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She wasn’t mad at him anymore She’d tried to hold on to it, but it was just too hard to stay e a wo into a mud popsicle "Tell me the truth," she finally said "You can’t drive and talk at the sa, but his hed The ability he had to keep everything to himself drove her nuts But only because she wanted to be able to do the sa reason to stay away fro; he was the Batht now, colasses and the blank face "So…Lucille says you’re sweet"

"She wears rose-colored glasses for everyone"

This made her take a second look at hirimaced and didn’t answer

"It’s a compliment," she said, amused "Sweet is a positive quality"

"Yeah," he said "In puppies"

Chloe laughed, a little disconcerted by how easily and effectively he disarle time "Don’t worry, Sheriff I won’t tell anyone"

His concentration was on the road Apparently he’d exhausted his word usage for the day "So does this happen to you a lot?" she asked, perversely detered "It’s my job"

Maybe But he wasn’t on the job at the moment "Tell ht up"

"They were nothing"

"Fine I’ll just go read Facebook Probably it’s not too overly elanced over at her "Do you ever use your powers for good?"

"Not if I can help it Tell ot called out to Mrs Perez’s house because she was shining a light in her neighbor’s s Apparently the neighbor--Mrs Cooper--had cheated at bunco earlier in the week and pissed Mrs Perez off, so Mrs Perez was retaliating by scaring Mrs Cooper"

"What did you do?"

"I took the batteries out of Mrs Perez’s high-powered flashlight"

"Fast thinking," Chloe said, iot called to the Sorenson house"

"Bill and Joanne, with the eight daughters?" she asked

"Yes Bill had plowed a pile of uy been cheating at bunco too?"

"No," Sawyer said "The neighbor’s son got caught…in a co position?"

"Pants at his ankles, in the cohters"

"Uh-oh In that case, you’re lucky there weren’t gunshots"

"No luck involved," he said "I took Bill’s rifle fro"

She laughed "You took his rifle? Are you allowed to do that?"

"Borrowed And then accidentally disposed of it"

"How do you accidentally dispose of a rifle?"

Sawyer turned and flashed her a heart-stopping grin, full-wattage "You go sailing with Ford and dump it three miles out at twelve knots"

Ford had been a world-class sailor, with an Olyo out on the racing circuit so much anymore, but he did sail with Jax and Sawyer on their mutual days off Chloe had seen them on the docks at the marina Hell, she had a permanent kink in her neck froat the three of the else

The truck’s heater was decadently ware irritant and she squiro nad on the beach and get sand in places that no sand should go?" she asked

"Ah I take it the same applies for mud"

"Little bit" Plus, she’d never worn jeans without underwear before, and it wasn’t nearly as fun as she’d thought itup, and the zipper was cutting into her She looked out the sideto distract herself, but all she could see was Sawyer’s reflection next to her He wasn’t fidgeting Of course, that was because he didn’t have mud in his cracks and crevices But even if he had, she doubted that he’d fidget He never wasted a single ounce of energy He was driving, relaxed--maybe a little too ay at rest

Though he hadn’t been so relaxed when Lucille had been recounting the story about how he’d helped Suzie because she was a single mom Chloe turned to look at him in profile His hair indblown, his face tanned He hadn’t shaved that , and his square jaas scruffy She liked it But there were lines of tension along the outside corners of his eyes

He wasn’t as relaxed as he appeared to be

He worked hard He always did Frootten that frole dad And it hit her "How old were you?"

"When?"

"When your aze off the road and looked at her before turning back "Eight"

Her heart squeezed "You were eight when your parents divorced?"

"They were never ether, for that matter I went back and forth between theht" His hesitation was brief "That’s when she left town" He lifted a shoulder, like life happens, no big deal

But it was a big deal Chloe knew all too hat it was like to have only one parent, a parent asn’t always so keen on being one in the first place It had left itsto understand how deep the wounds went Orhere in Lucky Harbor with her sisters hat had stirred the pot, but all her relationships seemed to be affected by her childhood Not only that but also her search for stability, for a hos

Which left her to wonder what the loss of his mother had done to Sawyer "You ever hear fro ht of hi utterly abandoned by the one woman in his life who he should have been able to count on She knehat it felt like to be without a parent, too It was possible, she supposed, that her own father hadn’t known about her at all, but she thought it far more likely that he’d known and simply hadn’t wanted her "Are you close to your dad?"

He let out a low laugh

"I’ll take that as a no"