The Sheriff and the Mayor (7 page)

“Don’t,”
Parker countered. “Craig and I’ll get by.”

“You
shouldn’t have to get by without my help.” Again Dalton thought about how much
he was ready to quit the side job of being sheriff. He was more than ready for
his life to stop being so damn complicated. But the town still needed him…like
they relied on Cassie. Another sore subject.

“Guess
I better head into town for that fencing.” Parker turned to walk back
downstairs and then stopped.

“I
almost forgot.” He faced Dalton. “I checked the messages on the kitchen phone
before I came up here.”

“Evelyn
called, right?” Dalton vaguely remembered hearing the house phone ringing
earlier, but he’d been too tired to get up and answer it.

Parker
nodded. “She wants you to call in as soon as you can. There is some kind of
problem having to do with the parade this weekend.”

He
hesitated and added, “She also said that Cassie had called a couple of times.”
He grimaced and watched Dalton’s reaction. “Cassie didn’t sound real happy in
the last message.”

“Hell,
as if I need more to deal with at the moment.” Dalton rubbed at his stomach.
Was he getting an ulcer?

“Are
you talking about the parade problem? Or Cassie?” His brother watched him,
looking worried.

“Both.”

Now Dalton
remembered that she’d called him last night right after he’d gotten to the
Taylor Ranch. He’d been caught up in the horror from his first sight of the
abused animals. He couldn’t recall exactly what he’d said to her, but it hadn’t
been much. No doubt she was pissed at him for that.

“We
aren’t on the best of terms at the moment,” he admitted.

He started
to move back into his bedroom. “I’d better give Evelyn a call.” Eventually he’d
call Cassie, too. She wasn’t top priority right now.

“Cassie?”
Parker questioned concern in his voice. “Or is it duties first and your woman
second?”

Dalton
didn’t answer and he listened to his brother muttering about him being a
jackass as he walked away. Probably true, but he wasn’t sure he could handle
all the problems he faced now and the issues between he and Cassie. If they
were on better terms, he would call her first. But she’d been putting him
second to her mayoral duties and her community commitments. So he would handle
his sheriff’s responsibilities first. He’d call her when things settled down.

He
picked up his cell phone from the bedside table and dialed the office. It took
two rings for Evelyn to answer.

“It’s
about time you checked in, Sheriff.” She sounded stressed, and then she sighed.
“Sorry. I know you were out until the wee hours. It’s just been crazy around
here.”

“I
slept in later than I’d planned. So what’s happening?” He had a bad feeling
that his day was going to get even worse.

“Do
you really want to know?” Before he could respond, she blurted it all out. “The
vet called to say he’ll meet you at the Taylor Ranch at eleven. He had an
emergency with a problem delivery first. There was a minor two-car accident
just outside of town about an hour ago, so your two deputies are handling that.
Jericho Hayes called to say he found two dead and rotting horses at the far
corner of Taylor’s land and wanted you to do something about getting them
hauled off. Alice Raintree called to say her husband discovered some vandalism
at the warehouse with the floats. Then she and Sarah Wiggins came in to demand
that you look into it
today
. I had to tell her it wouldn’t likely happen
for another day or so. And, boy, she sure didn’t take that well! They went
storming out of here.”

“Take
a breath, Evelyn.” Dalton slumped on the side of his bed.
Shit
. He’d
been right. Today was shot to hell already.

He
was still mulling over everything Evelyn had said when she started in again.
“Evidently Sarah gathered up her Grangeville Society gang and they went to see
Cassie. She showed up here a half hour ago wanting to see you. She said
something about she needed to get your help with the warehouse investigation or
the Society just might tar and feather her. She wasn’t very happy when I told
her you were at the ranch, probably sleeping. She said something about you
ignoring her calls and about you avoiding her. Fact is, Sheriff, she walked out
of here looking sadder than I’ve ever seen her.”

Great.
His life was complete shit. “So damn near everybody in town wants a piece of me
today,” he said wearily. “If I wasn’t a man who stood by his word, I’d hand in
my badge today.”

“But
you won’t.” She sounded uncertain.

