“I’d like to see it sometime.”
After a millisecond to recover from his surprise, he said, “Sure.” Was it his imagination, or was she hesitating going her separate way?
“Great.” She looked over her shoulder toward the catering truck. “I’m supposed to go cut lemons.”
He gave a single nod. “I’m setting up tables.”
“Maybe I’ll see you around a little later?”
“Maybe.”
She gave him a shy wave and headed toward the truck.
“There you are!” Mrs. Baker’s voice sent the same grinding irritation through him out here in the open air as it did in the classroom.
He forced a pleasant look on his face. “Yes, ma’am.”
As she bustled him off in the direction of the delivery truck, Cole wondered how he could have been so wrong about Becca Reynolds.
Luke had showered and was ready to head into town. He knocked on Analise’s bedroom door. She opened it a crack. He could see she was wrapped in a towel.
“You’re not ready?” Luke asked.
She pressed the towel against her breasts, an unconscious gesture that told Luke just how much distance she’d put between them. “No. But you go on. Dave’s picking Olivia and me up in an hour. We’ll meet you there.”
“Oh.” Here he’d stepped in, offering to get Cole off the hook—which was normally Ana’s forte—and she was busy primping, getting ready to go out with Deputy Dave. “Okay.”
She quickly eased the door closed.
Somehow they’d managed to make it through the week without tripping over blunders created by their single night of intimacy—mainly because they’d worked until they were both exhausted to the bone. When on the job, there was plenty to keep most suggestive thoughts at bay. Which was just as well; neither one of them wanted to hurt Olivia. And no amount of discussion could change the outcome.
Luke paused as he passed Olivia’s bedroom. The door was open a crack. He looked in and saw her lying on her bed, hands folded on her stomach, eyes closed. This had been hard on her, too. With Analise at the job site every day, Olivia had to run the shop single-handedly. He eased back and started to walk softly away.
“Luke?” Olivia called quietly.
He stepped back to the door and pushed it fully open. “Sorry, ma’am, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
She blew a breath between her teeth. “Don’t be silly.” She motioned him forward. “Come here for a minute.”
Stepping in the room, Luke was struck with a memory that hadn’t surfaced in years. He’d been seven years old. His family had been normal then, living in a little house on Maple Street. He’d tiptoed past his parents’ bedroom because his mom and new baby sister were in there napping. His mother had called to him, much as Olivia just had, and drawn him close to her on the bed. She’d kissed the top of his head and said, “Oh, Luke. Your dad and I are the luckiest parents in the world.” She’d hugged him tighter. “I love you and your sisters so much. I couldn’t ask for more.”
Three years later, she left the house—and her children—and never looked back.
That memory had left its mark; Luke couldn’t suppress the tiny seed of dread as he entered Olivia’s bedroom. He stopped a few feet from her bed.
“For heaven’s sake, Luke, come closer. You look like I’m about to boot you out of here.”
Luke’s breath left in a half-huff, half-chuckle. He stepped to the side of her bed and tried to put himself at ease, but the feeling of irreversible change didn’t leave him.
“Now, Ana and I are driving in to the dinner with Dave. But Reverend Hammond is going to be bringing me home. Maybe Ana and Cole could ride home with you. Dave has patrol duty at eleven, I hate to have him hurry to drive them home and report on time.”
“All right.” He waited for her to say more, but she just settled back on the pillows with a whisper of a smile on her face. He was just about to tease her about having her date pick her up at the door like a proper gentleman, when she sighed and closed her eyes.
“I’m tired. Just going to get a little nap.”
She was breathing deeply before he reached the door. He supposed his odd feelings had more to do with his own mother than with anything Olivia might have said to him. Still, as he went down the stairs, that sense that something was about to happen clung to him like cheap perfume.
Chapter 13
By the time Cole saw Luke walking across the courthouse lawn, he’d completely forgotten that Luke had promised to bail him out. The tables and chairs were all set up and Cole was just taping the last of the white paper to the tabletops. He glanced to see how far out of earshot Becca was before he said, “Hey, Luke.”
