Breakfast at the Honey Creek Café

by Jodi Thomas

  He heard a thump coming from the hallway. Then another and another. Anna, he guessed. All the staff might be off today, but no surprise if Anna came in anyway.

  He leaned his head out of his doorway. It was Anna, but for some reason she was all dressed up, almost like a lawyer. Almost. If only she had bothered to comb her hair, or—his gaze reached her feet—wear something other than ten-year-old ECCO sandals with her suit.

  “Looking very professional, Miss Presley.”

  She turned around and now he could see the tie-dye shirt she was wearing under the suit jacket.

  “I’m only dropping off a few things. I’m on my way to examine the wills of Stella and Benjamin’s parents. They went through probate, so it should be on record. They were not rich, but if the house went to both kids, Stella will have enough to go to college. You got time to open the door for me, Preacher?”

  “Sure.” He closed the distance between them and took the biggest package from her. “How about I carry it down for you?”

  When he took the weight of the box, he was surprised she’d carried it as far as she had.

  They were both silent as they walked downstairs to the after-school playrooms.

  It seemed they were strangers again, not two people who had spent the night rolling around under a blanket together.

  He set the box down and felt his heart closing as she simply stared at him. No smile. No need to say more than thanks.

  Then he saw the tear on her face. One tear. It traveled over a freckled cheek and dripped past a perfect mouth.

  “You all right, Anna?”

  “No, Preacher. I lied to you, and I’m not a person who allows myself that luxury.”

  He smiled. “I’m not a priest. You don’t have to confess.”

  “Yes, I do.” She took one step toward him. “Last night I was scared. What I said just before you left was meant to push you away. Before you could reject me, I guess.”

  Sam held perfectly still. He didn’t want to open up again, not one inch. She would just hurt him again. He was a firefighter and he knew what happened when you walked straight into the flames. “As I said last night, you like to strike before someone gets close to you. I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I don’t think I could take much of that.”

  “It doesn’t matter, I guess. It would never work between us, Sam. You’re all good and sunshine, and I walk the gutters looking for my clients. I’m short-tempered, say what I think even when no one cares to hear it. I take on too much and get frustrated that everyone in the world doesn’t care as much as I do about every injustice.” She put her fists on her hips and added, “Feel free to stop me at any time.”

  Sam shook his head. “So far I’m agreeing with you. Besides, it’s dangerous to disagree with you.”

  “Thanks a lot. You just proved my point.” Another tear worked its way down her cheek. Her confession was costing her dearly.

  He held out his arms. “Come here.” He might not want to get involved with her, but she was hurting. Inside she was looking in a mirror and didn’t like what she saw. He’d stood in the same place many times.

  Holding her close, he whispered, “You’re not so bad, Anna. You’ve got a fire in your blood to make the world better and you run as fast as you can, even when you’re running the wrong direction. If I was going to stay around we’d probably be best friends after a dozen or so fights.”

  “You’re leaving soon, I know that. You were only hired for two weeks, but they’d extend it. Everyone loves you, Sam. There’s no time for us to be polite friends.”

  “You’re right. I’m quitting today, or at least, I have written the letter. Can’t find anyone around here to take it. I may have to leave it on the bulletin board in the office when I walk out.”

  “You’re leaving because of me?” She stilled in his arms.

  “No, I just came to do what I had to do. I learned a great deal. It’s time to move on.”

  She pressed closer. “Are you really quitting being a preacher, or just giving up on this town?”

  “I’m giving up being a preacher. I never really was one, you should know. It once was my goal, but not any longer. I thought I’d find peace pretending to be like my father. I’m going back to being what I was trained for, a firefighter. I’m good at that. I love the work, the danger. I thought I’d find the happiness I had as a kid when my dad traveled around preaching. But a man can’t go back. I’ll be leaving for a fire in Denver as soon as I get the call.”

  Anna’s beautiful blue eyes were wide as she stared at him as if she’d never seen him before.

