Secret Hunger (The Harper Sisters)

by Satin Russell

  “Sure, I can do that. Give me his number and I’ll get in touch with him. Am I safe in assuming you’re keeping tabs on his progress with the case as well?”

  “Yeah, he offered to keep me in the loop when he found out about my ties to Boston.”

  “Fair enough. If we find anything out, I’ll let you know. Strictly off the record, of course.”

  “I appreciate it. I’ll keep in touch.”

  “Do that. Mason, don’t let this impede your recovery. I fully expect you to be back here in Boston at the first of the year. No excuses.”

  “Right.” He hung up and pocketed his phone. With that out of the way, he felt a little bit better about the case. Maybe with both departments working together they could finally get a break and catch this guy.

  He wandered back into the entryway, feeling at odds with himself, just as Olivia came wandering down the stairs. He noticed that she’d changed into another pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He was beginning to think of it as her daily uniform and suspected that the dress she’d worn the other night had been the first she’d worn in a long time.

  She was carelessly winding her wet hair back into a bun, and it was a mystery to him how she could still manage to look so elegant, despite her casual style. Probably something about her I’ll never understand, he thought as she stopped in front of him.

  He noticed that without makeup she had little freckles scattered across her nose, and wanted to kiss them. In fact they made him want to find and kiss all of her freckles. He struggled to keep the errant thought from taking over.

  “I thought I heard you on the phone.”

  He pulled her into his arms and told her about the conversation he’d had with his captain.

  “Well, I’m glad they’ll both be working together, just in case it is this guy.”

  He looked down into her eyes. “Did you want me to stick around for tonight, just in case?”

  She hesitated, looked down at his chest, and then back up into his eyes. “I appreciate the offer, but…”

  He gave her a little squeeze. “No pressure. I wouldn’t mind sleeping on the couch.”

  At that, she blushed and looked away, giving a little laugh, “Oh, come on, Mason. You and I both know where our night was headed if that car alarm hadn’t interrupted us.” She gently pulled out of his arms and took a step back. “And, to be honest, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to go there with you.”

  “Well, then…”

  “But I think there’s been so much happening these last few days that I kind of need to take a breather tonight before I make any big decisions.” She gestured at him. “I mean, you’re already going through so much with your recovery… I don’t want to drag you into whatever this situation is, on top of everything else.”

  Exasperated, Mason exclaimed, “Drag me in? Drag me in?! Olivia, for all we know, I’m the one who dragged YOU into this mess.”

  “We don’t know that for certain.” She bit her lip. “That’s another thing I’m a little worried about. You seem so fixated on the fact that it’s this guy, but who knows if that’s accurate? You could just be…” Quickly, she snapped her mouth shut.

  He stalked towards her, speaking in a very quiet, intense voice and said, “I could just be…what? I could be over-reacting? Crazy? Seeing things?”

  She took a step backwards, and another one, until finally her back bumped against the wall. All she could do was stare up at him as he loomed over her. His fists were clenched down by his sides and his eyes burned like twin blue flames.

  “Mason…” She raised her hands, placating.

  “Oh, no…I get it. You think I’m still too emotionally unstable. That I could be jumping at shadows that aren’t there. That some part of me needs for this guy to be Robert Mendez so I can see it through. You don’t think I haven’t had all those same doubts, Olivia?”

  He spun away and stood with his back to her. She ached to see the way his shoulders curved as he raked his hands through his hair. “Fine. I admit it.” He shrugged. “Maybe you’re right.”

  Pulling his keys out of his coat pocket, he turned back towards her. “Alright, I’ll go. Take your night and get some rest. I know it’s been a long couple of days for you.”

  He stopped on his way to the door and turned halfway back towards her. “Just do me a favor, would you? Don’t do anything stupid. As soon as the locksmith is done, lock the doors. Don’t go off by yourself anywhere, and just…be careful, okay?”

