Although I appreciated what my self-appointed support team was doing, the question hanging in the air wasn’t going to be avoidable for long. As soon as the woman from The Valley News stood, I knew the time had arrived to talk about Christine. I hated that I had to. Jack should be glad he wasn’t standing in front of me right now. I’d expected him to be here but hadn’t spotted him in the crowd. The place was packed, though, so he might be nearby.

Jenny had shown me photos of the two women from the paper so I could memorize their names. The one standing was Gloria Davenport, and I nodded at her. “Ms. Davenport, you have the floor.”

“Mr. Conrad, while your background is impressive, if the rumors—”

“This is bullshit!”

Gasps sounded from the crowd as everyone craned their heads to watch Moody storm down the aisle. I glanced at Jenny, needing her to ground me before I lost my cool. Our eyes locked, and as she’d done earlier, she put her fingers to her chest, right over her heart. Calmness settled over me, and I held her gaze a few more seconds before turning my attention to my enraged captain.

Still standing, Gloria Davenport snatched the phone her boss handed her and started snapping pictures. I was actually glad she was doing that. It reminded me that my actions, along with Moody’s, would be plastered on the front page tomorrow. Moody wasn’t going to look real pretty in his with that red face and fire blazing from his eyes, but mine would show nothing but professional behavior, even though there was a storm raging inside me.

Garrett slipped up beside me in a show of support. It would have been nice if the mayor joined me at the front, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen. It was disappointing that the man who’d hired me couldn’t be depended on when it counted.

No matter what happened, I had accomplished some good things in my short time here, along with making friends I could count on. And although I’d never tell her, I’d also fallen in love with a redheaded mountain girl, learning that there was life after Christine after all. It was a good thing to know.

“Captain Moody, did you have a question?” My composure seemed to enrage him even more.

“You’re goddamn right I have a question.”

It was tempting, but I decided not to remind him that there was no cursing when we’re in public. That would only infuriate him more. “And your question is?”

“Why don’t you tell everyone how you killed your wife?”

You could have heard a pin drop as everyone in the room waited for my answer. “Captain Moody, that is a question I can’t answer because I did not kill my wife. Do you have anything else you want to ask me? If not, I believe Ms. Davenport from The Valley News was about to ask a question.”

His face turned so red that I thought he might have a heart attack. “You’re a fucking liar, Conrad.”

“That cost him 50,000 points,” I murmured to Garrett, one of the few who knew about my point system. When the room quieted again, I decided it was time to introduce Garrett, letting him explain about Christine.

“I have a witness,” Moody said before I had a chance to let Garrett take over. Moody looked to the right, and from the middle of the seats, Jack stood.

And…showtime. I stuck my hands into my pants’ pockets to hide my fists. No matter what came next, I was determined to keep my cool. Garrett bumped my shoulder, reminding me that he stood beside me. I hadn’t asked him to interrupt his schedule to come support me, but as soon as he knew what I was facing, he’d jumped on a plane.

“Hello, Jack,” I said to the man I’d once loved like a brother. “Heard you were in town.” Suddenly I felt like I was in some kind of western movie, about to have a shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. An absurd laugh bubbled up inside me, which I managed to morph into a cough.

“I got this,” Garrett said. “Introduce me.”

I could do that as soon as I found my voice. I cleared my throat, then cleared it again. “You’ve probably been wondering who this is.” I put my hand on Garrett’s shoulder, while at the same time staring hard at Jack, not wanting to miss his reaction. His eyes darted between us, anger on his face at seeing Garrett standing by my side. Jack leveled his gaze on me with a hatred that was beyond anything I’d ever thought to see from him.

“So you’re going to lie for him?” he said, his eyes focusing back on Garrett.

I held up a hand. “Before I was interrupted, I was going to introduce my former boss, Garrett Caulder, my captain at the Chicago Police Department. Since he headed up the investigation, Captain Caulder will answer any questions you have about the death of my wife.” I stepped back before I said something I shouldn’t.

