Love Inspired May 2021--Box Set 1 of 2, page 43
“What kind of permit are we talking about? Spit it out, Remy.”
“I’m opening a petting zoo. Grasshopper Grange will be—”
“Whoa, hold up.” He cut her off. “People actually pay money to pet grasshoppers?”
“No.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I just thought the name sounded fun.”
“Okay, but that’s not what’s rolling around in your head and I’m pressed for time. Let’s have it, Remy. Spit it out,” he repeated.
The man really needed to work on his people skills. “Since you asked so nicely, I have a proposition for you.”
“What kind of proposition?”
“If you put in a good word on my behalf at City Hall or, better yet, push my permit through ahead of the others, I’ll help you out with Samson.”
“Help me out, how?”
“He can hang with me until you register him for another summer program. I’ll have him shadow me at the clinic, then assist me with the animals at the ranch after I finish seeing patients.”
Wyatt was shaking his head before she finished speaking. “That doesn’t sound very structured. Samson needs structure.”
Said the man so rigid he made a two-by-four seem pliant. “He’ll get structure. Lots of it. Animals require constant care on a regular basis at regular intervals.”
Sighing, Wyatt rubbed a hand down his face. “How much is this going to cost me?”
Aware he wasn’t saying no, Remy thought about her answer. It felt weird charging Wyatt for something she would do for free. Although, now that he’d mentioned payment, she could use the money for that down payment. “How much was the summer program going to cost you?”
He quoted what Remy considered an astronomical fee. “Tell you what. You do your thing at City Hall and I’ll charge you half what you would have paid for that overpriced day care. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
“You caught me at a desperate moment.”
Sounded like perfect timing to her. “I’ll take that as a yes. We can discuss the details after Puppy School tomorrow.”
“Yeah, okay. That’ll work. Now I really do need to get back to the office.”
“Wait, before you go. You’ll want this.” She dug out a business card from the depths of her tote bag and handed it to him.
“What is that?” he asked, eyeing the tiny rectangle with open suspicion.
“Fiona Elliott’s business card. She’s the clerk in charge of approving my permit. Go on.” She waved the card under Wyatt’s nose. “Take it.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I know Fiona.”
Of course he did. Wyatt had been working at the sheriff’s department for the past twelve years. He probably knew everybody in town. “So, you’ll talk to her?”
“I’ll talk to her.”
Pleasure coursed through her, but then she realized today was Friday. “When?”
“When I get to it,” he said, sounding like a man pushed to his limit.
Remy being Remy, she pushed a little harder. “Today?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Goodbye, Remy.”
“Bye.” Watching him go and thinking maybe she should get his agreement in writing, she pulled out her phone and tapped out a quick text. Will you talk to Fiona this afternoon?
No response.
A simple yes or no will do.
The dancing bubbles appeared at last. Then came his glorious, one-word answer. YES.
Triumph, at last. Smiling, Remy filled another text with three big red hearts. Before she pressed Send, she scrolled through the list of emojis on her phone and stopped at the “animals and nature” section. Chuckling softly, she added three miniature alpacas to the text, included three more red hearts for good measure, then pressed Send.
The dancing bubbles appeared immediately. They disappeared and, this time, stayed gone. Good. Finally, Remy had left Wyatt speechless.
Chapter Five
Wyatt entered his office still frowning at his phone. Where had Remy found an emoji that looked like an alpaca? Or maybe it was a llama. The picture was too small to know for sure. Still, it was pretty clever. A grin toyed at the edges of his lips. The woman definitely kept him on his toes. She’d always been a step ahead of him, for as long as he could remember. It wasn’t an altogether awful sensation.
“You might want to wipe that smile off your face, Sheriff.” Doris moved directly in his path, reached out and, before he knew what she was about to do, wrestled the coffee out of his fist.
“Hey, I was drinking that.”
“You have bigger problems than your current lack of caffeine.” She dropped the cup in the waste bin by her desk. “The mayor is waiting for you in your office. She does not look happy.”
Wyatt forgot all about his coffee. “Do you know what she wants?”
“No.” Doris gave him a get-real lift of her eyebrows. “That’s above my pay grade.”
That hadn’t stopped her from gathering intel before.
“I set Samson up in the conference room. He’s working on a very important—” she made air quotes “—drawing. Enough stalling, Sheriff. The mayor is a busy woman. It wouldn’t be wise to keep her waiting.”
“Copy that.” Wyatt entered his office with an apology forming in his mind. “Did we have an appointment? Am I late?”
“Not at all.” Sutton spun away from the window and smiled. She wore a dark business suit over a crisp white blouse. Adding to the image of a powerful woman, she’d pulled her platinum blond hair back in a tight bun that showed off her high cheekbones. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by.”
Given that her office was in the building next door, the illustrious mayor of Thunder Ridge was pretty much always in the neighborhood. “What can I do for you?”
“Actually, it’s what I can do for you.” An interesting lead-in, and one Wyatt hoped meant good news for his department.
“Well, then. Have a seat.” He motioned to the lone visitor chair in his office, then rounded the desk and took his own seat.