Now
he felt worse because Evelyn was already juggling so much at the office. “No, I
won’t. Not today.”

But
he would soon. The minute all of these ridiculous community events were
finished this month he would be having a meeting with the town council. He’d
give them a time limit on when he would turn in his badge.

Putting
those thoughts aside, he calmed down. “Thanks, Evelyn. I know this hasn’t been
an easy morning for you.”

“True
enough. I’m earning my pay that’s for sure. Considering how quiet it is around
here most days.” She called out a greeting to someone who must have walked into
the office. “I’ve got to go, Sheriff. Promise me, though, that you’ll talk to
Cassie.”

Cassie
who had looked so sad to Evelyn. Cassie who believed he was avoiding her. In a
way, he had been. It was time he bucked up and called her.

“Will
do, ma’am,” he told his dispatcher. He disconnected at her relieved sounding
sigh.

Dreading
the call and not really knowing what to say, Dalton punched in Cassie’s cell
phone number. He had a gut feeling that things between them would get seriously
worse if he didn’t talk to her now. He sure didn’t want that.

But
she didn’t answer his call. And he didn’t leave a voicemail.

***

Cassie
stood in the middle of the warehouse and stared at the seven pick-up trucks and
trailer beds with partially built floats. Over fifty-six ruined tires, probably
expensive tires. Who was supposed to pay to replace them? The owners? The town?
The warehouse owner? She honestly had no idea.

Harold
Raintree waited awkwardly next to her, fidgeting, anxious for her words of
wisdom. As if she had any. Finally he asked, “What do we do now? I haven’t even
notified the owners of the various vehicles.”

Her
stomach knotted. The coffee she’d finally had wasn’t sitting well now. “You
need to call them, of course.”

“Then
what? They’re going to be pissed off about what happened here.” He gave her an
embarrassed look. “Sorry, ma’am, about the language. My Alice would chew me out
about it.”

The
mention of his wife made her think about Sarah Wiggins and the rest of the
Grangeville Society. They were the main people behind the parade and would be
waiting for answers. She didn’t have any. This wasn’t her expertise.

Feeling
as if the weight of the world rested on her shoulders, she blinked away foolish
tears. She swallowed hard and said with determination, “Tell them to get new
tires. We’ll figure out who is paying for them later.”

He
looked uncertain, but she remained firm in her decision. “The parade is four
days away. They need replacing and the floats need to be finished.”

He
glanced at the area where the stack of toilet tissue boxes and fake flower
boxes had been stored. “And the—”

She
stiffened her spine. “Contact the head cheerleader; I know you have her name
and phone number. Explain what happened. Instruct her to get whatever
replacements she can ASAP.” She heaved a resigned sigh. “Tell her that
I
will pay for them if I need to.”

“I’ll
take care of all that,” he sounded relieved that action was going to be taken.
“What about the sheriff? What about needing a report of the vandalism filed?”

Tears
threatened again and she looked away from him. Darn Dalton! Not returning her
calls. She understood he was busy and so were his deputies. All she wanted was
at least a few minutes of his time so he could guide her on what to do next.

“I’ll
go by the sheriff’s office again and somehow get a report filed.” She didn’t
want to go back there, but something had to be done. If nothing more happened,
she would hand write out some kind of report on the incident.

She
walked out of the warehouse and was almost to her car when her cell phone rang.
Without even looking at caller ID, she knew in her gut who was calling her.
Dalton. She didn’t want to talk to him. She
had to
talk to him.

The
phone rang four times before she managed to locate it in her purse and answer.
“It’s so kind of you to finally return my call,” she said bitterly.

“Cassie,”
Dalton’s tone held warning. He was in a mood, too.

“What?”
she snapped. “Don’t give you attitude? Because you’ll turn me over your knee
and burn my butt the first chance you get? So
not
happening!”

“I
don’t have time for this.”

“Or
time for me. You’ve made that pretty obvious.” Her voice broke and she hoped he
hadn’t heard it.

“Shit,
Cassie,” he said on a put-upon sigh. “Can we not get into this right now? I’m
dealing with a hell of a lot of problems at the moment.”

