he would have more than just a tenuous bond with his siblings.
He hadn’t expected to start feeling the roots of his soul growing down deep into the soil of this place.
Hadn’t expected those same roots to start tangling around a woman.
But they were.
And he was actually pretty damn glad about it.
* * *
THE DAY THAT Pansy was supposed to talk to the kids at the school she felt strangely nervous. But less so because West was at her house that morning and had gotten dressed with her. She was slightly worried that Emmett would pick up on the fact that West was spending the night with her, but West had pointed out that Emmett never woke up before noon if West didn’t make him. He also asked why she thought it would be a problem.
“Because,” she’d said. “He should have a decent example.”
“Is there something indecent about this? Because we are both adults, we’re not dating anyone else. We both want to do this.”
“My brother never brought women home.”
“How nice for you,” he said. “Our mom brought men home all the time. I assume she hasn’t changed any over the years. So it’s not like it’s behavior that would shock him. And anyway, considering you’re not hanging around in the house with your shirt off drinking beer out of the fridge, it’s a huge step up from what the guys my mom brings home do.”
“I just... I don’t want him getting the wrong idea.”
West had dropped it after that. But he’d still made it clear he was planning on continuing to stay the night.
She had insisted they drive separately to the school, because she would need her car later. He had pointed out that he could take her to the police station, where she would collect her police car, but, the first class of the day was a huddle in front of the barn, she had learned from West earlier in the week.
And there they all were, standing there when she arrived.
Even Emmett.
The camaraderie among the boys was surprising and touching.
They seemed to have already accepted him. And she couldn’t help but feel that she was watching Emmett with the first thing he might have ever been able to call family. His uncle. Those kids.
The Dalton family.
She parked her car and got out, wearing her uniform.
When West looked at her, she tried not to blush. But it was hard.
Because all she could think about was what had gone on between them the night before.
It had left her scorched.
But every night with him did.
She had come to a place of acceptance there.
Her needs with him. And she felt no guilt about finding pleasure in his arms.
It was the after part that made her uncomfortable.
That when he held her close against his body in the warmth of her bed she wanted to weep.
That she felt small and cherished and protected, not weak and helpless.
That she felt like she could rest, and it was the wrong time to rest.
She felt wrong about a whole lot of things.
It was just that the sex wasn’t one of them.
“We have something a little different happening today,” Ellie said.
Pansy vaguely knew the other woman from around town, but she didn’t know if they had ever interacted directly. She was the head teacher at the school, and she was engaged to Caleb.
“Officer Pansy Daniels from the Gold Valley Police Department is here to talk to you.”
“Shit! Run!” one of the boys shouted, and the rest of them snickered.
“That’s exactly why I’m here to talk to you,” Pansy said, bracing her hand on her belt buckle. “Because I know that a lot of you are going to have a negative impression of people like me. And that’s probably fair enough. But I want to talk a little bit about what the day-to-day job of a police officer actually entails, at least in a town like this one. And a little about myself. And what it means to me to be part of this community. None of you have to grow up to be police officers.”
“I think my criminal record would make that impossible,” a dark-haired boy in the back said.
“There are always second chances,” she said. “But either way. The point isn’t to talk about that, but how a community functions. And how you can find a place in it. I bet some of you were made to feel like you didn’t have a place. Whether that was in your homes, or in your neighborhoods. In your towns. But