The Soldier and the Single Mom

by Lee Tobin McClain

  And the idea of a mystery sparked another thought. “I wonder if we could also look at Miss Minnie’s old materials about the house,” she said. “We might find answers there. And we might find some stuff that would make awesome decorations for the guesthouse. We can have cases and shadow boxes. Guests will love knowing more about the history of the place.”

  He was looking at her, smiling. “You don’t do things halfway, do you?”

  She flushed. “Just stop me. I’m getting carried away again.”

  “No need to stop. I like it.”

  High-pitched barking from the ground broke their gaze. Spike, wanting attention.

  “Hey, buster, don’t be jealous,” Buck said to the concerned little dog. And then to Gina: “Meet me here after Bobby’s asleep?” He touched her hair, pulled his hand back with a wry grin and then disappeared up the stairs, Spike trotting behind him.

  * * *

  When the doorbell rang around eight o’clock that night, Buck was knee-deep in plaster supplies, but he wiped his hands off and tried to get downstairs before whoever it was rang again. This was about the time Gina put Bobby down, and Buck didn’t want to wake him up.

  Didn’t want anything to interfere with their plans for later. Idiot that he was.

  But when he got there, Gina was already at the door.

  She listened, opened the door to take a business card and then opened the door wider to let the person in.

  Danny Walker.

  Local banker and resident womanizer.

  “Come on in the kitchen,” she said. “We can talk in here.” She led him toward the kitchen, only belatedly noticing Buck standing there in the hallway, clothes a mess compared to Danny’s nice suit.

  “Hey!” Danny held out a hand and pumped Buck’s. “I heard you were living here, working on the place. That’s just great, what you and Lacey are doing here.”

  “Thanks. What’s up?” In his not-that-friendly voice was the question Why are you here?

  “Got some business to talk over with Gina here,” he said easily.

  Buck cocked his head.

  Gina lifted an eyebrow at him. Her message was plain: not your affair.

  And she was right. It wasn’t. He stomped back upstairs and applied plaster with extra energy, then did some repairs downstairs until, finally, he heard Danny leave.

  It took him about thirty seconds to think of an excuse to go into the kitchen. And then he wished he hadn’t, because Gina was smiling.

  “What did he want?” he asked.

  “He wants my business,” she explained happily. “He’d heard about my interest in possibly starting an interior-decorating place, and he wanted to talk about loans and options.”

  Buck frowned skeptically. “Do you really think it was your business he was after at eight at night?”

  “What else?” She looked puzzled.

  “Maybe...to hit on you? You’re a beautiful woman.”

  Gina didn’t seem to love the compliment. “So the only thing I have going for me is my looks? Nobody would want my ideas or my creativity or the work I can do?”

  “I didn’t mean that. It’s just... I know Walker. He has a track record.”

  “Thanks a lot for undermining my confidence.” Gina shoved back her chair and started noisily putting dishes away. “He was totally respectful and businesslike. I’m meeting him for coffee next week to talk more about it.”

  “There you go. He was after a date and he got it.”

  “It is not a date! Every outing isn’t a date!” She came closer and stuck her finger in his chest. “And what’s more, I don’t appreciate your stomping around upstairs, or pounding nails in the next room, when I’m trying to have a business meeting!”

  It had been obvious, then. And even though he knew that Danny wouldn’t have called on a homely woman with such alacrity, he still felt bad. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m jealous.”

  She’d turned away with a flounce, but at his words, she spun back. “Jealous? Of what?”

  Now he was truly and deeply in it. He studied the toe of his work boot, scraped it across the floor. “Of a guy who might be hitting on you. Wanting to date you.”

  “We’ve already discussed how nothing can happen between us, Buck!” She crossed her arms over her chest, looking exasperated. “So even if I did want to go out with this Danny guy—which I don’t—I don’t see where you’d have a leg to stand on, being jealous.”

  “I know,” he said miserably. “It’s true. I’m sorry.”

  She had opened her mouth to say something, but now she shut it. “You’re sorry?”

  “I was wrong,” he added. “I shouldn’t have come in here or asked you anything about it. Or banged around while you were talking to him.”

  She laughed and rolled her eyes. “When you apologize so well, how can I stay mad at you?”

  It was like the sun came out again. “So, you still up for hunting treasure?”

  “As soon as Lacey gets home, as long as she agrees to keep an ear open for Bobby. He shouldn’t wake up—he was exhausted, but there’s always a first time. She can call me and we won’t be far away.”

  Lacey came in the door just then, wearing scrubs, looking tired. “Hey,” she said, waving to them. “You two look like you’re up to something.”

  Gina explained about the journal and showed it to Lacey, quickly explaining their quest. Watching them together, Buck was guardedly optimistic. Lacey seemed to have come around to where she liked Gina, and she was doing better with Bobby, paying him a little bit of attention, giving in to his cute ways.

  And now Lacey said she was willing to listen for Bobby, even asking Gina to put her baby monitor in her room. “Because I’m just grabbing a sandwich and going to bed. I want to make sure I hear him.”

