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than you are,” Cole retorted. “I see Celeste gave you lunch again. Hey, remember that pizza-eating contest we had back in college?”
    “Yeah, I beat the crap out of you.”
    “That’s not how I recall it.”
    “Of course not. You were drunk at the time.”
    “Ah, those were the days, huh?”
    “Yeah.” Those were the days when Annie was still alive. She’d been Nathan’s college sweetheart. After finishing his stint in the Marine Corps, he’d gone back home and enrolled at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, where he majored in criminal justice. That’s where he’d met Cole.
    Cole had been Nathan’s best man when he exchanged wedding vows with Annie in front of a church packed with friends and family. Cole had also stood beside him during the funeral, when they’d lowered Annie’s coffin into the ground on a frigid January day.
    Cole was the reason Nathan had ended up here in Rock Creek. He’d had to leave Nebraska to escape the darkness threatening to overtake him after Annie’s death. When Cole told him about the opening for sheriff, Nathan had decided to apply for the job.
    He’d been surprised to get it. Now he knew why there hadn’t been many applicants. The pay wasn’t all that great and Rock Creek was a town definitely down on its luck. Not much going on in these parts. Until Skye blew into town.
    There she was again. Belly dancing her way into his thoughts. She was definitely . . . challenging.
    There was a time in Nathan’s life when he’d gone after challenges. That was no longer the case.
    At the ripe old age of thirty-one, Nathan had learned the hard way that the saying was true: Life’s a bitch and then you die.
    Only, Annie had died much too young. When that dump truck ran a red light and hit her car broadside, killing her instantly, something within him had died along with her. And it was never coming back.
     
     
    “I never thought I had to worry about Skye.” Angel patted the llama’s head as she confided her innermost concerns to her. This morning, Tyler had driven Angel out to the Amish farm where her two llamas were boarded. “And I thought I’d given up worrying, because it attracts problems. Although I did start worrying again with that situation with my daughter Julia. She’s the older one. You remember her, right? You stayed in her backyard for a while.”
    Lucy the Llama blinked her luxurious lashes at Angel and nuzzled her for more treats.
    “There was that whole mess with my not telling Julia who her biological father was,” Angel continued. “He was too rich. Still is. But Julia seems to be doing okay now. I think Luke will make her happy. I’m not sure what will make Skye happy.”
    Angel paused to feed Lucy a piece of banana.
    “Not that Skye is unhappy, exactly,” Angel continued. “She’s not a worrier. She’s a lot like me. Or how I used to be. I’ve been getting hot flashes, did I tell you? Despite all the soy I’ve been taking. I’ve told Tyler that he’s the one making me hot. You’ve met him. He thinks I’m a little crazy for talking to llamas, but he doesn’t really seem to mind. Anyway, I love him. You love Ricky too, huh?”
    Ricky joined them, moseying over at a llama-paced stroll.
    “You two are the stars of my Luna Llamas business.” Their sheared dual-fiber fleece was oil free, which made it a spinner’s dream. “Most fiber artists just buy yarn, which I do as well. But I also bought you. And then I sort of went broke. That’s why I had to move in with Julia last year. But I’m slowly coming back. People seem to like the hats and scarves I crochet. In fact, I have a waiting list now, so you two keep growing that great dual-fiber fleece. And have a baby. Have a little cría .”
    Angel paused to rub their ears. “You are such a great couple. Like Julia and Luke. And Tyler and me. And Skye and . . .” Angel frowned. “I don’t know who would be right for her. That sheriff sure responded intensely to her presence yesterday.