by VK Powell
The smell of Mary Jane’s delicious meatloaf welcomed her when she opened the back door, and her stomach growled. She’d skipped lunch, using her meal break to check on Harry at the clinic. When she rounded the corner into the large eat-in kitchen, Mary Jane and Dani were the only ones at the table. “Where are the rest of our guests? Don’t they like meatloaf?”
“Day trips, visiting, eating out, and dating.” Mary Jane started to get up, but Grace waved her down.
“I’ve got it.” She kissed Mary Jane’s head, retrieved a place setting and cutlery from the china cabinet, and sat across from Dani. “How’s it going?” She lobbed her query in no particular direction hoping the question might prompt Dani to comment, but she glanced up at Grace with something akin to distaste and kept eating. Dani had been almost nice this morning, but tonight the deep freeze was on again.
“I hope that sour look isn’t about my food,” Mary Jane said.
“No, ma’am. This is great.” Dani offered a half-smile and returned to her meal again.
Mary Jane shrugged at Grace while she filled her plate. “I’m fine. Dani was just telling me about her challenges with that crazy bird of yours.”
“He’s not my bird.” Grace crowded a lump of mashed potatoes between the meatloaf and green beans on her plate and ladled a generous helping of gravy in the middle. “I stopped by twice today to check on him, and both times he went psycho. Do you have any idea what’s going on with him?”
Dani didn’t look up. “Not really.”
Dani hunched over her plate, irritation rolling off her, and Grace didn’t understand why. Their morning chat hadn’t been unpleasant, except for the part where she’d nosed into Dani’s night out. Then she remembered. Dani had witnessed the scene with Beetle, and her expression had spoken loudly from across the street.
Mary Jane gave Grace a questioning look, and she shook her head. “Any other news?”
“I planted more flowers in the back garden to attract butterflies. You?”
“Beetle Bledsoe showed out at the library, and I had to take him in.”
Dani shoveled a forkful of potatoes into her mouth and her teeth clamped on the tines.
“Did you do what he asked this time?” Mary Jane asked.
Dani suddenly looked up at Grace, her eyes searching, questioning.
“Not yet. He was too drunk to remember our conversation. Maybe tomorrow.”
Dani swallowed her food and washed it down with sweet tea. “What did he ask you to do?”
Grace took a second to consider her response. Was it a violation of trust to divulge her promise to Beetle? And even if it wasn’t, should she have to justify her official actions to a transient guest? On the other hand, maybe honest communication and transparency could change Dani’s mind about her profession and alter her opinion of Grace. But which should take priority, the professional consideration or her personal one? “I’m not sure I should say.”
“Why not?” Mary Jane asked. “He told everybody in town.”
Grace could be generous with her own personal details, but her profession and moral code required her to be judicious with others. Still, Mary Jane made a valid point. She returned her tea glass to the table and met Dani’s gaze. “Beetle returned from Afghanistan with problems like a lot of other veterans. After losing his wife and kids because of PTSD and drug addiction, he downgraded to alcohol. So far, he hasn’t kicked the habit completely. He made me promise a few months back that the next time I saw him drunk I’d have him admitted to a rehab facility. I carry his signed consent in the glove box of my patrol car.”
A strange look crossed Dani’s face as she rested her fork on the side of her plate. “So, when your deputy hauled Beetle off, where was she taking him?”
“A holding cell to sleep it off. He was still out when I left this evening.”
“You didn’t arrest him? I saw him hit you.”
“What?” Mary Jane clutched her chest. “Are you hurt, honey?”
“I’m fine, MJ, just a light punch in the ribs. No harm done.” She patted Mary Jane’s hand before addressing Dani again. “He didn’t know what he was doing, so assault charges hardly seemed fair.”
“And the young girl at the drugstore?” Dani’s eyes blazed anew and her skin flushed.
“What?”
“I saw you snap handcuffs on her and put her in the back seat of your car without a second thought just because she took a couple of birthday cards.”
