Mia felt awful, and not from the virus. “Sergeant Applegate and Officer Cara will be really mad.”
Jake leaned into her face. “You let me handle my brother, you hear me? Don’t protect me. I can do that myself. Let’s go get this finished. Everybody know their job?”
Mia nodded, but remorse for letting down Sergeant Applegate wouldn’t be dismissed. “Just don’t lie to protect me.”
Jake slid a hand over hers and squeezed. She couldn’t help staring into his blue eyes and hoping for something more.
Dan zipped his jacket again. “One problem with that Mia.”
“What?”
“Neither Jake nor I are computer geeks. You are. Lying won’t be the problem. They’ll know. Say what you want about small town police, these people aren’t stupid. They’ll connect the dots if they find any of us. Be careful.”
She knew what her original intent had been. Disgusted by the piled on decorations and all the arguments she’d witnessed, she’d committed to do something about it. Echo Falls was better than this. She hadn’t planned on getting sick. She hadn’t planned on a passel load of guilt slamming her at compromising Jake and Daniel. Granted, they went along – but “like” on Jake’s end and loyalty to a friend on Dan’s didn’t make the consequences any easier.
Mia rubbed her face. “Be smart out there. I’ll be waiting for the picture, and I’ll get the rest of this launched.”
Dan went out the door. Jake paused and looked her over. He leaned in and kissed her – soft, warm pressure. Quick and done and on the lips. “Go back to bed,” he whispered.
Mia’s eyes widened, and her hand flew to her mouth.
Jake grinned and went out the door, shutting it quietly behind him.
&&&&&&&&&&
Early Saturday morning began with muted sun and more wind tumbling the clouds. Tom left for work, and Summer sat in the chaos of her painting space with every light in the room on and made the first choice – to have Penny Gutherie visit and talk about the upgrades. One phone call later, she and Tom had a mid-afternoon appointment to go over the plans. She textedTom and gazed around. With memories aside, she viewed the room objectively. How had she worked in here up to now?
With a warm bagel topped with cream cheese and a large mug of hot coffee within reach, she started on the Christmas idea for the Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church. Mrs. Heigl had pictures of the holiday scene from years past, and she and Chrissy had met and talked through the composition. She’d already sketched the structure onto the canvas.
Except putting her supplies in place to begin mixing colors for her paint palette wasn’t working. For once, she wasn’t thinking make do. She paid attention to her every move, the how and where everything was stored with the pattern of her workflow. She dropped onto her work stool and assessed how many items were in the room that didn’t need to be. “Dang it, he was right about the remodeling. I need it.”
Shifting things to the side, she separated items into get rid of and keep piles. The remove area quickly got out of control, but at least she could move her paint setup and get busy on mixing colors.
Engrossed, she experimented with the paint blends for the scene with no regard for time. The greens of the trees, the brown lines of the old church, the rugged creche, and the pristine white of the snow.
Her husband appeared at her shoulder without warning. He didn’t say anything, but the warmth of him at her back sent a thrill through her. Happiness sparked.
She dabbled with the twinkling trees. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” His deep voice stirred sweet memories, and she wanted to turn and throw herself at him, but she was covered in paint from hands to clothes – she could never be one of those neat painters.
“What are you doing home?”
“Meeting time, sweetheart.”
Summer lifted her wrist, realized she’d forgotten her watch, and tipped her head to gaze at him. “Is it really?”
“Yes, it’s 1:45 p.m.”
She studied the grouch lines in his face. “No Santa?”
“Getting closer. Still searching for the car.”
“You’ll find him, babe. You always do.”
“I’m glad somebody has faith, because I’m losing mine. Outsmarted by a bunch of teenagers.”
“Hey, smart may be true, but it doesn’t come with a well-grounded understanding of consequences. You’ll find them and introduce that lesson.” Summer used a rag to remove the paint on her fingers. An insurmountable task.
