Page 44 of Barbed Wire and Burglary
“We do?” Aurora’s eyes widened with mirth, knowing the request wouldn’t sit well with Aaron.
She watched his face redden in protest. Before he could say anything, A.J. gestured at her. “It’s the only way your sister and I will have the time we need to turn your home office upside down.”
Aaron slumped down in his chair. “You guys are killing me. Truly killing me.”
She sent him an impish look. “Is that a yes?”
He pretended to throw something, and she pretended to duck. “What’s the point? It’s two votes against one.”
“I know,” she chuckled. “That’s how most of our Uno games felt this evening.
“You’re still gonna owe me,” he warned darkly. “What you’re asking is far worse than an Uno game.”
The next day
After drivingAurora and A.J. to the airport, Aaron headed to a popular local diner to drown his sorrows in an extra-large cup of coffee. He selected a booth in the corner of the room and pulled out his cell phone to check his calendar.
He had another meeting scheduled at the sheriff’s office later in the day, which gave him a few hours to hold up his end of the bargain with A.J. and Aurora. It wasn’t much of a bargain since his sister was benefiting the most. Not only was she attending a friend’s wedding, she was getting to spend an entire weekend with her boyfriend.
While I pretend to entertain my conniving ex.
He hated his life right now. If he’d been looking for romance, Elise Hathaway was the last woman he would be inviting to join him for breakfast. The cheerful nurse he’d met at the Heart Lake Medical Center was more his style, not that he had anything to offer her or anyone else at the moment.
He opened his text messages next and scanned the new ones waiting in his inbox. Then he started the laborious process of typing an invitation to Elise. He erased it and rewrote it several times, even taking the time to correct the spelling of a word.
I’m stalling.There was no point in denying it.He tried reminding himself that the text he was about to send was simply part of his job, but it still caused him physical pain to mash the SEND button. Then the waiting began.
He sipped his coffee, half hoping Elise wouldn’t notice his message until it was long past the breakfast hour. However, he wasn’t that lucky. His phone pinged with an answering message a few seconds later. He hastily scanned it.
I’m on my way.
His appetite dimmed. Yeah, he definitely hated his life right now.
“Oh, my goodness,” a woman squealed, interrupting his moping by sliding onto the bench across from him. “It’s you!”
His heart thumped a little harder to discover Maggie Meyer smiling at him like she’d just won the lottery. Instead of a white smock, she was wearing a pale pink one today with a matching turtleneck beneath it. Her dark hair was pulled back in a sassy ponytail, and the dusting of freckles on her nose made him think of cinnamon and spice—good things, happy things.
“Hey, Maggie!” It was impossible not to smile back at her. “How’s your grandfather? And the bee farm?”
Her smile slipped a little. “Thanks for asking. My grandfather is still resting and recovering. To cheer him up, I invested in a cruise for him and my grandmother. It was one of those last-minute bargains. Otherwise, it would’ve never fit in my budget. They depart next week.”
“Wow!” He was impressed. “That’s one way of telling someone you love them.”
“I do,” she sighed. “I’ll admit to having an ulterior motive, though. It hasn’t been easy cleaning up the store with them underfoot—fussing, fuming, and wringing their hands. Once they’re out of town, I’ll get a lot more done.” Her smile returned, curving her rosy lips upward.
Her words brought on a stab of guilt. He’d been so busy dealing with the case that he hadn’t gotten back to her yet about recruiting a cleaning crew. “I still want to help.” She and her grandparents were good people. They hadn’t deserved to get caught in the crossfire of the trouble plaguing his family.
“I still want you to.” Her eyes sparkled at him. “Assuming you feel up to it. You’ve been through a lot yourself lately, Deputy Cannon.”
“I’m fine.”
She smiled. “Something tells me you’d say that even if you were dragging a leg behind you.”
Like a moth to a flame, he found himself leaning closer to soak up the warmth and goodness radiating from her. “Just tell me when to come over and what to bring.” If she needed tools, he’d have to make a detour to the hardware store on his way there. Since he moved around a lot, he didn’t keep much on hand in the way of extras. “I’ll talk to the guys at work and see if any of them would like to join us.” It felt good to say that. Though he never went out of his way to make friends, Heart Lake was turning out to be the friendliest place he’d ever lived. Perfect strangers often struck up conversations with him in the grocery line and while pumping gas, and people waved when they drove past him whether they knew him or not. It was…different. A good kind of different.
“Yes, please! That would be great.” She beamed anothersunny smile at him. “How does Tuesday evening sound for our first cleaning session?”
“It’s a date.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he grimaced. He hadn’t intended to call it a date. It had just slipped out. “I’ll, er, be there?—”
