Wedding Bells in Christmas

by Debbie Mason

  Who was she trying to kid? He wasn’t letting her out. Even though, as she’d repeatedly pointed out, he had no legal grounds to throw her in jail. He hadn’t responded—incensed glares didn’t count. She’d seen him angry before, but nothing like he’d been thirty minutes ago.

  Maddie and Skye were angry, too. So angry that they refused to post Vivi’s bail. The trumped-up charges? Failure to stop, resisting arrest, driving without Colorado plates. She walked to the narrow cot and lay down, looking up at the grotty ceiling. She angled her head and sniffed… It smelled like… She jumped off the mattress. If she stayed in here much longer, she’d catch something. She tapped her fingers on her forehead, trying to think of someone who’d bail her out.

  Cat O’Connor. As a former police officer, she’d totally get that Chance had overstepped his authority. But Vivi’d used her one phone call. She eyed her messenger bag that held her cell phone, propped up against the side of the desk. She calculated the distance—about four feet if she could somehow get the bag to fall forward.

  She took off her tennis shoe, stuck her hand through the bars, and let it fly. Her tennie bounced off the desk. Her bag didn’t move, but the container of pens fell on the floor. She waited for someone to come and investigate the crash. They didn’t. Probably because the task force meeting was under way. What she wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall.

  Vivi took off her other shoe, said a silent prayer, and flung it as hard as she could. The desk shifted, and her bag fell on the floor. “Yes,” she cheered, pumping her fist in the air. Once she ended her mini-victory dance, she lay on the floor, hoping it had been cleaned recently, and stuck her leg through the bars. She stretched out her foot. After what felt like an hour, but was probably only ten minutes, she got the strap between her toes and carefully edged the bag toward her. Retrieving her phone, she called Cat.

  Vivi had just about given up when Cat answered. “Hey, it’s Vivi. I need your help.”

  “I bet you do. I heard all about your adventures today from Skye. Your best friends aren’t happy with you, you know.”

  “That’s actually why I’m calling. They won’t bail me out, so I was hoping you would.” When Cat didn’t respond right away, Vivi said, “Pretty please, I’ll owe you big-time.”

  She heard a door close, then Cat came back on the line. “Sorry, I didn’t want Mom to hear me. I wish I could help you out, Vivi. But she’s got me packing up anything that Paul’s ever given her or that remotely reminds her of him. She’s on a tear, and if I leave, she’ll just start packing on her own.”

  “Don’t worry about it. How did her follow-up go?” Vivi’d asked Cat to go with her to see Darwin Callahan, but she had needed to take Liz to the hospital.

  Cat sighed. “Not good.”

  “Oh, Cat, I’m sorry. Is there anything—”

  “No, physically she’s fine. Mentally…”

  “What happened?”

  “You know how Dr. Trainer agreed to let Paul do the follow-up so Mom would at least have to speak to him?”

  She’d heard all about Nell’s latest plan last night. “Yeah, I take it Liz didn’t go along with it.”

  “Oh, no, she did. I think she wants to see him, or I should say, wanted to, but was too proud to give him a call. Anyway, his receptionist seemed nervous when we arrived at his office. She tried to send us away, but Mom wasn’t having any of it. She ended up walking in on Paul and his ex-girlfriend Karen.”

  “They weren’t…”

  “No, thank God. I think it looked worse than it was. Paul had lipstick on his collar and his cheek. He tried to explain, but Mom didn’t give him a chance.”

  “I hate to say I told you so, but I did. You guys have to stop listening to Nell.”

  “Pot to kettle. You’re no better. I told you interviewing Darwin was a bad idea.” A frustrated breath huffed over the line. “I better go. I can hear her moving stuff around. Sorry I can’t help you out. Too bad you don’t know how to pick a lock. I don’t think they’ve changed them since the jail was built in the late eighteen hundreds.”

  Vivi straightened and glanced at the cell door. “Really?”

