This Hero for Hire

by Cynthia Thomason

  Albee crouched down beside her.

  “Oh, hi, Daddy,” she said. “When did you get home? I suppose you’ll be wanting an explanation about all this.”

  He chuckled. “Susannah, I didn’t think you could ever shock the stuffing out of me again, but you’ve proved me wrong. What the blazes has been going on around here while I was off politicking?”

  “I’ll tell you everything, Daddy, but can’t it wait a couple of days until the election is over? You’ll be glad we waited. I’m pretty sure you’re going to win. And then we need to talk about a new, healthy future for northeast Georgia.”

  “You’re never going to give me a minute’s peace, are you, child?”

  “Doesn’t look like it, Daddy.”

  “You could have killed yourself in that truck!”

  “But I didn’t. And I didn’t want to end up in Mexico.”

  The EMTs arrived and took over patient care. Satisfied when Susannah was on the stretcher and headed down the hill, Boone took off up the hillside. He still had work to do. He’d only gone a few hundred yards when his fellow officers came down to meet him. Randy, handcuffed, walked between them. Boone summoned all his restraint not to punch the guy’s lights out right there. At least Randy wouldn’t be getting bail this time.

  When everyone was at the base of the hill again, Boone thanked the officers, many of whom had put in double shifts to help him, and called his brother to relate the satisfactory ending. Then he took Albee aside. “You were right about trouble seeming to find Susannah, Governor.”

  Watching the stretcher being loaded into the ambulance, Albee nodded. “Exactly what I told you on the first day. Her heart’s always in the right place, though.”

  “Yes, it is, sir.”

  “Just who would have thought trouble would come from her own camp?” He placed a hand on Boone’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I blamed you, son. You did your best.”

  And if everything goes according to my plan, I intend to be the one man keeping an eye on Susannah for the rest of our lives.

  A paramedic walked over to them. “Miss Rhodes wants a word with you two before we go,” he said.

  Albee and Boone went to the ambulance and looked in the back door. Susannah’s eyes seemed a bit glassy. They must have given her something for her pain. And she was smiling.

  “What is it, Susie?” Albee asked. “You’re holding up these men getting you to the hospital.”

  “Just a minute, Daddy. I had to thank you for hiring the nicest, best, most handsome, most trustworthy...” She paused as if trying to come up with more adjectives. “...security guard in all of Georgia to take care of me.” She grinned at Boone, who knew the drugs were probably doing the talking, but loving the words anyway.

  “Don’t mention it,” Albee said. “Now get to the hospital.”

  “And Boone?” she said.

  “Yeah?”

  “You won’t leave me, will you? I just want you to know that I promise never to...”

  He reached in and placed his hand on her leg. “...break the rules again, right? Don’t promise, baby. We both know how it will end up.”

  She held her head up and delivered the most brilliant smile he could ever remember seeing. Then he backed away and let the medics close the doors. As the ambulance drove across the field, Boone just shook his head and took his phone from his pocket. He’d call a tow for his stalled-out truck, then hitch a ride from someone and spend the rest of the night at the hospital with Susannah.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  TWO DAYS LATER, election day in Georgia, Boone entered the hospital room where Susannah was recuperating. The room was familiar; he’d been there one entire night waiting for Susannah to come up from surgery where doctors had set her ankle. He’d also glued himself to a chair in her room most of the next day. Today he wanted to bring her home.

  “You’ve been discharged,” he said, approaching the bed. “And, lo and behold, the governor has given me permission to drive you to the house. But we have to wait for a nurse to bring a wheelchair.”

  Susannah smiled up at him from the bed. “Thanks, Boone, I don’t know how I would have gotten through the past few days without you.”

  She frowned down at the cast on her leg. “I’d like to say I don’t need a wheelchair, but why waste my breath? It’s obvious I do.”

  He nodded toward the crutches against the wall. “And I see you’re going to have to use the sticks, too.”

  “It’s not so bad. At least now I’m headed home with a handsome man and a pot roast and veggie dinner prepared by Maria.”

  Boone stood a little taller than when he’d come in the room. “I’m counting on the handsome man scarfing up your share of pot roast. I’ll trade you my veggies.”

  “You can have my meat, but no deal on the veggies. If you’re going to be around me for any length of time, you have to learn to eat your vegetables. I’m not growing them on your grandfather’s farm for my health, you know.” She grinned. “Well, yes, I am.”

  Technically his job with the governor was over, but he’d really like to think that he could “be around” Susannah for a long time. Maybe his lifetime.

  “Tell me something, Officer,” she said. “How did you first realize that I was barreling down the hill?”

  He took a seat beside the bed and resisted taking her hand. She might still be hurting. She might resent the intimacy. But he really wanted her hand tucked inside of his. “That’s easy. Who else would drive like that, chopping down trees and blazing a trail? It had to be you tied to the wheel.”

  She laughed. He felt a warmth pool in his abdomen.

  “Were you surprised that I would attempt such a stunt?”

  “Are you kidding? I’ve known you to pluck chickens from a ditch, squeeze through a window to enter a warehouse and shower under a fertilizer plant sprinkler system. Why wouldn’t you drive backward down one of the highest hills on Cranberry Ridge?”