  “I don’t want to lie to you, Anna. I’m just a firefighter, not a preacher. I have been for years. I have an apartment that’s barer than a hotel room and I keep a bag packed in the trunk.” Finally, his words were sinking in. She’d stopped crying. “Coming here was about me taking a look at another kind of life, a memory.”

  She moved to the door and turned the lock.

  “Anna, you can’t keep me here by locking me in. The church will survive without a preacher for one week.”

  “I’m not locking you in. I’m locking the others out. I couldn’t sleep last night thinking, If he just wasn’t a preacher. Men like him need someone with them who can help them. I could never fill that role and I’d feel like the devil tempting the preacher away from his pure thoughts.”

  As he sat on the little table, she pushed his knees apart and moved closer to him. They were now at eye level. “Now you tell me you’re not a preacher. You were playing around trying to relive the past. That changes things.”

  Sam felt her breasts touching his chest, her breath brushing his ear, and her hands on his shoulders as if she could hold him in place. “Are you telling me that now I’m not a minister, you’re attracted to me?” She was so close. The body he’d held last night seemed so familiar now.

  “You got it. Can I kiss you again? You may be leaving but I’d like to kiss the man, not the preacher. It was so hard holding back last night.”

  “You were holding back?” If she’d been holding back he wasn’t sure he could take full out.

  Sam felt like he was going the wrong way on the turnpike. No matter what he said, no matter what he did, he was about to take a hit.

  But if she’d been asking for a tender goodbye kiss from a man who was almost her friend, that’s not what Sam had in mind.

  He pulled her against him and kissed her like this was the last time he’d kiss a woman in this lifetime.

  To his surprise, she returned the fire. In what seemed like a few minutes he broke the kiss to try to catch his breath. His head was spinning and he felt like he had a fever.

  She pressed her forehead against his and tried to slow her breathing as well.

  Sam noticed he had his hand over her breast. He couldn’t feel much between the suit jacket and her T-shirt and bra but what surprised him was she didn’t seem to notice or mind.

  So he left it there a moment longer.

  When she grinned, he moved his hand beneath the jacket and got to know the feel of one very nice breast.

  As she breathed, he shoved her jacket off so he could kiss his way down her neck. She leaned her head back and sighed.

  “I want you, Anna. I’m starving for you.”

  “Me too.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “There’s been this need to be near you from the moment I saw you. But we can’t. Not here.”

  Sam looked around. The after-school art classroom didn’t seem the right place. Plus, they were in the church.

  “My house out back would work.”

  “No, I couldn’t.”

  He remembered all the angels staring at him every morning and decided he couldn’t either. He’d have to blindfold them all, and the forest creatures, and the figurines of caroling Precious Moments characters.

  “How about your house? I might fit in there sideways.”

  “No, Stella’s hiding out there.”

  “We could get a room in town or at the
fishing lodge?”

  “No, I know too many people. Before we turned the key in the door, it would be all over town.”

  “Damn, I feel like I’m back in high school.” He pushed her curly hair back from her face and kissed her still-damp cheek. “As much as I want to make love to you, I’m not doing it in the back of my car.”

  She laughed. “How do normal people do this? They must have found a way. Kids are popping up like weeds all over the place.”

  Sam moved his hand lightly over her hip. “We could drive a hundred miles and find a hotel.”

  She shook her head. “I have things I have to do. Can you stay another day?”

  “I got a text to be ready to move as soon as the call comes. If the fire grows, they’ll need a pilot. I’ll have to go.”

  “How long will you be gone?”

  “Until it’s under control. A few days. A week. No one knows.”

  “I don’t think that’s so long. I’ll have time to read up on how to do it. It’s been so long.”

  He slipped his hand beneath her shirt so he could feel her skin. “We’ll just feel our way through it. Are you sure you want to wait?” He grinned. Anna probably never waited on anything in her life. She undoubtedly opened her Christmas presents early every year. He went back to kissing her ear while she figured it out.

