Picnic in Someday Valley (Honey Creek #2)(6)

He lifted her up and carried her to the elevator. “We’ll talk about it when I take you up to get your shoes.”

The ride to the fourth floor was one long kiss that made her forget everything but Colby.





Chapter 3


Pecos


Pecos Smith sat at the dispatcher station, studying his books. Kerrie, his new wife, and he both decided to only take two college classes the fall semester. With her pregnant and due the first of December and him studying to be a deputy sheriff, they thought starting college slowly might be a good idea.

But nothing about Pecos’s life was slow. Their drive to classes two mornings a week always seemed a race to make it on time. He studied police procedures online most nights when the calls were light, and worked all day on Saturday at Kerrie’s grandfather’s farm.

Five nights a week from midnight to eight he was the dispatcher who handled 911 calls for the county. Everyone asked if he ever slept. Pecos just smiled. He couldn’t tell them how grand it was to curl up with his wife and sleep the afternoon away, or lie next to her the two nights he was home. As she cuddled beside him, she’d put his hand on her tummy and let him feel a baby growing.

He was a lucky man. Twenty years old. Most beautiful wife in town. About to have a child.

The 911 phone sounded and Pecos pulled out of his dreaming.

“Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?”

“Pecos?” Sam Cassidy, the fire chief, yelled in his usual demanding voice.

“It’s me,” Pecos answered. “You got a fire somewhere, Chief?” Cassidy was new in town. Of course, pretty much anyone not born here was considered new. Sam wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t an emergency.

“Not this time. We got a man someone tried to shove into the newborn drop box. All they got in was his head.”

Pecos tried to picture the small box at the corner of the station. Most towns had safety boxes installed in case someone abandoned a newborn. The Safe Haven Baby Box. The law made sure the baby would be safe and the person would not be charged with a crime. The minute the box was closed, an alarm went off in the station and the firemen would take care of the child’s needs. In all the years it had been there, Pecos never heard of anyone using it.

“Sam, I got to ask, is the head connected to a body?”

“Yeah, and he’s cussing. His friends almost scraped his ear off trying to shove him in, then they took off, probably afraid we’d arrest them for abandoning a drunk.”

“What do you want me to do?” Pecos had never seen this in any manual.

“I don’t know. He needs more medical attention than we can give him. I got the two men in-training practicing on stopping the blood, but he’s fighting them off with his one arm that seems to be working. Maybe you could call the sheriff, get him to wake the doc, and talk him into opening the clinic early.”

Pecos tapped in the sheriff’s number. While it rang, he asked Sam, “Was he attacked?”

“No, I don’t think so. He claims Big Foot came out of nowhere and tossed him ten feet. He’s been yelling it so loud I’m starting to believe him.”

Another ring from the sheriff’s home phone. Pecos enlightened Sam. “You tell the guy that Big Foot doesn’t live in Texas?”

“I can’t tell him anything,” Sam added, “he’s only got one ear to hear and one eye that’s not swollen closed. The man doesn’t seem to be interested in debating.”

The sheriff’s voice came through the speaker. “This better be important!”

Sam boomed back, “We got a problem, LeRoy. I don’t know if it’s medical, criminal, or if we’re dealing with a drug case, but you’ve got to come get him.”

“I’m on my way. Got a name?”

Sam sounded relieved. “Said he’s Joey Hattly.”

“Hellfire,” the sheriff roared on the speakerphone. “Last time I heard from Joey he was claiming he shot his ass off. I drove all the way to Someday Valley to find out that it was just his left butt cheek.”

Pecos fought down a laugh. It was nights like this that made him want to be a deputy.

The sheriff ordered Sam to stop as much blood as he could from dripping out of Joey, while he’d pick up the doc and meet them at the clinic.

Both lines went dead and Pecos leaned back in his chair, already thinking how he’d tell Kerrie all about Joey at breakfast.

He thought of all the things he loved about being married. She cooked omelets for him. They talked about everything. He loved holding her. She told him he was her best friend.

Pecos’s smile faded.

Her best friend, nothing more. Her kiss each night was a fast peck. Pecos was twenty, he was a man, he wanted more. He had a feeling when the baby, whom he’d claimed as his, was born, Kerrie would still think of him as her friend.

He knew he was lucky to be married to her. She was beautiful and smarter than he’d ever be. Her family was rich. He was going to college because of her. He had bigger dreams than he’d ever imagined because she said she believed in him.

But . . . he was his wife’s best friend, nothing more.

Pecos dropped his head so fast his forehead hit the book he’d been reading. He was in hell.





Chapter 4


Marcie