The Poppy Drop

by C L Bauer

  He leaned down over the noise. “Should we get going?”

  “We can take our time. No early morning for me, what about you?”

  “Nope. Let’s enjoy this.”

  She was. Finally the cast stopped singing and dancing and the curtain came down on one of the best nights she’d had in a long time.

  He reached for her and it felt so natural to allow him to hold her hand as they moved through the crowd. There was a little tingling but the warmth she was feeling was not a heat wave. It was just the warmth of a man’s hand holding her’s. He was becoming a very special man who had been dropped into her life for this very special night.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lily had made her list for Sunday at the shop the other day. Devlin Pierce must have seen it.

  She was pulling into the driveway with her groceries when his car pulled in behind her.

  She grabbed one bag out of the backseat as he got out of the car.

  “Hey stranger. Missed you at church. You just can’t be away from me for than twenty-four hours?” He was still wearing his dark Secret Service type sunglasses so she couldn’t see his eyes, those eyes that gave away his mood every time. That’s when she noticed her police detail was not in the usual spot.

  “Oh, you’re my caretaker for the day?”

  “Yep. Saving money when we can.” He continued to walk to her. “More bags?”

  “Only one more and the milk.”

  “Got it.”

  It wasn’t until they were in the kitchen that he removed the eyewear. He looked tired. She’d actually been surprised when he hadn’t shown up at church. It had become so natural to have him in the pew beside her and then breakfast afterward. Part of her missed him when he wasn’t around, the other part kept telling the first part that she needed to stop reading more into this “relationship” of sorts. He was doing his job.

  She busied herself making sure all the groceries were put away. Apparently, he’d walked over to the church just off the Plaza this morning and had coffee at one of the many Starbucks around town.

  “I’m here to mow your lawn. Where’s the mower?”

  She stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen. Now she really did want to kiss that handsome face. That’s when she saw the Georgetown tee shirt and the faded blue jeans he wore.

  “Don’t toy with me Agent Pierce. This is nothing to make fun of. I mean, if you’re serious I might just sit down and cry with joy.”

  His half smile made her smile. “Where’s the mower before I change my mind?”

  “Backyard in the shed. The key to the shed is in the drawer right there by the back door. Shouldn’t need any gas. I filled it the last time I mowed.”

  He saluted her and went on. She could actually say she’d not been this happy in months, oh heck, maybe almost a year? She’d always dreamed of a man who would mow her lawn, one she didn’t have to pay once he was finished. Oh, she’d have to do something for him. Maybe she could cook something?

  She heard the mower running as she threw in her first load of laundry and scanned the refrigerator. Lily had just been at the store but it seemed like she had nothing to fix. No, wait. She had that roast, carrots and celery. Next she checked the kitchen island for the potatoes she’d bought last week. Yep, still good and ready to be used. What man didn’t like pot roast? As she watched him go by the window, Lily figured he might be the one man in the world who didn’t like it, oh him and Prince Charles? She just couldn’t see his Royal Highness eating pot roast across the table from Camilla. “I say, Lovey, this pot roast is simply divine.” Actually in Lily’s mind he sounded more like Thurston Howell III from the old television show “Gilligan’s Island”.

  She’d have to take a chance. She could throw it in, have it almost ready by the time she gave him a second beer for his efforts.

  By the time he finished the back yard and now was in the front, the heat of the noon sun was beating down on him. Why had Dev volunteered to mow her lawn? He didn’t even mow his own lawn. His HOA furnished all outside work and landscaping. Good thing, since he was traveling so much lately. They were having an election in Kansas City this coming November and if he didn’t get this wrapped up soon he figured his time would count for residency. Actually, he didn’t mind it but it was time to go home, to be done playing house.

  As he mowed, he thought about Tom Fullerton’s comment the other night over dinner. His wife and he had been so gracious to offer him the occasional home cooked meal. Dev had talked about Lily, maybe a little too much. He saw Tom’s wife wink at her husband in some all knowing fashion and that’s when his friend had mentioned that Lily seemed to be good for Dev.

