Her father sighed. “Deke does seem like a good man.”
“I know,” she shrugged. “I thought so from the moment I met him.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“As of right now, I’m not sure. He has to work on this case for you. He said he’d get back with me once he did.”
“Well, you have to let him see his child, Ava. You know it wasn’t right to keep it from him, and I’m disappointed that you lied to me about the father.”
“What was I supposed to tell you? ‘Oh, hey, Dad, I had a one-night stand and now I’m pregnant’?”
“It would have been better than lying to me. You know how I feel about that.”
“I do, but I felt I had no choice.”
“I know that now, but you should know that you can tell me anything. I should probably head back to the office now. I have some calls to make.” He turned toward the door.
“Oh, by the way, where were you last Saturday night?” Ava asked with a mischievous grin.
He turned back to face her. “Excuse me?”
“You were out late. I’ve been meaning to ask, but got busy.”
“I just went out. Alone,” he replied, avoiding her gaze.
Ava laughed. “Now, who’s lying?”
“Are you calling your father a liar?”
“Yep.”
“I have to go,” he said as he opened the door and stepped onto the porch before closing the door behind him.
Ava chuckled as she watched him stroll across the yard through the window. She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, stepping out into the warm sunlight.
“I’ll find out,” she hollered after him, laughing when he shook his head in response.
As she closed the door, she shook her head. She had some contracts to review and needed to order feed for the animals. After finishing her coffee, she planned on taking a shower before diving into work.
****
Deke walked into the office and saw his coworkers hard at work at their desks. He made his way to his own desk, took off his hat, and hung it on the rack. After pulling out his chair and sitting down, he looked up at the sound of Dave saying his name.
“Good morning, Dave.”
“Deke. How was the trip?”
“I have some photos to go through. Looks like whoever did this used two large trucks with trailers. They definitely knew what they were after.”
“Did you find out if Hollister has any enemies?”
“Yeah, I’ll check into that after I enter these tracks.”
“Good. Sorry I had to send you on this, but Autumn Falls needed our help.”
“It’s no problem, Dave. It’s only a five-hour drive. Well, usually. I got caught in traffic because of an accident and it took me twice as long.”
“At least it wasn’t a wasted trip. I’m heading tograb breakfast, didn’t have time this morning.”