  “Uh, Vivi, I was joking. You can’t break out of jail. Chance would—”

  “Come on, I wouldn’t have a clue how to pick a lock.” But her father had known how, and like any good father, had passed the tricks of his trade onto his daughter. “Besides, even if I did, I wouldn’t break out. That’d be illegal, right?” She was so going to break out. She just didn’t want Cat to inadvertently spill the beans. And since Chance had thrown Vivi in jail based on trumped-up charges, she had no compunction about using her get-out-of-jail-free card. “Go help your mom. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  As soon as Cat disconnected, Vivi got to work. All it took was some concentration and patience, the wire from her now-destroyed bra, and a pen. She smiled as the door clanged open. Free at last.

  Once she put on her tennis shoes and cleaned up the broken pen holder, she shoved her bra in her messenger bag and headed for the door. Suze, the forty-something receptionist, and the dark-haired deputy, Jill Flaherty, were deep in conversation at the front desk. Vivi couldn’t avoid them. She pasted a smile on her face and casually sauntered toward the front doors. Their jaws dropped.

  Jill recovered first. “What… How…” She looked beyond Vivi as if expecting someone to be behind her. When no one followed, she put her hands on her hips. “Who let you out?”

  “Ah… John. Now if you don’t mind, I gotta get going.”

  Jill frowned at Suze. “Who’s John?”

  When the woman shrugged, Jill narrowed her eyes at Vivi. “You are not leaving until I speak to Chance.”

  “Come on, Jill. He…” Vivi trailed off at the sound of raised male voices coming from Gage’s office. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” Jill gestured at one of the desks. “Sit.”

  “Maddie’s right, you are a hard-ass.” Jill and Maddie got along now, but it hadn’t always been the case.

  Jill smirked. “Takes one to know one.”

  “Ha-ha, but seriously, Jill, Chance—” She winced when a loud bang came from the office at the opposite side of the room.

  “Has had a shit day thanks to you. And it’s only gotten worse.” She pulled out a chair from behind the desk.

  She was about to take offense at Jill blaming her for Chance’s crappy day, but focused instead on the latter comment. “How so?” she asked, taking a seat.

  “You have to ask?” Jill sat behind the desk in front of Vivi. “Look, we’ve never been able to find a link between Jake Callahan and Kate’s death, but Chance, he believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was responsible. So when you, a woman he’s involved with—”

  “We’re not involved, and that’s not—”

  “You’re involved. A man like Chance doesn’t react the way he did unless he’s in—”

  “Don’t, do not say it,” she warned the other woman. “And you obviously don’t know Chance if you think his reaction was unusual. The man’s an overprotective control freak. Do you know what his handle is? Superman. Yeah, that’s right, Superman. Are you getting the picture now?”

  “Yep, clear as crystal.” Jill grinned. “You’re his Lois Lane.”

  Vivi dropped her head on the desk, then lifted her eyes. “You’re all nuts. There must have been a lot of cousins marrying cousins in the good old days.” She angled her head and took out her iPhone. Not a bad idea. She typed, “Prevalence of quirky/weird/nosy/annoying people in small towns due to inbreeding.”

  “So, you going to tell me how you got out of your cell?”

  “Your locks are crap.”

  “You’re the shit. You two are the perfect match.” She laughed, pointing at Vivi when she gave her the evil eye. “See, you even got his shut-up-or-die look down pat.”

  “Probably because he’s used it on me every day since we arrived in town.” It hadn’t always been that way.

 
; “He was going to let you out as soon as they wrapped it up in there.” She nodded at Gage’s office.

  “Yeah right.”

  “No, he was. He told me so himself.” At another loud bang from Gage’s office, Jill winced. “That really doesn’t sound good.”

  They looked at each other when they heard the Callahans’ name shouted from behind the closed doors. “Oh boy, Gage is going to be ticked. He didn’t want Chance bringing them up at the meeting.”

  “Why not? They should be looking into them. Darwin Callahan said a couple things… What?” Vivi asked when Jill gave her a startled look.

  “Darwin Callahan? Don’t tell me you talked to the old man, too.”

  “I thought you knew that.”

  “Nope, just heard about Jake. No wonder Chance lost his shit. Not cool, Vivi. Not cool at all.”

