Home to Sparrow Lake (Harlequin Heartwarming)

by Lynn Patrick

  She let herself enjoy the moment as she followed him up the five steps to the door.

  He rang the bell.

  Movement at the corner of her eye made Kristen start. A silver-haired woman was staring through parted curtains out the window. Kristen raised the container of food to show her. The curtain closed, and a moment later, the door opened.

  “A couple!” the woman exclaimed. “Well, that’s a first. Is that Kristen Lange?”

  “It is, Mrs. Gerber. Good to see you again.”

  “You, too.” Mrs. Gerber looked from Kristen to Alex. “Aren’t you two cute together!”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Alex said politely. “Would you like me to carry the food to your kitchen?”

  “Nah, Herman needs the exercise.” The woman turned to yell, “Herman get off that couch and come get lunch!” Then she turned back to the porch and gave Kristen and Alex a sweet smile that made her face look like crumpled paper. “Herman and I have been married for sixty-three years. How long have you two been together?”

  “About an hour.” Amused by the woman’s mistake, Kristen explained, “We’re not a couple.”

  “Oh, really? You have that look about you. Doesn’t she, Alice?” she asked, as a silver-haired look-alike—her sister—stepped next to her.

  “What look, Betsy?”

  “Like they’re a couple in love.” Betsy yelled again, “Herman!”

  “Coming! Give a guy a minute, would you?”

  The two women beamed at them until Kristen started to grow uncomfortable. She was thankful when Herman finally came to the door. Completely bald, he looked at them out of rheumy eyes.

  “I’ll take those,” he said gruffly as Alex handed him his boxes and Kristen put hers on top. “New delivery people, huh?” He didn’t seem to recognize either of them. “Thanks. Real nice of you.”

  With that, he turned and shuffled away.

  “Yes, thank you both,” Alice said.

  “I still think you two belong togeher,” Betsy added, making Kristen practically run back to the patrol car.

  She slid into her seat and pretended interest in the list when Alex opened the driver’s door and got behind the wheel.

  “Quite the characters, aren’t they?” he said.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Are you uncomfortable?”

  Though heat surged up Kristen’s neck, she said, “No, of course not. Why would I be?”

  “Why, indeed?” Alex murmured, as he started the engine.

  Kristen gave him the next address, then said, “I wonder how old they are.”

  “Depends on how young they were when they married. Could be mid-eighties. Herman looks older.”

  “Sixty-three years. That’s amazing. I’ve never met a couple who’ve been together that long before. Relationships usually don’t last.”

  “It all depends on the couple. My parents have been together nearly forty years. You just need to find the right person.”

  “Well, that’s the trick, isn’t it?” She’d thought Jason was the right guy for her and look how wrong she’d been. “People can fool you.”

  Feeling Alex’s questioning stare, Kristen looked away from him out the side window. She didn’t want to talk about the man who’d disappointed her, who’d ditched her when things got rough, so she was relieved when Alex didn’t press her.

  She checked her watch. Good grief, she’d been gone for nearly an hour already, and she hadn’t even called her sister to tell her what was up. Heather had seen Alex haul her off, though, so it wasn’t as if she’d just disappeared. She left her cell where it was. Explanations could wait until she got back to the store.

  The final few deliveries went faster than she’d expected. Alex kept the conversation on general topics about the town. Then he headed the patrol car back toward Sew Fine, and Kristen girded herself to be tormented by Heather. Undoubtedly her sister would have her own suppositions about Alex’s arresting her.

  *

  TO KRISTEN’S SURPRISE, the moment she walked into the store, she was attacked by a five-year-old ball of energy dressed in bright yellow.

  “Aunt Kristen!” Addison said, wrapping her arms around Kristen’s legs. Her blond hair was poking in every direction around her beaming face.

  Kristen tweaked her niece’s ponytail. “Hey, Addison, I thought you and Taylor were at day camp.” Fortunately, Heather had been able to enroll both girls all day, five days a week.

