Chasing Tail

by Roxanne St Claire

  Raleigh? His only friend in Raleigh was Evie Hewitt, a veterinary neurologist and Declan’s lifelong close friend, if Connor recalled correctly. And from that look on Declan’s face…he was definitely recalling correctly. Was his younger brother’s newfound romance making Declan think about the veterinary neurologist the whole family thought he loved?

  But before he could press the point, a high-pitched alert cut off the conversation. “Engine One, Ladder One, medical unit for two-car collision with injuries…”

  Declan jutted his chin, a little relief in his eyes. “That’s you, Connor.”

  Connor took one precious second to look hard at his brother. “Saved by the bell, huh?”

  Declan just pointed to the door. “Collision with injuries. Get moving, LT.”

  * * *

  March was getting downright lamblike, Sadie thought as she and Frank made their way down Ambrose Avenue, the sweet hint of spring in the North Carolina air adding to her already fantastic mood.

  She paused at a store window, longingly gazing at a pale blue linen dress that suddenly made her want to be at a garden party, sipping a mimosa, toasting to the onset of summer. She stared at it for a few minutes, imagining how she’d look in it…and how much Connor would like it.

  Sometime in the past few weeks, his opinion started to matter.

  “Bienvenue!” a woman called from the open front door. “Dogs are welcome,” she added in a thick French accent. “It is Bitter Bark, n’est-ce pas? La ville des chien!”

  Of course, this was La Parisienne, the boutique Nellie had mentioned to her. Checking her watch and not surprised to see she was a few minutes early, Sadie tightened Frank’s leash and stepped inside the sunny shop.

  “Bonjour!” A woman stepped out from behind a large table overflowing with spring-colored tops. “Je suis Yvette!” She clapped her hands. “Ah, mais oui! It is our mayor-to-be.”

  “One of us will be,” Sadie said. “This is Frank, my noble opponent, and I’m Sadie Hartman.”

  The woman shook her hand and gushed over Frank, who didn’t completely cower into the rack of dresses, but nearly. “Easy, boy,” Sadie said, bringing him closer.

  “It is so romantic,” Yvette cooed in a French accent that she could have lost a long time ago, but it no doubt helped sell clothes. “You and the handsome firefighter and the dog with the fabulous tail. Oh, and the kitten! It’s all my customers talk about.”

  “I hope they talk a little bit about the issues, too.” Although traffic, congestion, rental costs, and teachers’ pay seemed to have taken a back seat to their engagement.

  Yvette arched a beautifully drawn brow that caused a few delicate lines on her fifty-something face. “Not as interesting, I’m afraid. But oh, I am dying to ask you the most personal question. May I?”

  Is it a real relationship? she guessed. Although people had stopped asking the question publicly, especially since Connor and Sadie were always laughing, kissing, holding hands, or sitting close at local restaurants.

  “What’s that?” Sadie asked, ready for any of the standard questions they frequently got about how they met and when they planned to set a date.

  Yvette came around the dress rack just as Sadie spotted the baby-blue dress. “Is he simply enchanting in bed?”

  Sadie blinked at her, choking a soft laugh. “Um…” She cracked up. “Pretty much, yeah.” She felt heat color her cheeks, but Yvette was the one who fanned her face.

  “Then you must come to my back room and see my secret stash of French lingerie. I save the camisoles and bustiers for the customers who will wear them by candlelight and with champagne, non?”

  “I’d love to see the lingerie,” she said, already smiling inside at what Connor could do with a camisole or bustier. “But I have an appointment in a few minutes. Maybe on my way back?”

  Yvette nodded and pointed a long, bright pink nail at Sadie. “You must. I’ll create a selection just for you and your lover to appreciate. It will be magnifique!”

  Sadie laughed at the way the woman kissed her fingers like she was a French chef and not a retailer. “We are thinking about a weekend away after the election…”

  “Oh là là, I will help you make that weekend unforgettable!”

  “I’ll stop by later,” she promised. “Bye!”

  “Très bien! Au revoir!” She blew a kiss and sent Sadie off with even more of a spring in her step. Had she ever felt this way with Nathan?

