Ruth Herne - The Lawman's Second Chance

“I’ve got her.” Lisa snatched up the mop-headed tot and held tight. “I’m going back out on the lot to field questions, so I’ll keep her with me.”

“Thank you. I thought she’d be sleeping by now.”

“She loves the limelight. Just like her daddy.”

“Even though she looks like her Aunt Lisa.”

Lisa couldn’t deny it. Same dark eyes and dark curls. And she wasn’t the only one who wondered if a similar fate awaited Rosie, if the genetic cocktail that had erupted as breast cancer in Lisa at age twenty-nine might linger already in Rosie’s tiny, perfect body.

Cancer sucked.

Lisa tucked her niece onto her hip and headed back outside.

Crowds of people teemed around the displays. Her father was caught up in a composting demonstration beside the back shed, his go-green attitude prevalent throughout the garden lot.

Lisa headed toward the fountain exhibits. Landscape gardening was her forte, a blessing in more ways than one. Between losing her breasts, her lymph nodes, her hair and a husband who decided damaged goods weren’t his cup of tea, she’d poured herself into fun landscape design.

Flowers gave her joy.

Gardens gave her repose.

Fountains offered hope of life-giving water, the image of Christ in the river, being baptized by a mere man, his cousin. Some of her favorite choir songs embraced water. Sacrifice. Rising to the challenges life set before you. She used to excel at the “faith-in-all-things” mentality. Lately?

Not so much.

Right now a neighborly challenge aimed her way. Chin down, eyes sharp, Eddie Jo Shupert wore determination like a mantle of clothing. The aged woman seemed certain that crises could be averted and illness made well by drinking her power shakes, three times a day.

Lisa reasoned that if the chalky-tasting shakes were God’s answer to everything that ailed mankind, someone besides her neighbor might have figured it out by now. But since they were on a straight path for one another, Lisa had little choice but to paste a smile on her face and hope for a reprieve.

“Lisa! I’ve been hoping to talk to you! Have I got a great new line to show you, the kind of thing...” Eddie Jo lowered her voice as if sharing a compelling secret, for no ears but Lisa’s. “That prevents things from coming back. Ever.”

If only such a product existed. It didn’t, but not for lack of scientific trying, and Lisa had no time to elevate this overture into a full-fledged conversation. Not on such a huge sales weekend with a wriggly child in her arms.

“Eddie Jo, you know I can’t risk taking anything that might compromise the good effects of the medicines I’m taking. And I wish I could talk more now...” God would forgive her half truth, hopefully “...but we’re swamped as you can see and I—”

“Lisa?”

A small voice called from across a clever display of pink-and-fuchsia perennials. She turned in time to see Alex Steele place a cautionary hand on Emma’s shoulder, but Lisa didn’t want him to shush the girl. Right now, whatever question Emma had was preferable to Eddie Jo’s spiel. “Gotta go.” Lisa gave Eddie Jo a quick smile and a wave. “Customers waiting.”

She didn’t turn to see if Eddie Jo looked exasperated. Eddie Jo was known to sputter, so it wouldn’t be a news flash in any case. And Lisa held herself back from hugging Emma because that reaction would be over-the-top, but she realized Alex possessed perception beyond the norm when he quietly observed, “You owe me.” His gaze flicked toward Eddie Jo before coming back to rest on Lisa. “I met Ms. Shupert in church last Sunday and was treated to an informative discussion on how using her products would not only improve my children’s grades and hair texture, but establish good colon health for me.”

“Good colon health being of great importance at church.” Lisa met his naughty and knowing smile with one of her own.

“Right up there with teeth whitening and forgiveness,” he agreed, his voice easy. The way he handled their banter, with quiet humor and intelligence, made Lisa realize Alex Steele was a breed apart.

She liked the tenor of his voice. The solid but gentle feel, very Roosevelt, the whole iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove thing. He sounded strong but looked approachable, and that made for a wonderful combination. “You guys needed me?”

“It’s about these.” Emma pointed to the perennial area. “If this kind of flower comes back every year, why don’t people just grow them? Why waste money on those?” She pointed to the greenhouses and tables loaded with bright-toned annuals.

“That’s a great question,” Lisa told her. She readjusted Rosie, plucked a coral-to-pink Echinacea blossom and handed it to Emma. “This is a coneflower bloom. And it’s gorgeous, it self-multiplies, and comes back every year, but it doesn’t start to flower until mid-July.”

“Then what do I do in June?” asked the girl reasonably.

“That’s where the annuals come in,” Lisa explained. She indicated the perennials with a quick thrust of her chin. “I’ve forced these indoors so people can get a visual of what their gardens will look like later in the summer, but you have to pick carefully to have a colorful garden from April through October. So most folks use annuals to add color because our gardening season is short.”

“I didn’t know how much flowers cost,” Emma admitted. Her voice went softer. “Dad, if this project is too much for you, we can just do part of it. I don’t want you to run out of money.”

Lisa’s heart melted. What a gracious child, to be concerned over her father’s ability to pay. It almost made her want to cut him a deal, but if Caroline was correct and Alex was the new lieutenant in charge of investigations for Troop A, then he was doing well enough to make her income look paltry by comparison.

Therefore, Alex Steele would get no deals at Gardens & Greens, regardless of how compelling his gray eyes were. Or how adorable his kid was. To his credit, he shrugged off the girl’s worry. “We’re fine, Em, but I appreciate your concern for my bottom line. Is this your daughter?” he asked then, changing his attention to include Rosie. “She looks like you.”

“My niece,” Lisa replied. She nuzzled Rosie’s dimpled neck and laughed when the little girl screeched. “I’m not married.”

“Ah.”

Why did I say that, why did I say that, why did I...

She hadn’t meant her reply the way it sounded, like gifted information. As if she expected him to care whether she was married or not. That ship had sailed because she understood what few women knew: a spouse might claim to be in it for the long haul, but cancer had a way of changing things. In her case it took less than six months for Evan to dump her once she had to fight for her life at the expense of her breasts and hair.

“Well, she’s beautiful.” The look Alex shifted from Rosie to Lisa suggested he wasn’t referring just to the child.

A flush started somewhere within Lisa, a hint of pleasure mixed with a dose of embarrassment because she hadn’t been fishing for compliments. Conversely, she didn’t exactly mind being on the receiving end of a delightful flirtation. A flirtation that made her want to smile more than she had in several years.

“Well, guys, if you don’t have any more questions?” Lisa arched a brow to Emma.

Emma patted her notebook. “We’re good. Thank you, Lisa.”

“You’re most welcome. I’ll see you soon.”

“Yes.”

Lisa moved down the new brick walkway, a recent project designed to showcase the various applications of brick, stone and grass for garden paths. She felt his eyes watching her, wondering...considering...

But she refused to turn and see if her suspicions were correct, because as good as it felt to smile and trade quips with a strong-talking, gently spoken man like Alex Steele, she had no idea how to go about explaining what she’d been through. That she wasn’t exactly the average woman next door anymore. If she was, she’d still be married and maybe have a few rug rats of her own running around the garden.