Making It Right (Most Likely To #3)

He stepped close enough for her to smell his mouthwash . . . or maybe that was hers.

“I’m here to see you. Your dad’s case is a side note, and my case is an excuse.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

He was smooth, she’d give him that.

The bell over the front door of the station rang, and Jo heard her best friends greeting Glynis.

“And so it begins.”

“What?”

Jo didn’t answer, she simply painted on a smile and stared at her office door.

Mel ducked in first, with Zoe close on her heels. Mel looked like she’d run from Miss Gina’s kitchen before clearing the breakfast dishes. If Jo wasn’t mistaken, there was flour on her cheek. And Zoe . . . in rare form, was wearing yoga pants and a T-shirt. An outfit Jo had seen many times because of their BFF status, but an outfit Zoe didn’t wear outside the comfort of her own home.

“Hey, Jo,” Zoe said.

Neither of them looked at her, both had their eyes on Gill.

“Oh, my God. Could you two be more obvious?”

Mel walked forward, extended her hand. “I’m Mel, this is Zoe. We’re Jo’s best friends. You must be Gill.”

Gill shook Mel’s hand. “I guess it’s a good thing you have my name right.”

Jo rolled her eyes.

“She described you perfectly,” Zoe told him.

Jo wanted to crawl under the table. “I did not.”

“You said big and mmmm!”

Gill laughed, moved in to shake Zoe’s hand. “I think I’m gonna like your friends, JoAnne.”

Mel glanced at Zoe. “He calls her JoAnne. Isn’t that cute.”

“For the love . . .” Jo said. “How did you guys find out he was here so fast anyway?”

“Mel texted me,” Zoe said.

“Brenda from the diner texted me, and her daughter, Tina—”

Jo sighed. “I get the picture.” She turned to Gill. “Tina is one of my runners that saw you at the school.”

“Ah.” He shrugged.

“I’m sure half of River Bend has a picture of you two kissing.”

“Kissing?”

Mel pulled her phone from her back pocket, showed the image to Jo.

Jo slapped a hand to Gill’s chest. “I’m blaming you,” she told him.

He looked at the photo, wasn’t fazed. “Not my best side, but I’ll take it.”

“You’re killing me,” Jo said, sliding into her chair. The day was going to be shot, and the calls would flood in.

“I’m guessing your town sheriff doesn’t have many men kissing her around here.”

Zoe leaned against the desk. “Not since she was eighteen.”

“Even then it was more like Waterville and not River Bend. Right, Jo?”

Jo didn’t answer. “Are we really having this conversation?”

Mel waved her off. “You’re a federal agent?”

“I am.”

“And you live in Eugene?” Zoe asked.

“I do.”

“Eugene isn’t that far,” Mel started.

Jo stood, slapped her hands on the desk. “Okay, enough.” She walked around the desk, shoving her friends with both hands toward the door. “I love you both, you know that. But get out of here. You’re embarrassing the hell out of me.”

Zoe looked over Jo’s shoulder. “I can make dinner tonight.”

“Get. Out!” Jo shoved until they’d both cleared the door and closed it behind them.

Gill stood by her desk, laughing. “Big and mmmm?”





Chapter Fifteen




The distraction, otherwise known as Gill, made it nearly impossible to work. The paperwork that had been put aside because of the rain had piled up and needed to be taken care of. An hour into her day, Jo decided the only way to complete anything was to move the massive man from her office. Then she’d double-time until she was finished and find a way to incorporate him into her day.

“Okay, Goliath,” she said as she grabbed her hat. “Let’s go.”

“Oh, Goliath. I like that.”

Jo rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, expecting him to follow.

“Leaving already?” Glynis said as they walked out.

“I’ll be back,” Jo informed her.

The woman smiled and waved, her eyes on Gill. “Bye-bye.”

Gill kept pace with her.

“So here are the ground rules,” she started.

“Rules?”

“Yeah. That kiss that everyone in town has now seen on their phones, no more of that in public.”

“Really?” He sounded disappointed.

“I do have to hold some kind of reputation, Gill. The town had a male sheriff for years. It took some of them time to get used to me. If they think I’m all boy crazy, who knows how it will go down.”

Gill attempted to hold her hand.

She shook him off.

“None of that either.”

“No?”

“No!”

“You drive a hard bargain.” His smile said he wasn’t offended. Besides, they hadn’t exactly displayed any affection in Virginia. It didn’t need to change in Oregon.

She lifted her sunglasses briefly, so he could see her eyes. “I’ll make up for it later.”

Gill licked his lips and pushed his hands into his front pockets. “Deal.”

“This is River Bend,” she said, as if he didn’t know. She pointed across the street. “Drugstore. As in, the one and only drugstore. Yeah, they sell the occasional ibuprofen over at the market across the street, but Benson’s Drugs sells anything and everything else.”

“Expensive?”

“Competitive. Charlie, the owner, knows the dollars in gas it takes to drive to Waterville to pay for your basics and makes it worth your while to buy here. His prices for all prescriptions are the same as if you bought them online, minus the shipping.”

“Smart man,” Gill said.

“He stays in business. Not to mention his sister makes the best strawberry jam in the county and sells it by the pint seasonally.”

Gill grinned.

Jo pointed to the next storefront. “Hardware store. Again competitive, with the edge of farming equipment supplies and seed to offset that which the feed store doesn’t always have on hand.”

“You have a feed store in town?”

“Just outside town. Close to R&B’s.”

“The bar I saw coming in?”

“That would be the one,” she confirmed.

“I saw a barn . . .”

Jo nodded. “That would be Cody’s Feed Store.”

“Cody?”

“It’s actually Cody’s son. But that’s how it goes around here.”

Gill pointed to the next marquee. “Sam’s diner, I presume?”

Jo stopped, spread her hands wide. “Breakfast.”

They pushed through the glass door of Sam’s and were greeted with the stares of several people from town and more than a half dozen friends.

Luke and Wyatt were a welcome sight. The very men she needed to entertain Gill for a couple of hours.

She approached the counter with a smile.

“Hey, Luke,” she said since he made eye contact first. “The road looks like it’s coming together.”

“It is.” Luke eyed Gill.

“Luke, Wyatt, this is Gill.”

They were both silent for half a second.

“The guy on your phones. Don’t even pretend you haven’t got the text. Both Mel and Zoe have already been by the station.”

Luke and Wyatt turned in their swivel seats and extended their hands.

“Mel’s my wife,” Wyatt said with pride.