“Don’t worry about the truck,” He grunts.
I chuckle humorlessly, “Easy for you to say.”
“Sweetheart,” He pins me with his warm whiskey gaze.
“Cowboy,” I fire back.
With a shake of his head, he finishes wrapping up my hand, tucking in the ends of the bandage to keep ittight, but behind him, the bar door swings open and my best friend barrels through, her eyes wide with concern.
“What the fuck happened? Why are there cruisers pulling up outside!?” She demands before anyone else can say a word.
“I’ll go handle them,” Roman says, leaving me with Ashley. I watch his large body disappear through the door she just came through, noting the tightness in his shoulders, the tension lining every edge of his body a match to mine.
“Niamh?” Ashley presses.
“Someone vandalized my truck last night.” I blink away the heat that returns to my eyes, holding myself together by wrapping my arms around my middle as if that can contain everything that wants to spill out.
“Why would they do that?” She growls out, “Do you know who did it!?”
“No, and we don’t have cameras anymore.”
“Oh, Niamh, I’m so sorry. I’m sure the sheriff’s office will find whoever did this.”
“We will.” A new voice enters the room, and we both snap our heads up to see a deputy in the doorway. He’s young and somewhat familiar, but I can’t place his face.
“Niamh,” He greets me by name, that familiarity niggling at my brain. It takes me a minute to realize who he is.
“Oscar?” My brows shoot up in surprise.
He winks, “Or Deputy Wright if you prefer.”
“I haven’t seen you since junior year.”
Hewalks toward me while my brain attempts to catch up. I never even knew he went into law enforcement, but then we never stayed in touch. He left Sunstone Ridge after his father passed away back in high school.
“It’s certainly been a while,” He agrees, taking a seat in front of me before he pulls out his notepad. “It's a shame to be meeting again like this, though.”
It’s strange seeing Oscar in a uniform when all I remember about him was how much he was into sports. He’d been untouchable, the quarterback for the high school team and expected to go on and play college football. He took it hard when his father passed, missed months of school until he just disappeared. We later found out he had moved to live with his uncle. We were never really friends, just shared a few classes together here and there, but I remember how sorry I had felt for him and I’d hugged my own dad extra tight.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
I go through it with him, and he writes every word I say, the pen scratching over the paper while he nods and asks more questions I don’t have the answers for.
“We’ll figure it out,” He assures me when I’ve finished recounting this morning, his dark eyes soft. “It’s good to see you, Niamh.”
I shift a little when his eyes drop to the ring on my finger, and for a second, it looks like disappointment flitters over his expression. He schools it quickly and rises to stand. “I’ll be in touch.”
Roman hovers by the door, his chin dipped low, eyes on where Ashley fusses over me, making me coffee,checking over my hands and the first aid job Roman did. She mothers me in the way she’s always done, and I love her for it. It reminds me of when we were kids, how we acted more like sisters than best friends, and it gives me that sense of safety when it feels like the world has just fallen apart, even though I know it’s too much.
It’s just a truck. I know that’s what everyone else is thinking, and I need to think of it that way too. I have insurance, sure the payout won’t cover the damage, but I can use what I get from it to buy another car. It won’t be anything fancy, but I don’t need fancy, I just need to get from the ranch to the bar. That’s all.
I watched the truck get towed away earlier, and now only shattered glass remains on the road. They suspect it was a couple of kids causing trouble last night, probably out of towners simply picking an easy target.
It’s never felt unsafe in Sunstone. I have often left my truck unlocked, windows down and never doubted it. I guess it was just the wrong place at the wrong time.
We had delayed opening the bar since we had the sheriff’s office here, but now it’s almost three and we have a group gathered outside, ready to come in for food and drink.
“Go home,” Ashley touches my arm, “Take the day.”
