“Well, hi, Emma.”
She was in full conversation with herself before I confirmed I was even on the line.
“Are you there?”
“Yep. I was waiting for a chance to talk…I just had the oddest coincidence happen. Embarrassing, actually. Wyatt… he just served my father’s eviction notice to my dad’s place as I was about to leave.”
“How? And again? Does that man ever take care of anything on his own? Do not give him money this time, Breigh! And were you actually there cleaning this morning?”
“I don’t know. Apparently Wyatt is a deputy. He was banging on the door, and I answered it, looking like crap. I was going to make the trailer payment and then head home, but when I walked in it smelled like death: dishes were piled all over and cockroaches and gnats were in the kitchen…He, on the other hand, looked AMAZING in his uniform and smelled like heaven…”
“Love a man in a uniform. How is it a uniform on a man always shows off what it needs to show off, but yet on a woman it is never pleasing?” She laughed with a snort. “As far as the eviction notice, that is your father’s problem not yours! Why are you cleaning and paying his bills? Was the bum not there?”
“Of course not.”
“Breigh, how many times do I have to tell you not to take care of someone who has never taken care of you? He has caused more pain than happiness and I just don't understand why you…”
“STOP, Emma.” I was beginning to tear up. She was speaking the truth, but I still always felt bad for him. I didn’t need to hear it again and again. It didn't make anything easier.
“Okay… okay…well… was he as cute this morning as he was last night?” Everyone had an experience thinking someone was a ten, but then seeing them again and they were a two, tops.
I giggle like a schoolgirl. “Yeah, he was… But doesn't matter. I can’t deal with anything else. Between work, Dad, and my broken heart, I’m still recovering.”
“A guy can help with that. And don't forget you looked pretty happy with him last night on that dance floor. Miss Only One Dance…”
“So we danced a couple songs… but that’s where it ended,” I said firmly. “Yes, so I had a good time. I can admit that.”
“Guess what? Cash has money, honey. He has a very successful career and works at some big stock firm in Houston. He’s rich!”
“Was he bragging about it all night or what?”
“He was… a little… but I found it incredibly sexy. Just the way he dresses, carries himself, is something I’ve never had.”
“Ick! Not my type. Not a fan of the cockiness.”
She laughed. “Exactly my type.”
I had been friends with Emma for over fifteen years now, and she has always been the same. She loved the playboy. She didn't think about the future but purely what was right in front of her. Lived for the moment. My polar opposite.
“So one brother is a sheriff’s deputy, probably earning peanuts and playing by all the rules, and the other’s in an office in Houston, wearing suits breaking them all.” Emma does a replay.
“Sounds like it.”
“We are going out tonight before he leaves town.”
“Be careful, Emma.”
“You don't need to warn me. I’m a big girl.”
I wish I had thought to record that. She was notorious for acting like a girl who just hit puberty, boy crazy as all get out.
She might be the death of me.
4
WYATT
“I’m putting in the paperwork for a promotion for you, Wyatt. I appreciate all your hard work, son, and I want you to be rewarded for it.”
“Son?”
“I know you’re not my son, but you are the closest thing I’ll ever have to it. You have worked harder than any guy on the force, in just the short amount of time you have been here.”
“I really appreciate that, sir. I… With all due respect, I really want to work my way to the Texas Rangers. I don't know if you remember, but I want to…”
“I know. And I want to help you with what I can. It will be a long road ahead of you to get there, but if anyone can do it, you can.”
“Thank you. I sure don't want to end up stuck in an office pushing paper. Some days it feels like all I do is paperwork for the guys who don't want to finish it.”
“Exactly. I’m the same way. Sitting in this office drives me crazy.”
We laugh for a split second. “I really appreciate your confidence in me. I have no problems with working hard to get where I need in life.”
“It shows.”
“I bet you thought differently when you heard my last name.”
“Of course I did, but I’m sure you are used to hearing that, aren't you? Plus, I know Rhonda and knew Kurt pretty well before…”
“Yes, I’m used to hearing that. My uncle was a great man.”
He shook his head, agreeing before continuing, “You never know where you’ll end up with hard work. Believe it or not, Wyatt, I used to say the same thing about being in an office pushing paper. Life changes, things change. One minute you are working to pay bills, the next you have to take a job promotion and work your life away, strictly because it is what has to be done. I admire your limits and the way you are working toward what you want though, I really do.”
He continued after looking down at a piece of paper on the desk. “Did you have any problems with the eviction today? I really appreciate you doing that for me, by the way.”
“No, not a problem at all. In fact, oddly enough, the daughter who answered the door was a woman I met last night at Kellye Joe’s.”
“Oh yes, Breigh Foster. Beautiful little thing, isn't she? She’s had a hard life, that one. Any time she gets a normal life, something seems to get in the way. Believe it or not, she was quite the little hell-raiser when she was in high school. I had to deal with her a couple times, and I had been called out to her father’s numerous times.”
