Gracie made a face and Jessie said, “The charcoal is good for your teeth.”
“You always say that when you burn the toast,” Maddie said. “It’s all bitter and tastes terrible.”
Jessie could not argue the point. Her grandmother used to say the same thing to her about burnt toast and she never believed her. She cut up fresh fruit and hoped that it with the eggs could hold the girls until she could plug in her toaster or microwave, assuming that Zach actually did come back.
She refused to look out the window. She did the dishes, grateful that she had a gas hot water heater, and sent the girls upstairs to get dressed. She was about to follow them when there was a knock on the front door.
So relieved that Zach had come back, she raced for the door and yanked it open. Standing there in his heavy wool uniform coat was the Bluff Point chief of police Cooper O’Rourke.
Jessie’s first thought was that something awful had happened to Zach but that made no sense since there was no way for Cooper to know that she’d been waiting for him.
“Hi, Jessie,” he said.
“Cooper, it’s good to see you,” she said.
She glanced past him to see if Zach was with him. The wind was blowing and the sky was gray. The snow continued to fall and when she glanced at her front steps, she realized the snow was so deep that even the shape of the steps had disappeared. She needed to get out there and sweep.
“Everything all right?” Cooper asked. Jessie gestured for him to come inside and he did, standing in her foyer with his snow-covered hat and boots.
They had a history, as he had come to Jessie’s house a couple of times when she was married, usually when he found Seth at a bar too shnockered to drive himself home. There had only been one time when he arrived to mediate a domestic disturbance. For the longest time, Jessie hadn’t been able to look him in the eye—the shame had been more than she could bear—but Cooper was a good guy and eventually they moved past it.
Of course, every time he saw her, he told her that she didn’t have to stay with Seth, there were places that could help her. Jessie hadn’t listened to him. Still, she valued his friendship. Given that not many people knew the truth of her marriage to Seth, she had always appreciated Cooper O’Rourke keeping an eye on her and the girls.
“Power is still out,” she said. “But I have food and water and a fire going.”
“Best to stay off the roads if you can,” Cooper said. “The storm is supposed to last another twenty-four hours and I have no idea how long it will take for the power to come back on.”
“I have nowhere to be,” Jessie said.
She had checked her phone earlier and found a text from Gavin saying that they were keeping the animal clinic closed unless there was a life-threatening emergency. That was fine with her. She did not want to leave the safety of her home.
“Excellent,” Cooper said. He opened the door and stepped back outside. “If you need anything, just call me. I’ll be driving through the neighborhood regularly, making sure the plows are getting through.”
“Thanks, Cooper,” she said. She followed him out onto the porch. It hit her then that he was a good man. He cared about his community and he worked hard to ensure the residents’ safety. Impulsively, she gave him a quick hug. “Be careful out there.”
Cooper hugged her back. If he was surprised by her affection, he didn’t let it show. Jessie suspected he was getting a lot of hugs from scared residents who were so very grateful to see him.
The sound of an engine broke the quiet and they turned to glance at the driveway and saw a large truck backing up toward Jessie’s house. It stopped just short of the steps and the engine shut off. Zach popped out of the driver’s seat and slogged through the knee-deep snow toward them with Rufus at his side.
Zach stepped in the same places Cooper had as he plowed through the drift to get to the porch. The wind blew the ends of his scarf as he unfastened his hood and pushed it back on his head. He glanced at the two of them. He was frowning.
“Coop,” he said.
“Zach.”
Jessie glanced between the two of them and realized she and Cooper still had an arm about each other. She eased out of his hold and said, “Thanks so much for stopping by, Chief.”
Cooper glanced at her and then Zach. His sharp cop’s gaze missed nothing and Jessie felt her face grow warm and it was not in an effort to fight off the cold.
“Anytime,” Cooper said. “Zach, a word.”