  Silently, she nodded. A part of her was screaming for her to just reach out, apologize, and ask him to stay, but in the end, all she could do was stand there. He cast her one final look, and then opened the door and strode out.

  He didn’t go far, though. He sat in the cab of his truck and watched the house from across the street. Even frustrated, he couldn’t just leave her until he knew she was safe. Some part of him said he should just go back inside and assure Olivia he understood her concerns.

  For an hour and a half, he resisted the urge to go and knock on her front door and try to smooth things over with her. The problem was, he did know where she was coming from. He had all of those same doubts that she had expressed.

  And, so? Now what? Here he was outside, in the cold, observing her house from across the street. He was nearly as bad as the stalker, he thought, disgusted.

  He watched as the locksmith stepped out the front door and Olivia thanked him. Satisfied that at least she had new locks on her doors, he reluctantly turned the key in the ignition and pulled away from the curb.

  It was probably just as well, he thought, as he rotated his shoulder and tried to ease the stiffness from his joint. He hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep, either. Maybe they could both stand to take a night off and do some thinking.

  Keep telling yourself that, buddy. He cranked the music up, once again trying to drown out his thoughts.

  Keep telling yourself that.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Olivia buried her head under her pillow and groaned. She was really beginning to hate her alarm. It didn’t used to be so hard to wake up this early to open the café, but that was before Mason had started making a habit of commandeering her thoughts and leaving her tossing and turning at night.

  Resigned, she got up and shut the infernal noise off. Last night had been tough. Even with the new locks, she’d been uncomfortable in her own home. She’d been tempted to call and see if he’d come stay with her, but had managed to resist the urge. It wasn’t fair of her to drag him into this situation when he had so much going on in his life as it was.

  Besides, his single-minded focus on Robert Mendez was bordering on obsession. She knew how much it meant to him to be able to go back to active duty in Boston after the holidays. He wasn’t going to be able to do that unless he passed the psych evaluations, and adding to his stress wasn’t doing him any favors.

  Bleary-eyed, she splashed cold water on her face and winced at her reflection. Hard to believe anybody would be fixated on her, looking like this. She quickly wrapped her hair up in a ponytail and changed into her usual work clothes.

  On her way out the door, she practically tripped over the box of roses sitting on her step. For a moment, her heart skipped a beat as she reached for the card tucked in amongst the blood-red petals. Maybe Mason had left them for her as a way of making up!

  “Good behavior deserves a reward.”

  Not Mason. Her stomach dropped and she raised her head to scan the neighborhood around her. The air was still sharp and cold against her cheeks. At this hour, nothing moved. Even the birds were silent in the winter morning. There was a light on in the house across the street where someone was up and getting ready for work, but otherwise, no sign of life.

  Feeling exposed, Olivia debated leaving the flowers there on the steps. She didn’t want any part of whoever was harassing her to be allowed to disturb the sanctuary of her home again. Then she recalled what Brad had told her. In order to make a case that she was actually being stalked, they w
ould have to create a file and record all the events that occurred.

  Reluctantly, she picked them up and brought them inside. These would have to be added to the file she’d already started.

  Resigned, she unceremoniously dumped them onto the kitchen counter and dug her phone out of her pocket to call Tom.

  “Hello?” his gruff voice greeted her.

  “Tom? Hi, I’m sorry to have to call you so early.”

  “It’s fine. What’s wrong?”

  Suddenly a lump formed in her throat, and she struggled to swallow past her frustration.

  “Olivia? You there?”

  “Yeah. Hi, I’m here. Sorry, I know I’ve been a little flaky lately…but I’m going to have to ask you to open the café again without me.”

  “Sure. It’s no problem. I’m up already, anyway…”

  “Is that Olivia? What’s going on?” Olivia was startled to hear Jackie’s sleepy voice in the background and wondered what was going on between the two of them. For the past couple of weeks, she’d been so caught up in everything that was going on in her own life that she’d completely missed what was happening under her nose.

