“They have a suspect.”
The words halted her departure. He hadn’t expected to blurt them out in the way he had. But he hadn’t expected to kiss her either. And things had become way too complicated. Part of him wished for more time. Part knew that he could not hold the news from her. She turned to look at him.
“Who? How? When did you hear?”
“I called my boss before we sat down to eat. He shared what he knew. Which isn’t much right now. It could turn into nothing, but it sounds promising. You could get your wish and be out of here and back in Austin very soon.”
Erin stood still without a response for what seemed like minutes but wasn’t. There was no smile nor shout of hooray. “I see. Well, that is something. I’m tired. Good night.” Then she was gone.
Rance remained standing in the same spot for what seemed like an age. There was no sense in the moment. He’d expected a reaction. There really wasn’t one. And what possessed him to overstep the line? Caveat of his job…don’t become personally involved with the perp. Except she wasn’t a perp, she was his protectee…his assignment to keep safe and return when the threat was cleared. And he had gone against protocol, against the rules, against his own judgment. Why? Was she right? It had been an unexpected few days with the advent of the storm and emergency in the town that came without warning. They’d had to adjust quickly. And things weren’t normal.
His actions made no sense. Yet, here he was, beating himself up for kissing her, a kiss she had participated in just the same as he had. But they were both wrong. And he should have known better. It was on him. He needed some air. He headed to the porch where he sat for a long while, allowing the quiet of the late evening to blow the jumble of thoughts out of his mind and common sense took over. It was a moment…period. The morning would come as hopefully, a phone call with it and they could both return to where each belonged. That’s what he told himself.
*
What were you thinking? For the hundredth time since the kiss in the kitchen the night before, Erin asked herself that question. And she still was at a loss for the definitive answer. He’s an officer assigned to protect her. She was a district judge and not one to break laws but uphold them. Until last night. It was out of her wheelhouse. She, the one always in control, never allowing emotions to have a seat at her table. But something had changed, and it kept her off keel since coming to Destiny’s River. She had felt it but could not put a name to it.
Rance Parker. There was a name, but she kept pushing it aside. Two weeks ago, she had not known of his existence. Nor had she ever heard of Destiny’s River. Her world consisted of the courthouse, her home, and that was her orbit. It made sense…until it didn’t. Things had gotten unbalanced. Or that was how it had felt at first. Then the strange part was that it seemed to make more perfect sense once she had let her guard down. Until coming to Destiny’s River, she had never really realized just how much she had closed off to the outside world. She operated inside her own precise world. And now she had no precision. That person had been left someplace…she would find her again once she was able to return to her world.
And at one time, the thought of going back to her perfect world that made sense…no longer seemed to make the sense that she thought it did. Where was the feeling that she couldn’t wait to hear the words that she was free? Now, she feared hearing them. What was going on?
The thought of that happening did not bring the peace she thought it would. There was something akin to sadness tinging the thought. That was worrisome. She wanted to get back to her life. She needed to get back to work. And now, that thought dimmed. Going back to…what? It was a new and disturbing thought. Her life was good. It was comfortable. It was…suddenly not everything.
She couldn’t stay upstairs in her room all day. That would seem like something a gauche schoolgirl would do after a tiff or something with a boyfriend. The kiss had just happened. Whatever the reasoning, it needed to be forgotten, and no discussion should be needed. She was sure that they could agree to that—it had meant nothing. Just as she had told herself each of the previous times. That shouldn’t have…but did. Just leave it. After smoothing her long hair into a sleek ponytail, applying a light mauve lip gloss, and one final check in the full-length mirror, checking the cream long-sleeved pullover and the brown slacks, she could not put off the inevitable.
She made it down the stairs, saw no one in the living room nor the dining room…had to be the kitchen. The site of the kiss from the previous night. She fixed a smile on her face and stepped into the room. It was empty. But then her eyes caught a note on the center of the island worktable. Breakfast served outside.
Erin followed the direction and stepped out the back door onto the patio. And she was met with a surprising but welcome sight. Rance was not alone at the table. Cassie and Emmie were seated at the table with him.
“I’m sorry—” Cassie spoke up first “—but Emmie and I were in the area, so we brought some fresh muffins from Tillie’s and decided to drop them off.”
“It’s a lovely surprise,” Erin responded, glad for the visitors to make the moments easier when she and Rance had to face each other. But to her surprise, Rance was the perfect host, smiling, cracking a joke with Emmie, and he even poured a mug of coffee for her and held out a chair for her to be seated. Just as if the evening before had never happened. Well then, if he could do that, then she certainly could. She brushed off the feeling of displeasure that popped up at the realization the man had no such self-recriminations as she had been going through. It really had meant nothing and did not interfere with his new day. So be it.
“Tillie is still singing your praises in the café. You realize that if she thought she had a chance, she would be on the doorstep offering you a job, right? Maybe when you retire, you might want to keep busy, and if you’re tired of the big-city life, you can appease her then.” Everyone laughed.
The banter was light, and Erin felt herself relax. Until she reached for a banana nut muffin from the basket while Rance did, their hands bumped and the speed each withdrew from the muffin caught the sharp eye of Cassie. She smiled but said nothing. She did not need to speak, because her gaze on each of them said it all.
“Let me help you two out,” she said sweetly without missing a beat, and she removed the muffin, sliced it in half, and placed one half on each of their plates. “See how easy that was? Now you both can be happy. Isn’t it lovely when things work out in the most surprising ways? We’d best be on our way, Emmie, so these two can get on with whatever they have planned for today.” She stood, but Emmie hesitated.
“Miss Erin, I know my mom explained that you are really busy and live in Austin and all, but maybe you might not be too busy closer to the holidays,” she began, trying not to rush her words, “because that’s when our holiday musical is and I’m playing a solo on the piano and Jillie is in it too, so we wanted to invite you to come and see it. Do you think you could?”
Erin was not expecting such an invitation. But she could see how important it seemed to the young girl. It was sweet of her to want to extend the invitation. She didn’t want to let her down, but there were other things to consider. She gave her a broad smile.
“That is very sweet of you, Emmie. Thank you for such a wonderful invitation. I don’t know what my workload will look like leading up to the holidays, but I will certainly put the date on my calendar and do my best to make that happen.”
Emmie was glowing. “That is so great! Wait until I tell Jillie. The holiday fair is so cool in town and…”
“Emmie, she said she would try, and we will be late if we don’t leave now,” her mother forestalled her. “Let’s leave them in peace to eat their muffin. Bye, you two…see you later!” Cassie’s arm around her daughter’s shoulders helped steer them away to the steps and the driveway.
Erin returned their final wave as the SUV pulled away.
“Sorry about that,” Rance said, standing up and taking his half of the muffin with him. “Emmie practiced quite a bit I’m told. Of course, you’ll be too busy to make it, but it was nice of you to say you would try.”
“Excuse me? Who says it is a given I’ll be too busy?” For some reason it rankled that Rance was taking it upon himself to make a decision for her. He stopped and looked back at her.
“I assumed that you would be busy, and also you might have better things to do than drive to Destiny’s River to see a children’s holiday play.”
She stood with her empty plate in hand and walked to the door ahead of him. She turned and looked at him then. “Both things might be true, but it will be up to me if I can make them work or not. I will do my best, because it was a heartfelt invite. And as I assume you will probably be too busy with your usual schedule, the more people who can show up for support, the better.” She turned and went into the house. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