I smirked. “That’s too bad about her having a hard life.” I wanted to ask more, but did I? It wasn't my business, yet I had a nagging in my stomach. I honestly couldn't figure out why I cared to know. I had only known Breigh for less than twelve hours.
“Her father, as you know now, Greg, is a drunk. We went to high school together, that is how long I’ve known him. I was friends with him and his wife. He hasn't been able to hold a job for pretty much his entire damn life. That girl has picked up his pieces far more than he deserved. That man wouldn’t be alive if it wasn't for her.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Sergeant’s phone rang and he looked down.
I turned to walk out of the office and Sergeant answered his phone. “Hold for just a second…”
“And, Wyatt, there isn't a guy in Hilltop that is good enough for her. Including you.”
“Understood. But I wasn't the least bit…”
“Yeah, you were. You would have to be blind and stupid to not have an interest in that beauty queen. She has a heart of gold.”
“Well, you don't have to worry about that with me. My focus is work, the last thing I need is a girlfriend.”
His face was puzzled, trying to compute what I was saying and whether to believe me or not. “That shocks me… I figured…”
“Nope.”
“Okay, then.”
“Okay.”
BREIGH
On the drive over to my grandmother’s, I thought about Wyatt. How embarrassing it was that he served Dad’s eviction notice. He probably thinks I’m white trash, or a grown woman living in her father’s house. Little did he know, I had been paying his bills for the last year since he fell off the wagon. Again. I was leaving the house, right before he showed up. I looked a mess from cleaning the kitchen that had been in disarray. The more he drank, the more he let things go. I killed more cockroaches today than I had in my entire life, well except the time when I was twelve and went over to stay with him for the day. I had never scrubbed myself so hard as when I got back home that even
ing after grammy picked me up. We were supposed to spend time together, but instead he slept all day coming off a bender.
Sometimes I felt like I had a hole in my chest from not having my mother and instead of my father helping to fill that void, he just dug a deeper hole. I think there was a heart there at one time, but with my mother dying at childbirth, my father being a drunk, and the way life has had its ups and downs, I didn't know if I would ever fill that gap. Adding insult to injury, the guy who had broken my heart not too long ago, sure didn't help.
Other than Emma, the only person who had helped was my grandma, grammy. She was a vital person in my life and the closest person to me. She was such a blessing in my life. It was like God said, “Sorry about your parents, but here’s your grandma. Treasure her.”
And I did.
We saw eye to eye on so many things, but not on one: she wanted me to find the love of my life like she had with my gramps. I didn’t get to spend as much time with him as I wished I would have. He passed when I was twelve. Not old enough to really appreciate the love the two had for each other. Some of the stories she had told made me feel like I was in the very moment with them, feeling the love and passion for each other. I had settled on the fact that she was the love of my life. A guy just wasn't going to play that part in my life.
I was okay with it, she wasn’t. Hence why I hadn't been out for a long spell.
Upon arrival, she was sitting on her front porch, in her rocking chair, reading. She did this every afternoon after her chores. I had always loved to read and I recognized I received that from her. She loved romance or humor. I loved mystery. I guess I couldn't get into romance since I didn't believe in “The One.”
Not anymore. I keep telling myself that anyway.
Waste of energy for me.
“There’s my pretty girl…” She continued rocking but placed her book in her lap.
I leaned in to kiss her on her cheek and then took a seat next to her. My entire life she had the exact same smell, a perfume that stuck in my memory. Floral and citrus. Her hair had always been the same, short and slightly curly. She had dark hair when she was younger, but now a gray I thought made her look even more beautiful.
“Look who is smiling today,” she said, smiling as well. My Grammy was always smiling.
“Well, despite a crappy morning at Dad’s going to look for him, and getting served his eviction notice, yes, I am smiling. Plus my appointments canceled and rescheduled.” I paused, listening for a second to the birds that were singing in the tree. “Of course when I am coming over here I always smile.”
“I smile when I see you too, darling. Today Margaret took me to the market with her since she had to pick up a few things, and guess who I saw today at the market?”
“Who?”
“Emma. She is sunshine, I tell you.”
“Yeah…”
“She said y'all went out dancing and had a good time.”
“We did. But a guy came in and she… well…”
“She is just different than you. Can’t get mad at that. She said y'all ran into two gentlemen?”
“One really. The other was the brother, a bystander like me. Or victim.”
“She carried on about one… for the life of me I can’t remember what his name was.”
“Cash, he was full of himself. And I mean, fuuuulllll of himself.” I rolled my eyes as I extended the full. “I can answer your question before you even ask though… yes, I met the other guy. No, I didn't get the butterflies or get goggly eyes. He is extremely attractive. A pretty good dancer. We danced a few dances and then I left. I actually saw him again today in an embarrassing way… He served dad’s eviction notice. Apparently he’s a sheriff’s deputy.”
“A deputy? That’s an honorable job.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Good dancer, you say?”
I shook my head yes.