  “Is that the name of where Randy took me? It’s quite a charming name considering it was a stepping-stone to Mexico.”

  “Well, thank goodness it ended up being a stepping-stone back to the governor’s mansion. My career would have been toast if there had been any other ending.” He was clearly teasing her.

  “And that’s what really matters? Keeping your good cop reputation intact? What about my survival, Boone?”

  Now he did pick up her hand. She easily curled her fingers around his palm while he gently rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. “What do you think? Just wait until you’re cleared by the doctors, then we’ll be on a one-way course to the high school equipment room to see if we can re-create history.”

  She smiled. “I’m hoping for a different result this time.” Glancing up at the TV, she said, “Could you turn that up, please? Election news is coming in.”

  They watched a local channel for a few minutes.

  “It looks like most people are voting for Dad,” she said. “And by a comfortable margin. I’m so glad. He really cares about this state, and he’s been a great governor.”

  “You did great as his campaign manager too, sweetheart.”

  The term felt so natural coming from his lips, he could only imagine calling her that for the rest of his life.

  “Hopefully Dad’ll be in office for four more years, and I can accomplish a lot in that time.”

  Boone tried to ignore a stab of guilt. She hadn’t asked him about his decision, which was fine because he hadn’t yet made it. In fact, he hadn’t thought about it in the past forty-eight hours. But his choice came back to haunt him now. Could she accomplish what she wanted without Braddock land? Would she even try? He had to settle this matter with his brother—soon.

  “How’s everything going out at the farm?” she asked. “It’s time to harvest the lettuce.”
<
br />   “You have plenty of volunteers out there, including two very enthusiastic and willing little girls. They’ve been yanking up lettuce all day.” He took his cell phone from his pocket. “They made me take a picture to show you.”

  She studied the candid shot of his nieces working in the field. “They are so amazing. Tell them thanks.” Her face sobered instantly. “I don’t suppose your brother has been lending a hand.”

  Boone hated giving her the truth, but lying wasn’t an option. “We can’t ask for too many miracles in one two-day period,” he said. “Getting you out of that runaway truck in one piece was the one I was concentrating on.”

  A nurse entered the room with a clipboard and a wheelchair. “Just need you to sign some papers, Susannah, and you’re free to go. Remember to call your doctor tomorrow, and a nurse will be out to your house to change the bandages on your abrasions. All in all, you’re pretty lucky. But no fooling around now. You go right home and rest. And keep your leg elevated.”

  “I have to make one stop,” Susannah said, scribbling her name on the discharge papers. “I can keep my leg elevated on almost anything, can’t I? Even a soft wrestling mat?”

  Boone covered his smile with his hand.

  The nurse gave her a puzzled look. “I suppose, but why would you ask?”

  “It’s personal,” Susannah said. “I just have to collect on an old debt.”

  Something fiery and exciting stirred inside Boone. He knew his truck would have stiff competition with his heart as far as which would be racing the fastest to leave the hospital parking lot.

  * * *

  THE MOUNT UNION DINER was crowded today, probably because of the election. People had come out to vote and stopped in the restaurant to express their views on the candidates. Lila wished she had chosen a more private location for her last lunch with James.

  As he took a sip of root beer, she smiled. He was the only guy she’d ever been with who drank root beer. Straight or in a root beer float. He claimed he had missed the uniquely American soda when he was in the Middle East and was making up for lost time.

  “So it looks like everything turned out okay for your partner,” James said.

  “Sure did. Boone saved Susannah and appears to be in the governor’s good graces again.” She’d never told James about her infatuation with Boone and was glad now that she hadn’t because she recognized her attraction as just that—a hopeless infatuation based on nothing concrete. “I’m thinking Boone may end up with the bigger prize now,” she added. “He might win the princess’s heart.”

  James picked up his thick Reuben but stopped before taking a bite. “Believe it or not, Lila, I really like a good love story, one with a happy ending.”

  “You do?”

  He grinned at her. “Can’t you tell? I’ve been trying to write a happy ending with you for two months now. But sometimes I’m a little awkward with words.”

  She reached across the table and covered his hand with hers. “But most times you say just the right thing.”

  Once James had left Mount Union and was headed back to his job fifteen miles away in Libertyville, Lila went to the station to meet up with Boone. He walked into the station a while later. His buddies welcomed him back and said the usual stuff they said to each other. “And things were just starting to run smoothly...”

  Boone laughed along with the jokes as he headed toward his desk next to Lila’s. He picked up a short stack of messages and thumbed through them. Lila had checked the messages earlier. One was from his truck insurance company and a couple from local businesses wanting him to do night security details. She didn’t feel that reading the messages had been an invasion of Boone’s privacy, although technically she knew better. Anything important or personal would have gone to his cell phone.

  Finished with that task, Boone turned to her with a knowing grin. “Which one do you think I should take care of first?” he asked her.

  “None of them looks too pressing to me,” she said. “Say ‘good afternoon’ first.”

  “Good afternoon, Menen...” He smiled. “Lila.”