  She hated comparing the two men, and rarely did, mostly because it was like comparing summer to winter. Yes, they were both seasons. And that’s where the similarities ended.

  Connor brought out a side of Sadie she hadn’t even known she had. He made her feel joyous and hopeful and sensual and steady. He made her forget that a few people in her life had destroyed her, and insisted there was no direction to look but to the future.

  And that future, she thought as she pulled open the large glass door to the Bitter Bark Banner offices, could very easily include each other. Waiting for the receptionist, who was on a phone call, Sadie looked around the tiny lobby, letting her gaze slide over some of the Banner’s biggest headline days in the past forty years. Yes, they screamed small town, but they also were part of her own childhood, and the fabric of this town was woven into her heart.

  Did that sound like a campaign line? She didn’t care. It was truth.

  “Hello, Ms. Hartman,” the young woman said as she hung up the phone. “They’re all waiting for you in the main conference room.”

  Sadie frowned as the girl stood to escort her into the back office. All? Wasn’t this a one-on-one with Rose Halliday? Before she could ask, she was whisked around a corner, and the receptionist tapped on the door, inching it open a tiny bit so Sadie couldn’t actually see who was in the conference room. Whoever was talking stopped immediately.

  The first tendril of worry made its way up her spine.

  Rose appeared in the doorway, opening it just enough to slip out, which wasn’t much for the petite woman. “Hello, Sadie.” Her color was high and her eyes bright, the way she looked when she thought she’d asked a particularly brilliant and insightful question.

  “Are you tied up in another meeting?” Sadie asked, already thinking she could make much better use of a delay by visiting Yvette’s back room.

  “Oh, no. I want you to come in here.” She gave a dismissive nod to the receptionist, who hurried away. “But I want to be sure we’re clear so nothing comes back to bite…us.”

  “Clear?” Sadie looked past her to the closed door. “Who’s in there?”

  “My editor, Ned, for one. We’re recording, okay? Video and audio. You signed a waiver about that before, but I want to make sure you also give a verbal.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  “And nothing is off the record.”

  Sadie lifted her brows. “I reserve the right to speak off the record, Rose, but I thought this interview would be about my traffic plan. I’ve made some adjustments to it.” Thanks to Connor, who had a more manageable idea and let her use it in her proposal, because he was wonderful like that. “But I still won’t agree that nothing is off the record.”

  Rose tipped her head, giving in on the concession. “All right, then, here we go.” She put her hand on the doorknob and beamed up at Sadie. “It’s a big day for the Banner,” she whispered.

  A big day? That tendril tightened to an actual band around her chest. “How so?”

  “Well, it’s not every day we get someone of this caliber in our offices.”

  She knew Rose wasn’t talking about her. Then Rose pushed open the door and swept her arm with a flourish toward the head of the conference room table. “I believe no introduction is necessary for you two.”

  Jane Sutherland stood and offered her warmest smile. “Hello, Sadie.”

  “What are you doing here?” Sadie barely whispered the words.

  “I came to do what I always do with the media.” She walked toward Sadie, arms extended for a hug
. “Tell the whole truth. I think it’s time this town knows everything about you, Sadie. And who better to tell them than me?”

  Sadie let her arms dangle as Jane wrapped her in a Shalimar-laden embrace.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Connor’s day didn’t stop until a little after five, when he got back from the tenth—eleventh?—call and dragged his sorry ass out of the station after a fast but burning-hot shower. He didn’t want to spend one extra minute at work or away from Sadie, who wasn’t answering his texts.

  But she had his dog, so he hopped in his truck and drove to her guesthouse, already planning on how they should have dinner in and spend the night exactly as they had the one before.

  Kill Devil Hills. Was Declan crazy?

  Frank didn’t bark when he approached the guesthouse, and after knocking, he realized Sadie wasn’t there.

  “She took the dog for a walk to the square.”

  He turned at the sound of a man’s voice, spying Sadie’s grandfather walking through the garden beds toward him. Connor’s eyes popped at the sight of a rifle in his hand. “Mr. Winthrop.” He felt his heart drop and knew he’d seen the old man’s bedroom light go on when he left Sadie’s at four forty-five this morning. “Everything okay, sir?”

