Parker was so surprised by the question he could only nod.
“Good. You should join my brother and me for a bit of fishing. You might want to live here to have some peace, but you should know that the residents of Half Moon Key aren’t too keen on people who keep to themselves. It would be a great benefit to you to participate in some of the town activities. Get friendly with a couple of locals.”
Parker’s jaw could have hit the floor. “Sure sounds like you’re asking me to be your BFF. You gonna ask to braid my hair, Sheriff?”
Cohen chuckled low. “No, but if you want to be a quiet shifter, I might as well offer my services. If the locals see you hanging with my brother and me, they won’t pry into your identity as much.”
“As much,” Parker repeated.
“Oh, you’ll still be the topic of conversation for some of the elders, but like I said, if you fish with Mason and me a few times, you’ll be set.”
“Are you sure that’s not just your way of keeping an eye on me?”
Cohen shrugged, but his smile turned friendlier. “You’re a smart man. Of course, it’ll be a win-win. You get to be accepted by the locals, and I get to vet you.”
“Fishing sounds great, Sheriff.” Parker tipped his head and turned on his heel, leaving the sheriff’s office as fast as he could.
Maybe this idea was a mistake after all. Time would tell.
TWO
JADE
The sheriff … Cohen Pierce … walked into Moony’s like he owned the place. He beelined for one of the booths at the back of the diner where Alana Wixx was already sitting, sipping an iced tea.
Sitting at a table, nibbling on her remaining lunch, Jade didn’t have to turn her head to know exactly what was going to happen. Cohen and Alana were going to battle it out of the booth. It was a running joke in town that those two could not be in the same room without starting an epic fight about the most random things.
Booths. Milk or cream in coffee. Gum. The right placement of the flag on Main Street. The right temperature for a polar bear swim.
Anything and everything had them at each other’s throats.
Jade smiled into her tomato soup and grilled cheese as the sheriff’s deep voice got to her ear. Yup. He was giving Alana crap for sitting in his seat.
“Do you think that maybe one of them should leave town?” Pippa asked before stuffing a fry into her mouth.
“Why would they? I think they like hating each other this much,” Jade responded to her coworker sitting across from her at the square table.
“I don’t know how they have that much energy. I barely have enough juice in me to get through the day, get home, cook for the kids, and get my ass into bed.” Pippa pointed a fry to Jade. “Do yourself a favor, Jade. Never get married. Never have kids. It’s a trap. I am not any happier than I was when I was young and single. Only difference is that now I’ve got stretch marks and twenty pounds that won’t budge off me no matter how much I try to lose it. Oh, and I can’t remember the last time I had a decent night’s sleep.”
Jade gave Pippa a smile, hoping it was comforting. She never did know what to say when Pippa went off about her life. Pippa was a single mom, and no one in town knew what had happened to her baby daddy. One day he was here; the next, he was gone. He was barely around long enough to hold Joshua, their one-year-old child, after he was born.
“I think if you found the right man, you would be just fine,” she said.
Pippa shook her head. “Right man? Ha! That shit doesn’t exist. It’s a fairy tale we sell to little girls, so they buy into the whole wife and mother game. Don’t. Do. It.” Pippa munched on a fry between each word.
Jade bit into her grilled cheese to keep from answering. If she tried to find any consoling words, it would only make Pippa angry. If she had Pippa’s bad luck, she might be bitter too. It wasn’t Pippa’s fault that her husband had vanished, leaving all of his responsibilities behind.
The entrance door opened, and the little bell rang, announcing a new customer. Jade looked up, not because she was curious or nosy. Rather, she was polite. A native from Half Moon Key, she knew everyone in town. It would be rude of her not to say hello to an acquaintance.
And if that got back to her mother, there would be hell to pay at Sunday brunch. It was much easier to say a quick hello between bites of her grilled cheese.
“Well, well. Talk about the right man, and he just falls into your lap,” Pippa whispered, eyeing the guy striding to the counter.
Jade barely heard Pippa’s words. She was too busy staring at the newcomer. She had never seen a man like that in Half Moon Key. In magazines? Sure. On television? In the movies? Yup.
But never in her secluded, teeny town.
Jade wanted to look away, but her eyes were so busy feasting on the handsome stranger that they didn’t want to obey her brain. His black hair was coiffed back to perfection, but the sides were a bit shorter. His beard … the same luxurious black as his thick and shiny hair … was trimmed short. It gave him a mysterious allure. His eyes were a deep shade of brown that bordered on black. They were such an intense color that Jade felt her breath catch in the back of her throat.