Page 66 of Traces Of You

“I know. My mother told me. She said you baked a cake and my father hasn’t shut up over it. I think my mother is jealous.”

She smiled. “I highly doubt that. Your mother is a great baker. I asked her if I could cover the kitchen for her so she could have some time off. I wanted to show her I could bake my own things too.”

“My mother could use to have some time off. That was sweet of you to offer and show her you had what it took, but I’m positive she knows that.” He brushed a piece of hair away from her face and put it behind her ear. “She has a hard time letting go of things.”

“Must run in the family,” she mumbled.

“What does that mean?”

“Just a comment,” she said.

He was searching her face again for any signs of more information, but she wasn’t sharing. She didn’t even know why she said the words.

It could mean so many things or nothing at all.

His radio was going off, so he pulled it out. She didn’t know what was being said since it was all in code.

“I’ve got to go,” he said.

His body tensed, his face became more serious, the playful guy that she was opening up to was gone.

This was a man who had a sharp look in his eye.

“What’s going on?”

“Armed robbery.”

“You’re going to the scene?” she asked, following him out of the barn.

“I’m close by.”

She was walking with him, almost running to keep up with his longer stride, Clay appearing by their side.

Ford radioed he was on the way, then pulled a bulletproof vest out of the back of the sheriff’s SUV while tucking his shirt into his jeans.

She saw more guns in the back and her heart popped out of her chest along with the color in her face.

“Go,” Clay said. “I’ve got a handle on things.”

He got behind the wheel, started the SUV, flipped the sirens on and took off, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

She looked at Clay. “He’ll be okay, right?”

“He knows what he’s doing. Don’t worry.”

Yeah, right.

She followed Clay into the barn, but she wasn’t focused on her duties.

“Ford will be fine.”

She turned to Callum. These men all had a quiet walk and it drove her insane that she never heard any of them coming.

“I’m sure he will be,” she said.

“He’ll come back tonight,” Callum said. “Because he knows you’re worried and he won’t like that you are. Maybe send him atext you’ll have dinner for him. And another one of those cakes. A man would be nuts not to come for that cake.”

Reenie laughed. “I can do that. I just hate that he has so much on his mind and then has to worry about me. I hope he didn’t see that I was nervous.”