Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles)

by Shawn, Melanie

All she wanted to do was change into leggings and a loose shirt, grab her iPod, and go put that space to good use. But instead of giving in to her impulse, she decided to do the responsible thing and unpack her Jeep. She at least needed to get the perishable food that Sue Ann had sent into the freezer and a couple of boxes inside, she negotiated with herself mentally.

  Yep, she could do that.

  ---~---

  “I got a call that Scooby made the great escape once again. Do you need me to go take care of it? I’m on my way home, so I can swing him by,” Eric offered. He was exhausted and sore, but he would do anything to help out his sister.

  “No. I’ll head out and round him up. I’m almost done grading papers and was just about to leave anyways.” Amy’s voice sounded a little frazzled. “Did they say where they saw him?”

  “Yep. He was walking down Main Street like he owned the place.”

  His sister sighed in frustration. “He’s probably going to Two Scoops. Ever since Maxine gave him that scoop of vanilla last summer because she thought he was ‘hot,’ he keeps going back. No matter what I say. she keeps serving him ice cream.”

  Eric tried to suppress a laugh. He knew that his sister didn’t think that her dog’s shenanigans were funny. But he had seen Scooby walk up to the to-go window at Two Scoops and it was hilarious. Still, he understood Amy’s frustration. “Hey, I’ll grab Jake this weekend and we’ll reinforce the fence and add a few feet to the top. That might make it a little tougher for him to get out.”

  “Thanks, E. If anyone else calls with a sighting, let me know,” she said with a sigh.

  “Will do, Sis.”

  Eric loved all of his siblings equally, but Amy had always held a special place in his heart. There were four kids in the Maguire clan. Eric was the oldest. Then came Jake, Amy, and finally the baby of the family, Nikki. Jake and Nikki were definitely the more wild of the foursome. You never really knew what they would do in any given situation—or in Nikki’s case, what would come out of her mouth.

  Eric and Amy were much more quiet and reserved. Amy was shy. Eric just didn’t like to say things unless they needed to be said.

  He always knew that Jake and Nikki could take care of themselves. Hell, they used to get pissed when Eric would try to step in to take care of things when they were younger.

  But not Amy. Amy brought out all of Eric’s protective instincts, and it didn’t seem to bother her when he acted on them. Which was why he had suggested that she get a large breed dog in the first place. Their family had always had dogs growing up, and Eric liked the idea of the added protection once Amy had moved out on her own after college.

  Eric’s suggestion had been for Amy to get a Rottweiler or a German Shepherd. His sister had researched both breeds and gone down to Lake Tahoe to meet with several breeders. Four hours later, she’d come home with a Great Dane puppy and named it Scooby Doo, Scooby for short. Scooby may not have been what Eric had envisioned for Amy’s home security system, but he did the job. He was massive. Plus, he had more personality in his right paw than most of the people Eric knew.

  Pulling up in his driveway and turning off the engine of his new city-issued SUV cruiser, Eric yawned and rolled his shoulders back. His muscles were screaming.

  Aside from his normal workouts, he had taken up the martial art of Jiu Jitsu. He practiced three times a week from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. This morning’s session had been especially brutal thanks to his sleepless night, which was due to one incredibly sexy, dark-haired beauty he could not erase from his mind. If his dreams over the last few days were any indication, it seemed apparent to Eric that he didn’t even need to be conscious for Lily to consume his thoughts.

  He stepped out of his truck, and when his boots hit the pavement, his calf muscles tightened and cramped. He was so glad that he had decided to purchase the enclosed hot tub that now sat in his backyard. His brother Jake had given him a hard time about it initially, saying that Eric was only doing it so he could have an excuse to see women in their bathing suits.

  At the time Jake had made that accusation, Eric realized that the thought of having an excuse to have half-naked women lounging around hadn’t even crossed his mind, but it certainly wasn’t a bad idea. Still, truth be told, Eric had had the tub almost a year and the only women that had been in it were his sisters and mom.

