Not wanting to crowd her, her Uncle Cyrus had decided to do his work from his cabin at Cooper’s Cove Lake. It would not only give Katie time and space to find her own way, but would also give him an opportunity to take his first real vacation in years.
Katie knew her uncle was only a phone call or a twenty-minute ride away if she needed him, and after practically growing up in the newspaper office, she was pretty well-versed on how everything ran.
On this, her first morning as managing editor, with the warm autumn sun beating down on her, Katie stood just outside the plateglass windows of the newspaper office grinning like a loon.
She’d worked so hard and so long to get here, to belong here, to be qualified and capable of taking over the family newspaper, and now that the day had arrived, she wanted to take just a moment to savor what it had cost her to get here.
It had all been worth it, she thought with a smile. The work and the worry, the long hours and the strained budget, the sacrifices and the tears—because if she hadn’t gone through all of that, she wouldn’t have ended up here. And there was nowhere else in the world she’d rather be.
“You’re running late,” Lindsey blurted before Katie had even gotten through the front door. With her arms full, Katie stopped and stared at the woman.
“Late?” Katie blinked at her. “How can I be late? It’s my first day and I just got here.”
“I know.” With a pen stuck in her hair bun and a steno pad in her hand, Lindsey smiled, shoving her thick glasses up her nose. “But I already set up your appointments for this week and I need to brief you.”
Katie laughed. “Lindsey, sometimes your efficiency scares me. But just for this morning, do you think I could get in my office and put my stuff down before you brief me?”
Lindsey glanced at her watch again, then tapped it with a frown. “Well, okay, but you’ll have to hurry because you have a luncheon meeting with the mayor and the town council at eleven thirty.”
Katie came to an abrupt halt just outside her office door. Again. “I have a luncheon meeting? Today?” She already had a million things to do today and lunch hadn’t been one of them.
She glanced down at herself, hoping the crisp, pressed jeans and white blouse were suitable for a luncheon meeting. She’d have worn a suit if she’d known about the meeting, but since the movers were coming this afternoon, she decided on comfort over style.
“You look fine,” Lindsey assured her with a wave of her hand as if reading Katie’s mind, and then she pushed her thick glasses up again.
Resigned, Katie dropped everything in her arms on her already cluttered desk and dug for her day planner, snatching it free from under a pile of edits she needed to go over this morning. If she didn’t do this now, she was afraid she’d get too swamped to do it later.
“Okay, Lindsey, before I even get started on this mess, why don’t you just bring me up to date?” Katie sank down in the big leather chair behind her desk and opened her day planner.
“First things first,” Lindsey said, coming into her office and absently straightening one of the framed newspapers that adorned the wall. “Clarence is out. He said he’s going to be gone most of the day, taking orders for ads for the special Halloween issue. I told him not to forget to check in later. Or else,” Lindsey said sternly, making Katie grin. Clarence and Lindsey had been going around and around deliberately irritating each other for years.
“We start running the Halloween advertising in two weeks, right?” Katie asked, glancing at her planner and jotting a note to herself about the special Halloween issue. “We’re going to need to run a full schedule of the carnival—”
“I’m already on it,” Lindsey assured her. “We need to touch base with the police chief to find out about what streets will be closed to traffic during the carnival and make sure we get those printed in next week’s issue. I made an appointment for you with the police chief for tomorrow morning so you can give him last year’s list of street closings to update and approve.” Lindsey didn’t allow Katie time to even comment about her meeting with Lucas. “You also need to start thinking about who to interview next for your weekly ‘Getting to Know You’ column. I think you decided to do this week’s column on yourself,” Lindsey said with a smile. “But we need to get a couple of columns in the file so that in an emergency, we’ll have some back-up. I thought you might want to ask the new chief about an interview since he’s new in town as well.”
“Good idea,” Katie said, making another note. “Do we have a list of who we’ve done already?”
“The list we’ve already done is in your bottom file drawer, so take a look at it when you get the chance.”
“Will do,” Katie said.
“You also need to set up a weekly meeting with the new police chief at a time that’s convenient for both of you.”
“What for?” Katie demanded, abruptly sitting forward in her chair. She was purposefully trying to avoid Lucas, not make weekly appointments to see him!
“For your ‘Police Beat’ column,” Lindsey said calmly. “The weekly rundown of all the police activity in town for the previous week, remember?”
“I remember,” Katie said glumly, wondering if she could pawn this job off on someone else—then she realized there was no one else. She was the boss and this was her responsibility.
Not a problem, she assured herself. If she couldn’t avoid Lucas, then she’d simply fall back on her tried-and-true system of treating him like a big brother. It worked with every other man the past six years, surely it would work with him.
She hoped.
“And then you also have to talk to the chief about the special safety article for the Halloween issue. That’s an annual feature. I’ve already pulled last year’s column for you. It’s in that blue file on your desk, so you can just take it to him and discuss all the updates.” Lindsey hesitated a moment. “Oh, and your mother called to tell you something,” she said, trying to keep a straight face. Lady Louella’s eccentricity was well known in town, but that didn’t make her any less adored by nearly everyone. Her mother was just accepted as another character—which the town was full of.
