“Agreed.” Aaron guided her back to the front of the store where two RCMP vehicles waited, then sent the other officers on the hunt for the intruder. Cally had a feeling they wouldn’t get far, though. The snow, while it had eased up somewhat, still fell heavily, obscuring everyone’s vision and covering up footprints. “Let’s get moving. The station is a block and a half down the road.”
She eyed the road. It looked like there’d been an attempt at plowing it since the morning. It wasn’t totally clear, but far better than the highway. “Are we walking?”
Aaron shook his head. “Not while there’s someone out there searching for you, we’re not. Leo is fine for us to take his car back. I don’t want to keep you outside any longer than you’ve already been.”
They got into the vehicle. Aaron drove carefully down the road, and Cally’s body began to relax as she anticipated a chance to sit in a warm building with a hot beverage and no chance of being attacked.
Or at least, she hoped not—she’d already been wrong about that yesterday. Twice.
EIGHT
Cally sat in the staff room at the RCMP station with a steaming mug of tea between her hands and a space heater blowing hot air directly on her legs. Aaron slid into the seat across from her. He had a stack of paperwork in his arms, and for the first time that day, Cally noticed the dark circles under his eyes.
“You need anything else, let one of us know, okay? We can set up a quiet space in one of the offices if you want to try getting some rest. Don’t hesitate to ask.”
Cally stared at the blank wall on the other side of the staff room. She’d wanted a change of scenery, and now she had it—and honestly, her life hadn’t been full of this much excitement in a very long time. Not that being stalked and attacked was the kind of excitement she was looking for. It was a good thing these events were happening in a small town, though. If her mother found out what was going on, Cally would never hear the end of it. The guilt and pressure to come home would be unrelenting.
But did she even want to stay here? The longer she remained at Fort Mason, the more she monopolized Aaron’s time. This couldn’t be how he wanted to spend what was supposed to be a quiet, low-stress period at his job, either. “I’m sorry,” she finally said, resting her head in her hands. “You’ve probably got a million other things you’d rather be doing than babysitting a grown woman.”
Aaron pressed his lips together, looking sheepish. “Honestly? I don’t mind. It gets a little lonely around here this time of year. And besides...” His voice trailed off and he sighed. “This is my job, you know? And your visit, uh—”
“I’m an assignment.” She remembered the phrasing of the email she’d received. Foreign dignitary. Personal concierge. “I get it, but you don’t have to pretend. And I’m a fully capable adult. I can handle myself if there are other things you have to do. Ellen can take over as my hangout buddy when she gets here.”
“Which might not be until tomorrow, and with these multiple attempts on your life, it’s not exactly a matter of just hanging out. I know you know that. Also, I think she’ll be a little too preoccupied with wedding stuff, right?”
Cally shrugged. “I’ll be out of your way soon enough.” She realized how negative that sounded as soon as the words left her mouth. He’d done the best he could to look out for her, and she didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. “I’ll be somebody else’s problem,” she tried instead. Nope, that was worse.
He blinked slowly at her, fingers rubbing the sides of his temples. He looked bewildered and ready to topple over from exhaustion at any moment. Guilt washed over her—again, she’d been retreating into self-pity instead of paying attention to the people around her. Was she so incapable of considering others’ feelings?
“Aaron? Do you think maybe you should get some more rest?”
He grunted and rubbed his eyes. “I’ll rest when there’s time for it, and right now, there isn’t. With Leo and Hatch out searching for the intruder, that leaves me to man the station and look out for you.”
She frowned. “There’s no one else you can call in for a few hours? An emergency volunteer or auxiliary officer?”
He shook his head. “We’re low-staffed at this time of year—not that there are many of us here year-round. It’s my brothers and I, Hatch and our part-time receptionist. If we have a big emergency, we can usually call up some extra help from Fort St. Jacob, but with the roads the way they are right now, it’s just not possible.”
The memory of trudging through the snow made Cally shiver and wrap the blanket draped around her shoulders a little tighter. “But what about people out on the roads? Or if there’s an emergency at someone’s house?”
Aaron chuckled, but the sound lacked humor. “I promise you that things are not usually so frantic in Fort Mason. In my entire time working here, we’ve only had one large winter storm emergency, and that was because the snow brought in a ton of ice and caused one of the large trees at the edge of town to topple over. It took down power lines, which lit the hardware store on fire and injured three people. Most of Fort Mason didn’t have power for a week, and that’s a scary thing up here with minus twenty-five Celsius the average temperature this time of year. The trucks couldn’t get up to fix our infrastructure and repair the power lines... It was a total mess.
“But never anything like shootings or stalkers, or...well, that’s not quite true. I think I mentioned there was an incident with my brother earlier this year, but that’s another story entirely, and it happened in the spring. And then my other brother got involved in a scary homicide case around Fort St. Jacob, but that’s a few hours south of here and it was in May, not winter, so...where was I going with this?”
