LITMIR.BIZ

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she said. “But that was a while ago.”

      “The town needs your services,” Dallas said through clenched teeth. “What kind of jerks complain about a person doing something good for others?”

      Jackson stirred at the sound of the loud voice and Kate had to find his binky to pacify him. She shuffled through the diaper bag and came up with it. Jackson settled down as soon as the offering was in his mouth.

      “Sorry,” Dallas said with an apologetic glance.

      “It takes all kinds,” Tommy agreed. “I’m guessing they figured it would hurt their business. We’ll know more once my deputy speaks to them.”

      “It’s not like people hang around after they eat. There’s no loitering allowed downtown,” Kate said.

      “It’s a big escalation to go from complaining to your landlord to a personal attack like this on your son.” Based on the sheriff’s tone, her neighbors weren’t serious suspects. Tommy fired off a text before returning his gaze to Kate. “Now tell me more about your people.”

      “We have a small office staff,” she conceded. “Allen Lentz is my second in command and takes care of everything when I’m not around. Other than that, there are about a dozen cooks and food service workers. Only one is on payroll. The others are volunteers.”

      Dallas’s posture tensed when she mentioned Allen.

      Kate registered the subtle change and moved on. She rattled off a few more names and job descriptions.

      The sheriff nodded and jotted a few notes on his palm-sized notebook.

      “And then there’s Randy Ruiz. He keeps the place running on our tight budget. He’s our general handyman, muscle and overall miracle worker. Anything heavy needs lifting, he’s our guy. He’s been especially helpful and dependable in the six months he’s been with us.” Despite Randy’s past, she knew full well that he would never hurt her or Jackson.

      Dallas seemed to perk up and she was afraid she’d tried to sell Randy a little too hard. True, she could be a little overprotective of him. He’d had a hard road and she wanted to see him succeed.

      “Tabitha Farmer does all our administrative work,” Kate added quickly, to keep the conversation moving. “Her official title is volunteer coordinator.”

      “How close are you with donors?” Tommy asked.

      Thinking about the possibility that anyone in her circle could have arranged to have her child kidnapped was enough to turn Kate’s stomach. She clasped him closer.

      For Jackson’s sake, she had to consider what Dallas and the sheriff were saying no matter how much she hated to view her friends and acquaintances with a new lens.

      Maybe she was being naive, but she’d been careful to fill her life with genuine people since moving to Bluff from the city. “I maintain a professional distance. However, I do get invited to personal events like weddings and lake house parties.”

      “And what do you do with your son during these outings?” Dallas interjected, no doubt remembering her conversation with Allen earlier.

      “I don’t usually go. But I used Allen once,” she replied.

      “Allen?” Dallas looked up from intensely staring into his cup of coffee.

      “We’re like a family at the kitchen, and we take care of each other,” she said defensively.

      Dallas’s cocked eyebrow didn’t sit well with her. She could feel herself getting more and more defensive.

      “Despite what you may be thinking about my employees, they really are a group of decent people,” she stated, making eye contact with him—a mistake she was going to regret, given how much her body reacted to the handsome cowboy.

      “In my experience, that doesn’t always prove the truth,” he said, holding her gaze. “When did Allen babysit for you?”

      “It’s been a while. I used Tabitha one other time recently.”

      “There a reason for that?” Dallas asked, lifting one dark eyebrow.

      “Yes, but it doesn’t mean anything,” she said quickly. Then she sighed. “Okay, I thought Allen was getting a little too...involved with me and Jackson, so I thought it would be best to use Tabitha instead. He’s made it clear that he’d like to date.” She involuntarily shivered at the thought of going out with anyone, much less someone from work. “And I’m just not ready for that.”

      She’d probably emphasized that last bit a little too much, but what did she care if they knew she wasn’t in the mood to spend time with a man, any man.

      “How old is your son?” Tommy asked, after a few uncomfortable seconds had passed.

      “Jackson? He’s almost three months old.” Kate gently patted her baby on the back, noticing something stir in Dallas’s eyes.

      “What about friends and family?” Tommy asked, his gaze moving from her to his friend. “Anyone in the area?”

      “I didn’t know anyone when I moved here, and everything about preparing for the baby was harder than I expected, so, yes, I bonded with my employees.”

      “You don’t have family in this part of Texas?” Tommy asked.

      “It’s just me and Jackson.” She shook her head. “My brother and I are close, but he lives in Richardson, which is a suburb of Dallas. He works nonstop. We started a tech company together after college and made enough to do okay. I sold my interest in the business to have a baby, and now he’s running it alone.”

      “Forgive this question...” Tommy hesitated before continuing, “But how did your brother take the news about you leaving the business the two of you started?”

      “Carter? He was fine with my decision. He knew how much I wanted to start a family,” she said defensively, a red rash crawling up her neck. And if he hadn’t been the most enthusiastic about her choice at first, he’d come around.

      “Again, I’m sorry. I had to ask,” the sheriff murmured, taking a seat across from her in the sitting area of the office.

      “Mind if I ask why you decided to move to Bluff?” Dallas asked.

      “There was a need for a soup kitchen, and it’s one of the most family-friendly towns in Texas three years running, according to the internet,” she said with a shrug. “I thought it would be a good place to bring up a baby.”

      “Even without family here?” Tommy asked.

      “My parents didn’t approve of my decision to have a child alone.” She didn’t really want to go down that road again, explaining the quirks of her family to a stranger. The one where her mother had flipped out and pretended to have a heart attack in order to alter Kate’s course.

      She glanced at Dallas, ready to defend herself to him, and was surprised by the look of sympathy she got instead.

      “I guess I don’t understand that particular brand of thinking. It’s my personal belief that families should stick together even if they don’t agree with each other’s decisions,” Dallas said, his steely voice sliding right through her.

      The sincerity in those words nearly brought her to tears.

      Why did it suddenly matter so much what a stranger thought about her or her family?

      * * *

      DALLAS NOTICED KATE’S emotional reaction to what he’d said about family. If she really was at odds with hers then they couldn’t rule them out as suspects.

      “If you’ll excuse us, I’d like to speak to the sheriff in the hallway for a minute,” he said to her.

      “Do we have to wait around? Can we go home now?” she asked, clearly rattled from their conversation.

      “I

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