Violet met his gaze. “Seventy-five dollars. All small bills. I use it mostly to make change when the little kids come in to pay.Most people pay with their credit or debit card.” She looked back at the empty space where the box was. “I had a feelin’, so I went to the bank yesterday mornin’.”
So she had expected this? No wonder she didn’t trust men. Her own father, the man she would’ve seen as a role model growing up, didn’t instill much confidence.
“What do you wanna do?” he asked when he noticed the sheriff approaching the building.
“Nothin’.”
“You could press charges,” he suggested, though he knew even before the words were out that she wasn’t going to do that. In a way, he understood. He wasn’t sure he’d press charges if he were in the same position.
“Violet?” Sheriff Endsley called as he stepped into the store. “Is anything missin’?”
“No,” she said, sounding more confident than a moment ago. “They probably got spooked.”
Simon was watching the sheriff, which was the only reason he saw his expression shift. He knew the cash box was missing, too. He would’ve seen the cut cable when he came in to clear the building.
“We have an eyewitness who said they saw a truck that looked a lot like your father’s parked behind the building a short time ago.”
Violet didn’t say a word as she stared at the sheriff. Simon remained quiet.
“I assume you won’t want to press charges?”
“No,” she said quickly.
Sheriff Endsley sighed. “All right. I’m gonna write up the report. If you change your mind, just stop in and see me.”
“Okay.”
“CJ’s gonna board up the door,” the sheriff explained, his stern gaze flipping between him and Violet. “If you need anything from me, just holler.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.”
An hour later, Simon was pulling up to Violet’s house. He’d helped to clean up some of the glass while CJ, one of the firefighters, had boarded up the door. CJ had offered to repair it tomorrow if Violet wanted him to. When she’d tried to tell him no, Simon intervened, asking him if he could take care of it since she would be attending her cousin’s wedding.
“Thanks for drivin’ me,” Violet said, not moving to get out of the car.
“I’m sorry that happened.” He didn’t tell her he was as angry as he was sympathetic. He wanted to confront her father, if for no other reason than to tell him he was a piece of shit for hurting her the way he did.
Violet turned toward him. “I know I said I wanted to take things slow…”
Simon held his breath, unsure which way she was going with this.
Her eyes met his in the dark. “Would you stay tonight?”
Like he wouldevertell her no.
“Of course.”
Simon got out of the car and walked Violet up to the house. He held the screen door open while she unlocked it, but rather than follow her in, he hesitated for a second. As much as he wanted to stay, he knew she was dealing with an emotional upheaval. It was his job to ensure she wasn’t letting her emotions steer her in a direction she didn’t want to go.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, turning to look at him.
“Are you sure about this?”
Violet’s eyebrows angled downward, her confusion evident. “You don’t want to stay?”
Simon walked in, the screen door closing behind him. He reached for Violet, pulling her in and cupping her face. “Baby, if I had my way, I’d spend every spare minute with you because there’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
