by Jan Coffey
Tom Whiting was inside talking to his superior. Both men’s heads snapped up in surprise at seeing her.
“Sheila, what are you doing here?”
“Tom, will you excuse us for a minute?”
At Sheila’s request, the young officer looked at the chief, who nodded. As he left the office, she shut the door behind him and then proceeded to close the blinds on the large office window that looked out over the desks of nearly everyone in the department.
“What’s going on, honey?” Rich asked concerned, half rising from his chair.
Sheila went around and shoved him back down his seat. “Spill it.”
“Spill what?”
She planted her hands on her hips. “I just spent the past two hours cutting and coloring the hair of two of the nicest women that have ever stepped foot in this sorry little burg.”
“They must have been really nice.”
“No cracks out of you, or I’m giving away my new bunny costume to the Salvation Army.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but wisely closed it.
“I want to know what the heck you’re doing to help Léa Hardy.”
“Honey, that’s still—”
“Don’t give me that honey stuff! The woman was knocked in the head and threatened with a knife in your town. And then Heather was scared out of her wits by the same brute.” She glowered at him. “Now, I want to know right this minute if you are doing one damn thing about it.”
“Honey, I—”
“Are you going to pick up Dusty or not?”
“I am.”
“Is that a When I get to it, I am? or a Right now, I am?”
“Right now, I am. Starting last night, when Mick called me. There is some serious shit going on around here, Sheila. We already have a warrant out for Dusty’s arrest.”
He wrapped his hand around her wrist and tugged once. Sheila let herself land on his lap. “Now, was that the only reason why you come to see me?”
She stopped his hand from roaming. “Does this mean that you believe what she says?”
“I believe now that somebody is trying to hurt her.”
“What else?” She let him slip his hand under her shirt.
“I believe she didn’t come back to Stonybrook to cause trouble.”
“You’re getting there.” She guided his hand to the clasp of her bra, and he undid it. Her breast came to life in his hand. “Keep going.”
“I believe there is some nutcase out there trying to cause trouble by sending old pictures of Marilyn and her…playmates around.”
“You mean somebody other than Dusty?”
“Tom and I were working on that when you came in.”
Sheila shot to her feet. Pulling her shirt up to her chin, she very slowly redid the clasp of her bra. Rich watched her.
“Well, you get lots of work done, and I’ll have a real treat for Little Chief when you get home tonight.” She gave him a deep mouthwatering kiss before sauntering out of his office.
“Sorry gang, but no slacking off this afternoon,” she announced to the room. “You kids have lots of work to do.”
Chapter 27
As usual, there was a line of people outside Hughes Grille. While Léa and Mick waited on one of the park benches, Heather went in to check where their name was on the list.
“I don’t think it was such a good idea to come here for dinner,” Léa said. “Everybody is staring at me.”
“They’re staring because you look absolutely gorgeous.” Mick pulled Léa closer to him on the bench. Her knee-length linen dress climbed up a couple of inches, and he admired the stretch of smooth leg. He left his arm wrapped around her shoulder. “And you look sexy as hell, too.”
Their gazes locked. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner that you like short hair?”
“It’s not just the hair. It’s the rest of you. Do you realize it’s been twenty-seven hours since we had sex?”
“That long?”
“Yes, indeed. And you’re not helping matters at all, I want you to know. I almost lost it when you were emptying the dryer before we left the house.”
“I was looking for my bra and underwear. They somehow managed to get tangled up with your boxers in the laundry.” She put her hand innocently on his knee. “I could have used your help.”
His arm tightened around her, drawing Léa even closer. “What do you say we take a quick walk to my office? It’s only on the next block.”
Her hand moved an inch up the inside of his leg. “I don’t think, in your condition, you’re decent enough for us to walk in public.”
“And getting less decent by the moment. We could sneak through the park.”
“Heather’s coming.”
She tried to pull back, but Mick kissed her. Léa was blushing when he finally let her go. “Just a down payment for later.”
“Can’t you two keep your hands off each other?” Heather grumbled, shaking her head. “I mean, jeez people, we’re in public here.”
“Just because you get your hair color back to normal and get rid of a couple dozen rings and studs, that doesn’t make you the boss.”
“Of course it does.” She touched her short ringlets of sandy blonde hair. “Don’t you love it?”
“I do.” He pulled her down next to them. “Of course, I can see I have years of worrying ahead of me about all the boys who’ll be chasing after you.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t be dating again until I’m thirty.”
“Yeah, I’ll be sure to remind you of that next week.” He ruffled her hair. “So what’s the wait?”
“Forty-five minutes. I think it’s only because my last name is Conklin.” Heather glanced around at the groups of people waiting before them. “You know, I’ve been out of Stonybrook for only two years, but I don’t remember any of these people. Do you recognize any, Léa?”
“Not a soul. People’s looks change a lot over the years.”