  Addison let go of Kristen and gave her a big, big sigh. Her expression turned serious and her blue eyes held a touch of sympathy. “Taylor told a boy to stop bothering her and then she punched him and Mommy had to come get us. Mommy gave her a timeout.” She pointed to the back of the store.

  Indeed, Taylor sat in a chair, arms folded over her little purple-clad chest. Her expression was stormy and she was kicking her legs in the air.

  “Oh, dear, how long is the timeout?”

  Addison shrugged. “She got up twice, so Mommy finally told her to sit there until she had permission to get up or there would be consequences.”

  Kristen bit the inside of her lip to keep from smiling. The twins were always so dramatic. And naughty. Especially Taylor, who was the little leader of the duo. They were also sweet and loving.

  Seeing her sister coming toward them, Kristen thought how lucky she was to have the girls.

  “Uh-oh, here comes Mommy,” Addison sing-songed while slinking away.

  “So you’re back,” Heather said. “Finally. Have a nice lunch?”

  Kristen’s stomach growled. “Um, I never had a chance to eat.”

  “What in the world were you doing all that time? Did Alex really arrest you?”

  “You wouldn’t believe what we were doing.”

  “That good, huh?” Before Kristen could deny anything had gone on between her and Alex, Heather said, “I need to ask you for a favor. Taylor is being impossible today. I think she might be coming down with a little cold. I can’t keep the twins here.” Her gaze zeroed in on her mobile daughter, who was running through an aisle of fabric, touching each bolt as she went. “Addison, honey, walk please.” She turned back to Kristen. “I’ve just been waiting for you to return so I can take them home.”

  Heather looked beat, Kristen thought, even as she asked, “If you go, who is going to be in charge?”

  “You, of course. Unless you want to call Aunt Margaret in to work.”

  “No, no, let’s not bother her.” Kristen’s stomach did a little somersault. “I can ring up purchases, but I don’t know how to help customers find what they want.”

  “Gloria is here now. Louise will be here shortly. Whatever you can do to help them will be fine. And if you have a problem, just call me.”

  “Okay.” Hopefully there wouldn’t be a problem and everything would go smoothly.

  “Thanks.” Heather sighed and waved Addison over. “Let’s go get Taylor.”

  “Bye, Aunt Kristen.” Addison held her arms up for a hug.

  Kristen pulled the little girl to her and kissed her cheek. Then Addison ran off ahead of Heather to her twin.

  “C’mon, we’re going home!”

  “No! I wanna stay here!”

  “Taylor, you have a choice,” Heather said in an unbelievably calm voice. “You can either stay here until tomorrow morning, or you can home with us and relax with your stuffed animals. Which do you want to do? It’s your choice.”

  Surprised by her sister’s ultimatum—would Heather actually leave the store without Taylor?—Kristen waited as the little girl thought it over, kicked her legs, then stood up. Apparently, Heather knew exactly how to handle the twins. Then again, Kristen had always known her sister was a great mom.

  As they left by the back door, Heather waved with a relieved expression. Her sister had too much responsibility for a twenty-three-year-old, Kristen thought. If only Scott hadn’t died in Iraq. Heather and Scott had been crazy about each other from the first time they’d met in high school. Heather had been a fre
shman, Scott a junior. By the time Heather had learned she was pregnant, Scott was in the Army. They’d gotten married just a week before he’d been shipped off to Iraq. He’d come home from his first tour, but unfortunately, he’d been sent back, never to return.

  Kristen thought about her short-lived discussion about relationships with Alex. Even when two people were madly in love and right for each other, there were no guarantees for the future.

  *

  “I HAVE A PLAN,” Brian said. “You know that big old house with the wraparound porch and the gigantic garden a block east of Main Street?”

  “Sure do,” answered Andy Eccles, a grin splitting his freckled face.

  Brian walked along the lake path with his buddies as they did every chance they could late at night. He’d sneaked out after Aunt Margaret and Kristen had gone to bed.