Cally couldn’t resist the urge to smile. He was definitely beyond exhausted. She recognized it in the over-exaggerated gestures and the way he’d started to ramble. But he was trying very hard to continue to protect her and do the best job possible, and she appreciated it. “You were telling me why you can’t take a nap. Are you sure you can’t lie down in one of the back rooms while I monitor the front area? You didn’t sleep last night, and the longer you go without rest, the less effective you’ll be on the job. It’s not like an attacker is going to waltz into the RCMP station and start shooting. You have cameras everywhere, and they’d be caught immediately.”
“That’s true. We have a lockdown protocol. But I honestly can’t sleep on the clock when I’m the only officer in the building. I did have that quick nap at the spa before we left, remember? And even if you were looking out for me, if anyone found out it’d compromise my job, and if that happened, I’d be taken right out of the running for any promotions. Not that I’m going to still be in the running after the spectacular failure this assignment has been...”
Cally frowned, wanting to ask him to clarify what he meant, but his eyes had closed.
She let Aaron sit there with his eyes shut for several minutes, acting like nothing unusual had happened in case there were security cameras in the staff room. The part of her that was trying not to wallow in self-pity wanted to convert her emotions into anger and redirect the blame—but blaming Aaron or the town would get her nowhere. In theory, this could be happening anywhere—even back home in Amar, and there she had no one who’d rally around her to keep her safe, despite Aaron’s insistence otherwise. Her family would complain that she’d married outside her station and brought her trouble on herself, and then they’d attempt to match her up with some random man her aunt knew or her mother had met at sewing club, or someone’s cousin’s brother’s best friend remembered from a church dinner party.
Cally startled as her phone vibrated inside her sweater. After being without cell service all morning, she’d forgotten about checking for messages or phone calls. When she pulled the device out of her pocket, her mother’s photo flashed across the screen.
She didn’t want to answer it. Then again, she couldn’t avoid her
family forever. And after the events of today, she was feeling a little anxious about the fragility of life.
“Hi, Mama.” She braced herself for the scolding. Her mother alone had left about six or seven messages on her phone since she’d left Amar, but Cally hadn’t had the chance to return a single one.
“Callandra Leah Roslin, where are you and when are you coming home? What on earth has gotten into you?”
Her mother continued to rant for several minutes, and Cally listened quietly while her mother got it out of her system. Across the table, Aaron opened his eyes, yawned and flipped through the papers in front of him with slow, languid movements. The man looked set to keel over at any moment.
When her mother paused for a breath, Cally jumped in. “Are you quite finished? I love you, Mama, but I think sometimes you forget that I’m an adult. I’m in my thirties, not thirteen.”
“You mean thirty-two going on thirteen, because a real adult wouldn’t abandon her mother at Christmas and disappear to the other side of the world without a single thought for her family—”
“First, Uncle Zarek flies around the world at holidays and no one bats an eye, and second, I didn’t abandon anyone. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want, and I don’t need to provide you with a full itinerary. I left you a message that I was leaving and why, so I’m not sure what else you want from me.”
Her mother scoffed. “You could have done more than send a measly text message. I thought you might be dead by the side of the road. Your aunt Tamara thought she heard something about a plane crash in Canada, and your uncle Zarek is concerned that you didn’t contact him first since he’s already in Canada for some annual conference he attends. I told everyone there’s no way you’re missing Christmas with the family. Esai made you do that one too many times and we were all sick of it, and now you don’t have to miss the holidays anymore. Right? Tell me you’re getting on a plane right now.”
Cally loved her mother, she really did. But if she heard one more disparaging comment about her late husband, she was going to explode. This was the reason she hadn’t felt bad about up and leaving on short notice, and besides, she really did have a marvelous reason—her friend was getting married, and she wanted to celebrate with her! And yes, she’d missed a few family Christmases for Esai’s work trips—he’d been a high-profile technology consultant, and sometimes that required him to be gone during the holiday season. Rather than let him spend the holidays alone in a strange place, she’d gone with him on those occasions and been happy to do so. But her family had resented it, and apparently still did. They’d never liked him, and it had only become more difficult to manage their feelings on the matter after his death.
For once, she wanted to spend Christmas with people she knew wouldn’t disparage her life choices and who’d let her grieve and love in her own way.
“I’m not getting on a plane, Mama. I’m sorry that it upsets you, but I promise I’m fine and I’ll visit you as soon as I return. No, I don’t know when that is, but sometime after my friend Ellen’s wedding, which I’ve already told you about.” She braced herself for the onslaught of questions about the wedding and the inevitable recommendation that she remarry someone the family approved of this time, but unlike previous rants she’d endured, Cally felt oddly calm during this one.
Yes, she’d been attacked and shot at multiple times in the past twenty-four hours...but the man across from her at the table was going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that she didn’t get hurt and to make her comfortable despite the series of events. Even as he sat half-asleep at the table, clearly on the verge of collapse, he refused to take a short break.
On the other hand, being around Aaron felt inexplicably natural, and she was struck by a pang of sadness for the loss of moments like this in her life. Would she ever have them again? If she did, she’d want these small, shared moments to be with someone like Aaron—someone dedicated and hardworking in his career, but also compassionate and caring enough to balance family, even in the midst of crisis.
