancient Chevy wagon. Not today. Not when the school principal himself, Sam Porter, had asked to see her at the earliest to talk about an unfortunate situation.
Lordy, what had Kevin done now? Gotten into a fist-fight? Taken a sack lunch that looked better than his own? But, no—Kevin wouldn’t steal.
Keeping an eye out for pedestrians, she turned onto the road that led to the schoolhouse.
She’d tried so hard to be a good mother, all on her own. To do the proper thing, all alone. In her mind’s eye, she saw the red light again and felt doubly thankful she hadn’t run through it.
A white picket fence needing a new coat of paint surrounded the school property. The wide gate sat propped open. She chugged to a stop in an empty parking spot near the building and turned off the motor.
Another vehicle coasted into the spot beside hers. Tanner. He was the man grinning at her from the front seat, nearly blinding her with the sunlight reflecting off his mirrored glasses.
Dropping her head to the steering wheel, she muttered something unladylike and wished desperately she could stay there. But Kevin needed her, so she grabbed the duct-taped driver’s handle and shoved the door open.
