“Sure sounds good,” she agreed happily, grabbing her jacket and brushing her hair. “Lead the way, Sheriff.” They drove in his sheriff’s Jeep since he was on duty, checking the park to make sure the visitors were doing okay and there were no troublemakers around.
“It is beautiful,” Lacy admitted, looking out the window as they drove. She had never seen so many green trees and hills of grass before. The scenery looked like it had jumped out of a picture book, and it amazed her.
“One day when it’s warm again, we’ll camp overnight. It’s fun,” he told her, and when he looked over at her and saw her nervous look he teased her. “I’ll protect you from the big bad wolf.”
“Wolf? The kind that eat people?” she said nervously, looking out the window again as if one was about to appear out of nowhere.
He laughed loudly, parking the Jeep and taking her hand in his. “I’m kidding, darlin’. There is nothing out here that will eat you, baby—except me.”
Lacy blushed but giggled. “You are so naughty, Sheriff.”
He took her to a small river in the park. It was beautiful. The water was clear and crisp. There were a few campsites scattered around and some canoes filled with fishermen in the water. They sat on a big boulder and watched a few of them fish. The sun was shining bright and it made her feel warm even though the temperature was low. Maybe I need to try new things, she thought to herself. The outdoors was a big part of Ryan’s life, and if she hoped to share that life with him someday, she had to learn about his world. He told her that in the summer it was a busy place and that he, Gabe, and Logan took turns coming out here to make sure there were no problems.
Lacy admitted to Ryan on the way home that she had enjoyed herself more than she thought she would. He told her how he and his dad would camp often when he was a child and he missed that. Lacy promised to try it with him one day.
“I’ll have you trained to be a professional camper in no time, darlin’,” he teased, holding her hand and squeezing it. “Maybe even a seasoned hunter.”
“Whoa there, tiger. Camping out sounds fun, killing Bambi not so much,” she joked with him.
He just laughed with her, enjoying his time in her company.
* * * *
A few days later, Stella was at a table cooing over a customer’s baby. She and her husband were trying to have a baby of their own. Stella swore she heard her biological clock ticking and loved to fuss over any of the babies coming into the diner to get “practice” as she put it. Lacy saw a woman come in. She was petite and very thin with short, spiky bright-red hair, dressed in tight jeans, heels and a purple blouse that was low-cut. A little overdressed, Lacy thought to herself. She sat at the counter, so Lacy went to wait on her instead of bothering Stella.
Lacy smiled. “Hi, our special today is—”
“Save it. I don’t give a damn what the specials are,” she said, her blue eyes sparkling with hatred as she looked at Lacy.
“Okay,” Lacy said. Obviously this was going to be a difficult customer, but she’d had plenty of those before and decided to be patient.
“I just came to see my replacement—in more ways than one, from what I hear,” she said with a sneer, looking Lacy up and down with anger. “I don’t see anything special about you. You’re not as pretty as me.”
Lacy gasped and gave the woman a puzzled look. How was she supposed to respond to that? The woman looked a few years older than Lacy, and Lacy had never seen her in here before. Before Lacy could think of anything t
o say, Ally came stomping out of the kitchen with her apron still on and looking very angry.
“You have a lot of nerve coming in here, Emma!” she said loudly and angrily. Lacy had never seen Ally so upset before and was a little shocked.
Suddenly Lacy understood when she heard the name. This was Ryan’s ex-girlfriend! Oh boy, this couldn’t end well. Thank God Ryan wasn’t here or this could get worse.
“You’d better leave, Emma, and don’t come back. You are no longer welcome in my place. Ryan won’t like finding you here trying to harass Lacy either. He’s moved on. Can’t you see that and leave him alone?” Ally told her, pointing to the door. From Helen, she had finally learned how Emma was stalking Ryan, and that blew her top. No one messed with her son, especially some no-good hussy like Emma. “Have a little pride in yourself, Emma, and leave Ryan alone. Stop calling him ten times a day crying.”
Emma snorted with disdain, giving Ally an angry look. She knew people in the diner had heard that remark. She had told all her friends that she dumped Ryan because he was so serious and boring. She knew how the people in this diner were. They would have it spread all over town that she was harassing Ryan and begging him to take her back. She didn’t want anyone knowing Ryan had dumped her. “Oh, so poor Ryan needs his momma’s protection now? I don’t care what Ryan thinks. He’s nothing but a—”
“A what?” They turned to see a very angry-looking sheriff standing behind them with his hands at his hips. He was glaring at Emma.
How dare Emma come here and cause trouble? He never made her any promises or asked her to have a serious relationship. They dated casually and even that had been a big mistake that he deeply regretted. She had been clingy from the very beginning and constantly tried to get him to marry her until he got fed up and broke it off with her, and yet she still harassed him and tried to make him feel guilty, but no more. Harassing him was one thing, but no way would he let her cause Lacy or his mom any trouble.
“If I get one more harassing phone call from you or I hear of you causing Lacy any trouble, I will file stalking charges against you. I have recorded your phone calls to me and I have no problem making them public,” he warned her as his mom stood by him and nodded in agreement.
Emma gasped because she knew everyone in the restaurant was listening. She stood up and gave Ryan a bitter look filled with hatred. Then she turned toward Lacy and sneered and said loudly, “Hope you don’t expect too much from him because all he is good for is a quick roll in the hay before he moves on to his next victim. And even that is not worth the headache.”
The whole restaurant had gotten quiet, lunches forgotten, as they watched the spectacle in front of them unfold. Ally and Lacy gasped at Emma’s cruel remark but Emma stomped off quickly, her heels clicking across the floor, before anyone could say something back to her. With Emma gone, everyone looked at Ryan and Lacy, who stood quietly in shock. Customers sat quietly, waiting to see what came next.
Lacy stood with her arms folded across her chest, looking at Ryan who looked angry and embarrassed. She wanted to go after Emma for causing such a horrible scene in public but she didn’t want to cause more drama for Ryan or Ally either, so she stayed there. “So that’s Emma? Such a lovely girl,” she said sarcastically, still feeling angry that Emma dared embarrass him publicly like that.
Everyone laughed, including Ryan. His anger faded away once he knew Lacy wasn’t mad at him. He kissed Lacy’s cheek and said loudly, making sure everyone heard him, “What can I say, babe? Until I met you I had lousy taste.”