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My hand is propped on the top of the steering wheel, and I think about it. “The older I’ve gotten, the less I understand why people do anything. I guess that’s why towns need sheriffs.”
“I’m going to be a sheriff when I grow up!” He smiles up at me, pride in his eyes. “Just like my dad.”
My stomach tightens, and warmth filters through my chest. I’m generally considered something of a grumpy badass, but this little guy… He’s a lot like I was at his age, thinking my dad was the greatest and wanting to grow up to be just like him.
I thought I’d have a chance to work right alongside him, but a heart-attack took him two days after I graduated from college. I’ve missed him every day since. Especially when life hits hard. Especially when I need advice.
I went from being a student, to being a Marine, to being a sheriff, and now Owen wants to follow in my footsteps.
“You’ll be one of the best.” I glance at him before returning my eyes to the road.
He sits straighter, lifting his chin, and I almost grin. I had no idea when he was born how much he’d carry me through the dark times.
He was barely old enough to remember his mom when she was killed four years ago on her evening walk. I’d mourned her and pledged to find the person who hit her and drove off without even looking back.
Then a year later, when I’d finally worked up the strength to go through her things, I found a box of love letters from Clive Stevens, who happened to live on the very street where she was hit.
He’d even had the balls to attend her funeral before he moved back to wherever he was from. It never occurred to me to be suspicious of her evening walks, but after that, I pretty much swore off anyone not related to me by blood. They’re the only ones you can trust, and even then, it’s good to keep your eyes open.
“Do you know what a zorse is?” Owen looks up at me, bouncing Zander on his leg. “It’s a cross between a zebra and a horse!”
“Is that so?” I park the truck in front of the courthouse, which houses the mayor’s office and our headquarters.
“A group of zebras is called a dazzle. I wonder if a group of zorses would be called a zazzle?”
He looks up at me like I would know. “Forget sheriff, you should be a zebrologist when you grow up.”
“That’s not a thing!” He groans as he climbs out of the truck, slamming the door and trotting up beside me, slipping his little hand in mine.
It warms my chest, again almost making me smile. I don’t smile often, and I definitely don’t hold hands, but with Owen, everything is different.
“You can be the first.” I scoot him through the glass doors ahead of me, hoping Holly, our secretary and dispatcher, ordered breakfast—or at least has a pot of coffee ready.
“Aiden, I heard you were at Terra Belle’s Pickle Patch.” I’m met at the door by Edna Brewer, longtime mayor of Eureka, and unfortunately my boss. “My intuition tells me something sinister is afoot.”
“Terra would agree with you. She left her house without her wig on.”
Edna’s dark brown eyes widen. “You saw Terra’s real hair?”
“She had a handkerchief around her head, and she was in overalls.”
“Only something truly sinister would cause Terra to leave the house in such a state.”
“I suspect it’s nothing more sinister than teenagers.” I start to walk past her, but she pulls me up short with her next words.
“Owen, your father is a good man, despite his lack of faith.”
My jaw tightens. We were almost having a nice moment, and she had to go there. “I prefer sticking to the facts when doing my job.”
“Magic has never let me down, Sheriff, which is more than I can say of people.”
She’ll get no arguments from me when it comes to people, however, “Where was magic when Lars needed it?”
Her eyes narrow. “What happened to my son-in-law was a tragic accident, but escapologists are not magicians.”
Neither are you. The retort is on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t say it. We’re fighting old battles, and we only go in circles.
The Brewers and the Stones declared a truce after my father died, and I’ve done my best to honor it since starting as sheriff—as long as Edna keeps her hocus pocus to herself and out of my work.
