The voice behind me is low and unhurried. It’s close enough that I feel it in my back before I turn around and it seeps through me. I turn toward the sound and my breath catches in my chest.
The man is tall and broad-shouldered in a way that makes the fluorescent lights feel smaller. It’s like his presence is a physical fact the whole store has to account for. His deputy's badge catches the overhead light and his uniform is pressed with precision.
His face is quiet. Not blank.Quiet.There's a big difference. There’s a comfort in his stare that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe it’s the combination of his dark eyes and a jaw that could cut glass that takes my breath away. But it feels like more than that.
“No, that’s not…” I stop myself when I realize that I have no room for ego right now. "I can't?—"
"You can," he says. Quiet. Final. He steps around me and puts a twenty and a five on the counter like it's nothing. "You just did. Keep the change, Earl.”
“Appreciate you, Deputy."
Then he picks up the bag without missing a beat.Mybag. He heads toward the door with the diapers and the duck crackers. I should say something. I should refuse. I should do literally anything except stand here with my face doing something I can't control. But in the end, I readjust Birdie on my hip and trail behind him.
“I appreciate this more than you know. I can take it from here.” I mutter the words and know they aren’t enough.
“You’ve got your hands full. I’m going to get you squared away. Third row back, right?”
“Yes.”
My eyes sting and I blink back the tears with everything in me as I point him toward my car. I am not crying in a general store in a town I have been in for approximately eleven minutes in front of a deputy who just paid for my daughter's diapers. I get the door open and slide Birdie into her car seat.
"Thank you." I turn to look up at him and then take the bag. Our fingers brush and my whole arm lights up from the electric charge. "I'm going to pay you back. I'm going to?—"
"I didn't ask you to."
"I know you didn't. But I can, I will once I get settled here.” I tuck a rogue strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m not used to asking for help.”
The ghost of a smile plays on his lips. “I think I could have guessed that about you. Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad to hear you’re planning on settling here.” He holds my eyes and I feel it reverberate through every inch of my body. "I'm Ryan.”
"Cece."
“It’s nice to meet you Cece.” He looks at me for one more beat. Then he nods once, like something's been noted, and he steps back to let me pass. “You have a place in town?”
“Yes, I’m staying with my sister at her cabin.” She doesn’t know it yet of course, but I don’t mention that part. “It’s just up the road… I think.”
“Who is your sister?”
“Evelyn Porter she and her husband?—”
“James? I know them well. Know the place too. Do you know where you’re going?”
I hold up my phone with a laugh. “Not yet, but Google Maps does.”
He laughs too and then shakes his head. “Adorable. But you aren’t making it there relying on that phone.” He opens my driver's side door and waves a hand for me to step inside. “Come on. Follow me, before the sky lets go on us and your little one wakes up. You’ve got to respect the weather out here. I’ve got you.”
I refuse, but the man is nothing if not decisive. Just like that the door is closed and I’m following Ryan’s cruiser up the winding canyon roads. My heart thuds in my chest and my hand feels shaky on the wheel.
I blow out a deep breath. I’ve got to calm down. This isn’t a big deal. It’s me and my girl in our car together. Doing things just the two of us is our new normal. Only now I’ve got diapers, crackers that are going to make her smile, and a smoking hot deputy leading the way. All the while, Birdie hasn’t even opened her eyes. She has no way of knowing that everything has changed.
CHAPTER 2
RYAN
I’ve got you.I don't know why I said it.
What a weird ass thing to say to a stranger. But it came out before I could file it. Anyway the way her breath caught and then went out slowly tells me it was the right thing to say, even if I'm going to think about why I said it for the rest of the night.
I glance at her in the rearview mirror. She is something special. She’s sweet in a way she tries to hide, but there’s a strength there too. Not to mention the way her curves filled out the round of her jeans in all the right places.