Cooper jerked his head in the direction of Zach’s truck and Jessie watched the two men walk back into the storm. She wondered what Coop wanted to talk about but not enough to continue to freeze her tail off. She patted her thigh, signaling to Rufus to come with her as she hurried back inside and shut the door.
Chapter 10
Zach was surly. It wasn’t for lack of caffeine, although that probably didn’t help. It wasn’t the cold, although that certainly wasn’t improving his disposition any. No, it was straight-up annoyance he was feeling at seeing Jessie hug Cooper.
Were they a thing? How did he not know this? And if they were, where the hell had Cooper been last night when Jessie and the girls needed him? For that matter, why hadn’t her mangy ex been around to check on them? No, it was none of his business. Zach knew that but he didn’t care.
“What’s going on with you and Jessie?” he asked Cooper as soon as he saw the door close behind her.
“I’m sorry?” Cooper shook his head as if he wasn’t registering what Zach was saying. Yeah, if that was the chief’s way of shutting down that line of questioning, ha, not gonna happen.
“You heard me,” Zach said. “I wasn’t aware that you and Jessie—”
“We’re not,” Cooper said. “As far as I know, Jessie isn’t seeing anyone, unless you have something to share to the contrary?”
“Just neighbors,” Zach said. But the explanation didn’t seem to fit quite like it did a few days ago.
“Uh-huh.”
“When the power blew in the middle of the night, I came over to check on her and the girls,” Zach said. He jerked his thumb at the back of his truck. “I brought over my generator so she can cook and stuff.”
“That’s decent of you,” Cooper said.
“I thought so,” Zach said. “Didn’t get me any hugs.”
He didn’t mention the kiss that had rocked him to his socks. That was strictly need-to-know information and as far as he was concerned he was the only one who needed to know that Jessie Connelly could kiss a man stupid.
“Yeah, well, Jessie and I go way back,” Cooper said.
The wind picked up and he turned his back to it. Zach noticed that Coop’s cheeks were ruddy from the cold and he knew from playing on the same town league volleyball team that Coop was built solid without an ounce of fat on him. Annoying.
“How far back?” he asked.
“Not like you’re thinking,” Cooper said. “I was called a few times to help her out with her ex. He’s not a good guy, a situation made worse by the fact that his father, Judge Connelly, always protects him.”
Zach had suspected as much, given that Jessie and the girls were stuck in a blizzard and as far as he knew they’d heard nothing from her ex, not even a how are you doing? text.
“What are you trying to tell me?” Zach asked.
“Jessie’s been through a lot,” Cooper said. “Be easy with her.”
“I’m not following.” The snow began falling faster and harder. Zach could feel it building up on his eyelashes; still he didn’t blink it away, keeping his gaze narrowed on Cooper.
“Fine, I’ll be blunt. She’s not one of your usual one-night-stand party girls,” Cooper said. “She’s been through a lot. Don’t hook up with her unless you can be more.”
“Seriously? Cops are giving out relationship advice now?” Zach asked.
Cooper s
hrugged. “I’m just looking out for someone that I know has been hurt pretty badly. I’d do the same for anyone.”
Zach considered him for a few seconds. He was beginning to lose the feeling in his toes, so he nodded. “Don’t worry. Like I said, I’m just being neighborly.”
“Sure,” Cooper agreed. “That’s why you looked like you wanted to rip my head off when you saw me hug Jessie.”
“Neighbors can be protective, too,” Zach said. “Remember, I have five little sisters. Now stop with all of the girly talk. Christ, I can practically feel my balls shrinking. Next thing I know you’ll want us to braid each other’s hair. Come on, help me set this sucker up.”
Cooper laughed, letting Zach know they’d reached an understanding. Together they hauled the generator out of the truck and after much debate set it up on the covered stone patio at the back of the house.
When the diesel motor kicked in, Zach ran an extension in through a kitchen window and Jessie plugged in the coffeepot. Cooper stayed long enough for Jessie to fill his travel mug with fresh hot coffee and then he was off to check on the rest of the neighborhood. Zach was not sad to see him go.