Luke put his hands on his hips and looked around. “Looks like you’ve got things pretty well set up. Where do I start?”
Cole leaned closer and said in a low voice, “I’ve decided to just stick with it. You don’t need to do anything.”
Luke looked surprised.
“It’s not so bad,” Cole said. “And half of the money is going to the animal shelter.”
Luke tilted his head and raised a brow. “The animal shelter, you say?”
“Yeah. So you can go on. I’ll finish helping Mrs. Baker.”
Becca stopped on her way by with a plastic bag of foam plates. “When you’re done with the table covers, Mrs. Baker needs some help lifting that kettle of green beans.”
Cole glanced quickly from Luke to Becca and back again. The look on Luke’s face said he’d figured out that Cole’s staying had nothing to do with Mrs. Baker or the animal shelter. He said, “Be right there.”
Luke stopped Becca before she went on. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
Oh, man. The quicker he got it done, the sooner Becca and Luke would be out of dangerous proximity. “This is Becca Reynolds. Becca, Luke Boudreau. He was a Ranger with my brother.”
Becca smiled at Luke. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Boudreau.”
The late afternoon sun cast a bronze glow over her skin and the light glinted in fiery sparks off her hair. Cole’s breath got a little tight in his chest.
“Okay, then, see you later,” Cole said, urging her on her way.
“And very nice to meet you, Becca,” Luke said, offering his hand.
Cole shifted nervously from foot to foot. He had no doubt that if Calvin had been here, he would embarrass Cole to death in this situation. He didn’t know what to expect from Luke, so he felt as if he were waiting for a water balloon to be launched at his face.
Becca shifted the bag of plates to her left hand and shook Luke’s hand. Cole watched as her hand practically disappeared in Luke’s big grasp. Why hadn’t he noticed how small she was? She’d always seemed so strong, so sure of herself, that he’d totally missed how delicate she really was.
He realized he was standing there staring when he should be hustling her on her way. He was just about to mention that Mrs. Baker was waiting for those plates when she asked Luke, “Are you going to be staying in Grover long?”
The question recaptured Cole’s interest. He’d been wondering that very thing himself.
Luke said, “Probably not. Just until they find someone else to work at Magnolia Mile.”
She nodded and bit her lip. “Well, I’d better get these over to the serving line. Mrs. Baker is getting the pre-first-serving jitters.” She glanced at Cole. “I’ll see you on break.”
“Yeah.” Cole ducked his head and fiddled with the tape on the table cover, praying Luke wouldn’t make a big deal.
“Guess I’m off the hook, then,” Luke said. “I’m going to stake out a prime table for me and the ladies. Something near the dessert table, I think.”
“See you later.”
“Yeah, later.” Luke’s voice held just a hint of taunting.
Cole ignored it.
Later, just before his break, he noticed Luke, his mom, Ana, Dave and Reverend Hammond laughing at a small picnic table with a mosquito-repellen
t candle flickering in the middle. Ana sat next to Dave, and his mom next to the reverend. Luke was in a folding chair at the end, looking just a little left out. Cole almost reconsidered his plans to take his break with Becca and go sit with him. But, as he’d just begun to form a friendship with her, he didn’t want to ruin it by dumping her—and he sure didn’t want to take her to sit with his mom and Ana and all of their questions.
As he watched, the pastor patted his mom on the shoulder and let his hand stay there—just like guys do when they’re trying to hook up with a girl. He tried to focus on his mom’s face, to see if it made her mad—but she just kept laughing.
Now, that was really weird.
Then it struck him that there was another weird thing tonight. Nobody had asked him about the accident all evening—even with the evidence of it still all over his face. He’d figured, with all these parents here, there would be a bunch of questions and accusing looks. Nobody even seemed to notice his bruises as he cleared away empty plates and piles of rib bones. He didn’t get the feeling that anyone was talking behind his back, either.
