by Annie Rains
“One-nineteen,” Lucy read off.
Miles pulled his truck into the driveway of the next stop and parked. He pushed his door open and turned to Lucy. “You coming?”
She said yes, but there was something uncertain in her green eyes.
“The receivers are always happy to see us. We’re offering a gift.”
Lucy nodded. Then she pushed her door open too and met him at the back of the truck. Miles lifted the basket with a huge burgundy bow on its handle into his arms and tipped his head toward the house, gesturing for Lucy to follow him. Once they’d cleared the steps and stood in front of the door, he looked at Lucy. “Mind ringing the bell? My hands are full.”
Lucy pressed the button, and they waited.
A moment later, a woman came to the door. Miles knew almost everyone in town. It was his job to know people as much as to protect them. “Hey, Mrs. Pelletier. I have a special delivery for you just in time for Thanksgiving.”
The woman opened the screen door with a wide smile and bright eyes. “All that is for me?” she asked with slight astonishment.
“Yes ma’am. Can I step inside and set it down somewhere for you?”
“Yes, please.” The woman looked at Lucy. “Lucy Hannigan? Is that you?”
“Hi, Mrs. Pelletier. Yes, it’s me.”
“It’s been so long, but you look exactly the same as you did when you sat in my class, front row.” She continued to hold the screen door open for Lucy to enter as well. “Just stick the basket on my kitchen table if you don’t mind, Miles.”
Miles had been in Mrs. Pelletier’s Language Arts class as well. He’d always preferred sitting in the back row. Not because he wanted to goof off, but so that he could monitor who was getting into trouble. He hadn’t been a tattle tale. He was just a cop in the making.
“The preacher at my church put a box in the reception area for people to drop their names and addresses in if they were struggling for food this time of year,” the retired teacher said. “I never do that kind of thing because I figure there’s always someone who needs it more than me.” Mrs. Pelletier weaved her fingers in front of her midsection. “But I did this year.” Her expression looked pained. “Please tell me I’m not taking from someone else who needs it. Because if I am, you take that basket right back and give it to another person.”
“It’s yours,” Miles said. “We have plenty of food.”
Mrs. Pelletier looked relieved. She stepped toward them and gave Miles and Lucy tight hugs while thanking them profusely. As Miles and Lucy headed down the porch steps and back to his truck, he looked over at Lucy.
“Well?” he asked.
“That was so much fun.” Her face was lit up. “Can we do it again?”
Miles chuckled. “All afternoon.”
Chapter Five
The afternoon flew by quickly. Before Miles knew it, he and Lucy had delivered to the last address on the list. There were two spare baskets in Miles’s truck, however.
“I need to stop by the youth center on the way back to your car, if you don’t mind,” he told Lucy. “I want to leave these extra baskets there. Jake said he’d try to deliver them tomorrow.”
“Sure.” Lucy shifted into a more relaxed position in the passenger seat next to him. She didn’t seem in a hurry to get home, which made him feel good. Maybe two people who’d once been in love could still be friends after all.
They weren’t even really friends these days. They were a bit awkward around each other. Too formal. Too guarded. Today, however, they’d laughed and had fun together. It was a nice shift.
He pulled into the youth center’s parking lot and cut the engine. “Wanna come in? I’m just going to the office, but I think you’d enjoy seeing the place.”
“Sure. I’ve never been inside the youth center.” Lucy got out and met him around the front of his truck. They walked into the building together, each carrying a basket. Miles enjoyed watching Lucy’s expression as she looked around. “Wow. Afterschool care didn’t look like this when we were growing up, did it?”
“Not that you were ever part of the after-school crowd. You didn’t ride the bus, and you certainly didn’t get hauled to the youth center.”
Lucy chewed on her lower lip. “No, I was a car rider. I always wanted to ride the bus and go to the center though. Some part of me felt like I was missing out on the fun.”
“Oh, you definitely were,” Miles agreed.
Lucy continued to look around.
“Pretty nice, huh?” he asked.
“Nice is an understatement.”
Miles looked around seeing it through Lucy’s eyes. The front room was a large space. There were long tables set up for the kids to do their homework and various activities. Beyond that was a modestly sized gym for basketball, volleyball, and other sports activities for the kids. Along the walls were three offices, one of which he shared with Jake and Reese when he was here.
“How often do you volunteer?” Lucy asked, following alongside him.
“A lot more regularly these days. J.D. wanted to be home more often with his wife now that she’s almost due. I guess, after the baby arrives, he’ll still want to be at the house more often.”
“I think helping out the kids is great. I always thought you were one big kid yourself.”
Miles side-eyed her. “Did you?”
She laughed softly. “In a good way. You were always joking and laughing. Nothing seemed to get to you.”
“That’s not true,” he said.
“Well, if you were upset, you never let it show. You are calm, cool, and collected at all times. Even when rescuing my opossum.” She winked. He guessed the wink was a reflex that she hadn’t thought out because the invisible tension between them coiled. She pulled her gaze from his and glanced around the room, seemingly looking for a distraction. “This is a great space. I’m sure the kids love it here.”
