Page 22 of Search for the Truth
Blake didn’t notice. Instead, her attention seemed to have gone behind them and out of the room.
She didn’t sigh, but when she spoke, her words were heavy.
“If Corrie’s here, she’ll come out first, and she’ll talk our ears off, but I’m hoping that since all I saw was Cassandra’s car, we’re safe for now. If not, we’ll just have to endure.”
Liam tilted his head to the side in question.
“You haven’t lived in Seven Roads in years, how are you so sure they’ll even mind you’re here?”
He didn’t mean it to sound as patronizing as it did, but Liam also couldn’t deny he was genuinely curious. Even Theo had talked about this Bennet woman with reverence. He didn’t understand why Blake was so interesting to the whole town. Was it because she had been a sheriff outside? One who had made the news?
Was it because her sister had been killed?
Sure, that warranted talk, Liam understood that, but where was this confidence stemming from? Why did Blake Bennet know she would be treated so differently?
Was it because she was beautiful?
The thought crossed Liam’s mind as the woman smiled. Her hair was lit up by the sun pouring through the window. Its red seemed to liven into something warmer than before she had sat down.
Her words were still on the cold side.
“Because a long time ago, a teenager promised she would never come back in a very public way.” A door opened behind the bar. Liam kept his eyes on Blake as she finished. “That teenager was wrong. Now I’m back and the townspeople want me to eat crow for it.”
Her eyes attached to the woman who took a pointed path toward them.
Liam recognized her as none other than Corrie Daniels.
“Well, if it isn’t Blake Bennet here in front of me again!”
Corrie stopped beside their table with a thin smile. Liam had interacted with her enough to not be a novelty, but his relationship with her was, at best, a passing acquaintance.
Then again, he could have been her flesh and blood, and she probably wouldn’t have cared. Like Blake had predicted, the woman’s focus attached to Blake and didn’t let go. She had her hands clasped in front of her, and that smile went from thin to overbearing in a flash.
A shark in the waters who smelled blood.
“What can I say, running into you yesterday helped open my eyes to the fact that I needed to get out and be more social,” Blake returned. Her words were as genuine as Corrie’s smile. She motioned to the bar. “I mean, I didn’t even realize that you and Cassandra took over the old coffee place and turned it into your dream shop. You’ve been wanting to open Twenty-Two since we were, what, sixteen? I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finally visit.”
Corrie couldn’t have smiled any wider. Yet Liam felt like she was stretching herself. She laughed lightly.
“I can’t believe you even remember something like that,” Corrie said. “It was so long ago. I figured you had probably forgotten all about us since you left. To be honest, there were a few times between then and now that I’d forgotten all about that girl who fought her daddy in the park. Now I’m hearing that you had to come back and fight with someone else too.”
Liam didn’t understand the first reference, but he knew Corrie meant Ryan in the second. He also knew that Blake had been absolutely right. Corrie was trying to hit a nerve.
And, he might not be familiar with entire account of Blake Bennet’s backstory, but he could see that a nerve had definitely been struck.
Blake’s expression pulled tight. Her shoulders lined with undeniable tension.
That wasn’t going to do.
Liam cleared his throat and put his cellphone on the table with a thud.
Corrie didn’t seem too keen on redirecting her attention, but she did so with that customer service polite on.
“Sorry to interrupt you two playing catch-up,” Liam started, “but I’ve been told that the faster I try your newest coffee, the faster I’ll be happy. And, well, I’m sure not going to turn down happy today. Could I trouble you for the newest coffee item on the menu?”
Liam watched as her eyes widened a little. Probably because it was the most he had ever said to her. Or, maybe, Corrie was finally realizing who exactly had come in with Blake. She glanced between them but nodded.
“As it would happen, our new frozen mocha has been all the rage recently,” she responded. “I would be more than happy to get you one, Sheriff.”
