Chapter 19

INDIE

“What did he do?” Sarah hissed at Indie later that day, her eyes flashing green fire and reminding Indie of a dragon about to spit her magnificent fire.

“Momma, are you mad at Pops?” Amelia asked innocently. Sarah pierced Indie with a frustrated look as she faked a smile for her daughter.

“Momma is a little made at Pops, yes.”

“Is it because he didn’t eat his food before he left for work?”

“No, Elli, it’s not because he didn’t eat his food.”

The little girl’s face screwed up in a little ball of confusion as she looked at her mom. “Then why are you angry at Uncle Seth?”

Sarah took a deep sigh as she turned to Indie and silently begged for patience. “I’m angry with Uncle Seth because he messed up some grown-up business.”

“Are we going to move again?”

Sarah spun back to her daughter when she heard the fear in her voice. She knelt in front of Amelia and hugged her.

“Honey, no. We’re not moving away from your Pops.” She stroked Amelia’s cheek as she tried to reassure her.

“Your Pops is stuck with us. Momma just wants him to not be stupid at the moment.”

Indie bit her lips to stop the laughter from escaping at Elli’s defiant expression. “My Pops is ~not ~stupid! He is the cleverest smart man ~ever~!”

“Thank you, my sugarplum.” All of them spun at Seth’s gruff voice at the door.

Amelia ran to hug her uncle, who swung her up in his impressive arms while the women cussed him in their various languages.

“Geez, Seth, for your size you’re stalkier than a pervert at a gym window!” Grace scolded. “How did you avoid the bell, anyway?”

“It wasn’t difficult with the door already open,” he explained, nodding at an elderly lady browsing the earrings section of the display cases.

Grace glared at him as she mumbled something in Mandarin before going to help the customer.

Indie watched as he took a deep breath before turning to her, his eyes so dark that she couldn’t discern their color. “Can we talk a minute?” he asked.

Grace narrowed her eyes from across the shop while Indie and Sarah folded their arms across their chests and glared at him.

Amelia wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “I’m not mad at you, Pops.”

He smiled as he hugged her close. “That’s a relief, Elli. And definitely worth a special s’more when I get home tomorrow.”

“Yahbazoo,” she said softly, kissing him again and wriggling out of his arms.

“Indie?” He looked at her, his hopeful expression almost making her relent.

She glanced across the store at Grace, who had placed her letter opener on the counter and was testing the edge with her thumb.

Sarah slapped her hands over her mouth to smother a laugh before she turned away from them. Indie pursed her lips and subtly shook her head at her best friend, appreciating the gesture.

She clasped her hands together as she leaned on the counter. All she wanted to do was slide her arms around his waist and hold him tightly, and allow his lemony scent to surround her.

Maybe then everything would be okay. But she promised herself that she wouldn’t be that weak again. No matter how irresistible he looked in his vest thingy.

After a moment, she found the courage to look at him. “What changed between this morning and now?”

“I’m not as sure how you feel about me now as I was earlier this morning.”

“What are you going to do differently?” She waited, hoping that he would give the right answer.

But when he chewed his bottom lip and Indie recognized the sad resolve in his eyes, she knew that things had not changed.

With a quiet nod, she wrapped her arms around herself and stepped away from the counter, and him. Then she shrugged and walked to the door leading to her workshop. “I have work to do.”

“Indie…”

Indie closed her eyes at the pain she heard in his voice as he said her name, but she shook her head. More to remind herself not to relent than to deny him her heart.

She heard his radio beep as the door swung shut. She leaned against the wall, counting the seconds of silence that followed. And then he softly responded.

“Unit four-one-three responding.”

Indie slid down the wall and allowed the sadness she felt to sweep over her.

SETH

“What the fuck happened out there?!” Sheriff Burnsley demanded as Seth stood at attention before his desk, Felicity standing at his shoulder.

She stepped forward after glancing at a silent Seth. “Sheriff, the perp was very resistant and pulled a knife as we entered the alley—”

“I wasn’t asking you, Deputy Rhodes!” She gasped at the anger that flashed as he looked at her.

“The man was running. Fine. He threw a brick at you. Fine. He pushed a pregnant woman to the ground to get away from you. Fine. He pulled a Bowie knife. Understood.

“But for him to end up in the hospital with a broken jaw, four broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a sprained wrist, and a torn kneecap, ~that ~I need an explanation for, Deputy Marshall!”

Seth had not seen Burnsley this angry since his military days, and it was totally valid.

He had responded to the call of a robbery in progress while he was standing in Silver Reflections, watching his soul walk away from him and life as it could be disintegrating in front of his eyes.

Watching the door close between Indie and him—again—was like watching the door close on a sealed container holding his most valuable thoughts.

The anger that burned in him was such a familiar feeling, but he tried to push it aside to concentrate on the call. He didn’t want to be the angry person he had been fifteen years ago.

That anger had nearly destroyed his relationship with his sister, his career, and himself. He couldn’t let it happen again.

And yet it was…

After seeing the perpetrator throw a brick through Felicity’s windshield and push the heavily pregnant lady, Seth lost what little control he had over the anger and lashed out.

He deflected the blade of the knife from his face, spraining the wrist of the perp, dislocating his shoulder when he pushed him up against the wall.

And he did the rest of the damage with some well-placed fists. Felicity had joined them a few seconds later but struggled to pull Seth from the nearly-unconscious man.

And now he was facing a very pissed-off boss and a worried partner with a big possibility of suspension…or worse.

His day had started exceptionally well but was ending in ever-deepening degrees of shitty.

He clenched his hands behind his back but immediately unrolled his hurting fist.

He kept his eyes fixed on the swirling pattern of Burnsley’s carpet as the sheriff ripped into him about the mayor becoming involved and the district attorney not being happy about the beating.

And then he went quiet for a moment before saying the words Seth feared.

“You’re dismissed, Rhodes,” he told Felicity.