“This is the first time I’ve had a chance to talk to you,” she returned.
“Could’ve come talk to me earlier instead of sending your husband.”
Tara’s brown eyes flashed. “I didn’t send Axel to do anything! As if the man ever does something he doesn’t choose to do in the first place.” Tristan made a noise and buried his attention in his pecan pie as he escaped. So much for the big-shot secret agent.
Sloan wished he could follow. He pushed his fork into the cake again and ignored the hopeful gleam in Hank’s eyes. “He’d take a bullet for you.”
She rubbed her cheek against Hank’s bald head. “You’re the one who took a bullet,” she reminded him.
A graze. And it had been more than two years ago. She’d been pregnant with Aidan and on the verge of marrying Axel.
“But he has walked through fire for me,” she allowed. “Literally.”
“Which was my fault, too.”
She shook her head. “I’ve never blamed you for what happened at the church that day when Maria’s brother set that fire. He wanted to get back at you for her death by getting to me. He was insane with grief.”
“You have more pity for him than I do.” And more pity than the courts had. The lunatic had been convicted and would be locked away for a good long time.
“It’s all water under the bridge, anyway,” she dismissed. “If you really want a fresh start, don’t you think that should include letting go of the past?”
He wished he could give her the answers she wanted to hear. “I don’t want to promise something I’m not sure I can deliver.”
She studied him for a moment. “Would you go back to the ATF if you could?”
He let out a humorless laugh. “Goob, they don’t want me back.” They’d made that plain enough when he’d been fired after the Deuce’s trial had finally ended. They hadn’t taken kindly to him drawing in anyone from Hollins-Winword to protect Maria or Tara. They’d told him it had shown a strong lack of faith in his own agency and conveniently ignored the fact that they hadn’t been willing to provide any sort of protection themselves.
“But if you could?”
Would he? Nearly his entire adult life had been wrapped up in his ATF career. “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably.” He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Well,” she said after a moment, “that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about, anyway.” She shifted Hank onto her other hip. “What’s this I hear about you and your new neighbor? She’s the new school nurse, right?”
He stared. “What do you know about her?”
“She was your mysterious plan last night, wasn’t she?”
“She, who?” Max and his wife, Sarah, chose that moment to wander into the kitchen, and her blue gaze bounced from Sloan to Tara and back again. “Pretty little Abby Marcum?”
Sloan eyed his boss, but Max just shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I might be the sheriff, but I don’t know anything.”
Sarah poked him in the side, and he jerked away, grinning. Then he frowned. “No more pecan pie?”
“Tristan finished it off.”
“Figures.” He took the last slice of chocolate cake. “This’ll do just as well.”
“Even after all these years together I do not know how you can eat the way you do and never gain a pound,” Sarah complained. “You had a piece of Gloria’s cheesecake an hour ago.”
Max swatted her lightly on the butt. “My wife keeps me well exercised.”
She rolled her eyes. “Here I thought you were going to help me get started on some of these dishes. Go on, then. Go back to your football game. I know that’s what you really want to do.”
“Always figure it’s smart to get while the gettin’s good.” Max looked at Sloan. “You coming? Half time’s over.”
Sloan finished off his cake in a single bite and tossed the paper plate in the trash. “Just like Mom’s,” he told his twin, and then he did what any smart man would do and escaped while the escaping was good.
* * *
The house was cold again when Abby waked early the next morning. She pulled on a thick sweatshirt over her flannel pajamas and checked on Dillon, who was still sound asleep, before starting a pot of coffee. With the water gurgling and the scent of coffee beginning to fill the kitchen, she pushed her feet into her boots and let herself quietly out the door. She didn’t like having to take more wood from Sloan’s pile, but they’d burned through the last of what she had during the night, and she didn’t want Dillon getting up to such a cold house.
Deputy Frosty’s fat belly was just as fat as it had been the day before, but the striped scarf had fallen onto the ground. She stopped long enough to wind it around the snowman’s neck, making sure the cardboard badge pinned to the knit was visible. Dillon had spent considerable time making the thing, and he’d certainly want to see it there today.
When she was finished, she balled her cold hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt and hurried across the yard.
“You’re an early riser.”
She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Sloan’s voice. The sky was gray and heavy, but it was still light enough to see him standing on his front porch.
And it was more than a little alarming the way pleasure engulfed her at the sight of him. Particularly considering the way he’d bolted the day before, after Pam Rasmussen had come by.
“So are you.” Her voice sounded breathless but she couldn’t help it. Seeing him made her feel breathless. “You’re looking very official.” He was coatless, too. But whereas she’d been caught in her flannel jammies and an oversize sweatshirt, he looked downright glorious in his uniform. He wore sharply creased khaki-colored pants with a dark green, long-sleeved shirt and black tie, complete with badge pinned to his insanely wide chest. She also noticed that, with a collared shirt, there was no hint that he had that intriguing tattoo that started on his neck and dipped beneath his clothing. “On duty today?” She cringed since it was pretty unlikely he would wear his uniform if he weren’t.
