LUNA
“I don’t understand.It doesn’t make any sense, I tell you. No sense at all.”
I curled my lips between my teeth and gave big eyes to Cheyanne. We were both on shift at Warren’s General Store today, and with no choice in the matter, I had to tell Georgia I hadn’t gotten the job at her son’s firm.
She’d been devastated, more than I could have expected and, for the last five minutes, had been saying the same thing over and over. She didn’t understand. She didn’t understand.
“I think, maybe I just wasn’t the right fit,” I explained, feeling the uncanny need to ease her distress. “It’s really okay.”
“No, it damn well isn’t,” she said, slapping her latest romance novel down on the counter. “And not the right fit, my droopy round behind.”
“Oh, Georgia, no. You don’t look a day over thirty,” Cheyanne said, trying to lighten the mood, and earned herself an angry-mom scowl for her efforts.
“Don’t you try to sweet talk me into being in a better mood. I’m fit to be tied right now and I intend to stay that way. You would have been the perfect fit for him, I just know it. No sense, I tell you. This makes no damn sense. I have half a mind to call him and find out what the hell’s wrong with his fool head.”
A wave of panic crashed over me. Abandoning my task of restocking the beer in the refrigerators along the back wall, I ran toward the front of the store, chasing after Georgia as she made her way to the register where she kept her cellphone. Cheyanne matched me step for step, coming up the aisle beside mine.
“No, please, don’t waste your time. Really, it’s fine.”
“Yeah, you don’t want to go putting your nose in your son’s business, right?” Cheyanne threw out, desperately trying to latch onto something that would save my ass. “I mean, how would you feel if he came in here telling you who you should and shouldn’t hire?”
“Exactly!” I agreed swiftly.
Georgia didn’t exactly pause in her mission, but she did slow down, thank God. “I get what you’re saying, but the main difference between this and the scenario you pointed out is that I’m right.”
“I’m sure he’s under enough pressure as it is, what with the move and starting his own practice and being a single parent.” And being a raging dick, I thought to myself. “You wouldn’t want to add to that stress, would you?” I felt lower than low, playing her in such a way, but I respected this woman like crazy, and the last thing I wanted was for her to know I’d had a one-night stand with her only son, especially since my desire to stay single and untethered was already a bone of contention with her.
She stopped, and I nearly collapsed in relief. “Well,” she dragged out. “That’s true. He’s had it pretty rough lately. I mean, first the divorce, then everything with poor Evan. What that child’s gone through? No wonder she’s acting out the way she is.”
I had to admit, my curiosity was more than a little piqued by that, but I couldn’t let it distract me.
“See? I know you want what’s best for me, but I’m going to be fine. And it just means I get to spend more time here with you and Dez,” I added brightly, hoping I wasn’t going overboard.
Georgia cupped my cheek. The affectionate gesture made my vision swim, and I had to blink to keep the tears at bay. She was so tender, so loving, everything my own mother never was, and I’d have given anything to have had a mother like her. “I only want you to be happy, sweetheart. Happy and healthy and stress-free. You and Cheyanne are like my own babies. You’re my girls. I want you both to have everything you could possibly want.”
Oh man, could this woman get any more incredible?
Reaching up, I placed my hand on top of hers and gave it an affectionate squeeze before letting out an oof when Cheyanne barreled into me from behind and wrapped us both in a group hug.
“I love you both,” she said with a sniffle. “You guys are the freaking best!”
My laugh was raspy with emotion. “I love you guys too,” I said, wrapping one arm around Georgia at my front and the other around Cheyanne at my back.
The moment was unexpected and beautiful, but short-lived when the whimsical chime of the bell over the door alerted us to a new customer, forcing us to break apart.
“Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but I’m afraid we might have a problem.”
I turned at the sound of the familiar voice. Sheriff Michaels, an extremely attractive man somewhere in his late-thirties to early-forties, stood in the opened doorway of Warren’s General Store. It was obvious by the tan uniform shirt and olive-green tactical pants that he was on shift, but what I didn’t understand was why he was standing there with his hand on the shoulder of Nate’s teenaged daughter.
“Evan?” Georgia broke from our little huddle and started toward her granddaughter. “What in the world is going on?”
Sheriff Michaels kept his hand firmly on the girl’s shoulder, pulling her back when she took a step toward Georgia. “You know this girl, Mrs. Warren?”
Georgia planted her hands on her hips and shot him a hard look. “I do. She’s my granddaughter. Now, I’ve known you since you were born, Sheriff. I had a hand in catching you when you used to strip your diaper off and run around naked every chance you got, so you better tell me what’s happening before I’m forced to call your mother.”
For a big, strong man in authority, he sure did blush fast under the haranguing of a sweet old lady.
“Yes ma’am,” he muttered before remembering he was the sheriff of these here parts and pulling his act together. It was all so funny I looked back over my shoulder at Cheyanne so we could share an inconspicuous giggle. At least until he spoke next. “I just so happened to be driving by on my way back to the station when I caught this one out front, keying a black Chevy sedan. A Malibu, I think.”