“Actually, there are very few people still around who were here twenty years ago.” Mick had been waiting for the right opportunity for making Léa understand this. “With exception of a handful of diehards, Stonybrook is filling up with young professional families who don’t know and don’t care what the cheap gossip was around here five, ten, or twenty years ago. These days, everybody here starts fresh and with a clean slate.”
He held Léa’s gaze.
“Are you hording the whole bench or can we sit down with you?”
Mick smiled up at Andrew Rice, who was looking particularly content in the company of Joanna Miller. They were waiting for a table too, and after a few minutes of catching up on old times, they changed their reservation to have dinner all together.
Walking inside the restaurant a half hour later, Mick couldn’t have been happier about this little change in their plans. This was part of everything he wanted Léa to see about Stonybrook.
She wasn’t an outsider. She had old friends, like Andrew, and she would make new friends, too, like Joanna, if she gave Stonybrook a chance.
As he watched her walk across the restaurant ahead of him, Mick realized that he very much wanted her to stay. He wanted Léa to give the town—and the two of them—a chance.
~~~~
Chris stood behind the ornate oriental screen that shielded the kitchen door from the dining room, and stared through a small opening between the panels.
Heather looked very different with the new hairdo, and not the way she used to a couple of years ago. She looked older in the short, button-front dress. She’d dumped the purple hair and the black outfit. He wondered if she was wearing her belly ring under that light blue dress.
The five of them were sitting at a table near the window. Heather was sitting next to her father and Léa Hardy. He had come out the minute he heard the waitress tell the chef who the order was for. He watched them for a few minutes. Their meal hadn’t been delivered. Then, just as he’d hoped, Heather got up and started for the ladies’ room.
Chris
went back through the kitchen and came out by the restrooms.
He waited, every nerve in his body jumping. Some guy came out of the men’s room and squeezed by Chris. He could hear laughter coming from the tables in the bar, and heard Brian talking to the bartender.
As soon as she stepped out, he started in immediately.
“Heather, I’ve been trying to call you all day, but you weren’t home and I didn’t want to leave a message.”
Her look was stone cold.
“I am so sorry about last night.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She tried to get by, but he blocked her.
“But we have to. I feel terrible for acting like that. I was such a jerk.”
“Forget it.” She tried to pass him, but he grabbed her arm.
“It was just everything. From the way my mother acted to what I thought would happen…to…jeez, it was just everything. And I want to make it up to you.”
“No, Chris. You can’t make it up to me. We’re done. Finished. Caput.”
She tried to pull her arm free, but he grabbed the other arm, too. “Come on, Heather. I said I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you.” She tried to twist herself free. “Let me go.”
“Not until you tell me when we can go out again.”
He brought her closer to his body. Her arms became trapped against his chest. As she struggled, he felt himself getting hard.
“Come on. Last night wasn’t all bad,” he whispered against her ear. He ground his hips against her. “You liked some of the stuff we did.”
She stepped hard on his foot and managed to pull away. “You are sick, Chris. You need some serious help.”
He contemplated reaching for her again, but a woman was coming toward the restrooms.
“Don’t ever come near me again,” Heather hissed, passing him.
As she disappeared into the dining room, he hammered his hand against the wall.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.”
Rubbing his hand over his face, Chris shoved open the door into the men’s room. Crossing to the sinks, he turned on the water and splashed handfuls on his face and neck.
His head was about to explode, and he kicked at one of the stall doors. The thing buckled as it slammed back against the wall of the next stall. He stood stock still for a long moment, watching it swing crookedly on its hinges. Forcing himself to calm down, he gradually regained control.
He had to take a leak and went to the urinal.
She’ll come around, he thought. She liked him. She was hot for him.
He washed his hands, dried them and started out. As he reached for it, the door flew open in his face. Before he could react, Mick Conklin had him by the throat and was jacking him up against the wall.
“You listen to me, you little scumbag.” Conklin’s face was about an inch from his own. “I am about a hairbreadth away from breaking you in two. Do you understand that?”
“Yes sir. I understand, sir. I’ve told Heather I’m sorry. Honest.”
“You’re not half as sorry as you’d be if I hadn’t given her my word I wouldn’t turn you into a goddamn grease spot.”
“I…I’m sorry. Really. I don’t know what came over me. I…I’m sorry for everyth—”
“Clearly, talking to your father wasn’t enough. So let me tell you right now.”
Heather’s father slammed him hard against the wall to make his point, and Chris felt the air knocked from his body.
“If you ever come near Heather again, I will break you into sixteen little pieces and put your head on my flagpole. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”
“Yes sir…flagpole.”
Mick Conklin shoved him toward the urinals, and Chris staggered before regaining his balance and backing away. “Never! You don’t come within a mile of her.”
“Yes sir. I’m sorry. I won’t.”
Chris cringed as Conklin kicked a trash can across the bathroom before going out the door.
~~~~
Léa found Mick in his study, poring over some papers on his desk. Judging from the tension in his jaw and the stiffness in his shoulders, she doubted he was getting anything done.