“Ready to eat?” Becca said. He hadn’t even heard her walk up.
“Yeah.” He turned to walk with her and realized he was hungry for the first time in a week.
As they chatted long after the ribs were cleared from the table, Luke watched Ana watching Olivia. Every time Olivia leaned her head close to the minister’s in order to share some aside, Analise visibly tensed. He supposed it was natural, her reluctance to see Olivia in a relationship after all these years. The two women had developed a comfortable routine in their lives—without the constant intrusion from men demanding attention. Even so, as much as Ana professed to love Olivia, he thought it slightly selfish to begrudge the woman a loving relationship if one presented itself. And, as Luke watched Reverend Hammond’s solicitous behavior, one certainly seemed to be presenting itself.
In fact, watching the warm friendship and comfortable conversation pass between the two, Luke felt a little stab of envy himself. What would it be like to display so freely his feelings for Analise?
He glanced her way. Dave had maneuvered himself between Luke and Analise when they’d seated themselves at the table. A tactic which Luke kept telling himself was actually a favor; it would be very difficult to sit next to her on that bench, smell her shampoo and watch the reflection of the candlelight in her eyes without behaving like the reverend.
Dave brought Luke out of his tormented musings by saying, “I was talking to Clive Buckley out on Cotton Ridge yesterday. He said that he spotted Roy’s truck down by the river near his place the day before.”
Reverend Hammond’s gray eyes looked truly troubled. “I just can’t understand it. Roy seemed so harmless. I could understand a show of temper—but to throw that rock through Ana’s window . . .” He shook his head. “I’m just more surprised than I can say.”
Dave said, “Well, you should be the one who doesn’t doubt it—after he came crying to you.”
Analise looked at the minister. “Roy came to you?”
Olivia laid a hand on Reverend Hammond’s arm. He absently covered it with his as he said, “Just that first day. I found him sitting in the church.”
Dave added, “Seems the pervert has a thing for you. He told the reverend here that you were tempting him—that’s why he needed to pray.”
Luke stiffened and focused sharply on the minister. He doubted the man would give away much verbally, confidentiality and all, but his body language might fill in the blanks.
Reverend Hammond cleared his throat. “Really, Dave, this isn’t the place. Besides, it wasn’t all as dramatic as you’re—”
“Ha!” Dave leaned his elbows on the table. “He’s got a sexual thing for Analise, backed her into a corner and would have done who knows what if he hadn’t been stopped. Then he sneaks around her house in the dead of night, throwing a rock through her bedroom window. And who knows what he’s done that we don’t know about? No, sir.” He shook his head. “I can’t agree. Man’s a sexual predator. Analise needs protection.”
“Dave! Enough!” Reverend Hammond’s face took on a stern line that Luke had never seen.
Analise said, “Reverend, tell me what he said to you, exactly.”
The man drew in a breath, as if to shake off his frustration with Dave before he answered her. “Everything he said was pretty jumbled up. If I hadn’t just spoken to Olivia about what happened, I might not have been able to piece together what was upsetting him so. He’s just a big child, really.”
Luke said, “But he said something specific about Analise?”
“Of course, I can’t repeat what he told me.” He shot a pointed look at Dave. Luke deduced that Dave had been told something in the confidence of the office, not as a friend of Analise. “The poor man’s confused, but I don’t think it’s sexual perversion. His feelings for Analise frightened him—that’s why he wanted to pray with me. I still can’t see him becoming violent.”
Luke said, “There’s violence in every man, it just takes the right trigger to release it. In this case, Ana’s the trigger.” He wanted them to understand that the man had the ability to inflict harm, whether he consciously had the will to do it or not.
Dave quickly added, “He’s right. And until we’re sure Roy is gone for good, vigilance is the order of the day.”
For the first time since he’d met the man, Luke was in total accordance with the deputy.
At eight-thirty Olivia yawned and said, “I think that’s it for me tonight.” She stood and the reverend helped her step over the bench seat.
