Page 4 of The Map Home
Family. Weird.
“Well?” Tad demanded, pulling Dakota back to the present.
“‘It will be fun’ is not the selling point you think it is.” He pulled his fleece-lined gloves off and rubbed his hands togetherin an effort to warm them up. “It’s fucking cold out there,” he complained, hoping that Tad would take a hint and drop the subject.
After directing traffic in the snow and frigid air for several hours, Dakota found Jake’s Tap to be almost too warm inside. He tugged off the wool cap he’d had pulled down over his ears and tucked it in his coat pocket, knowing his unruly hair was now sticking up in all directions.
Watching him and probably fully aware that Dakota planned on being stubborn about the bonfire, Tad shot him his best “last puppy in the shop” look. A look that more often than not had ended up with Dakota getting into some kind of trouble as a teen—and hell, even now. It had been that way since Ana had accepted the job as cook for G-Bar. Lucky for Dakota, the Gillespies had always known who the instigator really was.
“It’s the end of November,” Tad pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s always cold this time of year. It will be warm around the fire pit.”
It wasn’t that Dakota didn’t want to enjoy himself; he liked a good time. But his idea of fun was hanging out with Tad playing video games and having a beer, not with the entire Gillespie clan and everyone else who would be there. After spending the day outside for work, he didn’t want to hang out in the cold and be fucking friendly.
And there would be others. Some of them Dakota counted as friends, some of them he could do without. There was something to be said for living on an island far away from most people like Niall did.
“I’m on traffic patrol the next two days,” he tried, knowing his protests were being ignored. “And foot patrol on Saturday because of the craft fair and tree lighting crap.”
Plus, there was the possible missing person.
Marcy Auchler. Thirty-one years old and hadn’t been seen by her landlord in almost a week. It had been a couple days since the report, and there’d still been no sign of her.
Not that Dakota-the-new-guy had anything to do with the case but he couldn’t help thinking about it. Sabrina Suarez insisted Marcy wouldn’t just leave without telling her first, and Marcy had also left her beloved cat, Pound Cake, behind. Ms. Suarez seemed sure that something terrible had befallen her renter. But… Marcy was an adult, so there wasn’t much the Sheriff’s Office could do, even if it seemed suspicious that she’d left her pet without at least care instructions.
Tad eyed him. “I know you’re off Friday night. I asked the dispatch person, Gloria.”
Of courseGloria had given out the information. Everyone at the station knew Dakota and Tad were friends and wouldn’t question Tad asking something like that. The new dispatcher for the Sheriff’s Office wouldn’t even think twice about it. And to be fair, Dakota’s schedule wasn’t protected information, not in tiny Collier’s Creek.
“Tad…” Dakota narrowed his gaze slightly.
Tad Gillespie stared silently and equally stubbornly back at him, not at all phased by Dakota’s glare. His expressive eyebrows lifted again as he waited for Dakota to come up with a decent excuse not to show up.
In retaliation, Dakota narrowed his eyes to a squint. He was not losing.
This time it was Tad who broke first.
“Dakota…” he said in a quiet, beseeching tone, so quiet that Dakota almost couldn’t hear him over the chatter of the crowd.
Tonight, Jake’s Taproom was full of folks who were avoiding their kitchens at home. Or they were avoiding helping out in their kitchens at home. Or they’d been sent away because they were underfoot and the person in charge of the kitchen was tiredof them stealing bites. Possibly, like Dakota, they had nowhere else to go. Nowhere they didn’t feel like an interloper anyway.
Dakota had counted on Tad being too busy to talk to him, which was why he’d waited so long to respond to Tad’s summons. He’d hoped that he’d get away with a quick wave and an “I’ll try to show up on Friday” instead of being subjected to The Tad Stare. For crying out loud, even his recently discovered half brother had offered to fly him out to Piedras Island for the holiday weekend, and Dakota had declined. Even if he’d had the time off, it somehow felt wrong to leave town.
“Burger up,” one of the kitchen crew called out.
Tad wrinkled his nose, clearly not wanting to abandon his bonfire campaign. Dakota would be lying if he claimed he didn’t find the habit charming. Tad was a charming guy. And too good for him—Tad just didn’t seem to know it. It would be so easy just to kiss him, but Dakota couldn’t do that.
Dammit, the Last Puppy In The Shop expression was going to work, wasn’t it?
“Don’t go anywhere,” Tad said with a shake of his finger as he turned to grab the plated burger. “I’ll order a plate of curly fries for you.”
Dammitagain, Dakota thought as his stomach rumbled. No one knew him better than Tad. Nodding vaguely, he unbuttoned his jacket and hitched his butt partway onto the closest barstool. As Tad walked away, Dakota noticed he had on an older pair of blue jeans that fit him like they’d been tailored. Not for the first time, Dakota enjoyed the view.
From his other side, a gravelly voice said, “Evening, Dakota. How’s the newest sheriff’s deputy?”
Glad for the distraction from Tad’s puppy-dog eyes and sexy butt, Dakota turned to find the owner ofThe Collier’s Creek Chronicle, the town’s only newspaper—The Chron,to those who lived in the area.
“Evening, Mr. Lewis. Doing well, how about you?”
Eyebrows with a life of their own drew together. “Don’t you go calling me Mr. Lewis. Makes me feel older than I already am. Curtis is just fine, thank you very much.”
