“You want me to arrest her? But she’s just a kid.”
“Who committed a crime.”
“But a lot of young kids shoplift. It doesn’t make them criminals. I shoplifted lipstick one time. It turned out to be a horrible color on me. Which was punishment enough, believe me.” She looked at the girl. “Just give me what you took, honey, so we can put it back on the shelf.”
The girl glanced at the young boy who worked the soda fountain and her arms tightened as she shook her head. Which confirmed Lincoln’s theory.
He stepped up. “Are you going to give Deputy Meriwether problems? Or does she need to handcuff you?”
She lowered her gaze. “I won’t give her any problems.”
“Alright then.” He looked at the deputy. “Are you going to give me any more problems?”
Those cat-like eyes narrowed. “No.” When he lifted his eyebrows, she added a surly “sir.” She took the girl’s arm. “Come on, honey. Don’t say I didn’t try to save you.”
Lincoln turned to the crowd. “Everyone can go back to work.”
“And what about what she stole?” the owner whined.
“I’ll make sure you get reimbursed.” He followed Deputy Meriwether.
He wished he could let her take care of the situation. It was more in her wheelhouse than it was in his. But he wouldn’t trust the deputy with a traffic violation, let alone a sensitive young girl. So he hopped in his truck and followed the deputy’s SUV back to the sheriff’s office.
When he pulled into the space next to her, once again she looked relieved that she wouldn’t have to deal with the young girl by herself. Which proved she had no business taking over for Sheriff Willaby. Or even being a deputy for that matter.
Cheyenne Daily looked even more scared as Deputy Meriwether opened the back door of the SUV and let her out.
“Are you going to throw me in jail?” she asked.
“That will depend.” Lincoln waited for Deputy Meriwether to unlock the door before he herded Cheyenne into the sheriff’s office. The white fluffy cat lying on the desk opened one blue eye and glared at him before closing it again. Obviously, the deputy hadn’t heeded his warning about leaving her pet at home. Something he wasn’t about to let slide, but right now he had another situation he needed to deal with.
“Sit.” He pointed to the chair as he tossed his hat at a hook by the door.
He had been tossing his hats at hooks ever since he was a teenager, so he wasn’t surprised it was a dead ringer. But Deputy Meriwether seemed surprised. She stared at his hat swaying on the hook and her perfect eyebrows popped up. She glanced at him and nonchalantly tossed her hat at the row of hooks. It missed and landed on the floor. With a shrug of indifference, she left it there and took the chair behind the desk.
Lincoln remained standing in front of the girl. “Your name is Cheyenne Daily?”
She nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Where do you live?”
“Lucky Lane trailer park.”
He knew the trailer park. He’d helped bust a meth lab out there a few years back. It wasn’t exactly a country club neighborhood. “You live with your mama and daddy?”
“Just my daddy. My mama’s . . . gone.”
Things were starting to make much more sense. Lincoln knew what Cheyenne was going through. It was no fun to hit puberty when your only parent was the opposite sex. And it had been even worse for Lincoln because he lived with his grandmother. So he’d kept his fears and embarrassing questions to himself. Unfortunately, girls didn’t have it so easy. They needed to buy feminine products. If they didn’t have a mother or a big sister—or a father who was willing—they had no choice but to purchase tampons themselves. And in a town as small as Simple where gossip ran rampant that had to be as embarrassing as hell. He didn’t blame Cheyenne one bit for what she’d done.
Relaxing his badass stance, he leaned against the desk and crossed his arms. “I know what you stole, Cheyenne. And I think I get why you stole them. You were feeling embarrassed and didn’t want to ask your daddy to buy them for you. But stealing is wrong. No matter what your excuse is.”
The kid burst out in tears and dropped the crushed box she held to her chest. The box hit the floor and tampons spilled around Lincoln’s boots. Dammit to hell. This was exactly what he had hoped to avoid. He wasn’t good with female tears. Thankfully, before he had to figure out what to do, Deputy Meriwether finally became useful.
“Oh, honey!” She jumped up and came around the desk and pulled Cheyenne into her arms. But instead of trying to get her to stop crying, she gave her the okay to continue. “You just go right on ahead and let it out, sweetheart. My mama always says that women need to have a good cry every now again to declutter the gutters. And starting your period is something to cry about. I mean why would God punish all women for Eve’s weakness? She’s the one who ate the apple so she should’ve been the only one who had to deal with the cramps, mood swings, and the mess. The only one who should’ve had to go to the drugstore and stand in line with a big box of tampons.”
Lincoln rolled his eyes at the rambling, but Cheyenne released a sobby giggle.
Deputy Meriwether drew back and gave the girl a smile. It wasn’t the bright, full-toothed smile. This smile was much softer. If Lincoln thought she was breathtaking before, he had been wrong. This unpretentious beauty was like a swift kick in the gut.
“Wouldn’t that be a sight for sore eyes?” she said. “Eve standing there in her palm-tree-leaf bikini while Adam tried to pretend he wasn’t with her. Yep, tampons can embarrass men too. Just look at that tough Texas Ranger standing
