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he wanted to be alone and that was why he was attracted to the wrong kind of woman.
    He knew from firsthand experience that a girl in love with the city life would not, could not, live in Adams Grove. At least not for long.
    Okay, so maybe Kasey had adapted just fine to the small town, but still . . . that relationship hadn’t worked out for him. And darn if Ruth hadn’t seemed perfect until they started spending more time in Adams Grove. The town was too slow and a shopping mall short of her happy place. His type and his life were just a total mismatch. How many times would it take for him to get that lesson through his thick skull?
    Children waved frantically in his direction. At that age anything on the street seemed like a parade. He flipped on the lights and let the siren wail. The kids’ faces lit up. These moments touched his heart. He loved kids. Wouldn’t mind having a couple of his own, but at this rate, that wasn’t likely to happen.
    Maybe that was part of why not winning Kasey had been so hard. He’d lost not only her, but Jake too. Although technically, he’d lost nothing at all. Once they got past the awkwardness, they’d repaired the friendship. Scott still regretted acting like such an ass when it became apparent that Cody Tuggle was stealing her heart. It had been a tough pill to swallow, but watching her and seeing how the two of them treated each other . . . even he had to admit they were a good match.
    Mom was about to drive him crazy with all the grandchild talk, though.
    He’d kept her at bay with his black lab, Maggie, and her puppies for a while, but that whole granddog thing was losing its charm pretty quickly. She kept encouraging him to settle down with one of the local girls. The problem with that was that he’d known those girls his whole darn life, and that just felt a little like getting close with a sister, and that put out the spark every time.
    Impossible.
    Chaz Huckaby waved a giant orange flag as if Scott was crossing an imaginary finish line. Even on a hot day like today, that guy’s hair never moved. Those Captain Kangaroo bangs would withstand a hurricane. Chaz’s job was to keep the parade entries spaced far enough apart that the bands didn’t drown each other out and there was time for everyone to see all the hard work that had gone into each of the floats. Since he didn’t hear too well, Chaz didn’t mind being right there next to the booming music as they started down the parade route.
    Scott made a quick U-turn and headed for the high school parking lot. All the entrants were lined up in the order they would go down the route, and they looked ready to roll.
    Deputy Taylor had already pulled his car catty-corner along the right lane of the road to block any traffic, and the first float was at the ready to kick things off. All that needed to happen now was for Chaz to drop the flag for the first band to get to steppin’, and it looked like that would happen in about two minutes.
    Right on time.
    About six floats back, a flatbed trailer had been decked out to match the purple silks worn by the Hillcrest Joyful Kixx jockey the day of the Kentucky Derby.
    It had been a day of surprises, not all good ones.
    The celebration had been meant for Rick Joyner and Jenny Herndon becoming part owners of the fancy racehorse. The Derby-themed party was like nothing this little town had ever seen, and then to top it off, Rick had surprised them all by proposing to Jenny in the middle of it all. But then everything went to hell . . . literally.
    As in the guy behind the Goto Hell murder that had shaken this state all those years ago had come back, and in his plot for revenge against the man who had put him away, he’d abducted Brooke Justice. Thank goodness for the quick actions of Mike Hartman that night.
    Scott’s jaw pulsed. That night would hang over this town for a long time. This parade was an attempt to soften that blow by shifting the memories of the day to the good