Cole’s eyes narrowed. “You know it’s already packed as it is. Did you forget a promise?”
Dominic lifted his chin and wondered how much he wanted to tell him. “No. I just made a new one. I need a table and a tent. You can put it in front of my shop if there’s no room elsewhere.”
The sheriff crossed his arms. “I don’t know if Mary will like you dropping this on her at the last minute. She’s already been going out of her mind with the planning.”
Golden eyes wanted to shine along with a strong pulse of dominance to make Cole give in, but Dominic gritted his teeth. “I understand that it’s going to upset her, but you can blame me. I don’t care. I just told Erica she could have a table for her photography business and—”
He stopped himself in mid-sentence. There it was again. Cole’s expression stayed blank, but there was a notable change in his wolf. Something in what he just said triggered him. Dominic had seen this man go up against active shooters and take down unruly shifters twice his size. In all those confrontations, he had never been this scared.
Dominic pointed at him. “What was that?”
Cole dropped all pretenses and took a deep breath. “Erica just… she reminds me of someone.”
“Weren’t you from Decatur?”
Cole nodded.
“You probably left there before she was born, though. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Almost twenty-five years.” Cole’s gaze became distant as if he were remembering his old home and all he had left behind. Dominic wasn’t completely familiar with Cole’s past before his pack came to Tolstone. All he knew was that it wasn’t on goodterms. The hunters had closed in on them, and everyone had to leave behind something they loved.
“Maybe you knew her mom,” Dominic offered. “I saw a picture on her fireplace mantel, and they look a lot alike.”
Cole seemed dazed as if he were in the midst of a dream while still wide awake. “Maybe,” he mumbled.
Dominic watched as this hardened cop evolved into someone he remembered from his childhood. He had almost forgotten those times when he looked at Cole and saw the shadow of some sad, ambiguous emotion pass over his face. No one else saw it, and Cole never talked about it, but it affected him just the same. Now, all of that seemed to be resurfacing, just because of a pretty face.
“Is there going to be a problem?” Dominic scrutinized the old alpha for any sign of true weakness that would hinder him from doing what he needed to do to keep this town safe. While he cared for Cole, that was Dominic’s main priority, even above Erica.
Cole snapped to attention. “No. Not at all. I just wasn’t expecting to… It’s not a problem.”
He hated to see one of his most trusted mentors suffer like this, but if Cole said he was fine, then Dominic would take him at his word. If Cole’s condition worsened, if he became too listless and distracted, Dominic would take action. Until then, he’d just watch.
*
Only two hours into the springtime festival, and town square was a hive of excitement. Just as Dominic said, it seemed like the whole town had shown up for the event. Families browsed from booth to booth, couples joked and flirted as they wandered,children ran and chased one another around the fountain, and elderly couples sat on the benches and watched the children play.
The police had sectioned off the roads that led into the town square and redirected traffic through the residential districts. Before the crowds showed up, Erica counted at least two dozen booths or more lining the sidewalk and opposite curbs. Many business owners that she had met earlier that week had shown up with full, vibrant displays.
Erica had been placed just outside Renewed Relics, squeezed in a corner between a historical society booth and a lemonade stand run by a group of girls who belonged to an after-school program. The event coordinator, a lady with the chamber of commerce, told her over the phone a couple of days before, in a less-than-friendly tone, that Dominic had taken care of everything for her, including the tent and table. She owed him a lot more than the table fee plus interest.
Plenty of people stopped by her simple booth to look at samples of her work, compiled in two photo albums she scrounged together the night before. She had to drive thirty minutes north to find a copy center where she could have them printed, along with a sizable table banner. The cost alone in the rush job would set her back for a while, and she saw plenty of Ramen noodle dinners in her future, but it was worth it. In just the past two hours, she had scheduled four more family portrait sessions.
Every time she heard the shuffling of feet on the sidewalk behind her, her heart skipped a few beats, and she had to take a peek to see if it was Dominic, even if she was in the middle of a conversation. She hadn’t seen him since that day he fixed her sink. The sign on the shop was turned, but part of her anticipated the man to come strutting out the door at any moment.
During a lull between guests at her table, Erica’s eyes skimmed over the crowd and searched for Dominic, though she wondered what she would say to him if he did happen to come up to her table. She thought about it all night and still didn’t have a plan. All she knew was that she had to at least thank him and ask about the cost of the booth spot so she could make a plan to pay him back.
“Erica!”
She looked and saw two ladies come forward out of the crowd. One was Gwen Gabors, and she didn’t know the other woman, though she had a fair guess who it could be.
Erica smiled and greeted them both.
“The restaurant had been busy all day,” Gwen said and gestured to the other side of the square, “but I wanted to come over and introduce my daughter, Madison.”
Now she understood what Gwen meant when she said that Madison took after her father. The girl was tall and thin but blossoming into womanhood beautifully. Her brown eyes, with some dark golden hue around the pupils, held a reserved, but excited quality as if she wasn’t sure where to look or what to do. Her gaze darted from Erica to the table, to the neighboring booths, and occasionally over her shoulder as if something called her attention that way. Her hair, black as her father’s, was let down around her shoulders in shiny, loose curls.
She smiled and offered her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Madison.”