Sutton did as he requested, her back ramrod straight. No doubt about it, the woman was a force to be reckoned with. A war widow, single mother and former trial attorney in New York City, she’d won the mayoral election in a landslide. She was also smart, savvy and dedicated to Thunder Ridge.
On paper, she was the kind of woman Wyatt should find attractive. And maybe he would have in another life. But whenever he thought about women the way a man thought about a woman, it wasn’t Sutton’s image that ever came to mind. It was Remy’s.
He shook away the thought. “As I stated at our previous meeting, Ms. Mayor—”
“Wyatt, please. Even if your nephew wasn’t my son’s best friend, you and I went to high school together. Call me Sutton. In fact—” she gave him the toothy smile that had won over a lot of naysayers during her campaign “—I insist.”
“All right. Sutton.” He returned her smile. “Can I assume this is about my budget?”
She nodded. “I’ve reviewed the numbers and looked at all the other data you provided. You’re right, Wyatt. Thunder Ridge needs another deputy, preferably one with experience. I’m approving your request.” She stood abruptly, straightened her jacket with a tidy snap. “You may begin recruiting immediately.”
Wyatt scrambled to his feet and shoved out his hand. “Thank you, Sutton.”
“No, Wyatt. Thank you. Your data and attention to detail made my decision easy. As we’re both busy people, I won’t keep you any longer.” She turned to go.
“Let me walk you out.” Wyatt rounded his desk and caught up with her at the door.
She paused. “Although it’s not my place to tell you how to do your job, I’d like to make one request concerning your new hire.”
“Of course.” He held her gaze and waited.
“Find the best candidate for the position, without regards to gender, age or life situation.”
Aside from that being the law, Wyatt definitely wanted to hire the best deputy possible. “Goes without saying.”
“And yet, I said it anyway.”
They shared a laugh.
Wyatt promised to keep her posted on the search, then they went their separate ways, Sutton to her office and Wyatt to check on Samson before passing on the good news to Doris. The moment he entered the conference room, the little boy looked up from the table. “Hey, Uncle Wyatt. Want to see my newest day care?”
“I sure do.” Wyatt studied the drawing. This particular plan was more elaborate than the others. Most notably Samson had added a large glass dome. “What’s this for?”
“Stargazing,” Samson told him.
“You plan to attend day care at night?”
Samson laughed. “I would if there was a glass dome for stargazing.”
“Can’t say I blame you.” Wyatt pointed to another detail. “What are these?”
“Chairs for spinning. Like this.” Samson demonstrated the technique in the wheeled office chair. “Am I still in trouble for what happened with Kennedy today?”
“We’ll talk about that later.” Wyatt would save the lecture for tonight when he didn’t have a half-dozen pressing items on his mind. He would also wait until then to tell the boy about “hanging out” with Remy next week.
“Are we going home now?”
“Not yet.” Wyatt handed the paper back to Samson. “I have a few things to finish up.”
“Okay.” The boy went back to his project.
Impressed with the kid’s focus, Wyatt made one more detour before returning to his office. Ten minutes later, after giving Doris the good news about their new deputy, he was sitting behind his desk, reviewing what he’d just learned. The information he’d gleaned from Fiona Elliott may or may not please Remy.
The city clerk had been reasonable, but firm. Remy’s permit would get Fiona’s attention in the order that it had arrived. Not a second sooner. On the bright side, Remy had filled out the form properly. Her check had cleared. And there were only two applications ahead of hers.
Wyatt had made good on his end of the bargain. He would throw his weight around only if it came to that. Remy was, after all, helping him out with Samson. Wyatt owed her. He was a man who always paid his debts.
Now that his nephew was on his mind, he opened the search engine on his computer and spent the next thirty minutes scrolling through the various summer camps in Thunder Ridge. The first two he found were full. The next two even more expensive than the one Samson would no longer be attending. Wyatt continued scrolling. Nothing seemed right.
He needed a break.
Mourning the coffee Doris had confiscated earlier, he went in search of a fresh cup from the break room. While he drank, he took the opportunity to scroll through emails on his phone. Upon his return, he found his assistant barring the entrance to his office again. She did not look happy. Of course, Doris rarely looked happy.
“You have another visitor,” she said, looking at him with raised eyebrows.
“Who is it?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Instincts humming, Wyatt braced himself, stepped across the threshold and...
Stopped cold. Of course, he thought. Of course.
Remy stood at his desk, back facing him, seemingly absorbed with the task of writing on a small sticky note. For a second, he simply stared.
His heart took a quick, hard thump at the sight she made, looking all fresh and female. He tried to remember if she’d been wearing the same clothes earlier that afternoon. Didn’t seem likely. He would have remembered Remy looking like summer personified in a pair of white jeans, a sky blue sleeveless top and high-heeled sandals that revealed bright pink toenails. The same color as Prissy’s bridle.
The woman clearly had a thing for pink. “Remy?”
She spun around. “Oh, Wyatt. Hi. I was just leaving you a note. Guess I don’t have to now.” Smiling, she crumpled the piece of paper into a tight ball, then sailed it through the air for a two-pointer in the trash can.
