Sweet Hill Homecoming

by Ryan, Joya

  “Greg?” Tate said. “You mean Greg Anders?”

  “Yeah, I came out here and saw Mia and him seeming to hit it off.”

  If by “hit it off,” Abby meant he was hitting on her and she was silently telling him to fuck off, then yeah.

  “I don’t think that’s our business,” Noelle said and shot Mia a nice smile.

  She was trying to help. Which was more than anyone else was doing.

  “Oh, it’s just playful fun,” Abby giggled and brushed Tate’s arm and that’s when it hit Mia. She was staking a claim and sending a message to Mia to stay away from Tate.

  She wanted to scoff because she had a pretty bright hickey on her right breast that spoke volumes.

  Of course, the way Tate was treating her right now, like a stranger, also spoke volumes. But Mia started to get the feeling that she had been played. From the moment Abby “offered peace” at the football game, this was all a set up.

  And judging by the fire in Tate’s eyes and pissed off glare he was shooting at her, the set up was working in Abby’s favor. But Mia still didn’t see the need to defend herself since one, Tate wasn’t claiming her in the first place, and two it wasn’t professional. And if there was one thing she was determined to be, it was taken seriously.

  “Can we focus, please?” Mia said. “Tatum where are your station’s bins located for the toy drive?”

  He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. “That’s all I have,” he said. “And I have to get back to work.”

  “Great,” Mia mumbled. For not dating, she felt like she just got into a fight with her non-existent boyfriend.

  “Oh, Tate?” Abby called and he stopped. “We on for dinner tonight?”

  “Ah…”

  “We were going to discuss your campaign. I’ve been talking with my father.”

  “Sure,” Tate said and Mia tried not to let her blood pressure rise, but she was on the brink of either snarling or tears. Instead she pretended to study the paper Tate just handed her while he all but set up a date with another woman right in front of her.

  “Great! Marco’s at seven,” Abby said.

  He nodded and continued his stomp out. Abby all but preened at Mia.

  “I have to run back to the hospital too,” Noelle said and patted Mia’s back. “Really great job, Mia.”

  That one genuine smile made Mia’s otherwise shitty day just a touch better.

  “Thanks, Noelle.”

  “Well, this was eventful,” Mia said, digging her keys out of her purse.

  “I couldn’t agree more.” Abby said.

  “By the way, I called Corals Coat Factory to make sure the coats were set to ship and no one has received the paperwork from you yet.”

  “I’m sending it off today,” Abby said.

  “Great.” She turned on her heel and tried to tamp down her rage while focusing on not cussing someone out.

  Professional. It’s all about being professional. Even if it all but killed her…or ignored her.

  ~

  Mia wiped down the counter and took a moment to enjoy the stillness of the café. She was grateful to pick up the evening shift. After the debacle at the fire station, she could use the time at work to keep her brain busy.

  Too bad it wasn’t busy.

  Monday nights typically meant looking forward to the new week, but all she had been thinking about was the other night with Tate. One of the best Saturday nights she’d ever had. Too bad the follow up to that had been him making real date plans, in public she might add, with Abby fricking McAdams.

  Mia slapped the washcloth on the counter. She never felt more lacking than when it came to that woman. Truth was, she was perfect for Tate. From her posture to her family to her pearls. She was his type. And everyone knew it.

  Which made her, what?

  She couldn’t think it. Mia had been called many things in her life. Most of which implied her being a promiscuous woman. Even if she was, so what? She was a woman who liked sex. She also liked sex with a connection. She had just never connected with anyone.

  Until Saturday night.

  The fact that she’d only had a couple of men didn’t seem to matter to her or anyone. People thought what they thought. She just wanted to be seen the way she felt inside.

  She wanted to be viewed as more.

  And Tate! Fucking with her mind and making her all nervous, making her believe that it was more, that she was more, then crushing her?

  He didn’t make her promises, she understood that, understood his need to keep it as natural as possible in terms of “public perception.” But he held her like he wouldn’t let her go. Like she was something worth hanging on to.