  Women had tried to get an invitation and had invited themselves. Hell, a few had even showed up in bikinis on his doorstep, but he’d turned them away. He’d had no desire to share the place he felt the most relaxed in and got the most rejuvenated from with any of those women.

  A sound caught Eric’s attention, and he looked over to see that a red Jeep was parked in the driveway of Judge Pattinson’s unoccupied house. Curiosity to meet his new neighbor did not trump the sore muscles he was suffering from, so he decided he would go over and say hello tomorrow. Or the next day. Right now he just wanted to go sit in his hot tub and let the pulse of the water as it jetted in streams massage his achy body.

  “Umphh!”

  Eric heard a female voice grunt as he was putting his key in the door. Sighing, he hung his head down in defeat. He knew that the hot tub would have to wait.

  He moved off the porch and started across the lawn to answer the call of duty. Stepping around the Jeep, he saw two legs below a huge box and tiny fingers wrapped precariously around the sides.

  “Here, I got it,” Eric said as he lifted the box. Immediately he noted that, even with his size and strength, this thing was heavy.

  “Oh…thank…you,” a hoarse female voice said between short pants of breath.

  He felt more than saw his new neighbor move around the side of the box and figured she was going up to the front door. He followed without having to see where she was headed since he knew the path with his eyes closed. Before Judge Pattinson had decided to make the big move to Shady Pines Retirement Home, Eric had checked on the elderly man up to three times per day.

  He flexed his hands around the box to tighten his grip as it began to slip just as he heard the door open. Not wanting to hold this monstrosity any longer than necessary, he quickly navigated up the final step and entered the small cottage.

  “You can put that down here.”

  Eric felt the hairs on his arms stand up at the voice that had just given him that instruction. He froze.

  It couldn’t be.

  Forcing his temporarily paralyzed limbs to move, he lowered his arms, setting the box down.

  Holy shit! It is her.

  He was standing face to face with his new neighbor. Lily.

  For a second, he thought that this might be some kind of prank. Like maybe they’d brought the MTV show Punk’d back and were punking non-famous people.

  Her eyes widened in recognition before something that looked close to fear flashed in her gorgeous brandy-colored eyes as she asked tensely, “What are you doing here?”

  “I live next door,” Eric quickly explained. “I didn’t know that it was you who was moving in. I just heard someone struggling and came over to help.”

  “Oh, okay.” Lily’s body relaxed. She smiled a half-smile, almost looking embarrassed about her first reaction. Then her eyes traveled down to his chest and stopped.

  He looked down, thinking maybe he had spilled something on himself at lunch this afternoon when he had hastily eaten a pastrami sandwich at his desk. But to his great relief, he didn’t see any evidence of spillage anywhere on his uniform.

  “So, does that mean you are the Chief of Police that lives next door?” Lily’s shocked tone took Eric a little aback.

  “Yes,” he said, trying not to sound as defensive as he felt.

  “How old are you?” she asked, still in disbelief.

  “Thirty-four,” Eric replied a little more softly than his first response, now realizing that her reaction was not condescending, just an honest knee-jerk response. He actually thought it was pretty cute that she had been so shocked. But now that the subject had been broached, he starte
d wondering. “How old are you?”

  Lily didn’t say anything for a moment then abruptly began apologizing. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. It’s none of my business. It’s just, well… I guess I just assumed you were in your twenties.”

  Eric got that a lot. Well, not in Hope Falls, since he had grown up here, so everyone knew how old he was. But anywhere else he went he still got carded. His grandma always said that he had a baby face. It wasn’t something Eric was happy about.

  “Well, thanks for the help. That box was a doozy,” Lily said, looking down at the floor as she moved and reached for the door nervously.

  Eric realized that in her apology she had neglected to say how old she was. Looking at her now, wearing jeans and an oversized sweatshirt, her hair pulled up into a ponytail and no makeup, she looked like she could easily be as young as eighteen. That thought made Eric feel like a total pervert for the things he had been thinking about her.

  “How old are you?” The question came out much more harshly than Eric had intended.