He knew he was being ridiculous. He knew it. And yet, he felt a proprietary protectiveness about Jessie and the girls that he couldn’t switch off or ignore. He thought about what Cooper had said about Jessie’s ex, that he wasn’t a good guy.
This held up to everything he’d heard. Seven years ago, Seth Connelly had been about to marry Mac, as in at the church and wearing a tux, when Jessie had driven up and honked and Seth abandoned Mac at the altar. When Mac had returned last spring after a seven-year absence, she and Jessie had come to understand how Seth had played them both. And it was pretty clear that Jessie had gotten the short straw as she was the one who’d married him.
Seth Connelly had a reputation in town as a drinker and a skirt chaser who couldn’t seem to keep a job. Zach hadn’t had much to do with him, but since he and his field marketers worked the restaurant and bar scene, he’d seen him around. He’d seen him hit on one of his girls—yes, while he was still married to Jessie—but being a liberated sort of woman, his employee had put Seth in his place without having to call Zach in to help. Now Zach was sort of wishing he’d had the opportunity to throw Seth out of the bar on his ass.
Jessie poured them each a large mug of coffee and she pushed Zach’s toward him, along with the sugar bowl and the jug of milk. Zach noted that she drank her coffee black. Now why did he find that intriguing?
“You may have saved lives with this,” Jessie said. She raised her mug to him just as Maddie went running by screeching as Rufus chased her through the house.
Zach grinned. He liked these ladies. “How about we go crazy and plug in the toaster? I brought bagels. Then we can rally the troops and go shovel snow.”
He reached into a grocery bag and pulled out a sack of bagels. Jessie snatched them up, looking positively perky. When she turned away to get the toaster out of the cupboard, Zach told himself not to take advantage and ogle her behind, but it was so perfectly shaped it made his palms tingle.
When she straightened up, he quickly brought his coffee up to his lips to keep himself from doing something juvenile, like letting out a wolf whistle or begging her to go on a date with him, because wouldn’t that be awkward.
He ran a hand through his unruly blonde hair, shoving it off his forehead. He had to get a grip. They were just neighbors. He glanced at the window, willing the sun to come out and chase the blizzard away. The snow seemed to fall harder and faster. Even nature was conspiring against him. Great, just great.
• • •
After a hearty meal, they all suited up in their thickest snow gear. The girls were in charge of using brooms to brush off the porch while Zach and Jessie used a snow blower and snow shovels to clear out a path along the front walk to the driveway, which had already been plowed by one of Zach’s friends.
It was freezing cold but the exercise felt good and as the girls chased Rufus around the yard, Jessie seemed pleased that at least they were running some of their energy out.
Zach put the snow blower away in Jessie’s garage and was walking back to the house when the first shot hit him square in the back. He whipped around just in time to see Maddie’s bright blue coat disappear behind a snowdrift.
Zach immediately hunkered down and made a small pile of snowballs. Game on. He waited patiently out of sight until he caught a movement in his peripheral vision. Without hesitation, he picked up a snowball and fired in the direction of the person.
Splat! Too late he realized he’d hit Jessie, who was walking back along the newly cleared path.
“What the—Zach!” she cried.
Before he could form an apology, she had dropped to the ground and looked to be packing the mother of all snowballs.
When she lifted her arm, he looked for Rufus, and shouted, “Run!”
The dog barked at Zach, hoping he’d throw another snowball, but there was no time. Jessie was probably already locked in on him—kapow!
She nailed him right in the back of the head and all hell broke loose. For the next half hour, it was a free-for-all of snowballs and turf as Zach, Jessie, and the girls battled it out until Jessie formed an alliance with her daughters and all three of them brought Zach down with a perfectly executed ambush that caught him and Rufus in their fort at the mercy of girl power.
“All right, all right,” Zach said. “I surrender!”
He was frozen cold and had long since lost the feeling in his toes. He needed one of Jessie’s magical hot chocolates and he needed it right now.
