Page 63 of Indigo Ridge (The Edens 1)

“No, I’ve got to head to town.” I could blame Briggs for shattering my resolve to stay away. But really, it had only been a matter of time before my resolve shattered.

“Okay.” Mateo pointed to the boots in the backseat. “Want me to take these inside?”

“No. They aren’t for Mom.”

They were for Winn.

Chapter Eleven

Winslow

“What are you doing here? And why do you have flowers in your boots?”

Griffin walked into my office with the boots, each with a geranium poking out of the top. He eyed my desk, searching for a clear space to set them down. There wasn’t one.

“This was clean,” I mumbled, shuffling folders and papers out of the way. The mess I’d wrangled had returned. Story of my life.

The moment I thought I had something under control, it snuck up on me.

Sort of like Griffin.

I’d spent the past two days making peace with the end of our relationship. It was fine. Good, even. The right decision. It had been time to put Griffin behind me and focus on this job.

That was the reason I was in Quincy, right? I should be spending my evenings out and around town, not locked in my bedroom with a gorgeous man who knew how to deliver an orgasm. I’d tucked my weeks with him away on a shelf in my mind where they’d collect dust for the next decade.

Except then he’d walked through my office door with flowers and suddenly all I wanted was more.

More nights. More weeks.

More.

He set the boots down on the desk, then took an empty chair, leaning his elbows on his knees. Looking up from under the brim of his hat, those blue eyes didn’t have their normal glint. He looked worn, like the world was propped against those broad shoulders.

This visit wasn’t about me, was it? This was not an apology and whatever these flowers were, they weren’t a gift to work his way back into my bed.

I waited, giving him a moment. People usually told you the most when you lent them a minute to breathe.

“My uncle. Briggs.”

“The one from Willie’s with dementia.”

He nodded. “He had these boots at his place. Said he found them on a hike around Indigo Ridge.”

My body tensed. “When?”

“He wasn’t sure. I didn’t press. He found them and turned them into flowerpots.”

A unique idea, except he’d probably erased any evidence I might find. They were women’s boots, the intricate pink and coral stitching in the leather a pattern of paisleys and swirls.

“I did my best not to touch them,” Griff said.

I grabbed my phone from the desk and took a few quick pictures from all angles, then I left Griffin in his seat as I went to the bullpen. “Allen.”

He looked up from his desk and I waved him into the office.

“What’s up, Chief?” He dipped his head to Griffin. “Griff.”

“These boots were found on Indigo Ridge,” I said. “Without the flowers. Would you mind taking the flowers out and then cataloging these into evidence? We’ll want to dust for prints and see what we find. But I’m guessing these are Lily Green’s.”