The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch - Maisey Yates Page 0,83

his truck, and then made her way down to the police station. When she walked in, it was that same, now-familiar panel of people.

Barbara was there, looking particularly pinched.

As nemeses went, Pansy felt that she was a bit of an anticlimax. She didn’t particularly love the idea that her greatest enemy was in possession of a collection of bright colored blazers and a single string of pearls.

But as confident as she had felt in every other interaction, this time, she was only more confident.

“And what do you plan to do about the concerns that the Dalton school might bring in more crime?” Barbara asked.

“Outreach,” Pansy said. “That’s what I plan to do everywhere in the community. We are here to serve the community, and that means doing so in creative ways. I want to make sure that we’re visiting schools. That we’re making sure the kids here are familiar to us. It will establish a feeling of accountability. And among the kids who don’t have positive role models in their lives, we can offer that. And other members of the community can get involved as well, and I’m more than happy to help make that happen. Everyone deserves second chances. Another opportunity to get their foot on the right path.”

She had no idea how it all went when it was done. But she felt good.

For the first time, she felt like she knew why she wanted to do this job for herself. Which made it a great time for her to go in for her psych eval, and she was glad she’d scheduled it for today. That part didn’t intimidate her. She’d had to do it to get hired on in the first place, and she knew what to expect.

Afterward, she was still reflecting on the shift that had taken place inside her during that interview.

It was strange, because she loved her job and she always had. But the reason she gave people when they asked why she had become a police officer was her father. Always. Without fail.

Now though, if someone asked, she might answer the same. But she’d have more to say about it as well. It wasn’t only that. She could make a difference this way. A difference she truly believed in, not just because she was trying to honor a memory, or make a man proud who wasn’t even here. But because it made her proud. It made her feel hopeful.

And it felt like a step. An evolution.

It made her wonder if it had something to do with West. Except, it was probably less West and more to do with whatever was happening in her at the moment. And he was an extension of that, but it wasn’t him. It couldn’t be. Because in the end, when all was said and done, West wasn’t going to stay in her life in this way. So any changes she made had to be about her, for her. And she had to be able and willing to be her own master. The one making all the changes.

That didn’t really matter, not really. Because while she might not have a handle on everything, she had a handle on this.

She found a way to give back to the community that had given her a purpose when everything had seemed dark.

And she was going to hold on to that with both hands.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

WEST HAD BEEN invited to go out for a drink by his half siblings, and he felt like he should go. Even though what he really wanted to do was find Pansy and make good on the promise that he had left her with the night before.

But instead, he had resisted. He’d gotten Emmett all set at home, and then had gone to the Gold Valley Saloon. When he’d arrived, he was surprised to see it was a whole family affair.

Gabe, Jacob, Caleb and their half sister, McKenna, who they saw less because she was often busy at her husband’s ranch.

Easier for West to see Gabe and Jacob all the time since they worked on their dad’s ranch, and Caleb was around because his fiancée still worked there, even though he had his own place now.

“Well, if it isn’t the ragtag group of Hank Dalton’s bastards.”

“Only you two are bastards,” Jacob said, pointing to McKenna and West.

“That would hurt my feelings if it wasn’t one of the wimpiest insults anyone had ever thrown at me,” McKenna said.

McKenna had grown up rough. Even rougher than he had. While West maybe should