Max leaned back in her seat and folded her arms. If looks could kill, Skye would be one dead woman right now. “A single man? You better not be trying to play cupid. Again.”
Skye’s eyebrows lifted as she placed one hand over her chest. “Who, me? I’d never.” Her eyes surveyed Max up and down. “You could use a little romance in your life. You work too damn hard.”
That indeed was a statement that thirty-year-old Max couldn’t deny. She did work hard. So much she barely had time for herself, let alone another failed attempt at a love life. Nonetheless, she was perfectly happy spending the little free time she had in her pajamas, curled up with a book boyfriend. And with Winterfest and the annual Treasure Hunt in full bloom, it looked like even time alone with a good book would be an item she’d add to her wish list.
Max dunked a piece of fish in a bowl of the restaurant’s signature tartar sauce. “You know very well I have no time for a relationship. Especially this time of year.”
“Hmm. This is the time of year when you should make time for romance. No one likes to spend the holidays alone. Besides, you’re the mayor of Fortune’s Bay. How in the world will you be able to continue to convince folks this is a true-love blooming town if the Head Honcho has yet to find love?”
That song’s been played over and over and Max was ready to put a much needed off switch on it.
“Well, Destiny The Ghost takes care of all the convincing on her own.” She raised her glass and took a small sip of wine. “Anyway, tell me more about my new neighbor.”
Skye’s face lit up. “Stick around a little while and you’ll get to meet him. I’ve asked him to come here to sign his final documents.”
Max instinctively patted her hair and reached into her purse to grab a compact. “He’s coming here?” She surveyed her appearance in the mirror, applying a scant coat of foundation to her lightly-freckled face. “Um, great!”
Skye chuckled at the sight of her BFF sizing herself up at her reflection. “You look fine, Maxine Parker. Besides, what are you worried about? You’ve got no time for a love life, remember?” She winked, raising her glass of wine as if to give a toast to her own mirthful remark.
About an hour later, Max yawned and looked at her watch. “It’s getting late, Skye. I guess I should probably head home. I suppose I’ll meet my new neighbor another time? Maybe I’ll find time to bake some Christmas cookies and walk it over to him as a welcome gesture.” She laughed at her own cynicism, knowing damn well she would never be the baking type.
Skye glanced at her phone. “It’s not even seven o’clock yet, Max. Besides, he texted about thirty minutes ago saying he had some sort of report to fill out. I’m sure he’ll be here in a—” Skye stopped herself as her wide-eyed gaze shifted their attention to something.
“Hey there, I’m sorry about being late. I had a lot of citations to process,” said a very familiar-sounding voice.
Max spun around in her seat and practically died. “You?” she griped and immediately flashed an unforgiving glare at Skye. “This is my new neighbor? The wanna-be deputy who issued me that fake ticket?”
“Wanna-be deputy? Lady, maybe you should learn some basic traffic laws. And did you just say neighbor?” He grabbed a chair, plopped down beside Max and stared. “Jeez, this day just gets better and better.”
Skye’s lips flattened as she looked at her best friend and then at the deputy. “Well, this is awkward.”
“You think?” Max and the deputy babbled in complete, yet odd unison.
With the chair scraping the floor as she rose, Max announced, “Look, I’m leaving. It’s been a long day and the last thing I want to do is spend the rest of my relaxing evening with…what’s your name again?”
“Bret Hartley.” A smirk found its way to the corners of his lips. “Be sure you make complete stops at all of those big red stop signs on your way home. Three. Whole. Seconds. Could have saved yourself a ticket had you counted to three this morning,” he said, sarcasm blooming out of him.
Max stood tall with folded arms and a raised chin. “Deputy Hartley, please meet me tomorrow morning at City Hall. 10 a.m. sharp. Expect a meeting about the state of your employment here in Fortune’s Bay.”
Bret’s eyebrows furrowed. “Excuse me? I work tomorrow morning. I won’t have time to meet you anywhere—let alone City Hall. Besides, what the heck do you have to do with my employment? My boss is the sheriff. Not you, lady.”
