“My dose of today’s reality is to head to work.”
The sound of Tanner’s voice made all three ladies turn as he came around the corner from the main restaurant dining area.
Laura smiled. Clearly familiar with Tanner’s tastes, Tina called a greeting, grabbed a large to-go coffee cup and moved to the espresso machine.
Julia was glad she hadn’t been griping about Tanner when he walked in. She met his eyes as he approached the coffee counter. “Thanks for hanging with Zach this afternoon.”
“Piper’s stepmother came over to make sure he was doing okay. He drifted in and out of sleep the whole time I was there, which meant I could cheer for the Pirates and no one reamed me out. I found it oddly disappointing.”
“You’ll be safe for a while because he’ll be on heavy-duty pain meds for days.” Julia sipped her coffee, glad she hadn’t insisted on the plain black version. This amazing concoction was so much better. Or maybe it was her proximity to this puzzling man with soft but tough gray eyes. “But he’ll be glad you came by, Tanner.”
Tina extended his coffee across the curved wooden coffee bar and waved off his money. “You know better, even though you’re not at this end of the lake all that often,” she teased. “Coffee for cops is on the house.”
“You just want me to be nice to Max, since he’s new on the force.”
“After ten years of military special ops, I can assure you that Max Campbell has plenty of tricks up his sleeve,” Tina told him, “so I’d be careful treating him like a normal probie. Just a word to the wise.”
“I got to work with him last month.” Tanner raised his coffee cup in salute. “And he did okay. For a military guy.”
Tina laughed. “I won’t tell him you said so because I know how the loyalty game plays out. But just so you know, he spoke well of you, too.”
Tanner grinned. He turned back toward Julia. “According to your father, I’ll see you Tuesday night. Six o’clock. Your place.”
He aimed a smile at the two women behind Julia, then walked out. Julia read their expressions, and put up her hands. “It’s not what you think, even though he’s funny, gentle, sensitive and wretchedly good-looking.”
“It should be.” Laura exchanged a look with Tina, a look that said Tanner Reddington was positively swoon-worthy. “Oh, honey, I promise you. It should be.”
“I have enough on my plate right now.” Julia watched Tanner as he crossed the parking lot. Tall, square-shouldered and decisive, he looked as good from behind as he did from the front, but something in his reticence tripped mental red flags. She switched her attention back to the women. “For the moment I’m trying to figure out what my ex-husband is up to all of a sudden. There is no time in the world for that. Unfortunately.” She waved toward the door Tanner had just closed.
“Mmm-hmm.” Laura’s knowing smile said she wasn’t buying it. Tina’s said the same.
For a moment, Julia wondered if that gleam in Tanner’s eye went deeper than gentle amusement. Was he interested in her?
Of course not. He was always one step shy of rude during their conversations, and what she absolutely, positively did not want, ever again, was to have to prove herself to a man, because Laura was right. God’s command to man was to cherish women, to love them as he loved the church.
She’d lived that failure once. She never wanted to face that outcome again.
Tanner steered his car off of Main Street and onto Lower Lake Road.
Two years of silence.
Zach’s careless remark had been on his mind for over an hour. A beautiful woman, smart and funny, unafraid to joke around. Two kids. What kind of man walked away from that? Or ignored his kids?
It wasn’t his business. But the idea of someone ignoring their kids made him want to pummel something. For three long years he’d asked himself what he could have done differently.
Insisting that Ashley see a regular obstetrician instead of a midwife might have been a good start.
He knew that. He’d had misgivings from the beginning. He’d wanted a full-fledged doctor, the best available. Wouldn’t that have been the most sensible option? But Ashley had been so sure in her choices, so caught up in the research of natural methods. Would a different medical professional have seen signs of trouble before it had gone too far?
He didn’t know, but old regrets speared deep.
His cell phone interrupted his thoughts.
“Tanner, it’s Captain Steele. How’re you doing?”
Had the Troop A boss remembered the anniversary of his wife’s death, with all he had to do and oversee? Appreciation eased the weight on his chest. “Okay. Counting the hours. Breathing.”
Alex Steele’s voice deepened. “I know. I remember. You working today?”
“Got called in. Yesterday and today, so that’s better than sitting home. Pretending to be busy.”
“I intend to keep you busier,” Alex said. “We’re forming a collaborative task force to address the burglaries and increased drug use in your sector of Clearwater. You’re familiar with the neighborhoods and the people. We’ll be working with the Clearwater police and the sheriff’s office. You want in?”
“Absolutely, especially if it helps us get a lockdown on juvenile crime. It’s been an epidemic lately.”
“I want to jump on this so we have a head start before the weather gets nice,” Alex told him. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks, Captain.”
“No thanks needed. A great record and clean arrests earned you the spot. And, Reddington?”
“Yes?”
“You’re on my prayer list. Hang in there.”
Tanner had no clue what to say to that, but the captain hung up before he needed to respond.
Prayer list?
Yeah, right. Good luck with that. He drove past several nice-looking churches, purposely ignored them, and headed for the southern tip of the lake.
He and his sister, Neda, had been used as pawns between his parents for years. No matter how much he prayed as a kid, nothing got better in the back-and-forth of court dates, custody battles and child support hearings.
He’d learned to stand on his own two feet and avoid drama. And if he’d ever wondered about the essence of God, the humility of faith as an adult?
It all went by the wayside when Ashley and little Solomon breathed their last breaths. Lingering thoughts and doubts vanished. He’d face the world alone, like he’d been doing for a very long time. He was okay with that.
* * *
Julia saw Tanner’s name in her phone display that evening. Her pulse jumped, because why would he be calling her now? Maybe the gals at the café were right. Maybe— “Tanner. Hi. What’s up?”
His reply pretty much dashed Laura’s and Tina’s notions like waves on the eastern shore. “I’ve got a Tuesday night work conflict that just came up, so I was wondering if we could do teardown on Wednesday evening instead?”
A work conflict that came up on Sunday? What were the odds of that? So much for thinking she saw a glimmer of