“Mattie, have you eaten?” he asked abruptly, steering her by the elbow out of the aisle and toward the door. He wanted to escape while most of the parents were busy talking to each other, or waiting to sign up with Annie. “Because I haven’t. Not a morsel all day, and I’m starved. If you haven’t eaten, I’ll buy you a cheeseburger. The diner should still be open and if it’s not, I’m sure I can sweet-talk Freddy into opening for me.”
“I’ve already eaten, Joe,” she admitted, allowing him to hustle her down the quiet hallway toward the town hall back door. “And I—I really should be getting home,” she stammered as he took her hand and all but tugged her along with him.
“Nonsense. Your aunt’s with the boys, right?” He held on to her tight, fearing she’d bolt.
“Well, yes.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about. They’re in good hands.” He stopped just as they stepped out into the night, letting the town hall door close softly behind them. She almost bumped right into him, but caught herself just in time, placing a hand on the broad width of his chest for balance.
He was standing under a fading streetlight with the moon’s silhouette shadowing him from behind. With most of the town still inside, the streets were quiet, dark and nearly deserted at this hour.
“It’s been a long time since I stood in the moonlight with a woman,” he said softly, reaching out to run a finger down her cheek. “I’d forgotten how nice it is.”
Nervous, Mattie’s gaze darted around. She looked everywhere but at him, fearing if she did, she’d be lost in the depths of those dark, mysterious eyes again.
“Although I’d prefer it if the woman didn’t look like she was going to make a run for it at any moment.” He brought her hand to his lips for a whisper of a kiss and Mattie’s heart began to slam erratically in her chest. “You’re safe with me, Mattie.”
“Safe.” She had to swallow. The touch of his lips on her hand had sent her pulse skittering one way and her brains scampering another.
“Yes, you’re safe with me, Mattie.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “I’m the sheriff, remember?”
“But you’re also a man,” she said without even thinking.
“Ah, so there’s the rub,” he said, unable to drag his gaze from her panicked one. He sure did wish she’d stop looking at him as if he was the kind of person who’d enjoy ripping fins off a fish. “It’s the man part that makes you nervous. I wasn’t quite sure you’d noticed.”
She laughed, pushing her hair off her face, wishing she didn’t feel as if the two of them were all alone in the world. It was just so dark and quiet out now. “Oh, I’ve noticed, Joe.” A woman would have to be blind not to notice he was a man.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” He kissed her hand again and she resisted the temptation to yank it free. He was making her unbearably nervous. “I’d hate to think that you weren’t aware of exactly who was kissing you this afternoon.”
Her gaze flew to his and she tried to swallow but found she couldn’t. “Yes, well, that kiss.” How on earth was she supposed to forget, when her whole body tingled with the memory?
“So you do remember it?” There was a smile on his face, so she knew he was teasing her. She wasn’t quite certain that she wanted to be teased about something that had unnerved her so. It made her feel particularly self-conscious.
“Ah…yes, Joe, I remember it,” she stammered, trying to tug her hand free. He held on.
“Good, but just in case.” He moved so quickly, she didn’t have time to protest. His mouth was there, hovering over hers, making her mind empty and her pulse race. “I thought I’d better refresh your memory,” he whispered.
“Joe.” She had enough time to think to put her hand to his chest, certain she was going to stop him, to protest, then his mouth was on hers, warm, soft and demanding, and she forgot everything, curling her fingers into his shirt to hold on as the whirlwind grabbed her, and scooped her up, tossing her world upside down.
Embers of desire flared to life, scorching her reason, devouring her resistance. Mattie was certain she was going to pull back, to put him in his place, but she didn’t.
Hating herself for her own weakness, her own need, she gave herself to the kiss, to Joe’s patiently tender lips, sliding her hands up his broad shoulders, then diving into his hair to cling as the world spun, spinning her with it.
Joe pulled her closer, trying to settle the unbearable knot of need that had settled somewhere inside the moment he’d laid eyes on her. That knot had only tightened, grown since the kiss they’d shared this afternoon, leaving him desperate for more.
“Joe.” Shaken, Mattie used all the willpower within her to break away, to pull away from his kiss. His embrace. Deliberately, knees shaking, she stepped back and hopefully out of his reach.
