Free Reclaim My Life by Cheryl Norman

magnificent live oak in the center that shaded the yard and both picture windows like a giant umbrella. The fact that it frequently littered her driveway and carport with dead leaves and twigs was a reasonable trade-off. Someday she planned to create a garden in the bare sand beneath it, assuming she stayed in Drake Springs.
    Behind her, Kris turned in to the concrete driveway and parked her compact car. She met up with Elizabeth at the side entrance off the carport. “Let’s get the beer in the fridge before ordering the pizzas. I want them to stay cold.”
    Elizabeth shut the door with a bump from her hip. “We don’t need to order pizzas. Our guest is bringing them.”
    Kris straightened. “Spill. Who is this mysterious man?”
    “The sheriff, Wilson Drake.”
    Kris slid her fridge pack of Bud Light on the bottom shelf. “Wilson Drake? You go, girl!”
    Rearranging jars and cartons, Elizabeth made room for the chilled soda and beer and then closed the refrigerator. “Honestly, I don’t know why I invited him. The words tumbled out of my mouth as if I were possessed by an alien. A stupid alien.”
    “Hey, don’t call my friends stupid.” Shaking her finger in Elizabeth’s face, she added, “The real question is, why invite him when I’m going to be here?”
    “Oh, Kris, it’s not like it’s a date. I don’t know. I just—”
    “The guy likes you. You said he eats breakfast with you at the diner. Give him a break.”
    With a sigh, Elizabeth told her about Wednesday night’s dinner at Ian and Sunny’s, including her misunderstanding that the couple planned to set her up with the sheriff. “Sunny said, ‘He’s hardly your type, Liz’.”
    “Why the hell not?”
    Elizabeth couldn’t contain her grin, especially since her first reaction had been the same. “Thanks. Anyway, I think I took it as a challenge.”
    “I think you may be exactly his type. Both Cathleen and I, at different times, hit on the guy, and with no success. He never asked either of
us
to join him for breakfast.”
    “Cathleen? I didn’t think she dated at all. She seemed so down on guys after her—”
    “Cathleen didn’t date. But she once confided in me that she might if Wilson Drake would give her the time of day. Apparently, he only has time for you, dear.”
    “Don’t blow this out of proportion. He’s bringing you and me pizza. Period.” Elizabeth may have invited him in a moment of insanity, but she held no illusions about his reason for accepting. He wanted to question Kris about dating Adam Gillespie, and Elizabeth merely expedited the mission.
    “Hmm.” The laugh lines around Kris’s chocolate brown eyes crinkled. “We’ll see. But just for the record, I’m leaving before dark, and it has nothing to do with trying to leave you alone with the hunky sheriff.”
    She nodded. “I know. Until Cathleen’s murderer is arrested, I don’t think any of us should be out alone, especially after dark. I gave Sunny a lecture about her solo bicycling, too.”
    Kris snorted. “Yeah, as if Ian would ride a bike with her. I still can’t figure what she sees in him.”
    “He’s nice. Very sweet.”
    “Hey, I wasn’t putting him down. I like the guy. But I can’t see Sunny being so ga-ga over him. He’s
so
not her type.”
    “Which is exactly what Sunny said about me and Wilson.”
He’s hardly your type, Liz
.
    “On that point, she and I disagree. I think you and the sheriff have more in common than Sunny and Ian.”
    “He’s a big flirt, Kris. I shouldn’t take his attentions seriously, and you know it. Besides, I told you I’m not even sure if I’m attracted to him.”
Liar, liar
. “But when Sunny insisted that he wasn’t someone she’d pair me with, I reacted … immaturely”
    “Immaturely?” Kris grinned. “Hell’s bells, it’s the first sign I’ve seen that you have a pulse, woman! At least where men are concerned.”
    “Thanks.” Her sarcasm lost on Kris, Elizabeth decided to switch gears.