Page 33 of Valor (Long Hot Summer: Christian Romantic Suspense #2)

GIBSON

After nearly turning around and canceling half a dozen times out of sheer fear of losing the friendship I have with Lani, then realizing that if I cancel last minute I can pretty much kiss it goodbye anyway, I finally pull up in front of her apartment building.

“Okay, Gibson, you can do this.” I breathe deeply, trying to calm the nerves I’ve been carrying around ever since deciding I was going to finally ask her out in the first place. Seeing her sitting there in the sunlight this afternoon, I’d been helpless to deny myself any longer. Even if this goes up in flames, I have to know.

Before I can even open my door to climb out, Lani steps out of her apartment and locks the door. The breath leaves my lungs as I stare up at her in a dress the color of emeralds.

I’m stunned by the sight of her, the beauty, strength, and resilience that is Lani Hunt. It’s why I’ve loved her nearly all my life. Why I’m hoping I can undo the mistakes of my past and earn a chance to be hers.

Lani is the very reason I get out of bed in the morning. She’s the only reason I didn’t leave Pine Creek after my very public divorce. I’d stayed, dealt with everyone looking at me with pity because I knew one day she’d come home and I wanted to be near my best friend.

The woman I should have waited for. The one who would have never broken my heart and tossed me to the side like yesterday’s takeout.

Get it together, Lawson. No bad memories tonight.

I push my door open as she hits the halfway point of the stairs, finally gathering my thoughts enough to realize that I need to get out and get the door for her. When she sees me, she smiles.

“Why, Sheriff Gibson, you clean up quite nice.”

“So do you, Dr. Hunt.”

She beams at me, and I open the passenger door of my GMC so she can climb in.

As soon as I’m behind the wheel of the truck, I take another moment to simply drink her in. She’s braided her thick, dark hair over one shoulder, and a silver cross adorns her neck.

Effortlessly beautiful.

Her cheeks flush with color. “What?”

“You just look beautiful, Lani.”

She smiles widely, and that color deepens. “You’re in a charming mood tonight.”

Going okay, so far. What was I so afraid of? “I have to be to keep up with you.” After putting the truck in reverse and backing out of the spot, I head toward the highway that will take us to the next town over.

“So, what’s the plan tonight?” she asks, partially turning toward me.

“How do you feel about Italian food?”

She stares at me. “You know it’s my favorite.”

I laugh. “We’re going to Luigi’s.”

“Seriously?” She claps her hands together. “I haven’t had Luigi’s in forever.”

“I thought as much.” It also happens to be where I took her before my senior prom, since we’d gone as friends. What she also doesn’t know is that it was the second-best night of my life. My first was the day she kissed me on a dare. “How was the rest of your day?”

“Not bad. We had a broken arm come in, so I set that and got her an appointment with an orthopedic doctor tomorrow morning. There was also a broken nose and one more stomach bug. Relatively low-key, given how it started.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“How was your day?” she asks.

“Not bad. Mostly paperwork, to be honest.”

“No high-speed chases? Bank robberies?”

I laugh. “Hardly. Though I did get called out because Lester Jackson thought someone had stolen three of his cows.”

“Oh?”

The Jackson family owns the ranch that borders the Hunt family ranch. They keep to themselves, despise pretty much everyone in town—but especially Lani’s family. Something about a feud that started after her mom chose Tommy Hunt over Lester.

“And just who was he blaming for the theft?” she asks. “Let me guess. My dad?”

I laugh. “Yep. He said he was calling me out because he’d had enough of dealing with ‘those Hunts’ coming onto his property and taking his things.”

Lani rolls her eyes. “He’s got such a stick up his rear it’s ridiculous.”

“We found the cows on another of his pastures. The last big storm blew a tree down, and it took out his fence.”

“Of course it did. Because they don’t keep up with their property the way they should. Did I tell you that Riley and Elliot offered to go out and help them after that storm? Just ride through and make sure none of the fences were down, and Lester slammed the door in their face?”

“No, but it doesn’t surprise me. He barely let me in the house to take his statement, and that’s even after he’d specifically requested I come out.”

“I honestly feel a bit sad for them,” she says. “To harbor so much hate for the world that you don’t even take time to appreciate the beauty of it.”

Lani has always been a ray of light. Despite being abandoned hungry, alone, and only in a diaper by her birth parents when she was a toddler, her outlook on life has never been anything but positive. Sure, she’s been known to have a temper at times, but it’s only in the face of injustices. Never for herself.