  It had felt nice. It also scared the crap out of her a bit. Because she clung back.

  Then earlier today he couldn’t even look at her with any kind of emotion other than annoyance when Greg got mentioned. She would have told him to go to hell but the truth was, it wasn’t him rejecting her, it was him pulling away something she’d just got a grip on.

  Some self-esteem.

  Which was stupid because their paths were heading in two different directions. When the little bell of the café ringed, she glanced up and plastered a smile on her face.

  “What the hell was that?” Tate growled and walked through the door.

  Mia kept the plastered smile, but it turned into showing her clenched teeth.

  “Now you talk to me that no one is around to witness it?” She put her hand on her hip. “Well you can fuck off the same way you came in, Deputy.”

  “You’re pissed at me?” he scoffed and put his hands on the counter and leaned in. “You’re the one flirting with the damn fire crew and half the town, two days after you were crying out my name and you’re pissed at me?”

  Anger flared and Mia stomped around the counter to come face to face with him and she didn’t stop until she was damn near standing on his feet.

  “First of all, you made it very clear that you wanted nothing to do with me today. God forbid you smile in my direction else tarnish that precious reputation or campaign of yours.”

  “We aren’t dating, Mia. Something you said you were fine with.”

  “I’m talking about respect, Tatum.”

  “I do respect you, damn it. The way you own yourself and speak up.” He shifted his shoulders, boxing his weight into her space. “I respect you more than you know. Then I hear you pull the same shit—flirting to get what you want.”

  “I talk to people like they’re human beings!” she yelled. “I don’t go in all high and mighty and talk down to them. Turns out, people are generally nice if you know what to talk to them about. It’s not flirting.”

  Mia actually thought she was good with people. Was a good listener. She could figure out what they wanted before they told her. Like Sammy the other day.

  The guy was pissy because he was lonely. And Mia took a few minutes to actually talk to him instead of just ordering something and leaving. Told him about the event. How he could have a booth to give out samples of his new shake flavors and that would bring people in. He was responsive to Mia’s ideas and interest. Not her tits.

  “And not that it’s any of your business,” she leaned in closer and raised her chin, “but Greg is a douche and I told him so.”

  “Mia.” Tate shook his head. “I feel crazy. Like I can’t get a god damn grip around you. What I’m dealing with, the sheriff, trying to make—”

  “You’re trying to make everyone like you,” Mia cut in. “And I get that, I really do. But you don’t have to shut out other people to make that happen. You’ll be the next Sheriff, Tatum. What’s the worse that will happen?”

  “That I won’t forgive myself.”

  And there she saw it. As always, Tatum West was the golden boy trying to do the right thing. But there was more. A true fear, like a man holding on to an uncertainty.

  “Branch is the only father I have left and I feel like I’m betraying him, and that eve
ryone can see it. I’ll never be Branch. I’ll never be my father. I already have half the town thinking I’m not right for this job, but every time I make a move to show I am ready for Sheriff, it’s just another step in the direction of selling out Branch.”

  Her breath stuck to her throat. Tate looked lost. Sad. Frustrated. Like he was taking on weight that wasn’t his to shoulder.

  “You’re not selling him out. This is a natural progression. People retire and others take their place.”

  Tate shook his head. “He’s not well, Mia.” Something so raw and pained flashed in Tate’s eyes and made her own sting. “I don’t know how I saw this going, but I never saw it like this. I feel like I’m losing him. At the same time, it’s what’s right for the town.”

  Mia’s ribs hurt from the breath she was holding. Tate was trying to live up to two men he idolized and while feeling guilty for following his dreams.

  “You’d be a great Sheriff, Tate.”

  “I need the town to think that.”

  “You can’t expect every single person to like you.”

  “No,” he said. “But I need the majority. I’d feel like a fraud otherwise.”

