“Well, you can forget it. I’m not talking to you.”
“Then I’ll walk in silence with you.”
I started out ahead of her, keeping my pace slow until she caught up, which she did only moments later.
“What if I don’t want you to walk with me? Did you ever think about that?”
“It’s a free country. Technically, I’m just walking down the sidewalk.”
“Yes, but you told me you were purposely following me!”
“It’s not really following if I’m beside you. If I was following you, I would be behind you.”
She gaped at me, then turned in a huff and stormed off down the street. Chuckling, I caught up, taking my spot beside her, but we weren’t two shops down the street when the door to The Daily Grind opened and Maverick walked out, tipping his hat to us.
“Sheriff, you need to stop this right now!” she yelled, charging forward.
“Good morning to you. And what do I need to stop?”
“Him!” she pointed viciously at me. “He’s following me!”
“I’m walking down the street,” I corrected.
Mav quirked an eyebrow at me, as if to say,Is this really what you’re going with?
“He told me that he’s going to follow me around just to be with me,” Bailey argued. “Sheriff, you have to stop him. Arrest him or something!”
Mav again looked to me. “Any arguments?”
“I’m walking in the same direction as her. There’s no law against that.”
“He’s right,” Mav grinned. “Not much I can do about him walking down the sidewalk.”
“But he’s stalking me!”
My grin dropped as Maverick crossed his arms over his chest, finding this new twist very interesting.
“Is that right? Well, stalking is a very serious crime. It can lead to all sorts of things. Dangerous things.”
“That’s right!” Bailey snapped.
“Maybe even love.”
Bailey flinched back at that. “No, he’s following me around when I don’t want him to. You’ve got to do something. Throw him in jail!”
“Now, that might be considered a waste of the city’s time and resources. I’m gonna have to think on that one.”
“Are you refusing to protect one of your citizens?”
Maverick let out a low whistle. “Now, that’s quite the accusation. I would never want to be seen as putting aside public concerns.”
“Then arrest him and throw the key away,” she scowled.
Maverick thought about it, then sighed and pulled out his cuffs. Hedidn’t even back down when I glared at him. “Sorry, but not sure what else I can do.”
His words were right, but the humor dancing his eyes said it all. He was enjoying every second of this. And Bailey, damn, she looked pleased. I was going to have to knock that smile off her face.
“Thank you, Sheriff. I’ll be on my way.”
