I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find Jill, dressed in her deputy's uniform, entering town hall ahead of us. Even without her gun belt around her narrow hips and the telltale khaki shirt over jeans she favored, I would have recognized that blonde ponytail bobbing against her back anywhere. When I called out to her she jerked around, looking startled and then, oddly, guilty as Dad and I crossed the small parking lot beside the building to join her.
Was it just me or did she have a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming freight train look that made me nervous? She smiled at Dad, then at me, not really meeting my eyes as we came to a halt next to her. Jill's knuckles were white where she clasped the handle of the entry door, the set of her broader than most women's shoulders telling me she wasn't comfortable with this meeting. All of which boiled down to something I didn't want to know but really, really had to ask.