When she reached his car, Sky opened the passenger door for her. “Joe took our lawbreakers to jail. I need to stop at the station and see that they’re properly booked.”
“Can you drop me at home first?”
Sky studied her for a moment. “You seem down. Was the graffiti worse than at your house?”
“No, but do you remember how you criticized me for taking on too many projects? Maybe I have.”
“I didn’t intend to sound critical, but what do you mean?”
She said that Loomis would be commandeering the former factory workers, many of whom she depended on for her projects. “It’s a mixed blessing,” she said with a sigh. “Jobs are the most important thing in this situation, and I gather we can get the factory under way pretty fast. But...the town’s facelift is important, too.”
“On Friday, school’s out for the summer. I’ve been worried about a lack of jobs for our teens. Hire them to paint.”
“I can’t. Sadie asked quite a few of them to help at the teen center, and I already agreed to fund them. The center is where their interest lies.”
“Hmm. Maybe you’ll have to put out another call for volunteers. With so many homes looking sharp, you shouldn’t have a problem attracting more helpers. I hope not, anyway.” He grinned. “I’ve got my own selfish reasons. Zack has his heart set on us painting my house. I already gave Corrine the date.”
“You may have to adjust it, Sky.”
“I can’t, or it screws up their plans to go to their cabin. I know Corrine would have her lawyer jump on that.”
Annie feared he was right. For the first time since she’d lost her grandmother and embarked on this hectic journey, she felt pressure of the type she’d left behind in L.A.
“You’ll work it out,” Sky said as he pulled into her driveway. “I’ve never met anyone who can juggle as many balls in the air at one time as you can.” Leaning across the console, he kissed her, softly at first, then with more fervor. He drew back and ran a thumb over her lips. “Bad idea to start this. Joe’s waiting at the station, but after what those yahoos did to your tires, I’m checking out your house.”
Annie almost accused him of always kissing and running, but the truth was that they both had things to do. She got out of his car feeling exhausted.
Her house was fine. Sky stole a last kiss when she walked him to the door. “Wait,” he said, wrapping a strand of her hair around one finger. “How are you getting to Aaron’s meeting? Morrissey has your truck.” He frowned. “I can’t promise to take you, until I get a time for our perps’ bail hearing.”
“I’ll call a cab. Do you think they’ll get bail?” “The Stingers always have lawyers on tap, so they might. Don’t worry, one of us is going to tail them―see if we can figure out who they report to.” He paused. “I know I didn’t believe in what you were doing at first, but thanks to you, Annie, we’re whittling away at the gang.”
“I guess it’s good that they’re cowards, not killers, the way they homed in on me.”
“The fact that they sent their rank and file tonight instead of coercing Briar Run kids tells me two things. They’re losing their grip here, and they don’t like it.”
“Davena was great tonight, wasn’t she? If we had more mama bears like her, the Stingers would already be history. Hey, I hate to rush you, but I have to call Peggy Gilroy before she goes to bed. I need her to organize a paint brigade to deal with the graffiti.”
“I’ll be in touch.” Sky brushed another kiss on her lips, then clattered down her steps.
She locked up feeling invigorated—feeling like Gran’s dream would happen. Was already happening.
Flipping open her phone, she called Peggy, who wasn’t happy about missing the excitement.
“Davena contacted the people who live closest to her street, Peggy. She and the others captured two Stingers, thanks to your phone tree. Don’t worry, I’ll get to the site tomorrow as soon as I can.” Annie hung up, shaking her head, hoping she’d be as feisty at Peggy’s age. But she didn’t have time to worry about that right now; she had to bone up on the facts and figures Loomis wanted her to present in the morning.
* * *
SKY SHOWED UP unexpectedly the next day, just as Annie accessed the app on her smartphone to find a number for a local cab.
“The bail hearing isn’t until eleven,” Sky said, his right arm resting on her door casing. “Morrissey contacted me. He put four new tires on your pickup. I’ll give you a lift to his shop and then you’ll have your own wheels for the day.”
“Great.” She smiled. “What would I do without you looking out for me?”