  Vowing that she’d stop being so self-absorbed and be a better friend, she made a silent promise that she’d ask Jackie about it first chance she got.

  She tuned back into what Tom was saying, “…let me know if you need me to come and get you.”

  “Oh, no, thank you. Although I appreciate it. I’m going to call the cops as soon as I hang up with you. I’m hoping it won’t take me very long to file a report. I just found another little gift this morning waiting for me on the front step and need to get it on the record.”

  “Okay, don’t worry about the café. Jackie and I can handle it for now. Just do what you can to get this situation resolved as quickly as possible, and keep us posted.”

  “Thanks, I will. I really appreciate it.”

  With relief, she hung up the phone, thankful to have good friends that she could rely on. She needed to get this whole thing over with. It was not only affecting her, but everybody else in her life…and that was just not acceptable.

  Resolved, she dialed the police station and asked for Brad. The faster they could catch this guy, the sooner she could move on with her life.

  It was nearly ten o’clock before she could finally make it into work. The smell of bacon and coffee greeted her as she slipped into the kitchen and pulled her chef coat down from the hook. Jackie gave her a quick look on her way to take an order, “Hey. You made it. Everything okay? We need to talk, but it’s too busy right now! Think we can take a minute after closing to catch up?”

  This, at least, was still the same, Olivia thought. “Yeah, we do. Was that you I heard in the background this morning?” Surprised, she watched Jackie blush. With a little, secret smile, she said, “Maybe…” Her friend made a shooing motion with her hands. “This afternoon!”

  With a nod, she took up her usual spot on the grill. Tom spared her a quick look, and in his usual subdued manner asked, “Everything okay from this morning?”

  “Yeah, it’s taken care of for now.” She sighed. “I really need my life to get back on an even keel again.”

  Nodding, he kept working. Curious what was going on with him and Jackie, she cast him a surreptitious glance.

  “Quit looking at me like that,” he said gruffly, then looked at her and gave a wink.

  Setting aside her worries, she beamed. “What look? I’m not giving you a look.” Giggling, she noticed his ears had started to turn pink, and nudged him with her shoulder. “‘Bout time you spoke up about how you were feeling.”

  He gave her a grunt, but couldn’t quite hide the smile as he turned back to flipping pancakes. Happy to be back in her familiar setting, she lost herself in the rhythm of cooking and filling tickets. It was just busy enough that, for a few hours, all her concentration and focus was needed to keep up with the rush.

  Before too long, she looked up and realized that it was already close to two o’clock, and started scraping down and cleaning the grills. She tried not to think about the fact that she hadn’t seen Mason all day, even though she knew it wasn’t fair to him. After all, she’d basically pushed him out the door herself, and now she was pining for him.

  Talk about mixed signals. The problem was that, what she should do was not the same as what she wanted to do.

  “Hey, missy. You almost finished up back here?” Jackie poked her head into the kitchen. Instantly, Olivia could feel the air between her and Tom electrify.

  “As a matter of fact, I am.”

  “Well, come on out here, then. How is it I can see you almost every day and feel like I have no idea what’s going on in your life right now?”

  Olivia dried her hands off on a dishtowel and removed her chef coat, happy to have the time with her best friend. Maybe she could help shed some light on everything that had been happening.

  “Before you ladies get started, I’m going to take off.” Tom focused in on Jackie and calmly walked across the kitchen to where she was standing in the doorway. Olivia watched with wide eyes as he curved his hand around the back of her neck, bent down, and kissed her deeply.

  After a moment, he lifted his head. “Would you like me to pick Abby up at the daycare so you can take a little time for catching up?”

  Jackie just looked up at him. Olivia chuckled at the dazed look on her face, but then stopped. She suspected it was exactly the same as the look on her face after one of Mason’s kisses.

  “I’m sorry?” Jackie stuttered.

