AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She walked into the office. Confident. Gorgeous. And the scuff across the side of her shiny burgundy high heels barely marred her impeccable attire.
2
She stared at the group of men sitting in the construction office. Which looked like organized chaos. Maps of varying shapes and sizes littered the walls, stuck up by mismatched thumbtacks and straight pins. The little table that held the coffeepot had spilled sugar and coffee grounds on it, and the eight-foot table next to it had more maps and rolled up papers laying on it.
“Well, Kenna Lawrence, is that you?”
She glanced at Sheriff Rex Cranford. She hadn’t seen him in years.
“Yes, Sheriff Cranford, it’s me.”
Sheriff Cranford sat forward in his chair and looked at the two men sitting next to him. “Kenna Lawrence, this here is Henry Delany and Spencer Lawson. Over here is Baxter Fenshaw, the construction manager.”
Spencer stood and held his hand out to her. “It’s nice to meet you.” He had a sly grin on his handsome face but said nothing of their earlier run-in.
“It’s nice to meet you too.”
Henry, the other man, was big, as big as she’d ever seen not on a football field. He stretched his hand out. “Ma’am. Nice to meet you.”
She shook his hand and nodded, and he sat. Spencer still stood. She noticed he moved to the left of his chair and held his hand out to it. “Please take a seat.”
She sat, feeling incredibly out of place. Sheriff Cranford started the conversation. “Kenna, when did you get back to town and where’s your daddy?”
Where’s your daddy?Damn it, she hated this. Just because she’s a woman, others looked at her as if she was too delicate to do her job.
“I got back to town a couple days ago, and my daddy is at home. He’s been having issues with his heart and the doctor has him on bedrest until all his tests come back. He asked me to come back home and help him for a while. So, as soon as he’s better, I’m going back to Houston.”
“I didn’t hear a darned thing about his heart. I’m sorry to hear that.”
She shrugged. “It was sudden. He’s been having episodes, but he’s hidden them from everyone. It does no good to let others know how frail you are when you’re trying to serve papers on them.”
“Well, that’s true enough.”
The sheriff looked up at Spencer and nodded. “Spencer and Henry here can deliver your papers to Craig Howard. I understand that Flynn DeMario is suing Craig for damages and personal injury. With the recent events, I don’t think it’s safe for you to go up there alone.”
“No.” She blurted it out, then took a deep breath and reminded herself to stay off the defensive. “I can handle it. I’ve been serving papers since I was eighteen years old. It’s our family business.”
Sheriff Cranford leaned forward. “I know you’ve been doing this a long time, Kenna. And the family business and all. But I don’t think you understand what you’re up against here.” Sheriff Cranford looked at Spencer. “Tell her Spencer.”
He cleared his throat, and she watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. That led her eyes to his broad shoulders and the tear in his shirt. Then she remembered his powerful arms wrapped around her waist and her cheeks felt warm.
“Recently, Craig has been incredibly unpredictable. Gerard Weston and his son, Jasiah, have been trying to manage him, from what little we’re told, but he’s not happy about the changes up there and he sure will not be happy having papers served on him.”
“I understand that. Believe it or not, nearly every person I serve is mad about it. So that’s nothing new for me.”
Henry glanced her way. “But Craig is unpredictable in a way that is deadly. When Elena left with Aidyn, their very livelihood left with them. They don’t have a brewer and they don’t have a way to make money. Not the money they used to make from the elixir. Some of their people are coming down and selling their crafts and wooden furniture pieces. Some have gotten jobs. From what we’ve heard, Craig makes their lives hell up there because they’re caving to the government’s pressure.”
She shook her head. “But I’ve served people just like him. Criminals, thieves, gun toting anti-establishment—you name it. I’m fine to do this on my own.”
Henry turned to look at Spencer and she saw Spencer’s jaw tighten. Sheriff Cranford leaned forward once again; the metal chair he sat in squeaked.
“Kenna. How about you let Spencer or Henry escort you up the mountain? At least if anything were to happen, you’d have someone with some brawn to back you up.”
Her shoulders dropped, and she realized she would get nowhere in here. She stood and nodded, first to the sheriff, then to Baxter, Henry, then she turned to Spencer. “I’ll let you know how it goes once I’ve served him.”
Her heels clipped across the floor, and she took steady breaths to keep from crying. She was so sick and tired of this “little woman” crap. It was the reason she left this town. Small towns tended to not change quickly. This one apparently hadn’t changed at all. She’d been so hopeful.
Once she exited, she carefully navigated the metal steps so her heels didn’t fall into a hole in the stairs and trip her. She watched her feet as she stepped down and noticed the scuff on her heel. “Dammit.” She huffed. So much for her new shoes. She’d so hoped to come back to town and not be Howie Lawrence’s little girl, but the woman she was.
