“Sure, you don’t.” Clara snickered, elbowing Amelia next to her. “What should we talk about, then?”
Amelia turned her sly grin on Clara. “How about that guy you were kissing?”
Clara swerved the car, the tires hitting gravel before she straightened the car on the road.
“Oh, damn, you near drove off of the road,” Maisie drawled. “This has got to be good.”
Clara straightened in her seat, her cheeks burning red. “No one was supposed to see that.” Her stern eyes flicked to Amelia. “How did you see that?”
“You weren’t exactly hiding it,” Amelia said with a snort. “You were just too busy to notice that your hiding spot sucked.”
Clara’s shoulders curled. “Oh my God.”
Maisie burst out laughing.
Amelia glanced back at Maisie and nodded. “You should have seen our big sis here. It was scandalous. She practically ate the guy’s face off then grabbed him by the T-shirt and dragged him into the storage room.”
Maisie gasped jokingly, a hand on her heart. “Oh my.”
Clara frowned at Maisie in the rearview mirror. “All right, that’s enough. So, I had some fun last night.”
“I’m just busting your balls,” Maisie said with an answering grin. “Or did you bust his balls?”
“Just stop,” Clara muttered.
Amelia laughed then quieted enough to ask, “Who was he anyway?”
“I have no idea, and that’s exactly how I like it.”
Maisie whistled. “Look at you, being all…wild.”
Clara straightened her shoulders and replied, “Mason’s the only one I’m thinking about right now, but last night was some much-needed fun.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself,” Maisie countered. “You deserve all the screwing in the barn you want.”
Amelia burst out laughing again.
Clara muttered something incoherent under her breath.
Maisie just looked back out the window and did what she totally didn’t expect today, she smiled.
Hayes stood at the coffeemaker in the break room in the Boulder police department and made himself coffee. He stared out at the cops in the police station, much larger than River Rock. Beat cops, detectives, special units, the station was a flurry of activity with all the cops working as a solid team. He’d accepted his father’s offer, diving in headfirst to solve Maisie’s case. Now that the case was solved, Hayes’s mind slowed down, processed this new direction of his life, and exactly how he wanted things to unfold from this day forward.
“Maisie Carter is here to see you.”
Hayes glanced over his shoulder at Neil. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Neil said. “Let me know when you’re done.”
“Will do.” Hayes grabbed his coffee and headed out of the breakroom, immediately spotting Maisie through the window in the waiting room. One look at her and he wanted to take her into his arms, hold there tight, and yet…and yet, he didn’t want to make a wrong move. Hurt her. “Hey,” he said, by way of greeting.
In the empty waiting room, all three sisters were on their feet, eyes filled with curiosity. But Maisie spoke first, “Is everything okay?” she asked.
He nodded, and with his free hand, he took out three badges from his pocket. “I’ve already got you signed in. Clip these on.”
Maisie accepted hers, clipping the badge onto her shirt, while her sisters did the same. “Okay, now the suspense is killing me,” Maisie quipped. “Quit with the cop look and fess up. What’s going on?”
Hayes was mid-turn but stopped, glancing back at her with an arched brow. “The cop look?”