As soon as we got in the car-Jill driving her deputy's cruiser while I took the passenger's seat-I started in on a fumbling attempt to reassure my friend that I had no intention whatsoever of actually keeping the sheriff's job.
I think I was making things worse, not better, as she stayed intensely quiet and withdrawn. I finally mumbled my way to a pathetic halt and fell silent, not sure what to do or say as she pulled into the parking lot at Curtis County General and turned off the ignition.
She sat there a long moment, staring out the windshield into the freshly fallen darkness, the lights from the emergency room door to the left of the morgue entry casting brilliance on her blonde ponytail, making her eyes translucent.
I jumped a bit when she spoke, holding my place and my breath until she did without realizing I'd stopped breathing when she'd parked the car.