Her vision was glazed, her heart pounding, and the world still felt as if it were spinning. “I’m sorry, Joe—”
Grinning, he tenderly brushed a strand of hair off her cheek. “I do believe you said that this afternoon.”
“Yes. Well.” Mattie licked her dry lips, tried to swallow, then ran her damp hands down her jeans. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.” She wished her body wouldn’t react quite so traitorously whenever he was near. It was annoying.
“Actually, I think it’s a fine idea.” He cocked his head to look at her. Her face was partially lit by the streetlight and he could see the fear, the uncertainty in her eyes. Once again, it set off all his protective instincts and he wanted to gather her in his arms and hold her close until she was no longer afraid. Of anything. Especially him. “I think I told you that this afternoon.”
“Yes, but—”
“But it was simply a kiss, Mattie,” he said quietly. “Nothing more. Nothing less. Surely you’ve been kissed before?” he asked with a lift of his eyebrow.
Now she felt ridiculous. “Of course I’ve been kissed, Joe,” she snapped. But not like this, never like this. Never had a kiss simply made her blind and deaf to rhyme or reason. Her chin lifted. “Plenty of times.”
“Good. Then you should know as the song says, ‘A kiss is just a kiss.”’ He reached for her hand again and started walking down the street, away from the town hall. “Since you’ve already eaten dinner, would you mind keeping me company?” Still holding her hand, he flashed her a grin, grateful he’d have her to himself at least for a little while longer. “I hate eating alone.”
“Fine,” she said, not knowing what else to do. He was talking about eating and she was still reeling from the touch of his mouth on hers. How on earth did the man change gears so quickly? She snuck a glance at him. He looked perfectly cool, calm and collected, unlike the firestorm raging inside her. Blast the man!
Perhaps she was the only one affected by his kiss. Perhaps she was the only one who felt as if an explosion rocked the world every time their lips met.
And if she was, she was darned if she was going to let him know it and embarrass herself further.
So, it was only a kiss, she thought, lifting her chin. Fine. Then as long as it was only a kiss, there was no point in thinking about it again, or letting it happen again.
“Making an old woman like me open up this late at night. Ought to be a law, Joseph. At my age, a body should be able to relax and enjoy life. Not be cooking and cleaning in a diner at all hours of the day and night for some spoiled specimen of a male.” Freddy gave an inelegant snort. “And I ought to charge you double for making me dirty up my grill again after I just spent an hour cleaning it.” Frederica Devereaux, known simply as Freddy to everyone in town, scowled at him as she poured him another cup of coffee, sloshing it dangerously close to the rim.
The bangle bracelets that littered her wrists in a rainbow of glow-in-the dark shades clanged and glittered every time she moved her arms in her white, off-the-shoulder peasant blouse.
She pointed one nail-bitten-to-the-quick finger—which was as bony as her shoulders—at the plate in front of Joe laden with food. �
�Now, you make sure you eat everything on your plate, you hear me, Joseph? I didn’t cook all this grub just to have it wasted.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, glancing up at her and trying to smother a grin. “I promise to clean my plate, Freddy.”
“Yeah, promises, promises. You know what you can do with your promises.” Her razor-sharp, heavily made-up eyes cut to Mattie. “And what’s wrong with you?” she demanded, pointing her bony, arthritic finger at Mattie’s full plate. “Don’t like my cooking?” Freddy cocked her head and scowled at Mattie so the pencil-thin lines of her eyebrows looked like a black beetle lying across her forehead. “Now, don’t tell me a pretty little thing like you is one of those bark-and-berry buggers?” With a sigh, Freddy shook her Brillo-pad head of hair, which this week was somewhere between apricot and auburn and a bit of every color in between.
Mattie swallowed, and tried not to cower against the back of the cracked red vinyl booth, more than a little intimidated. The woman was probably two inches shy of five feet tall and she couldn’t weigh more than eighty pounds dripping wet. But, apparently someone forgot to tell Freddy that, because she had the forceful personality of a mile-wide linebacker.
