Ryan's Love - C.A. Harms Page 0,2

believe my little girl was growing up.

I eased my truck away from the curb. It was time to head to work.

***

After a quick stop for coffee at JJ’s, I pulled into the police station and grabbed my bag from the passenger seat.

As I walked through the front entrance, I looked at all the officers standing around the station, talking. Livingston, Montana, was a sleepy town, but that didn’t mean crazy things didn’t happen. I mean, getting calls at two o’clock in the morning to track down an escaped herd of cattle or ol’ Bert’s pesky sheepdog was about the extent of our emergencies. Things were usually pretty quiet, which is why I insisted on continuing to patrol the streets after my promotion. The chief tried to convince me I was needed at the station while our guys took care of our town’s safety, but I just couldn’t let go of the interaction. I loved knowing what was happening where I lived and being on scene when something came up. And anyway, the issues I faced out there were mild compared to what I would have in a bigger city, and I needed the rush. Sitting behind a desk gave me too much time to think.

“Hey, Sarg, we got a full house already,” Officer Mitchell greeted me as I rounded the counter. I just shook my head as I headed toward my desk in the back corner of the room. I would get myself checked in and then get back out on the road. I had no desire to get stuck in the office today.

Sergeant Sawyer. I’d like to think Claire would be proud. I was promoted the year after she died, and it had been something I’d been hoping to achieve. Her being there to see it would have made the achievement even sweeter.

Whack!

My brother Noah slapped the top of my desk as he dropped into the chair on the opposite side. Being so close in age, we were almost inseparable, sharing all the same friends, including Claire, since childhood.

“You ready for this weekend?” he asked

Every year a group of guys from around town get together for a weekend of fishing and drinking. Yeah, booze and fishing hooks don’t always mix well, but for the most part we make it out unscathed. For the last few years I’d found some excuse to bail, feeling guilty for leaving Olivia. But this year she insisted I go. Something about me needing to get out of the house and stop hovering over her. I guess that was her way of telling me she needed a break from her dad.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to a weekend with the guys,” I said as I stood and grabbed my coffee off my desk.

“You drinking that nasty shit from JJ’s?” he asked, pointing toward my coffee cup.

“I woke up late this morning. I had to grab it on the way in. Not many choices left since Helen’s closed. Damn, now that was a good cup of coffee.”

JJ’s coffee was weak and somewhat sour. But it beat the stuff at the station—hell, that tasted more like drinking syrup with a burnt aftertaste.

Noah followed as I made my way out of the back of the station and toward my patrol car.

“Well, rumor has it Helen’s is opening back up,” he said as he crawled into the passenger seat. “George Baker said her granddaughter bought the place and is moving here to run it.”

Helen’s had made the best baked goods in town. That woman could make a grown man cry with her cherry pie and those snickerdoodle things. There wasn’t a treat inside those four walls that was a disappointment.

“Well, if that’s true, let’s just hope her niece knows how to bake as good as she did. She has some big shoes to fill.” I took a drink of my coffee and puckered at the taste.

I hoped what my brother said was true. I missed that bakery and I missed Helen too. Her death affected our entire town. She was such a caring woman, and she adored Claire. It sure would be good to see that place reopen, even if it was with a different owner.

Chapter Two

Amber

Leaving Chicago was easy. Especially after Kevin, my fiancé, decided his slutty neighbor was worth losing me over. I gave him four years of my life, and in turn his overactive sex drive picked a twenty-one-year-old floozy. He’d even had the gall to take her in our bed. Now that the anger and disgust