Miles lifted the basket from Lucy’s arms, balancing both in his own. He tipped his head toward the third office. “I’m just going to leave the baskets in there.”
“Do you need help?”
“No. It’ll just take a minute.”
“Well, I’ll be right here checking out the facility,” Lucy called after him. “I might even shoot some hoops.”
“Careful. The big kid in me might want to play too.”
Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “That sounds kind of fun.” She made a shooing motion.
Miles grinned and headed toward the office. He stepped inside and placed the two unclaimed baskets near the desk, thinking about the missing cookie incident from earlier today. He hoped nothing else would disappear. To be safe, he locked the office door before heading back toward Lucy on the small court where the youth center’s children often played.
She lifted a basketball to her chest and eyed the goal.
“Air ball!” Miles called out at the very moment that she tossed it forward.
Lucy spun to teasingly glare at him. They were having a lot of fun together. It seemed to be the theme of the day. “I’d like to see you do better.”
Accepting the challenge, Miles jogged over and swiped the ball off the floor, dribbling farther out so that he could show off his skills. Then he stopped and held the ball to his chest while eying the goal.
As he propelled the ball forward, Lucy called loudly, “Don’t miss!”
The ball slipped out of his grasp and shot forward, nowhere near the goal.
Miles turned to point a finger at her. “Hey, that’s cheating.”
She could barely contain her laughter. “What? You can dole it out, but you can’t take it yourself?”
“If I remember correctly, you never did like to play fair anyway.”
Lucy’s lips parted. “What memory are you referring to?”
“Senior year Battle of the Spirit Walls. It was the girls against the guys, and someone tampered with our spirited artwork. The boys should have won.”
She giggled quietly. “I think you’re just a sore loser.”
&n
bsp; Miles found himself walking toward her. “Only when I know for a fact that we should have gotten the trophy.”
“Such a competitive streak, Deputy Bruno.” She folded her arms across her chest. “That was a very long time ago.”
“Yes, it was,” he agreed.
“It’s not good to dwell on the past.” She tilted her head to one side. “We should let things go, right?”
He didn’t think they were talking about the spirit wall competition anymore.
“I mean it was over a decade ago,” she added.
He lowered his voice to a whisper. “In some ways, it feels like it was only yesterday.”
Lucy’s arms tightened over her chest. “You haven’t, um, dated much since high school. Not that I can see, at least.”
“Maybe you’re not watching closely enough. I dated Gina Manacle last year.”
Lucy lifted her brows. “For about a week.”
“A month,” he corrected, pleased that she’d even noticed. “And why do you care who I’m dating?”
Lucy looked away, her attention appearing to bounce around the room. “I don’t. I’m just saying, you’re not getting any younger, Miles Bruno.”
“Noted. I have a few requirements before I settle down though.”
“Oh?” Lucy looked at him with interest. “Like what?”
“Well, I guess there’s just one more thing to tick off my list. I already have a job and a stable income with benefits. All I need now is a house.” He swallowed. He rarely spoke about his father or those years after his parents had split up. “I don’t want to be like my dad and take on more responsibility than I can manage.”
Miles wanted to make sure he was better than his father. The next time he committed himself to someone, he was going to be there for the long haul, through thick and thin. “You haven’t dated either, by the way.”
Lucy’s lips parted. “I’ve been a little busy, caring for my mom and then grieving for her. I haven’t exactly felt romantic, I guess.”
They looked at each other.
“I’m sorry about your mom,” Miles finally said. “You shouldn’t have had to go through that alone.”
Pain registered in Lucy’s expression. She looked down at her feet for a moment. He heard her soft intake of breath before she looked back up at him. “Tess and Moira were there for me. And Della Rose.”
Miles reached out to touch her, hoping she wouldn’t pull away. She didn’t. “Friends are great for listening and taking your mind off things. But in my experience, they always go home. They aren’t there to hold you. Also, speaking from experience, it’s when they leave that you usually fall apart.”
Lucy lifted her chin stubbornly. “I don’t fall apart.”
They had both changed since they were eighteen but that’s one major change Miles saw in Lucy. She was fiercely independent now. He wondered if she’d even allowed her friends to be there for her while she’d grieved her mom. He also wondered if this change in her was partly due to the fact that she’d leaned on him once and he’d let her down.
“I was just speaking in general.” Miles’s hand was still on her arm. She looked down at it until Miles dropped it back by his side. He thought that maybe she was going to slap him or yell at him. Or demand for him to take her home. Perhaps he’d crossed an invisible line with his touch. He should have known better.
Instead, surprising him, she sniffled a little, her eyes glossed up, and she buried her face into his chest. Then she began to cry.
* * *
This was twice in one week where Lucy felt mortified in front of Miles. He still had his arms around her, and she was suddenly very aware that she was crying on his shoulder—literally.
“I’m sorry.” She stepped back and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m not sure what just happened.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m guessing you miss your mom.”
Lucy looked up. “Yeah. This time of year is just harder. And something about today peeled back my emotions.”
“There’s something about bringing people a little bit of joy. It’s definitely an emotional experience.”