Max couldn’t help but grin as she leaned over her chair. “The sheriff is my father. And I, sir, am the mayor.” She straightened her suit jacket, pivoted, and slowly walked out. The gratifying image of the deputy’s dropped jaw was enough to keep her smiling all the way home. And into the night.
The next morning Max couldn’t seem to get to her office fast enough, more than ready to face Deputy Hartley. She would have fired him herself, except as the mayor, she was only in charge of city employees, not county employees. After calling her dad to request he meet her this morning, she was certain he’d be more than happy to rid his team of an overzealous badge-brandishing bully.
It was 9 a.m. by the time Max arrived to City Hall. As she bolted past her secretary’s desk, Cindy shouted out just as Max opened the door to her office, “Madam Mayor there’s a D—”
Only Cindy’s would-be warning came all too late.
Sitting in Max’s office was Deputy Hartley.
Wonderful.
He eased out of the chair while simultaneously delivering a cocky “Madam Mayor,” in a tone that was as sharp as a porcupine’s quills.
Finding it difficult to spit out even a single word, Max swallowed the emerging lump in her throat, and surmised a simple nod was a worthy response.
The deputy who annoyed the hell out of her yesterday, looked quite different today. He wasn’t in the standard deputy-issued uniform. Dress slacks, dress shoes, and a muscle-enhancing polo shirt caught Max’s eye. Then she noticed a badge hanging around his neck and a belt that holstered a gun and handcuffs.
How did he become so dreamy-looking in less than twenty-four hours? Max thought to herself as visions of him using those handcuffs in a far more playful manner floated around in her mind like weightless dandelions.
As she quick-stepped it across the room to park her briefcase and purse on top of her desk, Max took a stab at trying to speak. “You’re early,” she managed, albeit through a shaky tone that did nothing to ease the nervous feeling she was desperately trying to keep at bay.
Now standing in front of her desk, Bret dropped into one of the chairs. “Early is the new on time. At least where I come from, anyway.” He dished that same victory-scorched grin he cooked up yesterday.
Max lowered herself into her chair and crossed her legs. “And where do you come from, exactly? An uncharted island where a three-second rule you quote is applicable in every circumstance conceivable?”
Bret slapped his knee and let out a wise-cracking cackle. “Just what do you mean by every circumstance conceivable?”
Annoyance flaring, Max drummed her nails on the desk as her mouth set in a hard line. She studied the deputy sitting before her and quickly decided his good looks were not enough to compensate for his cocky-as-heck demeanor.
“Why are you not in uniform? I thought you said you had to work today,” she asked, now changing the subject.
“What makes you think this is not my uniform?”
“Because you’re obviously not wearing your county-issued deputy uniform.”
Bret opened his mouth to begin a reply just as Cindy walked through the door with Sheriff Parker, Max’s father, right behind her.
“Madam Mayor, shall I bring in a fresh pot of coffee?”
Max nodded. “Yes please, that would be great, Cindy,” as she got up from her chair and rushed over to her dad to give him a hug. “Thank you for coming, Dad.”
Sheriff Parker planted a kiss on his daughter’s cheek, then noticed Bret Hartley standing with his hands in his pockets. “Hey there Hartley, what b
rings you here? Don’t you have a meeting with Special Forces this morning about the string of robberies happening across town?”
Bret shook his head. “I pushed that to noon since this meeting was called, sir.”
Sheriff Parker shifted his questionable gaze to Max. “What’s this meeting about, pumpkin? I mean, I had plans to introduce you two later this week, before the transition begins.”
Max folded her arms. “Transition?”
Sheriff Parker pulled out a chair and took a seat. “I wanted to surprise you at Christmas, but since this is a good opportunity to tell you, I’ll just spill it now. Lieutenant Hartley here is going to take my place as sheriff a few months from now. Max, I’m finally gonna retire from the force.”
Max crash-landed in her chair with her eyes and mouth wide open. “Wait. What? Retire?” Her eyes went from her dad over to Bret. “And you’re a lieutenant? How is that even possible? Since when do lieutenants go out on patrol and issue fake tickets?”
