next time.
Now they were stopped off the square, waiting for something to happen. Anything, really. She was right back to wishing for some kind of natural disaster.
“I’m on patrol duty this afternoon. I can catch speeders on my own. There are often only two of us on duty at any given time, although most of us monitor the radio when we’re home, and we can show up pretty quickly if someone needs backup.”
She needed time to think about what Zep had said the night before, time to process what had happened. She’d hoped a good eight hours of driving around the parish would give her that, but no. Her father had different plans. First he’d wanted a tour of the station house. That had taken all of five minutes. He’d sat in Armie’s office while she’d filled out reports. She’d heard him asking all sorts of questions about policy and procedure. Armie seemed to be taking it all in stride. She’d tried to explain that she had a lot to do and would love to have lunch or something later on in the week.
Armie had agreed heartily when her father suggested the ride-along. Hence the not being able to think about important subjects.
When had Zep become important? He was supposed to be fluff. Icing on the cake.
She’d liked teasing him in the meeting. Hell, she’d liked sitting next to him in the meeting. He’d been awfully sweet, trying to save her not once but twice. She probably should have taken the second out he’d given her, the one where not everyone in the world knew they were dating, but all she’d been able to remember was him asking if she planned to hide the fact. Like he was something shameful, something to keep locked away even while she enjoyed him.
“Well, it’s definitely a different way of policing.”
Good. If she argued with her father, she didn’t have to think about how nice it had felt to wake up next to Zep this morning, how right it had felt to make coffee while he and Daisy walked around the block. Something sweet had settled inside her as she’d poured two cups and waited for him, something she’d never once felt for her ex-husband.
Now that she thought about it, it was a good thing to avoid. “Different doesn’t mean worse. This town may seem quaint and out of touch to you, but there are solid people here.”
“I didn’t say it was worse.” Her father’s voice was steady. If she’d irritated him in any way, she couldn’t tell. “What you do here reminds me a bit of your grandfather. I noticed it the other night at your boyfriend’s restaurant. Everyone knew your name and you seemed to know them. By the time I joined, that kind of policing in the city was much harder to do. I moved precincts a lot. It makes getting to know people less of a priority, but you have to if you’re going to move up.”
He didn’t have to point out that there was no moving up in Papillon Parish. She could run against Armie, but she had no grand desire to take control of the sheriff’s office. The truth was she liked her job.
Would she miss it when she was in a bigger city? It had been hard to settle in at first since this place didn’t have all the things she was used to. There weren’t a lot of choices in Papillon, but there was a beauty to the simplicity that she hadn’t counted on.
“But this is a much slower pace,” her father continued. “I can certainly see the appeal, though I wouldn’t think it would be for you. You were always my adrenaline junkie.”
“Hey, there are things that happen out here that can get your heart pumping. Being a deputy here is not that different from where I was. We would wait around for something to go wrong and then hold on for dear life.” As if to put a point on her statement, a black cat strolled out from behind the café. The cat sat at the edge of the road, yawning as though the world was far too boring to deal with. That cat would likely be the most interesting thing in her day. However, she’d had days when buildings went up in flames or storms threatened to take out half the town. “The difference is when someone is in trouble here, I usually know who they are and I know how many kids