He cocked his head. “Do you think you could get used to having me look out for you on a permanent basis?”
Annie froze in the middle of locking her house. “Didn’t you want to get out of Briar Run as fast as possible?”
He let her finish locking up, then pulled her against him. “Yesterday, I told you no—and I meant it. You’ve gotten under my skin, Annie. Zack’s crazy about you, too. You’re good for both of us.” He paused. “Are we good for you?”
She studied his features, and traced a finger over a laugh line bracketing his mouth. “Yes. Yes, you are. But I’m going to be late for a very important meeting, so your timing stinks. Can we talk later?”
He grinned and swept her down the steps and into his car. “No rush. No rush. We have plenty of time.”
His unconventional approach to deepening their relationship shook her. Acting totally blasé, he dropped her off at the repair shop and drove on to work. He and Zack were on a path her heart had been traveling for weeks, and it felt right. But...
It took her less than half an hour to retrieve her pickup and drive to the municipal offices, where she had trouble finding a parking space. Even then, once she stepped inside, she was stunned to see so many people. A few, like Roger, Charlie, Davena and Homer Gonzales, Annie knew. Others she’d heard of, like Lucy Portallis, once the glove factory accountant.
The minute Loomis caught sight of Annie, he called the meeting to order. His enthusiasm for reopening the factory as a worker-owned co-op stoked the excitement of everyone there. He’d obviously met with Lucy in advance, because she passed around a prospectus on proposed salaries, expected earnings and what was needed in individual investment.
Roger asked the first question. “All of this sounds fantastic, Lucy, but none of us have money for the initial investment to buy back the factory.”
Loomis turned to Annie, and soon all eyes were pinned on her. She cleared her throat. “Since it was my bright idea, it seems fair that I invest in all of you.”
“You already have,” Homer said. “You kicked in plenty of cash to paint our houses. And the home renovations is something we all want to continue.”
Davena spoke up. “Sadie Talmage told me you bought the building to house the teen center, and you’ve agreed to furnish it and hire staff. Did you win a lottery in California?”
Annie took a deep breath. Time for the truth. “What I’ve done and anything I do going forward was made possible by my grandmother. Many of you knew Ida Vance as a woman with a generous heart. No one knew how generous. She left a trust. Through me, the town and people she loved are the beneficiaries. The projects I’ve tackled fulfill her last wishes for the neighborhood. I couldn’t have accomplished any of it without your help, though.”
The room was silent for a long moment. Annie hadn’t seen Sky come in. He stepped up behind her, and set his hands possessively on her waist. “I hope I don’t have to impress on all of you the need to remain quiet about the extent of Annie’s financial involvement. No chatter in the café. No newspaper article lauding her—or not as long as we’re still battling a criminal element focused on her. If you blab, it could place her in more danger. I have personal reasons for wanting to keep her safe.”
He smiled down at her, then glanced up again, saying, “But your reasons should be as obvious.”
The grins everyone shared as they clustered around the pair turned into hugs interspersed with cheers. There was a general air of exhilaration at the town’s new prospects, but the crowd’s delight seemed to be as much for the fact that she and Sky were a couple now. Annie had difficulty breaking away. “Until the factory opens, we still have houses to paint. And our chief’s home is scheduled for painting this week.”
That prompted more questions. Someone called, “Are you getting married soon? Will you live in the chief’s house or the one Annie inherited from Gran Ida?”
Sky smiled but ducked out without answering. Feeling her face heat, Annie stammered, “We’ve, uh, barely been on a date. We haven’t discussed marriage. Sky has criminals to catch and I have plenty of homes to paint, plus I want to restore the park.”
“And you’ve got a teen center to open,” someone shouted.
Pulled aside by Loomis and Lucy Portallis, Annie listened to a suggestion to have workers pay into a fund that would eventually replace her seed money.
“I trust you two to figure out the start-up costs, and I’ll give you a check.” They left it at that, and Annie rushed out, expecting that Sky would be waiting to clarify their status. He was gone.