“What?” Katie asked, and Lindsey chuckled.
“Sorry, Katie, but your mom couldn’t remember why she called or what she wanted to tell you, but she said if she did remember, she’d call you back.”
“Okay,” Katie said, shaking her head and chuckling as well. Her mother’s short-term memory lapses were part of the damage left by a minor stroke last year. But the doctors were certain eventually her mother’s memory would come back. Until then it made life with her mother interesting—if nothing else.
“Oh, one final thing,” Lindsey said. “We need to reserve some space for the special election coverage. We may even have to do an additional four-page section.”
“So it is an election year,” Katie said, remembering making that comment to Lucas this morning.
“Oh, yeah,” Lindsey said. “And Mayor Hannity is not pleased that there’s rumors that this time around he’s not going to run unopposed.”
“Do you really think anyone will have the guts to run against him? I mean, he’s been mayor for almost twenty years.”
“There’s talk,” Lindsey admitted.
“Sounds to me like someone wants to shed blood. I don’t know that I’d take on Harry Hannity in an election or anything else,” Katie admitted with a shake of her head. “I mean the man’s practically an institution in town.” Katie adored the mayor who had been “keeping company” with her mother since a few years after her father’s death.
“Then perhaps you might want to mention that to your mother,” Lindsey said carefully. “Since it’s your mother who’s been threatening to run against him.”
Katie stared at her in shock. “You’re kidding? You must mean someone else’s mother, not my mother.”
Good grief, her mother couldn’t remember something from one hour to the next, how on earth did she think she could run the entire tow
n? And why on earth would she be threatening to run against a man she’d been seeing for almost twenty years? This didn’t make sense, Katie realized, but then not a lot her mother did—did.
“Oh, yeah, Katie, it’s your mother.” Lindsey chuckled. “And everyone in town is talking about it. Apparently she’s still steamed about Mayor Hannity canceling the seniors’ monthly potluck dinner and she’s been threatening to run against him ever since.”
Katie groaned. “I’ll talk to her, Lindsey. I’m sure this is just some kind of misunderstanding. Or she’s merely trying to get the mayor’s goat.” Katie leaned forward. “And I don’t want one word printed about my mother possibly running for mayor until I have a chance to talk to her.” Talk her out of it was more like it, Katie thought. “No matter what my mother says,” she added just to be on the safe side.
Lindsey shrugged. “Hey, it’s your paper,” she said, and Katie felt a thrill of pride. Yes, she realized, it really finally was.
She glanced at the clock on the wall. “If there’s nothing else, I’ve got to get some work done before I leave for that luncheon.” Katie’s brows drew together as she reviewed her notes, wondering if there was any part of her job that didn’t involve meeting with or seeing the new police chief?
Lucas had no intention of going to the mayor’s luncheon today since he was still far too busy trying to get the department organized, but when Mayor Hannity came upstairs from his own office to Lucas’s, and offered to walk over to the diner with him, Lucas didn’t have much choice but to go.
Now, as Lucas sat at a back table, surrounded by the town council and the mayor, his thoughts drifted back to Katie again. And as if his mind simply conjured her up, she pushed through the front door, looking a little frazzled and more than a little tired, surprising him.
She looked just as beautiful now as she had this morning in her terry cloth robe and bunny slippers. The crisp, white long-sleeved blouse, and the snug-fitting jeans that she had on hugged her curves in a way that almost had him drooling.
Her hair had been pulled up to some kind of knot atop her head, but several strands had sprung free and were now framing that gorgeous face, begging to be touched, stroked and caressed.
Her gaze met his and for an instant it seemed as if time and the world had frozen, until he forced himself to look away, to scold himself and remind himself that he wasn’t interested in this woman, in any woman. He couldn’t afford to be, not anymore.
“I’m sorry I’m late, Mayor,” Katie said with a smile, hurrying over to the table and bending to kiss his cheek. “It couldn’t be helped.” She’d known him since she was a child, and in spite of his political reputation, beneath his blustery exterior he was a sweet, gentle man with a kind heart.
“Hey, Katherine, are we all going to get a kiss hello?” Patrick Flannigan, the fire chief who had seven grown sons and was old enough to be her grandfather, teased with a wink. She pulled out the only empty chair, between the mayor and Lucas, and sat down as everyone chuckled at his joke.
“Hi,” Lucas said quietly.
“Hi yourself,” she returned, glancing at him. Her stomach immediately tied into knots, as did her tongue, so she tried to simply ignore him.
“Hey, Lucas, heard you had some female trouble at your place last night?” one of the council members called across the table, causing Katie’s head to snap up. She almost groaned. Good grief! Obviously the rumor mill was up and running at full speed.
“Yeah, Lucas, Patience said there was some commotion at your place in the middle of the night,” another member added, wiggling his brows suggestively. “Heard it involved a mysterious woman.”
Patience Pettibone owned the diner and spread gossip faster than other towns spread epidemics.
“Well, you know how it is,” Lucas said with a smile and a shrug. “Some women just can’t leave a man alone.”