  “Good for what?” Dev had laughed. “She’s someone involved in the case I’m working.”

  “Is that all?” Tom’s wife had asked as she cleared off the dishes. “You seem to really like being around her.”

  Tom watched his wife leave for the kitchen. “She has a point you know. I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time, Dev. You’ve been down for awhile and now I’ve seen you laugh, kid around, enjoy life. That girl is good for you.”

  “I can’t believe you’re talking like this. You know I’m working.”

  Tom shook his head. “I know when you’ve gone undercover you’re working but maybe you’re at a ballgame with a suspect. Besides, when you have gone out with her its been after hours, on the weekend, and if you didn’t watch her we’d have to be yelling for a security detail all the time. Actually, if we had to do that she probably wouldn’t have any protection. You’re saving us money, Dev. The taxpayers thank you.”

  “I haven’t gone over any lines but sometimes they are getting blurred. We’ve, I’ve invented the cover story that I’m her boyfriend. I did that, not her. What the hell was I thinking?”

  Tom’s grin performed the work of a verbal answer.

  “Not funny. I know what you’re thinking, Tom Fullerton and she’s not my type. I mean you remember the girl I was dating in DC, the one with the Louboutin stilettos? Does she even remotely look or act like Lily?”

  “No,” Tom answered quickly, “you’ve got me there. Lily is nothing like that girl. Lily is way better. Lily doesn’t have the money, the family, the big house or country club. Frankly she definitely doesn’t have the body of that skinny model type who barely ate anything. I’m not sure she even enjoyed food and you even said she didn’t enjoy meeting anyone you knew. But Lily has that “something” factor. It’s the feeling that she gives you when she’s around. You want to be around her. I watch that security footage occasionally and the way she handles people is something to behold. Heck, the staff I have overseeing the surveillance bring popcorn. She’s even entertaining when she’s working like crazy. Dev, she’s like a fire and you’re a moth. You may get burned, boy, if you don’t handle this correctly and honestly.”

  “I know. She hates lying to everyone even if it is to save her skin. On jobs, sometimes you don’t play by all the rules in the book but I’m trying. I don’t want her coming back on me because of anything I did during this whole process. I definitely don’t want her hurt."

  Tom laughed out loud and grabbed the remaining dishes off the table.

  “I’m talking about you. She’ll go on and survive when you leave and never come back, but you, you’re going to leave and you will have left something here, part of yourself…the good Dev, the gentle warrior, the man I heard about rescuing a little girl in the middle of a mine field, the good friend who has picked me up in the middle of the night from Reagan airport when my flight was delayed, the man who did CPR at a pickup ballgame in Alexandria. You do nothing about this woman and I’m thinking you might regret it.”

  Dev continued to mow thinking about the other night. That was more talk from Tom than he’d ever heard him spout. She would go on and he would leave. Distance would be his friend when it came to Lily but here he was mowing her damn lawn. He couldn’t help himself. He’d made an effort to be without her, making sure he didn’t g
o to church and to her Mass. He’d walked almost a mile to the church on the other side of the Plaza to prove that point. He’d walked back to get coffee and a breakfast sandwich, preferring to stay away from the now all too common Sunday brunches. He missed their conversations as they talked about nothing at all. He’d grab a newspaper on the way into whatever restaurant they were going to and pull the sports page to see how the Royals were doing. She told him on more than one occasion she thought people who read the entire newspaper in a dining establishment were rude, especially on a Sunday when others were waiting to eat.

  The newspaper was immediately put away for later in his silent hotel room. Her admonishment was more a plea for attention in his mind but he felt guilty that day when he saw the line of people waiting to get in.

  “See, small children are having to wait in the hot sun because of people reading the newspaper.”

  “Do you want to walk back to your house, Ms. Schmidt?”

  She had playfully grabbed his car keys out of his hand and ran to his car. He’d picked her up that morning and they’d ridden together to church.

