“Is it me or the water you like?” I asked Daisy when she followed me into the shower. It was probably a little of both. The silly dog seemed to have fun catching the water, snapping at the drops as they fell on her face, but she also didn’t like letting me out of her sight.

I’d hoped to see the mayor by now, but he’d gone out of town with his wife and Stephanie. They’d left Monday morning before I could talk to him to let him know we were going to arrest his daughter. Since he’d taken her with him, we were going to have to wait for them to come back to pick her up. He’d finally answered my text late this afternoon, letting me know they were returning sometime tonight and scheduling the meeting I’d requested for tomorrow morning. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

My doorbell rang as I was drying off Daisy. “You expecting company, girl?” She gave an excited bark, running to the door, anticipating Jenny since she was the only one who ever came here. I slipped on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, wondering who was showing up this time of night.

Jenny would still be at work, so I wasn’t expecting her yet. But there she was, on the other side of my door when I opened it.

“Oh God, Dylan. Something awful happened.”

My smile at seeing her died as she rushed by me. “Daisy, down.” The dog loved Jenny almost as much as she did me.

“It’s okay.” She knelt. “Hey, girl. I’m happy to see you, too, but I have to talk to your daddy.” After giving Daisy a good scratch behind her ears, she stood.

I tracked her movements as she paced my living room. “What’s going on?” She stopped, facing me. When she started chewing on her bottom lip, I frowned. “Jenny?”

“You remember when I asked if you knew some man when we were at the festival?”

“Not really.”

“Okay. See, there was this guy, and he was watching you. I thought it was weird because I got the impression he didn’t like you. But then he disappeared and I decided I was imagining things.”

“But you weren’t?” I had no idea where she was going with this, but whatever it was, it had her upset.

“No, but I sure wish I had been.” She twisted her fingers around each other.

“Come sit and tell me what this is all about.” I took her hand, leading her to the sofa.

She sat, leaned forward, and put her hands over her face. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”

The hairs on the back of my neck tingled as my gut said this was something to do with me. Even so, I was at a loss as to what could have her so upset. “Jenny, just say it.”

When she lifted her head, tears shimmered in her eyes. “The man I saw, he came into Vincennes tonight.”

“What did he look like?” I feared I already knew the answer.

“Blond. Good-looking, but his blue eyes were like glaciers. Oh, and he had a small scar at the side of his right eye.”

“Jack.” Fucking Jack. The scar was from a gang member who’d taken exception at being arrested.

“He said… he said that you’d killed your wife. I know that’s not true, but unfortunately Naomi and Gloria from The Valley News heard him, along with the people at the bar tonight. They’re going to publish a special edition about you. I’m so sorry, Dylan.”

Ice-cold arms wrapped around me. My heart stopped beating. I couldn’t breathe.

“Dylan?”

The pity in Jenny’s eyes was unbearable. I somehow managed to get my legs to work, walking out without a backward glance. Daisy managed to slip out before I could close the door on her. Whatever. I didn’t have my car keys on me, so I just kept walking, Daisy trotting loyally by my side.

Why hadn’t I anticipated Jack would show up to cause trouble? Daisy ran over to sniff around a tree at the edge of the complex’s parking lot, and I stopped, absently watching her. Although Jack damn well knew I hadn’t killed Christine, he blamed me for driving her to take her own life. The tension between us had grown to the point where I knew we could no longer work together. Needing a fresh start—not to mention getting away from my former best friend before I crossed an unforgivable line—I’d put feelers out and learned about the opening for a police chief in Blue Ridge Valley. I hadn’t expected to like it as much here as I did, and now he was going to take that away from me, too.

“Dylan?”

I closed my eyes at hearing Jenny’s voice. She was just another thing I was going to lose. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be happy. “You should probably go home, Red. I’m not good company right now.”

“You have to fight this. You can’t stand by and do nothing while he spreads lies about you,” she said, ignoring me. “Why would he say such a horrible thing?”

