A Dash of Love (Pride Oregon #1)

by Jill Sanders

  The next day started much like the one before: up before dawn, let Toby outside to do his business, and swallow as much coffee as he could to pull the sleep out of his body before he headed into town.

  The only exception was that when he showed up, there was a police car parked behind Sara’s Jeep.

  His heart skipped several times as he parked quickly and rushed towards the restaurant door.

  When he entered, he knew immediately that Sara was safe, but that they had been hit again. This time, there was red paint all over the plastic and walls of the dining area.

  He couldn’t make out any single phrase, but the word bitch was repeated multiple times as was, you’ll pay.

  Robert was taking a report while Sara stood looking at the mess. Besides the paint, chairs and tables had been turned over. Behind the bar, bottles were smashed and glasses broken. The place was a disaster.

  “Hey.” He stopped a foot from Sara and shook Robert’s hand. “Looks like we were hit again.”

  “Yeah,” he said as Sara turned towards him. Her damp eyes undid him.

  Walking over to her, he pulled her into his arms. “Don’t worry, we’ll have this cleaned up before you know it,” he promised.

  She said something into his chest that he couldn’t fully understand. He ran his hand over her hair and held on while she cried for the loss.

  “Is she done here?” he asked Robert.

  “Yeah. Maybe she should head to the back. I’ll help clean all this up. I’ve already gotten pictures.” Robert removed his jacket just as Parker’s men walked in.

  “Donny, mind helping out? I’ll be a few minutes.”

  After seeing Sara’s tears, his foreman quickly directed the men to clean up.

  “The door was locked,” Sara said after he shut the office door behind them. “How did they get in?”

  “I’m not sure.” He wrapped his arms around her fully. “But I’ll find out.” He thought about what he needed to work on today and mentally moved things around. “I’m heading into Edgeview this morning.” He leaned back and used the back of his fingers to wipe the tears away. “How about you ride along with me?”

  “I…” She looked around and he could tell she was searching for a reason to stay.

  “Come. We’ll be back before your crew gets here. We can have lunch and take the morning off while we shop for security cameras.”

  Sara’s eyes perked up. “Yes.” She nodded. “I asked my uncle years ago to get some installed.” She smiled. “He can’t say no if they’re already installed. Besides, I just saved him enough money yesterday to pay for it.” Her chin rose slightly, and he knew he’d hit the right note.

  “I’ll just clean up,” she said, stepping away, then stopping. “Thanks,” she said before leaving the office.

  He walked back into the main room and noticed that his men already had half the mess cleaned up.

  “How does it look?” he asked Robert.

  “No furniture was broken, just tossed about. As for the bottles and glasses, I think they have enough to replace the mess.” He nodded towards the bar area. “They shattered the glass wall between the rooms.”

  He smiled. “That’s okay. They did us a favor there, since it was coming down anyway. I guess we’ll just move on to that area next.”

  “Well, we’ll have this all cleaned in no time,” Donny said, walking over to him. “We should be able to finish knocking out the wall back there as well. I wanted to show you something.” He nodded towards the covered area. “Showed the sheriff already.”

  Parker followed Donny through the hanging plastic and instantly saw how they had gained entry.

  They had been so careful yesterday not to break through the wall completely, since they were going to put up a temporary door where the large glass ones would go. Now, however, a hole large enough for a grown man to slide through let in the cool air off the water.

  “Well, damn.” He sighed.

  “Yup. We’ll have this closed up good tonight,” Donny added.

  “Good.” He thought about telling his men that they would be installing cameras, but something made him hold back. “I’ve got a few errands to run with Sara. We should be back after lunch. Keep me posted on your progress.”

  “Will do.”

  He left and met Sara by the front door. “I feel like I should be helping.” She nodded to the mess.

  “They’ve got it mostly done. Our time is better spent making sure we catch whoever is doing this.”

  “Agreed. I’ll drive,” she said.

  “Sounds good.” He followed her to her Jeep and got in the passenger side.

  The drive wasn’t more than half an hour, and he tried to keep her mind off of the break-in by talking about Toby or some of the odd jobs he’d had around town.

  She was laughing by the time they hit the outskirts of Edgeview.

  He’d been to the nearby big town a handful of times for supplies that couldn’t be found in Pride. Each time he’d been there, it had confirmed that he’d made the right choice in moving to Pride instead of the bigger town.

  Not that anything was wrong with Edgeview, but he enjoyed the slow pace of Pride much better than the hustle and bustle here.

  “There are a couple places that sell security cameras,” she said, glancing over at him. “At one point, I had priced it out for my uncle.”

  “Why didn’t he want to install them?” he asked.

  “They’ve never had any problems before. Sure, some employees trying to steal stuff, but nothing major like this before.” She shrugged, and he could see sadness fill her eyes.

  “This isn’t your fault,” he said, reaching for her hand.

  “Iian left me in charge,” she said softly.

  “So you’re to blame?”

  “Well, no.” She frowned. “But, like I said, no one ever broke in while he was in charge.”

  Suddenly the truth of the matter was clear to him. His heart and his gut hurt with the truth.

