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Nobody else seemed to be out on their quiet street on this Saturday morning.
No big black pickup with tinted windows anywhere in sight.
That should have reassured him. Somehow it didn’t. Years on the job had taught him to pay attention when something gave him that faint, crawling unease along his spine.
This morning, though, the street was empty as he pulled into the driveway of Hannah’s cozy cottage. The snowman the children had built the night before stood sentinel by the walk, red scarf askew, carrot nose slightly crooked, looking cheerful and festive in the dim light.
Leaving Kodi in the truck, he walked up her porch and rang the bell. The door flew open a second later and Carter peered out. “Hi, Officer Kenner. Are you really driving us to go see our mom in the hospital?”
“That’s the plan,” Wes said. “We’ll be together a lot over the next few days. You might as well call me Wes.”
Carter grinned, showing a gap in his front teeth that must have happened overnight. “My backpack is all ready, Wes. Can I sit by your dog?”
“Sure thing. He’ll be in his crate on the seat next to one of you.”
“Me!” Carter shouted immediately.
Wes couldn’t help smiling. “We’ll see what your sister says. Looks like you lost a tooth.”
The boy nodded. “This morning. Hannah said it was going to come out soon so I wiggled and wiggled all night. This morning when I was eating a piece of bacon, it fell right out.”
“I told him the tooth fairy will probably visit us here after we get home,” Hannah said. “No need to pack the tooth with us to Utah.”
Wes glanced up and found her looking gorgeous in a purple hoodie, cheeks slightly pink and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. His heart gave an annoying little kick and for a moment, he couldn’t remember what they had been talking about.
“That makes sense,” he finally said.
“I hope you’ve got room for all of us.”
“Should be fine,” he said. “You in the front, two kids in the back with Kodi. We’ll make it work.”
“I have a booster seat,” Carter added helpfully.
“That’s good,” Wes said. “We’ll need it. What about your sister?”
“I’m eight so I don’t need one,” Riley said, walking into the front room with a backpack over her shoulders.
He nodded. That would give them a bit more room in the back seat.
“I can grab your things.”
“We each have backpacks and then we’re sharing a bag of snacks and one suitcase,” Hannah said, gesturing to a black case next to the door. “We also have some cupcakes and a bag of presents for Morgan. It’s her birthday today.”
“There’s plenty of room for everything in the back of the truck. The camper shell will keep everything dry. Things might be tighter on the way back once I pick up the gas fireplace, but for now we should be good.”
When he reached for the suitcase, she frowned. “I can get that,” she said.
“So can I,” he answered, already lifting it. She pressed her lips together and let him take it, though he could tell she was annoyed. Not a great start for their road trip but he wouldn’t budge.
He carried the bag out to the truck and opened the tailgate to slide her suitcase in. She followed with the presents and another container he assumed contained the cupcakes.
“Will they be okay back here?” she asked.
“As long as we can keep them from sliding around.”
He rearranged a few things and tucked the cupcakes between the wheel well and the tailgate.
Hannah made another trip to her open garage and returned with a booster seat for Carter. The extended cab was already partly configured, one seat in the rear folded down to make room for Kodiak’s crate, which left two-thirds for the kids.
