wasn’t going that far. But she might think about a mutually satisfying arrangement. It was clear to her that this odd fascination with him wasn’t going to go away.
And hey, if she was right and he had no interest in her if she was actually interested in him, then all her problems would be solved.
Well, all the ones that revolved around him. Her family was another story entirely.
Her cell buzzed again.
“Daisy, come on, girl. She’s never going to like us if you poop on her carpet. It’s a very clean carpet,” Zep cajoled. “I don’t know if you noticed, but she’s kind of a clean freak. We have to respect that. Clean is good. You’ve been some of the places I’ve been and you come to realize clean is way better than dirty.”
The puppy merely dropped down in that playful way puppies did and gave a cheerful bark.
Daisy was a lot like the man she was currently running circles around. She was going to do her thing, and despite all the trauma she’d been through, she obviously expected the sun to shine on her no matter what. She was adorable and she knew it. Just like Zep.
The cell kept buzzing.
He’d been so good with both the dog and her the night before. She’d seen a different side to him. So often she saw him at his worst. He had a bad habit of getting in fights. It seemed to be a form of entertainment out here.
He was so gentle with Daisy, and apparently he’d risked his life on the off chance they needed the snake that had bitten her. Now he was pleading with the puppy not to pee on her carpet. Most people she knew would have left the dog outside.
Instead, Zep was outside with the dog. And it looked like he’d taken a nap on the comfy chair she sometimes read in at night. His boots were beside it and his shirt draped over the back. He would have been ridiculously uncomfortable. She’d told him he could leave, but he wouldn’t. He’d told her he would be right there in case she needed him.
How many times had he taken the puppy out? Had he gotten any sleep at all?
The phone buzzed and she sighed.
She turned away and retrieved the phone. Her mother had obviously decided whatever she had to say was important, and she wouldn’t give up. She would simply call until Roxie answered.
She would way rather watch Zep try to deal with a puppy version of himself, but she slid her finger across the surface of the phone to accept the call. “Hello, Mom.”
“Roxanne, I’ve been trying to get hold of you all morning. I was starting to worry something had gone terribly wrong. You can’t not answer when your mother calls and you’re a cop. I was about to dial that station house of yours and demand answers.”
“I’m fine. I worked the night shift.” She wasn’t about to admit that something had actually gone wrong. Especially not that she’d nearly been taken out by a snake while searching for a Cajun werewolf. To say that her mother had been against her moving to Louisiana would be an understatement, like calling a Cat 5 hurricane a gentle breeze with a smattering of rain.
Hurricanes had been one of the reasons her mother had listed for not moving to Papillon. Along with alligators, lack of potential for advancement, and yes, she’d mentioned Deliverance. She was every bit as scared of this place as Hallie Rayburn’s mom was of New York City.
“The night shift? You’re not some newbie.” Her mother sounded like she was in a car. “Why would they treat you like that? Your boyfriend allows this? I would think he could control your schedule.”
She winced because that was a reminder of the white lie she’d told when she’d first moved down here. It had been all about self-preservation. “It’s a small department. We all work nights from time to time. I was taking my shift.”
Hopefully that would be the end of it. She didn’t want to get into her imaginary dating life with her mother. The only reason she had an imaginary dating life was to keep her mother out of any kind of real dating life she might have. In some distant future.
“Well, I still think he should take better care of you,” her mother insisted. “Say what you like about him, but Joel always made sure you had good assignments even though he wasn’t in your