  13

  Sara knew something had changed with Parker, she just wasn’t sure what it was. He remained silent as they shopped for the security cameras. She had priced out and researched the equipment less than a year ago and knew exactly what she wanted. She was a little surprised she hadn’t thought of it herself after the first break-in.

  She had chalked it up to being preoccupied with Parker. When the man was around, her mind and body turned to mush.

  She found what she was after in the second store they went to. She was surprised when Parker went right to the items and, after asking the clerk a few questions she had yet to think of, said to her, “This is the system I think will work best.”

  She smiled up at him. “That’s the one I tried to get my uncle to buy last year.”

  “You did your research.” He nodded. “Looks like we’ll have time to grab some lunch. Know of any good places in town?”

  “There’s this amazing burger place.” She felt her stomach growl at the thought of a juicy burger.

  She paid for the system with the Oar’s business credit card, and Parker helped her load the boxes into the back of her Jeep. Then they headed out towards Joe’s Burger. The place was one of the greasiest holes-in-the-wall around, but their burgers and shakes were legendary.

  “You were right about the burger,” Parker said, holding up the massive thing as meat juice dripped from it. The cheese was running off the edges and once you picked the thing up, it was best not to set it down again, because it would fall apart, and you’d be stuck eating it with a fork. The crisp fries went perfectly with a large chocolate shake.

  “Why don’t you serve this kind of stuff at your uncle’s place?” he asked after swallowing a mouthful.

  She laughed. “Iian loves a greasy burger every now and then, but his reputation as a chef goes beyond burgers.”

  “True.” Parker nodded. “I haven’t tried the Oar’s burgers yet, but I bet they’re better than these.” He took another bite.

  “Shhh.”
She glanced around. “You don’t want to open that messy debate again.” She relaxed when she realized no one else was in earshot of them.

  The place was packed so all the waitstaff were too busy to hear.

  Parker laughed. “What, don’t tell me the Oar has a feud with Joe?”

  “Not anymore,” she joked and smiled.

  “I was thinking.” He set his burger down and leaned closer. “For now, I think we should keep the security cameras to ourselves. I’ll come around tonight after everyone leaves and we can install them ourselves.”

  She thought about it. “You think if they hear about them, we won’t be able to catch them?”

  “Right, and as you have mentioned, if you tell someone in town, it’s bound to get around the entire town in a day.”

  She nodded. “Agreed. We can leave everything in my Jeep until everyone leaves.”

  “I was thinking of coming around for dinner and then sticking around until after everyone leaves.”

  “Sounds good.” She smiled, looking forward to the evening with him.

  During the drive back to Pride, Parker was more talkative and seemed a little more relaxed. She was eager to install the cameras and eager to catch whoever had destroyed the place.

  When they got back, she stayed busy replacing the bottles behind the bar and helping the bartender move extra glasses from the storage room and clean them up.

  Then the dinner rush started, and she was occupied with helping out wherever she was needed. Close to the end of the rush, she noticed Parker sitting in the corner booth in the bar area.

  It was still strange to not have the glass wall there, blocking the view of the bar from the main room, but she had to admit, she was pleased that they had finished removing the half wall before they had returned from their trip to Edgeview. It really did open up the place up, which made her even more excited to see everything else Parker had planned come to life.

  She didn’t have much time to talk to him but made sure to stop by his table after he’d finished his meal and drop off a large piece of apple pie a la mode for him.

  “What’s this?” His eyes went big at the slice.

  “Just a little something to say, thank you.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek when she set the plate in front of him.

  “Little?” His eyebrows rose slightly.

  “I was hoping to have some time to share it with you.”

  He moved over in the booth and she sat down next to him. He handed her one of the spoons she’d set down and they got to work knocking back the huge slice.

  “Okay, I don’t think I should eat that much sugar for dinner again.” She leaned back and thought about loosening her slacks.

  He chuckled. “Try eating that much after putting back an entire plate of lasagna.”

  She groaned and rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah, you may have to roll me out of here.”

  Just then, there was a commotion in the back. Sara jumped to action and Parker followed her. They entered the kitchen and Parker rushed past her to yank away the man who was trying to pull Connie out the back door.

  Connie was screaming and kicking, trying to free herself from the man. Her always-neat hair was tangled and her shirt was ripped. Tears flowed down her face.

  Parker yanked the man from Connie’s side and forced his face against the wall as he twisted one of the man’s arms behind his back. She could tell he was ready to kick the guy’s feet out from under him if he moved.

  “Stay still,” Parker warned in a low tone that Sara had never heard before.

  Sara rushed to Connie’s side and gathered her up. “I told him never to come here.” She cried in Sara’s shoulder.

  “That bitch owes me,” the guy said, trying to break free from Parker’s hold. So Parker did what Sara had imagined he would; he swept his legs and the guy crashed to the floor. Parker shoved his knee in the man’s back and jerked the guy’s arm up higher until the man couldn’t move.

  Connie cried out when Parker made his move but they both watched in amazement as Colin was taken down for probably the first time in his life.

