Page 77 of Riverbend Gap (Riverbend 1)

Her conscience twitched at the thought.

By the time they finished planting and watering the new shrubs, it was ten minutes till game time. Lisa gave her a good-bye hug, and Katie waved as she left. She loved that the woman felt comfortable dropping by her house. That might annoy some people, but Katie had always wanted a family that was close enough for impromptu visits.

As she put away her gardening supplies and took a quick shower, it wasn’t the game she was thinking of. It was Cooper. How had his confrontation with Megan gone this afternoon? Would he let Katie know, or should she reach out to him?

She’d no sooner settled in front of the TV than her phone rang. Cooper.

“Hello?”

“It’s me. Are you busy?” His rapid speech revealed agitation.

“No, I was just watching the game and wondering how things went with Megan.”

“They didn’t. She wasn’t there. Worse than that, she won’t be around for another week—she went on vacation.”

“Vacation? How convenient.”

“Isn’t it? She starts a nasty rumor and leaves town.”

“I’m sorry, Cooper. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me where she went, of course. But the rumor is spreading. My mom knows everything now. I called Avery a while ago and told her. Gavin is next. I’m on my way to Mom and Jeff’s to watch the game. Gavin will be there.”

“I’m so sorry this is happening. I know what your reputation means to you.”

“And Megan knows what this run for sheriff means to me. A small-town rumor may not seem like much, but most of my votes will come from Riverbend—I hope.”

“Sabotaging your campaign seems so extreme.”

“Mom thinks she must’ve had deeper feelings than she let on.”

“Someone who really cared about you wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m guessing Megan doesn’t think like you do.”

“Then she doesn’t know that caring for someone means you put their needs ahead of your own.”

“I suspect that’s true.”

“Should you make some kind of public statement?”

“Avery and I talked about that, but we don’t want to blow it out of proportion or give the rumor more credence than it’s due. I really can’t see it spreading outside of Riverbend, so there should be minimal damage to my campaign. But I’d like to avoid dragging my family’s name through the mud if I can.”

“Maybe it’s not as bad as you think. Pregnancies outside of wedlock happen all the time.”

“It’s not the pregnancy that’s so damaging. It’s the fact that I’ve supposedly turned my back on Megan—never mind that it’s not true.”

“There’s a DNA test—but of course we’d need the mother for that.”

“Yeah, Avery mentioned that.” The heavy sigh on his end of the line conveyed that this burden was weighing him down.

Katie didn’t know what to say, so she whispered a quick prayer. There must be some reason God was allowing this to happen. It was always confusing when bad things happened to good people. When badpeoplehappened to good people. Her stomach was in knots for Cooper.

“I shouldn’t be calling you,” he said quietly. Honestly.

His words ushered in a new kind of tension. The kind that existed because they were tiptoeing around the feelings growing between them. But with that one little statement, he’d stepped right on a land mine. Maybe he regretted it now.

She threw him a lifeline. “There’s no crime in needing to talk to someone, Cooper.”