by Hope Ford
They are talking loudly, and I can’t help but overhear. “I don’t think it’s right the way the sheriff is using the fat donut lady to make him look more like a family man with re-elections coming up.”
I almost stop to listen but don’t want to be obvious, so I slow my pace as I hear him continue talking. “The way he talks about her, someone should tell her how the whole town feels sorry for him. He’s disgusted by all the different gross recipes she makes him. Only reason he stomachs her is because her father is such good friends with the governor. Scott has to do what’s best for his career.”
The men he’s standing with start talking about how he’s not so bad off. “I saw him putting the moves on Beverly Ogle just last night.”
It’s lies. None of what he’s saying is true.
I tell myself that over and over until I’m sitting in my car and everything starts going through my head. As I blink past my tears of devastation and finally get my keys into the ignition, I realize that some of what he said is true. I do make him recipes, but he acts to me as if he likes them. Could what the police officer was saying be true? And if some of the details are true, most likely everything is. Why would he lie?
18
Scott
Carrie didn’t meet me like she said she was going to last night. I tried to reach her, but she wasn’t answering the phone. All I can figure is she was too tired. I kept her at my house pretty late the night before.
So this morning I walk into Patty Cakes excited to see her.
“I gave her the day off,” Patty says. Instead of smiling and her usually happy self, Patty actually looks mad.
“Is she okay?” I ask her.
She grunts at me and turns to help the next customer.
I try Carrie’s cell phone again, but she doesn’t answer, so now I’m really starting to get worried.
Thinking she might be sick, I get back in line to get some soup to take to her. “Can I get some soup to go, please?”
Patty dishes it up and puts it into a bag, her movements jerky. She holds the bag out of my reach. “Carrie’s too good for you, and you were lucky to have dated her.” She shoves the bag at me. “Here, free of charge. I hope you choke on it. Leave Carrie alone.”
“What are you talking about? What’s going on? Where is Carrie?” I ask her question after question. My whole body is tense, and I know I need to see Carrie. Whatever has happened, we can work this out.
“Carrie knows you’ve been telling all your cop friends that she disgusts you and that you’re trying to further your career by dating the daughter of a close friend of the governor.”
I don’t even deny it I’m so shocked by such an outlandish, crazy theory. I’m speechless.
Patty ladles up another serving of soup and holds it up. “Now go and get out of here before I decide you should wear it instead of choking on it.”
Carrie
I’ve cried more than I ever have before. More than should be humanly possible. I hate that I fell so hard and so fast for Scott.
But who could blame me really? He seemed like such a genuine guy. I still have trouble wrapping my head around what happened.
I freeze up when I hear my bedroom door open. My mom and dad both have been in and out checking on me. I feel my mom settle on the bed next to me. Her hand goes to my back and she starts to rub it like she did when I was just a child. “I’m so proud of you for being such a strong independent woman who knows who you are and what you want. Even though Scott turned out to be a dud, he helped you find your confidence to stand up to me when I was wrong… Don’t let him take that from you now.”
I sit up and hug my mom tight, feeling a little stronger, but it still hurts. I never knew something could hurt so bad.
Scott
Enough is enough. It’s been three days, and this ends today.
I get out of the cruiser and approach Carrie’s parents’ house. Donald comes out of the house before I even reach the door with his hands fisted at his sides and anger all over his face. “Get off my property.”
I hold my hands up in front of me. “Carrie was lied to, and I just want the chance to talk to her.”
Her father refuses. “I’m not allowing you to hurt her any more than you already have. You need to leave.”
Donald obviously doesn’t care that I’m the sheriff of this town. He only sees a man that has hurt his daughter. I’m desperate to talk to her, but she won’t answer my calls, and she hasn’t been back to the bakery in three days. I’m going to lose her if I don’t do something.
When I don’t budge, Donald pulls his cell phone from his pocket. “I’m going to call the state police to come and physically remove you, which we both know will cost you in the next election.”
But I don’t move. “I don’t care about the election. I care about Carrie. Do what you have to do, but I’m not leaving until I’ve spoken with her face to face.”
Her father hits the send button and has the phone to his ear, but I’m not leaving.
Carrie comes out of the house and takes the phone from her dad, ending the call. “I can handle this.”
Her father doesn’t go into the house, and her mom comes out onto the front porch and stands behind Carrie at her husband’s side.
She walks toward me, stopping out of reach. “I don’t care, Scott. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. You lie, and you lie, and you lie. I’m done listening.”
Her words gut me, but I’m drawn to her, wanting to be closer, and I take a step toward her. “Carrie, I wasn’t lying to you. Listen to me.”
She puts her hand out, stopping me. “I deserve to be treated better, and I don’t deserve to be talked about the way you talked about me. No apology is going to make up for that kind of disrespect and personal betrayal. Nothing.” Her last note ends on a sob, and I swear I can feel my heart breaking in two, knowing what she’s going through.
I turn and stride toward my police cruiser. I look back at her once, hoping she doesn’t go inside, and she holds her chin high as if she’s trying to stay strong.
