“Nice furniture.” He used that sexy voice again, then added an element of persuasive. “You’re going to need it, what with the stuff that got shot up during the final confrontation with John Terrance. Plus I know you’re dealing with increased square footage. You’ll need a second bed, a better couch, some art for the walls…”
“Damn!” She thought furiously. “Okay, we’ll split the household chores according to the schedule I devise. You do your laundry, I’ll do mine. And you let me drive your car.”
Now right in front of the Oceanview Café, he stopped, and in a voice of outrage, he repeated, “Drive my car.”
She turned and walked backward. “I’m the sheriff. I can handle a car like that.”
“Drive my car.”
“You can ride with me.”
“Drive my car.”
“Good. We’re agreed.” She returned to him, wrapped her hands around his arm and leaned close, going in for a kiss and to hell with public decency.
He stopped her with his hand on her shoulder. He looked into her eyes, and he wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t teasing. “I only let relatives drive my car.”
Lacey sighed a long-suffering sigh and sat down.
“If we were relatives we couldn’t do the—wait.” Kateri stepped back. “You mean marriage?” She should get points for saying it without stammering.
“That’s what I mean.” He didn’t stammer. Not even close. He sounded very sure of himself.
“I never thought that you … Believed you would…” Now she was stammering. “I mean, you’re a free spirit.”
“I’m a felon. Marrying the sheriff will keep me on the straight and narrow. Plus I love you and you love me and we make each other happy. Plus your dog loves me. See how easy that is?”
Guy was pretty smart for a bouncer.
Right there in the middle of the sidewalk in front of the Oceanview Café, he got down on one knee. “Kateri Kwinault, will you marry me?”
Faces. In the windows at the café, at the police station across the street. Grins. From everybody on the street, in the park, driving by.
Lacey getting up to stand beside him like his best man. Or best dog. Whatever.
Nothing private about this. But so, so sweet.
Putting her hand on his chest over his heart, Kateri smiled into his serious, handsome, beloved face. “I would be honored.”
He took a few moments to let that sink in, then delved into his pocket and came up with a ring box. “I’ve been carrying this around for a while. I didn’t know what you would want, so I got something I thought was pretty.” He opened it and showed her.
Crafted of silver, the ring was woven into a mosaic of branches, leaves and flowers.
“Oh.” A breathless sigh. She lifted it from its velvet bed. “That’s beautiful.”
He took it from her and slid it onto her finger.
“It fits and I love it,” she said.
He looked relieved. Which was funny, considering that from him, she would have taken a Band-Aid wrapped around her finger. He kept her hand in his and stood in a nice, long, smooth slow motion.
More pink and red hearts dancing over her head, bobbing and kissing and popping. Could anyone else see them, hear them? She sure hoped not.
He said, “Okay then. What do you want to do to celebrate?”
She gestured at the Oceanview Café. “We’re right here. Maybe we could go in for a piece of pie and some coffee?”
“High-roller, huh? You really know how to live it up.” He held the door for her.
She walked in.
Stag followed, his hand on the small of her back.
The old farts were griping about politics. Or maybe kids nowadays. Or maybe uppity female sheriffs.
Cornelia sat in her usual chair at her usual table, frowning intently at her computer, oblivious to the conversations around her.
The new waitress, Linda, shouted, “Were you born in a barn? Shut the door.”
“Who’s that? Who’s that?” Deaf old Mrs. Branyon blinked at Kateri, then announced loudly, “My God. That awful Indian sheriff is back. She’s in a dress. Did you see she’s in a dress? Who does she think she is?”
Like a queen, Rainbow was installed in an easy chair at the end of the counter, graciously accepting flowers and tributes. At the sight of Kateri, her thin, pale face lit up.
Kateri put her hand to her heart. It overflowed with gratitude and love for Virtue Falls and she was sure that, from now on, there would be crimes no more serious than shoplifting, speeding and tourists flashing the locals.
An unsmiling Deputy Bergen stuck his head in the door. “Sheriff, glad you’re back. Can you come in to work? Now? We’ve got an interesting situation on our hands.”