* * *
TWO DAYS PASSED, and except for a single garbled message on Annie’s cell phone saying he was up to his eyeballs in work, Sky seemed to fall off the face of the earth. At least, her earth.
One thing had changed. After the meeting that established her as their golden goose and underscored her as the primary target of the Stingers, everyone else coddled her. It was as if they were all suddenly afraid for her.
At her wits’ end with having paint buckets and ladders yanked out of her hands, escorts following her around and being cautioned to be careful for the thousandth time, Annie lost her temper. “Look, I’m the same woman who drove to Louisville for paint by myself and toted it all the way here. I know you’re well meaning, but I feel smothered.”
“She’s right.” Peggy Gilroy stepped up beside Annie. “I watched her dig in her heels even after the Stingers shot at her and ruined her paint job with graffiti. The gang lost her one paint supplier and she found another. Chief Cordova thinks she’s competent enough to be left to her own devices. We should do the same.”
Davena clapped her hands and shooed everyone back to work. Left with Peggy and Davena, two of her staunchest allies, Annie muttered, “I hate to sound like Pitiful Pearl, but where is Sky? I wish he didn’t think I was quite so competent. He implies that we’re romantically, ah...you know, entangled.” Annie remembered their conversation on this very subject. “Then he doesn’t call or show up for days?”
Peggy chuckled. “Three days. And men don’t think the way women do about romance.”
Nodding, Davena agreed. “I heard from Margie Dumas, the night dispatcher, that the chief and Koot Talmage were called as expert witnesses for a couple of the gang members’ trials. Oh, she said it’s all hush-hush, ’cause those dudes got off before. This time they’re going down. Nina said the moms who were losing their kids to the Stingers say the big leaders are pulling out altogether. The cops will get the credit, but we know it’s all due to you, Annie.”
Annie shrugged off the compliment. “So, you think the gang’s really over?” She felt almost giddy with relief. “Sky and his force do deserve credit, Davena. Koot could’ve retired, and Sky could’ve gone to another job, leaving our neighborhood to the Stingers. They didn’t.”
“You’re too modest,” Davena said. “Deshawn told me how you stuck up for him when the chief would have charged him with a crime. Just the prospect of the teen center freed Chantal and her friends. I know you had a sign made to name it the Ida Vance Teen Center, but all the kids refer to it as Annie’s Place. And they call Briar Run Annie’s Neighborhood. We all do,” she added.
“If your grandmother’s looking down, she’d second that,” Peggy said.
Annie held up a hand. “It’s my neighborhood. I have a long way to go before it’ll meet my approval. Once the factory reopens I’ll lose my paint crew, so we need to paint faster. And tomorrow, whether or not Sky puts in an appearance, we’ll start painting his house.”
Chapter Fourteen
THEY WERE ALMOST set up to begin painting when Sky drove in, again with Zack. Sky carried a pink potted rose in full bloom. He walked straight up and presented it to Annie. “Zack helped me pick it out. It’s called Bella Rosa, beautiful rose. That’s how Zack and I see you, Annie.” Leaning over the plant, he kissed her. “Sorry I’ve been AWOL, but I have news. The guys who shot out your window and one who slashed your tires are heading off to Kentucky State Penitentiary. And for all intents and purposes, the Stingers have folded.”
“So I heard through the gossip mill. Is this rose for my house or yours?” Annie asked.
“Mine’s still listed to sell. My Realtor has had some interest in it, I’m told. From an Argentine cowhide broker Aaron’s apparently working with.”
Annie gave a start. “So, you’re still moving to a safer town?”
Sky looked confused. “This town is safe now. And, uh, don’t we have a...sort of understanding? I bought the rosebush for the park. For a garden like the one you said your grandmother tended.”
“Oh, Sky, you make it hard to be mad at you.” Annie inhaled the sweet scent, and everyone standing around relaxed. “Thanks. And, Zack, this is a wonderful gift.”
“We love you, Annie,” Zack piped up. “I brung my cover-up. Can I paint now?”
Annie smiled. “Would you like to paint the siding gold, or paint the porch railing blue?” she asked the boy.