  Sara had never met Colin Gifford before, but his reputation had floated around Pride since he’d dropped out of high school a few years before her freshmen year.

  She wouldn’t have been able to pick him out of a lineup before tonight, but after seeing his face turn red from anger and hearing the hate spew from him towards Connie, she doubted she would ever forget him or that moment.

  “Call Robert,” she said to Damion, who was standing there like he’d never seen anything like it before. He nodded and pulled out his cell phone.

  Taking Connie by the shoulders, she moved into the office and shut the door, locking out the noise and the sight of Parker controlling her friend’s ex.

  “Sit.” She nudged Connie onto the soft sofa. “Want some water or a soda?” She walked over to the small fridge her uncle kept behind his desk.

  “Water,” she said with a shaky voice.

  Sara handed her a bottle and sat next to her.

  “You two broke up a while back?” she asked.

  Connie nodded. “After the last time…” Her eyes darted to her. “I didn’t want to be his punching bag anymore. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to him before.” She glanced up at Sara. “It was kind of nice to see him finally get what he deserved.” She looked down at her hands. “Does that make me wicked?”

  “No, it makes you human.” Sara smiled.

  Connie’s chin rose. “I moved back in with my parents after the last time he messed with me.”

  “Good. Has he bothered you since?”

  “He tries calling or stopping by, but my dad keeps him away from me.”

  “Has he come here before?” she asked.

  “No.” Connie shook her head. “Never.”

  Sara took a deep breath. She could tell Connie was worried about her job and she laid a hand on hers. “You’re not in trouble.”

  “Really? Everyone in the dining room must have heard.” She closed her eyes as more tears rolled down her cheeks. “Everyone in the kitchen knows what happened.”

  “And no one blames you. Trust me.” She wrapped her arm around the woman. Connie had been a few years ahead of her in school. They hadn’t been close friends, but they hadn’t been enemies.

  “Thanks,” she said, sniffling. “I’ll probably have to file another restraining order.” She groaned.

  “We’ll let Robert tell us your next move. He should be here soon. I’ll stay with you.”

  “Thank you,” she said again.

  By the time things settled down again, everything was cleaned from dinner. Most of the staff had left already.

  Damion agreed to take Connie home and other staff members arranged to pick her up and drop her off for the rest of the week. She couldn’t have been prouder of her staff for stepping up for one of their own. Her uncle had picked the best crew to work for him.

  Locking the front door, she turned to Parker and smiled. “I feel like I’m in a spy movie.” She giggled. “Sneaking around after hours and planting hidden cameras.”

  He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. He had borrowed her keys and brought in all the boxes that now sat in her uncle’s office.

  Just as Parker leaned down to kiss her, her cell phone rang.

  Seeing her aunt’s number, she frowned as she answered the call.

  “We heard about Connie.” Sara could hear the concern in Allison’s voice. “Iian wants to know if she’s okay.”

  “Yes.” She sighed and mouthed ‘Allison’ to Parker, who nodded and pointed towards the back. She nodded her agreement for him to start pulling out the equipment while she talked. “It was a good thing Parker was here for dinner. He took care of Colin. Damion took Connie home tonight,” she said.

  “Oh, good.” She was silent for a while. “Iian wants you to arrange it so that someone is with her…”

  “Already done. The crew made a schedule of who’s picking her up e
very day and making sure she gets home after her shift.”

  Allison was quiet again and Sara knew she was signing to Iian.

  “Thank you.” Allison sighed. “We were worried. Connie is a sweet girl.”

  “Yes, she’s fine. How’s the trip?”

  Allison’s voice changed from worried to excited. “Oh, it’s wonderful.”

  For the next few minutes she listened to her aunt talk about their romantic getaway and everything they’d done in the past week. She filled her in briefly on the work that had been down so far, making sure not to mention the break-in.

  “Don’t worry about a thing,” Sara encouraged them. “We’ve got everything under control.”

  “Sounds like you do. I’d better get off the call. We’re heading out for breakfast. See you in two weeks.”

  “Bye.” She hung up her phone and turned to where Parker had laid out all the equipment on a table.

  “Ready to play spy?”

  It took him a little longer than expected, but they had wanted to make sure no one would spot the cameras, so he had taken the time to drill small holes in the celling and crawl up in the attic to place all the wires. They had one camera facing out the back door, one out the front, three in the main dining area, and one in the kitchen. There was no way to miss whoever was destroying things now. Sara had installed the app on her phone and would be notified when motion set them off. They programed it to call Robert when she hit the alarm button.

  By the time they pulled up to Parker’s house, they were covered in a layer of dust and sweat.

  He suggested a shower after letting Toby out to do his business. His shower hadn’t been remodeled yet, and he hadn’t gotten a new water heater yet, so Sara climbed in and out in record time.

  It took laying under the thick comforter for a few minutes with his arms wrapped around her before she stopped shivering.

  “You can bring Toby over to my place until you have a new water tank.”

  He chuckled. “I ordered one at the local hardware store. It should be in tomorrow. I was going to spend the evening installing it.”