Marie Ferrarella - Lassoing the Deputy

She just couldn’t get his face out of her mind. His face the way he’d looked that last time they had been together. Right before he left Forever. And her. For good.

“You okay, Alma?”

This time it was Joe Lone Wolf asking. He was standing right next to her, she realized with a start. She hadn’t heard him come up, but then the man was a Navajo and he had a tendency to make as much noise as a shadow when he walked.

“Yes,” she bit off, “I’m fine. Why are you asking?” she demanded.

Joe took a step back, as if her temper had a physical side to it and it had pushed him away from her.

“Well, for one thing, you’re frowning,” he told her. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you frown before. From the inside,” he emphasized. “It made me think that maybe something was wrong and that I could help.” He nodded at the pot. “Is it ready yet?”

“Another couple of minutes,” she replied, relieved to have the subject changed.

She had to stop being so defensive. Rick and Joe were only showing concern. They cared about her.

Unlike Cash.

She did her best to smile. “Nothing’s wrong,” she lied. That made two, she thought, wondering what her limit for lies was.

Two?

Ten?

Two hundred? Just where did she draw the line? It would have been so much better if she just didn’t care. But she did. “I’m just thinking about what I was going to bring to the wedding as a gift for Miss Joan.”

“Hey, don’t want to leave Harry out,” Larry, overhearing her, chimed in as he came into the kitchenette. “They’re going to be a set now, Miss Joan and Harry.” The young deputy shook his head. “Miss Joan, married. Wow. It’s going to be really hard picturing her that way.” He helped himself to a cup of coffee. “Wonder if that means she’s going to raise her rates after they exchange vows.”

“What does one thing have to do with the other?” Alma didn’t see the connection.

Larry measured out four tablespoons of sugar. Watching him, it was all Joe could do to keep from shivering at the thought of taking in all that sweetness.

“Well, she’s going to be starting a new life as a bride, right? That means she’s going to want to have a lot of new things, isn’t she? New things cost money and her source of income is that diner of hers. Put two and two together, Alma,” Larry said loftily. “Miss Joan’s going to raise her rates, just you watch.” He frowned. “I’m going to have to start bringing sandwiches from home.”

“That means you’re going to have to learn how to make sandwiches first,” Joe quipped quietly.

Larry appeared not to hear, but he heard Alma’s protest loud and clear. Miss Joan had a very special place in her heart. The woman had given her a job at the diner when she was fifteen so that she, along with her brothers, could earn money to help their dad with the overwhelming medical costs that were involved in trying to keep their mother alive for just a little longer. Alma knew for a fact that Miss Joan had paid her more than the usual going rate.

“Miss Joan’s not going to do any such thing,” Alma insisted. “She’s not like that. Besides, that’s what the bridal shower is for, so that we can give her all those little extras. She’s already got anything she might need,” she pointed out to the blond deputy. “This is Miss Joan we’re talking about. Anything she needs, she’s got either at home or at the diner.”

“And Harry hasn’t exactly been living in a tree all these years,” Joe pointed out, joining the discussion and siding with Alma.

Sampling his coffee, Larry found that there was something missing. He put in more cream. His coffee now resembled light tan milk. “True, he’s got that ranch of his. And the house,” Larry agreed.

The house.

The house where Cash had lived before he’d left for college. Before he’d left her.

The yelp that rose from her lips had been an automatic reaction, happening so quickly she didn’t have time to stifle it. The back of her hand had come in contact with the coffeepot. Annoyed with herself, she pressed her lips together as she pulled back her stinging hand.

“Alma, you’re going to burn your hand,” Larry warned needlessly.

Joe was standing next to her and saw the instant patch of angry red that had popped up. “Hell, she already has,” he said. He took her hand, holding on to it by her palm. “C’mon, let’s get this under cold water first and then I can make this poultice for you—”

She pulled her hand away from him. The last thing she wanted was to be fussed over as if she was some helpless damsel in distress.

Get a grip, damn it! she repeated to herself.

“I’m fine, really,” she told Joe. Looking up, she saw that Rick had been drawn back to the kitchenette, most likely because she’d just yelped and made a fool of herself. She’d worked hard to make them all respect her and now she was sacrificing it all in a few minutes. This had to stop. “All of you, stop hovering over me.”

“We’ll stop hovering,” Rick told her patiently, “when you stop acting as if you’re expecting to see the ghost of Christmas past at any moment.”

He knew, she thought. Most likely, so did Joe. Damn it, she was supposed to keep her feelings to herself, not have them out in plain sight where everyone could see them on her face.

And feel sorry for her.

“I’m not waiting to see a ghost from Christmas past or from any other event,” she retorted. “I’m just a little preoccupied today, that’s all. Nothing that none of you haven’t been at one time or other—and a lot more than me,” she declared.

“Yeah, but you’re Alma. You don’t do things like that,” Joe pointed out in his calm, mild voice. “You’re supposed to be the one who keeps the rest of us in line, remember?”

“Flattery, nice way to defuse the situation,” Rick commented, amused, after Alma had retreated to the communal restroom to run cold water over the red mark on her hand.

“Works with Mona,” Joe said with the barest hint of a smile.

Rick laughed. “Maybe I’ll try that on Olivia, see if it works next time she’s got her back up about something.”

Larry shook his head in disbelief. “Henpecked, both of you.”

“Not henpecked,” Joe corrected. “Thoughtful.”

“And smart,” Rick interjected. “You get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.”

“Yeah, if flies are what you’re after,” Larry cracked.

Joe and Rick exchanged looks. “He’s missing the point,” Joe commented.

“Completely,” Rick agreed. “Get back to us when you’re married, Larry. We’ll talk.”

“Married?” Larry echoed. “You’re kidding, right? Same routine every night? No, thanks. I’m never getting married.”

“Right. You just keep on living the dream, Larry,” Joe said, patting the other man on the shoulder.

“You really don’t know what you’re missing,” Rick told the younger deputy as he walked away.

He meant what he said. Because, for the first time in his life, he knew the difference between just being resigned to his lot and being really happy about it. And Olivia and their daughter made him happier than he had ever thought possible.

Larry muttered something unintelligible under his breath and went back to his desk.

“Jealous,” Joe concluded.

“Obviously,” Rick agreed. And then he became serious for a moment as they passed the restroom. “Do me a favor. Keep an eye on Alma,” he requested in a lower voice, nodding toward the restroom door.

“No problem,” Joe said.

On the other side of the door, about to walk out, Alma overheard the sheriff and Joe. There was no point in saying that she didn’t need anyone’s eye on her. What she needed was for Cash not to come back to Forever and mar what would otherwise be a very festive occasion.