Grace leaned across the table, unwilling to shrink from Dani’s ardent but inaccurate assumptions. “Is that what you saw?”
Dani nodded, seeming quite satisfied with herself.
Mary Jane waved her hand to settle Grace back in her chair. “Was that Emily, Doreen’s granddaughter?” When Grace nodded, she added, “You persuaded May not to press charges, released Emily, and got her a job to boot if memory serves. Her family was so grateful.”
Dani’s eyes locked on Grace, and she saw a glimmer of something different in their depths and couldn’t resist clarifying, “What’s wrong, Dani?”
“It’s just…I thought…” Dani mumbled while nervously folding her napkin.
Grace controlled her growing irritation and spoke calmly. “You thought I harassed a homeless man and a teenager for the fun of it. Is that the impression you have of me?”
“Grace would never—”
“Stop, MJ. Dani has only known bad cops and doesn’t want to give anyone else the benefit of the doubt. She’s marked the entire law enforcement profession with a big black X. Isn’t that right?”
“Excuse me, please. Dinner was very good, Mary Jane.” Dani didn’t look at her again as she slid her chair back and left the room.
The large kitchen was quiet for several seconds before Mary Jane spoke. “Well, guess I should get her bill ready.”
“I’m sorry, MJ. I really dislike people who judge others before they even know them.”
“And you really want her to like you.”
“Yeah,” she answered without overthinking. “Guess so, but that’s obviously not going to happen. Probably just as well because she’s leaving soon.” She cupped Mary Jane’s hand where it rested on the table. “Sorry if I embarrassed you.”
“You didn’t embarrass me, honey. I was proud of you for standing up for yourself.” She slid her chair back and retrieved two pies from the sideboard. “How about pecan or peach pie?”
“Not right now, thanks. Maybe after I balance the books and pay the bills I’ll have a slice with some coffee.” Grace started gathering dishes, but Mary Jane shooed her away. “I can help.”
“You can help me more by getting those blasted accounts in order. Go crunch numbers.”
Grace moved to the small hutch in the corner of the kitchen that served as the business hub of the B and B and pulled the checkbook and bills out of the center drawer. She automatically entered the purchase receipts in the checkbook and then organized the bills from highest to lowest, a habit she’d picked up from her dad. The sounds of Mary Jane clearing the dishes and preparing for breakfast the next day faded into the background.
When she looked up later, two hours had passed and a slice of pecan pie along with a coffee carafe sat on the butcher-block island behind her. She stood, stretched, and poured herself a cup before returning to her chair. The to-do stack on her left was gone and a pile of addressed and stamped envelopes rested to her right. She smiled, satisfied with her progress. Then she remembered her unfinished dinner and the sense of accomplishment faded.
She’d been a bit harsh and overly defensive with Dani earlier, but she had nothing to lose with this woman who judged her unacceptable because of her job. Why not be brutally honest? Nothing to lose except her future business at the B and B. Why was she trying so hard with Dani? The answer came swiftly from Grace’s gut. She had a feeling Dani Wingate was worth the effort, and her instincts about people were seldom wrong.
* * *
Dani stood in the kitchen doorway and watched Grac
e for several minutes as she worked at the small hutch. Her hair brushed her shoulders and swept forward concealing her face and expression, but the sideways tilt of her head was adorable. She flipped through a stack of papers, her foot tapping to some silent rhythm, before making an entry in a checkbook. Dani tried to reconcile this softer, more domestic image of Grace, which she much preferred, with the drunk-wrestling one she’d seen earlier today.
Intoxicated family members brawling with cops had been a given during her childhood, but warm familial scenes like the ones at every B and B meal were practically nonexistent. She’d learned the hard way that getting close to people, including her parents, only led to pain. She hadn’t allowed a partner to even try. A calm feeling settled over her as she watched Grace, adaptable, easygoing Grace, as comfortable in one scenario as the other. Dani had jumped to the wrong conclusion and needed to apologize.
