Carrie watched the anger fade from the old man’s dark eyes and the shoulders straighten. “Fine by me, but you’d better stay on your toes. This ain’t a job for slackers.” Ralph wagged a finger at them as he walked away.
Carrie dared a look at Seth. “Thank you. That was very sweet. You preserved his pride.” Seth unleashed his smile in her direction and her insides wobbled.
“So, does that earn me the position? I promise I’ll keep him in the loop. I like the old guy.”
Carrie knew she’d regret it, but she really had no choice. Mavis was right. She had to stop worrying. Seth was only trying to help. “Fine. But I warn you, you’ll hear from me a lot between now and the picnic. Especially those last few weeks.”
Seth grinned and held out his hand. “Deal. And it’s even better that we live next door. We’re a good team, Carrie. We can work together on the picnic and help Jack.”
She took his hand. It was warm and strong and filled her with a sense of security. Seth would always make those he cared about feel secure. Being protective was in his nature. She’d seen that firsthand in the way he’d stepped up to take care of Jack. He would make a great father and a devoted husband, when the time came.
And he would choose a woman of strong character from a good family. Not someone like her. A thief with a criminal record.
Seth scanned the area around the municipal complex as his temporary partner, Phil Hagen, pulled the cruiser out of the police-station lot and onto the highway. Traffic was heavy with residents heading to work. Farther up the road, yellow school buses lumbered into the sprawling attendance center of the Dover school system. He kept his gaze moving, looking for anything unusual or out of place. Major crimes in Dover were few. Most of their calls were for accidents, DUIs and domestic disputes. There hadn’t been a murder in town in years. Even so, Phil had assured him there was still enough criminal behavior to keep the Dover PD busy.
Today they were patrolling the southern section of the town, where a series of burglaries had recently been reported. Neighborhoods there ran the gamut from lower-income wooden homes and the only apartment complex in town to the newly constructed subdivisions of large homes that were mainly owned by people from Sawyer’s Bend looking for a quieter lifestyle.
“So what’s the opinion on these thefts?”
“The captain thinks it’s a bunch of bored teenagers breaking into homes, taking game consoles and tablets just for the thrill of it. It’s only the homes in the new subdivision that are being hit.”
“Sounds like they could use something to occupy their time. Maybe I can get Kent Blackburn, the youth pastor from the church, to look into it. He could get them to come to the group on Sunday nights or join a Bible study.”
Phil shook his head. “Yeah, right. Church is the answer to everything, isn’t it?”
“It should be. Teens are searching for their identity and they don’t always look in the right places. Kent has a real way with teenagers. They trust him.”
Phil merely shook his head and fell silent. Seth returned his focus to the things happening outside the car window, but his inner focus was on Jack and Carrie. He hadn’t talked to her since she’d agreed reluctantly to accept him as her assistant. He wasn’t sure if she was avoiding him or simply busy. He’d stopped by her office the last two days after he dropped Jack off at preschool, but it was always empty, and when he inquired he was told the same thing by everyone. “She’s around here somewhere.” If nothing else he’d learned that she was extremely committed to her job.
Jack, on the other hand, had seen Carrie every day. He spent the ride home each afternoon talking about school and how Carrie came and visited him at lunch or during recess. While he was glad she was looking in on the boy, he didn’t like the idea that she might be avoiding him. He had a plan to address the situation this evening. He only hoped it worked.
A car blew through the stop sign, and Phil hit the lights and pursued the blue sedan, which slowed and pulled over. A ticket was issued and they continued their patrol. The morning passed quickly with a response to a woman who had found a gun buried in the spot where she was putting a new flower bed, and the apprehension of a man trying to steal a car out near the county-line road.
Their lunch break was interrupted by a call to go to see a contractor in the old Victorian section of town who had reported stolen materials from the job site.
Seth sensed Phil glancing in his direction. “What?”
“So you going to tell me about this kid that popped up in your life or is there some reason you want to keep him a big secret?”
Seth glanced out the window and searched for the right words. He knew the man would want to know and he was surprised that it had taken this long for him to ask. Phil wasn’t shy about butting into other people’s business. The family had decided to simply explain that Jack had been with his mother and now he was with Seth. No other explanation would be given until the whole truth was known. “Jack has been with his mother, and now he’s come to stay with me.” It was the truth, but not the whole truth, and he didn’t like the feeling it left in his chest.
“So you have a kid, huh? That’s rich. Guess your love-’em-and-leave-’em past finally caught up with you, huh?”
Seth set his jaw. Phil had never been a close friend, merely one of the guys he’d hung around with growing up, and since being temporarily partnered with him for his first week on the job, he’d been reacquainted with the man’s lack of tact and understanding. “Jack’s mother and I were married.”
“Do tell? Rumor around town says you didn’t know you had a kid.”
His fingers curled into a fist on his thigh. This is what he’d feared—rumors and gossip that would embarrass his family and, especially, Jack. “Don’t believe everything you hear, Phil.”
A low chuckle filled the car. “No, that might tarnish the mighty Montgomery name, now, wouldn’t it? We can’t have that.”
“Just what do you have against my family? You’ve had a chip on your shoulder all your life.”
“Nothing. I just get sick of hearing how superior y’all are. Big house, big company, running everything in town. It’s a wonder none of your clan has run for mayor, then you could really take over.”
Seth let the dig slide. He was in no mood to spar with Phil. What he wanted was to talk to Carrie. He had questions about Jack, things that had happened in the last few days he needed to tell her about. Besides, Jack missed her. He kept going to the window, looking for her and Leo.
As soon as his shift was over he was going to pick up Jack, swing by Angelo’s and get a large pizza. Then he’d show up at her door. She wasn’t going to avoid him forever.
* * *
There were still a few minutes of daylight left in the sky when Carrie got home, a perfect opportunity to take her glass of sweet tea onto the front porch and enjoy the explosion of spring. The azaleas were in full bloom along the side of her house and in the park across the street. Pink, white, red, coral and purple flowers, all mixed together like an exquisite Monet painting. The confederate jasmine that climbed up the side of her porch and made a nice privacy screen was blooming and filling the air with its sweet, heady fragrance.
She’d had a very productive day at work, though none of it had revolved around the anniversary picnic. Her regular duties took a lot of time. The picnic was an extra project. She should have called Seth for help with a few things but hadn’t. She wanted to avoid that situation for as long as possible. It was a futile hope. Especially since she took time out of each day to check on Jack in the preschool in the morning and during after-school care in the afternoon. The little guy was always so glad to see her, and the toothy grin he gave her turned