The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch - Maisey Yates Page 0,6

department, and her twenty-seven years of living in the town, combined with her pedigree didn’t mean a whole lot. They wouldn’t see her as old enough if she was twenty-seven, thirty-seven or forty-seven.

But the fact remained that twenty-seven was young no matter how you sliced it.

“That’s going to be tricky, don’t you think?”

Gold Valley worked with a panel of community members to select the police chief. The city manager was in charge of conducting the proceedings, and of the ultimate decision. But there would be multiple interviews with panels of people who would weigh in on the different candidates. Then she would have to undergo a physical and psychological evaluation with all the information going forward to the panels.

She was local. That worked in her favor.

She was local. That would work against her.

“It may be,” he said. “Of course, I’m going to write a letter of recommendation. I know Johnson will feel a bit put out. But, Martinez told me that he would be willing to throw his full support behind you.”

That was the other thing. Pansy was the only woman in their very small department. There had never been a female police chief in Gold Valley, not ever, and while she didn’t think her gender would be a barrier—not when there were so many others for people to consider first—it was something.

“Well. Tell Alejandro that I am grateful for his support. I’ll deal with Jay myself.”

“He wants the job,” Chief Doering continued. “But, I don’t think he has the temperament for it that you do.”

Officer Jay Johnson was at least fifteen years older than she was, more experienced and someone who hadn’t grown up in Gold Valley, but had lived there for a very long time. He had a lot of surface qualifications that would make him better for the job. If he got it, he would also be in it for a long time and ensure that Pansy didn’t actually make it to the position long enough before her retirement for her taste.

Granted, she could move.

But the idea of leaving Gold Valley, Hope Springs and her siblings behind wasn’t something she could even consider. Anyway, Gold Valley was an integral thread that was woven through her vision for her life. A part of her dream she couldn’t lift out. “What do you think I need to do?”

“Keep doing a good job,” he said. “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt if you managed to do some impressive police work between now and the time the selection process starts.”

“Meaning what? Write more tickets? Because I have to tell you, that’s not going to endear me to the populace.”

“I don’t know, Pansy. Trust yourself. Keep being who you are.”

She took a breath, her hands behind her back, her eyes on the photos behind him. All the different police chiefs. Her father, who had come before him.

“I will. Can I go, sir?”

“You can go.”

She turned and walked out of the office and through the small department, past the two cluttered desks that the officers shared, and the front desk, where the receptionist sat.

Their very bored receptionist.

She gave Donnie a wave on her way out and paused when she got outside. She decided not to get in her police car, and instead to walk across the narrow road that ran between the police station and Sugar Cup, her favorite coffee shop in town.

The police station was a block away from Main Street, directly across from a large historic home that had been converted into a vacation rental, and several cottages that had also been converted into lodging. A narrow road with no lines cut between the cottages and the coffeehouse, and Pansy walked along the edge, on a rocky, narrow sidewalk before crossing the street and heading up the much more civilized sidewalk right in front of the coffeehouse.

She pushed on the black door and let it close firmly behind her. She smiled at the extremely unfriendly girl working at the register—it wasn’t personal, she was unfriendly to everyone—and placed an order for a Big Hunk mocha before going to stand at the other end of the counter where the drinks were served up.

It didn’t take long before she had her beverage in hand and was walking back out onto the street. Which was when she saw the same beat-up blue truck that she had pulled over yesterday parked in a loading zone.

She shook her head. West Caldwell was going to drive her insane.

She thought about what Chief Doering had said earlier. About her