“There you are,” Alex said with a smile to the two young men.
“Sorry we’re late. Gary had to stuff his face with a sandwich before we left his house,” Buck said. He raised a hand to Brittany in greeting.
“These are my helpers,” Alex said. “I’m assuming you know Buck and Gary.”
“I know Buck,” she replied. And what she knew of him she didn’t like. At twenty-four years old Buck had a reputation for trouble. He worked odd jobs, drank more than he should and could be a hothead. More than once as a deputy she’d had to give him a stern warning about some infraction or another. “But I don’t believe I’ve met Gary before,” she added.
“Gary Cox.” He strode over to her and held out his hand. The freckles on his face danced as he offered her a friendly smile and shook her hand with an adult firmness. His coppery hair gleamed in the sunlight as he stepped back from her. “I’m Buck’s friend and I’ve been helping Alex on some of his jobs.”
He looked like an odd companion for Buck. Gary gave the impression of being a puppy dog, eager to please and slightly goofy. “Nice to meet you, Gary,” she said.
“Now that the introductions are out of the way, it’s time to get to work,” Alex said.
“And I’ll just get out of your way,” Brittany replied. She went back inside the house but stood at the back window and watched as Alex and the younger men got to work.
She wondered if Alex knew that Buck wasn’t the most trustworthy person in town. Buck had had more than his share of run-ins with all of the Graysons. If she got a chance she’d mention her concerns about him to Alex, but in the meantime she watched as the work began on the dream that had helped keep her sane through her months of captivity.
Watching Alex work should become a national pastime, she thought as she watched him pick up a hole digger and hand it to Buck.
She turned away, deciding she needed to stop watching Alex and find something more constructive to do. She’d been meaning to clean out her closet since moving back into the house. She’d lost about fifteen pounds while being held by The Professional and intended to donate a lot of the clothes that were now too big for her to charity.
She kept her mind blank as she worked, knowing that if she gave it free rein it always went back to the filthy cell where she’d been held, counting the days, the very minutes to death.
It was just after three when she heard a knock on her back door and hurried to answer. Once again a rivulet of warmth wiggled through her as she saw Alex.
“We’re knocking off for the day,” he said when she opened the door. “We’ve got the posts up but they need to set. Since tomorrow is Saturday we’ll give them the weekend and we’ll be here bright and early on Monday morning.”
“Sounds good,” she replied. “Then I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Have a good weekend,” he said and then he was gone.
She hadn’t realized how much the sound of the male voices coming from the backyard throughout the afternoon had comforted her.
Now she found the silence slightly oppressive. She moved the box of oversize clothing she’d packed next to the front door and then called a local charity for a pickup the next day.
Sitting down on the sofa, she punched the remote control to turn on the television, just wanting the noise to fill the emptiness of the otherwise silent house.
For almost three months she’d been alone in the shed, with only the sound of The Professional’s voice to occasionally break the silence with his taunts and threats. She’d discovered that now she didn’t do silence well.
Her thoughts instantly drifted back to Alex. There was no question that she felt a visceral physical pull toward him. And why shouldn’t she? He was definitely attractive and she was definitely lonely.
She only left the house for grocery shopping and then only when it was absolutely necessary. She told herself it wasn’t fear that kept her inside but rather the stares and whispers that followed her anywhere she went.
A couple of the friends she’d had before being kidnapped had contacted her after her rescue, but she’d realized they seemed more interested in finding out the grisly details of the crime than her well-being.
Although she was happy that her brothers had all found love while she’d been gone, the fact that they were now building lives with loved ones and had a place where they belonged only made her loneliness deeper. She didn’t know where she belonged anymore.
The late afternoon and evening crept by. She fixed herself a salad for dinner, then watched some more TV. Finally at nine o’clock she went into her bedroom and got ready for bed.
She’d just turned out the light and closed her eyes when her phone rang. Fumbling on the nightstand, she turned on the lamp next to the bed and looked at the caller ID on the phone.
Anonymous caller.
She frowned and sat up. Probably a sales call or some stupid survey, she thought as she grabbed the receiver.
“Hello?”
Nobody replied, although she knew somebody was on the other end. She could hear the soft sound of breathing. “Hello?” she repeated, this time more firmly. “Who is this?”
Still nobody answered, but the breathing grew louder and she was suddenly cast back in time, back to when The Professional would breathe a little harder, a little faster as he talked about the party of death he intended.
Trapped in a moment of sheer terror, her heart beat frantically and she couldn’t catch her breath. Frozen with fear she heard nothing but the sound of the caller breathing…and waiting.
She finally managed to crash the receiver back into the cradle.
She drew several deep breaths and then released a shaky laugh. The Professional was dead. She was safe and a prank phone call had nothing to do with the man who had once planned her death.
The phone call, along with the balloon, had been nothing more than coincidences that had triggered bad memories. There was absolutely no reason for her to be afraid, yet she couldn’t stop shaking and she couldn’t quiet the dreadful sense of foreboding that slithered through her.
It took a very long time for her heart to finally return to a normal rhythm and even longer before she was ready to turn out the light.
