“You just seem to take for granted that because of your job you have the right to park wherever you want. My driveway is just as steep and inconvenient as yours. Why should I have to cede the convenient space to you? Especially when technically it’s my land.”
“How about for the sake of the town? Five extra minutes to get down a driveway in police time is an eternity.”
“Or maybe you’re just lazy,” she said.
He glared at her, then blew out a long breath. “Delaney, it’s been a crappy day. If you need to charge your car, I’ll move my cruiser. If not, you think we can table this for another time?”
That’s when she noticed the tightness around his eyes and his stiff jaw. Maybe he’d had to respond to a gruesome crime scene. As much as she hated to admit it, being police chief had to be a difficult job.
“Fine, you can stay where you are for now. But I don’t want this to become a habit. And for the record, my day was lousy too.” She turned to walk away.
“What happened, you lose your thread and needle?”
“Nope, I lost Delaney Scott.” She kept walking without giving him a backward glance.
Not wanting to go back to her studio, where the walls seemed to be closing in on her, Delaney decided to go to the market. She got her bag from inside the house, nosed her car down the driveway, and drove less than a mile to Glory Junction’s only strip mall, which consisted of a big chain supermarket, a Wells Fargo, and a Starbucks. Last she counted there were three in town.
Delaney grabbed a cart and was starting down the produce aisle when she bumped into Hannah Garner, who carried Delaney Scott designs in her gift shop and just so happened to be married to one of Colt’s brothers. They didn’t know each other well, but were friendly. Hannah had made it a point to make her feel welcome in the town as opposed to treating her like one of the celebrity newcomers.
“Hey, I sold one of your handbags today,” Hannah said. “I could use more inventory. This is our best summer yet.”
“That’s great. I’ll have my people send a shipment out tomorrow. You want the same merchandise as last time?” It would make it easier for her warehouse supervisor to follow the existing order, which only reminded her how badly she needed a fashion house manager who could deal directly with retailers. Sometimes she wondered if being stretched too thin contributed to her designer’s block.
“Sure. Or you can mix it up a little. Whatever you think.” Hannah gave her an assessing once-over. “You have a long day? You look tired.” She was perceptive, that was for sure.
Delaney self-consciously fluffed her hair. “It was long, but nonproductive and frustrating. You come straight from the store?”
“Yeah. I’ve got book club at my house on Monday night. I figured now would be a good time to pick up a few things since my weekends are crazy. You should come.” She gazed at Delaney expectantly.
“Uh, I doubt I’ve read the book.” Delaney liked to read but never had time anymore.
“It doesn’t matter. We mostly drink wine and talk about people,” she said, then added, “I’m joking.”
Delaney wouldn’t mind getting to know more of the residents. She’d been so caught up in her problems and trying to rebuild that she hadn’t circulated much. Even though it wouldn’t be her full-time town forever, she’d continue to use the house on weekends, and it would be nice to have a group of friends here who weren’t part of her life with Robert.
“If you’re sure it’d be okay with everyone else, I’d love to come.”
“Great. I’ll text you my address, or if Colt comes you can hop a ride with him.”
“Colt’s in your book club?” Delaney had just assumed it was all women.
“No, but he sometimes comes over to hang with Josh while we’re in the other room. How’s things going with you two?”
Delaney could feel her face heat. In the nine months she’d lived in Glory Junction, word of their ongoing battle over the easement had gotten around. The work of a small-town grapevine, she supposed. “You know about that, huh?”
“Colt mentioned something about it,” Hannah said sheepishly. “Not in a disparaging way. He just said that you two had a conflict over the road. Easements, fences, property lines, they tend to be battlegrounds in rural areas.”
“Big cities too.”
“Colt’s a good guy. He can come across as gruff, probably because he’s a cop, but he’s a big teddy bear.”
More like a mean old grizzly bear, Delaney thought to herself. “We’re sort of at an impasse. To be honest, I don’t think he likes me much right now.” Or ever. He appeared to have a stick up his ass where she was concerned.
“Eh, don’t worry. He’ll get over it.” Hannah waved her hand in the air, dismissing the thought as if it was no big deal.
“Still, it would be nice if we could get along better, since we’re stuck living next door to each other.”
“Maybe a small gesture would help. Colt sometimes plays at Old Glory ... just did the other night. You could come with us and watch him. We usually go in a big group and that might break the ice between you two.”