She
jerked open her car door and tossed her handbag inside. Naturally half of the
contents fell out on the seat. “
And I’m not
?”

She
heard him grumble under his breath and felt a bit childish for taking out her
irritation with him. Yes, they had some problems, but the stress she was
facing—and whatever he was facing—was only making it all worse. She didn’t want
to argue with him. What she wanted more than anything was to have him hold her
in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay…even if it weren’t
necessarily true.

“I’ll
try to get to the warehouse break-in problem tomorrow,” he said after a few
seconds of tense silence.

“Tomorrow
isn’t soon enough.”
Four days away
. The deadline taunted her. People
were depending on her to solve this problem. Today.

More
strained silence. “It’s the best I can do.”

“Well,
your
best
isn’t good enough this time.”

She
disconnected and leaned against the back door of her car. He was going to be
upset with her, but she was upset with him. Disappointed, too.

Maybe
this was their breaking point.

Chapter Six

Dalton
finally parked his truck in front of the Sheriff’s Office just after nine
o’clock. He should have gone home to the ranch. But he needed to check in here
first. A glance through the big front window showed that he wasn’t the only one
still working late. His deputies were doing paperwork, probably about that
accident this morning. And Evelyn was at her desk, on the phone. The night
replacement dispatcher sat in a side chair, obviously waiting to take over.

He
managed to climb out of his pickup and move one foot in front of the other into
the building. Everyone looked in his direction; all but Mary Beth appeared
ready to drop. He almost yelled out for them all to get the hell out of here
for the day. But he caught the firm shake of Evelyn’s head and thought better
of it.

She
put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone next to her ear and mouthed to
him, “Sarah Wiggins, again.” But, bless her heart, she didn’t let the annoying
woman know he was there. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with Wiggins or really
anyone else.

His
deputies seemed to take in his strained expression and decided to call it a
night. Both men shoved whatever they’d been working on into files, and then
stood. Aware that Evelyn was talking to one of the problem women in town, they
each gave him a telling salute and headed out.

Mary
Beth, too, appeared aware that he was in a sour mood. She didn’t say a word as
he walked through the main area toward his office. He was glad of that.

Dalton
headed straight for the battered chair behind his desk and dropped down into it
in exhaustion. His gaze took in the stack of pink messages that he dreaded looking
through, the case report from the accident earlier today, and his half-filled
out report on the case he’d been working. Then he noticed an invoice made out
to him for over six thousand dollars for fifty-six tires. What the hell was
he
getting an invoice like that for?

He’d
barely picked up the invoice when Evelyn appeared in his doorway. She nodded at
the paper and said, “Cassie dropped it off this afternoon. She said you could
talk to her about it, if you ever had time to talk to her. Her words exactly.”

Before
he could respond, Evelyn went on, “I take it you’re not on her ‘good’ list.”

“I’d
have to say that’s a mutual thing. I’m not extremely happy with her at the
moment, either.”

He’d
tried to call her a couple of times in the afternoon, but she hadn’t answered.
Then he’d tried again when he left the Taylor Ranch a short while ago. This
time she’d answered and then hung up on him before he could even say anything.
He was still upset about that.

Shaking
her head and giving him a chastising look, Evelyn said, “I think the two of you
need to sit down together. Talk whatever problem you’re having over before it
gets worse.”

Frankly
he was thinking more along the lines of toasting Cassie’s butt so she
couldn’t
sit down. Not wanting to share that with Evelyn, he avoided looking at her. He
picked up the stack of messages and started glancing through them.

Frustrated
and not seeing anything urgent, he tossed them back onto the desk. “These can
wait until tomorrow.”

“I
think so, too.” She heaved a sigh. “It’s been one hell of a day.”

He
glanced up, concerned at the weariness in her expression and voice. “You should
have left here when Mary Beth came in. I worry about you.”

“You
don’t need to fret over me. You’ve got more than enough to be worried about.”
But she gave him a gentle look. “You should go home, too.”

Yes,
that’s exactly what he should do, but he had something to do first. He stood,
giving her as much of a smile as he could manage. “I’m afraid my day isn’t over
yet.”