Bret let out a soft chuckle as he took a seat in the chair next to Max’s dad. “That ticket was not at all fake. You’re just going to have to accept it and move on.”
Sheriff Parker looked at Bret with raised eyebrows. “Wait a second. Don’t tell me the ticket you issued yesterday was to Max here.” A laugh escaped him. “I guess that’s what small-town irony gets you.”
Max’s whole face was hot. “That ticket is why I called this meeting, Dad. This Lieutenant pulled me over, citing some lame three-second rule. I was hoping you’d fire him.”
Bret sank into his seat and covered his mouth as if he were trying to suppress laughter.
“Fire him? Max, I can’t fire this highly decorated man. Hartley comes to us from Miami Dade and I am more than honored to have him. He was doing his job and it seems you got caught in the crossfire,” Her dad explained as he too seemed to be suppressing laughter.
Bret sat up in his seat and looked at Max. “Madam Mayor, I was in the middle of a cadet training exercise in which the cadet was required to spot traffic violators then observe me issuing a ticket before he set out to issue tickets on his own.” He shifted in his chair and let out a drawn-out chuckle. “It just so happened, the cadet in training is the one who spotted your traffic infraction. I couldn’t tell him to ignore it. A law is a law. So, I issued you that ticket on a training principle. The cadet was in the patrol car watching everything.”
Max’s face was ablaze again, only this time it was from pure embarrassment. All she wanted now was to escape to the parlor and preside over more marriage ceremonies. In other words, Maxine Parker wished she were anywhere other than here.
By the time Max arrived, Wilde Pirate was brimming with patrons watching the Thursday night football game on big-screen TVs. Since it had been an especially long day she wanted to at least eat dinner before finally heading home. After placing her food order, Max pulled her smartphone out of her purse, replying to emails. It seemed her workload as mayor never ended as there was always something that needed her approval, including the prizes awarded each year at festivals.
“Mind if I sit here?” came a male voice, pulling her attention away from her phone.
When she looked up, she nearly jumped out of her seat. It was Bret Hartley. Max thought long before she shrugged and offered a reply. “Sure, I can always take my meal to go.”
Bret settled down into the vacant seat next to hers. He cocked his wavy-haired head to the side. “Don’t you think we oughta call a truce? I’m sure the two of us will be working together in some capacity down the line. Plus, as of today”—he dangled a set of keys in the air—“we’re officially neighbors.”
He had a point. The last thing Max Parker wanted was a long-lasting feud with the new sheriff in town who, no thanks to Skye, just so happened to be her new next-door neighbor.
“I suppose a truce will do. Just don’t think we’re besties. I have yet to decide whether I like you or not.” A smile creeped up on her lips even though she tried, with great intent, to straighten its form.
“Well, I’ve never been referred to as anyone’s bestie, so if you do ever decide I’m worthy of that, I may need to discover a way to piss you off again. The term bestie isn’t a man thing, Madam Mayor.”
“Duly noted, Lieutenant Hartley.”
After asking the waitress to give him the same thing Max ordered, Bret looked up at one of the TVs as a buzz of cheering echoed throughout the popular pub.
“You like football?” he shouted over the crowd’s loud voices.
“Of course I do, although, the Miami Dolphins is not a team I tend to root for. I’m more of a Falcons fan,” Max said, her voice slightly raised, as she still peered down at her phone.
Bret’s eyes glinted. “You’re kidding? The Falcons is my team too.”
His declaration made Max immediately look up from her phone, then directly at him. Up until now, she had been meaning to avoid looking at him altogether. For some odd reason, the sight of him made her feel hot and cold.
At the same time.
“Really? You like the Falcons?” Of all the years she and her family had lived in Fortune’s Bay, Max had never met anyone who loved the Falcons as much as she did. Even her secretary Cindy, who was born in Georgia, was a Dolphin’s fan.
“Yep. I was born in Atlanta, so I have to stay true to my hometown.”