She sniffled and took a shaky breath, her cheeks a ruddy pink now. “I’m fine now.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” She laughed quietly, more out of embarrassment than anything. It was so unlike her to cry in front of someone else. “I just feel silly.”
Miles’s hand was on her shoulder again. “Don’t. You know you can break down on me anytime.”
Lucy swallowed. “I just try to break down as little as possible. It’s not productive.”
“I’d argue with you on that one. Holding things in isn’t good either.”
Lucy’s mistake was looking into Miles’s dark brown eyes. Once their gazes were locked, she felt like he could see right through her, and she couldn’t seem to look away. He was right. She was holding everything in, including a few lingering feelings for him. She wanted to lean into another embrace, but this time, she wanted to tip her head back and kiss him. To be kissed by him.
“You ready for me to take you back to your car?”
The disappointment she felt was as unnerving as allowing herself to cry in front of him. “Yeah. Thank you.” They headed back to his vehicle and drove to the Evans’ house where Lucy’s car was parked along the curb. “So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lucy said. “When you move into my garage apartment.”
Miles gave her a serious look. “About that. I would never do anything you didn’t want, Luce. If you don’t want me renting that space, it’s okay. Just tell me, and I’ll find somewhere else to go.”
“What? Why are you saying that?”
“I realize I’m not your perfect renter,” he said. “I’m giving you an out. Just tell me now, and I promise, there’ll be no hard feelings.”
She wasn’t exactly comfortable with him being so close, even if it was only temporarily. That was her issue though, and she’d work through it. “I’m not going back on our agreement. You need a place to live, and I need a renter.”
“Okay then. I’ll move in tomorrow.”
“Great.” Lucy forced a smile and pushed open the passenger door to step out.
“You won’t even know I’m there,” Miles assured her.
Lucy seriously doubted that would be the case. “Goodnight, Miles.”
“Night.”
Lucy walked to her car and got inside. She checked her rearview mirror, where Miles was still parked. No doubt he was waiting to make sure she got off okay because that was the noble thing. The right thing. The Miles thing.
Miles was a man of honor, a man of his word. Unless of course he promised to marry her and love her forever. Then he had no problem going back on what he’d said.
“Get over it already, Lucy,” she said under her breath. Then she started her engine and drove back to the house on Christmas Lane, where tomorrow Miles would be living next door. She needed rules for this new relationship to work. Her brain worked overtime as she drove, forming boundaries for this new arrangement she’d just agreed to.
Rule #1: She wouldn’t go inside the apartment once Miles had moved in.
Rule #2: She wouldn’t share a meal with him after dark. Too intimate.
Rule #3: She wouldn’t break down on Miles again. Also too intimate.
And rule #4, which was maybe the most important rule of all: she absolutely would not kiss Miles Bruno like she desperately wanted to—ever.
Have you missed Annie Rains’s
Sweetwater Springs series?
Please turn the page to read the bonus story
“Kiss Me in Sweetwater Springs.”
Chapter One
Lacy Shaw looked around the Sweetwater Springs Library for the culprit of the noise, a “shhh” waiting on the tip of her tongue. There were several people reading quietly at the tables along the wall. A few patrons were wandering the aisles of books.
The high-pitched giggle broke through the silence again.
&n
bsp; Lacy stood and walked out from behind her counter, going in the direction of the sound. She wasn’t a stickler for quiet, but the giggling had been going on for at least ten minutes now, and a few of the college students studying in the far corner kept getting distracted and looking up. They’d come here to focus, and Lacy wanted them to keep coming.
She stopped when she was standing at the end of one of the nonfiction aisles where two little girls were seated on the floor with a large book about animals in their lap. The shhh finally tumbled off her lips. The sound made her feel even more like the stuffy librarian she tried not to be.
The girls looked up, their little smiles wilting.
Lacy stepped closer to see what was so funny about animals and saw a large picture of a donkey with the heading “Asses” at the top of the page. A small giggle tumbled off Lacy’s lips as well. She quickly regained control of herself and offered a stern expression. “Girls, we need to be quiet in the library. People come here to read and study.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Abigail Fields, the girl with long, white-blond curls, said. They came in often with their nanny, Mrs. Townsend, who usually fell asleep in the back corner of the room. The woman was somewhere in her eighties and probably wasn’t the best choice to be taking care of two energetic little girls.
“I have to write a paper on my favorite animal,” Abigail said.
Lacy made a show of looking at the page. “And it’s a donkey?”
“That’s not what that says,” Willow, Abigail’s younger sister, said. “It says…”
“Whoa!” Lacy held up a hand. “I can read, but let’s not say that word out loud, okay? Why don’t you two take that book to a table and look at it quietly,” she suggested.
The little girls got up, the older one lugging the large book with both hands.
Lacy watched them for a moment and then turned and headed back to her counter. She walked more slowly as she stared at the back of a man waiting for her. He wore dark jeans and a fitted black T-shirt that hugged muscles she didn’t even have a name for. There was probably an anatomy book here that did. She wouldn’t mind locating it and taking her time labeling each muscle, one by one.