Chapter Five
“Not one more step!”
I threw my hands in the air as Rhonda stalked over, her finger pointed at a pretty severe Bad dog! angle.
“What did I do?”
“Oh, you know exactly what you did.”
I gaped at her. This was crazy. Rhonda was my biggest supporter when it came to Grady. She thought we would be great together. She even thought we’d make cute children! She had given us both all sorts of advice last time I was in town. In fact, you could say she was probably overly invested in our relationship …
Oh … right … crap.
I took a half-step forward. “Okay, I get it. But can we just talk about this ins—”
“No, you cannot come in.”
“Rhonda, come on,” I said, looking briefly at my hands that were still in the air before dropping them. “I just want to talk to him.”
“I am very upset with you,” she said shaking her head, making her curly red hair shudder.
I scratched absently at the back of my head, mentally calculating my odds of making a dash through the tiny little space between Rhonda and the door. Unfortunately, all the scenarios ended with me getting slammed up against the aluminum threshold. I’d seen Rhonda wrestle back in high school. “Okay, what exactly is it that you think I did?”
“What did you do? What did you do? Look at him!” she said pointing back into the department. “He is a broken, broken man.”
I inched forward to see Grady walk out of his office. He was talking to one of the other officers and hadn’t noticed us yet. My heart clenched at the sight of him. And for the record, he didn’t look broken at all. He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater with a leather sheriff’s jacket. I had never seen that look before, but I certainly should have. It forced you to imagine all the muscles that jacket was hiding. Then there were his fitted black pants with the stripe down the side, which seemed to accentuate—
“Stop it!” Rhonda snapped. “You don’t get to look at him like that! That view is for paying customers only.”
“Okay,” I said before pausing to roll my jaw. “I don’t know what you think you know, but I’m pretty sure you haven’t heard the whole story.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Grady dumped me.”
“Only because you forced him to.”
Suddenly my cheeks felt hot. “Just let me in, Rhonda,” I said, inching forward again, pulling the door open wider.
Rhonda held her ground. “You’ve been stringing him along for months now.”
“What?!” I cried. On some level, obviously, I could see her point, but we were rapidly approaching the part of the argument that was beyond all reasonableness. “That is completely untrue!”
“Really,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “The way I hear it, you’ve been telling Grady you want a relationship but haven’t made one concrete step to move home, or—”
“Moving my entire life is a big deal!”
“I wasn’t finished,” she said looking dangerous. “Or listened to any option that involved him moving to Chicago. Which you know would really suck because he’s an awesome boss, but does Erica Bloom care about that? Noooo.”
I rubbed the side of my face with my gloved hand as I very calmly said, “Grady wouldn’t want to move to Chicago. He loves Otter Lake. He belongs in Otter Lake.”
“Then you move home!”
My hand flew into the air. “It’s not that easy!”
“You got issues, Bloom.”
“Oh my God! I never said that I didn’t! But Grady … we’re just at the beginning … and it’s a big deal … I have a lot of questions, and…”
She folded her arms over her chest. “You can’t even commit to one sentence.”
“Oh ho, ho, ho! Good one,” I said, chuckling unpleasantly and wagging a finger at her. I was about to say something else when Rhonda’s face dropped into something serious.
“Grady’s ready, Erica. He’s ready for the whole shebang. Marriage. Kids. A dog named Butch. Maybe a—”
“I want a dog named Butch. Who said I didn’t want a dog named Butch?” I asked in a harsh whisper. The officer who wasn’t talking to Grady was giving us a quizzical look. Why? Why was I having this conversation in the threshold of a sheriff’s office? I wrapped my coat more tightly around my body. “I just need to be sure.”
“But you can’t just expect Grady to wait around for something that might never come.”
“I’m not—”
“Listen to me. I consider both of you to be friends, but Grady took a big chance in asking you to stay last time you were home. Which, was totally my idea by the way,” she said, planting the tips of her fingers on her chest. “One that I now completely regret. It was supposed to be all romantic. Like one of those movies where the man chases the woman through the airport and catches her just before she gets on the plane.” She shot a faraway look out the doors before turning her disgusted eyes back on me. “I mean, what do you want?”
I had no idea how to answer that. Good thing she didn’t know about what had happened at the actual airport. “Rhonda, that was all wonderful, but—”
“Grady deserves someone who is all in.”
My mouth snapped shut. In fact, it took me a few moments before I could even mutter, “I so hate you right now.”
“Good,” she said adjusting her belt before quickly adding, “but not really though, right? We’re still going to go out for beers sometime?”
I huffed a breath. “Not if you’re just going to lecture me from relationship books all night.”
She shrugged. “Might help.”
I let out a breath that sounded a bit like a growl. “Look, I hear you, okay? I see your point. In fact, I see everybody’s point!” I threw my hand in the air. “You all win. So can I talk to Grady now?”
“No.”
“Rhonda!”
“We’re really busy preparing for the storm. I don’t want him all distracted.”
I inched my way closer again even though there weren’t that many inches left to cross. “Okay, now you are overstepping.”
