Сьюзен Мэллери: Summer Days

“I signed the documents, as well,” Rafe told her. Which was his own damn fault. “My mother may believe in Mr. Simpson’s innate goodness, but I do not.”

“He’s not a bad man,” Heidi insisted.

The police chief turned to Glen. “You have anything to say about this?”

Glen looked up at the sky for a moment and back at Chief Barns. “Nope.”

“Then I’m going to have to take you in.”

“You can’t.” Heidi physically moved between the chief and her grandfather, the goat still at her side. “Please don’t. My grandfather isn’t a young man. It’s jail. He could die in there.”

“It’s not Alcatraz,” Rafe told her. “It’s a city jail in a small town. Not exactly hard time.”

“You know this from personal experience?” Heidi asked.

“No.”

“Then stay out of it.” Heidi’s eyes filled with tears as she returned her attention to the police chief. “There has to be something you can do.”

“You’ll need to talk to the judge,” Chief Barns said, her voice surprisingly kind. “Your friend here is right. It’s not a bad jail. He’ll be fine.”

“I’m not her friend.”

“He’s not my friend.”

Heidi and Rafe looked at each other.

“Can I kick him?” Heidi asked the police chief. “Just once, but really hard?”

“Maybe later.”

Rafe knew better than to protest. The way the two women were glaring at him, getting off with a single kick would be a light sentence.

He wanted to point out that he hadn’t done anything wrong here, that Glen was the bad guy. But this wasn’t a time for logic. He knew his mother well enough to guess that, and he doubted Heidi was all that much different.

Glen didn’t put up a fight. He was quickly handcuffed and put in the back of the car.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Heidi said. “To bail you out.”

“We won’t be able to set bail until the morning,” Chief Barns told her. “But you’re welcome to visit. Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.”

The chief got in her car and drove away. Heidi led the goat away, and May turned on her son.

“How could you arrest him?”

Rafe thought about pointing out that he hadn’t arrested Glen—he’d only arranged to have it done. A detail she wouldn’t appreciate.

“He stole from you, Mom. You lost this ranch once. I’m not going to watch you lose it again.”

Her anger visibly faded. “Oh, Rafe. You’ve always been so good to me. But I can take care of myself.”

“You just got swindled out of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

May crossed to him. “If you’re going to bring that up.”

He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. Despite her height, he was still a good half foot taller.

“You know you make me crazy, right?” he asked.

She hugged him back. “Yes, but I don’t do it on purpose.”

“I know.”

She looked up at him. “Now what?”

“Now we get your ranch.”

CHAPTER TWO

HEIDI STOOD IN THE MIDDLE of Fool’s Gold, not sure what to do first. Glen needed her help, and she needed a lawyer. Not that she had any money to pay one, but that was a problem for another time. Right now, the pressing issue was getting her grandfather out of jail.

She turned in a slow circle, seeing the sign for Morgan’s Books and the Starbucks where she hung out with her friends. There was Jo’s Bar, but no large banner proclaiming “excellent and free legal advice here!”

Pulling out her phone, she scrolled until she found Charlie’s number, then sent a quick text: Urgent. Can we talk?

Seconds later, came the reply: Sure. At the station.

“The station” being the city fire station. Heidi left her truck where it was and walked the short three blocks to the firehouse.

The firehouse was in the oldest part of town. It was a two-story brick-and-wood structure with big garage doors facing the street. They stood open in the warm April afternoon. Charlie Dixon was waiting by the red fire engine she drove.

“What’s up?” she asked as Heidi hurried forward.

“There’s a problem with Glen.”

Charlie, a tall, competent woman who had never met a man she couldn’t beat at anything, put her strong hands on her narrow hips and raised her eyebrows.

“He’s your grandfather. How much trouble could he be in?”

“You have no idea.”

Heidi quickly brought her friend up to date on Glen, the perky widow he’d swindled, the mysterious and ruthless Rafe Stryker, and the fact that Glen was now sitting in the Fool’s Gold jail.

Charlie swore. “It’s so like a man to make all this mess,” she grumbled. “Glen seriously sold someone your ranch?”

Heidi sighed. “There was paperwork and everything.”

This wasn’t the first time her grandfather had flirted with the wrong side of the law, but generally he kept his scams smaller and avoided the felony category. For the past few years, all she’d had to worry about was his propensity to have a woman in every city. For a guy in his seventies, he got a lot of action.

“I need to get him out of there,” Heidi said. “He’s the only family I have.”

“I know. Okay, stay calm. I mean that. Fool’s Gold jail isn’t exactly grim. He’ll be fine there. As to getting him out—” She looked at Heidi. “Don’t take this wrong, but do you have any money?”

Heidi winced as she thought about the sad little balance in her checking account. “I’ve put everything I have into my goats.”

“There’s a mortgage on the ranch?”

“A big one.”

Charlie gave her a quick hug. “Living the American dream.”

“I was,” Heidi told her, appreciating the physical support. “Until this happened.”

She didn’t mind making the monthly payments to the bank. They were a sign of stability, proof she had a home, something she would one day own outright.

“I know a lawyer,” Charlie said. “She takes on pro bono cases from time to time. Let me call and talk to her, then I’ll send you over.”

“You think she’ll help me?”

Charlie grinned. “She adores me. I used to date her son. When we broke up, he got involved with some bimbo, got her pregnant and had to get married. While he’s wildly in love with his new bride and family, Trisha thinks of me as the one who got away.”

Charlie was the least feminine woman Heidi knew. She wore her hair short, dressed for comfort rather than fashion and would deck anyone who came at her with mascara. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t attractive, in a low-maintenance kind of way. Heidi had seen guys around town watching Charlie. As if they suspected she was the kind of woman who was hard to tame, but once loyal, would be a wild ride for life.

“His loss,” Heidi told her.

“You’re a good friend.”

“So are you. I didn’t know who else to talk to about Glen.”

She had other friends, but she’d known instinctively that Charlie would cut to the heart of the problem, help sort it out and then move on without making a fuss.

“We’ll get this fixed.”

Heidi hung on to that promise. Her parents had died when she was a toddler. She didn’t remember them. Glen had stepped in to raise her. From that moment on, they’d been a team. No matter what he’d done, Heidi would stand by her grandfather. Even if that meant taking on the likes of Rafe Stryker.

* * *

ACCORDING TO CHARLIE, TRISHA Wynn should be in her sixties, but she looked forty and dressed as if she were twenty-five. Her dress—a pink-and-gold wrap with a plunging neckline—clung to impressive curves. Her heels were high, her makeup heavy and her earrings jangled.

“Any friend of Charlie’s,” Trisha said by way of greeting, waving Heidi into her small but comfortable office. “So Glen got himself into some trouble. I can’t say I’m surprised.”