And the thought infuriated her.
“Damn!” With a shake of her head, Mattie turned and headed back toward one of the buildings to report the theft of her car, wondering how on earth she was going to get everything done today she needed to without wheels.
Joe loved patrolling during this peaceful, quiet time of the morning, especially on warm, sunny days like today. Kids were in school, most parents were working and the town was still except for the occasional yip of a dog or the blare of a horn.
Traffic was generally at a minimum, allowing him to get through and around town in a fraction of the time it generally took during what was considered rush hour.
Sipping the coffee he’d picked up at Freddy’s diner on his way out on patrol, Joe leaned his elbow out the window, anxious to feel the warm sun on his skin.
Each year winter seemed to get longer and longer, he mused, so that those first warm days of summer were greeted with great anticipation.
The weather had turned a couple of weeks back, promising a very hot May. The mere idea delighted him because it meant that the end-of-the-semester baseball game, picnic and celebration would be well attended.
With a sigh of deep contentment, Joe glanced at his watch and decided he had plenty of time to stop by to see his sister Angie. She had less than nine weeks to go until her delivery, and he had to admit he was getting more nervous and tense as the days wore on.
His radio squawked to life just as he turned the corner off of Main Street, heading toward Angie’s house.
Joe reached for his radio. “Yeah, Clarence, what’s up?”
“We got us some trouble over at the college, Joe.”
“Trouble?” he repeated with a frown. “What kind of trouble?”
“Ms. Maguire just called. Seems her car’s been stolen.”
“Who on earth is stupid enough to steal that old piece of junk?” Joe wondered aloud with a shake of his head.
Clarence laughed. “Don’t reckon I know, Sheriff, but I told her someone would be right over to take her statement and a report.”
“Okay, Clarence. I’ll get right over there. Anything else comes up, just give me a holler.”
“Will do.”
Joe replaced his radio receiver, then did something he rarely did: turned on his siren. He didn’t want to keep Mattie waiting.
When Joe pulled his squad car in to the university parking lot, he spotted Mattie sipping a soft drink and sitting on the back end of a battered white pickup truck, talking to a grizzled old man wearing greasy coveralls and a battered blue baseball cap sporting the faded words Ziggy’s Car Repair.
Joe pulled to a stop in the empty spot beside them as Mattie jumped down from the truck. She was dressed for comfort today in a pair of ivory shorts and a matching short-sleeve cotton sweater that emphasized every feminine curve, nearly making his mouth water.
Her tangle of hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but a few strands had escaped and now framed her face, making her look very young and very beautiful.
He felt that familiar clenching in his gut. Happened every time he looked at her, touched her. And as the days went by, he never seemed to get enough of looking at her or touching her, he realized.
“Can you believe this?” she asked him with a smile as he climbed out of his squad car and glanced around the lot. “That heap of junk is on its last legs…who on earth would steal the blasted thing?”
“Actually, I can believe it,” he admitted, leaning forward to brush his lips against hers in greeting. Her hand immediately went to his chest, and she glanced back at Ernie, the trucker, who was suddenly watching them with a great deal of amused interest.
“Joe,” she murmured, pulling back and fighting the urge to blush as she glanced at Ernie again.
“Yes, Mattie?” Joe replied innocently, his eyes twinkling devilishly. He knew she still wasn’t totally comfortable with the ease in which he touched or kissed her, but she was getting better.
At least she didn’t jump or jolt now, nor did she continually try to back away from him. And he was pleased that he seemed to be making progress in getting Mattie to trust him. He was, after all, a very patient man.
“What happened?” he asked, glancing up and down the aisle again.
“I wish I knew,” she admitted, still flustered that he’d kissed her in public. Again. “I was running late this morning.” She smiled. “Cody couldn’t find his book bag. He couldn’t remember where he’d left it, so by the time we did a search and seizure and found the blasted thing, it was too late for the boys to take the bus, so I drove them to school. Then, I drove straight here. Joe, I park in almost the same place every day, so I don’t lose my car simply because I always have so many things on my mind. But when I came out of my last final this morning, my car was gone.”
“And you’re sure it’s not in another aisle?”
“Yeah, I am.” She turned toward the pickup truck. “I remember this truck. I parked right next to it.” She leaned close to Joe so Ernie wouldn’t hear her. “I remember it only because it’s all smashed up in the front end.”
“What’s so unusual about that?”
She laughed, shading her eyes from the sun as she glanced at the truck. “Joe, it’s a truck for a car-repair shop.”
One eyebrow rose and he returned her smile. “I see your point.” He looked around again. “Okay, Mattie, why don’t you get in the squad car? We can drive up and down all the aisles and check for your car, but if we don’t find it, we’ll have to file a theft report.”
“Okay.” She turned to the truck driver. “Thanks for the soda, Ernie, and for a place to rest until the sheriff got here.”
“Welcome,” he called with a wave of his greasy hand. “Anytime. Hey, Sheriff?”
Joe glanced over at him. “Yeah?”
“If I get my truck stolen, do I get a kiss when you come to take the report, too?” Cackling loudly at his own joke, Ernie waved them away. “See you later, Mattie. Good luck finding your car.”