  Lily didn’t run very fast, heck, she didn’t run, Dev continued to think to himself. She said she hated skiing, ice and roller skating and couldn’t play a team sport to save herself from masked bandits. The woman didn’t have an athletic bone in her body but she liked sports. From some things she said, he knew she understood just about every sport except for cricket…who did?

  He finished the yard, ending by the front door.

  He looked up to see her standing there with a bottle of his favorite beer, opened and the cold steam shooting from the top. He pulled his shirt up to wipe off his face.

  Queen of Seduction Gretchen pulled up in front of Lily’s house at the same time. She stared with wide eyes at Dev’s partially bare chest with a little more than a modicum of disbelief.

  “What? What’s wrong? Did I kill some plant?”

  Lily’s face had quickly changed. “No, look behind you. Trouble is coming.” Lily didn’t finish the sentence…trouble is coming for a sweaty, half bare chested man with faded jeans.

  Dev grabbed the beer and looked in the direction of her stare. “Jesus. What is she doing here?”

  Gretchen was already negotiating the slightly inclined drive in her tall wedge shoes as she began waving. She had something in her hand.

  “My, my, this is a treat to see the happy couple on a Sunday.” Her syrupy tone made Lily instantly nauseous. “I’ve brought that ribbon for Friday’s bride, you know, the Gail Tomkins wedding at that venue up north. She wants this wrapped on her bouquet only, Lily.”

  “I know, Gretchen. It’s so kind of you to bring it on a Sunday.” Dev almost spit out his beer, knowing by now that Lily was not being Lily.

  “I know. I was driving in the area and I remembered you had this little house here so I thought I’d save myself an extra trip. Hello boyfriend.” Her target was now Dev.

  “You’re on your own, boyfriend,” Lily whispered from the top step, dead even with his ear so he only heard.

  “Nice to see you, ma’am.” Gretchen frowned.

  “Oh I’m way too young to be a ma’am. Dev, right?”

  He nodded, kept his mouth shut by taking another drink. Thank God it was after noon on Sunday so he could go buy more beer. He was going to need a couple more.

  “So, you two are just playing house today? Being domestic? How long, Lily, before we get to plan your little wedding?”

  Dev gulped down the remainder of the bottle. Need more beer now.

  “We’re doing some work around the house, getting some things done since I have that Friday night wedding.” Lily ignored the wedding comment. Besides, there was no way Gretchen would have anything to do with any wedding she might have. But she didn’t have to worry about that, now did she?

  There was an awkward silence as Gretchen surveyed the two of them in depth and Lily issued her own stare down. Dev felt like a lab rat and the python cage was just two feet away.

  “I better get cleaned up. We’ve got things to do. Excuse me, ma’am.” He handed his empty bottle to his “girlfriend” and escaped.

  Lily laughed on the inside, his Virginian accent drawled long on the word Gretchen didn’t want to hear. She grabbed the ribbon from her as Dev pushed the mower around them into the backyard.

  “I don’t know where or how you got him, Lily Schmidt but that man is a keeper. I’ve seen you two a few times now and whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.” Then she was gone like the Wicked Witch in the “Wizard of Oz”, marching down the drive to her and magically disappearing as quickly as she had arrived.

  All I’m doing is being his job.

  As she pulled away, Dev snuck through the house, hiding behind the open door. “Is she gone?” he whispered.

  She giggled. The grown man who was probably packing while he mowed (again, where had he put that gun?) was frightened of one woman. Well, she understood; she was too.

  “Yes, you idiot. She’s gone.” Lily entered the house, laughing at his fear. She knew scarier brides than Gretchen. “I owe you for the mowing. I’m making dinner but it won’t be ready for another hour. I have more beer.”

  “Afternoon dinner on a Sunday? I haven’t had that in so long.” He hadn’t since the last time his mother made it before he went away. She’d made pot roast, his favorite, and pecan pie.

