I chuckled because she looked so startled. “Well, you told me we could bring dates, so, I have a date.”
“You have a date?” a voice came from behind me.
I glanced over, catching Griffin’s gaze. “Yeah. Is that a problem with you?”
Beck joined the conversation as he came through the doorway. “It is a problem for no one. Tori’s good people.”
“Good people?” Griffin arched a brow.
“She grew up here. She was a few years behind me in school,” Beck explained.
“Cade knows her well,” Beck added as Cade Masters came walking in from the police station side of the building and rested his elbows on the counter.
“Who do I know well?” Cade asked, his gaze bouncing between us.
“Tori Shackelford,” Beck added.
“Ah, yeah, Tori’s great,” Cade said simply.
“How do you know her so well?” I asked, a little too casually.
Cade’s brows hitched slightly. “Her dad worked with mine on the police force here for years. Left after the drama.”
“Drama?” Maisie prompted quickly.
Griffin glanced at her, waggling his brows. “Holy smokes, is there town gossip that Maisie doesn’t know?”
“Hey,” Maisie said, narrowing her eyes. “I’m the main dispatcher. I hear all the news. What do you mean, drama?” Her gaze whipped between Beck and Cade.
“Babe, this is old news. It was years before you moved here,” Beck said. “I’d just graduated from high school.”
“To make a long story short,” Cade jumped in, “Tori’s dad was on the police force, and everybody loved him. My dad loved him. Hell, I loved him. My mom used to babysit Tori plenty. Everything blew up because her dad was having an affair with Tori’s mom’s best friend. They were so close that Tori called her ‘Aunt Shelly.’ That gossip all but burned the phone lines in town.”
Oh. This was the history Tori had told me about. I guess I hadn’t realized the scale of the fallout. I hadn’t contemplated how it would’ve rippled through a town this size.
Cade shook his head. “It was ugly. Up until then, Tori’s dad was beloved.”
“Like yours,” Beck offered.
“Something like that,” Cade replied. “Anyway, Tori’s dad and Shelly split town. Even got married.”
Maisie’s mouth dropped open before she closed it, her eyes snapping. “Oh, I don’t like this story at all.”
“It’s not a story. It’s what happened,” Cade said dryly. “Anyway, Tori’s mom never left town. Her dad and Shelly moved to Anchorage. I don’t even know how things went for them. I know my mom felt really bad. She and Tori’s mom were pretty close. Still are.”
“Shit happens, you know,” Beck added with a sigh. “I guess you never know what some people will do.”
I thought about Tori crying the other night, the emotion in her voice, and the bruised vulnerability she carried like armor. I wanted to find her dad and clock him one. Not because she needed me to, but damn, that was shitty.
“Wow. Talk about trust issues,” Maisie said.
Quiet fell around us for a few beats.
“People do shitty things,” Griffin muttered.
“Is her dad still around?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Cade shook his head. “Nah. Passed away from a heart attack, I think. Shelly just moved back to town.”