“Thanks, Ernie.” She waited until Joe climbed in beside her. “Sorry about that, Joe, but you asked for it.”
“True.” He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze, then kissed her again. This time she didn’t back away, but merely slid into the kiss with that soft sigh he’d come to love hearing.
The urge to take the kiss deeper, to do more than kiss her, to ease the ache that had continued to grow inside from the moment he’d laid eyes on her was strong. But vividly aware that they were in the middle of the university parking lot, Joe reluctantly ended the kiss, then started his car and began slowly driving up and down the aisles, scouring the lot for her car.
“Do you have car insurance, Mattie?”
“I do, Joe, but only liability. My car is too old to have theft coverage on it. The insurance company doesn’t even offer it on a car that old.” She glanced out the window, hoping against hope to see her car. “It’s not worth anything to them, but it’s sure worth a lot to me.”
He could hear the distress in her voice. “Listen, Mattie, if your car is really gone, and I suspect it is, you’re going to need transportation.”
“No kidding,” she said with a sigh, trying not to get upset. She’d been wrangling every angle in her mind on how she could afford a new, or rather a different, car right now, and every way she figured it, she came up short.
She knew that she could ask her aunt for an advance on her salary or commissions, but she really wasn’t thrilled with the idea. She preferred to spend only the money she had in hand and not borrow against the future.
Having to watch her pennies so very carefully over the past six years had taught her to be very cautious with money. Thinking and rethinking every single purchase and planning it like a major assault. Not having money only made you appreciate it when you did have it, but that didn’t mean she was about to become reckless now.
But she also couldn’t afford to be without transportation. She had to go to work, and although if push came to shove
she could walk to the gallery from the house, still, there were other considerations.
Like the boys’ baseball practice, doctor visits, grocery shopping. As a busy working mother she could not afford to be without a car. But she couldn’t afford to buy another just yet.
“Mattie, you’re looking real worried here.” Her eyebrows were furrowed and she was biting her lip in a way that always meant she was worried.
“Of course I’m worried, Joe. It appears I’ve just lost my only means of transportation, and at the moment I really can’t swing another car.”
Joe was thoughtful for a second as he turned down the last aisle of the parking lot. “Mattie, why don’t you use my car for the interim? My personal car,” he specified. “I’ve got the squad car, so I don’t really need it.”
“Joe, I appreciate that, truly I do, but I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
“Why?” he asked with a frown.
“I’m not sure it’s entirely ethical for you to be using your squad car for personal business, and then of course, if I’m seen driving around in your personal car I imagine tongues are going to wag, don’t you think?”
“Not any more than if I let you drive the squad car,” he replied with a smile. “I thought my own car would be a bit less conspicuous.”
“Joe, I appreciate the offer, but I’d never want to put you in a spot that might be an embarrassment to you, your family or your position.”
It was the first time in memory, Mattie realized, that she’d had any backup or someone to lend a hand or offer support during a crisis, and she realized it was a wonderful feeling, knowing she wasn’t totally alone and out on a limb. It was also a luxury, she realized, one she not only couldn’t take advantage of but knew she couldn’t come to depend on. She knew it was best to depend only on herself.
“I never really thought about it that way.” Joe considered several other options as he pulled out of the university parking lot and headed down Main Street. “I’ll tell you what. How about if I let you borrow my car and I borrow Angie’s?”
“Your sister’s? Don’t you think she might need her car? You did tell me her husband’s overseas, didn’t you?”
“Yep, he is.”
“Well, then, I’d think she’d want to have use of her car, then. Especially while she’s pregnant.”
“Actually, she can’t drive even if she wanted to.” He glanced at her, then explained. “Doc Mayfield told her yesterday that until the babies are born, she’s not allowed to drive. She’s too far along right now. Not to mention the fact that, according to her, she can’t fit comfortably behind the wheel anyway. So giving up the car wouldn’t be a hardship or a problem for her at all.”
“Babies?” Mattie grinned. “Did you say babies, as in more than one?”
It was his turn to grin as he turned to her. “Man, you’re good. I don’t know that anyone else would have picked up on that.” He grinned. “The doc called Angie this morning. She had another ultrasound yesterday and apparently she’s carrying twins. Girls,” he added as his grin widened.
“Joe, that’s wonderful. She must be thrilled.”
He laughed, turning her hand over in his and lifting it to his mouth for a kiss. He couldn’t be near her without wanting to touch her, kiss her. “She is, but right now she’s also very, very uncomfortable. And a tad cranky.”
“I know the feeling,” Mattie said with a laugh. “Been there, done that.”
“Did you ever want more children, Mattie?” he asked, glancing at her. He had no idea where the hell that question had come from. All he knew was that he’d been thinking about it, wondering about it for weeks now. She was so good with children, not just her own, but all children.
He’d been watching her on the practice field nearly every day for the past month, and was continually amazed at the calm and patience she displayed with all the players from the youngest and clumsiest, to the eldest and experienced, Mattie was a marvel.
