Chapter 2

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WILLOW

Getting her purse,Willow walked over to the photographer and immediately requested to see the pictures to make sure that the disgusting item was not present in any of the shots. The last thing she needed was for that to be canonized in public photos because that would be the nail in her coffin, and with her luck – Eugene would have it plastered on every billboard between here and Tyler.

The man hated her and was digging deep in closets, looking for any sort of debris to taint her name. When she heard about the charity auction, she thought this was a brilliant idea to be seen in every home this November when the election was held.

“May I see the photos?” she smiled politely as Mrs. Fuller was putting away her camera.

“Oh, of course,” she beamed happily. “I just love how it turned out.”

“Willow, can we talk?” Alec began, obviously following her and looking completely bumfuzzled.

“Not now, Alec. Give me just a moment,” she began, her eyes were peeled on the digital screen as the woman was clicking through the selection of photographs. While she desperately wanted to talk to Alec, none of the pictures could have her and that wretched sex toy in the shot. She almost lost her cool when Ruth Kendall pulled out that neon wand. The nerve of that woman!

“There!” Willow interjected quickly and sighed, her entire body sagging as she saw that it wasn’t in any of the photos. She looked at Mrs. Fuller and Chief Carpenter as he was joining them and smiled. Scrawling her name across the bottom of another check, she handed it to Reese Carpenter and nodded.

“For charity.”

“Are you sure?”

“I really appreciate you allowing me to get a shot with several of the town’s finest firefighters. I need this for my campaign and would really appreciate a copy of those photographs. Do you need me to cut another check, Mrs. Fuller?”

“Oh goodness no, just let me put my website down at the very corner and…”

“Agreed,” Willow said bluntly before wincing. “Sorry. I don’t mean to cut you off. It’s just that sometimes you have to stop the rambling when I’m in court to get to the meat and potatoes of the conversation. I don’t mean to come across curt or rude. It’s just a force of habit sometimes now. I would expect you to put your name, website, or whatever you need on there… and I would be happy to promote your photography business. You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours – and as for the calendar…?”

“November?” Mrs. Fuller smiled cannily.

“If you don’t mind,” Willow beamed, feeling relieved.

“That is a beautiful shot, and I might use it for the cover of the calendar too.”

“Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much.”

“But Christmas next year is going to be Colton’s picture…”

The trio laughed despite the chief’s strained face, and Willow knew why. Oh yes, it was the town’s biggest kept secret that no one discussed. The chief was Ruth Kendall’s son – and their relationship was extremely strained. The only reason she knew was that it came up in a case once where someone had accused Ruth Kendall of slander because of all the gossiping with Alec’s mother. When the donut shop was the hub of activity every morning, directly in the town square, and half of the city spilled their guts to the two seemingly helpless women. It really didn’t become slander if it was straight from the horse’s mouth.

Shaking their hands, Willow turned toward where Alec had been standing… only to see that he’d left the parking lot. Sighing heavily, her eyes scanned the horizon, looking for any signs of him. No, she could only imagine how he thought she was brushing him off once again.

No, he was going to have to face her at some point because they were long overdue for a discussion – and he had avoided her since she had returned to Ember Creek. Sure, she could have tracked him down at the fire station several times over, but what they needed to say to each other would be best served in privacy.

Willow was pretty sure that the conniving judge was having her followed but couldn’t prove it yet – which meant she needed to get out of here quickly, leaving that neon paraphernalia far behind her. Oh, he would just gobble up that dirt, placing her at the scene with some sex toy, and then manipulate or twist the entire thing to drag them all of them down.

Mrs. Fuller is the mother of five children, and her husband is an instructor at the popular flight school - Flyboys. The beloved Fire Chief Reese Carpenter… and Honorable Judge Rushman, Stevenson’s opponent. All of them would all be dragged through the mud in one fell swoop.

“We should go,” Willow whispered politely, pointing. “Chief, might I recommend that someone else dispose of that item in a dumpster? You aren’t exactly Eugene’s buddy either.”

Reese chuckled and waved at one of the guys, causing him to jog over.

“Kyle, can you throw that into a garbage bag and…”

“ME?” the quiet firefighter balked, looking horrified. “Why me? Did I do something wrong or get into trouble? I don’t want to touch that thing or…”

“Kyle, please.”

“Get Chase…”

“Don’t you volunteer me, Rimes,” Captain Marks laughed from nearby. “Go run along and get the pink schlong like a big boy now.”

“Oh my gosh… I cannot touch that thing, sir.”

“I got it,” another man snapped, rolling his eyes. “If I can gut a deer, slaughter a hog, drag a limp body out of a Scub-A-Ru that’s halfway submerged in Ember Creek, or deal with my nasty ex-wife… nothing scares me. Gimme a trash bag, and I’ll get rid of the Pink Paraphernalia.”

“Thank you, Justin.”

“Sure thing, Reese. Kyle, go unclench your boxers and relax in the truck – and please don’t say anything to Austin. He’d probably want the darn thing for a trophy.”

“That’s my cue to leave,” Willow blurted out, chuckling. “Thank you, everyone. And I’ll be in touch closer to the election. We’ll do a fundraiser or something.”