  The biggest of the boys, tall with a little extra bulk around the middle from too much food and general lack of activity, Matt Stapleton asked, “You mean the one with the stupid garden statues?” He shuffled along, puffing, as if just walking was too much of an exertion for him.

  “A bazillion of them.” Matt’s complete opposite, Andy danced as if hip-hop music played constantly in his head under that mop of curly red hair. He was a scrawny kid, and his raggedy clothes threatened to fall off him.

  “What if we move them around?” Brian mused. “You know, like put the deer statues on the other side of the house. And take all those rabbits and frogs and squirrels out of the garden and put them in a big circle on the flattest part of the lawn. What do you think, guys?”

  In reality, the idea was as stupid as most of the pranks they’d pulled. Not that they’d actually harmed anyone’s property.

  As usual, both boys were looking to him for guidance. Andy and Matt were both about to be seniors in high school. They were practically the only kids around this summer that he knew from before he got moved to California because of his stepfather’s job. For whatever reason, the duo saw him as a leader, and he liked the feeling of having some say in things again. No one else had listened to his opinions in the past four years.

  “Woo-oo!” Andy danced some more. “What are we waiting for?”

  They set off toward Main Street, Andy making sounds as if he was singing. More like howling, Brian thought. As usual, Matt followed—he was highly influenced by his much smaller friend and didn’t seem to have a brain of his own.

  Then again, Brian knew he was acting like he didn’t have a brain, either. He didn’t care, though. He had no one to impress but these jugheads. Mom wasn’t here and his sisters and aunt didn’t seem to see him for who he was. Well, maybe Kristen, at least a little. When she had asked him to take charge of phoned-in orders at the store, he’d felt as if someone needed him.

  Too bad it was too little, too late.

  The big old corner house came into sight. Brian stopped and held his hand up so the others would stop, too.

  “Make sure no one’s watching first.”

  “Who’s gonna be watching at one in the morning?” Andy asked.

  Matt added. “Don’t see no one.”

  Neither did Brian.

  “Okay,” he whispered, moving forward. “Let’s do it, but quietly!”

  They crossed the street and went straight to the middle of the yard alongside the house where a family of metal deer stood guard. The deer were fairly heavy. Andy grunted as he tried to budge one.

  “Matt and I can move these,” Brian said. “Why don’t you go get those rabbits out of the garden?”

  He and Matt combined forces to lift the big buck and carry it around to the other side of the house. They went back to get the doe, carrying her together, as well, and then returned to each pick up one of the much smaller fawns.

  When Brian noticed Andy standing in the middle of the garden, his back to them, not moving anything, he hesitated. “Andy,” he whispered, “you okay?”

  Andy nodded but didn’t say anything.

  With the weirdest feeling crawling down his spine, Brian left the fawn and walked over to see what was going on with his scrawny friend who had gone past the flower bed and into the vegetable garden. Coming around to one side, Brian saw that Andy was stuffing something in his mouth. Then Andy bent over and twisted a tomato off the plant in front of him.

  He was eating? Now?

  “Andy, what are you doing?” he whispered frantically. “The longer we stay here, the more likely we’ll get caught!”

  “Okay, okay!”

  But Andy didn’t move out of the vegetable patch. He stuffed the tomato in a pocket and grabbed another and a couple of green peppers, as well. He shoved one in his pocket, the other in his mouth. Brian wondered how he could do that without washing the vegetable first. Yuck!

  Andy picked up a rabbit statue and carried it to the flat, open part of the lawn. In the meantime, having moved the remaining fawns, Matt hurried over and started moving the smaller animals, letting Andy tell him where to place them. They arranged the sculptures in circles beginning with rabbits on an inside ring, moving to frogs, then squirrels. They also placed a few geese on the outside, their heads looking at the center.

  Andy chortled. “Hey, this is like a crop circle. They’ll think aliens were here.”

  Brian had to grin. Andy must have seen one of those TV specials about mysterious events. He found a big, dumb-looking garden gnome and placed it in the center of the circle. “And this is their leader.”

