Page 109 of Valor

“Why, Sheriff Gibson, you clean up quite nice.”

“So do you, Dr. Hunt.”

She beams at me, and I open the passenger door of my GMC so she can climb in.

As soon as I’m behind the wheel of the truck, I take another moment to simply drink her in. She’s braided her thick, dark hair over one shoulder, and a silver cross adorns her neck.

Effortlessly beautiful.

Her cheeks flush with color. “What?”

“You just look beautiful, Lani.”

She smiles widely, and that color deepens. “You’re in a charming mood tonight.”

Going okay, so far. What was I so afraid of?“I have to be to keep up with you.” After putting the truck in reverse and backing out of the spot, I head toward the highway that will take us to the next town over.

“So, what’s the plan tonight?” she asks, partially turning toward me.

“How do you feel about Italian food?”

She stares at me. “You know it’s my favorite.”

I laugh. “We’re going to Luigi’s.”

“Seriously?” She claps her hands together. “I haven’t had Luigi’s inforever.”

“I thought as much.” It also happens to be where I took her before my senior prom, since we’d gone as friends. What she also doesn’t know is that it was the second-best night of my life. My first was the day she kissed me on a dare. “How was the rest of your day?”

“Not bad. We had a broken arm come in, so I set that and got her an appointment with an orthopedic doctor tomorrow morning. There was also a broken nose and one more stomach bug. Relatively low-key, given how it started.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“How was your day?” she asks.

“Not bad. Mostly paperwork, to be honest.”

“No high-speed chases? Bank robberies?”

I laugh. “Hardly. Though I did get called out because Lester Jackson thought someone had stolen three of his cows.”

“Oh?”

The Jackson family owns the ranch that borders the Hunt family ranch. They keep to themselves, despise pretty much everyone in town—but especially Lani’s family. Something about a feud that started after her mom chose Tommy Hunt over Lester.

“And just who was he blaming for the theft?” she asks. “Let me guess. My dad?”

I laugh. “Yep. He said he was calling me out because he’d had enough of dealing with ‘those Hunts’ coming onto his property and taking his things.”

Lani rolls her eyes. “He’s got such a stick up his rear it’s ridiculous.”

“We found the cows on another of his pastures. The last big storm blew a tree down, and it took out his fence.”

“Of course it did. Because they don’t keep up with their property the way they should. Did I tell you that Riley and Elliot offered to go out and help them after that storm? Just ride through and make sure none of the fences were down, and Lester slammed the door in their face?”

“No, but it doesn’t surprise me. He barely let me in the house to take his statement, and that’s even after he’d specifically requested I come out.”

“I honestly feel a bit sad for them,” she says. “To harbor so much hate for the world that you don’t even take time to appreciate the beauty of it.”

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