“It’s not a huge favor. You might actually enjoy it. From what I hear, most women would.”
“What is it?”
Eliza let out a breath. “Aidan has this younger brother who’s coming to town for the holidays,” she began.
Cute baby notwithstanding, Andie’s stomach did a crazy somersault, as if she’d just jumped off a ski lift without her skis. She knew what was coming and she didn’t want Eliza to go on. Why couldn’t she just sit here and hold the baby?
“How nice for Aidan to have family here,” she said cautiously. “He comes from a large one, doesn’t he?”
“An understatement. He’s the third of seven and they’re all wonderful. Truly wonderful, though a little overwhelming. It’s our year for hosting everyone, but Aidan was worried it would be too much this year, with a new baby and all. It worked out because he’s got a sister and a sister-in-law who are both expecting and due next month, so they all decided to stay in Hope’s Crossing and will come out this summer.”
“Where does the brother fit in?”
“Oh. Jamie. He called last week and asked if he could spend a few days with us, and of course we were thrilled.”
“I thought Aidan didn’t want his family to overwhelm you.”
“This is just Jamie. He and Aidan have always been close and we haven’t seen him in a year, since he’s been deployed overseas. Jamie is a pilot and he’s thinking about getting out of the military and maybe taking a job flying Caine Tech execs around.”
“Oh. That would be nice for Aidan, to have his brother working with him.” If Andie could keep Eliza talking, maybe her friend would forget to ask the favor Andie was very much afraid she didn’t want to hear.
“It would be great. The thing is, Jamie doesn’t know anybody in Haven Point except us and he’s used to a pretty active social life.”
By that, Andie inferred Aidan’s brother was a player. This just kept getting better and better. She wanted to get up and walk to the other side of the room, but she had a feeling Eliza might protest if she kidnapped cute little Liam.
“So here’s the thing,” Eliza finally said slowly, “I was wondering if you might be interested in showing Jamie around town a little, maybe go to the movies with him or up to the dinner theater in Shelter Springs.”
She let out a breath as her somersaulting stomach started rolling with wild abandon. “I, um...” she began, then stopped, not sure what to say.
“If you’re worried about the kids, Aidan and I would be happy to have Will and Chloe hang out with Maddie at Snow Angel Cove anytime and I know she would love having friends over.”
Oh, this was awkward. She treasured her friendship with Aidan and Eliza—and his company was her biggest client. How could she possibly refuse in a graceful way?
Yet how could she possibly agree?
“Why me?” she finally said.
Eliza gave a sheepish sort of smile. “I thought it might be good for both of you. Jamie is charming and sweet and very kindhearted. He might seem a little on the shallow side, but he’s really not. He’s been through a rough time lately and could use a friend, someone different from the kind of girls he usually dates.”
He definitely sounded like a player—exactly the sort of guy she had always tried to avoid.
“You, on the other hand, can be entirely too serious and you don’t take nearly enough time for yourself,” Eliza went on. “We thought maybe a few dates with someone sweet and funny and gorgeous like Jamie might be good for you.”
“Who is we?” she asked. She couldn’t imagine Aidan had anything to do with this. If it wasn’t a computer screen or his beloved family, Aidan had a hard time focusing.
Eliza’s smile was more than sheepish this time. “A few of us. Wyn and McKenzie and Meg,” she said, confirming Andie’s worst suspicions. “When I mentioned that Jamie was coming to stay for a while and I wanted to set him up with exactly the right person, your name was the first one that came to mind.”
“How could I be the right person for anyone?” she murmured, unable to meet her friend’s gaze. “You know I’m a hot mess.”
“Oh, honey,” Eliza exclaimed. “You are not. You’re not.”
She squeezed Andie’s shoulder. “You’ve had a terrible time of things, a truly terrible time, none of which was your fault. You deserve to be happy, and I thought—we thought—that after everything you’ve been through, you could use a little fun in your life.”
Oh, how she wished she could have come to Haven Point and left her past completely behind her. She drew in a breath, wishing also that she could find a corner somewhere and just hug this sweet, innocent baby until all the ugliness of the world faded into insignificance.
She couldn’t. This summer, she had learned that when a person tried to run and hide from her problems, they eventually grew out of control and tried to swallow her whole.
“It’s really kind of you to think of me, but...I’m not ready yet, you know?”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Eliza studied her for a long moment and finally nodded. “Okay. I get it. Honestly, I do. I completely understand. The last thing I want to do is push you into something. I just love Jamie so much. He’s a great guy and I want him to have someone like you in his life. And vice versa, honey. You deserve to be happy.”
“I’m happy,” she protested. “If you want the truth, I’m in a better place right now than I’ve been since Jason died.”
Things weren’t perfect, but she was doing her best to put the past behind her. With Rob Warren now serving prison time, she felt safe for the first time in a year. She and the children were building a new life here, with new friends and activities and challenges.
“That’s good to hear,” Eliza said. “When you think you’re ready to enter the dating world again, you need to let the Helping Hands know.”
“Don’t you think having everyone try to find me eligible dates is taking the group’s name a little too literally? I didn’t realize matchmaking services were offered by the Helping Hands.”