Max’s eyes lit up. “I was born in Atlanta too. And even though I pretty much grew up here, I still think of Georgia as my hometown.”
The waitress dropped off their meals and drinks before taking off to serve more tables. The place was completely full by now, and getting louder by the second.
“Well, look at us. Something in common.” Bret smiled, as the two locked eyes for a good thirty seconds before simultaneously looking away.
They ate in silence while their eyes were glued to the game for a bit before Max decided to finally ask Bret what she’d been wondering all day. “What made you want to come to Fortune’s Bay?”
Bret chewed up his last bite of fish and chips before answering. “The sheriff in Miami Dade recommended me for the position. I just made Lieutenant a few years ago, after making huge strides with the department. I was up for another promotion there, but since Miami’s sheriff was newly appointed, it would be years before I’d see that promotion. News travels fast when a sheriff is up for retirement. So, my name was tossed into the hat as a possible candidate to replace your dad and I was the luck of the draw. I had never been here before, and after research I decided this was the place for me.”
“Why is that?”
“Destiny.”
Max took a sip of water and blinked. “I’m sorry?”
Bret laughed. “Destiny. The ghost? My great-grandma’s name was Destiny. I figured I’m probably in good hands here with a ghost named Destiny in charge of all things in the love department. I’ve had zero luck finding the right woman. I feel like I’m almost running out of time. Sure, I may only be thirty-eight, still, I want a wife and kids sooner than later; hence the reason I bought the big house next door to yours.”
Max was not at all expecting the answer Bret just sounded off. Nevertheless, she understood how it felt to have zero luck finding someone to settle down with. It was amazing the town hadn’t already dubbed her Mayor Spinster.
“Well, don’t expect Destiny to work miracles. I have lived here for practically my whole life. She has yet to pair me up with anyone I could dream of calling Mr. Right.”
Bret raised one eyebrow. “There is one thing I do believe in, Max Parker.”
“What's that?”
“Miracles.”
“I thought for sure you were going to say the three-second rule.”
They both laughed as the waitress dropped off their checks.
Before Max had a chance to reach for hers, Bret grabbed both. “Here. It’s my treat.”
“Thanks. I owe you a meal. If you ever want to learn more about Destiny and how the legend came to be, there’s a book in the library
that goes into great detail. Far more than any research you may have uncovered over the Internet.”
“I’d like that. I’ll need to be well-informed about my new town. What time does the library close?”
Max looked at her watch. “They close at 7, so in about fifteen minutes. It’s just a block away, back by City Hall. You can even walk there.”
“Care to join me, Madam Mayor?” Bret asked as he stood up from his seat.
Max looked up at his heady-brown eyes trying to ignore the warm feeling brewing inside of her. It wasn’t like a trip to the library with him would do her any harm. She could use some fresh air anyway. Perhaps she’d also be able to check out that new book by her favorite romance author, Chloe Davenport.
“Sure. Why not.”
The sidewalks of Fortune’s Bay were bejeweled with families, lovers, tourists, and groups of friends hanging out at sidewalk cafes. It was the perfect evening for a short stroll; the moonlit sky was sprinkled with glistening stars. The feeling of Christmas was definitely in the air, magnified by shops blaring Merry Christmas songs, dutifully spreading holiday cheer.
Max breathed in the ocean breeze as she and Bret walked, side by side, toward the library. Stealing a glance of him as his eyes surveyed his new home town, she realized just how much taller he was than she noticed before—at least six feet. The sudden thought of being scooped up in his muscle-toned arms caused chills to roll down her spine and she shivered. Why a man like him could be single was beyond her comprehension.
“Are you cold?” Bret asked.
“Uh, not really. A slight chill just overcame for some reason.”
“It’s quite nice here. Calm, quaint—not as crowded as Miami, that’s for sure.”
“Well, I’m certain by now you know not all of Fortune’s Bay is this lovely. We do have a crime-riddled part of town.”
Lovestruck in Fortune's Bay: A Fortune's Bay Novella Page 14