  She tasted so good.

  “I have an office directly below the mayor. At five the place shuts down. Meet me there. If you don’t get called, at least we’ll have tonight.”

  “Is there a couch?” He started kissing her neck again.

  “Yes, but it squeaks.”

  “If I’m in Honey Creek at five, let’s make it squeak.” He pulled her so close against him neither could breathe. “I promise, Anna, this is not going to be a one-night stand. If I have to leave, I’ll be back.”

  She tried to pull away, but he held her tight for a moment more. Part of him knew she’d hurt him again. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon. But it felt so good to be holding her. To feel alive. To want another person near. He’d take the pain when it came. Right now he wanted joy.

  “You have to let me go. I have things I have to do.”

  “One more kiss. One more minute.”

  “All right, but don’t get in the habit of making demands. I’m not a woman who follows orders. I like—”

  He covered her mouth with his and she didn’t protest. Half an hour later, when their minute was over, they walked out of the basement looking like they’d just faced tornado-level winds.

  He couldn’t stop smiling. Tonight he had no doubt that the whole tornado would hit. Ground zero, the third floor of city hall.

  As they reached the top of the stairs, Benjamin was just coming through the back door. He was carrying mail stacked to his chin and barely noticed them as he turned into the main office.

  “I’m not talking to him,” Anna whispered. “I’m out of here.”

  “Coward,” he said softly as she ran toward the front door.

  Sam decided to go check on Stella’s brother. After all, Sam hadn’t handed in his letter yet, so he was still the pastor, and Benjamin looked lost.

  Benjamin was sorting mail in his office when Sam walked in. “Morning, Mr. Blake. Can I get you a cup of coffee? I was just about to make a pot.”

  To his surprise, Benjamin accepted the offer, “I usually don’t drop in on Mondays,” he explained, “But—well, who knows how behind on the books Stella is.”

  When Sam returned with the coffee, he decided to play dumb. “Miss Stella not coming in this morning?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m the official bookkeeper, you know. She just helps me out. She likes to work on Monday when everyone is gone. She doesn’t like talking to people, dreadfully shy, you know.”

  Sam thought about the organ player. Stella had no problem talking to him.

  Benjamin opened the ledger book. “I got my degree online, but Stella only took a few courses. But, make no mistake, she does them as well as I would.”

  “Do you tell her that?” Sam sat down in the chair across from him.

  “I don’t have to, she knows it.” Benjamin looked so sad. “She’s smart, but the poor girl has no common sense. She left the house without doing the dishes.”

  Sam studied the man. “Do you know where she is?”

  Benjamin shook his head. “I have no idea. She’s probably lost without me. I have to tell her what to do all the time. If we go beyond the city limits, I do the driving. Highways frighten her. Someone called and said she was in church yesterday, but she didn’t come home to make lunch. Now and then she does something strange like this—goes off and forgets to mention her plans to me.”

  “That’s not very comforting.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing improper or dangerous. For instance, she likes to walk through the cemetery on rainy days or hide out in the library and read a whole book. Once she was so lost in reading she got locked in the library from Saturday to Monday. I wasted my time worrying. Come Monday the librarian found her. She’d eaten all the peanut butter crackers in the vending machine.”

  Sam smiled. “She must have been one frightened kid.”

  “No, she was twenty-eight at the time,” Benjamin huffed. “This time maybe she went to see our cousin in Fredericksburg. I know she was thinking about it. I was in a pre-council meeting yesterday and the cell phone reception is spotty in there. Maybe she tried to call and couldn’t get through. I’m sure she meant to call me last night, but just forgot. We’ll have to set some rules down when she gets back.”

  “You’re not her parent, Benjamin. You’re her brother and she’s old enough to go her own way.”