“Why not? We know just about everybody in town and plenty in Shelter Springs, too. We can tell about the guy who might still be getting over a bad breakup, the one who is a little too comfortable still living with his mother, the whack job you should avoid categorically.”
“Wow. You certainly know how to make dating again sound delightful.”
Eliza gave a rueful smile. “I’m sorry. That’s not my intention. There are some great guys out there, too. Guys like Jamie, who are just waiting for the right woman. I know it’s tough to think about. Believe me, I know. After my first husband died, I told myself Maddie and I were fine, just the two of us. We were, for a long time, but that baby in your arms is proof that sometimes life has other plans for us.”
The baby in question mewed a little and turned his head to nuzzle at Andie. “I’m afraid he’s looking for something I can’t deliver right now,” she said, aware of a little pang of loss that her days of holding babies of her own were likely over.
“What a little piglet. If I let him, he would nurse twenty-four hours a day. I suppose he is due for some dinner, though.”
With regret, Andie pressed a kiss on Liam’s forehead, then handed him back to his mother. “Can I get you anything? One of those fabulous-looking desserts Barbara is setting out?”
“A piece of caramel apple pie would be fantastic right about now.”
“You got it.”
She took Eliza’s nearly empty water glass to refill from the fruit-infused supply. She picked out a slice of crumb-topped pie for Eliza and a fork and carried them to her, then returned to the table for herself, studying the other desserts as she tried to decide which indulgence would be most worth the calories.
“You can’t lose with Barbara’s stacked choc
olate cake.”
She turned at the voice. “Louise! I didn’t know you were coming. I should have thought to ask when I was at your house earlier, and then we could have ridden together.”
Now her neighbor mustered a weak smile. “To be honest, I didn’t know whether I would be able to make it until the last minute.”
Louise hadn’t been to many of the social gatherings for the Helping Hands and the women who participated in the group, at least not in the six months Andie had lived in Haven Point. Andie assumed her life was too chaotic for now, with her daughter’s death and the stress and turmoil of her grandson moving in.
“I’m very glad you did. How is Christopher feeling?”
Louise released a heavy sigh. “Right now he’s home sulking. I wouldn’t let him go hang out with his friends. I told him, if he’s too sick for school, he’s too sick for friends. That’s what my mother always said to me and what I, in turn, always said to Christopher’s mother. He doesn’t agree. We had a huge fight. Slamming doors, swearing, telling me how much he hates it here and hates me most of all. That’s why I’m late.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, giving Louise an impulsive hug. “That must be so difficult for you.”
“I’m fine, really. It’s all part of the joy of raising a teenager, right?”
Andie could remember plenty of times when she strongly disagreed with the strict rules at her grandparents’ house, but she never would have dared slam doors or talk back. She didn’t advocate her grandfather’s way of handling things, but there had to be a difference between harsh discipline and making sure a child understood there were lovingly considered consequences for misbehavior.
She didn’t feel it was her right to give advice to Louise about how to deal with her grandchild, though.
“I need to tell you, your shortbread was a huge hit next door,” she said to change the subject. “Sheriff Bailey loved it.”
Some of the tightness eased from Louise’s features. “Oh, I’m so glad.”
“Oh, you’ve been to see Marshall?” Megan Hamilton turned from picking out a piece of powder-dusted lemon cake. “I heard about his accident. How is he?”
She pictured the sheriff as she had found him earlier that day, rumpled and sleepy and gorgeous. Those dratted butterflies sashayed through her stomach again and she scowled. When would she stop having this ridiculous reaction to him?
“Oh no. Are things that bad?” Megan asked, obviously misinterpreting Andie’s expression.
“No. At least I don’t think so. He’s in pain, but he’s doing his best not to show it. Mostly, he’s frustrated and annoyed at the inconvenience of having a broken leg, I think.”
“That sounds like Marshall,” Megan said.
“I don’t really know him, so I don’t have a baseline to compare to. Wyn just asked me to keep an eye on him, since I live so close. I’ve stopped in a few times since he came home from the hospital and he seems to be feeling better each time.”
“Good. I can’t believe someone would just hit him with their car and leave him lying in the snow like that. Who knows how long he would have been there if he hadn’t had a cell phone on him?”
An involuntary shiver rippled down her spine, picturing him broken and bleeding in the cold and snow and wind that could be brutal coming off the lake.
“Knowing Marshall, he probably would have patched himself up, dragged himself to the nearest busy road and hitchhiked to the hospital,” McKenzie said with a laugh.
Considering the man had a compound fracture, that would have been quite a Herculean feat, though she wouldn’t put it past him. Something told her when Marshall put his mind to something, he didn’t let too many things stand in his way.
“Marsh is a few years older than me, but he was kind of a legend at HPHS,” Megan said, confirming Andie’s suspicion. “He played the entire last ten minutes of a state championship football game without telling the coach his shoulder had been dislocated by a bad hit.”
“I remember that,” Louise said. “Charlene was livid!”