“A…bark-and-berry bugger?” Confused, Mattie glanced from Freddy to Joe, looking for some help, or at least an explanation.
“She means a vegetarian,” Joe offered helpfully, leaning across the table. “Freddy’s not real fond of vegetarians.”
“Bark eaters, the lot of them,” Freddy announced, nodding. “All those leafy greens and sprouts tossed with fermented fungus. It’s a wonder they all don’t start sprouting branches and glowing in the dark. Don’t know how a body’s supposed to survive on food fit for rodents.” Freddy slapped a hand to the table, making Mattie jump in alarm. “Man needs to have a good slab of beef, strong protein.” She nodded her head vigorously. “And a few carbs don’t hurt none, either.” She pushed Mattie’s plate closer, setting her bracelets to clanging and jangling again. “Now, dig in,” she ordered with another scowl as she let her heavily made-up eyes slowly go over Mattie. “You could use a few pounds.” Freddy elbowed Joe. “She’s a bit scrawny, Joseph, don’t you think?”
“Uh…yes, ma’am.” Helplessly, he shrugged at Mattie, who in turn glared at him. Scrawny, indeed.
“Thought so,” Freddy announced smugly, giving Mattie a satisfied look as she pushed her plate another inch closer before turning back to Joe. “You and the family having dinner with Johnny this Sunday?”
Chewing a bite of his cheeseburger, Joe nodded, then wiped his mouth. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. See that you stop here on your way to dinner. I’m making Johnny one of those coconut custard pies he so favors. I want you to take it out to him.” She laid a hand on Joe’s shoulder and her face and eyes softened. “You tell Johnny that Freddy said hi. Will you do that for me, Joseph?”
Touched by her unending kindness toward his entire family, but especially Johnny, whom she’d never forgotten, Joe’s heart warmed. He nodded once more, then reached for Freddy’s bony hand and brought it to his mouth for a kiss of gratitude. “I’ll do that, Freddy. And thank you.”
“No point in you thanking me.” She snatched her hand back, but Mattie noticed the pleased flush that climbed her rouged cheeks. “Pie’s not for you,” she pointed out. “It’s for Johnny. You can’t even handle what you’ve got in front of you.” She wagged a finger at him. “Now get to work on that plate.”
“Yes, ma’am.” With a nod, she started to walk away. “Don’t forget to leave my check, Freddy,” Joe called, his voice echoing across the empty diner.
Freddy turned on him, one beetle brow raised. “You wake me up, make me cook, now you want me to be doing arithmetic at this late hour as well?” With a snort, she shook her head. “Men. Always wanting something from us. Lord knows what we’re supposed to be doing with them. It’s too late for me to be adding figures tonight just ’cuz you got a hankering for some dinner. Now finish your food so I can go home and get these old bones in a hot tub. And don’t you be forgetting to stop by here Sunday, either. I’ll call Clarence and have him put it in that fancy planning book of yours.”
“Thanks, Freddy.” Joe took another bite of his cheeseburger, his gaze on Mattie’s.
“I am not scrawny,” she said defensively, leaning across the table to speak softly so Freddy didn’t hear her and rear back around toward her. The woman scared the daylights out of her!
Joe laughed, then held up his hands in a self-protective gesture. “I know, Mattie, I know. But I figure I’m not old enough or big enough yet to argue with Freddy.” He grinned, then popped a French fry in his mouth. “Neither are most people in town.”
“She is a…character,” Mattie said, taking a sip of her soft drink and glancing across the spotlessly clean but empty diner, which ran toward red vinyl seats and fading Formica. “This is the first time I’ve been in here,” she admitted.
“You’re kidding.” Joe drew back, surprised. “I couldn’t live without Freddy’s cooking. Every day, promptly at noon, she delivers the diner’s daily lunch special to the sheriff’s office. Been doing it for as long as I can remember. First for my father, and now for me.”
“Your father was the sheriff, too?” Mattie asked, and Joe nodded.
“Yep. And his father before him. A Marino has been sheriff of this town for almost two hundred years.”
“That is amazing,” Mattie said, picking up a fry of her own to nibble on. “So your family really has deep roots in this town.”