She planted her feet a little wider than hip-width apart and re-crossed her arms over her chest.
“This building is public property. I have a right to go in.”
“Are you moving home?”
“I don’t need to justify—”
“That wasn’t a yes. So sorry, but you can’t come in,” she said. “It’s for both of your goods really.”
“Rhonda!”
“Erica!”
“Everything all right over there?” a new voice asked.
I sighed. “Hi, Grady.”
Chapter Six
“It’s okay,” Grady said, patting Rhonda on the shoulder. “I can spare a few minutes for Erica.”
They locked eyes, warring a bit, before Rhonda stepped aside. “I hope you know what you’re doing, boss.”
“Oh, come on,” I said with a scoff, not giving Grady time to answer. “What do you think I’m going to do to him? I’m not some praying mantis who eats her mate’s head after—”
“Black widow spider,” Rhonda corrected.
“Oh, I’m, uh, pretty sure it’s a praying mantis.”
“Are you now?” Rhonda said walking backward toward her desk. “Why don’t we just see what the Internet has to say about—”
“It’s fine,” Grady said again, before corralling me into his office. He flashed the other officers an awkward smile on the way. I threw them an awkward half-wave. I was starting to see Freddie’s point about farmer’s markets needing security. I couldn’t even behave myself in a sheriff’s department. And for the most part, I was a pretty normal person. Well, most of the time, when I was back in Chicago.
Once inside, Grady closed the door and faced me. Neither one of us said anything for a moment.
“Go ahead,” he said, giving me an out with it roll of his hand.
I planted my hands on my hips. “I’m sorry?
Out with what?”
“You look—” he squinted, “—mad.”
I bit my lower lip and pulled it roughly between my teeth before saying, “So what? You and Rhonda just sit around all day talking about your feelings?”
He chuckled quietly and nodded. “Not all day. And Rhonda does most of the talking.”
I blew some air out. “And just so I know, have you turned the entire town against me? Or just your second-in-command out there?” I didn’t want to say that. Especially not in that ugly way. I didn’t want to fight at all. I wasn’t even angry at him! And yet, while I could hear the words coming out of my mouth, I just couldn’t seem to stop them. That seemed to be happening a lot when Grady and I talked these days.
“That’s not fair,” he said quietly. “You should know, better than anybody, that I can’t control what this town thinks. Nobody can.” He took a breath, then added, “Look. I know you’re hurt. I am too. This is not how I wanted things to turn out.”
“No,” I said with a sharp finger point. “We are not doing this here. There’s been a small hitch to our plans. My mother rented out the retreat for the night. But—”
“I was going to cancel anyway.”
I tried to meet his eye, but he looked away. “Grady, no. At least hear me out. I—”
“It’s not that. Well, it is that. But this storm,” he said looking to the window. Just then the wind gave the pane a good rattle. I could see whose side it was on. “It’s supposed to be a bad one. Rain. Freezing rain. Snow. Maybe lots of snow. Everyone’s going to be working overtime.”
“Oh.” I looked down to the floor trying to blink away the stinging sensation suddenly going on in my eyes.
When I looked back up, he was studying my face. He almost looked like he was about to say something more, but then he clenched his jaw and the look was gone. “Besides, I’m not really sure what there is left to say.”
“You don’t mean that.”
He sighed then muttered something that sounded an awful lot like “I can’t have this conversation again.”
From outside the room a voice shouted, “You stay strong, Grady!”
He looked down again at the floor, one hand resting at his hip, the other sending Rhonda a half-hearted thumbs up.
My eyes snapped over to the office window as I near yelled, “You and I are about to throw down real soon!”
Grady sighed again. “Please. Don’t rile her up. As it is, she’s probably going to make me listen to her playlist again.”
“Her playlist?”
“She made a playlist to help me get over y—” he cut himself off. “I can’t listen to Beyoncé’s ‘Single Ladies’ again. I just can’t. And she’s already trying to set me up with her cousin.”
I felt my eyes widen to dangerous levels before I whipped them back to Rhonda. She startled just a little.
“Got a cousin do you?”
Her face dropped before she had the good sense to slink back to her desk.
Grady took another noisy breath. “Really, Erica, I think maybe it’s better if we don’t—”
“No,” I said, hating the pleading in my voice. “There are things I want to say. Things I need to say.”
Again with the sigh.
“I’m ready. I think. I just need to be sure. I’m so close to just packing up and—”
“Right,” he said with a slow nod. “But I can’t wait anymore.”
“If this is about what happened at the airport. I want you to know—”
He waved a hand. “It’s not about what happened at the airport.”
“Please let’s just talk this through.” I took a step toward him. “Alone.”
His turned away to stare at nothing on his desk. “I don’t know about alone.”
There was something about the way he said that—nervous, kind of—that made me smile. “What? You afraid of my seductive powers?”
He licked his lips and nodded. “Little bit. Always have been.”
“Well, you should be afraid,” I said stepping all the way forward and putting my finger on his chest. “Very afraid.”