Almost choking on the water she’d just sipped, Katie’s eyes narrowed on Lucas as her temper began to simmer.
What on earth did he think he was doing?
Surely he wasn’t about to tell everyone what had happened last night? He wouldn’t dare embarrass her like that, would he? Her water glass slammed down on the table, almost sloshing over the rim.
“Gather it wasn’t a planned tryst then,” Patrick said with a sly grin of his own.
“No, actually, she kind of took me by surprise,” Lucas said, reaching for a roll out of the basket being passed around. “I really wasn’t expecting her.” Smiling, he passed the basket to Katie and she almost snapped his fingers off as she snatched it from him.
“That’s cute, Lucas,” she muttered for his ears only. “Real cute. What on earth do you think you’re doing?” she hissed, wanting to bean him with the breadbasket.
“I wouldn’t mind having a female surprise me in the middle of the night,” the mayor grumbled. “Might perk things up a bit around here.”
“I guess that all depends on the female,” Lucas said, breaking his roll apart. “This one was a real spitfire, I tell you. It took everything I had and then some to handle her.” He chuckled. “For a while there, I thought I was going to have to call in reinforcements. And Patrick, you were the first person to come to mind.” He grinned, a pure male grin that had Katie’s temper going straight to boil. “But I managed to get the job done by myself.”
“Lucas!” Katie growled under her breath in warning. He was making it sound as if they’d had some illicit sexual tryst last night!
“I’m not ashamed to tell you she nearly wore me out,” Lucas added with a smile and Katie just hung her head, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her.
She was simply going to have to kill him, she decided. Something slow and gruesome. No, on second thought, death was too good for him. She’d think of something worse—something far worse. And then she’d just plead insanity. It was the only defense a single mother had.
“But, it all worked out well in the end,” Lucas said with a smile. “And we both ended up getting what we wanted,” he added with a careless shrug, causing Katie to start choking on the bread she’d been chewing.
Absently, Lucas reached over and patted her back, picking up her water glass and handing it to her, grateful she didn’t throw it at him.
“And I’ve got six beautiful brand new pups to give away this morning as a result if anyone’s interested,” Lucas added with a smile, glancing around the table at the chorus of laughter.
“Dogs?” Patrick glanced around the table in confusion. “Are you saying the commotion at your house last night in the middle of the night was a female dog?”
“Not just a dog, Patrick,” Lucas corrected solemnly. “But a pregnant female sheltie. Most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. Stop by the house and I’ll show you the pups,” he offered with a smile, giving Katie a wink as she let out a long, silent sigh of relief.
Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t have to kill the blasted man after all.
“They’d make a great addition to the firehouse, Patrick. Keep you company during the down times.” The pups had actually been born two nights ago, but Lucas wasn’t about to tell anyone that, nor was he going to impeach Katie or her reputation just for the sake of gossip. How word got out that he’d had some kind of commotion involving a woman at his house last night simply amazed him. He had a feeling small town life was going to take some getting used to.
“You know, now that might not be a bad idea,” the fire chief muttered, stroking his chin in thought. “Not a bad idea at all.”
“Well, if we’re done talking about women, I’d like to get down to business,” the mayor announced.
“Good idea,” Lucas said, reaching for Katie’s hand under the table and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“Ma,” Rusty yelled from his bedroom, his voice echoing down the long hall. “How much longer do I gotta do this?”
“Until it’s done,” Katie called back, climbing over several boxes as she searched for a lamp. It was after six, she was exhausted. It
would be dark soon and she didn’t want to be searching around in the dark for a light.
The movers had left about two hours ago, leaving boxes piled everywhere. Furniture had been set up in their proper rooms, but they still had to unpack.
Hopping down off a box with a frown, Katie scanned the living room/dining room combination, trying to remember which box had lamps in it.
Maybe if she wasn’t so excited she could think better. Shaking her head, she pushed her hair off her face, trying to concentrate. This house—her house—had been a dream for so long, that tonight, actually knowing that dream had become a reality seemed almost surreal.
She had to keep walking through the rooms—actually, stepping onto boxes was more like it—just to see everything, to remind herself this was hers. And Rusty’s.
It wasn’t a new house by any means, but it was a comfortable one, large enough for Rusty to have his own bedroom, and for her to have a rather spacious master bedroom with her own bathroom. As a bonus, there was also an extra bedroom down the hall for her office.
At the back of the house was a huge, sprawling family room adjacent to the kitchen, complete with a fireplace for frosty winter evenings.
Although the house needed updating, Katie wasn’t in a hurry. When she looked around, she didn’t see what was there, but what could be—would be once she got through with it. The possibilities were enough to make her giddy.
Glancing around at the trail of boxes leading every where, Katie grinned again, then scolded herself for stalling. She had to find those lamps and get a path cleared and some of this stuff put away before morning.
And then of course, she thought with a weary sigh, she had to think about dinner.
Moving a box with her foot, she grinned in triumph, opening it to find her living room lamps neatly tucked into it. She pulled them out, set them on a couple of boxes on either side of the living room, turned them on and went back to work.
About the Boy Page 4