“In a while.” He lifted the mug he was holding. “Want some coffee?”
Even though she had her own pot brewing, she very nearly nodded. She pushed her fists deeper into her pockets, hoping to stretch the sweatshirt a little lower over her stupid pajama pants. “No, thanks. I was just going to grab some more wood. Dillon’s still sleeping.”
He straightened away from the post he’d been leaning against, set his mug on the rail and came down the steps toward her.
Her ability to breathe normally evaporated entirely.
All she could think of was the way he’d kissed her.
And the way he’d bolted.
Admittedly, he had been headed for a family dinner, but it still had felt as if he couldn’t wait to escape.
He kept going when he reached her, though, angling toward the back of the house. “Half expected to see another snowman keeping Frosty company in your front yard.”
She skipped to catch up with him and wished again that she’d taken the time to change into jeans. “If we get more snow out of those clouds, I expect he’ll have company soon enough.” She pulled one hand out of her pocket to tuck her hair behind her ear, only to realize she hadn’t taken the time to brush her hair yet, either.
Lovely. Plaid pajamas, morning breath and a rat’s nest of hair.
She ducked her chin into the collar of her sweatshirt and twitched the hood up over her hair.
“Cold?”
She smiled and shrugged, even though she was sure he was the cause of her shivering rather than the cold morning.
When they reached the back of the house, she quickly gathered several pieces of firewood. When he started to help her, she protested. “You’re going to get your shirt dirty.”
“Sweetheart, I’ve gotten worse
things on my uniform before than a few wood slivers.”
Sweetheart.
She shivered again and headed back around the side of the house, crossing diagonally to her front door.
Sloan followed her inside, and they stacked the wood next to the fireplace. “Looks like you did some more unpacking. Are they your grandparents?”
She glanced at the framed photographs he’d noticed on the mantel. “Yes.”
“This you?” He tapped one in particular of Abby and her grandparents.
“We were pheasant hunting.” She added a split log to the fire and jabbed the embers before adjusting the screen.
“How old were you?”
She didn’t have to look at the photo to remind herself. “Seventeen.” She and her grandfather had gone out hunting only one more time after that. It hadn’t been the same without her grandmother coming along, but she hadn’t been healthy enough at that point to accompany them.
“You look about thirteen.”
And even more wet behind the ears, no doubt.
She pressed her hands against her flannel-covered thighs and straightened. “Maybe so,” she said, “but he taught me to shoot almost as well as he could.” She headed into the kitchen.
“You like hunting?”
“I liked going out with my grandparents. Without them?” She shrugged and filled a coffee cup. “I can’t really see myself going out again. I don’t think I have the heart for it.” She took a sip, watching him over the brim of the cup. Not even the width of the living room was enough to dim the sheer wattage of him. “I’ll get enough wood today to replace what I’ve used.”
“I told you not to worry about that.” He leaned on the breakfast counter. “Every time you talk about your grandparents, you look sad.”
She started to tuck her hair behind her ear again, ran into that rat’s nest of tangles and opened an overhead cabinet instead, pulling out the cardboard container of oatmeal to occupy herself. “I miss them. The worst thing about leaving Braden is not being able to visit my grandmother every day.”
“It isn’t that far away.”
She smiled a little. “That’s exactly what I keep telling Dillon.” She realized they were in the same positions they’d been in when he’d kissed her and felt blood rushing into her face. She snatched up her coffee and took such a hasty drink that she almost gasped. “Aren’t you on duty soon?” she asked abruptly.
His smile widened a little as if he knew exactly how he affected her. But he straightened and headed toward the door. She couldn’t seem to help herself from following him out onto the porch. But the sudden shrieking of her name from inside the house had her racing right back inside, Sloan hard on her heels.
She met Dillon in the hallway, where he collided with her and grabbed on to her as though the world was ending.
Another nightmare.
Her heart squeezing, she sank down to the floor and pulled him right onto her lap. “I’m here, honey. Right here.”
“I couldn’t find you,” he sobbed. “I looked everywhere, but—”
“Shh.” She smoothed his hair back from his sweaty face and kissed his forehead. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
The hairs on the back of Sloan’s neck slowly settled as he watched Abby sit there, comforting the boy.
“It was just a bad dream,” he heard her say in a soothing voice. “And it’s all gone, but I’m still here.” She pressed her cheek to the top of the boy’s head, her glossy brown hair blending with Dillon’s.
He knew he should leave them to their privacy.
But walking out when the kid was so upset went against every grain in his body. He took a cautious step forward, and Abby focused on him.
“Look who else is here,” she murmured to Dillon. “Deputy McCray came to say good morning to you.”
It wasn’t true, but Sloan didn’t care. Particularly when the little boy peered around Abby at him. “You did?”
He took another step closer and crouched down. “I also wanted to say that you did a great job making Frosty’s badge out there.”
“It’s not like yours, though.”