“Nice shot,” he said.
“I know, right?” Still smiling, she stepped away from his desk and moved within inches of where he stood rooted to the spot. She was close enough now for him to get a good whiff of her perfume. A pleasant mix of lavender and vanilla, and Remy herself. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here?”
“Okay...” He swallowed. “Why are you here?” He swallowed again. “And why were you leaving me a note when your usual mode of communication is texting?”
“You can’t delete a note as easily as a text.”
That was patently untrue, as evidenced by her impressive two-pointer. That meant only one thing. She’d come to see if he’d followed through on his promise to look into her permit. “I heard you were at City Hall about an hour ago. And before you ask how I know, Doris told me.”
“What else did Doris tell you?”
“That you have a packed schedule the rest of the day and I have exactly five minutes to state my business.”
Wyatt decided to give Doris a big fat raise, out of his own pocket.
“Well?” Remy asked. “Did you speak to Fiona while you were at City Hall?”
“I did.”
“Okay, good.” Her smile brightened. Wyatt’s head grew light. He couldn’t stop noticing how pretty she looked in that blue top the same color as her eyes. He tried to focus on their conversation, not on the fact that his heartbeat had picked up speed, or that he experienced a flash of insight, as if he were on the verge of something life-changing.
“Come on, Wyatt. Don’t keep me in suspense. Am I opening Grasshopper Grange in time for the summer rush?”
Before he could answer, Doris stepped into the office and, staring straight at Remy, said, “Time’s up, dear.” She swung around to look at Wyatt. “Your four thirty is here.”
As far as Wyatt knew, he didn’t have a four thirty. That didn’t mean Doris hadn’t scheduled an appointment. As his assistant was fond of saying, “I fill your calendar. It’s up to you to check it on a regular basis.” Which Wyatt often failed to do.
“Thanks, Doris.”
Nodding, the administrative assistant took her cue and left the room.
“Time for you to go, too, Remy.” With a touch to her arm, Wyatt showed her to the door and then, with a gentle nudge, sent her across the threshold.
“What about my permit?”
“It’s being processed.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” he said, “you’ll get your approval sometime early next week.”
His response clearly wasn’t good enough. Remy launched into a request for more information. Mouth grim, Wyatt nudged her a step back. Then shut the door in the middle of her petition. Problem solved. With a fast turn on his heel, he went to prepare for his appointment.
* * *
Mouth gaping open, Remy stood outside Wyatt’s office fuming.
For several seconds, she blinked at the slab of institutional-grade wood mere inches from her face. He actually shut the door in her face!
She would not—could not—let that stand.
Throwing back her shoulders, she reached for the door handle. Then froze at the sound of a female clicking her tongue. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Remy continued staring at the closed door. “Why not?”
“Sheriff Holcomb has a long fuse, but once you light it, you better run in the opposite direction.”
She swung around fast. “Are you saying Wyatt’s temper can turn ugly?”
“Shame on you, Remy Evans. Don’t go putting words in my mouth.” Doris wagged her finger. “Sheriff Holcomb is a good man. One of the best I know.”
Not many things scared Remy. Alligators didn’t scare her. She actually thought they were kind of cute. She wasn’t afraid of snakes. People didn’t especially frighten her. Actually, Remy could go toe-to-toe with just about anyone.
Anyone, that was, except Doris McCook.
The woman petrified her. But still. “You saw what that man did to me. He shut the door in my face.”
Doris arched a pair of matching eyebrows tweezed to the very edge of their existence. “Technically, Remy, Sheriff Holcomb did not shut the door in your face.”
“Maybe not technically.” She’d forgotten how literal this woman could be. “But if I’d been standing two inches closer I’d be fishing splinters out of my nose right about now.”
Doris’s lips might have twitched ever so slightly. Maybe she wasn’t so scary after all. Or maybe the unexpected show of support was just a trick of the light.
“Look, Remy. You can push Sheriff Holcomb only so far before he digs in his heels. Best to let him win this round.”
Remy blinked. “You’re offering me advice?”
“I’m offering you good advice. Golden. You’d be wise to take it.”
Advice from Doris McCook was not to be ignored. The woman had been in Remy’s life for as long as she could remember. As a close friend of the family, she’d attended her dance recitals, school graduations and just about every other special event in her life. The woman knew things about Remy, things others in town could only speculate about. As her brother Casey liked to say, “You can run from Doris McCook, but you cannot hide.”
“Are you sure I pushed Wyatt too far?”
“I can think of one rather blatant clue.” Doris looked pointedly at the closed office door.
Remy glanced over her own shoulder and frowned.
“Let him be.” Doris patted her forearm in a surprisingly maternal gesture. “Save this particular fight for another day.”
She could do that. But should she? That was the million-dollar question. Remy considered her options. Doris knew Wyatt as well as she knew Remy. She was probably right. Now wasn’t the time to push him. Besides, Remy would see him again tomorrow. They would be on her turf. Out in the wide-open spaces, where no doors could be shut in her face. “You know what, Doris? I’m going to take your advice.”