I pull Crawford, who is handcuffed in the back seat, out of the car and push him toward Carrie.
“What are you doing? Are you crazy?” she demands. “You can’t arrest him for telling the truth.”
“Carrie, you remember me mentioning there was a police officer that I was having trouble with. Do you remember that?”
She looks at the man I have in cuffs, but Crawford won’t even look her in the eye. If I was him, I wouldn’t be able to either. When I found out what he did, I had to be restrained by three other officers. It was only after I calmed down that I realized I needed him to help me fix this.
“He knew details about me, about us that he couldn’t have known unless it came from you,” Carrie says, refusing to be weak and believe more lies.
“I don’t know what he said exactly, but whatever details he had about us he got from listening to me brag about you to my friends, Carrie. He’s under arrest for impersonating an officer after he was stripped of his badge. I recommended he be fired, and he came after you to hurt me. Carrie, if you believe his lies then he’ll have hurt me worse than anyone ever could.”
Carrie inhales deeply. She’s watching me closely, and I try to let down every guard on my face. I want her to see exactly how I feel about her. I want her to know it all. I can’t lose her again.
I can see the question in her eyes. Can she believe me?
“You have to believe me. I would never hurt you. I was trying to hold back from telling you I loved you and wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I didn’t want to scare you off.”
I can see her mind going a mile a minute. “You can trust me, honey. I’ll never hurt you.”
“I’m so sorry, Scott,” she chokes out when she realizes her mistake.
I push Crawford to his knees and tell him not to move. Donald moves toward him, and I don’t worry at all that the man is going to be able to escape. I leap up the few stairs and pull he
r into a passionate embrace.
“I’m sorry, lady. I was angry and stupid. Please don’t let him arrest me,” the ex-officer pleads as soon as I release Carrie to let her come up for air.
“That’s up to Scott,” she says to Crawford. “I trust him completely.”
I kiss her again.
I can’t let her go. Another officer pulls in, no doubt worried when he saw me take off with Crawford in the back seat of the cruiser. I hand him over to the other officer with orders to take him to the station.
Once they’re gone, we go into the house so Carrie can get her purse.
I turn to Carrie’s parents. “I’m so sorry for everything that Carrie has gone through these last few days. I want you to know that I’m going to make it up to her, and sir,” I say, looking straight into her father’s eyes, “I’m going to keep my promise to you that I’ll never hurt her.”
Donald doesn’t say much, but he at least holds his hand out for me to shake. I’m sure he’s still trying to keep up with what’s happening.
“Maybe there’ll be a wedding soon,” Suzy comments.
Carrie laughs an embarrassed sound and tells her parents, “No.”
But I can’t resist kissing her forehead and saying, “Maybe.”
We leave, needing to spend some time alone together.
As Carrie gets into the car, she warns me, “My mom won’t back off now. She’ll have a wedding planned before the week’s out.”
“I wasn’t joking.” I say before I shut the door and race around to my side of the car. Once I’m settled into my seat, I turn to her. “I can see forever with you.”
She looks so beautiful sitting next to me, and I can see the hope in her eyes. “Where do you want to go? You pick. Whatever you want to do, we’ll do it.”
She blushes prettily. “Are you sure?”
I tilt my head to the side. Does she want me to go dancing again with her? Or something else? “I’m positive. Whatever you want.”
“I uh,” she starts, and her eyes dart off to the side. “It doesn’t matter. You decide.”
I laugh then because I’m pretty sure she’s not going to be too excited about what I want to do. “I want to take you home with me. Have a repeat of the other night. But I understand if it’s too fast. I would be happy just to have you in my home. We can watch television and hang out. I just want to be with you.”
“I want that too,” she says as her hand slides to my thigh.
This is the first time that she’s made the first move, and I’m glad that she feels comfortable touching me. I want her to know she can touch me anytime she wants. “You want to watch television?”
“We can.” And then her face lights up with a smile. “After you take me to bed.”
I cover her hand with mine and lace our fingers together before pulling them up and kissing her palm. I pull her hand to my chest as if I’m trying to soothe the way my heart is racing.
“I know I hurt you, Carrie. It wasn’t my fault, but you were hurt, and it kills me to know that you have been sad.” I shake my head, trying to get the pain out. I can only imagine what she’s been going through. When I heard what Crawford had said about her, I wanted to kill him. He lost his job and took it out on my woman instead of being a man about it. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he’s charged to the fullest extent for the crimes he’s committed. From this point forward, no one is going to mess with Carrie. Not as long as I’m around, and I’m seriously planning on that being forever.
“We are going to get to a point where no matter what anyone says, you are going to know the truth. You are going to know that I want to be with you and only you. I’m going to show you every day that you are the woman for me. There’s no one else for me. We are meant to be. I’m sure of it.”
A tear falls down her cheek, and I take in her red rimmed eyes. Wiping away the moisture, I tell her, “No more tears. Only happiness. That’s all I want for you. Smiles and happiness.”