Stubborn girl. I’d finally put Christine’s ghost to rest, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk about her to the woman I was falling for. That Jenny put such trust in me, refusing to believe Jack without even knowing the truth, put a lump in my throat the size of a baseball. She deserved an explanation whether I wanted to talk about it or not.

Daisy rushed to the next tree, and I followed her with Jenny close to my side. One thing Jenny apparently had was patience. She didn’t say another word, simply waited me out. I slid my hands into my front pockets and looked up at the sky. It was a clear night, much like the one when Jenny had taken me to the top of that mountain to stargaze.

I let out a weary sigh, tired of all the shit in my life. There was enough money in my bank account to last a few years without touching Christine’s money. Maybe I should become a beach bum. Find a run-down bar on a lonely beach somewhere to buy where I could listen to people with sadder stories than mine. And now I was feeling sorry for my pathetic self, and I hated that I’d let things come to this. I should have settled this thing with Jack long before now.

I glanced at Jenny, still waiting for me to talk. She had her arms wrapped around herself. “You’re cold.” We’d both walked out without our jackets. “Let’s go in, and I’ll tell you my sad story.”

Back inside, Jenny wanted to shower and change before we talked. “I smell like pizza,” she said. She lifted onto her toes, brushing her lips over mine. “Why don’t you pour us a glass of wine, or something stronger if you prefer.”

If I started on something stronger, I might not stop, so wine it was. While I waited for her, I called my—and Jack’s—old boss. “It’s Dylan,” I said when Garrett answered.

“You shithead. Took you long enough to check in. How’s Nowhere, USA?”

Garrett Caulder rode his cops hard, demanding they give their best to the job. There wasn’t a man on the force who didn’t both despise and love him at the same time. He could make you feel like dirt on the bottom of his shoes if you screwed up, but you never doubted he had your back. I’d become a damn good cop under his tutelage.

“You just gonna breathe in my ear all night, Conrad? It’s kind of hot, but since you don’t dance to my tune, I’m thinking you’re not trying to turn me on.”

I sputtered a laugh. “It’s great here, or it was until Jack showed up.”

“Fuck me.”

“No thanks, but yeah, the situation isn’t good.” I told him what had happened.

“Jack put in for vacation, said he was going to Montana to visit his family.”

“This isn’t Montana, yet here he is.” I pulled the stopper out of an already opened bottle of wine.

“He’s been obsessed with you since…well, since everything went down. He’ll talk smack about you to anyone who’ll listen, but we all know the truth.”

“I wasn’t sure I’d ever be at peace again, but I was finding it in my little corner of the world—”

“Dylan, you gotta take the bull by the horns on this one, you understand?”

“Not really, unless you mean I should put him out of his misery.” Rumors had a way of taking on a life of their own, and considering everyone sitting at the bar had heard Jack’s accusation, talk of me killing my wife would spread through these mountains like wildfire.

Garrett gave that booming laugh of his. “Tempting I’m sure, but no. Okay, my brilliant mind has been at work while you were talking, and here’s what we’re gonna do. First thing tomorrow, sit down with that mayor you introduced me to when he was here and tell him what happened. Get him to agree to hold a town hall, where you’re going to tell your story to the good people of Blue Ridge Valley.”

“You know I don’t like talking about Christine.”

“Then you’d better start looking for another job.”

“Fine. I don’t see that I have a choice.”

“That’s right. Besides I’m flying down to stand by your side and back up everything you say.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. Even when I didn’t work for him any longer, he had my back. “You don’t have to do that.”

“When have you known me to do anything I didn’t want to do?”

Never. “Thanks. I’ll owe you big.”

“Shut up, Dylan, before you make me cry.”

I laughed, something I hadn’t expected to do tonight. “That’ll be the day. One other thing. Is Jack still driving the same car?” I doubted he would have flown down, not wanting to go through all the red tape to carry his gun aboard a plane. And I knew he wouldn’t come here unarmed.