  He braced for a dressing down, but Jim just shook his head slowly. “I’ve had just about enough of it.”

  “Enough of…what?” His granddaughter’s constant overnight guest? Yes, she was in her thirties and a grown woman, but…his gaze dropped to the .22.

  “Trespassers. Lookie-loos and neb-noses.” He jerked the barrel of the gun toward the guesthouse. “Caught some son of a bitch looking in her window today.”

  Fury, indignation, and the low-grade desire to use that rifle on whoever it had been rocked him. “What?”

  “Just standin’ right there.” He pointed with the rifle again. “Cupped hands on the glass, like some kind of damn Peeping Tom.”

  “Was she home?” he asked, horrified.

  “No, no. She had a meeting that had her good and upset, and she stopped by and had one of her latte things with Margie, then took Frank to the square.”

  “Did you tell her about the clown looking in her window?”

  He sighed. “I did, and she…” He shook his head. “I think she could take only so much in one day, and somethin’ happened at the Banner, though she wouldn’t say what.”

  “I’m going to go find her.” He started to walk away, but paused. “Did you report this guy to the sheriff? Get his name?”

  “I didn’t report him. He ran at the sight of this, though.” He gave the gun a shake. “Not sure how he did in those fancy shoes and million-dollar suit.”

  “Doesn’t sound like any reporter I know. Sounds like…” Connor’s heart dropped. “Could you describe him, Mr. Winthrop?”

  He waved a hand. “Oh, tall, dark, kind of full of himself. I’m sure he works for Mitch and is looking for dirt on either one of you two. He had the unmistakable air of an undertaker about him.”

  Or a…lobbyist. “I’ll talk to the sheriff’s office,” he said. “And I’ll get her protection for when I’m on duty. You can rest easy knowing I’ll be with her every minute otherwise.”

  His brows flicked as if to say, Oh, I know you’re with her every minute.

  “How long ago did she leave?” Connor asked as he headed toward the picket fence.

  “A while. Oh! Wait.” Jim reached out his other hand, and Connor immediately recognized the pink-gold tone of Sadie’s phone. “Took off in such a funk she forgot this on the kitchen table.”

  “I’ll give it to her,” he said.

  “Good. The thing’s been buzzing like crazy.”

  “That’s me trying to reach her,” he admitted, taking the phone and dropping it in his pocket. But then Jim put his free hand on Connor’s arm, looking hard at him.

  “You know what she’s been through.”

  He nodded, but didn’t say anything, since she had told him she hadn’t shared her breakup details with her grandparents, only her father.

  “The girl’s been hurt,” he said, lowering his voice. “Her mama…she wasn’t the best, and that’s hard to admit, since she was my own daughter.”

  Was. How sad to have to use past tense. Connor nodded again, not sure where Jim was headed with this.

  “My granddaughter could benefit from a man like you,” he said. “Strong, steady, and with a good family.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “Just so happens I could, uh, benefit from a woman like her,” he added with a smile. “But that didn’t come out right. What I mean to say is she’s awesome, and I want you to know I know that.”

  Jim’s smile was slow. “And you aren’t sayin’ that ’cause I’m holdin’ this stick, are you?”

  “No, sir, I’m not.”

  His aging eyes danced. “Well, count me and Margie in with the rest of the town rootin’ for this thing to work out.”

  “Me, too,” he admitted. “Now I better find her.”

  Connor headed to the square, grateful for the last of the daylight, although it was dim enough for a few of the lights in the trees to come on, but not all.

  As he crossed the street, he made a mental note that the new mayor should fix them so they all came on at once, but he forgot that note as her phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it.

  It vibrated again when he entered Bushrod Square. As he headed north toward Frank’s favorite spot near the playground, it vibrated two, no, three more times.

  Who the hell wanted Sadie that bad?

  But deep in his gut, he suspected who it was. The same person who lurked in her yard and looked in her window. The same person who broke her heart and stole her trust. The same person…

  With the next vibration, he yanked out the phone and stared at the screen, all his suspicions confirmed.

