"Yeah." I stretched my arm across the back of the booth. "You okay with that?"
She glanced up, and her expression shifted. "Are you?"
"I don't have anything to hide." I held her gaze. "Do you?"
"No." Her face flushed, but she didn't look away. "No, I don't."
Faye returned with coffee. "Y'all know what you want?"
"Burger and fries," I said.
"Same," Lacey added. "But add double cheese."
"Going all in?" I asked.
She met my eyes. "When I want something, I don't do it halfway."
We both knew she wasn't just talking about burgers.
I looked up at Faye. "Make that two. Double cheese."
"Two double cheeseburgers, coming right up." Faye tucked her pad into her apron, still grinning. "Nice to see you two together."
After she left, Lacey took a sip of her coffee. "The whole town will know by tonight."
"Probably knew before we sat down."
"Does that bother you?"
"Does it bother you?" I countered.
"I asked first."
I leaned forward, elbows on the table. "No. It doesn't bother me. I'm done pretending I'm not crazy about you."
She bit her lip, and I wanted to do that for her. "I'm not pretending either."
"Good."
We sat there for a moment, her eyes on mine.
"Tell me about your military service," Lacey said, breaking the silence. She glanced at the tattoo on my forearm. "You were Army?"
I sat back, surprised she'd noticed. "Not much to tell."
"I don't believe that." She wrapped both hands around her coffee cup. "You're a sheriff now. That doesn't seem like an accident."
"I was Military Police. Joined up at eighteen, served four years. Just seemed like the natural path afterward."
"Gage." She waited until I looked at her. "I told you about Boyd. About my father." Her voice softened. "Talk to me. What made you want to be a sheriff?"
She'd been honest with me. I owed her the same.
"My family runs cattle on a ranch outside town. My brothers still work it with my dad. They all expected me to do the same, but ranching is insular—you're protecting your own herd, your own land. I needed to protect more than that. The Army gave me a way to serve people, not just property."
"And?"
"And I was good at it. Made some of the best friends of my life in that unit." The memories came easier than I expected. "Men I trusted with my life. Men who trusted me with theirs."
