Page 20 of Right Number, Wrong Man

COLT

Hailey’s lips press to my cheek and adrenaline roars in my veins, making my hands shake and my body prickle with heat. The AC is blasting, but I’m about to combust.

She’s kissing me.

Hailey.

Is.

Kissing.

Me.

Her lips are softer than silk and slightly sticky from the gloss, but I never want to wipe it off. If it wouldn’t make me look like a madman, I’d get the print of her mouth tattooed on my face this instant.

Hailey laughs brightly like she didn’t nearly murder me with a chaste kiss on the cheek. She plops the Stetson back on my head and sinks into her seat, smiling contently.

I cough to hide how hard I’m hyperventilating.

Don’t do it, Colt. Don’t reach over and kiss her. Don’t.

Before I can do something stupid, I start the car and pull out onto the street.

“Fine. Maybe it is time to make peace. Temporarily, at least,” she says and turns the DVD in her hand. “A truce. You just bought yourself a night of peace, sheriff.”

“I was with the army, not the police,” I say. It’s meant to be a joke, but I sound too gruff, like I’m chastising her.

Damn me and my chronic emotional constipation.

She gives me an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Sheriff sounded funnier in my head, but I meant no offense. You were a sniper, right?”

She remembers that? I thought she didn’t give a rat’s ass about anything to do with me.

“Yeah,” I choke out and smile back, subtly checking my reflection in the rearview mirror.

My grin only looks half as horrible as I thought it would. Still pretty shit, though. I expected more similarities with the Joker, but it’s more on the side of a mild facial spasm. The muscles around my mouth must’ve atrophied from years of scowling.

My head is filled with cotton. The world around me feels far away, separated by a thick fog, and I can’t seem to slow down my heart.

I’ve been in worse situations on plenty of missions and not once did my calm falter, not once did I slip up and let fear get the better of me. But this is the first time Hailey has been nice to me. It’s the first time she’s touched me voluntarily.

She kissed me on the cheek, for crying out loud!

Which man wouldn’t be an emotional wreck after that?

“Do you always carry a gun because you miss your rifle?” she asks, her voice thick with mischief.

I glance over and find her grinning. Now she’s teasing me? Playfully ?

I relax a fraction and shrug. “It’s for protection.”

“I don’t believe that. You seem like the type of guy who gives his gun a name. ”

I suppress a flinch, hiding the motion in a tap against the holster at my hip. “Nah, this is just a gun.”

My rifle has a name, though. It’s called Grace after your middle name.

My thoughts get too loud and I turn on the radio to drown them out.

“The Eyesnatcher has claimed another victim,” the newscaster announces. “This morning, police found?—”

I grab the tuning nob, switching to my favorite country station. Riley Green’s Don’t Mind If I Do blasts from the speakers and I expect Hailey to complain, but she doesn’t. She nods along and that sight almost gives me another heart attack.

Is it opposite day?

I thought she hated country music. I know Mike did and he tried his hardest to lose his accent, too. He wanted nothing to do with his Texan roots.

Was her dislike for country just his influence spilling over?

“How did you know that the Wraithface Chronicles are my favorite movies?” Hailey asks, wiggling her foot in rhythm with the music. “I watch lots of horror and I don’t think I ever told you.”

I peek at her. She’s painfully beautiful with the sun casting a glow on her face. Her brown hair shimmers like copper and I want to run it between my fingers, wrap those silky strands around my fist.

“Did you forget we grew up alongside each other, Spitfire? I’ve been gone a long time, but I know an awful lot about you from being around back then. From watching. Listening. Paying attention. Hell, I reckon I know almost everything about you.”

If only she realized how much. And I’ve used my time home to gather every bit of new information about her I could get.

Hailey’s brows rise. “And did you forget that you hated me from the day we met? Why would you have cared about what I like?”

“To you, I might’ve been a grumpy jerk and a bully, but I always cared.” I laugh wryly. “I still do. Why do you think I offered you a job and a promotion?”

Her head jerks. “Uh, you think it’s your duty because I’m your sister-in-law?”

“Right…”

I look back at the road.

Awkward silence fills the car while Riley Green and Ella Langley sing about heartbreak and second chances. I’ve said too much, but her being so nice throws me off balance. I should’ve known she wouldn’t believe that I care.

“Growing up, your mom always cooked the most delicious meals. I loved coming over for dinner,” Hailey says out of the blue, like our previous conversation stirred her memories. “Did you know my parents called your house little Texas?”

I grin, relieved about the topic change. “I think it was mentioned once or twice. Momma being Momma, she took it as a compliment.”

She snickers. “Oh, it definitely was!”

“We moved away from Fort Worth when I was five. Before Momma convinced Dad to settle down in Sunridge Hollow so Mike and I could finish school in one place, his job dragged us all around the country. I don’t remember much about my early childhood, but my parents took a piece of Texas with us wherever we went.

Dad with his hats and boots, never hiding his accent.

Momma with her father’s cowboy sayings and her grandmother’s cooking recipes handed down through the family. They made sure I remember my roots.”

A flicker of fond nostalgia crosses Hailey’s face and I realize we’ve never talked like this, swapping stories and reminiscing. Now that we ain’t wasting our time arguing, we’re having a pleasant conversation. No, it’s more than pleasant.

The connection between us is effortless like we’ve been friends all our lives—not enemies.

It’s everything I hoped for and everything I was afraid of.

I thought we’d get along well if we stopped fighting over bullshit, but I always brushed it off as wishful thinking. Now I have confirmation and leaving in a few weeks seems more and more impossible.

“For as long as I’ve known your dad, I’ve only ever seen him in his military uniform or in his Stetson and boots. More of the latter since he retired. I think he’s rubbed off on you,” Hailey says.

“He’s of the old stock and I like keeping up some of his traditions. I’m proud of my Southern heritage, but I don’t agree with all of Dad’s ideals. Some of ‘em are a little too old fashioned for me.”

She hums. “Hm, I feel the same about my parents. I love them, but I don’t want to turn into a carbon copy of them.”

We pull up to my folks’ house and the front door opens before I’ve properly parked in the driveway. Momma waves with a big smile on her face, but she’s got bags under her eyes.

“Wow, Sara Jean looks tired…” she whispers.

“Mike’s death has been hard on her, but she tries to keep her spirits up for Dad’s sake.”

Her head snaps to me, fear in her eyes. “Do you think they blame me for what happened?” she bursts out like she’d been holding her breath.

Suddenly it makes sense that Hailey stopped coming to dinner and never returned Momma’s calls. She feels responsible for my brother’s demise and the grief it caused my folks.

Pain arcs through my chest. I wish I could tell her that Mike would’ve died anyway. If not that night, then another, cause I never would’ve let him get away with hurting her.

I shake my head. “They’d never think that, even if they knew about your fight. Mike was a grown man. He liked to go out and get high, and that’s dangerous in itself. He could’ve gotten killed any other day.”

“So Sara Jean and Earl still don’t know about the cheating and the breakup?” she asks.

“I promised that I wouldn’t tell a soul and I haven’t.

I keep my word. Besides, knowing would hurt Momma more, anyway.

Dad would disown Mike posthumously. They don’t need to know.

It’s better this way.” I run a hand along my jaw and sigh.

“They’ve been looking forward to seeing you, though.

Let’s make this a nice, peaceful night for their sake, alright? ”

Hailey gives an enthusiastic nod and a small smile. “Damn right we will!”