He left with her a nod.
As he drove away from the cabin, he let his thoughts drift back to a decade earlier. Ryder had enjoyed high school. He had plenty of friends, played sports, got to drive his dad’s beat-up Ford Bronco. His grades were decent. His teachers and coaches liked him. He had every reason to want to stay in Sunset Ridge. To settle down and create a life here.
Kinley James, however, had every reason to leave.
In those days, she had her two partners in crime—Ava and Laurel—but otherwise, he remembered her keeping mostly to herself. She rarely spoke up in class, though he knew her to be incredibly smart. She opted out of all sports and clubs. The only thing he recalled her doing with her free time was working at the lodge.
Of course, she had a rebellious side outside of all that. One that liked to pull pranks. He remembered more than one incident with firecrackers; one got her in quite some trouble with the man who was now the elected mayor.
In fact, the more Ryder thought about it, the odder it seemed that Kinley latched on to the Army enlistment so quickly. One day she showed up at school and announced she signed the papers. Her flight to basic training left two days after graduation. No one knew what to make of that. The most unlikely person in their class to join the military signing up the second she could leave. “Now she’s going to be a pilot,” he mumbled at the stop sign leading back to the highway. “Isn’t that something.”
It still didn’t answer his real question:WhyisKinley back?
Fiona’s dominant wrist was broken, no doubt about it. He’d heard about that the day it happened. Everyone had. Gutter cleaning on a ladder gone wrong.
But Fiona had friends who offered to drive her to and from the library, and had until Kinley arrived. The local grocery store made deliveries in special circumstances. Kinley might be back to help out, to alleviate some of her aunt’s burden, but she was definitely here for another reason.
Ryder spotted Liam’s tow truck headed his way and pulled onto the shoulder. As he waited, his cell chimed twice. He pulled it from his pocket to read the texts. One from the dispatcher alerted him to trespassers on Old Man Franks’ road. The other was from the mayor, requesting Ryder stop by to chat when he had a chance. “That might be a new record,” he muttered, referring to the news about the sign. In a small town, word traveled like wildfire with a tailwind, but even this was fast.
He hoped Lee wouldn’t push him to write a ticket.She’ll probably get stiffed with the bill.Considering Kinley’s history with the mayor, he wasn’t confident he could get around it.
Liam Davies pulled up along the highway shoulder, and Ryder stepped out with the keys in hand.
“Am I towing the car or the sign?” Liam gave a laugh and a head shake as he met Ryder halfway. “I’m not even going to ask what happened.”
“It was—” The echo of a shotgun rang out, drawing Ryder’s attention to the north.Old Man Franks. He had a reputation for firing off shots at trespassers on a road many believed should be public property. A road everyone in town used as a shortcut to the highway, heading north when they were truly in a hurry. Though Franks never hit anyone, he’d flattened a couple of tires and busted half a dozen taillights. But he’d no sooner shoot a squirrel than a man. Franks hated to harm a fly.
Liam took the keys from Ryder. “I got this, Chief. Go save the poor tourist who took a wrong turn.”
* * *
Ryder stalled inside the patrol car parked outside the city office, sipping on the black coffee he’d grabbed from Black Bear Coffee after handling two calls back-to-back. Murph would be on duty in thirty minutes, but he hadn’t wanted to call her in before that so she could watch her son’s tee-ball game.
The extra minutes weren’t much help, though. If Lee already knew it was Kinley who plowed into the town sign, Ryder would be helpless. He couldn’t erase the history between them. Though Ryder was on the fence about Ed’s involvement in the matter, he didn’t want Kinley in unnecessary trouble.
Ryder wrote tickets and made arrests when they were warranted. But the mayor was always pushing for him to do more. To set examples. Ryder had an instinct about people and what they really needed. More times than not, a ticket or a trip to jail was not the best long-term solution. He and the mayor had butted heads on the matter since the day Lee took office. Lee would want to make an example of the girl who lit up his yard with fireworks in the middle of the night.
If only Ryder knew the real reason Kinley was back in town, he might be able to help keep her out of too much trouble. He didn’t want anything following her back to her unit. She was active duty military now. That had to mean something, even to the mayor.
He spotted the mayor pulling apart the blinds of his front window, forcing Ryder out of the sanctuary of his car and into the office.
“Ryder, glad you could make it.” Sarcasm lightly coated Lee’s words, but Ryder didn’t bother explaining the calls. His words would fall on deaf ears. “Come on in.” Lee stood in the open doorway to his office, waving Ryder to a chair.
“Coffee?” Lee offered.
Ryder went rigid at the offer. For all his shortcomings, Lee Daniels was a good man. But he rarely offered anyone coffee. He expected if someone wanted coffee, they could help themselves to a cup. Lee would share, but only then.
“You heard, then?” Ryder folded his arms, standing behind the chair he was meant to sit in as Lee filled a mug and handed it over.
“Ryder, why don’t you take a seat.”
Lee closed the door.
Odd.
“I’m good.”
Lee let out a gentle sigh, one of the few tells that the man had a compassionate side. He hadn’t been voted in as mayor based on his charm and easygoing nature. He was a man who got things done and wasn’t afraid to do what it took, even when it ruffled feathers. Sunset Ridge adored him for that reason, and that reason alone.