  Her heart did a familiar little kick at the smile. It was still charming and easy and boyish in its way. But she no longer believed she needed to see that smile to get through her day. “I’ve missed you, partner,” she said.

  “Ditto.”

  “Have you moved out of the mansion?”

  “Oh, yeah. Packed up two nights ago and now my mug is snug in my little apartment again. Heard Mrs. Kravitz yell at her husband at three o’clock this morning and tried to sleep through the garbage trucks two hours later.” He leaned back in his chair, creating the customary squeak of the old springs. “Honey, I’m home.”

  “Do you miss the champagne lifestyle?” Lila asked.

  “Can’t recall ever having champagne over there,” he said. “Mostly just iced tea after washing top soil off my hands. And maybe a beer or two.”

  Time to reveal the confession Lila had been thinking about all morning. “I’m sorry for all the things I said about Susannah,” she said. “She’s not anything like I pictured her.”

  Boone’s eyes widened. “What made you come to that conclusion?”

  “I went to see her at the hospital yesterday. She and I had a nice visit.”

  “You did?”

  “I like her, Boone. She’s genuine and sincere. Some of her ideas about farming actually make sense. She might be able to convince some hardheaded traditionalists around here that there could be a better way to do things.”

  He frowned. “If she stays long enough.”

  “Oh, she’ll stay,” Lila said. “If you ask her to. And if you let her use that land. She’s the best thing that’s happened to Cyrus’s property in the last ten years as far as I can see.”

  “You know about the land issue?” Boone seemed surprised that Lila and Susannah had talked about that subject.

  “She told me your brother wants to put in a motor home resort.” Lila expressed her opinion of that idea with the simple statement, “Sounds like Jared.”

  “Don’t get me going on this, Lila. Bottom line, I still have to be fair with Jared.”

  “You will be. You’re always fair. I figure you know what is right for that land, too. Ask Susannah to stay, Boone. Put a ring on her finger, even if it’s the one I always thought I wanted.”

  He gave Lila a strange smile. “Is this really you talking, Menendez, I mean Li...”

  “Forget it. Menendez is fine. It’s comfortable and it suits our relationship. Our professional relationship.”

  She thought of James, now back in Libertyville, a mere fifteen miles away but feeling like hundreds. She’d see him tonight, though, and he would make her feel happy and secure and loved. He was good at all those things, among others. Once she’d allowed her heart to accept the inevitable with Boone, she’d discovered that the same heart had an enormous capacity to open up to someone else. And James stepped in. He was the right man at the right place at the right time.

  “You can wipe that expression off your face, Braddock,” she said. “It’s not like this should come as a big surprise to you. I’m over you.”

  “You are?”

  “Well, not professionally. I will still cover your butt out on patrol. And I’d still take a bullet for you. And I guess I’ll even let you pick the place for lunch tomorrow when we’re back on patrol together.”

  She leaned back and threaded her hands behind her head. “Now go tell that fancy girl you love her because I absolutely, positively will not marry you and bear your children.”

  He stared at her for a few seconds before leaning over and kissing her cheek.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  BOONE MISSED BEING at the farm. To stay near Susannah and ponder his decision, he’d turned barn chores over to his helper, but
he missed the extra time he had with the horses, the short gallops he’d taken in the paddock. Heck, he even missed the chickens pecking at his heels until he fed them.

  Mostly he missed seeing Susannah in that raggedy old hat, stopping her labors for a moment to wipe the back of her hand across her forehead. Maybe he’d find out when her birthday was and buy her a new hat. No, wouldn’t be the same. In two months, Susannah and a hat that had traveled from India to Oregon and then to Georgia had become as symbolic of Braddock Farms as his grandmother’s egg basket had been years ago.

  He was going to see her tonight for dinner at the mansion. Maria was serving roasted potatoes, glazed carrots and a lemon pepper–basted chicken. The family had learned to compromise on the various culinary preferences. Thankfully, Susannah and her father were getting along very well. In fact, Albee was treating her like royalty. And Susannah’s mother had called several times and even offered up a few kind words to her ex-husband.

  Susannah wasn’t pressuring Boone to make a decision about the land. She still had a few weeks to let her ankle heal before she’d go anywhere, if leaving was what she decided. He wasn’t going to make her wait all that time, though. He was going to give her an answer in two days, at the barbecue Albee had planned to celebrate his reelection. Half the town would be there.

  Sometime in the next forty-eight hours Boone was going to talk to Jared about the idea he had. He hoped Jared would go for it because if Boone had to play the fifty-one percent card again, the rift between them might never heal. One thing Boone was certain of was that he wanted Susannah to stay right here in Mount Union. He didn’t want her scurrying off to leave her mark on some other property. He wanted her here, beside him, making a difference to the people he protected and cared about. But without the land she’d already cultivated, poured her soul into, the land Francine called “magic,” would she stay? She cared about him, but did she care enough?

  He pulled into his parking space at Union Square and noticed his parents’ car in one of the guest spots. When he looked up at the second-story landing, his brother was waiting on the top step. Looks like that talk was going to happen now.