Landry let out a long-suffering sigh. Lacy rolled her eyes.
“I think they both work for each of them,” Granger said, trying not to laugh.
“Mr. Gator!” Lindsey yelled as she threw herself around his tree-trunk-sized leg and squeezed.
Gator reached down and had her sitting on his shoulders in a split second. Lindsey giggled as Gator stole a bite of her pink cotton candy. “What’s going on?” Gator asked around a mouthful of cotton candy.
“Bubba has one of the Mr. Townsends trapped and he tried to kick Bubba,” Landry told him.
“And we didn’t know if that made him ornery or horny,” Lindsey filled in. “Do you know, Mr. Gator?”
Gator grinned and looked right at Granger. “I don’t. But I think you should ask Mr. Townsend.”
“That’s a great idea, Gator. Let’s go ask Mr. Townsend.” Granger grinned back at Gator and believed this might be the best pirate festival ever.
Lindsey held her cotton candy in front of her as Damon Townsend, the eldest of the known Townsend family, glared at Bubba.
“You shouldn’t have kids around this wild animal,” Damon growled.
“Oh, Bubba won’t hurt you. Much,” Gator replied.
“I wasn’t talking about the alligator.” Damon glared at Granger. Granger shrugged. So far, the Townsends were all bark and no bite. Well, that might change if he knew about the dreams Granger had about Olivia. However, while the Townsend brothers were all big and imposing guys, Olivia was way more intimidating.
“How’s your sister?” Granger asked just to poke the bear.
Damon growled. Granger smiled.
“Mr. Townsend?” Lindsey asked as she twirled one long pigtail.
“Yes, sweetie?”
Huh, it looked as if Damon did have a heart under all the scowling and threats of violence he’d made against any man looking to date his sister, Olivia.
“Are you ornery or horny?” Lindsey asked.
Damon’s reaction was priceless and Granger wished he’d recorded it. Damon’s eyes bugged, his jaw dropped slightly in surprise, and then even Granger saw the tough man’s lips twitch into a smile. “Right now, I’m both, especially since Bubba is preventing me from picking up my date.”
“Sheriff Fox said you were both, too. He’s always right.” Lindsey beamed up at Granger and he felt like a superhero. If only Damon’s sister would look at him like that, maybe Granger wouldn’t be so ornery.
“Like recognizes like.” Damon sent the barb at Granger, but he was too busy promising Lindsey another cotton candy to care.
“Thank you, Miss Lindsey, for your cotton candy,” Gator said as he used it to bait Bubba. He waved the cotton candy under Bubba’s nose and the large alligator spun around so fast his tail knocked into Damon’s legs and sent him sprawling to the ground.
“That’s five dollars, Mr. Townsend,” Lindsey said with a frown.
“Five dollars for what?” Damon asked as Gator and Bubba walked off down the street. Every fifty feet or so Gator would toss Bubba a bite of cotton candy.
“For the swear jar. You just said some very bad words.”
Damon stood and reached into his wallet. He pulled out a twenty and handed it to her. “I’m paying in advance. Why don’t you use this to get some treats for all your brothers and sisters instead of running home to put it in the swear jar?”
“Thanks, Mr. Townsend!” Lindsey, Landry, and Lacy called out before running to meet their other siblings.
“That was nice of you.” It hurt Granger to say, but maybe Damon wasn’t the ass Granger had thought he was.
“They’re good kids,” Damon admitted.
“Lydia has it tough with seven kids. Her husband is in the military and his tour just got extended. The town helps raise them.” Granger didn’t know why he was telling Damon, but Damon was now part of Shadows Landing whether Granger liked it or not. He needed to know he was expected to look out for them, too.
Damon nodded. “I understand that. There were a lot of us Townsends and we looked out after each other, too. It would have been nice to have a town like this helping.”
“Just how many Townsends are there?” Granger asked, ready to finally resolve this issue as they walked toward Miss Winnie and Miss Ruby’s table.
“Wouldn’t you like to know? No, I think it’s better you don’t know how many of us will come for you if you touch our sister.”
Granger stepped forward and used the tip of his finger to push his cowboy hat up enough so that Damon could see his eyes. “I don’t give a shit how many of you there are. That would never stop me.”
“Stop you from what?”
Both men turned to look at the subject of their discussion striding toward them. Olivia’s blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a simple T-shirt dress that somehow hugged all the right curves without showing any skin. Damn.
“From posing on one of these naked pie banners.”
Damon smirked and Granger wanted to punch him.
“Who is posing for Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie?” Kord asked, joining them.
“Granger,” Damon said, his smirk only growing.
“I’m totally in. I’m kinda hurt I haven’t been asked yet. We could do a law enforcement one and sell it to help the T-ball league we sponsor.” Kord was on a roll and Granger felt the blood drain from his face.
“No.” Granger’s tone was flat, expressionless.
“Oh, come on, Granger. Everyone else has done it.” Olivia was teasing him, but his smile fell even more.
“No. And that’s final.” Granger’s nightmare came roaring to life. He’d rather get shot again than to have photos taken of him where everyone can point and stare and pity him. “I have to get back to work.”
Granger didn’t look back as he strode off. He didn’t know where he was going, but it was far away from any talks about him stripping down for photos.
5
“What an asshole,” Damon muttered as Olivia watched Granger disappear into the crowd.
“Nah, man.” Kord sounded upset with himself. “He’s not. Ah, hell. I forgot for a moment.”
“Forgot that he was an asshole?” Damon asked with disbelief as the awful realization of what Kord meant hit Olivia.
“If you call Granger an asshole one more time, I’ll punch you myself,” Kord snapped. “You don’t know what you’re talking about and you need to shut up. Granger is the best man I know and I pushed when I shouldn’t have because it’s easy to forget what he’s been through.”
Damon crossed his arms and stared at Kord who just stared back as Olivia fought the urge to chase after Granger and apologize. But he wouldn’t like that. He wouldn’t want any attention drawn to him or the scars that she’d heard covered his body. And he certainly wouldn’t want any pity.
“And what has he been through that’s so horrible?” Damon asked and Olivia stepped in.
“He’s been shot in the line of duty,” Olivia told her brother.
“And stabbed,” Kord added. “And he almost died in a car accident. Some people aren’t . . . understanding about what he’s gone through and look down on him for it.”