Page 92 of Out to Get Her

Plus, Erin was reacquainting herself with that house and all of her memories. She needed time to heal.

Samantha would bring it up when the time was right. And she was confident that it would be one day soon.

“Definitely. Text me when you’re done.” Erin rubbed her hand along Samantha’s arm. “I guess I’d better let you get back to work, huh?”

“Unfortunately, yeah.”

They’d been swamped at the station since they hadn’t hired a replacement for Dustin yet. The former deputy had cut a deal for his cooperation with the investigation, but he would never work in law enforcement again.

At least Dustin had the good sense to take the deal. Nathan would have thrown him under the bus with everyone else in his wake.

As for Jordan, he continued to insist he knew nothing about any of it, and there was no evidence to prove otherwise. Either way, his association with Nathan killed whatever chance he had in the election.

Thankfully, Chief Vidrine was still there until Samantha’s term would officially begin next month. He promised to continue helping out as needed, but they’d need another deputy as soon as possible. They had a couple of qualified applicants, but the process for getting someone new in was taking longer than Samantha would have liked.

Erin walked Samantha out and held the door open for her again. “Oh, are we having dinner with your mom this weekend?”

“I still haven’t decided.”

“You know I’ve got your back either way, right?”

“You do know what that means?” Samantha laughed. “Dinner with my family is a whole thing. You’d be miserable.”

“I’d be with you. I could never be miserable. But if you’d be miserable, we don’t have to go.”

“I’m not afraid,” Samantha said. “Or embarrassed or whatever you might think. I just don’t want to put you through that.”

Erin shrugged. “I can take it. I’m used to people not liking me. It’ll be a fun challenge to see if I can win her over at some point.”

“I’m her own daughter and haven’t managed that yet.”

“We can go or not,” Erin said. “But don’t avoid it for me. Make the decision for you.”

“There’s kind of an us now.”

“There is,” Erin said. “But you need to decide how you want to handle your family first and foremost. For you. Knowing I’ve got your back the way you’ve done for me with this place and everything else.”

Samantha felt a warmth triggered by those words. A warmth she was coming to expect and welcome.

Erin was right. She did need to figure out her relationship with her mother, especially, and how she wanted her family to fit into her life.

Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe she needed to go to this dinner with Erin to show them who she was now, and maybe they were the ones who needed to decide if they were going to fit in her life exactly the way it was.

She already knew Melanie’s answer. She’d have Samantha and Erin’s backs in this for sure.

“Thanks. I love you.” She kissed Erin once more, then walked out onto the sidewalk towards the station.

“See you tonight!” Erin called out behind her, loud enough for her new shop neighbors and half of Main Street to hear.

Let them all hear. They all knew about Samantha’s relationship by now, anyway, considering how gossip flew in that town.

But it was good for them to know that Erin and Samantha weren’t going to be quiet about it. They were going to be who they were, individually and as a couple. The residents of Etta would have to deal with it. So far, to Samantha’s surprise, they were dealing with it just fine. More than fine, in most cases.

Just another surprise in a long list of surprises over the last month. Including the woman waving goodbye who Samantha would see again later that night.

And again the next night.

And every night after that, if she got her way.