Dave started to get up, putting a hand on Analise’s arm to do the same.
Olivia said, “You kids stay. Richard’s going to run me home.”
Richard, is it, now? Analise felt another little prick of resentment.
Olivia didn’t seem to notice. “Analise and Luke can wait for Cole, Dave, so you don’t have to go all the way out to our place again and race back here to report for duty.”
“I really don’t mind—”
Olivia waved a hand in the air. “Oh, I know, you’re such a gentleman. We’ve been enough of an inconvenience to you these past weeks. Luke’s driving out to our place anyhow, no reason for you both to make the drive.”
Luke stood and shook the reverend—Richard’s—hand. Analise put a smile on her face and tried to force her negative thoughts back into the dark closet she’d built for such things long ago. “Liv, I’ll just come with you. I’m pretty wiped myself.”
Olivia looked aghast. “And leave Luke here alone to wait for Cole to be finished? I thought you two could go get a beer while you wait. It’ll make you rest better tonight.”
Analise looked at Luke, trying to sense his reaction. She supposed if Cole was riding home with them, she’d be safe with Luke—that was to say, she’d be safe from her own weakness.
“A beer sounds pretty good to me. How about walking over to the Boxcar while we wait for Cole?”
Olivia said, “That’s a good idea. Lois said the kids should be finished by ten.” She blew Analise a kiss. “Night, love.”
“Good night, Liv.” How could anyone remain aggravated with Olivia for more than two seconds? She watched Olivia leave with Richard, trying with all of her heart to be glad for her mother-in-law. The woman deserved happiness—Analise just couldn’t figure out how that happiness could be brought to such a vivacious woman by a bland man like Richard Hammond.
Luke remained standing, watching them go, too. He had a slight smile on his face and a light in his eye that said he approved of Olivia’s new relationship. Of course, it was easy to welcome such a thing when it didn’t affect his life in any way.
Oh, my gosh! I sound just like those spiteful women who begrudge anyone’s happiness. Is that what the future holds for me . . . resentment and bitterness? I can’t love, so nobody should?
“Ready for that beer?” Luke rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
Analise looke
d at him. He gave so much and asked for so little in return. Why did he stay? Here he’d slaved away all week long, and she hadn’t once thought about something as simple as stocking the refrigerator with beer. “I’ll buy,” she said, getting up and stepping over the bench.
Dave remained seated, focused on rolling a toothpick between his thumb and forefinger.
“Dave, care to join us?” she asked.
He looked up at her as if her question startled him. “Oh, thanks. I don’t drink when I’m going on duty.”
“I didn’t mean you had to have a beer. You sure you don’t want to come?”
“Yep.” He unfolded his long legs from under the table. As skinny as they were, when Analise saw him step over the bench, they reminded her of spider’s legs.
He paused by Luke and stuck the toothpick in his mouth. Leaning close, he said in a low voice, “You make sure those ladies keep their doors locked. Y’hear?”
Luke nodded. “Not to worry. I double-check them myself.”
Dave held Luke’s gaze for a moment, then said, “Good, then.” He turned to Analise and winked. “Night, darlin’.”
“Good night, Dave. And thanks again for the ride.”
He raised a hand over his shoulder in acknowledgment as he walked away.
They found Cole up to his elbows in dishwater in the catering truck.
“Hey, there,” Analise called in the open rear door. “How are those dishpan hands?”
Cole laughed and held up two sudsy hands. “I’m going to need a gallon of lotion when I get done here.”
“We’re just going over to the Boxcar for a drink. We’ll be back here by ten to take you home.”
“Oh, um, Mrs. Baker said she’d give us a ride home when we’re finished. She wants to take us to the Dixie for sundaes.”
“You’re sure she wants to drive all the way out to Magnolia Mile?”
“It’s not that far from her place.”
“All right.” She started to leave, then stopped. “Cole?”
He looked back up from his work. “Huh?”
“I’m proud of you. I know this wasn’t your idea of a fun Friday night.”
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