“We need you, Mikey! This whole town is relying on you!”
Sighing, I turned around and stared at my old friend. “I’m not sure I have any interest in working under any kind of government organization again.”
“Hey, we’re not the military. We even have these snazzy uniforms,” he grinned, waggling his eyebrows at me.
“They’re beige.”
“Right, well, we can’t all have the coolest uniforms.”
“I’m about to have a baby.”
“All the more reason to join us now. Job security.”
“I just got to town.”
“A town you know like the back of your hand.”
“There’s work to do on the ranch,” I added.
“And as much as you love that ranch, you can’t shoot people without permission to do it.”
I rolled my eyes at him, walking back to the desk. “Alright, what’s it gonna take for you to stop asking me?”
“What’s it gonna take for you to say yes?”
Now, that was an interesting turn of events. “I don’t want to work nights.”
“Done.”
“And I want a good coffee machine in here. Not that crap one that you’ve had since the Stone Age.”
“I can do that.”
“And I want my own car.”
His eyebrows raised at that. “You get your own vehicle, and the department will cover mileage.”
It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing. But there was one last thing. “I don’t want to take the damn tests.”
Smirking, Mav leaned forward and shuffled some paperwork across the desk to me. “I know a guy. It’s already taken care of.” He shoved a book across to me. “But you still have to read this. Can’t carry a weapon until I’ve tested you and I’m assured you know the laws.”
Taking the book from him, I flipped through the pages. “I’ll be in touch.”
As I turned to go, I heard a low chuckle that instantly pissed me off.
“I was sure it was gonna take a lot more convincing than that.”
Rolling my eyes, I got out of there before he could talk me into anything else. He was right, it hadn’t taken much. Maybe that was because some of what he said was true. But the other part of me knew that I had to do something. Hanging around the ranch all day wouldn’t work now that there wasn’t really any ranching to do.
I figured while I was in town, I’d see how Lizzy was doing. I’d half expected her to be jumping all over me since the moment I arrived in town, but I’d hardly seen her.
Her car was already at the bar, which wasn’t a surprise. That girl loved this bar and did most of the work to get it in shape all on her own. You’d have never known she owned a bar from her sweet demeanor, but then again, Lizzy wasn’t like anyone else I knew. She was a walking contradiction.
She was already hustling around when I walked through the door, arguing with her cook, Roy.
“I don’t care if pubs in Ireland do it. We aren’t in Ireland. We’re in Montana, and I’m not putting them on the menu!”
Roy stormed into the kitchen, leaving Lizzy alone in the front.
