"Did Pete cry? Oh, goodness no. He kept walking along and singing his song."

Cady Longmire, newly-elected sheriff of Absaroka County, paused for a second to look down at the sixteen pairs of little eyes looking back up at her. This had to have been one of her favorite parts of the job, getting out there to meet the people she served. Today, that involved reading a Pete The Cat book to the preschoolers at Durant Elementary School.

A little boy, no older than five, chimed in as Cady finished the book and put it down in her lap.

"My daddy says your daddy's an old, worn out asshole."

"Silas," the teacher sitting at the carpet next to him admonished. "That's not nice words! I'm so sorry, Ms. Longmire."

"But he did," the boy protested.

"Is your gun real," a little girl sitting in the front row asked.

"Yes, it is," Cady replied.

A sea of children's voices rose up, clamoring to talk to Cady all at once.

"My mommy says I'm not allowed to touch her gun."

"Nana grounded me from Fortnite."

"I caught a bluegill last summer with my daddy!"

"Have you ever heard of a CatDog? It's a cat on one side and a dog on the other."

"I have red hair too!"

A teacher's aide interjected after about a minute.

"One, two, three, eyes on me!"

The class fell silent after about ten seconds.

"What do we say to Sheriff for coming in?"

"Thank you," the class replied.

Fifteen minutes later, after a stop at the Busy Bee for four coffees to go, Cady climbed up the stairs of the old Absaroka County library to what she called The Bullpen – the offices of the Absaroka County Sheriff's Department. It was a small department, consisting of herself, Zach, the Ferg and Alex, a freshly deputized young man of 21 on loan from Cumberland County. Vic, her senior deputy and the only other female cop on the force, had been on maternity leave for the past eight weeks and would be out of commission for another month.

She opened the office door, greeting Ruby as she walked in.

"Any messages for me while I was out?"

"Someone hit Mrs. Muehlfeld's pet chicken Helen with their car, the funeral home needs a patrol car for funeral duty tomorrow morning at 10, your patrol car is due for an oil change, the high school wants you to talk to their kids for Career Day next Friday and Walt dropped by with the baby. Wants to take you to the Busy Bee for lunch today."

"Send Zach out to the Muehlfeld place to tell her to keep her birds away from the road, the Ferg can do funeral duty tomorrow, I can drop off my patrol car with Doug tonight and pick it up in the morning when it's done, yes on Career Day and a rain check on lunch."

"Cady."

"What?"

"This is the third time you've put off lunch with your dad. He really wants to catch up with you."

"I know, but I've been busy. He's done this job, he should know how crazy things get around here. Especially when the county commissioners won't let me hire another deputy or two."

"Cady, I've known you since you were a little bitty baby. You're avoiding him."

"I'm not. I just –"

"He's happy, Cady. The happiest I've seen him since before your mother got sick. He loves you more than anything, and he wants to see you. You've only got one dad, you know."

Cady sighed as she felt the blood rush to her cheeks in shame. She was a highly educated, accomplished attorney who made history last year as the first female sheriff elected in Wyoming, a grown independent woman...acting like a jealous, petulant child. She could accept her dad moving on after her mom's murder, but struggled with the idea of him being in a relationship with a woman who was only seven years older than her. Then Aurora Marie Moretti Longmire came screaming into the world on the Fourth of July – a "rainbow baby," as Vic called her, all of six pounds, five ounces with a head full of jet black hair. A baby sister. Six-year-old Cady would have been elated. Grown-up Cady, she was ashamed to admit, was more conflicted about her dad basically starting over.

"You're right, Ruby," Cady said with another sigh. "Pencil me in for noon at the Busy Bee."

With that, Cady turned on her heels and headed to the back toward her office.

"You know, you're just like him," Ruby called out after her.

Without a word, Cady went into her office and shut the door.