  And there it was. Mia was hit with the bright truth that she and Tate were fighting for the same thing, just in different ways. He wanted the consensus of the town to support him because it made him feel like a part of it. Mia understood that all too well.

  “I know.” Mia said, hating how much she did know.

  She understood dreams. Wanting more. Wanting that next step up in life.

  Tate was reaching for the same thing she was, he also seemed to have a deep seated pain that went with it. At the very least, she could respect that, no matter how it kind of hurt her heart. This was his home too. They were both clinging to it.

  “Mia,” his eyes locked on hers. “I see you and the way you walk around with all the confidence in the world. I want to just be near you. To listen to you. To talk to you.” He scoffed. “And now I sound like a pussy but damn it, when it comes to you, I don’t know what to do. Just like I didn’t know what to do today at the station.”

  Mia was pissed and kind of wanted to yell at him in that moment. She also got a deeper glimpse of the man that was setting up shop in this place in her chest she thought permanently empty. Emotions were always at war and she couldn’t tell who was winning…but all of a sudden, it didn’t feel like a game anymore.

  “Tell me what to do,” he whispered.

  There was a flash of unease in his eyes that made her think he did want her. Now was the time she needed to be the tough woman she knew she could be. The woman she had been all these years. Game or not, they both had a hand to play. She wasn’t going for the upper hand anymore, she was going for the safe bet. Preservation.

  She grabbed his chin and yanked him down so that his mouth brushed right over hers.

  “You, Deputy West, are going to do two things. One is this,” she bit his lower lip, closing the distance between them and kissed him hard. Plunging her tongue for one quick, hard taste of him. Just when he leaned closer for more, she backed away, but kept a hold of his chin. “And the other is to remember that,” she breathed against his mouth. “When you go on your date with Abby.”

  With that, she released him and walked back behind the counter.

  Tate stood and if Mia was in the mood to laugh, she just might. Because the Deputy looked shocked.

  “If you don’t mind, I have to get back to work,” she said. “Have a pleasant evening Deputy.”

  ~

  Pleasant was the last thing Tate was feeling. Sitting across from Abby McAdams in low lighting, white table linens and Italian music in the background, all Tate felt was wrong.

  “Should we get an appetizer?” Abby asked, looking over her menu.

  Tate took in the picture around him. It should look right. Him sharing a meal with a woman like Abby. She was what he should be interested in. What should excite him in terms of relationships. But she didn’t. It wasn’t her fault, it was Tate’s.

  “I can’t do this,” he said.

  She frowned. “What? What do you mean?”

  “I appreciate everything you’ve done in spreading the word about my running for Sheriff but—”

  “Of course! As you know, my father has known Branch a long time, but he seems to be warming up to you taking over.” She winked at him. “I’ll just keep raving about you until he’s one-hundred-percent on board.”

  Tate forced a smile. He really was grateful because the Chief’s endorsement would go a long way. Yet everything about tonight, this dinner, didn’t fit. Wasn’t what Tate wanted or where he wanted to be. He opened his mouth to tell her but she continued.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you to my parents’ Christmas party. They’re always so much fun.”

  Tate put his forearms on the table and leaned toward Abby, softening his voice. “Abby, I think you have a lot of wonderful qualities, but this doesn’t feel right to me. I’m sorry.”

  “What? Doesn’t feel right? But Tate we’ve known each other for years.” She fidgeted in her chair. “We make sense.”

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “We do make sense, but I think we both deserve more than that.”

  She set her menu down and crossed her arms. “Oh, I get it. I know what you see in a woman like Mia.” Abby shook her head. “She’s not right for a man like you and you know it.”

  Tate had to fight the urge to yell, because despite instant and concentrated anger raging through him, he was taught manners. And you never spoke rudely to a lady.

  “What I see in Mia is a bright, ambitious woman,” he said firmly and rose.

  Putting money on the table he walked to where Abby sat and shook her hand. She was obviously shocked that he was leaving her, but the truth was something he couldn’t ignore.

  He was falling for Mia.