“What’s siding?”
“Those are the long boards on the house itself,” Sky said as he helped Zack on with his painter’s apron. “We’ll do siding,” he told Annie.
She set the rosebush in some shade, and returned to hear Zack say, “I wanna go up a ladder to paint like Annie.”
In unison Annie and Sky said, “No!” Sky added, “Ladders are for adults only.”
Leaving Sky to deal with his pouting child, Annie poured gold paint into a smaller cardboard carton, then set the main bucket beside it. She broke out new brushes and rollers and gave them to Sky. “Zack, you and your dad can paint next to each other, here at the front of the house. You do the low boards while your dad paints the higher ones, okay? It’ll be a huge help. When you use up all the paint in your bucket, your dad will give you more from his.”
“Okay.” Zachary took one brush from his dad. “Where are you going to paint, Annie?”
She hesitated. “Around the portholes.”
Zack and Sky both glanced up to the top of the house. Sky frowned, so Annie scuttled away and clipped her half-full can to a ring on her belt.
Davena’s friend Tanya Hall had rap blaring from an iPod as usual, giving the paint party a festive air. Annie climbed down once and moved her ladder to the right of a slightly shorter one on which Charlie Fitzgerald stood painting the midsection of the house. She noted that everyone was making good progress. A while later, Roger McBride announced that it was time for lunch. He loved to eat and always kept them on track for the noon meal.
“I don’t have much to finish up here, Roger,” Annie called. “I’ll go for burgers when I’m done. Call an order in to Loretta, will you?”
“Sure, but I’ll go pick it up.”
Annie shot him a thumbs-up. “I’ll pay you later.”
Roger left. Soon after that, Sky stood below Annie, squinting up at her. “There’s a multiple car crash at the intersection of Mary Rose and Lavender,” he shouted. “I’m closer than Teddy, who’d have to come from home. Koot needs help. Is it okay if Zack stays here and paints?”
Annie caught only some of
what Sky said, but recognized the urgency in his voice. She nodded.
Watching Sky tear out in the cruiser, she hollered down to Rita Gonzales. “Rita, Sky’s son is painting on the other side of the porch. I’ll be done here in a jiffy. Keep an eye on him, will you?”
Rita, moving her body to the music, smiled and waved to Annie. The sun had shifted, and Annie saw two spots needing a second coat. She stretched as far as she could to touch up the areas. Feeling her ladder slip, she decided that what she’d done would suffice. As she stepped down a rung, her bucket caught and pulled her off balance. The ladder slid again. Standing completely still, she hailed the man below her on a shorter ladder. “Charlie, my bucket’s caught on my ladder. If I unclip it, can I pass it to you before I climb down?”
Not getting an answer, she twisted around to find him. Her blood chilled. Charlie had abandoned his ladder. Zack was climbing up, trying to hold on to his brush and the small cardboard bucket.
“Zack, honey, don’t climb any higher.” Annie strove to sound calm when she wasn’t. “Stay right there. I’ll come and meet you and we’ll climb down together.”
“I want to paint where Charlie stopped,” Zack said, and he crawled up two more rungs. Then he glanced down and must have seen how high off the ground he was. He started to cry.
She yanked on her stuck bucket, yelling now. “Someone! Anyone, please come help Zack.” No response. Had they all gone to meet Roger, who’d returned with lunch? No one came. Giving her bucket a sharp wrench to free it, Annie felt her ladder give way, too. She crashed into Zack’s and both of them and their ladders plummeted to the ground.
Annie couldn’t stop her scream as she hurtled downward. Amid raining gold paint, she felt her leg slam against one of the cement porch steps. Her ankle took the brunt of the blow. Untangling herself from the ladder, needing to reach Zack, who lay there motionless, she saw others finally running toward them. “Call Sky,” she panted. “Don’t move Zack. Call an ambulance, or paramedics.” Forgetting her injury, she scrambled toward Zack. Excruciating pain shot up her leg and the scene around her turned gray, then black.
Annie's Neighborhood (Harlequin Heartwarming) Page 22
