Picnic in Someday Valley (Honey Creek #2)(51)

She simply enjoyed him so close.

When he finally broke the kiss, he whispered, “I like kissing you.”

“I like kissing you.” What were they, in third grade? By the third kiss men were usually whispering what they planned to do to her as soon as they were alone with her.

“Don’t go to work. Quit.” Brand leaned down and whispered in her ear.

She laughed. “I can’t quit yet. I haven’t even started.”

He kissed her throat and murmured, “When is your day off?”

“I don’t know. I’m on the schedule for two nights, but I’m also willing to fill in for any of the others.”

“All right. I’ll call you tomorrow. You should be awake by the time I come in near dusk.”

“You have a phone?”

“Sure. Somewhere.”

She pulled away and took his hand, then gently tugged him along toward the sheriff’s office half a block away. “Promise me you’ll be careful.” Marcie was afraid what Brand might do if he knew the bald man had frightened her. “Those drunks might decide to come after you.”

“I doubt it. Men dumb enough to travel in packs usually aren’t brave enough to hunt alone.” He took a few steps and said, “Damn, I wish I had time to kiss you again.”

“I should have warned you that I’m addictive.”

“You are,” he answered, as if he believed her.

When they reached the sheriff’s office, Brand opened the door for her, and to her surprise he followed her in.

“Evening, Sheriff.” Brand nodded a hello to LeRoy.

“Evening, Rodgers. Nice night.”

“That it is,” Brand said softly as his gaze studied her.

The desk phone rang and Brand winked at her as the sheriff rushed back to his desk.

Brand was leaving, closing the door behind him before the sheriff looked up.

Marcie waited for LeRoy to finish his call. She was not sure what to do. The chubby woman who worked afternoons at the dispatch desk wasn’t due to leave until Pecos came in. Marcie thought her name was Daisy, and she had to be seventy at least.

When the sheriff finished his call, he showed her to an empty desk and handed her a manual to read. “Afraid our training program is mostly just reading this and watching Pecos. I don’t want you to watch anyone else. You’ll pick up bad habits.” He looked toward the old woman. “When I started, I hired all young operators.”

“What happened?”

“They all got old and cranky.”

Before she could start reading, he said, “If you have any questions, just ask me or Pecos.”

“Will do,” she answered.

When he kept standing in front of her, she looked up. “Is there something else?”

“No, no,” LeRoy answered. “I was just thinking, do you know Brand Rodgers? It almost looked like you two came in together.”

“I do know him.” She tried to start reading again, but he seemed nailed to the front of her desk.

“Anything else?”

“Not really. I was just curious if you’re dating Brand?” LeRoy’s serious look wrinkled the bottom half of his face.

She smiled. “We had our first date tonight. It was nice.” She saw no point in lying, since half the town probably saw them at the bar. “Do you not like the idea of me dating him? Or, is your objection that he’s interested in dating me?”

The deputy just beyond the open door yelled, “Before you two girls start talking about the prom, would you mind breaking it up so I can concentrate on my report?”

“Sorry.” Marcie lifted the manual.

“Shut up, Rip.” The sheriff stomped back to his desk.

Rip turned around to face her and grinned. She could tell he loved bugging the sheriff.

Marcie was beginning to think she was going to like working here. Two hours later when she got herself a cup of coffee, she took the sheriff one also.

“You don’t have to do that,” he grumbled. “But if you ever do it again, I like a bit of sugar.”

“I’ll remember that. I like a little cream.”

The old guy toasted with his paper cup. “I’ll remember that.”

When Pecos rushed in thirty seconds before his shift started, he picked up a stack of papers off Rip’s desk and darted into the dispatch room. Marcie followed with the manual. The real training was about to begin.

Daisy rambled out, still working on her crossword.

Pecos smiled. “Welcome to the nut house, Marcie. You’re going to love the job.”

Four hours later she’d read the entire manual. Pecos was studying an online class the sheriff had signed him up for. The 911 phone hadn’t rung for over an hour. Marcie stared at the same page she’d been looking at for thirty minutes while she thought about Brand. There was so much about the man she liked and so much she didn’t know.

Pecos glanced up and shrugged. “Sometimes the hardest part of this job is staying awake. Other nights you don’t even get time to go to the bathroom. I like the busy nights because time flies. All of a sudden the next shift is coming in and you wonder why.”

“Do you always study on the slow nights?”

“Yep. It’s really the only time I have. When I get off, it’s catch up on my sleep or drive Kerrie around, or on Saturdays go out to the bee farm and help old Grandpa Lane. He’s a cool guy. Knows more about bees than anyone in the state.