“Maybe one day he’ll realize what he has and stop taking out his frustrations on everyone around him,” I say as I pull into Luigi’s parking lot.

“Maybe.” She starts to open her door.

“No. This is a date,” I tell her, then jump out and come around to open it for her. She grins at me as she takes my offered hand and slides out of the truck. The feel of her palm against mine only solidifies what I already knew—we were meant for each other.

It just took me thirty-six years to do something about it.

“Reservation for Gibson Lawson,” I tell the hostess as soon as we’re inside.

She checks her tablet, then smiles. “Right this way, Mr. Lawson.” After retrieving two menus, she guides us over toward a table in the far corner. The lighting inside is dim, granted only by candles on each table and a scattering of sconces on the golden walls. The tables are full, as they usually are, and I’m grateful I took the time to call rather than just show up.

Lani removes her cardigan and drapes it over her chair, then takes a seat. I slide her chair in before taking my own across from her.

“Wine?” the waiter offers as he carries a bottle of red wine over to the table.

“No, thank you,” Lani replies with a smile. “I don’t drink.”

“Neither do I,” I tell him.

“Very well, what can I get you two to drink?”

“I’ll take a water, please.”

“Same,” I tell him.

He smiles and offers us a friendly nod before slipping away with the bottle and both glasses that we’re already on the table.

“So. What should I get tonight?” Lani says as she checks her menu. “Lasagna? That sounds good.”

“Lasagna makes you sleepy.”

She offers me an amused grin over the top of her menu. “It’s okay if I get sleepy now. In fact, it’s encouraged this time of night.”

“As long as it’s not too soon,” I reply. “I’m hoping for a few hours of getting to know each other again before I have to take you home.”

Her cheeks flush with color. “We’ve known each other forever.”

“But not like this. I want to really talk, Lani.”

“About what?”

“Everything. Your plans for the future. Mine. I want to know where you stand with this.” I gesture between us.

Lani looks pleasantly surprised. “You want to talk about all of that?”

“I’d say we should talk about everything one typically covers on a first date, but I think we’re quite a way past that. I already know about your childhood animals, and you know what my biggest fear was growing up.”

She laughs, and my heart leaps in my chest. I could spend the rest of my life listening to her laugh. “All right then, Sheriff Lawson. Spaghetti it is. Still delicious, but it won’t have me asleep before we leave this table.”

I laugh. “I’ll do spaghetti too, then.”

“Look at us. Already ordering the same thing. It’s adorable.”

“It really is.”

Her grin spreads, and she sets her menu aside. “As far as aspirations go, the only thing I’m really hoping for is being able to return full-time to my clinic. And possibly spending the summer with Doctors Without Borders, but you already know that.”

“I do. And as it happens, that’s how I’m hoping to spend a summer, too.”

The color of her cheeks deepens, and she smiles.

The waiter drops off some bread in front of us, then sets two glasses of water on the table before darting off again.

“Do you not like working at the hospital? Aside from the stress, I mean.”

“It’s just less personal than I’d like. I know I’m helping, and I’m so grateful for that, but I like to help people heal the reason behind their ailments. Treat the person, not the symptoms. At the hospital, you’re trying to help quickly and move them on their way. Target what’s currently bothering them. Most of the time, I don’t get to spend more than an hour total with someone before they’re discharged.”

“That’s got to be hard.”

“I know some doctors prefer that, and that’s great for them, I just really want to get back to why I got into medicine in the first place.”

“You’re just needing to find a replacement for Janet until she’s back?”

I nod. “Everyone we call to bring in cancels on us. It’s the weirdest thing. I haven’t been able to interview a single doctor. Even ones who are looking for residencies.”

“That is strange.”

She nods. “But it’ll all work out. Eventually. How about you? You’re already the town sheriff now. What’s next for Gibson Lawson?”

“Career-wise? Nothing. I like where I am and have no interest in doing anything else.”

“No?”

I shake my head. “I used to think I wanted to move to a big city so I’d have a more active career, but I love Pine Creek. And keeping the place I love safe—even if it doesn’t tend to attract trouble—is what I want to do until the day I hang my badge up.”

Lani smiles tenderly. “That is wonderful. And since I also don’t want to leave Pine Creek, I have to say I’m grateful to know you don’t either.”

“It is a pretty great coincidence that neither of us wants to leave.”

“I would agree with that, Sheriff.”

The waiter breezes back to the table. “Have you decided what you would like?” he asks.

My gaze never leaves Lani. “Absolutely.”