“That’s a rarity. Your grandfather was always a good dancer. Well, he tried really hard, so to me that was one in the same. Something very attractive about a man who knows his way around a dance floor. Almost as important as his way around the…”
I looked at her in shock, anticipating her next word with my mouth open.
“Kitchen.”
I laughed.
“What is so funny? What did you think I was going to say?”
“Nothing, grammy. Nothing at all.”
“What is his name?”
“Wyatt.”
“I’m proud of you for getting out there. I know it’s hard, but I think you know you needed it, and you did have a good time, so there is that too.”
“Thank you, and yes, I had a great time. Even if Emma was the mastermind behind getting me to dance with him.”
“You’re smiling.” She winked.
“Nah, I’m just glad to be here with you.”
“Sure, dear, you can say that all you want. I’ll let you believe that.”
Grammy could read my thoughts like she put them there herself. Dang woman. Every single thing that had happened in my life she had predicted, or had an inkling for what was happening before I did.
And I’ll be damned if she wasn’t right. Every. Single. Time.
5
WYATT
Half the reason I moved to Hilltop was to be close to my aunt, my mother’s sister. She and I have always been close. Growing up, I spent many of summers and weekends at her farmhouse and just about any holiday I had a school break. When they had an opening at the sheriff’s department here, I jumped on it: a smaller town, a dot on the map really in comparison to Houston.
My aunt, Rhonda, had lived a life of simplicity. She worked most of her time awake and didn’t bother with complications that she would rather just avoid. Her focus had never been on money, rather on hard work. “Make your hobby into your job and you will never work a day in your life,” Rhonda told me when I was graduating high school. And she was right, like she was about most things. I love my career.
Rhonda was a farrier, and spent the majority of her time with horses and my uncle, Kurt, before he died of a heart attack. I had never seen two people love and respect each other as much as they did. He told me one time she was a hard one to love, but that was what made her more special.
She had always been a beacon in my life. Not only someone I looked up to, but someone I strived to be. She was an example of how people should be, in my eyes anyway. Kind, loving, but steadfast. Always honest and never took any flak from anyone. She wouldn't be played a fool but she also always wanted to help someone who helped themselves.
My mom and Rhonda got along when they wanted to, but not when my father was in their presence. My aunt was never short on words and spoke her mind without worrying about the consequence. Especially about someone she felt had ruined the opportunities my mother could and should have had. She loathed my father, and when able used his mistakes as life lessons for me.
While no one else understood my want not to be known as a Galloway, she received the message tenfold. She was a woman of integrity, something no one had ever accused my father of. Or my mother. I loved my mother, but she had never stood for anything. Frankly, something I had always tried to do.
Rhonda lived on the other side of town than I did, but we still saw each other often. Granted, the other side of town in Hilltop was ten minutes. She had retired from her career as a farrier but stayed just as busy now as she did when she worked. She spent a lot of time still helping out her equine friends. Money had never seemed to be an issue because she had saved and taken care of her future, never wanting to be a burden on anyone, no matter what the costs. She didn’t want her independence to ever be taken from her.
I had arrived at Rhonda’s house ten minutes early and walked in ready to see her. We were going to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Normally, she was outside waiting for me, especially if we were going to dinner, but not this time. She was sitting in the kitchen, trying to read a paper. I didn’t know what it was and sure as hell wasn't go
ing to nose my way around. She enjoyed her privacy and I respected that.
“You ready to go eat?”
“You bet,” she responded, and promptly put the paper down and walked to me.
“Have you talked to your mother?”
“No…”
“You probably should…”
“Cash said I needed to as well. Apparently, she is talking to everyone but me. I will call her later.”
She knew as well as I did that I avoided her calls like the plague. I didn't want to deal with the gossip about my father, or my brother. There are times I did answer her calls but it just depended on my mood and what I wanted to debate about. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my mother, but she loved the hoity-toity life that I didn't want anything to do with.
Not to mention, the reality of her asking my opinion about something and then completely ignoring my advice. The pattern was repetitive throughout our mother and son relationship. It was on repeat, over and over.
“Sooner rather than later, Wyatt.”
“Is something wrong?”
“That’s for her to tell you, not me.”
Typical answer from Rhonda.
One and a half hours and two margaritas later, we began really talking. My aunt only had a drink when we went out to eat, so I knew she was enjoying herself. I was elated. She deserved it.
She wouldn't allow alcohol in her house, stating it was for occasions only, or the devil would take the lead.
“So I hear your brother was in town a couple days ago.”
“True. Did he call you?”
“Yes, as he was leaving. In normal Cash style, he was making sure to avoid me without actually acting like a man about it.” She muttered what sounded like “weasel” and then took a sip of her drink.
“Sounds like my brother… We met at Kellye Joe’s. Talked a total of three minutes before he decided to meet some girls who were already on the dance floor. Didn’t actually have a conversation with him until last thing that night.”
Be My Reason Page 3
