Her sister sprung forward in her seat and pointed in Ava’s face. “You’re going. Grace is going home tomorrow, so tonight, the Wells sisters are hitting the town! We let you off the hook yesterday so you could read your files but tonight you’re going!”
Her sisters hadn’t been happy about the fact that Ava had to spend the day familiarizing herself with the campers, but they’d understood that it was a necessity.
Tonight, it didn’t look like she was getting off the hook so easily.
“Fine. But, I’ll meet you there. I want to take a shower.”
If she was going to go out for her first night as a single person, she didn’t want to do it feeling grungy with her hair pulled up and no makeup on.
“Deal.” Viv agreed with a self-satisfied smile.
* * *
Asher steppedout onto the steps of the police station and put his sunglasses on. His first day was officially finished and the sun was still out. He wasn’t used to this nine to five yet.
Today had mostly consisted of filling out paperwork and doing online trainings. He was also wrapping his head around the new challenges he was going to face. He had to admit that when Logan suggested the position, the Andy Griffith theme song had played in his head. He figured that he’d be coming to work for Mayberry.
But the reality was so much different than his preconception. The challenges weren’t similar to what he faced in New York, but that didn’t mean they were any less challenging, for lack of a better word.
Hope Falls was a popular tourist town. Its core population was barely over 5,000. But during peak seasons, which were summer and winter, that populations didn’t just double or triple, it grew to over 40,000.
That influx of people led not only to things like traffic issues, but it also increased petty crimes like public intoxication, noise complaints, jaywalking, trespassing, and other minor infractions. With more people there was inevitably a rise in more serious offenses like domestic disputes, burglary, assault, drugs, and even homicides.
Asher had to admit that he was impressed with Chief Eric Maguire, Hope Fall’s Chief of Police. Eric had grown up in the town long before it had experienced the boom of becoming as popular a tourist attraction as it was now, but he wasn’t stuck in his ways. He fought for this town to be on the cutting edge of not only technology, but also community outreach programs as well as training programs for his officers.
The door openedbehind him and two rookies that he’d briefly met during his tour of the station this morning, Ty Clemons and Reece Clarke, who were going to be reporting to him, walked out. The two men were fresh out of the academy and clearly filled with an optimistic enthusiasm—believing that you could make a difference.
“Hey Ford, we’re going to JT’s if you want to come grab a beer?” Clemons offered.
In this career, more than others, it was important to bond off the job because the stakes were so much higher. You had to trust your life to the people you worked with and vice versa.
But for the first time in his life, the job wasn’t Asher’s priority, Blake was. Technically, Blake was old enough to be left alone but Asher didn’t want to bail on her right after moving here. Plus, he’d already picked up burgers for tonight.
JT’s Roadhouse was the bar that Logan’s older brother Levi owned. Asher planned on stopping by, but he’d wait until Blake was more settled in.
“Raincheck. I have to go pick up my daughter.” Asher waved as he climbed into his SUV.
As he drove through the town on the way to Mountain Ridge, he got a text from Jenna reminding him to have Blake call her. He knew that it wasn’t easy for Jenna with Blake being thousands of miles away, but even she had to admit that drastic times called for drastic measures.
He hadn’t taken the decision to move across the country lightly, and Jenna hadn’t taken the decision to allow Blake to move across the country lightly, but neither of them had seen another way. He still hadn’t got to the bottom of why Blake’s grades had dropped so significantly, or why she’d started sneaking out of the house and abusing her social media privileges. If he had to guess, it would be related to a boy. But that also might just be the overprotective dad in him.
Even if that was the case, the buck still stopped with Blake. She was going to have to learn to navigate this world and make better choices than she had been.
He’d tried to broach the subject about her recent behavior a couple of times, but she just kept shutting down and shutting him out. He wasn’t one of those parents that wanted to be his kid’s friend, he had no problem being the bad guy and setting rules. Hell, he’d taken a thirteen-year-old’s phone and computer away from them. But he did see that there had to be a balance in a parent child relationship, otherwise the parent got completely blocked out of the child’s life.
Asher pulled up to where they’d agreed he would pick Blake up but he noticed he was a few minutes early. Moments like these, he regretted taking away her phone. It would be so much easier if he could just text her and let her know that he was here.
While he waited, he scrolled through his own phone but quickly grew bored. After ten minutes passed, Asher got out of the SUV and walked toward the sound of kids. He stopped when he saw Blake standing in group of kids. He only recognized one of them, Drew, Logan’s stepson was there. But he wasn’t the boy that Asher was worried about. Standing next to her was a tall, lanky kid that had to be at least six foot two.
Asher watched as Blake’s head fell back and she laughed at something the tall kid said as she swatted his arm playfully.
“Blake!” Asher called out. He’d wanted her to go to the camp to keep her busy while he was at work, not to flirt with boys.
His daughter turned her head and when she saw him, turned back to the group and said something before jogging over to him.
“Dad, can I stay for dinner and the campfire?”
“I was going to make burgers.”