She
moved aside so he could walk by her into the main room. “Do you need to go back
out to the Taylor Ranch?”

“No.
That situation is dealt with…at least for today.” He’d had to watch Doc put one
of the horses down, put it out of its misery. God, he’d hated that. “I sure
would enjoy putting my hands around the neck of that damn nephew.”

Evelyn
studied him and looked sympathetic. “I imagine most people around here would
feel the same.” She placed a hand on his forearm. “You should go on home and
get some sleep. You look like death warmed over. Whatever else you think you
need to do can wait until tomorrow. Even talking to Cassie.”

He
felt as bad as he apparently looked, but he patted her hand and said quietly,
“Some things can’t wait. You’re right. I’ve got to go see Cassie.” Part of him
was more than ready to see her again. Another part of him dreaded a
confrontation with her and he knew there would be one.

Mary
Beth spoke up. “I’m not sure if Cassie has gone home yet. She’s spent most of
the day at the warehouse helping the cheerleaders.”

He frowned.
He knew what pressure she was under to finish up the last of her paintings for
her upcoming show. She didn’t have time to spare for doing anything with this
parade. But she would put her needs aside to help out anyone in the community.
He respected her for that and still it rubbed him wrong.

He
grumbled a curse, only to receive a chastising look from Evelyn.

Heaving
a frustrated sigh, he headed for the door. He’d need to calm down before he met
up with Cassie.

“Just
remember you love each other,” Evelyn called after him.

“Sometimes
love isn’t enough.”

He
heard her gasp of surprise at his hurt-filled words, but he just walked on out
the door. He wasn’t at all sure he could keep playing these games with Cassie.
Either she wanted to be part of his life, or she didn’t.

***

Cassie
tucked a final artificial sunflower in place and straightened. Her back all but
screamed at her in protest after spending a big part of the day bent over or
contorting her body around to work on the float. She was dead tired and sore
didn’t even come close to how she felt. She’d used muscles that hadn’t been
used in years. Tomorrow she probably wouldn’t even be able to climb out of bed.

She
stepped back to the middle of the warehouse and joined the cheerleaders as they
admired their handiwork. The float for the high school was finally finished. It
was the combined work of a lot of people and it didn’t look half bad. She’d had
her doubts when they’d started, but she’d tried not to let the girls see that.
She’d worked crazily alongside them and now she was glad she had. Even if
helping out here today had put her further behind schedule on her own work. It
would take a miracle to get the last of her paintings finished in time for the
show. The realization weighed heavily on her.

Unaware
of her exhaustion and troubled thoughts, the cheerleaders were now all but
bouncing around in delight. Ah, to be that young again with so much energy. She
felt ninety.

Emily,
the cute blond team leader, captured everyone’s attention and spoke for them all.
“We couldn’t have done this without you, Miss Davis. Thanks so much!”

She
felt humbled and unworthy. “I just helped with the construction,” she
corrected. “Your parents came up with the supplies. This was a huge joint
effort.”

One
of their parents had managed to scrounge up enough boxes of toilet paper from
every source in the area to decorate the twelve-foot-long float. Another parent
had found colored crepe paper. A couple of others had located fake flowers. She
was still shocked that it had all come together so fast after only learning
about the problems this morning.

“But
you coordinated everything,” another peppy young girl countered.

“And
you got the town council involved in finding tires to replace all the ruined
ones,” Emily added. “You’re amazing. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.” The group did an impromptu
cheer in her honor.

Their
enthusiasm made her smile, almost for the first time all day. Yet as she looked
around, she was well aware that there were still six more floats in various
stages of construction. No matter how stiff and sore she was tomorrow, she had
promised to come by and help the other groups involved. So much for lazing
about in bed the next day. So much for her own work.

“I’d
better get going.” She started to turn around only to stop when Emily beamed
from her to someone behind her. She had a bad feeling.

“Come
in, Sheriff! Look what we got done today!” She grinned at Cassie. “We couldn’t
have done it without your lady’s help. She’s amazing!”

Once
more the cheerleaders bounced around and gave their A-M-A-Z-I-N-G cheer.