Jack came forward, his furious gaze never leaving my face. The Jack I’d known, the one who’d been my best friend, had never had a hair out of place or a wrinkle in his shirts. This Jack was disheveled, his hair in dire need of a cut, and I wondered when he’d last washed it. His eyes were wild, as if he were losing it. Suddenly all I felt was sadness. For me, for him, and for Christine.

“I can make this real simple and short,” Garrett said. “Christine Conrad was severely depressed and took her own life. End of story.”

“Because he refused to give her a divorce.” Jack lifted an accusing finger toward me. “He drove her to it.”

Moody frowned. “You said he killed her.”

“Well, he might as well have. She loved me, Dylan, and you wouldn’t let her go.”

Not true, but I didn’t think it would serve any purpose if I tried to tell him again that I’d wanted a divorce and she’d begged me to reconsider. As I scanned the faces in the room to see their reaction, I was surprised by the way everyone was staring at Jack with displeasure. I’d forgotten we were in the Bible Belt, and it seemed they didn’t approve of a man having an affair with a married woman. That was my guess, anyway.

“Bah,” Moody grunted before stomping out.

He also got frowns as he stormed toward the exit. Garrett went to Jack, slipped an arm around him, whispered something to him, and then led him out. Well, that felt rather anticlimactic. To be honest, I’d half expected Jack to shoot me.

I wasn’t sure what to do. Grabbing Jenny and hauling her out with me probably wasn’t a good idea, no matter how much I wanted to do exactly that. Excited conversations buzzed as everyone talked about what had just happened. I glanced at Jenny and got a big smile. I smiled back.

Yeah, it had turned out okay. Unless Jim John figured I’d caused too much drama and decided to fire me. Since I didn’t want to stand here all night, I took a step toward the mayor, intending to ask if we were done.

“Well, that was entertaining,” Mary said from her seat near the front. “Come by in the morning, Chief. I’ll have a bag of hot doughnuts waiting for you.” Tonight her hair was bright orange with black streaks, and her eye shadow was sparkly orange. If I got to stay here, I might marry her after all if she promised unlimited access to hot glazed doughnuts and apple cinnamon muffins.

Adam stood. “Chief, I just want to say that from everything I’ve heard the last few weeks, you’re just the man we need. Welcome to Blue Ridge Valley.”

“Hear. Hear,” someone said, and I glanced toward the voice to see that it was Freddie Barnes.

I guess all those boiled peanuts I’d forced myself to eat paid off. Jenny’s parents, Connor, Brian, and Autumn all stood, clapping their hands. Jenny popped up to join in the applause, a brilliant smile on her face. Others began to stand, and once it seemed the residents of Blue Ridge Valley had decided I was worth keeping, Jim John walked over and slung an arm over my shoulder, grinning like a damn politician who’d just won the election. It was a close call, but I managed not to roll my eyes.

Someone—I think Jenny’s father—had gotten us the private room at Fusions to celebrate the success of our plan to save me. The people sitting around the table owned tonight’s victory more than I did.

I raised my glass. “To good friends you can count on to have your back.” They were all here—Jenny, her parents, Brian and Autumn, and Adam and Connor. The only one missing was Daisy since I’d dropped her off at home before coming here. She’d won over her own admirers as I’d tried to make my way out of the meeting, everyone wanting me to stop so they could pet the town’s new police dog.

“That’s us!” Autumn exclaimed.

“Sure is.” Grinning at her enthusiasm, I clinked glasses with my friends. The lump that had been sitting in my stomach like a lead ball for the past two days was gone, and I was definitely up for some celebrating.

Jenny leaned into me, and I smiled down at her. “Thank you, Red. I think tonight would have gone south without you marshaling the troops.”

She put her hand on my thigh and squeezed. “Nah. You would’ve pulled it off. We just made it easier.”

