That was from a girl’s point of view, according to his grandma, who loved to gossip and Maybelline, the dispatcher of the smallest police department on God’s green earth. Fate had three officers whose calls usually involved a stuck vehicle, a broken-down tractor in the road, someone’s dogs got loose, a ‘Rory-Spotting’ that sent Maybelline into atizzy despite her married status, or gossip about the infamous Becky Sue.
Jack was the mouthy one who had nothing to lose. He believed in luck, a whole lot of it, honestly – with a helping of destiny. I mean, when you live in a town named Fate, there has to be a bit of magic somewhere, right? A sprinkling of fairy dust, a mist of something otherworldly… or perhaps that was pollen.
Today was gonna be another boring day, another dreary shift, spent harassing his buddies at the station, pushing Maybelline to make her famous banana pudding – or finding some other way to amuse himself. Heck, they didn’t even have a fire department in Fate for him to harass like other towns… yet he couldn’t leave.
He grew up here, ran through these fields and trees like a barefoot heathen, learned how to catch a catfish in the moonlight with only his hands, and he had so many memories that were precious within the town that never seemed to grow, never seemed to expand, almost as if it was frozen in time.
He heard about those wild boys at the fire station in Ember Creek, shook his head at some of the antics that had reached his ears from Yonder… and truthfully, the only reason they actually had somewhat of a police station was it was too far out of Tyler’s district and not close enough to Lufkin or Nacogdoches. If you looked at a map, managed to find Tyler, brushed off a speck of dirt… Fate would be the shadow of yet another shadow, if you meandered on a dirt road down to the southeast –maybe. One stop light, one mail truck, a family-run convenience store, one gas station… and if you blink – then you’d pass right through Fate.
That was home.
One lonely, barely-there police officer, one small town time forgot, one old house he was fixing up with hisfree time for a family someday… and one heartfelt wish for something more. That silent wish had gone unanswered for so long that Jack thought today would be just like all of the other ones – until today.
Her.
Heidi.
Now, Jack might have been born at night, but it wasn’tlastnight. He took one look at that woman, saw a keen lack of appeal in her eyes, and knew it was on him to change her mind. She was a novelty, a new person, fresh ‘meat’ in town, and he found her first.
If that wasn’t destiny, he didn’t know what else it could be.
“Now, Miss Heidi…”
“You can address me Miss Thompson,” she snapped at him – and that was perfectly fine. He liked a little sass in a woman, which is why he was always harassing Maybelline. She was safe – married, with grandbabies, and didn’t take flak from anyone, much less him.
“Fine, Heidi,” he chuckled. “We’ll play your little game for a hot-minute…”
“I’m in a police car with one bare foot, and my car is stranded on the side of the road. How is any of this a ‘game’ to you, officer?”
She was pissed – and he was fighting back a smile at her reaction. Gosh, did she even realize how adorable she was talking with her hands like that? It just made him want to grab her wrists, hold them in front of her, to see if it made her silent.
“Feisty…” he clicked his tongue at her – and her eyebrows shot up as her mouth worked before the hands went flying. He was sincerely grateful there was a grate between him and his newfound fascination – Miss Heidi Thompson.
“Where are we going? I thought you said that town was a few miles away – that means minutes to anyone who drives faster than idle. If you didn’t know it, ‘Oss-a-fer’, the pedal on the right is the gas… so let’s do us both a favor and mash that sucker down as hard as you can – right now!”
And he chuckled.
“You think this is funny?” she railed, her face getting redder and redder, as he just drove along slowly, navigating this bad patch of road so she didn’t bump her head. The debate on whether this road was Ember Creek’s, Fate’s, or part of the Baird Property was getting a little old. He was half tempted to patch it himself… except he was pouring every extra dollar into his house. This road was the town’s responsibility – not his. “None of this is funny! Not the massive pile of cow poop…”
“Horse,” he offered – but she was in such a snit that she ignored him, still yelling at the back of his head like that was where his ears were.
“Now some redneck-Cletus has thrown my only pair of shoes that I have with me into a field. It doesn’t help that I’ve got two flat tires, or…”
“Are you finished yet?”
“Did you find that gas pedal yet?” she shot back, blasting hotter than a flame.
“I was trying to be nice to my passenger by not flinging you into the headliner by taking a pothole at thirty-five miles per hour.”
“It’s thirty-five out here?” she yelped, looking shocked in the rearview mirror.
“Are you admitting to speeding, Miss Thompson?” he asked carefully, trying to hold back a smile as she suddenly sank back down into her seat and looked away from him – muttering ‘No’ under her breath.
It would only be a few minutes before they enteredtown, then he’d run her over to the market, where hopefully they’d have something. If not, he’d go by the church and see if anyone had donated anything lately. The nearest shopping mall was about forty-five minutes away in Tyler or Lufkin. As they started to drive into town toward the grocery,heck, all of Fate… he heard an exclamation from his passenger, causing him to look up in the rearview mirror, hearing something in her voice. Heidi was staring out the passenger window, looking around in a mixture of disbelief and dismayed surrender.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” she breathed, horrified.
“Welcome to Fate,” he began, and saw her eyes meet his in the mirror as she swallowed before shaking her head.
