was he going to do?
“Okay, well...” Brett picked up the bribe, the critical bag of pie from the diner. “Glad I made the call.”
“You’re a great guy. I know you’ll find the woman you deserve,” Lila said before she ended the call.
When he had a minute, he’d come up with a new plan. Right now, he had to go and make sure his boss didn’t fire him.
As he strode past the front desk, Macy Gentry, the woman who kept the ranger station operational while treating guests like VIPs, whistled. “He’s called twice looking for you.”
No doubt. Ash Kingfisher had a million different balls in the air as the supervisor for this ranger station. He didn’t need to be kept waiting.
Brett tapped on the boss’s door, and then entered, waving the white bag as a flag of surrender. “I brought pie.”
Ash grunted, and then pointed at the ratty seat across from him. “Thought cops were supposed to be about doughnuts.” They had this conversation at least once a week. Brett had started out as a cop in Knoxville. As a kid, he’d wanted nothing more than to get out of Sweetwater and the shadow of the nature reserve. As soon as Leanne had told him about their second baby on the way, he’d decided Sweetwater might be the only place that could save them.
In Knoxville, Leanne could get into too much trouble. In Sweetwater, any trouble she found would eventually make its way back to him. Unfortunately, that made it harder to love her.
“Doughnuts, pie, mainly pastries in general. We try not to discriminate.” Brett slid the second cup of coffee over and watched Ash tug the lid off and drink deep. He must have already had a full Monday, too.
“You all set for this management class?” Ash asked as he shuffled papers across his desk.
Brett grumbled. That was the best answer he could come up with. He’d been a ranger at the Smoky Valley Nature Reserve for more than five years. This promotion to senior law enforcement officer was nice, but it came with headaches he hadn’t anticipated. This step was required, though, so he’d get through it.
“Doesn’t matter. I’ve postponed the training as long as I can. Go, or...else.” Ash held out both hands. “Can’t change the rules for you, right?”
Brett understood that. Arguing about his personal situation or explaining how well he was already performing would accomplish nothing. “No, sir.”
“Before you go, I wanted to talk to you about this opportunity the chief ranger sent our way.” Ash pulled out a file folder. “State’s looking to set up regional law enforcement task forces focused on terrorist activities. I’m not sure how the nature reserve can be involved. I suspect the chief ranger is not certain, either. However, we both think you’re the best man for the job.” Ash leaned back in his chair and claimed one of the containers of pie.
Brett could understand their thinking. There was a good chance he’d worked with the other agencies involved in East Tennessee. After the day he’d had, all he wanted to do was put his head on the desk and rest. “I’d be happy to, sir. Whatever I can do for the reserve. You know that.”
Ash sighed as he took a bite of the pie. “Well, I figured you’d say that, so I already put your name in. It means monthly meetings in Knoxville.”
Brett finished off his coffee and wished for more. The pie was sweet, but only coffee would give him the kick he needed to go any further with this day.
“You look like a man who’s running on fumes, Hendrix.” Ash took another bite of pie. “Anything I need to know about?”
If Ash hadn’t already heard about his woes through the grapevine, Brett wouldn’t be the man to tell him.
“Nope, I’m going to stop by the office, make sure the patrols are set. Macy has all my contact info and I’ll have my cell.” Brett picked up his hat and stood.
“Keep me posted and thank you for your service.” Ash waved his empty container. “I learned that from a weeklong training session at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Officers Academy. See what an effective manager I became?”
“They do good work,” Brett said with a reluctant smile.
“Yes, they do. Make sure you get some sleep. I can’t have you napping in your car. Watch the speed limit on your way back down, and the stop signs here on the reserve mean full stops, not hesitations. Got it?”
Brett opened his mouth, but there was no answer to that, so he nodded.
“I see everything.” Ash dumped the plastic container into a garbage can.
“Recycle,” Macy yelled from her desk. Firmly.
“Eyes in the back of her head,” Ash muttered before cursing and fishing out the container.
“If that’s all you needed...” Brett stood next to the door, his hand on the knob as he plotted his next steps. He had to be in Nashville by three. He’d be cutting it close.
“Dismissed.” Ash nodded, and then added, “Hey, Hendrix, I know things right now are rough. If it gets to be too much, tell me.”
Brett agreed, and then stepped out. There was no way he’d ask his boss for help. That would be a sure path to the sidelines. He loved his job. He didn’t want to sit out any of the action.
Not even a task force that amounted to lunches filled with gossip all in the name of cooperation.
After he had a chance to check in with the rangers on patrol and to double-check the schedule that he’d double-checked every day for the past two weeks, he slid back into his car and hit the road.
With every mile, the certainty that something would go wrong grew. He hated being away from his kids. In a last-ditch effort to calm his nerves, he phoned his mother.
“Did you call to apologize?” she said without any other hello.
“No, I called to thank you.” No good would come of explaining how much more he needed her to do than she was already doing.
Her huff was the answer he’d expected. “And to warn you Riley’s up to something. It involves her hair. She’s either planning to cut it off or make me think that’s what she’s doing while she does something else.” Brett tightened his hands on the steering wheel and wished her acting out would stop there. If it made her feel better, he’d hand her the clippers himself.
But nothing seemed to make her feel better. Her mother had left town. Riley was angry.
She deserved to be angry.
“Well, as long as she’s not trying to hurt anybody else, I guess that’s good enough.” His mother never had been great at encouragement. Now the only thought that stuck in his brain was that Riley might go past teenage drama to something worse.
“Try to go easy on her. I’ll call tonight to make sure the day went okay.” Brett wondered if he should tell his mother Lila had bailed, too, or let the whole situation ride until he was home.
“Sounds fine,” she said, “but I wanted to let you know I signed up for a singles cruise in December. Don’t know how this thing with the new lady is going, but you could set up a visit around then. Lots of happy family time. Holidays. Cheer in the air, all that.”
His mother had been desperate to get back to the life of the single retiree almost from the first week she’d arrived to help. He wasn’t sure he blamed her because there wasn’t much for her in Sweetwater, but the extra drop of bad news was more than he could take.
“All right. We’ll figure it out. Talk to you tonight, Mom.” He ended the call before she could squawk that her name was Diane and he should learn to use it.
That was how most arguments between them finished. He liked to tick her off by calling her Mom. To get that dig in without crossing whatever line he was unwilling to go over. She’d