“Excuse me.”
Grace jerked, and her pen flew out of her hand, landing on the floor near Dani’s feet.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Dani retrieved the pen and handed it back.
“I was wrapping up anyway.” Grace turned her attention to the hutch, gathered her paperwork, and stuffed it in the center drawer. “Did you need something?”
Grace parroted the question Dani had asked that morning. Fitting she should get a dose of her own surly medicine. “Do you have a minute?”
Grace gave her a look that lasted just long enough to make Dani squirm before finally saying, “Sure. I was about to have a slice of pecan pie. Can I tempt you?”
The problem was she’d tempted Dani since the moment they met, but Grace was talking about food. Her stomach growled. She’d left dinner in a huff before finishing her meal, and pie sounded perfect.
“Your stomach says yes. Peach or pecan?”
“Peach, please.” Dani settled on the opposite side of the butcher-block island while Grace retrieved a saucer from the cabinet and sliced the pie.
“If you’d like, I can heat that up and top it with French vanilla ice cream.”
Dani licked her lips, as much from the stare Grace was giving her as the idea of peach pie a la mode. “That would be magic, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No trouble. I’m heating mine anyway. Coffee?”
Dani nodded, and Grace slid the pie in the microwave, hit the button, and pulled the ice cream from the freezer. She handled the domestic tasks with the same consideration she’d shown Beetle Bledsoe on the street, and Dani felt a wave of admiration for her consistency and kindness. Grace poured the coffees, scooped the ice cream on top of the slices, and presented both to Dani at the same time. “You’re pretty much perfect in the kitchen.”
“But despicable everywhere else? That sounds a little judgmental, Dr. Wingate.”
Damn, she couldn’t say anything right around Grace. “That’s not what I meant. I actually wanted to apologize for earlier.”
“Which part?”
Dani respected Grace for holding her to task. “Assuming you were a cop who mistreats people…and likes it.”
Grace’s stare pinned her, and a whirlwind of warring emotions bowled through Dani, just like when Grace touched her arm the other day. “Thank you for that, I think.” Her cautious tone was less than convincing.
“Seriously, Grace, I’m really sorry.”
“Okay, I appreciate it. Making such a sweeping assumption about an entire profession is sort of like judging all pit bulls by the one that bites someone or all raccoons by the one that catches rabies, isn’t it?”
Grace took a forkful of pecan pie into her mouth and when her lips slid over the tines, Dani swallowed hard. “Valid point, and well made using my field.”
“There are bad cops. I can’t argue, but there are also bad veterinarians, dentists, cooks, politicians…every profession has some undesirables. I just like to think I’m not one of them.”
“Again, I’m sorry.”
They ate quietly for several minutes, each glancing up periodically until their dishes were clean. “More coffee?” Grace asked.
“No, I’m good.” Dani collected the saucers and placed them in the dishwasher. With her back turned to Grace, she asked, “Why police work?”
Grace slowly poured herself another cup of coffee, as if considering her answer. “I needed a job.”
Dani waited, hoping she hadn’t completely alienated Grace and that she’d say more because she really wanted to know. The realization startled her. Being interested in someone, asking questions, and exchanging life stories were the first steps on a road Dani didn’t usually travel, but in Grace’s case, she couldn’t stop herself.
“Most of my childhood was spent traveling the world with my parents, going from one missionary project to another. Not that they were religious, they just enjoyed seeing other places and doing something meaningful. They finally settled here for several years, where I was born, but it didn’t take. After I finished school, they decided their traveling days weren’t over and took off, leaving me the B and B. I enjoy people and cooking, to a point, but not as a full-time job. Mary Jane ran the place when we were traveling, so we struck a deal. She manages the B and B, and I help out as needed, but I had to find a job with benefits.” Grace wiped nervously at the countertop. “Guess that was more than you wanted to know.”
“Not at all.” Grace had barely skimmed the surface of her life, making Dani even more curious about how a person so compassionate and non-violent would choose a job as a cop. “And why law enforcement?”