  Maybe Jill was right and Vivi had taken it too far this time. Yes, she had the right to talk to whomever she wanted. But knowing Chance’s history with the Callahans, she could have been more considerate of his feelings. She might not believe the Callahans would hurt her, but he did. There were times when her curiosity, her need to be right and get the story, came back to bite her in the butt. Today appeared to be a case in point. She slumped in the chair, unsure how to fix this.

  They both turned at the sound of the door opening. “Yeah, and I know what I know. So you either put the Callahans back on that board or I walk and go it on my own.” Chance stormed from Gage’s office.

  “Chance, calm down, don’t go off half-cocked.” Walker followed him out of the office, while Gage, Ethan, and three other men stared after them.

  Chance didn’t respond to Walker. He came to a dead stop in front of the desk.

  Scowling at Jill, he jerked his thumb at Vivi. “Did you let her out?”

  “No, John did,” Jill said at the same time Vivi said, “No, Joe did.”

  Jill stared at her, widening her eyes. “You said John did, remember?”

  “Right, I forgot. It was Joe… I mean John.”

  Chance’s narrowed gaze moved from Vivi to the door leading to the cells. He swore under his breath and stalked to the door.

  Gage, Ethan, and the three men filed out of the office while Walker stood looking down at Vivi. “So, Ms. Westfield, what have you done now?”

  “She broke out of the cell,” Chance muttered as he came back into the room. “Jill, call the locksmith and have him change all the locks.”

  “Hey,” Gage said, “you’re not sheriff anymore. You don’t get to call the shots. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, you just quit.”

  “No, he didn’t quit,” Vivi jumped in. Chance wasn’t thinking straight. And that was on her. She’d pushed him too far. He needed these men at his back, if only to keep him in line. To keep him safe. “You need him.”

  The men stared at her while Jill, with the phone to her ear, gave her a knowing grin.

  “Hold it, let me get this straight. She actually broke out of the cell… with no help?” Walker said.

  Vivi wished he’d let it go. She didn’t like the way the men wearing the DEA and FBI Windbreakers were looking at her. Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose, then moved to her side. “Don’t say anything,” he murmured, resting a hand on her shoulder.

  “But I wasn’t really under arrest. Chance just made those charges up so…” She trailed off when she noticed the FBI and DEA guys’ attention had switched from her to Chance.

  * * *

  Vivi was right. He didn’t have a legitimate reason to arrest her and throw her in jail. But he hadn’t trusted himself not to shake her until her teeth rattled. He hadn’t recovered from the thought she’d put herself on Darwin’s radar when he spotted her standing within a couple feet of Jake Callahan, chatting him up. It had been more than Chance’s already-frayed temper could handle. And then the damn woman had driven that piece-of-shit car like the hounds of hell were after her. If she hadn’t blown the engine, he figured she wouldn’t have stopped.

  She wouldn’t be using her getaway car anytime soon. It was toast. Which wasn’t entirely her fault. He should have slowed down as soon as he saw the puff of smoke. He flexed his hand. Earl Skully had just earned himself another visit. Chance didn’t foresee this one going any better than the last.

  He drew his gaze from his scraped knuckles to the room at large. His brother, Ethan, and the FBI and DEA agents waited for an explanation.

  Walker parked his ass on the side of Jill’s desk, looking from Vivi to Chance. “Can you loan her to me for a few hours? I could use her to test out my cells.”

  Chance couldn’t believe she’d picked the frigging lock. And while she frustrated the hell out of him and caused him to lose his temper faster than anyone he knew, he couldn’t help the surge of admiration he felt for her. Vivi Westfield was one of the most amazing women he’d ever met, and she’d probably be the death of him.

  He rubbed his jaw, hiding his grin at the incredulous look she shot Walker, who was having way too much fun at her expense. “Did you just ask him to loan me to you?”

  Lucky for Walker, Jill put down the phone, saving him from answering. “Locksmith is on his way.” Her gaze moved from his brother to Chance. She cleared her throat. “You can take your dinner break. I’ve already had mine. I’ll hold down the fort.”

  He knew what Jill was up to. So did his brother. Chance sent him a challenging stare. He wasn’t about to back down.

  Vivi huffed out a breath, stood up, and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Don’t be stubborn. You’re not quitting the task force, and neither your brother nor these guys want you to, right?” She dared the men to argue with a combative stare of her own.

