Annie pulled her hat from her head without bothering to smooth the flyaways beneath it. “Maybe. I’m new in town, and I think I’m a little lost.”
The officer’s gaze slipped from Annie’s face, traveling to her toes and back as confusion creased his brow.
“Well, I’m Jake.” He offered a wide smile with a noticeable gap between his two front teeth. “Where are you trying to get to?”
Annie glanced down at the stitched name on his uniform that readOFFICER PROUDY.
Jake.
Apparently, this was the sort of town where people didn’t bother with last names.
“I’m looking for the visitor center. I’m the new game warden.”
“Oh!” Jake shot out of his seat and thrust his hand across the counter. “Right, of course. They told me someone would be coming in to replace Bud this week, but they didn’t say… they didn’t tell me… I mean, no one said you’d be…”
Annie pressed her lips together, enjoying the embarrassed flush working its way up his neck.
“A woman?” she supplied after a beat, and Jake nodded gratefully.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” he said quickly, “we’ve just never had a lady officer of any kind here.”
“I’m Annie.” She took his offered hand and shook it more firmly than necessary. “It’s nice to meet you, Jake. So, where’s the visitor center?”
“This is it.” He grinned as he spread his hands wide to indicate the small office.
Annie scanned the room. There was a filing cabinet with a crooked top drawer in the corner, a massive map with the mountain at its centerpinned to the back wall, a watercooler bubbling cheerfully in the opposite corner, and a vending machine with a buzzing blue light that illuminated a few candy bars and bags of Frito-Lay’s.
Annie tapped two fingers against the brim of the hat at her hip. “I don’t understand. The sign over the door—”
“Well, yeah.” Jake plopped back down in his chair and gestured to the second seat behind the counter, empty and crooked, with a tear across the cushion. “We don’t have a whole lot of personnel in the way of law enforcement here, so we make the most of the space. Bud Griffith was the conservation officer in town whose job opened up, and we shared this office. Actually, you’d be surprised how many businesses double up here in town.”
Annie’s eyebrows shot up and Jake went on, gesturing at the window behind her, “Oh, you know, Sally at the bed-and-breakfast gives haircuts downstairs, Doc Porter is also the coroner, and the third Saturday of every month they clear the horses out of the Ward family stable and hold the flea market there.”
“Ah.” Annie nodded. “I wondered why Sally was sweeping up hair clippings when she checked me in last night.”
Jake’s brow furrowed. “You’re not planning on staying at the B-and-B long term, are you?”
Annie shook her head. “Just until I find a place to rent.”
“I’ve got one.” Jake reached for the phone. “Fully furnished and ready to go. It’s where Bud was living, just gimme a second.”
Annie opened her mouth to protest, but Jake pressed the phone to his ear and held up a finger. “Hey, it’s me… Good, good. Listen, I’ve got the new game warden here and she’s looking for a place to rent so I offered the room over the garage… Yeah, I figured that. Have you cleaned it since Bud left?… Okay, I’ll let her know… About six-ish. Lasagna sounds great, hang on.”
Jake cupped a hand over the mouthpiece. “You’re not a vegetarian or anything like that, are you?”
Dazed, Annie shook her head.
“Okay, great.” He held the phone to his ear again. “No, she’ll eat it. Thanks, Mom, we’ll see you then.”
Jake hung up the phone and scribbled out a note, whistling as he passed it across the counter to Annie.
“They live kinda far out there, way up in the briars, but my guess is you’re used to the woods.” He chuckled at his joke before going on. “You’re gonna take the turn for Lake Lumin Road, it’s unpaved, and you’ll drive about a mile and a quarter up, past the Boyd place. You’ll know that one by the peacocks in the front yard, then you’ll see the mailbox for my parents’ house, it’s shaped like a trout. You can’t miss it, but if you hit the lake, you’ve gone too far.”
Annie was struggling to keep up. She had a place to live, with this scatterbrain of an officer’s mom and dad, something about peacocks and a trout mailbox. She glanced down at the note in her hand.
“A hundred twenty-five a month?” She shook her head. “That’s nothing. I couldn’t possibly—”
“Take it,” Jake insisted with another boy-next-door smile. “Dad’s a quiet guy, and Mom likes the company.”