“I wanted to be a nurse or social worker—suits my personality better—but I didn’t have the formal training or the time to go back to college. I needed to work. The sheriff was looking for deputies, major crime is practically nonexistent in our community, and I know everybody, so fighting didn’t seem too likely.”
Dani gave her a skeptical look. “Seriously?”
“Maybe not the best logic, but I missed my parents and had just broken up with someone. And so far, it’s been okay. Most days I feel like a social worker. Wielding authority, power, whatever you call it, doesn’t really appeal to me. I’m more of a mediator or negotiator.” She sipped her coffee. “Enough about me.”
Grace licked her lips before bringing them to the rim of her coffee cup again. She had the most delicious-looking mouth, plump lips that usually settled in a partial smile. Dani felt another round of unsettling feelings tumble through her.
“Now can I ask you a question?” Grace asked.
She nodded.
“Why such a bad opinion of cops?”
Dani hated this you-show-me-yours-and-I’ll-show-you-mine back-and-forth. The exchange felt too personal, something she purposely avoided in most situations, but Grace’s vulnerability touched her, and she deserved an honest answer. “My story is a pretty common one. I had an unpleasant childhood in low-income housing with drug dealers and users, robbers, and child abusers, all the prime targets for cops. I saw more than my share of excessive force and corrupt police before we moved.” Grace studied Dani’s face for several seconds and the scrutiny calmed and unsettled her.
“And that’s how you see me?”
“No, but some images are hard to get rid of, like a flashback when I see a uniform. I come from a different world than you. I never had a real home, more an addict’s version of a B and B without food, and I believe that colored my view of the world going forward.” She stared at the countertop, unable to meet Grace’s eyes.
Grace trailed her hand slowly up and down Dani’s back, her voice soft and comforting. “I’m so sorry. But you made it out.”
Dani resisted the urge to bolt. If she wasn’t careful, she could find herself in real trouble—confiding more about her childhood and being comforted by a woman she couldn’t afford to become attached to—but Grace’s hand felt so warm, so vital next to her skin. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been caressed in anything but a sexual way. For a few seconds, she relaxed and allowed Grace’s intimate to
uch to imprint on her body. What was happening to her?
“Are you okay?”
The words shattered their connection, and Dani stood and backed away. “Fine.” She couldn’t look at Grace for fear she’d see hope, desire, or some other unfulfillable emotion in her eyes.
“Can we—”
“Have to go.” She pointed to the stairs leading to her bedroom, still too affected by Grace’s closeness to form a complete sentence. “Tired.”
Chapter Eight
Grace spent the morning getting Beetle Bledsoe presentable and transporting him to the substance abuse clinic in the neighboring county. On her way back into town, she stopped by Trip’s place to check on Harry with the same unpleasant result as before. She intended to ask Dani again about a home visit, but she wasn’t in, so Grace parked at the station and walked toward the diner. The noon rush was over and she could have a nice leisurely lunch with few interruptions.
As she reached for the door handle, she spotted Dani heading toward her car. “Hey, wait up.” She sprinted across the street and cupped Dani’s elbow, falling in step. Her skin dimpled with goose bumps even though the weather was hot enough to blister the bottoms of bare feet on the blacktop. Why couldn’t she keep her hands off this woman? “Walk with me?”
“Why?”
“If you really need a reason, it’s a beautiful day, nice scenery, and I’ve been told I’m pretty good company.”
Dani slid her arm free and gave Grace a suspicious look.
“I promise not to ask any personal questions.” She’d seen the fear in Dani’s eyes last night when they’d talked about her family and childhood, but she’d also felt Dani’s body relax into her touch as if starved for real affection. Dani was afraid to get close, and Grace felt her resistance like a barrier between them.
“No, thanks. I’m on my way to the Clip ’n Curl for a haircut. Another time.” She started back toward her car at a rapid pace.
