Ruth Herne - The Lawman's Yuletide Baby

“Pretty normal, I expect. But I can help her mother,” Gabe added as he lifted one of the tables. “Tell me where you want them and I’ll get them in order for you.”

“You’ve got a whole house to arrange,” she scolded. “I can handle this.”

Gabe moved the first table closer to the lake as he replied, “I’ve got bedroom stuff, kitchen stuff and living room stuff, which means half the rooms of the house will sit empty. I bet they can figure it out, Corinne. And my buddy Mack is over there with his wife, and when Susie MacIntosh takes charge, we all smile and nod and follow orders.”

“My kind of gal.” Corinne started setting up folding chairs. “Should we start the fire now, if you guys don’t have to make too many more trips back to your old place?”

“One more trip should do it, so that’s probably a good idea.” He settled the next table close to the first. “And if I’m setting these in the wrong spots, tell me. Don’t wait until I’m gone, then change them.”

“Well, it’s a simple afternoon barbecue, so I’m pretty sure anywhere is good.”

Her tone was easy, but it didn’t take a real smart guy to sense something amiss. “Listen, Corinne. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the committee meeting the other night.” He was working as the safety liaison for the upcoming Christkindl festival, a huge annual event that netted tens of thousands of dollars for the Police Benevolence Fund. The fund helped widows and children of fallen officers. As a widow, Corinne had headed the committee for half a dozen years, but the current committee had voted in some major changes she didn’t like. Changes he approved, which might make him persona non grata with his new neighbor.

“Because you were mobbed by triumphant town retailers and I had to get home to the kids.”

That was true, but law enforcement was schooled in undercurrents, and the one on this deck rivaled an East Coast riptide. “I don’t want you to think we were trying to undercut your position.”

A momentary pause of her hands was her only outward reaction, which meant she was hiding her feelings, a move he recognized because he’d hidden his share. Watching her, he realized she was just as good as he was at disguising his true emotions. Maybe better. “When you, Lizzie and Maura took places on the committee, it meant we all needed to work together,” she replied in a soft, even voice. “Although neither Kate nor I was invited to the impromptu meeting you guys had on Tuesday.”

It hadn’t been a meeting at all. He’d run into two other committee members at the Bayou Barbecue, and the two women had hijacked his quiet supper with committee talk.

“It wasn’t a meeting. I was having supper at Josie’s place. Lizzie and Maura came in and sat down, so we compared notes. Then I got a call on the south end of the lake, and Josie bagged my food for later. That’s all it was, pure coincidence.”

“You don’t owe me explanations, Gabe.”

He didn’t...but he did. Corinne had invested years in this festival because she’d buried a first responder, and he didn’t take that lightly. Nor should anyone else. “I do, because Lizzie made it sound like we held a prearranged meeting. It wasn’t anything of the kind.”

“And yet there’s no reason it couldn’t be, is there, Gabe?” She paused again, watching him from the far side of the deck, holding a floral porch pillow in her hands. She looked...cautiously beautiful, if there was such a thing, and there must be, because he was seeing it, right now.

No reason...

“Of course there’s a reason. To go behind your back and usurp the time and effort you’ve put into this whole thing would be ludicrous. I can’t imagine someone doing that, and if they did, they’d have to answer to me. That’s not how things are done, Corinne. Not in police brotherhoods, anyway.”

She watched him, still clutching the pillow, and when he was done with his little spiel, she still watched.

And then she smiled, ever so slightly, as she set the pillow down.

Her smile intrigued him.

He wasn’t sure why, because she did absolutely nothing to try to intrigue him. In fact, she went out of her way to be carefully level and polite, like the model nurses you saw on TV.

As she looked down, her lips quirked up, as if he’d pleased her.

He wasn’t looking to please anyone. He’d won the race once. He’d had it all until he lost it, way too quick and far too easy.

Yes, he was older. Smarter. But he was just as guilty now as he’d been when Gracie climbed into his SUV all those years ago. A stupid football party, parents, kids, pizza and beer...

He swallowed hard. “I just didn’t want you thinking we were plotting behind your back. Or Kate’s back.” Corinne’s mother-in-law had built a highly regarded event business in Grace Haven. She’d shared her expertise by helping with the festival for years.

“Kate’s a smart woman. She saw the way things were trending from the beginning, and that’s why she volunteered to work with Lizzie and Maura.”

“To keep an eye on them?”

“That sounds far too sinister, even for a small town.” She crossed the decking and moved more chairs into place. “More like she wants to keep her finger on the pulse of the area. When you run an event center, it’s important to be on the inside informational loop. And I’m sure she wanted to keep me updated so I wouldn’t get clotheslined by whatever changes came about. Kate knows I’m busy, and she takes an understandable special interest in the benevolence fund.”

Of course she did. She’d buried a son, and her husband had been chief of police for over twenty years. The Gallaghers appreciated law enforcement like few families could. They’d lived it for over two generations. “She’s protective of you.”

“Sure she is.” She drew up more chairs. “They love me, and they love these kids. That’s pretty much how the family rolls. And they know being a single mom isn’t easy. But we’re doing okay.”

After being raised in a single-parent house, he knew the truth of it, and it was never an easy gig to be top provider, rule maker and beloved parent to kids. “I’d say you’re doing great, Corinne.”

“Well. Thank you.” She took the compliment lightly. Maybe too lightly. “It’s too early to start the grill, but if you call me from the truck, I’ll have it heated up when you guys get back.”

“Sounds good.” He touched a long-nosed lighter to the kindling in the fire pit, waiting for the first flickers of success. “If you ever need anything...” He waited until she looked up, and when she did, there it was again. A tiny spark of connection when his eyes met hers. “Call me, okay? I’m right over there, and I’m happy to help.”

“That’s a really nice offer.” Sincerity deepened her tone, while her expression stayed matter-of-fact. “The Penskis were gone a lot, so I’d only seen them twice since we moved in last year. And when the weather turns, it’s kind of desolate down here. Like Tee said, most folks use these as summer homes, so there aren’t too many neighbors during the winter. It will be nice to have you nearby.”

He puffed on the kindling until a curl of smoke burst into tiny licks of flame. “I saw that little park at the end of the road by the turnoff. It’s got a small baseball field.”

“A relic from times past, when neighborhoods got together to play ball. That’s Welch Grove Park.”

“It’s quiet and I can practice ball with the kids there whenever they’re available.”

“I played ball on that field when I was a girl.” She tapped the grill as if tapping home plate and took a batter’s stance.

“You lived here?”

“Off and on, with my grandparents.”