“Yeah. I’ll e-mail you the license number and my flight info when I have it.”

“Thanks. For everything.”

“I got your back, Dylan. Always have.”

“Never doubted it.” I hung up as Jenny walked into the kitchen, her wet hair curling around her face and flowing down her back. Christ, she was beautiful. Instead of cutting myself open for her, spilling my guts, I should be in bed, holding her in my arms, lost in her sweet body.

She scooted onto the stool at the kitchen counter, pulling the glass of wine I’d poured toward her. I’d drunk one glass while I was on the phone with Garrett and was on my second. Maybe I should have gone for the hard stuff.

“What happened with your wife, Dylan?”

I drained the rest of my wine, then set the glass on the counter. “Long story short, I came home from a business trip a day early and found Christine in bed with my partner, Jack.” I’d expected to see shock on her face, but all I got was a nod.

“I thought it might be something like that. I can’t imagine how you must have felt to be betrayed by both your wife and your partner.”

I’d felt like my heart had been carved out of my chest with a dull razor blade, that was how.

“Were you and Jack close before that happened?”

“Like brothers.” I’d lost my wife and my best friend that day.

“I assume he was in love with her, otherwise he wouldn’t be here trying to make your life miserable.”

“He says he was. I told her I wanted a divorce, but she begged me to stay with her, said she loved me and couldn’t live without me. I just didn’t realize she meant that literally.”

“Did he know she didn’t want a divorce?”

Telling Jenny all this wasn’t turning out to be as difficult as I’d thought it would be. It was because of her, though, the way she understood and saw things, along with how she didn’t dramatize what she was hearing. I moved to the counter, pulling a stool around so that I was facing her.

“I don’t know what Christine told him, but I’m guessing not. I tried to tell him after… you know, after she did what she did, but he called me a liar. After that I didn’t bother trying to repair the damage to our relationship. It eventually became clear that one of us was going to have to leave, and I decided a change would be good for me. So here I am.”

I didn’t tell her about the childish games Jack had played afterward. The flat tires, not telling me about meetings, having my utilities cut off, or telling our cop brothers that I’d killed Christine and then made it look like she’d taken her own life. After all, he’d told anyone who would listen, it was my gun they found next to her. Garett had put a stop to the crap Jack was pulling at work, but I never told my boss about the other stuff because even after everything had gone down, I still felt sorry for Jack. He’d loved Christine, too. We’d both lost her.

Jenny smiled as she reached across the counter and put her hand over mine. “I’m glad you picked here.”

“It was good while it lasted, but the people of Blue Ridge Valley aren’t going to want a murderer for their police chief.” Her hand was warm where it rested on mine, and I just wanted to take her to bed, curl up with her, and pull the covers over our heads.

“You’re not a murderer. I don’t ever want to hear you say that again. You have to fight this, Dylan. It’s not right that he can keep taking everything you love away from you. We need a plan.” She squeezed my hand. “I’ll be right there with you, and together we’ll make sure everyone knows the truth.”

Damn burning eyes. She smiled, and there was something about the way that smile seemed special, as if it was meant just for me, that made my heart beat faster. Sitting in my kitchen talking about both the woman and the best friend I’d once loved, it hit me like a ton of bricks dropped on my head. I was well on the way to being in love with Jenny Girl. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

“There’s a plan in the works, but I can’t talk about all this anymore tonight.” I stood and walked behind her, putting my arms around her. “Help me forget for a few hours. Give me some of that TLC you excel at, and tomorrow morning I’ll tell you what I’m going to do.”

She tilted her head up, a smile on her face and desire in her eyes. “You got it, Chief.”

“Thank you.” I stepped away and held out my hand. “You’re pretty special, Red.” That was as close as I would ever come to telling her that I was falling for her. She came to me without hesitation, and as we walked to my bedroom hand in hand, I tried not to think about how much I was going to miss her when she left.