"A town this small, people talk," April answers with a laugh. "Especially when you know how to ask." The truth is, she's seen them together and all she'd had to do was pretend she didn't know who the man was with the matriarch to learn they were dating.

"But if you want to think I was checking up on you, you're welcome to," she adds, her smile growing, because maybe she had been in her own way. She knows better than to get involved with a police officer, but he's certainly handsome and it can never hurt to be sure.