  He just gave her a smile and dropped another kiss on the tip of her nose. “Abby? You know, your daughter? About yea high…?” With that, he let her go and gestured with his hand about thigh high.

  She laughed. “Yes, if you don’t mind. Can you pick her up for me?”

  “Not a problem.” With a nod to Olivia, he walked out of the back door. Jackie cast her a glance, her cheeks turning a bright red. She laughed a bit self-consciously. “So, um, I might have a few things to tell you, too.”

  It was good to see her friend so happy.

  The two women poured themselves something to drink and then sat at a table in the dining room. Neither one of them seemed very hungry, despite it being mid-afternoon.

  “So…tell me about you and Tom.” Olivia said, without preamble.

  Jackie’s cheeks once again turned a light pink as she fiddled with the handle of her mug. “Well, remember that week I had to take off sick?”

  “It was just a few weeks ago, I think I can remember.”

  She stuck her tongue out at Olivia. “Do you want me to tell you the story, or not?”

  Contrite, she gestured for her friend to continue. “Tom came by one of those days to drop some soup off for me, and check to see how I was doing.” She gave an embarrassed laugh. “You should have seen me, Livvy. I was a total wreck when I opened the door. My nose was bright red from blowing it all day, my hair was standing on end, and I was wearing my rattiest sweats, an old t-shirt with a hole in the armpit, and my bunny slippers!”

  Olivia laughed, having seen the infamous pair of slippers, and could absolutely picture her friend in such disarray.

  “Ohhh, and there he was, standing in my doorway, with his dark hair and sexy eyes…I’m telling you, I felt like sinking straight through the floor.”

  “Hm, sounds like you’ve been harboring a little something for him for a while.”

  She looked down and picked at a corner of her napkin. “Well, I don’t know about that…but, come on. You have to admit, the man is HOT! And mysterious…the way he’s always so quiet, but you get the feeling he’d be there in a heartbeat if you needed him…” She gave a delicate little shudder.

  “Okay, okay, I think I get the picture.” She laughed. “So, how did you get from bunny slippers to that kiss I saw a little bit earlier?”

  “Well, you know how I’ve pretty much given up dating ever since I’ve had Abby? It’s not like I’ve had a lot of time
or the inclination to go looking for anybody. But, that afternoon, I was feeling like hell, and he offered to pick her up from daycare for me so I could get a little bit more rest. I must have passed out on the couch, because the next thing I knew, I could hear the two of them in the kitchen, Abby giggling and sounding like she was having the time of her life. I walked in, and there they were, drinking hot cocoa and making funny faces at each other. Tom had done my dishes and had even started dinner.”

  “Wow!”

  “Yeah…” Her eyes turned dreamy, “You should have seen him, Livvy. He had the biggest smile on his face. Do you realize that in all the time I’ve known him, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile like that? It was so open. And, then, he caught sight of me standing in the doorway, and the look he gave me…it was like, something just …clicked.”

  Jackie became very serious and looked her directly in the eyes. “It was as if a door had sprung open up in my mind and let all the sun in. As if, for the first time, everything was focused and I could see with clarity. I thought, well, duh…! How could I have been so blind not to see what was right in front of my nose?

  “I have to tell you, I think my heart just fell out of my chest and landed at his feet then and there.”

  “Aww, Jackie.”

  “I know!” Jackie took a sip of her coffee. “Anyway, come to find out, all that time I was thinking he was cute but couldn’t possibly be interested in a single mom like me, he was thinking I’d be intimidated by his past history.”

  “Well, he is pretty intense.”

  “True, but don’t you see? That’s why he needs me and Abby. He could use a little more joy and light in his life. We’ve always suspected he went through some pretty difficult times during the war. I think he’s just now starting to make his peace with some of the things he did and saw over there. Besides, Abby just loves him.”

  “Well, good. I’m so happy for you two.” Jackie smiled broadly before changing gears. She gave her friend a concerned look from across the table.