“What’s going on, Thomas?” Sheriff Skye asked in a very police officer, no-nonsense tone.
“She’s pissed off at me,” I told him. “I just wanted to…talk to her.”
“What did you do?”
I really didn’t like the way he leaned back and put his hand over his gun. I swallowed hard and tried to come up with something I could actually say.
“It was all a misunderstanding,” I started to explain.
“If you touched her…” he said with a snarl, “I don’t care who you are…”
“I didn’t!” I yelled. “That’s just it! I didn’t do anything—I swear! But…well, someone thought I did…and told someone else, and…shit!”
“Don’t swear,” he growled again. “Do you think I don’t know your reputation?”
I was tempted to completely lose it and start screaming. In the back of my mind, I knew he wasn’t going to do anything to me even if I came out and said I’d fucked his daughter on the hood of his patrol car. He couldn’t touch me, and he knew it, too.
But that wasn’t going to help the situation.
At all.
Against my better judgment, I opened my mouth and told him the truth.
“She helped me,” I said quietly. “Last Saturday was…um…the same day as…”
I couldn’t finish. Sheriff Skye’s voice softened.
“I know what day it was.”
I nodded.
“Um…Nicole saw me…at the cemetery.” I put my head back in my hands and pulled at my hair. “I wasn’t doing that well. She…she brought me back here. She made me dinner.”
I didn’t think he needed to know all the gory details.
“And?”
“And…um…someone saw my car here. They just assumed…” I looked back up at him. “I didn’t do anything, Sheriff. I swear I didn’t. But people talk, and Nicole heard it. Now she’s mad, and I just wanted to tell her I didn’t say anything.”
“That explains it,” he said with a bit of a smirk.
“Explains what?” I asked.
“All the Mexican food,” he said. “I couldn’t believe she ate that much of it.”
I chucked a little.
“I hadn’t eaten all day,” I told him.
We both looked up as the rattle of the Hyundai met our ears, got louder, and then was joined by the sight of Nicole pulling into the driveway. I could see her eyes go wide as she took in the scene before her.
I stood up off the porch and took a few steps forward. For a moment, she just stayed in the driver’s seat, looking out over the driveway at the two of us. Sheriff Skye reached up and scratched the back of his neck. A minute later, Nicole’s eyes narrowed as she slowly opened the door of the car and climbed out. Her hands were balled into fists.
“Oh boy,” Sheriff Skye mumbled under his breath. “You just might be on your own here.”
He actually took a couple of steps away from me as she approached, kitten claws out and sharpened.
“You son of a bitch!” she yelled. “What are you doing here? Bragging to my father, too?”