Elyssa Henry - A Family For The Sheriff

“I would’ve had to use the phone to find out,” he replied tautly. “Since all the phone lines were down in the entire town and I don’t know where to find the repair shop...”

“The phones were working,” Sam volunteered quickly. “Mr. Maddox, the bus driver, stopped off and called home after we turned past the store.”

“I guess there was some mistake.” Maria grimaced at her son.

“I guess so.” Joe stared out the window. “A big mistake.”

Maria concentrated on her driving, trying not to think about what she was doing. They were nearly to Rockford before they passed a blur of red through the rain-coated windows.

“Is that your car?” Sam asked eagerly.

“That’s it.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Sam.” Maria tried to hush her son’s curiosity.

“It’s all right,” Joe told her, glancing at her taut face over her son’s head. “It’s not his fault.”

Maria kept her eyes stubbornly on the road as he explained that he had forgotten to pack another spare tire after the first one had blown out about a hundred miles away.

“That was pretty careless,” Sam remarked, eyeing the stranger warily.

“It was,” Joe replied steadily, then smiled at him. “Very careless.”

“What kind of car was that?” Sam asked. “I think I saw one like it in a magazine.”

“It’s a Porsche,” he told the boy. “It’ll do a hundred and sixty down a straightaway like this.”

“Wow! Can I have a ride sometime?” Sam looked at him in a new light. Anyone who had a car like that couldn’t be all bad.

“Not when it’s going a hundred and sixty down a straightaway,” Maria told him bluntly, stopping at the first red light at the edge of Rockford.

She looked at Joe Roberts in the fading daylight, wondering why on earth. she had stopped to help him again. She didn’t know anything about him except that he was qualified to run a sheriff’s department.

And that she felt sorry for him. He hadn’t seen the house the commission had promised him yet.

“I’m trading it in, anyway,” Joe told him. “Just as soon as I replace the tire.”

“Why?” Sam demanded.

“I think I’m going to need something a little different now,” Joe replied thoughtfully. “Maybe something more like this truck.”

“You can have this one,” Sam offered. “Maybe you could buy it from Mom and then she could afford to get a new one.”

Maria stepped on the gas, feeling annoyance warm her face. There was no such thing as a tactful eight-year-old.

Joe laughed. “I have a younger sister,” he told her in a low voice. “My mother made me take her out on dates with me so I wouldn’t get into trouble. Trust me. This is nothing.”

Sam rambled on about his science fair project, describing in detail how the mosquito larvae hatched into mosquitoes. He explained that they were on their way out to dinner because of his second-place award and that he would be happy to show the project and the award to Joe sometime.

“I’d like to see it,” Joe assured him. “Any place is fine,” he told Maria as they cruised down the crowded city streets.

“I know a place right next door to where we’re going,” she told him, wondering if her knuckles were turning white with the pressure she was exerting on the steering wheel. “You could get your tire there, and we could run you out with it on the way home.”

“That’s way too much,” Joe said. “The ride in is fine.”

“It’s no trouble,” she lied. She wasn’t sure it wasn’t going to be more trouble than it was worth. Still, she felt obligated to help him.

The commission had brought him a long way and promised him a good job. Tommy and his family wouldn’t let him stay, no matter what it took to convince him. He was a stranger, but anyone deserved better.

“I appreciate it.” He tried to see her face, but the light was gone. She had to be going out on a limb, and he couldn’t figure out why. “I’d like to buy your pizza, if that’s okay.”

“Great!” Sam said happily. “That’s more coins for the games!”

“Wait a sec,” Joe said. “This isn’t one of those gizmo games and pizza places, is it? I hate those places.”

“There’s a few games,” Sam said defensively. “They’re in another room.”

“That’s not it,” Joe answered as they opened the truck doors to get out. “They know me at all of them. I’m the best, you know.”

Sam stared at him with newfound awe for an instant then rolled his eyes. “Get out of here! I could take you on at any of the jumping games. Nobody beats me at those.”

“I’m sorry,” Joe told him mournfully. “Maybe I shouldn’t go in with you—”

“I don’t believe it.” Sam laughed, sliding across the seat to jump down. “You can’t be that good. Nobody’s that good.”

Joe shook his head and stared at the ground. “Well, anyway, your mom hasn’t said—”

“Mom.” Sam turned to Maria, who’d been about to give his offer a flat thanks, but no thanks. “We have to let him go with us. I know he’s lying.”

Maria glanced at Joe’s dark eyes fixed on her son’s back, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

She sighed, hoping they wouldn’t run into anyone they knew. “He can come with us. Can we get out of the rain now?”

It was crowded for a Wednesday night. Maria winced at every voice, worrying that someone she knew would be there. No one from Gold Springs would understand her helping Joe Roberts.

She wasn’t sure she understood it herself.

They found a table and ordered pizza, then Joe and Sam disappeared into the game room. The music was loud, and the excited screams from the game room punctuated the laughter and the calls for pickup in the pizza kitchen.

Costumed characters posed for pictures with their arms around children and adults alike. Flashing lights danced in time to the music while a group of waiters sang “Happy Birthday” slightly off tune.

Maria put a hand to her head. It was beginning to ache. Her life wasn’t usually more stressful than trying to get a good price from her herb crop. A chance encounter had made her placid existence choppy.

It wasn’t that she was afraid of her neighbors and family. She just didn’t want them to think she didn’t support them. It wasn’t in her nature to thrive on controversy.

“Wow!” Sam jumped into his chair at her side, his face flushed but happy. “He’s good.”

Joe took the chair opposite and grinned at him across the table. “I’ve spent so much time in places where there wasn’t anything else to do.” He shrugged. “That’s why I’m the best.”

“He might be.” Sam grinned then jumped up. “Can I go back and try Wrangler again?”

“Go ahead,” Maria told him. “The pizzas haven’t even gone in yet.”

“Thanks.” He took a few more coins from her. “If I keep practicing, I could be as good as Joe. He said I have natural talent.”

Maria smiled and glanced at Joe. “That’s great. Good luck.”

“Call me if the pizza comes,” he yelled as he was running away.

Maria faced the man across the gleaming white table. “I’m not sure I should thank you for telling him to practice.”

“Definitely not.” He shook his head, resting his arms on the table. “I wanted some time to talk to you alone. It seemed the easiest way.”

Maria tensed, looking at a napkin she had neatly folded on the table.

“Look, I’m sorry about what’s happened,” she said. “It got out of hand.”

“What exactly has happened?” he asked, leaning forward, trying to catch her eye. “Surely I have the right to know that, anyway.”

“It’s not easy to explain.” She unfolded the white paper napkin. “The county commission and the town disagreed about who should run the new sheriff’s department. It sounds silly, I know, but the town felt like it should be someone from Gold Springs. Someone who knows the area.”