“Of course. You did the right thing. Thank you for calling the police.”

She was going to have to tell Edward, Peter and Justin. Was going to have to call the insurance company about her car. Call Royal. Yeah, that was going to suck. He was already pissy that she’d come in on her own. He’d said he’d take her to Riverton and then take her back to Petal. She’d refused but he was going to be extra worked up over it.

First things first.

It was Shane who showed up not even two minutes later. He caught sight of her and shook his head. “I thought you were supposed to stay out of trouble.”

“I was eating a turkey sandwich at my desk!”

“Let’s go on over to look.”

They headed out and then down around the corner where she’d parked thinking it might be better to keep it low key and come and go quietly. Ha! More like perfect to vandalize during the day.

Her car had had buckets of paint poured over it and the tires were slashed. Nothing that made much noise and so no one had noticed it right away.

She sighed. “Good Lord.”

Shane had taken some photographs, helped her get her belongings from it and lugged the stuff she’d had in her car back to the office. On the way she’d even contacted her insurance who then arranged to have the car towed to Joe Harris’s shop to be repaired.

She gave a statement, which was easy since she didn’t know much other than when she’d arrived.

“I need to run now. I have a hearing.”

Shane slid his notebook back into his pocket. “I’ll take you over to the courthouse. I have to go that way anyway.”

Five minutes later she stood outside the courthouse. She pulled her phone out and got Royal’s voicemail. If he was on a tractor or working near machinery, he wouldn’t hear it anyway. She let him know that her car had been vandalized and she was having it towed to Joe’s shop. She then asked him for a ride and said if he couldn’t, she could probably grab one from Justin, and she had her keys to his place so to just call and leave a message because she was getting ready to go into court and that either way she’d see him later.

And she kept her head in her job and went about doing it.

Chapter Eighteen

Royal had come back to the house after being out in the fields all day when he noticed he had a voicemail from Caroline.

He called her back and got her voicemail. “I’ll be there,” was all he said.

And then he’d changed and was in his truck heading into town, and when she’d walked out of the front doors of the courthouse he waited there.

After a stop by Shane’s office. Shane-the-cop didn’t say a whole lot but Shane-the-friend told him Caroline had looked a little shell-shocked but left him to go off to court and she’d had her focus on work.

She did seem thrive on her job. And if it could help keep her mind off as much of this damnable mess as possible, that was a positive.

She wore a suit that day. With trousers and, he knew without a doubt, some sky-high heels. He had no idea how she stood it, especially with all the walking she did, but she seemed immune. Or maybe she was just a good actor.

The charcoal gray of the suit was pretty on her. She didn’t have on an overcoat, but the edge of her suit jacket flipped a little in the breeze, and he caught a glimpse of the red silk blouse she wore underneath.

She was put together and really pretty, and then she turned, her attention shifting from her colleague to Royal.

She lit up when she caught sight of him, smiling and saying goodbye to her colleague. He knew he grinned right back at her. Just making another person react the way she had—because of him—meant so much.

In four more steps her hand slid into his as he brought it to his mouth to kiss her fingertips.

“Afternoon, Mizz Mendoza.” He tipped his hat and she blushed.

“Hi. Wow you’re handsome. I could have met you at the office. I’m sorry you came down here.”

“Look at you with your sneaky compliments. Thank you, darlin’. As for the rest? Whatever. You’re down here, which is more than enough reason to come this way. Plus I can be with you instead of you haring all over town with a f**king psycho out there who needs a punch to the face with my bumper. Are you all right?”

They started walking back to where he’d parked. “I’m fine. It sucks, don’t get me wrong. I just got a new paint job before I came back to Petal. That metallic black was hard to find, damn it. My tires were slit. It needs new tires, to be sanded and primered and repainted. My doors have been keyed and the slot for the key on the door has been bent and there’s metal stuck off down inside. The fob for keyless entry works though so at least there’s that. Thank God I was paranoid and locked up or he might have gotten inside.”

They ran up to her office and grabbed a box of things before loading them into his truck. “I need to work a little this weekend, but I have a thing at Beth’s tonight. Melissa is picking me up at six forty-five.”

He put her in the cab and dug way, way deep before he got back in on the driver’s side. He headed out of town.

“Don’t,” she finally said, breaking the silence.

“Don’t what?” His voice was so ruthlessly careful it just underlined how much he knew exactly what she’d been saying.

“Really?”

He groaned. “Okay, okay. But no, I have to. Don’t go tonight. Stay home with me. Where I know you’re safe. This whole thing is f**ked, and I normally wouldn’t ask you to not do something. I respect your independence and that you have friends you hang out with and heaven knows I’m pleased the thing with Anne has worked out.”