He looked up at her when she walked into the room. “How is she?”
“Still angry at Chris. And worried about you. And the dating timeline has been pushed out till she turns forty. But I think she feels very good about herself and the way she handled it.” She moved behind his chair and started kneading his shoulders. “How are you?”
“Still pissed as hell at that sonofabitch.”
Léa kissed the top of his head and continued to work on his shoulders. “Heather is also proud of the way you handled everything. She was especially proud when, after talking to Chris, you came out and we all stayed for dinner, with no ugly public scene.”
“Did we stay for dinner?”
“Yes, we did.”
“Did I eat?”
“Heather and I fought off Andrew and split your dinner between us.”
“That’s good. I do remember talking to Brian Hughes before we left. I believe he said he’ll send me a bill for any damages to the bathroom.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She massaged the back of his neck. “We don’t want to have to bail you out of jail.”
He leaned his head back against her stomach and closed his eyes when Léa started massaging his temples and his scalp. “So you weren’t upset that I lost it?”
“When I saw Heather come back to the table as upset as she was, I was amazed you let him walk away in one piece.” She rubbed her chin against his short hair. “But there will be consequences that Chris will have to live with, at least for this summer. Andrew was angry enough that I think he’ll fire him. More than likely, Brian Hughes got the gist of what happened tonight, so I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t let him go, too. Through your direct intervention and everyone else’s secondary reinforcement, Chris will learn a lesson.”
“Do you deal with many like him in your job?”
“Sometimes, but they’re few and far between.”
“What happens to kids like him?”
“For the most part, they reform with enough education, pressure, and guidance.”
“And those that don’t?”
“You’re going to drive yourself crazy thinking about that. Chris was an exception. Heather will meet and go out with lots of boys her age, and they’ll be model citizens.”
“After I’m done with them.”
She smiled and brushed a kiss against his forehead. “You’re a great father, Mick.”
“I used to be better. I do really well with babies.” He trapped her hand on his shoulder. Léa inwardly shivered at the way his eyes studied her face. “I was envious today.”
“You were? Envious of what?”
“Sarah and Owen are expecting a baby.”
“I heard about that.”
“Maybe we could have one.”
Léa was speechless. She felt suspended in air. Frozen in time and space. Mick drew her around the chair. She found her knees wobbling, though the butterflies in her stomach were in a full waltz. He pulled her onto his lap.
“Your new hairdo hides the stitches.” He played with the bangs on her forehead before stroking her face. “I shocked you.”
“You…I…”
He kissed her lips so tenderly that Léa thought she would melt. When he drew back, she was leaning into him.
“I love you, Léa.”
She closed her eyes to hold back the sudden surge of emotion. His words made her heart dance. But it was to a song she hardly knew. As she felt the music in her soul swell to a crescendo, she realized that she’d been waiting a lifetime to hear those words. Her parents, Ted, Aunt Janice…none of them had ever said those words. Their affection was understood, but the words were never spoken. Not once.
“My life and Heather’s changed the moment you walked in here.” As he spoke, she looked into his misty blue eyes. “Because of you,
we’re beginning to find the family closeness that we’d lost. You’ve helped us to discover what it is like to love again—as a family. We were just going through the motions before—and failing—and we didn’t even know it.”
His arms wrapped around her, and he pulled her tighter against him.
“In my entire life, I’d never wanted anyone to be part of my life more than you. Even with Heather’s mother, it was nothing like this.”
He kissed the tears from her cheeks.
“With you, I’m finding myself dreaming again. Thinking of kids that we could have or adopt. Thinking of what it will be like watching Heather bloom into womanhood. Thinking of you and me making love on the dryer…and on the stove…and the kitchen table. I even think of us growing old together and me still chasing you around the house.”
She laughed through the tears. He kissed her again.
“I don’t want you to give me an answer now. I don’t want to risk getting rejected because you have too many other things on your plate right now. But I want you to think about it. About us. Will you do that?”
Léa nodded and then kissed him with all the passion in her heart. With all the love she had for him but was afraid to put into words.
The heat of their kiss spread through her and she knew he was feeling it, too.
“Would you like to come to my bed tonight? It doesn’t have a buzzer like the dryer, but it’s wide enough to maneuver around in comfortably.”
“Actually, I like the idea of the stove the best. There’s something very adventurous-sounding about it.” She brushed kisses on his cheek, along the taut muscles of his neck. “But the kitchen table is definitely a close second.”
“Is that right?”
She stifled a laugh as Mick scooped her up and carried her out of the office and into the kitchen. He kicked the door shut and grinned at her mischievously.
“What’ll it be, ma’am? The burners or the table?”
Léa turned off the light switch. The light from the moon and the neighboring houses blanketed them in a soft glow. He stood her on her feet, and she caressed the muscles of his chest and stomach and finally the hard shape pressing against the front of his pants.
