Page 6 of Well Aware

What the…

“I’ll go talk to Court,” the older of the cops said. “He’s not a people person.”

No, it didn’t look like he was.

“So,” I said as I was left with the two remaining men. “Do y’all usually day drink in parking lots on the outskirts of town?”

The man who’d come up to me earlier when my car had slid to a grating stop chuckled. “Not usually, no. But that just happened to be where we ended up today.”

“Huh,” I said. “Long day at work?”

“Not particularly,” the younger deputy mused. “I didn’t have to arrest anyone for shoving any meat up their vagina at the grocery store. Nor did I have to arrest our favorite rule breaker, Jessamy. So really, it’s a great day.”

I had no comment to that.

Instead, I focused on the man who made my heart pound in my chest when he looked at me. “And you?”

“The students were well behaved today, and we had no fire calls.”

I blinked. “I’m not sure how those two correlate.”

“I’m a high school teacher and a volunteer firefighter for the county,” he said.

My brows lifted, which was kind of hard to do seeing as I’d just gotten Botox a week ago.

Botox was my guilty cosmetic pleasure.

I didn’t do fake eyelashes. I didn’t paint on my eyebrows. I didn’t do fancy makeup.

I did, however, do Botox.

I didn’t like looking at the lines that my sister’s situation had created.

It was better not to see them, so I wouldn’t be reminded of how shitty of a person Cain McDuff was.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “You don’t, like, toss cabers in the woods at that sawmill I saw driving in?”

His lips curled up at the edges.

“Yes, I’m a high school science teacher.” He laughed. “No caber tossing goes on in my day-to-day life.”

My mouth all but fell open. “You’re a science teacher?”

I was repeating myself, but I couldn’t help it.

“I am, why?” He grinned. “I don’t look like one?”

I scrunched up my nose. “Well, no. Not really. You don’t look like any science—or any subject for that matter—teacher that I’ve ever seen. All of my teachers were old, overweight, and crotchety. You strike me as none of those things.”

“Well, thanks.” He chuckled. “I can’t believe you let them work on your car.”

I shrugged.

He shook his head in response. “That’s where you went wrong. He’s a crook and quite inept at anything automotive related.”

I threw up my hands. “How was I supposed to know that? I checked Google! He had all five stars!”

“Those five stars are from his own family.” He chuckled again. “And I’m sure he finds a way to get the reviews deleted if they don’t go in his favor.” He studied me. “You’re new to town?”