A local girl goes missing.
The town says she ran away.
Only her friend knows the truth.
Dead girls can't run.

A romantic mystery for readers who know some scars never fade—and some secrets refuse to stay buried.

Small towns hold no secrets, except when they do. The impossibility of regret looms like a heavy cloud, and it’s about to rain. All Susan Tripp wants is to go back to the time before the night on the bridge, the night she lost her best friend. 

Sheriff Chatham never cared much for music or dancing, but he’d give anything for just one dance with the one who got away. 

Maegan Davis has made so many bad decisions, it’s hard to know which one she’d take back.

When a local teen goes missing, Sheriff Chatham is on the case. 

Could solving the mystery repair a friendship, give hope to a lonely girl, and give him one last dance?

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Release Date: June 23, 2025
Genre: Contemporary Romance

A Pink Satin Romance

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Excerpt

Chapter One
DAY 1

Badge 343

“You’re living on the wrong side of paradise,” Preacher says as he pops his head out the door.

“Maybe so, but there’s somethin’ to be said for consistency,” I reply while resisting the urge to exert my position of authority as the sheriff over a man of God.

“You gonna hang out on my steps all day?”

“Yep.”

“You know you’re the only one who lingers,” he muses. “Kinda makes a person wonder.”

Preacher just said one word too many. I look up at him from beneath the wide brim of my hat. “It’s not Sunday. I’m sittin’ outside. This is a public place and my designated thinkin’ spot, so if you don’t mind leavin’ me to my silence, I’d ‘preciate it.”

He looks me over long enough to tell me I’m the fool I know I’m bein’. “It’s interesting how much you like some rules,” he looks back at the cross above the church doors, “but others you could care less about.”

“I’m committed to my job, Preacher. You know that.”

He sniffs. “Well, Sheriff. At least you’re committed to something.” My shoulders tense. The muscles in my legs twitch. I’m two seconds away from springin’ up like a jack-in-the box. If he were any other man in this town, I’d have him by the shirt collar. I know that and he knows that which must be why his hands are in the air, and I didn’t even pull my gun.

“I’m just saying.”

“What? What are you sayin’?” I ask, but I don’t know why. We’ve only had this conversation about half a dozen times.

“You’re a nice enough guy. You do a good job. I like you just fine, Sheriff, but I’d like you a whole lot better if you were sitting in a pew.”

“That makes one of us,” I bark.

“I gotta do my job just like you do yours,” he mutters before shakin’ his head and walkin’ back inside, closin’ the door quietly behind him.

I stare at the church door a little too hard and a little too long. Preacher interrupted my thinkin’ process and ruined the rest of my mornin’. I take a sip of mostly cold coffee that’s probably gonna have me in the nearest bathroom in about four minutes. My concentration is shot, and if I’m not mistaken a few nosy old ladies are starin’ out their windows at me from across the street. It was good business sense buildin’ this church across from the old folk’s home. Makes it easier for Preacher to nab them on their way out.

I cross the street to toss my coffee in the trashcan. Bennie steps outside in her scrubs and gives me a friendly wave. Her scrubs are a little snug. I wish I didn’t know she doesn’t mind my noticin’.

“Hey, Sheriff.”

“Bennie,” I say before spinnin’ around and headin’ for the sidewalk.

Preacher’s words ramble around inside my head. The thing about arguin’ with a man of God, even if you get the last word, it doesn’t feel like you’re winnin’. And I hate to lose. I hate it more than I love to win.

My mind returns to what I was workin’ on before Preacher started hecklin’ me. I’ve got the cell phone of a missin’ girl who’s in a whole lotta trouble, and that was before she went missin’. The problem is, I made a promise, and if there’s anythin’ redeemable about me, it’s that I’m a man of my word. I made a vow to her mother I’d watch out for her. I don’t intend to break it.

 

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