“Marshall was always the strong silent brother,” Megan said. “Funny how different they were. Elliot always had his head in a book and didn’t have time for most of us, while Wyatt was a big flirt who could talk his way into anything.”
At the mention of Wynona’s twin brother, Andie felt a twinge of sadness for a man she had never known. When Andie first came to Haven Point, she and Wynona had first bonded over their shared loss. Like Jason, Wyatt Bailey had died helping other people. In Wyatt’s case, he had been hit by an out-of-control car during a snowstorm while coming to the aid of other stranded motorists. Andie’s husband had drowned while trying to help a man who was trying to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge in Portland. When the man had resisted his efforts and tried to jump anyway, Jason had reached to grab him and had lost his balance and tumbled in, as well.
In another layer of commonality, Wynona’s father had also died as the result of injuries sustained on the job, though his injuries hadn’t truly claimed his life until two years after a shoot-out with a robbery suspect. John Bailey had suffered a severe brain injury, however, and spent the last two years of his life in a nursing home.
Marshall had endured those losses, too, she suddenly realized. Like Wynona, he had lost his brother and his father, both in the line of duty. It was a connecting thread between them and she couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to her until now.
Now he joined the ranks of lawmen injured on the job. She didn’t like thinking about it.
“Who do you think ran him down?” Louise asked. “Herm and I think it must have been tourists who didn’t know the area and maybe thought they hit a dog or something. No one from around here would do such a thing, would they?”
“I could think of a few miscreants from Sulfur Hollow who would probably love to get even with a Bailey. They likely wouldn’t even care which one,” Megan said, her expression dark. “Any of the Lairds would top the list.”
“There are all those newcomers in town, too, that we don’t know a thing about,” Linda Fremont put in from her side of the table. “Not to mention all the people in Shelter Springs. It makes my blood run cold.”
Andie didn’t want to think about it. Picturing him injured and alone in a snowy parking lot made her stomach hurt. It was entirely too similar to the dark days before Jason’s body was eventually found downriver from Portland.
“Knowing Marsh Bailey, he won’t rest until he finds who did this to him,” Megan said.
“Whoever did it, our Andie is very sweet to watch over him,” Louise said.
She wanted to tell them Wynona hadn’t given her much choice, but she didn’t want to sound resentful. She wasn’t. She was happy to help, she just wished the man didn’t make her so nervous.
“I haven’t done much, only brought dinner a few times.” She paused, remembering her conversation with him before she left earlier. “I don’t want to speak out of turn,” she said to Louise, “but there’s a chance Marshall might be calling to see if Christopher would be interested in earning a few bucks by shoveling his snow while he’s laid up.”
“That’s out of the question,” Louise said firmly.
Her vehemence took Andie by surprise and for a moment she didn’t know what to say. “All right,” she finally said. “I’ll tell him. I’m sure he won’t have trouble finding someone else.”
“Oh, Christopher will be happy to shovel the walks, I’ll make sure of it, but he certainly won’t let Marshall pay him for it. He’ll do it for free, as a favor to a neighbor,” Louise said firmly.
Megan snorted. “Good luck convincing any teenager to be so magnanimous.”
“He’ll do it if he wants to eat at my table,” Louise said. “Christopher needs to learn that thinking about others is necessary and important to grow up as a decent adu
lt. I’m afraid the boy hasn’t had the greatest examples in this department. I loved my daughter, but she could be very self-absorbed. His father is ten times worse—the man can’t even be bothered to visit his own son!”
“I’m sorry. That must be very painful for Christopher,” Andie said, her voice soft with compassion.
“Being in pain doesn’t give him a free pass in this world,” Louise said. “He still needs to learn how to care for others. From now until spring, I’ll make sure he shovels Sheriff Bailey’s walks when he’s doing ours and he won’t need a dime for it.”
She had a feeling Marshall would insist on paying Christopher anyway, but the two of them could hash it out between them.
CHAPTER SIX
“BASICALLY WHAT YOU’RE saying is you have absolutely no leads, even though you’ve got the stolen vehicle.”
“I wish to hell I had better news to report.” Ruben Morales looked apologetic and frustrated at the same time. “The state crime lab has gone over and over the thing and they can’t find so much as a stray hair strand. Everything was wiped down, even the mirror buttons and the turn signals. We couldn’t even find the owner’s fingerprints anywhere.”
Marshall mulled the chilling implications of the information. “So we were right. This wasn’t just some joyriding kid, out to make trouble for a stray cop.”
“Exactly. What kid would be smart enough to clear evidence from somewhere obscure like the seat adjustment bar?”
“So that’s a clue right there. Either this is somebody who watches every single forensic crime show on TV or someone who knows his way around the system.”
“Which you suspected from the beginning.”
Marshall shifted in the damn recliner, trying in vain to get comfortable. It seemed harder than ever, especially with this grim conclusion sitting in his gut like a hunk of bad meat.
The decided lack of evidence seemed to point to a perpetrator with advanced law enforcement knowledge. Someone smart enough to scout locations without cameras and then clever enough to lure him there by tantalizing him with a lead on a case they knew he couldn’t ignore.
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