  Lily’s eyes darted to his, and he definitely saw that they flashed with fear before her expression turned completely blank. “I think you should go.”

  Shit! Eric couldn’t believe how badly he was handling things with the girl standing before him. He’d never had a problem talking to women. In fact, he’d always done exceptionally well with the opposite sex. But it seemed every time he opened his mouth he caused Lily to either become uncomfortable, scared, or mad. It was kind of messing with his head.

  He desperately wanted to start over with her. Never before in his life had he wished he could have a do-over, but that is exactly what he wanted with her. A fresh start. A blank slate. He looked down into her large doe eyes and what he saw there made him think that starting over wasn’t likely to happen.

  Eric moved to the door and stepped outside but turned back, deciding that he at least wanted her to try and explain his behavior. “I’m sorry if I said something that made you feel uncomfortable. It’s none of my business how old you are. I only asked because, since meeting you at the wedding, I’ve been thinking about you. A lot. And it kind of freaked me out that I may have been thinking about an eighteen-year-old.” He blew out a puff of air and shook his head. It sounded so much worse once he’d said it out loud. He should have just kept his mouth shut.

  To his surprise, Lily’s eyes danced with amusement and a small smile played on her lips. He thought, for a moment, that she might actually start laughing at him, but instead she just beamed up at him, saying, “Don’t worry, you aren’t that guy.” She took a deep, steadying breath in through her nose and out through her mouth.

  Maybe she is using the breathing technique to hold back her laughter at my expense.

  Then she continued calmly. “I’m twenty-six. So you don’t have to feel creepy.”

  Eric wasn’t sure if he felt more relieved by A. the fact that he wasn’t an inadvertent pervert or B. the fact that Lily was smiling, happy, and relaxed in an exchange they were having.

  She was a beautiful girl, standing before him, and he had no idea what her story was, but he knew there was a definitely a story there. He also knew he wanted to find out what it was. Never before in his life had he felt so inexplicably drawn to someone.

  “Do you have more boxes to bring in?” he asked, hating the idea of her trying to struggle with the heavy containers by herself.

  Her eyes widened once again, and as he peered down at her, she looked less scared and just more…wary. Hesitant. He waited, not pushing her for an answer but also not letting her off the hook to respond to him.

  “I have four more boxes.” She bit the side of her lip, still apparently on the fence about whether or not to accept his help. Then, scrunching her nose, almost as if the admission pained her, she conceded. “I would actually…really…appreciate your help.”

  Eric smiled as they headed out to the car. “Not big on accepting help, are you?”

  “Is it that obvious?” She let out a little laugh as she popped the trunk.

  “I would say glaringly so. Yes,” he teased as he reached in to retrieve the next box.

  Lily shrugged as she headed back up to the house. “I’m working on it.”

  “In this town, you will have a lot of opportunities for practice.”

  “Yeah, I’ve noticed.” She smiled as she turned back to him, and he was momentarily paralyzed. The sun was setting, and the illumination on her hair, eyes, and skin created an almost ethereal glow around her. She looked like an angel. He was speechless.

  A car honked behind him, breaking the spell she had cast on him. He turned and saw that it was Henry, Hope Falls Mayor, driving by probably on his way to see Old Man Coyer at end of the cul-de-sac. Eric nodded his head in recognition since his arms were full, unable to wave hello.

  When he turned back, he saw that Lily had gone on inside. He decided he should take a moment to compose himself. He didn’t want to make another misstep where she was concerned. He needed a game plan. But in that brief moment, his body’s aches and pains beat out composure and a game plan and he started moving.

  This was crazy. Eric knew he shouldn’t need ‘a moment’ to get himself together. He shouldn’t need a ‘game plan’ to talk to a girl. He was a grown man, not some lovestruck, horny teen. He was the Chief of Police. He really just needed to get a grip.

  So yes, Lily was beautiful. And sure, Eric was attracted to her. And true, now she was his neighbor. He could handle it.

  What could possibly go wrong?