Cassie
inwardly groaned and her stomach fluttered anxiously. She wasn’t sure at the
moment if he still considered her
his lady
. Or if she wanted him to. She
hesitated in facing him, but she sensed his frustration.

Dalton
walked right up next to her so that she had to look at him. He glanced down and
she saw the weariness in his expression, the tight lines beside his mouth. He
needed a shave. He needed a hug, but she wasn’t in the mood to give him one.
Especially when she noted irritation flashing in his eyes. No doubt he was
annoyed about the way she hadn’t taken his calls today. Pay back for his
treatment of her. Okay, it had been petty of her. Still…

Somehow
he dredged up a smile for the girls. “It looks real good.” Even his voice sounded
tired.

She
watched him look at the other end of the building, saw him frown at the
obviously new tires on the trucks and trailer beds. Had he seen the invoice
she’d delivered to his office? He wasn’t going to be happy about it, but she
hadn’t known what else to do right then. She’d felt responsible, even though
she really wasn’t. In truth, she’d known all along that she would have to take
the bill to the town council. But she’d been mad at Dalton for avoiding her and
had the bill made out to him personally.

Under
his breath he said, “We’re going to talk about those tires.” Then he nodded
toward the other floats. “Apparently there’s still a lot of work to get done
before Saturday.”

He
looked down at her pointedly, “By other people.”

She
shifted uneasily. He wasn’t going to like her decision to help out. But then
lately he didn’t like
any
of her decisions.

His
scowl deepened as if he knew her thoughts. She saw him tense; saw a vein pulse
in his neck.

“My
decision,” she said quietly, heart racing.

“We’re
going to talk.” The words came out as a warning and a promise.

The
night wasn’t going to end well. But then the whole day hadn’t been good. Of
course she didn’t have to let him “talk” to her, especially when she was pretty
sure what he really wanted to do. He didn’t have to say the words for her to
know he was eager to turn her bottom up over his knee. He planned to spank her.
If she would let him…

Oblivious
to the underlying tension between she and Dalton, Emily said confidently,
“It’ll all get done. Miss Davis said it would. She’s amazing!”  And yet again
the cheerleaders high-kicked and did their now irritating A-M-A-Z-I-N-G cheer.

Dalton’s
smile remained forced for their benefit another couple of seconds. And then he
took Cassie firmly by the elbow and pulled her closer. “I think it’s time I
took
my lady
to her home. She looks on the worn out side.”

The
girls giggled and a couple of them made kissy noises, then they all giggled
some more.

Cassie’s
face flamed, but at least the cheerleaders wouldn’t have any idea what was
going on between them. She tried to pull her arm free, but Dalton wasn’t
allowing it.

She
glowered at him. “I can drive myself home, thank you very much.”

He
led her away and, fortunately, the girls had already lost interest in them. A
few steps later, he gritted out, “I’ll follow right behind you.”

Over
her thundering heart, she heard footsteps. Evidently so did Dalton and he let
go of her arm.

An
instant later Harold Raintree stepped out from behind one of the floats, Jim
McAdams with him. Both men looked curiously at them.

Jim
raised an eyebrow in question. “Glad to see you, Dalton, but you’re looking
about as exhausted as Cassie.” He hesitated, shook his head sadly. “I heard
about the animal abandonment out at Taylor’s place. Horrible thing that.”

“What
animal abandonment?” Cassie asked, gazing up at Dalton.

He
didn’t answer, just gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to discuss whatever had
happened.

“We
heard about the horse Doc had to put down today,” Harold added, scowling,
clearly not understanding Dalton’s not wanting to talk right now. “Real sorry
to hear about it.”

She
felt sick. “Doc had to…”

“Let
it go, Cassie,” Dalton said grimly.

“But—”

He
took her arm again and tugged her with him. End of discussion and the men were
wise enough to know it. They didn’t say another word.

***

Dalton
had ground his teeth nearly to a pulp as he’d heard Cassie’s defiant
“My
decision
” over and over in his head ever since he’d driven away from the
warehouse. Darn woman was going to put what she needed to get done off because
she was determined to help out with those damn floats.