  Brian didn’t miss the fact that Andy finished the pepper, went back to the vegetable garden and pulled a zucchini from the vine and started chomping on that.

  What was wrong with him? How could Andy eat so much so late at night? How could he eat so much and stay so skinny? And why was he so into vegetables when most guys would rather have a juicy burger?

  It was then it hit Brian. Andy was hungry. Not normally hungry, but ravenous, as if he hadn’t eaten for days. Was that why Andy’s clothes were falling off him? Because he didn’t have enough to eat? He’d never said anything about being hungry before. He had parents. At least Brian thought he did.

  Realizing they were done moving the lawn ornaments around, he whispered, “Good job! Let’s get out of here.”

  He’d have to find out what was going on with Andy. Aunt Margaret’s refrigerator was always full….

  They were barely off the property when Brian heard a vehicle coming down the street. He looked back. A black-and-white.

  “Cops!” He was already running. “Don’t follow me!” he ordered the others. “Go in different directions!”

  He sped down the sidewalk as fast as he could go, aware that the cruiser behind him had picked up speed. He feinted to the right, ran across a lawn and headed for the backyard.

  When he heard a deep male voice shout, “Stop right there!” he panicked and looked for a place to hide.

  A car door slammed. At the back of the property now, knowing the cop was after him, Brian took off down the alley.

  Where to hide?

  He couldn’t get caught. Couldn’t go to jail.

  Halfway down the alley, his chest twisting into a tight knot, he spotted a small stand of trees pressed up against a four-foot-tall picket fence. He didn’t stop to think, simply slowed and hopped onto the fence, then grabbed a low branch and hauled himself up into a maple tree. He climbed a bit higher into the canopy and flattened himself against the trunk.

  The slap-slap of leather on pavement followed. The cop slowed and stopped just yards away. Brian swallowed hard. He didn’t dare breathe. Didn’t dare move. This wasn’t just any cop after him. Even with only the moon as light, he recognized the guy.

  The police chief.

  His heart was beating so hard that surely Chief Novak could hear it. But the man below looked around, muttered something in a low voice and backed off.

  Brian didn’t breathe again until he heard the cop’s footsteps fade away.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “MRS. GRANT CALLED first thing,” Janet
said when Alex walked into the office the next morning. “Apparently our pranksters were up to no good again. They moved her lawn ornaments all over the place.”

  “Yeah, I figured.”

  Before Janet could ask him to explain, he went back to the break area to find Owen pouring himself a cup of coffee. Though it was Saturday, the citizens of Sparrow Lake still needed protecting. The officers took turns working a weekend a month, and Alex almost always checked on things. At least, when he wasn’t fishing.

  “Hey, Alex, what’s up?” Owen asked.

  “Nothing good.”

  “Ah, you heard about Mrs. Grant’s garden bunnies.”

  “I didn’t just hear about them,” Alex said, pouring coffee into a mug. “I almost caught one of the pranksters last night.”

  “Who?”

  “Brian Lange. Fast kid. He got away from me.”

  “So you want me to go to the house and pick him up?”

  “No. The thing is, I didn’t see him do anything.” Alex took a slug. Exhausted from the last week of prowling around town late at night, looking for the gang of three, he needed to mainline that coffee to wake up. “I spotted them a couple of houses away from the Grant place. But they split up and ran. After I lost Brian, I went back and realized that those deer Mrs. Grant loves were on the wrong side of her property. I figured that’s what they’d been up to. I just can’t prove it.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “The only thing I can do.” The one thing that was going to ruin what he finally had going with Kristen. “I’ve already tried talking to Margaret Becker about her nephew, but she circumvented the conversation by telling me what a great help he was to her. She had nothing but praise for him, so I knew she didn’t want to hear it. I’ll have to talk to the person in that family who doesn’t seem to run on emotion. I’m going to talk to his sister.”

  “Oh, you mean the one you hauled in here last week?” Owen asked with a knowing smile.

  “The same.”

  “She’s not going to like it, either.”

  “No, but I think she’ll listen.”