  As the tension-filled silence dragged on, she said, “Chance is right, Gage. I talked to Darwin Callahan. He knows something about the break-ins.”

  Gage swore and rubbed the back of his neck. “Fine, he goes on the board along with Jake. But you two need to straighten out whatever’s going on between you. I don’t want it interfering with this case. And Vivi, if I hear you’ve been within a hundred feet of the Callahans, I’ll throw you in jail myself.”

  When she looked like she was gearing up to tell his brother what he could do with his warning, Chance took her by the shoulders and steered her toward the exit. “I’ll be back within the hour, Jill. Go home and spend some time with your wife and kids, little brother. We’ve got tonight covered.”

  “You had to get in one last jab, didn’t you?” Vivi said as they stepped outside.

  “You weren’t in there. He’s a pain in the ass.”

  “Obviously it runs in the family.”

  “I want to hear you say it.”

  “You’re a pain in the ass.”

  He laughed. “Not that. I want to hear you say ‘Chance is right’ again.”

  “You would glom onto that.” She blew a lock of hair off her face. “Look, McBride, I get it, okay. I didn’t interview Darwin or talk to Jake to upset you. I’m a reporter. I’m curious. Plus, I figured they’d talk to me easier than they’d talk to you. And maybe I’d find out something you could use.” She wet her lips before saying, “Like I told Gage, I think you’re right. Somehow the Callahans are involved. But I’ll back off. I don’t want you worrying about me. Focus on your case.”

  His chest tightened, as much from what she said as the way she looked saying it. She was gut-wrenchingly beautiful. “Don’t give me the sweet, Slick. Can’t handle the sweet.”

  “You think I’m being sweet?”

  “Yeah, and I don’t like it. I like kick-ass Westfield better.”

  “Me too.” She gave him one of her rare smiles. Wide and radiant, it was as hard to handle as her soft side.

  He cleared his throat. “Come on. I’ll buy you a burger, and you can tell me all about your conversation with Darwin.”

  She filled him in on the short drive to the Rocky Mountain Diner. He pulled into the space beside the log building. “Not really getting how you think he’s involved from
what you’ve just told me, Slick.”

  “That’s because you weren’t there. He does this”—she rubbed her forefinger back and forth under her straight, elegant nose—“when he gets nervous.”

  “Ever think he just had an itchy nose?” he asked as he got out of his truck. Other than attitude, he and Walker didn’t get anything out of Darwin.

  She shut the door and came around the back of the truck. “I know what I saw, McBride. He did it four times: when I asked him about his kids, the Garage, the break-ins at the drugstores, and the black Mustang. Then he’d start flirting and change the subject. And he had no problem talking about—”

  “He flirted with you?” He reached for her hand.

  She turned on the top step, looking down at their entwined fingers. “Yeah, kind of like you do.”

  He released her hand and opened the door to the diner. “I don’t flirt with you, Slick,” he said, placing his fingers at the small of her back to nudge her inside. “I’m just a touchy-feely kind of guy.”

  “Save the touchy-feely for someone else. We’re friends and—” She broke off, narrowing her eyes at him.

  He probably should have been happy she thought of him as a friend. It’s what he wanted, wasn’t it? To have her in his life without the worry of hurting her when he couldn’t commit to more.

  “Uh no, not the friends-with-benefits kind, McBride.”

  “I didn’t say any…” He didn’t, but the thought had crossed his mind. Maybe she’d nailed Darwin’s tell after all. “You sure I can’t change your mind?” he asked, only half teasing.

  She pursed her lips, then nodded at Hailey, one of the twin sisters who owned the diner, approaching with menus in hand. “Hey, me and Holly were just talking about you. Figured you must be bored with no wedding stuff going on”—Hailey gave Chance a way-to-go look before continuing—“and wondered if you were up for a night out? Thought we’d check out the Garage again.”

  “No,” Chance said as he followed them to a booth in the corner.

  Both women turned to look at him, then Hailey arched a brow at Vivi. “Did he just say you can’t go out with us?”

  “Yeah, he did.” He nudged Vivi into the red vinyl booth and sat beside her.