I wasn’t so sure I would have, but it was over and done with. My plans for the night were to enjoy drinks and dinner with my new friends, then figure out a way to get Jenny alone. Garrett was spending the night at my place, was actually supposed to join us for dinner, but I hadn’t heard from him since he’d left the meeting with Jack.

Our waiter came and took our orders, and after he left, Jenny’s father said, “Not to throw a damper on the party by bringing this up, but you need to get Moody out of your hair. As long as he’s around, he’s going to do his best to make your life miserable.”

“Don’t I know it? It’s number one on tomorrow’s to-do list.” My phone buzzed with an incoming text. It was from Garrett, asking me to meet him outside. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Garrett stood by Jack’s car when I came out. “Gonna have to pass on dinner.” He flicked a thumb toward the window, and I glanced inside to see Jack sitting in the passenger seat, his chin on his chest and his hands cuffed in front of him. “I’m driving him home tonight.”

“Does he really need to be handcuffed?” It wasn’t a picture I’d ever expected to see—my former friend and partner wearing a pair of cuffs.

“I decided it was a good idea when he went for my gun, saying he wanted to be with Christine.”

“Jesus,” I whispered. “He needs help.”

Garrett nodded. “And I intend to get him help, but he’s done as a cop. I can’t have someone I don’t trust on the force.”

“Of course not. It’s just… I mean, how the hell did it come to this?” Had I failed both my wife and my best friend? What should I have done differently so that she wasn’t dead by her own hand and he wasn’t sitting handcuffed in a car with his head hanging down in defeat?

“Stop it.”

I jerked my gaze to Garrett’s. “What?”

“Stop blaming yourself. Life is nothing more than a series of choices. You do this and your day is better for it. You do that and it all falls down on your head.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “They both did that when they should have done this. You played no part in their choices, Dylan. You get what I’m saying?”

“I’m trying to.” I knew he was speaking the truth, but believing I hadn’t somehow played a part in this tragedy would take some work. “Can I talk to him?” Even after everything that had gone down, I still missed the friend I’d once had.

“No. He won’t hear you. Right now the only thing he hears is the voice in his head that says you kept him from the woman he loves. Maybe someday he’ll be in a place where he can listen, but that day isn’t now.”

The half glass of vodka and cranberry juice I’d drunk curled into a sour ball in my stomach. “No, I guess not. Listen, call me when you get back to Chicago, let me know you’re okay.”

Garrett blew me a kiss, making me laugh. “Worried about me, Cupcake?”

“Not really. You’re one mean sonofabitch. Call me anyway.”

He opened the car door. “I’ll do that.” I didn’t miss his worried glance at Jack. “I’m going to drive straight through.”

I was glad to hear that. “Come back on a vacation with Derrick. We’ll hang out and drink ourselves stupid, and I’ll tell you the story of Beauregard the Bull.”

“I’ll definitely come back for a bull story.”

He grabbed me, pulling me into a tight hug, slapping his hand on my back. There was no other man I respected more than this one, and seeing him again made me wonder if I’d made the right decision to leave the Chicago Police Department. But I was happy in Blue Ridge Valley, more than I’d thought I’d be.

I loved my cops and their wide eyes when I’d done something special for them. I loved Mary with her ever-changing outlandish hair and eye shadow colors, loved that I had to worry about an outrageous moonshiner deciding to sell his goods again instead of giving them away. That apple pie flavor Jenny had given me to taste had been crazy good.

“Love ya, man,” I said, my voice gruff with emotion.

Garrett laughed as he let go of me. “I know.”

I snorted. “Asshole.”

He slipped onto the driver’s seat, grinning up at me as he lowered the window. “Go back to your lady. If you let her slip out of your hands, then you’re not the man I thought you were.”

“Drive safe.” He gave me a salute, and I watched the car until the taillights disappeared. As for the girl, I would let her slip out of my hands. But not tonight. Tonight she was mine.