  “She’s too shy to do that. I knew by the time she was twelve that I’d need to take care of her all her life. She’s always wanted to go to college and study music, but she’d never make it away from home and I don’t think she can get that kind of degree online.”

  Sam saw the worry in his eyes. Benjamin wasn’t a bully, he was trying to protect Stella. He wished he could tell the brother that his sister was safe, but that wasn’t his place.

  The phone rang and Benjamin jumped to answer.

  It was Stella. Sam could hear the voice on the other end and recognized the cadence, although he couldn’t hear what she was saying.

  Benjamin’s voice was rough. “You all right? Where are you? When are you coming home? . . . No, I don’t like it one bit that you won’t tell me where you are, but if that’s what you want, I guess I’ll have to deal with it. I’m here at the church right now doing your work for you. . . .” Then, in a lower tone: “All right, I won’t raise my voice. Just come home soon. I worry about you.”

  Sam left the room, satisfied that shy Stella was beginning to stand up for herself.

  Back in his office, he put his letter in an empty desk drawer.

  He’d resign later. Right now he had to spend his day waiting for five o’clock. He had a fire to put out here before he caught a flight to Denver.

  Chapter 29

  Mid-morning

  Colby

  The trooper rolled over and found Piper sound asleep beside him. She had a lock of her hair across her face, but he thought she looked adorable. One strap of her nightgown had fallen off her shoulder and the top of her breast was almost free of the lace. The lady had no tan lines; she must not spend much time outdoors.

  She said she gardened. He could almost see her in long sleeves and a hat wide as her shoulders. The mayor was proper, modest, a bit old-fashioned. Seeing her like this must be a rare pleasure for any man. Colby had seen her covered in mud and sound asleep. He considered himself lucky.

  The thought occurred to him that he wouldn’t mind waking up to this view every day for the rest of his life. Too bad she didn’t even like him, so the chances of that happening were pretty dim.

  When the bright sun slid through the French doors, he knew he must be in trouble. Big trouble. Sleeping with the mayor was not part of his assignment. The muffled so
unds of workers moving around below confirmed his theory.

  “PJ.” He touched her bare shoulder. “PJ. Wake up.”

  She opened one eye and stared at him. “Who are you and what are you doing in my bed?”

  “I’m your bodyguard. I’ve been watching you all night.” He couldn’t resist drawing out his next words Texas style: “And I gotta say, ma’am, you got one great body to guard.” He hooked a finger around that thin strap and pulled it back in place.

  She pushed her hair away and tried to focus on the clock. Apparently, having a man in her bed wasn’t as interesting as what time it was.

  He looked at his watch. “It’s almost eleven, Monday.”

  Piper looked back at him. “You wear a watch to bed?”

  He thought he’d pad his excuse for being in her room. “I do when I’m on duty.”

  “Well, you might want to be on full alert, Trooper. I think I just heard footsteps in the hallway.”

  “No ghosts, remember.” Colby turned as her bedroom door creaked open.

  Piper’s cousin Jessica backed into Piper’s room with a tray.

  “About time you woke up, Piper.”

  When she faced them she didn’t look at all surprised to see the cowboy in Piper’s bed, again.

  “I figured you’d be here, Colby. You left the window downstairs open last night. If this is going to be a habit, I’ll have to get you a key. I hate to leave the café unlocked. No telling who might wander in.” Jessica glanced at the two weapons on the dresser. “Apparently my house ghosts come armed. The place might be safer than I thought.”

  “I was just checking on Piper.” His reason for being here sounded lame even to him. “How did you know she was here this morning?”

  “Family knows where she is, of course. Two of our aunts phoned and told me to inform her that she’d better not miss the city council meeting at one. They also told me to tell that Hells Angel to get out of bed and come over and remove his bike from the front of their house.” Jessica laughed. “I told them I had no idea where either of you were.” She looked at Piper. “I said you probably crashed in your office like you sometimes do the night before the council meeting and that I don’t talk to Hells Angels or any bikers.”