Chewing thoughtfully, he nodded. “Absolutely. My family came here in the early 1800s.” He shrugged. “We settled in and have been here ever since with no plans to leave,” he added firmly. “I can’t even imagine living anywhere else.”
“I’m amazed that your dad never moved to the city.”
“Why?” Joe asked. “What does the city offer that Healing Harbor doesn’t?” He popped the fry in his mouth and waited.
Mattie shrugged, picking at her plate. “I don’t know, Joe. Better-paying jobs, maybe. With a family of eight, I’m sure your dad could have found a better-paying law enforcement job in the city.”
Joe shook his head. “Maybe, but some things are more important than money, Mattie. At least they were to my dad. And to me,” he added softly.
“Well, that’s true,” she agreed, thinking of her in-laws and their continual offer to basically “buy” her sons from her by giving her a lump sum of money to do whatever she wanted with her life as long as she turned over care and custody of her children to them. “I never thought money was the be-all and end-all everyone else thought. For me, it was merely a means to make life easier for me and the boys.”
“I can understand that. Money is only important when you don’t have it and need it. But once you do have it, and the need for it is gone, you realize how many more important things in life there are. Things money can’t buy,” Joe added quietly, thinking of his brother. The settlement from Johnny’s accident was secured in a trust fund for his brother’s lifetime care, yet all the money in the world couldn’t make his brother whole again. So what good was it?
“Yeah, I know,” Mattie said, resting her chin on her hand and realizing she was tired. It had been a very long, exhausting day. Mattie sighed, glancing around the quiet diner. “You know, Joe, I have to tell you, I was very skeptical about moving to a small town after living in a big city. I thought for sure I’d miss the hustle and bustle, not to mention the convenience of everything. You know, rapid transit, taxis, buses, fast-food restaurants open twenty-four hours, but it’s funny, I don’t miss any of it.” She sighed again, feeling tired and content. “I’ve really come to love this sleepy little town.”
“Yeah?” he said, pleased.
“Yeah,” she agreed, stifling a yawn and then flashing him a smile. “I think it’s been very good for the boys.”
“What made you move, Mattie?” he asked curiously, polishing off his burger and pushing his plate away to rea
ch for his coffee.
Mattie shrugged, not wanting to explain about the continual harassment from her in-laws. “Lots of things. First, the boys were starting kindergarten in January, and I knew that if we were going to make the move I wanted to do it before they actually started school. I think it’s very hard for kids to be moved around during a school year, so I wanted to do it so they could start in one school and remain there without having to worry about uprooting them midterm.”
“Yeah, I imagine that would be hard in the adjustment department.”
“Then, when my aunt Maureen announced she wanted to semiretire, close her gallery in Paris and return here to Wisconsin to open a smaller gallery, she made me a fabulous offer that I simply couldn’t refuse. It came at the perfect time for the boys and me.”
“Use of her coach house and a position at the gallery?”
“Manager of the gallery,” Mattie correctly proudly. “I was both thrilled and excited. I’ve always had an interest in the arts, and my aunt was my very favorite person growing up. I used to spend two weeks a year with her here in Healing Harbor every summer. She’d take a beach house on the water somewhere, and she and I would spend the time swimming, sunbathing, walking the beach and just talking.”
“Did you ever tell her about your artistic talent?” Joe asked quietly, remembering how embarrassed she’d been this afternoon when he’d walked in and caught her sketching.
“No.” Mattie said softly, shaking her head and feeling self-conscious again, knowing Joe had discovered her secret.
“And you’ve never shown her or anyone else your work, have you, Mattie?”
She shook her head. “No, of course not. I told you. It’s just something I dabble in.”
“That’s a shame, Mattie, like I told you this afternoon. You have talent, real talent. As much as anyone in that gallery.”
Although pleased by his appraisal, she laughed off his comments. “Joe, the gallery is a professional gallery, designed for professional artists. I’m a rank amateur with no credentials and even less talent. I’d hardly go around showing my work to anyone, let alone putting it on display for the entire world to see.” The mere thought sent a shiver through her. Her art was so private, the one thing that was hers alone. She couldn’t bear to have it critiqued simply because she wasn’t good enough.
Daddy Patrol Page 10