  ~

  “Please don’t cry, Mia,” Kyle said but his words had the opposite effect. All she wanted to do was cry. Yesterday was a disaster. She sent the man she was sleeping with out the door and on a date with another woman and now the other man in her life was in pain.

  “Oh my god,” she whispered and gently brushed Kyle’s cheek so she could look at his face. Getting a call that Kyle was in the hospital in the middle of the school day took twenty years off of Mia’s life. But seeing him sitting in the ER, in a blue gown and bleeding made her want to vomit. “Are you okay?”

  “It looks worse than it is,” he said, wincing a little when he sat up in bed. There was a cut over his eyebrow that had just been freshly stitched and his bottom lip was busted. “Doc said I just have a few bruised ribs but nothing serious.”

  “Nothing serious?” Mia said. “Kyle, you were beaten up.”

  He glanced at the floor.

  “Who did this to you?”

  He shook his head.

  “No!” she snapped, her chin trembling and trying like hell to hold it together. “No more covering for these assholes. Who did this, Kyle? Who’s been hurting you?”

  He grit his teeth together. Mia wanted to scream. Her brother was being tormented and now physically hurt, and he said nothing.

  The privacy curtain wooshed open and the Sheriff walked in. Kyle instantly sat up a little. Though Mia hadn’t laid eyes on him since she moved back, she was a little shocked at his appearance. He looked tired and older than his years. Granted, he was getting up there in age, but something about the Sheriff just looked…bleak.

  She thought about what Tate said, that Branch wasn’t well, but had no idea the seriousness. Judging by his absent grumbling and wrinkly shirt, he wasn’t the same man she remembered.

  “Can I help you, Sheriff?” Mia said.

  “The school called me. In cases of bullying, the school notifies the local law enforcement.” Judging by the way he spoke, Sheriff Branch didn’t want to be there anymore than Mia wanted him there. But it would help Kyle. Hopefully they’d catch who did this to him. That is, if he started talking
.

  “Why don’t you tell me what happened, Kyle,” the Sheriff sounded like he was being put out and added, “and the truth.”

  Mia frowned. Though she had some run-ins with him when she was younger, he was always polite. But now? He seemed mentally checked out and angry. Which upset Mia, considering it was Kyle lying in the ER bed.

  “What are you insinuating, Sheriff?”

  Branch cleared his throat. “It’s convenient that these things start happening right after you move back is all.”

  “These things?” Mia scoffed. “You mean like my brother getting harassed, set up and now assaulted? And you want to blame us?”

  “Just tell me what happened,” Branch said. “Then we can blame the proper people.”

  She didn’t miss the insult in his tone and Mia had to literally bite down on her tongue. “Are you going to actually look for these kids?”

  He grumbled again like she asked him to move the moon. “I don’t know, Miss Blake. Look at this kid,” he tilted his chin at Kyle, “he’s one of the biggest boys at the school and he’s being harassed?”

  “His size has nothing to do with it.” She held up Kyle’s hand and showed the Sheriff. “Not a single scrape or bruise on his knuckles.” She swallowed hard because while it proved her point that Kyle wasn’t a fighter, it also proved that he wasn’t defending himself. “There is more than one person doing this to him.”

  Kyle peeled his hand from hers and she met her brother’s eyes. “Tell him, Kyle,” Mia said softly to him. “Tell him who did this.”

  Kyle shook his head. “I didn’t see.”

  Mia’s eyes went wide and she was about to scream bullshit. “Kyle whatever you’re afraid of, don’t be. I’m here. Just tell me who did this to you.”

  She gripped his hand again and again, her heart broke into pieces realizing how little control she had in this situation. He was struggling, hurting, and she couldn’t help. Didn’t know how.

  “Well, if that’s it, then there’s nothing to report,” Branch said and touched the bill of his Stetson. “Be well,” he said and left.

  “Wait,” she called after him. He turned to face her. “You can’t leave yet. Nothing’s been solved.”