“Woo-hoo!” Maddie cried a victory cheer and rushed Zach’s fort from her hiding spot. “Girls rule and boys drool!”
“Oh, yeah?” Zach said. He quickly snatched up the precocious five-year-old and lobbed her into the big fluffy snowdrift beside him.
“Hey!” Gracie protested. “That’s no fair. You surrendered.”
Zach snatched her up, too, ignoring her delighted squeals, and tossed her into the snowbank as well. Both girls were laughing as they threw half-formed snowballs at him. He planted his hands on his hips and dodged their weakened efforts. The cold was making them all sluggish and slow.
He felt a tug on his jacket but ignored it, thinking it was Rufus nudging him from behind. Then the icy cold hit his spine and he jumped, spinning around to find Jessie there. She had dumped snow down his back and she was laughing.
The sound was delightful. Zach realized he’d never heard her full-on belly laugh before. He found he was grinning like an idiot when he strode forward and snatched her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Three strides and he lobbed her up into the air, letting her join her girls in their wintery seats.
Jessie was still laughing. Rufus, delighted with this new game, dashed from the girls to Zach and back, barking as if trying to get him to do it again.
Zach crossed his arms over his chest, trying to give them his best superhero look, with one eyebrow raised and his jaw jutted out. Gracie took the opportunity to hit him in the face with a snowball.
This sent all three women into more peals of laughter and Zach shook the snow off and then shouted, “That’s it!” He took a running dive into the enormous snowdrift as if to grab them and all three of them shrieked and ran.
“Come on,” Jessie cried. She grabbed her girls by the mittens and said, “To the house. The house is a safe base, no snowballs on base.”
They dashed across the yard. Zach jumped out of the drift and shook off the extra snow, much like Rufus. He let them get a head start since he was now frozen cold and officially ready to call it quits.
As soon as the girls stepped up onto the porch, he followed them and Maddie held up her snow-encrusted mittens to ward him off.
“Safe,” she said.
Zach stopped and bent down so that they were nose to nose, winked, an
d said, “For now.”
Maddie busted out a grin and turned around to exchange a high five with her sister.
“Who is ready for hot chocolate?” Jessie asked as she led the way into the house.
Zach watched the swing of her hips as she stepped through the door and realized it wasn’t the hot chocolate luring him in; oh, no, he was pretty sure he’d follow Jessie Connelly anywhere she went.
Chapter 11
The power outage continued through three board games, lunch, and an arts-and-crafts project that was supposed to be making snowflakes out of printer paper but turned into an epic fail when Zach unfolded his and it looked like six knobby penises.
“Oh, wow, I didn’t see that happening,” he said.
Jessie about choked on her own spit from trying not to laugh as Zach tried to hide his pervy snowflake from the girls. He should have known better. When he hid it behind his back, they attacked. Maddie wrestled it from his hands while Gracie distracted him by saying she heard someone on the front porch.
When Maddie unfolded it, she frowned.
“Why don’t you like it, Zach? It looks like p—”
“No—” Zach tried to cut her off to no success.
“—arrots.”
“Huh?” He raised one eyebrow at her.
Gracie glanced over her sister’s shoulder and nodded. “Yeah, parrots. See? Here’s the head—”
“Got it!” Zach cried.
Jessie turned away. The urge to laugh was becoming too much and she had to fake a coughing fit to try and contain it. Parrots! Bless her innocent little girls’ hearts.
“Are you all right, Momma?” Gracie asked.
“Fine, I’m fine,” Jessie answered. Her voice was strained and she was still facing away from them, because she knew if she looked at Zach or his snowflake, she was going to lose it completely.
She felt him at her back before he spoke. One arm appeared in front of her, and he leaned close, speaking right into her ear, and said, “So, did you want to hang my birdlike snowflake on the window with the others? The girls seem to think it’s full of peckers.”
Every Dog Has His Day Page 9