Alex spent much of Saturday working in the yard with Emily. He cut the grass while she raked and bagged the clippings and then they went to the local nursery and picked out flowers to plant along the walk leading from the street to the house.
As they worked Emily kept up a string of chatter, asking him if there were flowers in Heaven, what kinds of flowers they were planting and anything else that entered her brilliant little mind.
It was after dinner and cleanup that he announced he thought a trip to Izzy’s was in order to reward them for all their hard work during the day.
At just after seven they left the house and headed down the sidewalk toward Main Street. It was a beautiful spring evening, unusually warm and with the scent of newly bloomed flowers hanging in the air.
Emily alternated between hopping and skipping next to him. She was a child that rarely just walked. She oozed energy and an exuberant happiness that filled Alex’s soul. In the weeks immediately following Linda’s death he’d feared that his daughter would never know real happiness again, but she was a testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.
“I’m thinking strawberry,” she said thoughtfully as she jumped over a crack in the sidewalk.
“Really?” he replied with amusement. They had this conversation each time they walked to Izzy’s. She professed to be thinking about eating some flavor of ice cream but always opted for chocolate ice cream with sprinkles when they got there.
“What are you thinking, Daddy?” she asked.
This was also part of the tradition that had been established in their walks to Izzy’s. Alex frowned in mock thoughtfulness. “I’m thinking maybe worm- flavored ice cream.”
He was rewarded by her infectious giggles. “Daddy, that’s so gross,” she exclaimed.
As
they walked in front of Brittany’s house he was surprised to see her sitting on her porch. “Wait up, Emily,” he said. He jogged up the walk to her porch. “Good evening, Ms. Grayson.”
“Good evening to you, Mr. Crawford.”
Her smile warmed him as Emily came running to join him. “Emily, this is Ms. Grayson,” he said. “My daughter, Emily.”
“Hi, Emily. You can call me Brittany,” she replied.
“We’re going to get ice cream at Izzy’s. Want to come with us?” Emily asked.
“Oh, I don’t think so. I don’t go into town much,” Brittany replied, but Alex thought he saw a touch of wistfulness momentarily flit across her beautiful dark eyes.
“Emily, why don’t you show Brittany how you can do a cartwheel in the grass?” Alex said.
Emily’s face lit up. There was nothing she loved more than showing off her gymnastic skills. “Okay.” As she raced off the porch Alex turned back to Brittany.
“And why don’t you go into town much?” he asked.
“Watch this, Brittany,” Emily yelled from the yard.
She focused her attention on Emily. “You’ve probably heard about what happened to me.”
“I’ve heard a little bit about it,” he admitted.
“That’s super, Emily,” she called out as Emily performed two perfectly executed cartwheels. “People stare and whisper,” she said softly. “It makes me uncomfortable so I just don’t go out much.”
He heard a hint of loneliness in her voice and it called to his own loneliness. “We’re not going to traipse down Main Street in a parade. We’re just going to Izzy’s for some ice cream.”
“This time I’m going to do four cartwheels in a row,” Emily yelled.
“Tell you what,” Alex continued. “If you feel somebody staring at you and you get all uncomfortable, I’ll stick an ice cream cone on my nose and cover my head with sprinkles. Trust me, nobody will be staring at you after that.”
She looked at him in surprise and then laughed. By that time Emily had rejoined them. “Did you see me do four cartwheels?”
“I did,” Brittany replied. “That was so totally awesome.”
“So are you joining us?” Alex asked, vaguely surprised at how much he wanted her to come with them.
She hesitated a long moment and then nodded. “Okay, just let me grab my purse.”
“She’s pretty,” Emily said as Brittany disappeared through her front door.
“Yes, she is,” Alex agreed.
“Do you like her?” Emily slid him a sly glance.
“I’m building a deck on the back of her house so she’s kind of like my boss right now.” The last thing he wanted was for Emily to get any ideas about a budding relationship between him and Brittany.
Since they’d moved to Black Rock Emily had learned about stepmoms and had decided it would be nice to have one. Alex had explained to his daughter that finding a perfect stepmother was more difficult than it seemed and that she shouldn’t count on it ever happening.
Brittany stepped back out the front door with her purse slung over her shoulder. “All set.”
The two of them fell into step on the sidewalk while Emily danced just ahead of them. “What kind of ice cream do you like, Brittany?” she asked.
“I’m definitely a chocolate lover,” Brittany replied.
“Me, too!” Emily exclaimed. “Daddy says he’s going to get worm-flavored ice cream today.”
“That’s gross,” Brittany replied.
Once again Emily laughed in delight. “That’s what I told him.” She fell into step next to Brittany and gazed up at her. “Since you’re daddy’s boss, maybe you could tell him that he should let me get two scoops of ice cream instead of just one.”
Brittany laughed again and Alex thought he could listen to her laugh for a long time. He was also aware of the scent of her, a clean, fresh floral with a touch of jasmine that teased his senses.
“Let’s see when we get there how much arm- twisting we need to do to get your daddy to agree to two scoops,” she said.
Emily nodded and then once again danced ahead of them along the sidewalk. “She’s a doll,” Brittany said.
