“Naah. You were surprisingly diplomatic about it.”
Ginger winced at the “surprisingly” part, but she’d earned it.
“And that was actually pretty damn smart of you,” Sheriff Armstrong continued. “I should have thought of that myself years ago. Every time I tried to offer Cletus and his family money, they say they don’t take charity; I should have realized the solution was to find Cletus some kind of job. He’s right that it’s hard for him to find any work, the Arbuckle’s have a bad reputation in town. Especially Cletus, he did time in juvie for a vandalism spree after his father died, smashed the windows on a bunch of businesses on Main Street, and a lot of folks in town hold that against him.”
“I’ll pay for his salary,” Ginger said, relieved that this wasn’t going to get her in even more trouble with her pack. “And his lunch.” She could charge it to her credit card, skip lunch for the next few months when she was in New York…
“Don’t be ridiculous, woman. I’ll get the town to cover it out of petty cash. We do need that garden weeded and planted.”
They climbed back in the car and headed into town. “Next time, consult me first,” he added.
“Will do.” She nodded, relief rolling over her. Disaster averted. Her Alpha, and her standing with the pack, were safe. For now.
“I’m going to take you to my office now, introduce you to everybody. We expanded our building recently. I’ve got boxes and boxes of filing that needs to be done.”
“Great!” she forced a bright, cheery smile, but inwardly she quailed. How would everyone at the station react to the woman who’d publicly insulted their Alpha? And how had she managed to get herself into this mess?
Her phone vibrated in her purse, and she pulled it out and glanced at it.
“Boyfriend?” he said, glancing sideways at her.
Hmmm. Why was he asking?
“I don’t have one of those,” she said. “But I do have a mother who’s apparently called me 11 times this morning.”
“No boyfriend? Men in New York must not know a good thing when they see it.”
“You’re too kind. I had a boyfriend. We…wanted different things.” That wasn’t a lie. She wanted fidelity, more passion and a wedding ring, and he wanted to have sex with Bitsy Saperstein.
Her phone rang again.
“Why does your mother’s ring tone sound like the wedding march?”#p#分页标题#e#
She shot him a dirty look, flipped open the phone, and her mother’s shrill voice rang in her ear.
“What have you done? Did I raise you like this? How will we ever get you married now? Are our packs going to be at war?”
“Mother,” she said, gritting her teeth together. “I am in the car with the sheriff. Everything is fine. Everything is going very well.”
“Really?” her mother perked up. “Does he like you now? Is he single?”
“Mother.”
“Maybe you could cook him dinner. Show him how domestic you are. I’m going to text you some recipes as soon as I hang up. Or maybe-“
“I’ll call you tonight,” she said hastily, and hung up. Loch was stifling a laugh. “Don’t,” she said crabbily. “Just don’t.”
The sheriff’s building was a squat brick structure, with black shutters and a big sign out front that said Blue Moon County Sheriff’s Office, with a picture of their logo, which was a wolf howling at the moon. It was located in downtown Blue Moon Junction, which was what passed for a town in those parts. They were gliding into Loch’s parking space by the front door when the radio crackled again.
“Some kind of disturbance call at Terry Jones house,” the dispatcher said. “She specifically asked for you to come, sheriff.” There was an undertone of amusement in her voice.
The sheriff rolled his eyes. “Thanks,” he muttered. “I’ll take care of it.”
He pulled out of the parking lot, looking annoyed.
About five minutes down the road, they pulled into a mobile home park. The homes were small but neat-looking, surrounded by well tended little yards.
The sheriff parked in front of a house towards the back of the park, and as he and Ginger walked up the pathway to the mobile home on 3622 Sandhill Crane Court, he said to her “Brace yourself.”
“For what?” she asked, puzzled.
“You’ll see.”
They walked up the white gravel path to an entrance which was flanked by artificial roses in plastic pots, and the sheriff rapped on the door with his knuckles. The door flew open, revealing…a voluptuous naked woman. Well, not totally naked. She was wearing a bikini made of saran wrap. It was quite evident that she waxed.