  So the women organized that while Buck got cleaned up. He and Gina both emerged from their rooms at the same time, and Buck was absurdly pleased that she’d put on a pretty skirt and sweater. He’d worn khakis himself, something different from his usual scrubs and jeans.

  All of a sudden, holding the door for her and walking down the porch steps beside her, Buck felt like he was on a date. Even after all their discussions to the contrary.

  They strolled through the darkened downtown, gently lit by old-fashioned streetlights. There was a March chill in the air, belying the day’s earlier springlike weather. A family headed into the Chatterbox Café. Someone emerged from Love’s Hardware, and then the illuminated sign clicked off.

  Gina shivered and pulled her jacket tighter, and Buck wanted to put an arm around her and pull her close. Wanted it so much that he pressed his arm tight against his side to make sure he didn’t slip up and do it.

  When they passed the Ace Tavern, it served to remind him of why he shouldn’t make any move toward a relationship with Gina.

  As they got to the edge of the town, traffic thinned out, pedestrian and vehicular. Finally they reached the Rescue River sign, on a little garden spot with a bench and some bushes, and Buck pulled out the canvas bag of gardening tools he’d brought.

  “I remember when I first saw this sign,” Gina said. “It seemed like a fantasy, that I’d ever be welcome and safe. But I do feel that way now.”

  “I’m glad,” he said and risked taking her hand to tug her over to the bench. “We’d better wait until full dark. I doubt digging up the ground around the town’s welcome sign is smiled upon.”

  She hesitated and then sat down beside him, and this time, he couldn’t resist putting an arm along the back of the park bench. It was there, for her to lean into or not.

  She did, and nothing felt so natural as to tighten his arm around her.

  They sat and talked as the stars peeked out and the moon rose, its silvery light casting shadows. When she shivered, he pulled her ti
ghter against him, but the way her closeness tugged at his heart, the confusing little sigh she let out, made that seem like a bad idea. “We should dig,” he said, forcing briskness into his tone. “We don’t have all night. You’ll get frostbite.”

  She laughed but stood and walked around, looking at the little plot of land. “If I were hiding a romantic memento, I’d hide it...here.”

  “Under the sign?”

  “Yep. According to Miss Minnie, there was always a little garden here, welcoming people to town.”

  “But the sign wasn’t here back in the day,” he argued, just for the sake of talking to her, hearing her voice. He knelt down where she’d indicated, though, pulled out a shovel and started to dig.

  “It should be under the rosebush, if that’s a rosebush,” she said. “Are you finding anything?”

  “I don’t... Wait. I’m hitting something, but it’s probably just a rock.”

  He dug a little more and was about to pull a giant stone out when headlights illuminated them.

  Gina clutched his shoulder and he stood quickly, stepping in front of her. Adrenaline surged in him, but not the crazy kind. This was Rescue River, not Afghanistan.

  “Not the criminals I expected.” It was Dion’s deep voice. Behind him was his black-and-white police car.

  “Hey, man.” Buck reached out to grasp the chief’s hand. “Thanks for not using the siren on us.”

  “What are you two doing?”

  “We’re trying to solve a mystery,” Buck explained. “Show him the diary, Gina.”

  She fumbled in her purse and brought it out, encased in a large plastic bag, and they took turns telling the big police chief an abbreviated version of the story it contained.

  Dion shone his light down on the book, looking thoughtful. Then he turned the flashlight on the hole Buck was digging. “You find anything?”

  “We thought we might find the ring her sister hid. It was supposed to be among the roses.” He shook his head. “Hit something down there, but I’m pretty sure it’s a rock.”

  “Are we in trouble?” Gina asked at the same moment.

  Dion chuckled. “As crimes go, this isn’t the worst. I might let you off with a warning if you fill up the hole all nice.”

  “You never heard about anything hidden here?”

  Dion frowned. “I’ve been in Rescue River a long time. I’ve heard a few things, but not about here.”

  “Where, then?”

  He studied them thoughtfully as if trying to decide whether to tell them. Finally, he nodded. “You ever been to the old cemetery?”

  “The one by the church? That’s the only one I know about,” Buck said.

  “No. There’s another one. I’ll show you.”

  After they’d filled in the hole and replaced the sod, Dion drove them out one of the country roads to a tumbledown church. Behind it was an overgrown yard with multiple depressions and a few stones. “This is a cemetery?” Gina asked, stepping closer to Buck.

  “It’s the AME cemetery,” he said. “Not used anymore, but some folks still have kin buried here. And look.” He led them across the rutted ground and to a stone bench that backed up against the woods. “Know what that is?” he asked, touching a tangle of vines that grew as tall as he was.

  Buck shook his head.

  “Is it...a rosebush?” Gina guessed.

  “That’s exactly what it is. I wonder if what’s referred to in your journal is buried here.”

  Buck studied the bench and the bush. “Could be.”

  “Have a look around, but don’t dig. We don’t want to disturb anyone’s remains.”

  Gina knelt in front of the little bench, looking at the rosebush, its buds just starting to come out. “What a lot of history is here,” she whispered, touching the carving there.

  Dion shone his powerful flashlight on a couple of stones next to the bench.

