Page 34 of Need You
She took her beer and sat at the short end of the L-shaped bar, facing him. “Did you have a good day at work?”
“Not particularly.” He seemed to consider his words and then forged ahead. “I guess you don’t look at Facebook.”
“Not often, no. Why?”
“I took a bachelorette party out white-water rafting last weekend. We took a group picture. At the last second, they flashed the camera and posted the photo on Facebook. Needless to say, the mayor isn’t too happy about it.”
And according to Hannah, the mayor wasn’t too happy with Colt in general.
Delaney grabbed her phone off the counter and launched the Facebook app. She found the picture in under five seconds. There was Colt standing in the center of a group of women lifting their bikini tops. It wasn’t like he was fondling any of them or doing anything offensive. Just a silly photograph of women having a good time. It was clear from his expression that he was an unwitting participant. Jeez, you could find more suggestive poses in a fashion magazine.
“The mayor’s bent out of shape over this?”
He hitched his shoulders. “It’s pretty unprofessional.”
“Definitely if you were in uniform. But clearly you weren’t on duty when this photograph was taken. He must know you moonlight for your family’s adventure company, so what’s the big deal?”
His mouth curved up in a crooked smile. Damn. If she could find a way to bottle that smile and sell it, she’d be filthy rich.
“Hopefully the city council agrees with you,” he said.
Her jaw dropped open. “You have to go before the council?”
“It’s either that or Pond gets me to resign.” He took another drink of his beer.
She couldn’t believe that something this innocent had gotten him into such hot water. It was beyond ridiculous. “Pond’s a jackass.”
He smirked, then quickly went neutral. “You said it, not me.”
“He’s also a sleazeball. When Robert and I were trying to get a variance to build this house, he hit on me, like a quid pro quo could be arranged. Can you believe that?”
“Yeah,” he said without hesitation. “Pond’s got a reputation as a womanizer. Regardless, I imagine a lot of men hit on you.”
She did a double take. “Why would you think that?”
“Seriously?” When she didn’t answer, he gave her a hard look. “You’re not kidding, are you?” He chuckled and held up his hands as if in surrender. “I’m in enough trouble.... I can’t go there. So did your ex have words with Pond?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think Robert noticed.” Or cared.
He raised his brows but didn’t say anything. She got the impression that unlike Robert, Colt might be territorial, which sent a small shiver down her spine.
“In any event, the incident left a bad taste in my mouth. I know a lot of people are in Pond’s camp, but not me. I can’t fathom that you would lose your job over this.” She indicated the picture still on her phone.
“Yeah, I hope not.” He acted nonchalant about it, but Delaney sensed he was anything but. His job—being the police chief—was important to him, she could tell.
“You want something to eat besides pretzels?” She’d noticed he’d made good work of the bowl.
“Nah, I ate at Old Glory. But I’m probably holding you up from dinner.” He got up and took his empty glass to the sink. “Thanks for the beer, Delaney.”
She’d enjoyed talking to him and didn’t want him to leave, but she also didn’t want to seem desperate for company. Ordinarily she was fine being by herself. But he was easy to tell things to—at least when they weren’t fighting. And the way he looked at her made her feel attractive again. But he wanted to go, and asking him to stay . . . Well, she wasn’t going to put herself out there. She already felt like a spectacular failure.
* * *
Much to Pond’s disappointment, the city council had been unconcerned over Colt’s so-called lapse of judgment. Rita Tucker had even publicly laughed about the Facebook post, now referred to simply as the “Girls Gone Wild” picture.
Of course she was one to talk. There’d been a lot of eyebrows raised over her calendar, which got racier every year. Last year, Colt as Mr. July had flat-out refused to wear a stars and stripes jock sock, telling Rita they wouldn’t find one big enough. But Win, Mr. December, had posed in nothing but a mistletoe loincloth. They were still giving him shit about it.
Much of the town had turned out for the meeting, and Colt suspected that his father had had something to do with that. Gray Garner usually didn’t get involved in town politics unless someone abused his or her power. Then he got very involved.
