Page 11 of Seizing Mack
That decided, he turned his thoughts to the present. He found a parking place on the street around the block and took a deep breath, preparing himself for an afternoon of being ‘the new guy’. Even though his family had been in the area for decades,hehadn’t been, and it was as good a place as any to start re-introducing himself to the community.
There was already a decent-sized crowd at Chief Brown’s when he arrived. Gail greeted him with a warm, friendly smile and immediately took him out back where most of the action was. Nick recognized some guests from the station. Kent Emerson was there, as well as Joe Hibbs and Cybil Galligan and half a dozen guys he pegged as uniforms. Many appeared to have come with spouses and kids. A few, like Emerson, had a plus one. Others, like him, were flying solo. Some looked vaguely familiar, as if he might have gone to school with them or seen them around the garage where he worked during the summers.
The chief waved him over to one of the largest outdoor grills Nick had ever seen, waving a spatula toward a massive tub of ice filled with bottles of beer and soda. “Glad you made it! Help yourself.”
“Thanks. Nice grill.”
Sam beamed with pride. “This here’s the Flame Master 5000. Best grill money can buy and envy of every man here. Not that I’ll let any of them near it,” he said on a laugh.
Nick grabbed a beer and twisted off the top and looked around, feeling some of the tension ebb away. He’d missed these kinds of cookouts. When he’d been growing up, barely a summer weekend had gone by without his parents or one of their neighbors having one. Adults would talk and chill and the kids would spend all day running around, splashing in the pool, grabbing ice pops, then lighting sparklers and catching lightning bugs at night until their parents dragged them home. They were good memories.
Gail reappeared with a plate piled high with hamburger and hot dog buns and set them down on a table near the grill. “Come on, Nick, let me introduce you around.”
“Behave yourself,” Sam warned her, then looked at Nick and lowered his voice. “My Gail is a notorious matchmaker.”
“Oh, go on with you,” Gail waved her husband off, but her eyes were twinkling. “I’m just being neighborly. Anything else is up to fate.”
“Fate, huh?” Nick chuckled as Gail looped her arm through his and led him away from Sam and his Flame Master 5000.
“Absolutely. I’m a strong believer in fate. There’s a reason you came back to us now,” she told him.
An image of Mack flashed in his mind. “Yeah, what’s that?”
She laughed softly. “Darned if I know. Despite what Sam says, I’m not a meddler. All I’m saying is, keep your head and heart open to the possibilities and everything will work out.”
They approached a couple, mid-fortyish, sitting comfortably in large deck chairs beneath the canopy that had been set up. “Nick, this is my sister, Marianne and her husband, Tom Keller. Marianne, Tom, Nick Benning.”
Both rose to greet him. “Nick! So good to meet you in person!” Marianne said as Nick shook hands with Tom. “I was hoping to see you here. I think I’ve found the perfect place for you.”
Nick lifted his brows in surprise. “Already?”
“It’s a terrific Cape Cod on the edge of town, two acres, garage, and ready for immediate occupancy. The owners moved rather quickly; the husband got a temporary transfer to North Carolina to help set up a new office and they’re looking to lease the place out for the cost of the monthly mortgage payment. It comes furnished with the basics, but they’ve already put most of their stuff in storage, so it won’t feel too weird. We can look at it as soon as tomorrow, if that works for you.”
She paused to take a breath and her husband laughed. “You’ll have to forgive my wife’s enthusiasm.”
Nick laughed, too. “No problem. It’s nice to meet someone who loves what they do. And tomorrow would be great, thanks.”
The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly enough. People were polite and friendly, though he did catch the curious glances and occasional whispers. It wasn’t unexpected. Covendale was a small-town community, and small-town communities tended to have long memories.
Proof of that came later as Nick made his way into the house to seek out the bathroom.
“So, what do you think of the new guy?” Nick paused in the kitchen, recognizing the voice of the redhead who’d been hanging around Emerson.
“He seems nice. He’s got that whole “still waters run deep” vibe going on, which is kind of sexy. Don’t tell Joe I said so, though.”
Emerson’s date — Nick thought her name was Cameron — laughed. “Agreed.”
Nick pegged the other woman as Stacy Hibbs, Joe’s wife.
As much as his male ego enjoyed hearing that, eavesdropping on a private conversation wasn’t his thing. Nick was just about to backtrack when Cameron’s next words made him hesitate. “Kent says the guy has some dark history here.”
The other woman said nothing.
“Something about a big scandal,” Emerson’s date pushed, “and that Nick skipped town after his fiancée died.”
“It wasn’t like that.” Stacy said quietly. “And Kent wasn’t even around then.”
“No, but Kent said—”
