“The freezer died. ”
“Oh. Okay. ” She wasn’t expecting that one. Not so bad. Her mind flipped through the contact list in her head, deciding who to call to get it fixed. Meantime, they’d need to move the food. “Can’t Sully just transfer the food to the chest freezer? We’ve got one in the garage. ”
“No,” Billy said, “that freezer’s down, too. ”
“Both of our freezers?”
He nodded.
Her sister piped up, “Weird. ” Clearly not in touch with the gravity of the situation.
>
Sorrow shot her a look, feeling surprised and a little annoyed to find that she’d followed them. “Thanks, Sherlock. ”
She felt her sister’s eagle eyes boring into her and the sheriff, scrutinizing every move. Why was she tagging along? The girl was a varsity flirt, and that she was even around for this interaction made Sorrow intensely uncomfortable.
“There’s more,” Billy said. “The food’s all spoiled. The units must’ve been down for a while before anybody noticed. ”
That stopped her in her tracks. “Crap. ” Hundreds of dollars in frozen patties, chicken tenders, corn dogs…all the junk her dad insisted Sully cook up; not much of it was fresh.
She felt a rock settle in the pit of her stomach. “All that food…that’ll cost us a fortune. ” And then something else hit her. There weren’t many lodgers these days, which meant the family relied on the tavern for income. They couldn’t afford to turn people away. “What are we going to feed people?”
“Can you call your distributor?” Billy asked. “Have an emergency delivery made?”
“We don’t really have one. ”
Billy pinned his eyes on her. “What do you mean you don’t have a distributor?”
“Well, stuff like bread gets delivered. But Dad says he doesn’t trust the distributors. He likes me and Sully to pick out the meat ourselves. ”
“Wow,” said Laura. “That sucks. ”
“Yeah, thanks. ” Sorrow rubbed her temples and took a deep breath. Just go away, she wanted to tell her sister. Or help out.
Having Laura there to witness this latest crisis, feeling her scrutinize every aspect of this interaction with Billy…it all made her so uncomfortable. And in a way that went beyond the usual sisterly annoyance.
Could that mean she did have a thing for the sheriff?
He spoke in a low voice, aimed for her ears only. “Don’t worry. We’ll handle this one problem at a time. I have some business in Silver City tomorrow—why don’t you come with? We’ll hit one of those big box stores in the morning, you can stock up, maybe even buy a small freezer unit to tide you over till you figure this out. I’ll be driving the SUV—it’s more than big enough to fit whatever you need. ”
Relief washed through her. “Okay. ”
She took another deep breath. A plan—she liked plans. They made her feel in control. She attempted a smile, having found humor the best way to deal with this ridiculous string of bad luck. “The Sheriffmobile, huh? Does that mean we can speed?”
“I won’t tell if you won’t. ”
She looked up at him to express her thanks, but what awaited her stole her breath. Billy was staring down at her, such a solid male presence, his rich brown eyes trained only on her.
Oh, crap.
She did have a thing for him.
Nineteen
Had he seriously just told the woman he’d speed to the store for her? And in an official vehicle, no less. What the hell had gotten into him?
Billy jogged to catch up to Sorrow, striding purposefully to the tavern. His eyes grazed down her back—God help him, that was what’d gotten into him. Her fleece jacket and jeans hugged every curve, and he fantasized about giving that rump a good squeeze.