“More children?” She hesitated for a moment, trying to hide the rush of yearning that surfaced at the mere thought of being able to have another child. “I always wanted a houseful,” she admitted softly, feeling an ache in her heart where she’d long ago buried her maternal desire. She rubbed the spot, hoping to rub the ache away. “But when I realized what a mistake I’d made marrying Gary, I realized that my twins were probably the only children I’d ever have. I certainly didn’t intend to have any more children as a single mother. I had a hard time supporting the two I had, and getting married again was out of the question.” She forced a smile she didn’t feel. “So I’m eternally grateful I had the twins, knowing that they are the only children I’ll probably ever have.” She shrugged. “I try not to wish for things I can’t or don’t have, or that never can be.”
“I see,” he said quietly, trying to digest everything she’d told him. Now he understood so much better why she never wanted to get married again. Who would after what she’d been through? That wasn’t what he’d call a marriage, no, it was more like being a prisoner of war, with her husband and in-laws as her captors.
“Can I buy you lunch before I drop you off at the gallery? We can run by the diner, and fill out the paperwork on your car while we’re at it.”
“Sounds good, I’m starving.” She hesitated, knowing the matter of using his car wasn’t quite settled yet. “Joe, about your car—”
“Mattie, don’t worry about Angie, please? I do enough worrying about her for both of us. Trust me on this one. Someone in the family takes her to the doctor, grocery shopping, and everywhere else she needs to go. So borrowing her car won’t be a hardship on anyone. Truly.”
“Your family really does stick together and support one another, don’t they?”
He met her gaze, and knew she was thinking about the Maguires and how they could have made her life so much easier but deliberately chose not to.
“That’s what family does, Mattie,” he said quietly. “At least my family. We depend on one another, help one another, and always support one another. It’s the only way we know how to do things.”
Mattie turned and glanced out the window, watching the pretty, tree-lined streets of town roll by, wondering why Joe’s words made her feel so sad. Perhaps because she knew she’d never have that kind of wonderfully supportive family. Not for herself. Or her children.
“That’s wonderful,” she finally said, banking her own emotions and turning to him. “Truly. You have one incredible family.”
“So does that mean you’ll use my car?” He shook his head. “Mattie, you need to be practical here. As you’ve said, you’ve got to get to work, you’ve got errands to run, the boys’ schedule to maintain, and don’t forget about their practices. I could always pick them up and bring them home—”
“Good Lord, Joe, I could never impose on you like that.”
“Fine,” he said, totally ignoring her protests. “Then it’s settled. If you use my car, you won’t have to impose on me, right?”
“This is some kind of male logic to confuse me, right?”
He grinned. “You got it.” He didn’t let her utter another word of protest. “Now, I’ll drop the car off at the gallery this afternoon before you close.”
“Joe—”
“Mattie.” He pulled in to an empty parking spot in front of the diner and turned to her. “I think it’s only fair to warn you that it might be better if you didn’t argue with me in front of Freddy.” He grinned boyishly as he traced a finger down her cheek. “She’s a mite possessive about me.”
“She is, huh?” Mattie said with a grin. “Guess you’ve got women all over town panting after you.”
He sighed. “Well, since my brother Sal—the real Marino family heartthrob—is no longer available, I’m a poor substitute.” He feigned a heavy sigh. “It’s a rotten job, but someone has to do it.”
Mattie knew when to give up a fight. “Okay, I’ll use your car on one condition.”
“I let you have your way with
my body?” he asked hopefully, wiggling his eyebrows at her and making her laugh. “Repeatedly?”
“Close, but not quite. You have to let me pay you for the use of the car.”
“Pay me?” he said, insulted. “Mattie, you can’t pay me, but I’ll tell you what you can do.”
Suspicious now, she looked at him warily. “What?”
“I’d like you and the boys to have dinner with me and my family on Sunday.” It was time for Mattie to meet the rest of his family, especially Johnny. He wanted her to see exactly why he’d made the choices he had in life. Why there could never be anything more than friendship between them, and he wanted her to see that he took his responsibility to his family seriously—unlike the Maguires who clearly had no understanding of the word family.
He wanted the boys to meet Johnny as well, simply because he was certain not only would the boys enjoy it, but Johnny would too. And if the truth be told, he was also hoping Johnny would be able to offer some additional pointers to Cody and Connor on their batting technique.
“Dinner?” Surprised and confused, she shook her head. “You want me and the boys to have dinner with your whole family?” She knew how important Joe’s family was to him, knew, too, how sacred their Sunday dinners together were. She felt honored that he’d invited her and the twins to join them.
“Yeah, Mattie. I’d really like it if you would.” He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“And how does our having dinner with you and your family fit into the category of me repaying you?”
He wiggled his eyebrows again. “You have to bring dessert. A couple dozen of those fabulous brownies you baked for the boys to take to class last week would work out just fine for Sunday. Fair enough?”
She laughed. He was offering her the use of a car for a couple dozen brownies? “Fair enough.”
He leaned over and kissed her again. And then once more until her eyes slid closed and she was clutching at his shirt, her heart thudding along with his. Reluctantly, he drew back, remembering he was parked smack-dab in the middle of town. In his squad car. Hardly what he’d call a professional move.
Daddy Patrol Page 17