  She wasn’t feeling well and she’d cooked just for him. His dad and brother had enjoyed the food, too, but the menu had been planned with him in mind only. The four of the them had sat at the table for almost three hours that day, enjoying stories, the food and each other.

  “I need to clean up a little. I’ve got some other clothes in the car so…”

  “I’ll get you a towel. You need a shower?”

  “No, I just need to wash up and change, get this grass off of me. I need to work out tonight so I’ll shower later.”

  They sounded like some old married couple, Dev thought as he walked out to the car. What had Tom said…moth to the flame? He could just get in his car and drive away right now, but he couldn’t.

  He just couldn’t.

  As he cleaned up in the bathroom and changed clothes, Dev began to smell something baking. It smelled good. He thought she couldn’t cook but this smelled great. It smelled like a memory… like pot roast. He just might regret this Sunday afternoon for the rest of his life.

  After dinner, Dev sat on Lily’s back porch, drinking his third beer of the day.

  “So, if I were putting together a list for the rest of the night, I’d say one…drink some water. Two…change into workout clothes. Three…go down to the gym. Four…do my usual routine of treadmill, weights and heavy weights. Five… go back to room and shower. Six…check my computer for reports. Seven…plan my week.”

  “You are mocking me.” Lily sat next to him, drinking her own beer. Even though it had been warm, a cool front was coming through dropping the Kansas City humidity way down.

  “I’m not mocking, I’m learning from the professor. Nothing wrong about lists.”

  “Seriously, you really think that?”

  “Yep.” He looked at her after realizing her tone was now very serious. “What’s wrong with your list making?”

  She took a deep breath, followed by a sigh before she explained.

  “My father said that I over organized my life and if I wasn’t careful I was going to organize myself right out of life.” He saw the pain on her face, her light hearted spirit changed by heavy memories.

  “It’s what makes you, you. If you didn’t have your lists you wouldn’t be as successful as you are, you’d forget stuff, Gretchen would eat you for lunch, brides couldn’t get married, Abby would have to run the business…”

  She wiped away a tear as she burst into laughter. “Ok, ok, I get it. Thank you. I appreciate that. Without my lists, I’d be a forgetful ninny.”

  “Oh, well now we’re talking about Abby’s boyfriend.”

  “Yo
u know you can be quite funny, Agent Pierce.” They clinked their bottles together in an informal toast.

  “And you can be quite relaxed when you want to be, Ms. Schmidt.”

  “Oh, I forgot dessert.” She jumped up and went inside quickly, leaving Dev in the quiet.

  Could the woman just sit down? He didn’t need dessert, he was still full from dinner. The roast had almost tasted like his mother’s, at least what he could remember of the dish. Lily had placed all the vegetables in with the roast. His mom used to make mashed potatoes. But he’d had two helpings along with a fresh salad and green beans. A home cooked meal had been more than enough payment for mowing.

  “I hope you like this. It was my mom’s favorite and frankly it was on sale.” His beer was empty anyway. She handed him the bowl.

  “It’s butter pecan. Do you like pecans? Some people do and some don’t. I almost bought a pecan pie today but with it just being me, I don’t need the calories of an entire pie and I would’ve eaten it, especially since I have to work with Gretchen this week.”

  She was rambling as he looked into the bowl of ice cream in disbelief. She was saying something about a pecan pie and he was staring at pecans. Even though the ice cream was cold, he suddenly felt very warm as if he was nearing a metaphorical fire. His wings were getting singed. Was this some cosmic joke? Were they really this good at role playing? If he didn’t keep this under control he just might disintegrate…and to ashes you shall return.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “So, here’s the live feed from the shop. I have another agent watching full time today.” Agent Fullerton looked at the small screen on his desk. “Good quality. What’s she doing?”

  “Processing the flowers, cutting them, getting them in water. She has this Friday wedding with that crazy coordinator.”

  Dev sat across the desk, leaning back in the chair. “Now, that woman is a real trip.”

  “Someone just came in with a bag.” He turned the screen for Dev to see.