  Chapter Five

  “Thank you all for coming,” Karina said after hitting her fork against her glass to get everyone’s attention. She stood at the head of her massive dining room table, holding court. “I know most of you flew in only for the evening, and I appreciate it. I just wanted to get you all in a room so we could all meet before starting pre-production.

  “I am so lucky to be working with all of you on the Wonder of Escape winter tour. It’s not often in an artist’s career that you are lucky enough to get all of your number one picks. Well, this time around I did. You were all at the top of my list. My Dream Team, if you will. So thank you again for agreeing to be a part of my team. Cheers.”

  Lily lifted her glass as everyone around the large table did the same and echoed, “Cheers.”

  Lily felt like a fraud. Seated around her were people who were the cream of the crop talent in each of their fields. Beside her sat Carlos Benson, the ‘it’ stylist for young Hollywood. In fact, he was actually becoming more famous than half of his clients. Across from her was Ariana Jax, who was not only stunningly gorgeous but also the most sought-after makeup artist in the industry. Her clientele read like a who’s who of entertainment. Then there was Miles Rayne to her left. He was a photographer and his last shoot had been for the cover of Vogue.

  Then at the opposite end of the table was Karina’s band, all celebrities in their own right. To say that Lily felt out of her league was the understatement of the century. She had zero choreography experience. If someone saw her resume stacked up beside the people at this dinner, well… She was afraid it would be like that Sesame Street song:

  “Some of these things belong together,

  Some of these things are kind of the same

  But one of these things just doesn’t belong here...”

  She smiled to herself as she let the ridiculousness of the situation in which she found herself sink in. Originally when Karina had approached Lily to choreograph the tour, she had explained to her that this was going to be low-key and not at all like her huge arena shows. The venues would be smaller, more intimate. No big lighting displays or pyrotechnics.

  Lily had honestly imagined things going something like this: she and Karina would quietly work in the studio for a few months and then go on the tour, where she would be there for support and to make adjustments when necessary. She had not imagined herself sitting in a Carlos Benson, Miles Rayne sandwich while she stared across the table
at Ariana Jax. Nope, this scenario had never entered her mind.

  During dinner, Lily remained quiet. There were some pretty big, pretty interesting personalities to observe, so she definitely wasn’t bored.

  Still, no matter how entertaining her dinner companions were, Lily couldn’t seem to stop her mind from drifting back to her new neighbor. The first thing that was on constant repeat in her mind’s eye was the vision of him standing in her small living room in his uniform.

  Even though Lily would willingly admit that she had always been a sucker for a guy in uniform, Eric took the entire man-in-uniform thing to a whole new level of hot-hot-hotness. She had thought that, after her reactions to seeing him in a tux and then sweats had been so severe, nothing could possibly top them. She had thought wrong.

  The shirt he’d worn hugged his chest and arms in all the right spots. When Eric had picked up her box, his biceps practically burst through the taut material. His pants somehow caused his legs to look even longer and stronger that they had in his sweats and tux. Eric was tall, probably around six foot four, but his uniform seemed to add to his already impressive height.

  And the crazy thing was that no matter what he was wearing, whether it was his uniform, a tux, or sweats, it didn’t even scratch the surface of his greatest sex appeal attribute. In Lily’s humble opinion, Eric’s steel blue eyes, chestnut brown hair, chiseled jaw, and boyish grin were far more panty-melting than his body. Which was saying something.

  But it wasn’t just the visual he presented that had gotten Lily all worked up, making it difficult for her to think of little else over the last twenty-four hours. It was also just how capable and protective he seemed. He had an effortless air of authority and control that was ridiculously steamin’-hot-sexy.

  Lily had observed that she wasn’t the only one who was of the Eric-is-steamin’-hot-sexy mindset. That waitress at Sue Ann’s Café had practically been throwing herself on the counter and offering her boobs up as a dish for Eric. To Lily, that type of behavior came off as desperate, not flirtatious. In fact, between her flashes of completely unjustified jealousy, Lily had almost felt sorry for the ample-chested, bleached blond girl. Almost.