Page 33 of The Woman Left Behind

“We were so lucky to move in next to you,” I whispered, and George looked at me, his familiar brown eyes startled. “I was so lucky.”

Those eyes warmed.

He cupped my cheek and stroked the apple with his thumb. “That feeling is mutual, Lilly Bean.”

The smile I gave him was trembly.

He took his hand away but kept hold on my gaze. “And for what it’s worth, Sonny would be over the moon a man like Harry Moran was in his daughter’s life. Dependable. Loyal. And he’s proved to us all the depths of his love, sadly doing it after he lost his wife, but he also did it before. He doted on her and he didn’t care who saw it. That’s a real man, Lilly Bean. That’s the kind of man your father would want for you.”

Dang it!

The tears hit my eyes.

I was able to stop them from falling when Ronetta swept in, asking, “Is no one looking after my dumplings?”

I sniffed hard and raced to the pot.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. She’d taught me to cook this dish when I was fourteen. Essentially, you just let them simmer.

But it took my attention elsewhere so Ronnie could do another thing Ronnie was adept at doing: demonstrating stealth love. She did this by coming up behind me, rubbing my back, then wrapping her fingers around my waist to give me a squeeze.

And then, before I could turn and catch her eyes, she left me and went to her husband for her glass of wine.

NINE

Let’s Start Here

Harry

That same night, when his phone went, Harry was having a beer, his feet in warm socks resting on top of the old tree stump on his porch, a fleece jacket on, his three dogs lying around his rocking chair, his eyes to his empty stables, and his thoughts yet again on having them knocked down.

He looked at his phone screen expecting it to be Cade, considering he was right then on a lecture tour, his woman Delphine with him. He was doing courses for law enforcement officers down the east coast, returning in a couple of days.

Those two had a busy schedule, and Cade had said he’d call when he had time. But they’d exchanged some texts about the Sonny and Avery Rainier situation, and what Cade’s boys said held true.

Cade knew Sonny, also Avery (just not as well), and he was dead set there was no chance they were involved in the Dietrich situation. So much so, at the time, he’d been preparing to wade in if Dern took it too far.

They hadn’t been able to discuss it fully, and since Sonny was a friend of Cade’s, Harry hadn’t had the heart to share about the two bodies in Idaho.

But the call wasn’t from Cade, or any of Harry’s deputies sharing something had sparked off and he needed to head back into town, which comprised the vast majority of calls Harry received.

It was from Doc.

“Fuck,” he muttered, knowing what this was about.

Doc wasn’t a caller, he was a texter, usually.

Unless he had something to give Harry shit about.

Even knowing this, considering he was the sheriff, they were friends, and Doc, his woman and his son went through some serious shit last year, he took the call.

“Hey.”

“Nadia wants her over for dinner.”

Just as Harry suspected.

He blew out a sigh.

---