  “‘A friend loves at all times,’” Buck read from one of them. “Proverbs 17:17.”

  “Look at this,” Gina said, kneeling to trace the inscription on a nearby headstone. “Minerva Cobbs. She didn’t write her last name in the diary, but could this be her grave? How many Minervas could there be in a town the size of Rescue River?”

  “Are there dates?”

  “No. And if this is her grave, she didn’t change her name to Abraham’s.” Gina bit her lip. “I did an online search for Minerva Falcon and nothing came up. I really wonder what happened.”

  They looked around a little while longer but didn’t find a ring or anything else that would help fill in the blanks of the story, a story Buck was getting curious about himself. Or maybe he just wanted to keep that interested sparkle in Gina’s eyes. “How are we going to find out the rest of it?” he asked her.

  “Talk to the old folks,” Gina said promptly. “They’re more likely than anyone to know. Are you in?”

  Dion raised an eyebrow, his mouth quirking a little at one corner.

  “I’m all in,” Buck said. Right or wrong, he wanted to spend every moment he could with this woman. Every moment he had before leaving town.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next week went by in a flurry of renovations. They worked hard to get the first floor ready for the Freedom Festival, and when the Monday before the festival arrived, Gina could look around the guesthouse and feel assured that what she’d promised Lacey would come to pass. They’d be ready.

  She and Buck had postponed their meeting with Mr. Love and Miss Minnie, but this morning, as they returned from dropping Bobby at Angelica’s place, they settled on the next day.

  “Should we take them out to lunch?” Gina asked. “I know Miss Minnie likes to go to the café.”

  Buck turned down the road into town. “If we want to look at Miss Minnie’s materials, maybe we should meet at the Senior Towers.”

  “Great. If you can pick up Mr. Love, we’ll meet there right after lunch.” They were driving through downtown. “Speaking of the Chatterbox, can you drop me off there?”

  “Sure.” He pulled up beside the place, and Gina told herself she didn’t need to provide Buck with an accounting of her day, where she was going or whom she was with.

  At the same time, they’d gotten in a rhythm of working together. “This shouldn’t take long,” she said, “and I’ll be back at the house to work on that crown molding.”

  “Take your time,” he said, his voice expressionless. “There’s your breakfast date, right there.”

  “It’s not a date!” She gathered her purse and briefcase and slid out of the truck without waiting for Buck to get the door for her. Nonetheless, he got out and stood beside the truck, for all the world like a protective father. She rolled her eyes.

  “Gina!” Danny greeted her happily. “Come on—I’ve got us a table.” He nodded at Buck and escorted Gina inside, a hand on the small of her back.

  When Buck did that, she liked it. But when Danny did it, it felt...creepy. She walked faster to get some distance from his touch.

  As they sat down to discuss more details about a possible loan, Gina felt uneasy. Why did Danny need to meet with her again? And why were they doing it at a restaurant instead of at the bank?

  She didn’t have much experience with men; she’d been awkward in school, and then soon afterward she’d gotten attached to Hank. She wasn’t the flirtatious, frequent-dating type. So she couldn’t tell what vibe Danny was putting out. Did he want to date her? Couldn’t he read her lack of interest in him?

  As she got out her notes and ordered coffee, she cast a glance in the direction where Buck had roared off and frowned. Why had he put this insecurity into her head? Why couldn’t he accept that women could be businesspeople, meeting with other businesspeople? That it wasn’t always about dating?

  “We’re really look
ing forward to working with you,” Danny said after their coffee had arrived. “Have you thought any more about what your business might entail? Had the chance to look at any storefronts?”

  “Not really, Danny. I’ve been totally occupied with getting Lacey’s house ready for the festival.”

  “How’s that going?” he asked, and she told him about what they were doing. “That’s great, great,” he said. “But let’s focus on your business as soon as that’s over.”

  She frowned. “Can I ask why you’re so interested in working with me? I’m not a high-capital investor, believe me.”

  “Oh, we like to help small-business people in Rescue River. It’s a community outreach kind of thing. Keeping the downtown strong.”

  She nodded, studying him without making it obvious. He just didn’t seem sincere. “I have to give all of it some thought.”

  She wished Buck were here so she could ask him his opinion, learn more about Danny’s background. If only he weren’t so touchy about her having coffee with another man! With concern, she realized that Buck was the person she most trusted right now, most wanted to share the details of her life with, big and small.

  When did that happen?

  “You’re staying in town, though, right? You’ll be here through the festival and beyond?” He looked so eager that, against her better judgment, she was flattered. Even though she wasn’t going to pursue a relationship with him, it was nice to have a man show interest.

  “I’m planning to stay, at least for a while,” she said. “Rescue River is a wonderful place. So warm and safe and welcoming.”

  An odd expression flashed across his face and then was gone. “Right,” he said smoothly. “Rescue River is a safe place.”

  And as they parted ways, she wondered again why Danny was so interested in her business, even though she’d been open about the fact that she didn’t know how long she’d be able to stay.

  * * *

  That afternoon, Buck drove Gina out to pick up Bobby in a thoughtful mood. As he waited for them in the truck and then headed back to Rescue River, he considered his own progress.