“You got him. You and Quincy. I was part of the cleanup crew.” He spoke softly, although he wanted to scream at her. “We’ve got an ambulance coming. We’re going to check you out.”
Wrong thing to say. She started to sit up. “I’m fine. I’m fine. I think I was just scared.”
Of course she’d been scared. What did she expect?
“Where’s Ash?” she asked, scanning the area.
“Right here,” said the child, her arm around the dog. “You know what, Mom? You’re a hero! You jumped on him like Spiderman, except you’d be Spiderwoman.”
Rick winced. The outcome could have been so different. “The EMTs are here, Krissy, and you’re going to let them examine you.”
She began to protest, then glimpsed his thunderous expression and shut up.
He nodded. “Good girl.”
His secondary came up to him. “We’ve interviewed a bunch of people here. Their statements are variations of the same story.” He peered at the dog and shook his head. “And I hate to tell you how many pictures they took with their cell phone cameras when it was going down. It’ll be all over the Internet.”
“Just what we don’t need.”
“And on the local news.” His buddy nodded toward the sidewalk, where a television crew was filming and reporting.
“Damn it,” Rick muttered. “Maybe folks will watch a baseball game instead.”
The other man shook his head. “I don’t know if a World Series game could compete with this event.”
Just then, a news reporter approached. “Can we get the story behind the story? We know what people saw. What’s the reason?”
Rick replied. “Citizens and police worked together and a man was brought to justice. That’s the story.” He walked away as his imagination started working overtime. It could have ended differently. Very badly. Kristin…Ashley…He started to shake. The perp could have been armed. He spun around.
“Was he searched?”
“Affirmative. Armed and dangerous. One mother of a knife.”
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, Kristin sat next to Rick in the front seat of his vehicle, with Ash and Quincy in the back. Everyone together again.
“We have to press charges, but that can wait until tomorrow morning,” Rick said, turning on the ignition. “Still want Ripples?”
“No,” Ashley piped up. “Let’s go home. We can give Quincy water and food…oh, we have no food, do we, Mom? Not for dogs or people.”
Kristin turned around to study her daughter. “Home? Are you sure, Ash?”
“Yes. You got him, Mom. He’s in jail, so I’m not so afraid anymore. I’m sure glad we went to self-defense classes. So let’s go home. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa will come over.”
Home sounded wonderful to Kristin, too. She looked at Rick. “Is that okay with you?”
“Anything you want.” He stared straight ahead, and her heart hit the ground. She was losing him. She took a deep breath.
“What I want…is you,” she said quietly. “I love you, Rick.”
In a second, his seat belt was off and he was kissing her as though she was going to disappear in a moment. She wrapped her arms around his neck, glad the transmission was on the steering column and not the floor.
“I love you, too. I adore you, and you almost killed me back there. You can never, never do that again. No more heroics. Call the cops, for God’s sake. Ash was smarter than you. She used the phone.”
“Okay. No more heroics.”
Suspicion was written all over his face. “That’s it? No argument?”
“No argument.”
“I don’t trust you,” he said slowly. “You’re too easy.”
“I’m in the insurance business. Another adventure for an amateur carries too much risk.”
He kissed her again.
Delicious. “Uh—Rick? Could you just say those three little words again?”
A ruddy face didn’t stop him. “I love you. Very, very much…Are six words okay?”
“Oh, yeah…”
She watched the expression on his face change from delight to concern. He had more to say.
“What about my job? It’s really my career,” he said slowly. “Do you hate it?”
She cupped his cheek. “I’m frightened. Why wouldn’t I be? But I also figured out something else from watching you, and Sam, and the police force right here.”
“You did? We’re just doing what we’re paid to do.”
“But you’re doing it so well—and that’s the point. If people like you aren’t around to protect the rest of us, then everyone’s daughter is at risk.”
He kissed her again. “So smart.”
“And so yucky, yucky, yucky,” said a giggling voice from the backseat.
An hour later, after stopping at the supermarket for basics and picking up Chinese takeout, they were in Kristin’s driveway. The lawn service had done its job; nothing was overgrown. Light shone from inside due to the electric timers she’d set. The brick ranch-style house appeared lived in and unremarkable.
But Kristin was watching Ashley and waiting for her reaction. She needn’t have been concerned. Ash jumped out of the car, took a grocery bag and marched up the driveway to the back of the house, to their usual entrance through the kitchen.
Kristin beamed. “My old Ashley is coming back. Life will be easier now.”
“Easier with a soon-to-be teenager?” Rick teased, reaching for a bag of food.
Her cell rang before she could respond to him. They continued toward the door as she answered it. “Marsha! Hi. On the news? Really? Yes, we’re fine. All of us.” She spoke a moment longer and hung up.
They entered the house to see Ash already setting the table for their meal, while Quincy drank water from a plastic bowl. Ashley pointed to the dog. “It was the biggest thing I could find. He’s such a slurper.”
The house phone rang. Kristin picked up the receiver. “Jo Anne! Yes, we’re here. Ashley’s fine. Just a minute and I’ll ask her.”
This was the big one. The big question. “Ash, Sabrina wants to talk to you.” She held out the phone, and her daughter took it from her.
“Hi, Sabrina.” A smile grew on Ashley’s face as she listened. She tapped Kristin’s arm. “Mom, can Sabrina come over?”
Did a day have twenty-four hours? “Yes. Of course. Anytime.”
“She wants to bring Mary Beth and their instruments. They’ve been waiting for me.”
“Sure, sweetheart. Bring the whole orchestra. We’re back!” Finally, they sat down to eat, and Rick’s cell phone rang.
“Cooper.” Kristin watched his face light up. He stared at Ashley. “For you.”
She gestured to herself. Me? “Hello? Madison! Yeah. That was us. And your uncle, too. Where are you? Hang on.” She looked at Kristin. “Mom, can Madison come over, too? With her mom and dad and Danny? In an hour.”
Kristin nodded, her mind racing. Coffee, cake. She had nothing in the house. She mouthed her request to Rick.
He took the phone. “The answer’s yes, but where’s your mother?” He only waited a moment. “Pile in the car, bring Mom and Dad, and a lot of desserts. The cupboard’s pretty barren here.”
An everyday atmosphere returned to the kitchen. Their meal disappeared quickly. Ashley patted her stomach and glanced around the table. “We’re such a great team,” she said with a sigh. “Just like a regular family.”
The silence became intense. Kristin gazed at the back wall.
“Kristin?” Rick’s soft voice made her name sound like a prayer. “A family?”
She turned toward him, saw the love he had for her so clearly written on his face, and smiled. “If you’re asking, the answer is a definite yes,” she said. “A regular family.”
Then she was in his arms, receiving and giving kisses, hugs and promises. And commitments.
“I love you, Kristin. So much. For so long…”
“It’s mutual, Rick. I love you, too.” She snuggled closer. “I could stay here forever.”
“A very good idea,” he said, his voice trembling, “because I’ll be holding you forever.” He kissed her again.
A soft click sounded. With a big grin on her face, Ashley held up Rick’s cell phone. A snapshot. “Busted,” she said. “And you’re picture perfect. Get it? I made a word joke.”
Kristin poked Rick, and they laughed along with the child they would raise together in the future. Then Quincy trotted to Ashley, nuzzled her and barked his approval, definitely having the last word.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3296-3
SUMMER AT THE LAKE
Copyright © 2009 by Linda Barrett.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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