  Nathan.

  * * *

  Frank stood suddenly and barked, pulling Sadie out of her misery as she sat in the shadow of the founder’s statue. She turned and followed the dog’s gaze, her heart tripping at the sight of Connor in his navy T-shirt and khakis, walking toward her with purpose.

  “I feel ya, Frankie,” she said to the dog as she lifted a hand in greeting. “The man is a balm on a heavy heart.” As he came closer, Frank took off toward him, and she followed, just about as happy to see him as the dog. If she’d had a tail, she’d have wagged it from side to side, too.

  “Hey.” She slid into his arms and let her head fall on his chest. “Man, have I had a sucky day.”

  “That makes two of us,” he said, his voice a little tight as he inched back and held up her phone. “You’re being paged. Aggressively.”

  She closed her eyes and didn’t take it. “I won’t even look at it. I’ve had enough of her for one day.”

  “Her?” He turned the phone as it vibrated yet again, letting her see a string of many, many missed texts and calls. “It’s Nathan.”

  All the blood drained from her head so suddenly, she felt dizzy. Tightening her hold on Connor, she stared at the phone. “What does he want now? I’ve already been steamrolled by her.”

  She let out a sigh of pure disgust and exhaustion, trying to pull him toward their favorite bench, but failing because Frank was jumping on him hard and fast.

  He appeased the dog with a head rub and kiss, but kept his eyes on Sadie. “What happened?” he asked.

  “She showed up at the Banner interview,” she told him as they walked.

  “Jane?” he guessed, sounding as stunned as she’d been. “She crashed your interview? Why?”

  As Sadie dropped onto the bench, the many answers to that question floated through her head. “She said she wanted the townspeople to know that she fully endorsed me and that I was all things amazing in politics and government, and…” She made a face, remembering all the quotable quotes that Rose had inhaled like a plate of Ricardo’s lasagna. “That I have ‘the heart of a small-town mayor and the brains of a congressional chief of sta
ff.’”

  He stared at her. “She came all the way from DC to give her opinion on you to the Bitter Bark Banner? She couldn’t have done that with a phone call?”

  The phone vibrated again, and she gave it a vile look. “Can I throw it for Frank to fetch?”

  “If you want him to eat it.”

  She managed a smile. “Only for my love of him am I resisting the urge. Oh, Connor. Why are they doing this? Why won’t they leave me alone?”

  “They want you back,” he said simply.

  “She does.” Sadie closed her eyes and remembered Jane’s speech after the interview from hell ended, and they walked out together. “She offered me the chief of staff position, two pay grades up, and a sickening bag of perks that should be illegal to offer a congressional staffer, but you know, Jane pulls strings.”

  “Would you go back to DC?”

  She turned and looked at him, touched by the note of dread in his question. “Of course not.”

  “Because of…” He nodded to the phone next to her on the bench.

  “She claims they’re finished,” she said. “It was all ‘a big mistake’ that happened ‘in the heat of the moment,’ and he desperately wants closure.” And a second chance, but she didn’t add that, because she didn’t even want to plant that ugly seed in Connor’s handsome head. He looked tired and unhappy enough.

  “Do you think that’s why he’s coming to your house and looking in your windows?”

  She gasped. “You think that was him today? Boomie thought it was one of Mitch’s lackeys.”

  He shrugged.

  “Oh Lord.” She dropped her head on his shoulder. “It was like a nightmare today. She fawned all over me, and the editor promised to endorse me tomorrow, and they took pictures and video for the website.” She grunted and tried to let go of how horrible it had been to have to smile at Jane and thank her. “Then she practically followed me home, insisting she come to my house and meet my grandparents and…” She shook her head. “I finally got rid of her. And now…” She tapped the screen. “I’m going to get rid of him.”

  She felt Connor’s gaze on her as she read a few of the messages, which sounded so much like what Jane had been saying. Sorry…miss you…can’t function without you…not finished with this chapter…please can I come and see you…come and see you…come and see you…