Page 4 of Kissing Her Rescuer

Dewey stalked back to his patrol car. He'd seen the bruises Zach had put on her arms. The holes he'd punched in the wall of their small house. And then her cousin, Cameron, had delivered the final blow that she’d had a kid with Zach. How had she gone back to Zach after he’d treated her that way?

But now, as much as he needed to walk away from her, he couldn't. That didn't mean he'd forget the past. He'd never throw himself blindly into offering marriage again. Not to Eliza. Not to any woman. He slipped on his sunglasses and opened his car door, glad he had the distraction of work.

It'd be a hell of a lot easier if all the rational reasons for keeping his distance from her didn't magically disappear when she came around. Every single time she stood near him, he took a tight grip on his control.

“Dude, I thought you and that hot girl were going to talk all day while I'm back here dying of thirst.” The kid in the back seat hadn't been in Statem long if he didn't know Eliza. “Did you get her number? Can I have it?”

“Pretty sure she's not interested in dating a juvenile delinquent.”

“I'm almost seventeen.”

“Careful. If you want me to have the judge try you as an adult, I'll try to arrange that.”

The kid slouched back and stared out the window.

“Good choice.”

3

“Baby, go inside with Grandpa. Tell him I need to talk to your father for a few minutes.” Eliza gave Carrie a push, but Carrie didn't budge. She turned around and crossed her arms. Stubborn to the core.

“Why do you have to talk to Zach? It always puts you in a bad mood.” Carrie blinked, her eyes identical to her own. With her dark hair, she looked like a black cat with green eyes. “Call him later. You promised me a milkshake at the diner.”

“You shouldn’t call him Zach. Besides, Baby, you just had breakfast. We'll get one for lunch, but this is grown-up business, Carrie. Go in there to your Grandpa while I call your father.” She lowered her tone of voice but didn't raise her volume. “Now.”

“Yes, ma'am,” she mumbled, turning in Minnie Mouse flip flops and trudging up the stairs of theStatem Dispatch.

Time to face the past that she could never leave behind. Five missed calls from Zach. Like he'd set a reminder on his phone, it'd been four weeks since he'd pestered them. What could he want now? Nothing good. He answered on the first ring.

“Part of our custody agreement was that you had to let me talk to Carrie whenever I wanted to,” he shouted into the phone. She hated the sound of his voice.

“Good morning to you, too.” Her placating tone sounded fake. She didn’t have the energy to bend to his ego. Not with the scent of Dewey, something warm and woodsy, still lingering in her memory.

“Don't play games with me. I'll take away your custody. I'll demand that you bring her back to Alabama.”

Zach was no better than a toddler threatening to hold their breath until they got their way. But even with that knowledge, her spine stiffened, ready to fight it out with him. Again.

“You don't give a crap about Carrie, and you know it. You never saw her while we lived there, so why bother with her now?” Getting into a shouting match with Zach only amped him up. Like those monkeys at the zoo, getting louder and louder shrieking and jumping up and down. Eliza turned back to face the main street of Statem, grasping for control over her annoyance.

Becky Gallagher sauntered across the street, holding a box of something probably delicious she'd baked. Eliza put her finger to her lips to keep her quiet. Not that she had high hopes of that happening.

Becky raised her eyebrows. She was her sister's best friend, but they'd developed a close friendship themselves since Eliza had moved back home.

“I want to talk to Carrie,” Zach demanded again.

Her jaw locked tight. In and out of their lives. That's all he'd done since the beginning. He'd be around for a few weeks and then gone again, doing who knows what in the meantime. Carrie seemed to take it in stride. At least she had several good male role models around now.

“Fine. Give me a second.” Eliza put Zach on mute. “Please tell me there's wine in that coffee cup you're carrying?”

Becky shook her head, her short brown hair swinging over her shoulders. Her ice-blue eyes without a trace of humor. “Nope. Good old coffee. Who's on the phone?”

“Zach.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “Why in the hell did you pick such a loser?”

“Don't people usually start that phrase with 'no offense,but'?”

She lifted one shoulder. “Take it how you want to.” She followed Eliza inside and up the stairs to Hugh Campbell’s office. “I made an extra batch of muffins and brought one for your daddy. Ms. Iris said he liked my chocolate chip muffins.”

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