Sloan unfastened his badge and held it up. “I think it was pretty close.”
Dillon didn’t unlatch himself from Abby, but he sat up a little straighter. “Abby helped me cut out the star.”
“You drew the star first,” Abby said.
She was watching him as closely as Dillon was, and Sloan wasn’t sure whose gaze unnerved him more. “Do you want to wear it for a minute?”
Dillon’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “Can I?”
Sloan knew Max well enough to know his boss wasn’t going to sweat him being a little late for his shift. Not considering the situation. “You bet.” He attached the badge to the boy’s dinosaur-print pajama shirt. “How does it feel?”
Dillon scrambled to his feet and darted into the bathroom that opened onto the hall. Sloan could see him stretching as high as he could to see himself in the mirror over the sink.
Abby gave Sloan a grateful smile and pushed to her feet, as well. She followed Dillon into the small bathroom and lifted him higher. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“The coolest,” Dillon breathed. He wriggled, and Abby set him back on his feet. He came back out into the hallway, his thin chest puffed out. “When I’m big, I’m gonna be a deputy, too.”
Abby’s pretty eyes met Sloan’s. “Thank you,” she mouthed silently.
Then she touched Dillon’s shoulder. “Deputy McCray probably needs his badge back now, Dillon, so he can go to work.”
“Okay.” But before Sloan could unfasten the badge, the kid was already doing it, the tip of his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth as he looked down to see what he was doing. When he’d unpinned it, he held the badge out on his flattened palm. “Watch your back out there,” he said solemnly.
Sloan managed not to smile.
Abby wasn’t so successful. The smile that her lips seemed created to wear was back on her face.
He took the badge and pinned it in place. He gave a quick salute and headed toward the front door.
“He’s a real White Hat,” he heard Dillon whisper behind him. “Isn’t he?”
Sloan didn’t wait to hear Abby’s answer as he let himself out through the front door. Whatever the White Hats were that the kid was talking about, Sloan knew that he’d never worn one.
White Hats were for the good guys.
They weren’t for the guys who’d only ever hurt the ones who least deserved it.
CHAPTER FIVE
Even though Sloan had told her not to worry about it, when Abby and Dillon went out later that afternoon and visited the big-box Shop-World on the far side of town, she added a few extra bags of firewood to their shopping cart. When they got back to the house and unloaded their purchases, she carted the bags to the rear of his house, pulled off the plastic and stacked the wood neatly on top of his pile.
By then, it had started snowing again, and she and Dillon spent the rest of the afternoon inside. They unpacked the last few boxes, played a game of ‘White Hats’ and baked a batch of chocolate cookies while the repairman she’d called fixed the furnace. And even though they were busy pretty much all day long, Abby was hyperaware that the SUV with Sheriff on the side didn’t reappear in the driveway next door all day. It wasn’t there when she caved to Dillon’s constant begging and let him take a covered plate of the cookies to leave on Sloan’s front porch. It wasn’t there, even after she’d read a story to Dillon and tucked him into bed, and it wasn’t there when she hustled him out of the house the next morning for his first day at his new school. Their new school.
Mercifully, she didn’t have any extra time to think about the handsome deputy as Principal Gage gave her a tour of the school and she sett
led into the office that was now hers. She checked supplies, read through the files of the students who had continuing health-care needs and by lunchtime had seen a half-dozen children for everything from an earache to a girl having her first period. She was so busy, in fact, that she ate her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in her office and didn’t leave it at all until she went with the rest of the teachers and administration to attend the assembly being held in the gymnasium.
There, she stood in the back of the room while the students noisily claimed their patches of gym floor and sat down. They were arranged by classes with the youngest in front and the oldest in back, and Abby didn’t even realize how nervous she was for Dillon until she spotted him sitting cross-legged next to a little blond-haired girl who, judging by the way she was chattering away, didn’t seem too put off by Dillon’s apparent silence.
Then the genial principal moved to the front of the room, efficiently gathering the children’s attention while the teachers began moving to the back of the room where a few rows of folding chairs were set up.
“Come on.” Dee Crowder, one of the first teachers Abby had met that morning, nudged Abby along the row of seats. She taught third grade and was short like Abby with wildly curly blond hair and an infectious smile that reminded her of Delia’s. “There’s room for you to sit, too.”
So Abby scooted along the row of chairs to the end and dutifully sat down. “How often are there assemblies?”
Dee shrugged and pulled a tube of lip gloss from the pocket of her red sweater. “Couple times a month. They don’t always have all the grades at once, though. Today it’s just because of the presentation.”
Abby knew that safety and drug-abuse prevention were the topics this afternoon. While she certainly supported the cause, she hoped the assembly wouldn’t drag on too long. She still had a stack of student files to get through.
“I don’t know why I thought moving to one of the condos out near Shop-World would come with better pickings where men are concerned,” Dee whispered. She bumped her shoulder against Abby’s. “You buy the old Downing place that’s been empty for a year and basically hit the lottery.”
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