Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Once again, I wanted to say many, many things. But I figured none of them would help. I kept my mouth shut and let him get his story out.
“So then I tried to grab him to take him outside, and that’s when he bit me.”
I glanced over at him to see if I was being played. “You… tried to grab a wild squirrel. With your bare hand?”
He set his jaw and nodded. “Little punk-ass needed to be taught a lesson.”
Oh, now he was Mister Big Scary Mountain Man. Mm-hm.
I asked him a few more questions, gently suggested he change his wildlife feeding habits, and wished him well in his intense two weeks of treatment. When we finally handed him off to the friendly intake personnel at the hospital, I sat in my vehicle and typed up the incident before laughing to myself.
Potentially rabid wild animal attacks weren’t common in Los Angeles, but it was nice to know both human hubris and fear were universal.
“You handled that well,” I told Shawn as we headed back to town. He’d grabbed us some fresh coffee from the cafeteria while I’d written the report. “I’m guessing you’ll be right at home here. Did you miss exciting stuff like this in a bigger town? Is that why you moved away from Durango?”
He smiled. “Partly. I wanted to move closer to my family,” he admitted. “But I have no desire to work for Jay, so I couldn’t move back to Meeker. This was the next best thing. As you can imagine, my mother is thrilled I’m a little closer. I’ll be able to go on the father/son annual fishing trip again. And don’t be surprised if the entire Graham clan turns up in the department one day to meet everyone, and if she tries matchmaking everyone in sight distance, I apologize in advance.”
“You’re a bigger man than I,” I admitted. “My parents live in LA, and I’m enjoying the distance. They’re wonderful but very opinionated.”
Shawn’s laughter was warm and easy. “Well, to be honest, Jay being chief of police isn’t the only reason I didn’t want to go back to Meeker. My mom truly is hell-bent on getting grandkids. And dating any of the women in Meeker would be like dating one of my sisters. No, thanks. Being an hour away is just about perfect as far as I’m concerned. I only hope it won’t take too long to make some friends here. I don’t care about the dating scene so much as having folks I can kick back and enjoy a beer with. It never really happened for me in Durango, even after five years of trying.”
“Then I’d guess you’d better come with me to Pie Hole tonight. I’ll introduce you around.” I closed my laptop and made sure I had my phone and keys. “You like football?”
His grin widened. “Hell yeah. Cowboys all the way, baby.”
I shook my head. “Tonight you’re a Houston Riggers fan, I’m afraid. Tonight’s a going-away thing for Tiller Raine. He’s headed to Texas for the preseason tomorrow.”
The look on Shawn’s face was priceless. “Tiller Raine? The Tiller Raine? Heisman winner and Super Bowl MVP?”
Maybe being friends with celebrities wasn’t quite so bad.
As long as they weren’t Hollywood actors.
“Yeah. He and his boyfriend got engaged last night, so I guess we’re celebrating that, too.”
“No shit? That’s awesome. I read an article about them buying a place in Colorado, but I didn’t put two and two together it was Aster Valley.”
I spent the short drive explaining that Mikey and Tiller had purchased Rockley Lodge and the old, defunct ski mountain in hopes of reviving it and reopening it in the future.
“It’s part of why they agreed to let this film crew come in and film on location here,” I said, stifling a sigh. “They’re hoping to start getting some positive media coverage about the place. The ski mountain was closed down twenty years ago after an unfortunate accident, and they want to replace those old stories with some new, feel-good ones.”
“Oh man, I’d love to live in a ski town. I’m not great at it, but I’d love to learn.”
I pulled up outside the new bakery in town. “Gonna grab some donuts and bring ’em over to the fire department,” I told Shawn. “I want to thank Russ Grant and his crew for their amazing response to a false alarm over at the high school last weekend. Half the firefighters were playing a softball game in Valley Park, and they dropped everything to race over there in case any summer school kids were in the building. Thankfully, the building was empty, and the alarm had somehow been tripped accidentally. But they went above and beyond.”
“Best part of living in a small town,” Shawn said happily.
And he was so right. That was the kind of thing I should be focusing on. Not hot, entitled troublemakers. I was determined to put the movie people out of my mind entirely, and I did…