Lila’s gaze could turn piercing at times, and this was one of them.
“Keep the five,” Roxie said with a sigh. “He’s lying. We’re dating and it’s okay because he’s not going to start fistfights anymore. He’s going to be a perfectly respectable boyfriend.”
He was her boyfriend? “I am. I mean I will be. Starting now. And I will answer my phone so they don’t call you asking where I am.”
“You better.” She laughed suddenly. “Because watching you deal with the great rougarou crisis is going to be so funny. I’ve gone to a town hall before. It’s crazy. I’m definitely getting some of Dixie’s popcorn.”
She was going to be a terrible girlfriend. And he was going to enjoy every moment of it. Well, except the whole “run the town hall and answer everyone’s utterly insane questions” part of it.
Lila stood up, grabbing her bag and gesturing toward the windows that separated the conference room from the main part of the station house. “You might want to put a hold on that popcorn order because your dad asked if he could come in, and my husband, while good at making terrible jokes, is awful at coming up with excuses on the fly. He’s here to see where you work.”
Roxie’s face went sheet white as she turned and saw her dad standing in the middle of the station house, talking to Major and petting Daisy. “He’s here.”
The good news was Zep had a date with a whole bunch of dogs. “Good luck, baby.”
She growled his way.
He would definitely have to make up for that later. Lucky for him, he’d figured out exactly how to make her relax.
Mr. King waved their way.
She was going to need so much relaxing.* * ** * *
Two hours later, Roxie sat in the cruiser and wished Armie had taken a single one of her cues. If he had, then she wouldn’t be sitting here with her dad on a ride-along. If Armie had been even the slightest bit good at deflection, her dad would have asked a couple of questions and gone on his way.
Instead, he was spending all day with her.
All day.
“How often do you go out on your own?” her father asked from the seat beside her.
He’d been fairly quiet since they’d left the station. She’d done her routine tour of the town, ensuring everything looked normal. Lila had been out walking her dog outside the clinic and probably coming up with ways to spend that five bucks she’d won from betting on a love life that shouldn’t be hers to bet on.
Roxie had waved to a couple of people she knew and had stopped briefly to talk to Dixie. The diner owner had been crossing the street to enter town hall. It was on the square that always reminded Roxie of the set of a fifties movie. Dixie had been jaywalking.
But she owned the only place in town that served waffles, so she had merely suggested Dixie use the crosswalk next time.
Now they were stopped off the square, waiting for something to happen. Anything, really. She was right back to wishing for some kind of natural disaster.
“I’m on patrol duty this afternoon. I can catch speeders on my own. There are often only two of us on duty at any given time, although most of us monitor the radio when we’re home, and we can show up pretty quickly if someone needs backup.”
She needed time to think about what Zep had said the night before, time to process what had happened. She’d hoped a good eight hours of driving around the parish would give her that, but no. Her father had different plans. First he’d wanted a tour of the station house. That had taken all of five minutes. He’d sat in Armie’s office while she’d filled out reports. She’d heard him asking all sorts of questions about policy and procedure. Armie seemed to be taking it all in stride. She’d tried to explain that she had a lot to do and would love to have lunch or something later on in the week.
Armie had agreed heartily when her father suggested the ride-along. Hence the not being able to think about important subjects.
When had Zep become important? He was supposed to be fluff. Icing on the cake.
She’d liked teasing him in the meeting. Hell, she’d liked sitting next to him in the meeting. He’d been awfully sweet, trying to save her not once but twice. She probably should have taken the second out he’d given her, the one where not everyone in the world knew they were dating, but all she’d been able to remember was him asking if she planned to hide the fact. Like he was something shameful, something to keep locked away even while she enjoyed him.
“Well, it’s definitely a different way of policing.”