Page 20 of Everyone Loved Her

“So then what’s that for?” She gestured to the pocket.

“It’s his number in case we need anything.”

She smiled, but was as somber as the overcast skies. “I wish things hadbeen different.”

“Me, too.” I stood in silence, my mom and I ignoring the elephant in the room for a few more minutes. However, I finally broke the tension. “Did Sheriff Myers tell you I might have been the last person to see her?”

“Yep,” Mom popped her lips, letting out a sigh. “But who knows what she was mixed up in. She’s always been a sweet girl, I guess, but she was surrounded by drama, too. Blaze said that she was mixed up with some of the shadier characters in town.”

I nodded. “Wonder who that’d be?”

She met my gaze, her expression faltering. “Well, for starters, Garrett’s one of them.”

Of course, he is.Sarah had said that herself, which was all the more reason to stay away—far,faraway.

The restof the day passed, and the evening came with no new information—or news stories. Part of me was relieved, and the other part was battling the guilt of not looking for her last night.

Or just freaking following her to the bathroom.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment as I tried to take a deep breath. The air, despite being cooler, felt more suffocating than ever as I stopped just outside of the barn. Mom had spent the entire day chatting with people from church on the phone, and watching her social media page like a hawk, waiting for the news to break in the town...

But it hadn’t yet.

I slid the barn door open, having been asked to feed the horses their evening meal. My body felt heavy as I trudged into the old concrete floor barn. It had been really nice backin the day—which was like the 80s. Now, even though it had been up kept to the best of my parents’ ability, it wasn’t like the grandiose places that was often shown on TV. It had an ever-lingering smell of dirt and manure no matter how often it was cleaned, and the concrete was chipping from years of wear and tear.

Shaking my head, I grabbed the buckets and headed into the feed room. My eyes landed on the dry erase board, taking in the sight of my dad’s handwriting. It hit a cord deep in my chest, but I pushed it away. The best way for me to deal with grief was to just keep going. Don’t get me wrong, there was a time to cry...

But it wasn’t right now, especially with Sarah’s murder and Garrett’s visit hanging over my head.

“Everything is going to be fine,” I said to myself under my breath as I scooped out some of the grain, tossing it into the bucket. I wasn’t sure if I believed my own words, butsomeonehad to say it.

“So, saying affirmations in the barn is your thing?” A deep chuckle erupted from behind me.

I let out a heavy sigh, turning around to see Blaze in a sheriff’s deputy uniform. I motioned to it. “Thisis why Mom said I had to do the evening feed shift.”

“That would be why, and I’m heading back out to pick up an extra shift,” he replied, leaning against the door frame. His cowboy hat accentuated his square jaw, shadowed with just enough stubble to be considered attractive to some. “You do anything exciting today? Hang out with anymore town drunks?”

I spun back around, returning to measuring out grain. “Nope. I got this, by the way. No need to hang around and help me.”

“Great. Makes me feel better. Can I ask you something?”

My shoulders slouched as I realized he hadn’t taken the cue to leave. “Yeah?” I said from where I was hunched over the large bin, digging the quart scoop into the pellets.

“Not to be nosy, but...”

But he’s going to be nosy.

“Whatwereyou doing out with Sarah? Your dad always said you never associated with anyone from the town after the accident.”

I dumped the feed into one of the buckets and looked up at him, blowing a puff of air to move my hair from my eyes. “Um, honestly, she cornered me at the store, and I don’t know why she had an interest in me. I just accepted the offer for drinks because God knows I needed one after the week I’ve had. Why’s it matter?”

He raised one of his dark eyebrows at me. “I was just curious. Maybe I find it intriguing that you were out with Sarah, and then Garrett Myers shows up this morning. The two of them were close.” Something about his tone irked me, even more than the thought of Sarah and Garrett beingclose.It wasn’t hard to get what he was implying.

“I got a question foryouthen,” I said, setting the buckets down.

Blaze chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. “Okay. What’s your question for me, Beth?”

“Where wereyoulast night?”