“Thanks,” Jeremy gasped.
“Does this belong to you?”
Jeremy shook his head, spraying Jake with droplets of lake water. “I saw it floating out there. I was afraid a boat might hit it.”
That answered one of his questions. But Jake had another, more important, one. “What are you doing down here by yourself?”
“I’m not by myself,” Jeremy said quickly. “I’m with my mom.”
“Really?” Jake refused to give in to the sudden urge to look around and see if there was another familiar face close by. A familiar face dominated by smoke-blue eyes and hair the pale golden-brown of winter wheat. “Where is she?”
“She’s, um, talking to Miss Porter. At the lodge.”
So Emma and Jeremy hadn’t come to Mirror Lake Lodge for the picnic. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Emma was as protective as a mama bear with a cub. Jake couldn’t imagine she would trust her son’s care to someone else, even for a few hours.
Especially someone like you, an inner voice mocked.
Jake couldn’t argue with that. Emma had managed to express her opinion of him the day they’d met without saying a single word. And it wasn’t, he reminded himself, as if being Jeremy’s mentor was even an option.
Prayer team, remember?
But that didn’t mean he was going to leave Jeremy alone by the water. “Does she know you’re down here?”
The guilty look on Jeremy’s face said it all. “I didn’t mean to go this far.”
“I’ll tell you what—I’ll walk back there with you.”
His officers might question his sanity, but the thought of seeing Emma again actually lightened Jake’s mood. Although given her response when he’d brought Jeremy back in the squad car, he doubted she would be anxious to see him again.
“Thanks.” Jeremy bit his lip as he looked down at his shorts. “I don’t think I was supposed to get wet, either.”
“The sun is shining. You’ll air-dry in no time,” Jake said lightly. “And though I appreciate the fact that you fished this thing out of the lake, the next time—”
“Look!” Jeremy let go of the rope, his startled cry interrupting Jake’s lecture on water and the “buddy system.” He pointed to a black canvas bag riding along the bottom. As the raft had bumped along the rocks, the bag had ripped open, leaving a trail of tools in the water.
Jeremy began to collect them while Jake hauled the bag onto shore to examine it more closely. He frowned when he saw the name FIELDING stamped on the side of the fabric. Rich Fielding had been one of the people whose cabins had been broken into.
Jeremy knelt beside him, clutching a hammer and wrench against his damp T-shirt. His eyes widened when he read the name on the bag. “I know Mr. Fielding. He teaches science at my school.”
“Well, I guarantee he’s going to be happy to have his property returned.”
“You mean this stuff was stolen?”
“That’s right.” Jake lifted one side of the raft and looked underneath it to see if they’d missed anything. “You have pretty good detective skills.”
“Really?” Jeremy’s eyes shone with the same pride Jake had seen when he’d let him dig the hole for the apple tree.
Jake didn’t have an opportunity to answer because Emma burst into view.
“Jeremy Brian Barlow!”
Emma’s gaze locked on the boy standing at the edge of the water. At the moment, she wasn’t sure whether to scold him or hug him. Or both.
“What are you doing down here?” The panic that had fueled her frantic search drained away, leaving her weak with relief. As Emma took a step forward, the wet sand gave way beneath her feet. She would have stumbled if a hand hadn’t shot out to steady her. “Careful.”
Emma’s head jerked up. Her relief at finding Jeremy safe and sound was so great, she had barely spared a glance at the man standing a few feet away from him.
Not that Jake Sutton was easy to overlook. Both times Emma had seen the police chief, he’d been in uniform. Today he wore plainclothes suitable for a Saturday afternoon picnic, but the faded jeans and black T-shirt only accentuated the man’s rugged, almost untamed, good looks.
For some inexplicable reason, the touch of his hand sowed goose bumps up her arm.
What was he doing here, of all places?
Emma pulled away and turned toward her son. “You know the rules, honey.” She wasn’t sure if the crackle in her voice was the aftershock of relief from finding Jeremy, or because the warm imprint of Jake’s fingers lingered on her skin. “You’re supposed to ask for permission if you want to go somewhere.”
“I found Mr. Fielding’s tools, Mom,” Jeremy said. “Someone hid them under the raft. Chief Sutton said I have good detective skills.”
“You went out on a raft?” Emma directed the question at Jeremy but cut an accusing look at Jake.
“Not in it, Mom,” Jeremy said. “I pulled it out.”
“It was in the shallow water. Jeremy wasn’t in any danger,” Jake interjected quietly.
Emma turned back to Jeremy, hoping Jake Sutton would take the hint that this matter was between her and her son. “You have to be careful by the water,” she reminded him, all too aware that Jake could hear every word.
“I know.” Jeremy released a gusty sigh as he pulled on his socks and tennis shoes, a reminder that he’d heard this particular lecture before. “But if I knew how to swim, you wouldn’t have to worry so much.”
Emma felt the weight of Jake’s gaze and her cheeks flamed. She wasn’t about to explain that it was impossible to teach her son something that she didn’t know how to do.
That responsibility should have fallen to Brian. After all, her husband had loved to brag about how much time he and his friends spent in the lake every summer.
One of the high-school athletic coaches offered lessons at the beach every summer, but Emma’s job prevented her from leaving to transport Jeremy there and back—and she was hesitant to trust someone she didn’t know with his safety.
Discouragement settled over her, the weight of it all too familiar. “We should get back to the lodge.” And away from the censure Emma was afraid she would see in those amber eyes. “I’m sure everyone has started eating lunch already.”
Emma hoped the thought of food would divert Jeremy’s attention. Over the summer, his appetite had increased to the point where she’d started to wonder where he was putting it all. But instead of charging toward the lodge, Jeremy turned a hopeful look toward the very man Emma wanted to get away from.
“Aren’t you coming, Chief Sutton?”
She stifled a groan. From what Jake had said, Emma assumed he and Jeremy had met by accident. She hadn’t considered he might be a guest at the picnic.
Relief poured through her when Jake shook his head.
“I’m on my way back to the station.” He must have seen the disappointment on Jeremy’s face because he knelt down until they were eye to eye. “But I’ll tell you what. How about we go with ‘Chief Sutton’ when we’re out in public, but if it’s just the three of us, you can call me Jake. Is that a deal?”
Jeremy grinned. “It’s a deal.”
“But only if that’s okay with your mom.” Jake looked at her. “Emma?”
Why, she wondered in frustration, did Jake Sutton