“She’s far too smart for her own good, as stubborn as the day is long, but best of all she’s my heart,” he replied.
“That’s nice. Every little girl needs a father in her life.”
“Are your parents here in town?” he asked.
She shook her head, her rich dark hair gleaming in the sunshine. “My parents died a long time ago, but I have four brothers who stepped into the role of father figure and sometimes that feels like four too many,” she said ruefully.
He grinned. “One of them is the sheriff, right?”
“Yes, that’s Tom. Then there’s Jacob, Benjamin and Caleb. Right now they all work as deputies, but Benjamin is quitting in a couple of weeks to ranch full-time.”
“And from what I’ve heard you were also a deputy at one time.”
“Before the incident.” Her voice held a slight edge of stress. The incident—such pitiful words to use to describe what she’d gone through.
“It’s been a beautiful day, hasn’t it?” He quickly changed the subject. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin this time with her by discussing something she didn’t want to talk about. “Emily and I spent the afternoon planting flowers along the walkway to our front door.”
“We got flowers with a name like what my daddy sometimes calls me,” Emily quipped. “Impatients.”
Brittany laughed again and Alex could tell she was relaxing with each minute that passed. There was something tragic about a woman who had lived through what she had and wound up being afraid to leave her own house because of the whispers and stares of the other people in town.
“Once you have my deck up I intend to plant flowers everywhere in the backyard,” she said. “I want that deck to be the prettiest place on the planet.”
“Then I’ll have to make sure that I’m on top of my game and give you a deck that will be the envy of everyone in town,” he replied.
By that time they’d reached Izzy’s. The ice-cream parlor was a small shop with half a dozen small round peppermint-pink tables inside and a long refrigerated counter displaying almost every flavor of ice cream imaginable. Much to Alex’s mock dismay and Emily’s giggles, they had no worm-flavored.
They were the only customers inside, and once they’d ordered and been served the three of them sat at a table near the window where the last of the day’s sun was visible, slowly sinking lower onto the horizon.
The conversation centered on the merits of ice cream and the variety of flavors available. Brittany was good with Emily, talking to her with an easiness and respect that Emily responded to in the same way.
There was no question that he was drawn to Brittany. Her thick, shiny hair begged him to tangle his hands in it, her plump lips seemed to ask for a kiss and that scent of her half dizzied him with a simmering desire to seek its source.
He didn’t know if his reaction to her was just a manifestation of his loneliness. Or maybe he was drawn to her because she seemed so different from his wife. A core of inner strength shone from Brittany’s eyes, a strength he found vastly appealing.
“This was nice,” Brittany said as they left Izzy’s and began the short walk home. Twilight had fallen and night shadows were beginning to creep in.
“I’m glad you came with us,” he replied.
“Me, too,” Emily added. “I think you should come with us every time we go to get ice cream.”
Brittany smiled at her. “That’s just because you got two scoops with me along.”
Emily giggled and then sobered a bit. “But I also like you because you’re really pretty and you make my dad smile really big.”
Alex felt his cheeks warm and tried to find something to say, but Emily wasn’t finished yet. “Did you know my mommy is in Heaven?” she asked Brittany.
“Yes, your daddy told me that,” Brittany replied.<
br />
“Do you think there’s ice cream in Heaven?”
Alex saw a whisper of compassion in Brittany’s eyes at Emily’s question. She stopped walking and crouched down to Emily’s level.
“I’d like to think there’s ice cream in Heaven. You know, my mommy died, too. Maybe your mommy and mine are having ice cream together right now.”
“That would be good,” Emily replied with a little smile. “Now, watch how I can jump the cracks in the sidewalk really fast.” She raced ahead of them, her pigtails dancing.
“That was nice,” he said to Brittany.
She nodded. “It must be tough to be a single dad.”
“Emily makes it relatively easy. She’s a good kid. Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night? I cook a mean steak.”
He wasn’t sure who was more surprised by the invitation, Brittany or himself. The words had just tumbled out of his mouth as if with a life of their own.
“Thank you, but I always have Sunday dinner with my brothers and their families,” she replied.
“Then what about Monday evening?” They stopped in front of her house.
Her brown eyes studied him thoughtfully. “Alex, I’m not looking for any kind of romance.”
“I’m not, either,” he quickly replied. “I have no intentions of ever marrying again. But I’m new in town and to be honest, I’ve been a bit lonely. I just thought it would be nice to have a friend to share a meal or spend some time with.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “As long as we both understand where we’re coming from, I’d love to have dinner with you on Monday.”
“Great! Why don’t we say around six-thirty?”
“Sounds good and thanks for the ice cream.” She looked down the walk to Emily. “Bye, Emily,” she called.
“Bye, Brittany.” Emily waved. “See ya later.”
Brittany looked back at Alex. “And I’ll see you Monday morning, right?”
“Bright and early,” he replied. They said their goodbyes and he watched as she climbed the stairs to her porch and then disappeared into her house.
Emily fell into step beside him and began chatting about her plans to play with the neighbor girl the next day. Alex listened absently and wondered why he wanted to kiss a woman he’d just told he only wanted to be her friend.
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