He huffed a small laugh. “I love it when you do awkward sexy, but…”
I smiled up at him. “But what?”
He gently gripped my finger and moved it away. “But I can’t keep doing this.”
“No. Let’s talk about it,” I said. “Really talk about it. Please.”
He shook his head then suddenly his face changed. “Wait, did you say your mother rented out the retreat? Tonight? How many people?”
I stepped back. “I don’t know. Half dozen or so.”
He rocked back on his feet. “Do they know about the storm?”
“I don’t know, but—”
“You should really tell them if they don’t come mainland soon, there’s a good chance they’ll be stuck there at least for the night.” He walked over to his desk and made a note on a piece of paper. “How are your supplies?”
“I don’t know that either. I thought the retreat was going to be empty. I mean, I bought steaks for us and that wine we had at Christmas.” My voice dropped off at the end.
Grady froze, pen midair, but didn’t look up from his desk. A moment later, he cleared his throat and said, “You should really let them know. The roads are getting dicey if they want to make it to a hotel. And if you’re going to stay on the island tonight, make sure you have everything you need.”
I took a breath. “Right.”
Another heavy moment passed.
He squeezed his eyes shut, then added, “And … I will come check on you when I can.”
“Really?” I clapped my hands together. I may have even hopped a little.
He put a hand in the air. “I don’t want to get your hopes up. I meant everything I said, but I should probably tell you…” He stopped and took a breath. “There are some things I need to say too.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. “It’s true. You should check on me. I might perish all alone in the elements, Caesar gnawing on my frozen corpse.”
Grady rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure you know how to start a fire.”
“Body heat’s better. Scientific fact.”
He shook his head and mumbled, “Get out of my station.”
I smiled and reached for the door.
“And for everybody’s sake, try to get those people to the mainland.”
* * *
I wandered my way back through town looking for my mother and trying to figure out how I was going to get over to the island while trying even harder not to think about how I felt after seeing Grady. I mean, I was really happy that he was going to try to make it over, but there had been all that other stuff he had said, like …
I can’t wait anymore.
Still, he was going to check on me. That was the important thing.
A few people bustled around main street, but the weather was making it pretty unpleasant to be outside. The twins were leaving their boat with Alma. I could probably go back and ask her if I could borrow it, but then I would definitely have to stay for tea, most likely a game of euchre with her husband and his brother who always licked his thumb before he dealt the cards. At least he used to do that when I was a kid visiting with the twins. That kind of memory doesn’t leave a person. And the card game would probably then turn into a dinner invitation, and if I told them I couldn’t do any of that because of the weather, they’d want me to stay the night. Probably invite the guests too. And that was just all too … no. I knew I could call Red again—and I would if I had to—but it felt like too much of an imposition. Freddie couldn’t help out either. His last boat, Lightning, was in the shop after some local kids had taken it for a joyride, and his spare wasn’t in the water yet. Besides, who knew how many more personal trainers he was interviewing today?
I needed to do something though. I had to get all those people off the island. Soon. They needed to hit the road. I doubted the family could get a flight out today, if they were flying, b
ut they would have a better chance of finding a place to stay near the city than they would in Otter Lake.
This was ridiculous. I flipped up my collar and buried my chin into my chest. Imposition or not, I needed to call Red. Maybe he knew where my mother was and—
Suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder. “Erica?”
I had my nose buried so deeply into my chest I hadn’t realized I was about to walk into someone.
“Matthew?”
Chapter Seven
“Hi,” he said, taking back his hand. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Matthew Masterson.
Of course, I’d run into him. I mean, why not? I’d nearly run the gamut of emotions today. The only one missing was guilty lust. Thanks, universe!
Matthew was the only son of the oldest family on Otter Lake, owners of the beautiful Hemlock Estate. Matthew and I had gone to school together before his parents sent him off to a private men’s college. We had reconnected, so to speak, on his last visit home. His father had been murdered, and Kit Kat had been accused of the crime. In solving the case, Freddie and I had nearly gotten his mother killed, but we had also kind of saved her at the last minute and exposed the real killer, so … so nothing, we didn’t know what we were doing. But Matthew was kind enough to forgive us anyway.
“You okay?”
“Fine. I just wasn’t watching where I was going.” I caught a smile spreading its way across my face—a smile that I quickly put a stop to. I mean, I was really happy to see Matthew, and that was just … bad. You see, last time I was home, Matthew had kind of let me know that if Grady and I didn’t work out, he would be interested in us getting to know each other better—which was really kind of annoying because if I were to be super honest, a part of me wanted to get to know Matthew better too—in a purely hypothetical fantasy type of way. Not, you know, in a real-life Grady way. And to be super, super honest, I was also kind of irrationally mad at Matthew because he was probably hoping that Grady and I would break up and, of course, I didn’t want Grady and I to break up, but I also probably kind of liked it, just a little bit, that Matthew felt that way … and really, these were all ridiculously complicated feelings to be having when I just needed to find a damn boat!
Snowed In with Murder Page 4