She nods, and I can’t take it anymore. There’s a need building inside me to have her, to claim her as my own, and this time it’s going to be damn well impossible to let her go. I drive all the way across town to my house with her hand in mine. There are no words that need to be said. I plan on showing her exactly how I feel about her. When I’m done, there won’t be a doubt left in her mind about exactly how I feel about her.
I help her from the car and into the house, down the hallway and straight to the bedroom. She barely gets through the door and I’m pulling the clothes off her.
“What’s the hurry?”
But I don’t slow down. I’m not going to be able to stop until she’s lying in bed next to me, in my arms, where she belongs.
As soon as I finish undressing her, I tear my clothes off, shucking my uniform onto the floor. I wrap my arms and my legs around her and nuzzle her neck, breathing her in.
She laughs when the stubble on my jaw strokes across her skin. “How long has it been since you shaved?”
“I don’t even know,” I say, running my chin across her neck softly. “These last few days have been awful. I don’t even want to think about if I’d lost you.”
She kisses me lightly on the cheek, moving across my face until she’s covered me with the sweet caress of her lips. She pulls back only to say, “You’re not going to lose me, Scott. I was a fool and should have come to you. Never again. I’m always going to trust in you. In us.”
And then her lips finally touch mine. I savor it, reveling in our mingled breaths, the feel of her naked body pressed against mine, the way she whimpers softly at my kiss and the way she holds me like she never wants to let me go.
I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve her, but I know I’m never going to screw it up or take it for granted. I wasn’t lying to her. She’s all I could ever want in a woman, and I’m going to make sure that I never lose her.
“Are you going to make love to me, Scott?”
“I like the sound of that.”
I feel her lips raise in a smile, and I pull back to look at her. “Because you know that’s what this is, right? I love you, Carrie. I love everything about you. The woman you are, your beauty, your heart, I could go on and on. I love you.” I kiss her then and go on to show her all the ways I love her.
Epilogue
Rose
Being back in Forest Grove has been nice. I’ve holed up in my parents’ house for the most part, even though Chrissy, Lacy, and Carrie have been pushing for me to come and see them. I saw Chrissy last week at her gym, Get Fit, but I hadn’t seen Lacy and Carrie much in the last four years, except for the few visits I’ve made home. But even then, it was usually just to meet up for lunch or something. And it’s never been all four of us.
They all seem to be so happy. Lacy’s going on and on about planning her wedding. Chrissy is happy to finally be rid of her ex. I never did like him, but of course I never told her that.
And Carrie seems happier than I’ve ever seen her.
“So how was the charity ball last week?” I ask her.
Of the four of us, she’s the only one that went.
Carrie blushes as she says, “It was good.”
At that instant the sheriff comes in, looking behind the counter. He gets a frown on his face until he looks around and his eyes finally land on Carrie. The smile completely transforms his face, and he heads straight for our table.
All of us stop. Carrie’s back is to the door, so she has no idea, but you can tell she feels a shift in the room.
He puts his hands on her shoulders. “How you doing, ladies?” he asks us, but none of us answer. It’s obvious to everyone why he’s here.
Carrie turns a little in her seat and looks up at him. “Sheriff.” She smiles at him.
He leans down and kisses her. The whole bakery is silent, and everyone is watching.
When he finally pulls back, he tells her, “I missed you and have to go but wanted to see you. I’ll see you tonight.” Then he kisses her again, a
nd with a nod to the rest of us, he walks out the door he just came in.
We all start laughing. “Yeah, it looks like it went really well!”
Carrie tries to change the subject. With her face flaming red, she asks me, “So how about you? How have you been?”
I normally would say I’m good and leave it at that. But not today. I start with, “My graphic design business is really taking off, and it’s great because I can do it remotely from anywhere.” I’m trying to smile, but the emotions are rolling through me, and half the time I don’t know if I’m going to laugh uncontrollably or if I’m going to cry. I guess today I’m going to cry.
I reach for a napkin in the middle of the table. “Well, let’s see. I’m also pregnant.”
Instantly, the three of them squeal, and are all excited but when I still sit here sobbing into my hand, they stop. “Rose, what is it? You’ve always wanted kids,” Chrissy says.
I shrug my shoulders. “I know. And I still do. I’m excited about this baby, but things aren’t so great with Brody and me.”
Lacy leans across the table. “Brody loves you, Rose. It doesn’t matter what the news says. You know how they are, they’re just looking for a story. Y’all are going to work this out.”
Well, that answers my question if anyone else has seen the newscast about my husband cheating on me.
I nod, trying to let her words soothe me, but I’ve left my husband, I’m living with my parents, and I’m pregnant.
As the conversation goes on around me, I know there’s no better place to fall apart and then pick up the pieces. Forest Grove is my home, and it looks as if I’m here to stay.
Stay up to date with the series:
Coming Home To The Grove Series
Get the SERIES GUIDE HERE
Includes map, character and series info,
and printable guide.
