Page 44 of Rangers Unexpected Return

Wolf had decided I needed to learn every part of the tavern business.

So far, I have served the wrong beer to three people, forgotten to put ice in a glass of iced tea, and charged a man for 14 hamburgers instead of 1.

The register and I had reached an uneasy truce.

It stopped making angry noises at me.

I stopped threatening to throw it through a window.

“You’re getting better,” Nora said as she carried a tray from the kitchen.

“I haven’t broken anything.”

“That puts you ahead of Trigger.”

Trigger frowned. “Why am I constantly attacked in my own place of business?”

Rylie looked at him. “Because you make it easy.”

The front door opened.

Sheriff Tate walked inside.

The conversation near the entrance changed.

People greeted him by name. Two customers raised their glasses. Someone asked whether he had caught the person speeding near the school.

The sheriff answered everyone before reaching the bar.

“Rylie.”

She straightened.

I heard the difference in his voice.

Not the sheriff to the citizen.

Father to daughter.

“Dad.”

“Can I talk to you?”

Trigger moved beside her.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“That isn’t what your face says.”

Tate looked toward the crowded dining room.

“I have some Dallas detectives in town. One of them says she knows you.”

Rylie’s eyebrows lifted. “Who?”

“Judy Langley.”