“Callandra? Are you listening?”
“Yes, Mama. I’m listening. And I’m sorry I can’t be everywhere and do everything at once, but I promise you I’ll have a wonderful Christmas here in Fort Mason, and you’ll have a wonderful holiday at home with everyone else. You won’t even notice my absence once the festivities pick up.”
“I very much doubt that, but...” Her mother sighed pointedly. “Are you safe? What about that plane crash your aunt mentioned?”
Cally wasn’t very well going to lie to her mother, but she also didn’t want to give her greater reason to worry. “There’s no plane crash in this area. Canada is a big place. There’s a bad snowstorm here and I didn’t have cell reception for a while, and I’ve run into a little trouble, but please don’t be concerned. I’m being looked out for by a very capable RCMP officer. He’s the head of his detachment and knows what he’s doing.”
“Trouble! What kind of trouble?” Her mother paused for a moment on the other end of the line. “Wait, did you say an RCMP officer? Is he married?”
Cally groaned, earning a look of surprise from Aaron. Her mother’s voice coming through the receiver wasn’t exactly quiet. She shrugged and mouthed “Sorry!” before answering. “Mama, I’m not having this conversation with you right now.”
After a few more prying questions, she managed to get off the phone, earning a curious look from Aaron.
She sighed. “Yes, my mother talks a lot. And she asks a lot of questions. She’s always been a worrier and too into other people’s business, but that’s my entire family for you.”
Aaron grinned and leaned back in his chair. “I’m getting a clearer picture of what you meant when you said you came here to try to escape them. No wonder you flew all the way to the middle of nowhere instead of landing on a tropical island or visiting a big, bustling city.”
“Right? And that’s only part of it. I also didn’t want to endure another holiday season where they disparage the memory of my late husband and try to set me up with random men I’m not interested in. They’re looking out for me in their own way, I get it, but it’s overwhelming at times. I just want a chance to enjoy the holidays with zero expectations. Figure myself out again, you know? I have the wedding to attend, of course, but that’s just one day, and that’s going to be a happy affair.”
Aaron’s smile slid from his face and he leaned in. “I don’t mean to pry—and please don’t take this the wrong way—but will you be okay? At the wedding?”
Cally smiled despite the sadness behind the question. “Yes. I’ll be all right. I’m thrilled for Ellen, and it’s not like I’m bitter or don’t believe in love anymore. What happened to Esai was tragic and unexpected, and I’ll never stop loving him. But I’m also not going to stop living my life. He wouldn’t want me to. I wouldn’t want him to if our situations had been reversed. If anything, it’s forced me to confront my own mortality. I don’t want to waste the time I’ve been given.”
She’d never spoken those words aloud, and hearing them from her own lips brought a wave of emotion. Without warning, tears fell from her eyes, but she didn’t feel upset or overcome with sadness—rather, she felt a surge of relief to have admitted those things out loud. To finally give voice to the way she’d been feeling lately.
She touched her locket beneath her sweater, but pulled her hand away almost immediately, feeling self-conscious about the gesture with Aaron’s eyes on her.
After everything she’d just confessed, she hoped Aaron didn’t think badly of her—but when she looked up to meet his eyes, his smile had returned, kind and gentle.
“That makes perfect sense,” he said, sliding out from his seat and into the chair next to her. “Can I see it? The locket? It’s okay if you don’t want to show me.”
She hesitated, her first instinct being to retreat inward, like when her family brought up her past—but Aaron didn
’t speak begrudgingly or with sarcasm. His voice held sincerity, genuine interest in someone who’d meant so much to her. She pulled the chain from beneath her shirt and opened the locket, holding it out to him on her palm. He had to lean in to take a closer look, and she instinctively braced herself for a pitying look that never came.
“Handsome fellow,” Aaron said, gazing up at her with a twinkle in his eye. “I’m glad you had someone in your life who made you smile like that.”
The burden on her heart lifted, ever so slightly. “Thank you for saying so.” She closed the pendant and slipped it back under her collar, the cooled metal against her skin a welcome reminder of its precious value. “My uncle did a fantastic job choosing the photo to put inside. I’m very grateful that at least someone in my family isn’t constantly in my face about the way life has gone for me.”
Aaron sat back in his chair, thoughtful. “For what it’s worth—”
Before he could finish his comment, a loud popping noise came from all around them. The lights went out and the rumble of the building’s heating system dropped into silence. Surprise shot through Cally at the sudden loss of light and sound, but moments later, the fluorescent lights flickered on overhead as a thump and a buzz indicated that a backup power generator had kicked in.
“Great,” Aaron muttered. “Probably ice and heavy snow buildup on the power lines. Or could just be here at the station—this is an old building. I’ll have to go up on the roof to check the breakers.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, but before he’d even started to dial, it rang. “Right, reception is working again. Ironic, though I should have figured it out when your call came through. Ugh, nothing makes sense during these bad storms. Hard to say what will work or stop working when.” He answered his phone and hung up moments later, looking concerned.
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