Cheryl Harper - A Minute on the Lips

Andi picked up her fork and took her first bite of the sinful satisfaction that was cheesecake at the Smokehouse.

“Ooh, that was a burn. I think you got me.” He watched Andi take her second bite. “If I had asked, what would you have said?”

“No. Of course the answer would be no.” Andi rolled her eyes. “You just want to talk about Jackie’s case.”

“What if I promised the case wouldn’t even come up?” Mark tilted his head to the side.

“My answer would be a louder no.” Andi sighed. “And I don’t believe you. You’ve already proven the story is king.”

He shrugged. “I’m a really good investigative reporter, and my stories are fair. You can trust me. My mother will vouch for me, of course, as a fine young man. What’s the harm in a dinner or two, just to ease relations between the paper and the sheriff’s office?”

Andi shook her head. “I don’t see the need. I won’t give you the inside scoop.”

Both of his eyebrows shot up. “You don’t see the need? For the sheriff’s office to work with the newspaper? For the woman running for reelection to get some positive press? I don’t believe it. You’re smarter than that.”

He had a point. She did her best to fight back the smile that threatened when he rolled his eyes. He forked the last bit of dessert into his mouth before he wiped it with the cloth napkin.

“Maybe you’re right about that, but is having a better working relationship with the sheriff’s office worth following me, invading my space and playing the getting-to-know-you game?” She had no idea where the question came from. Possibly the sugar rush.

Mark blew out a gusty sigh. “Yes, my job would be easier if you could see me as a good guy, one who only wants to serve Tall Pines...with the facts and your truth, if I can wrap my head around it.” He arched an eyebrow to make sure she caught his drift. Andi nodded. “And there’s something about you, Sheriff. I want to help you even when you make me crazy. As a sincere apology and proof of my good intentions, let me help with Jackie’s case.”

He motioned Sarah over and asked for coffee, then rested his elbows on the table. “Or I can keep following you around, jump out when you least expect it and ruin other desserts.”

The steady pressure of his stare got to her. She wanted to enjoy her last bites, and she couldn’t do that with him watching so closely.

He shrugged. “I used to be just like you, Sheriff. Worked harder, longer hours than anybody else because I believed in what I was doing. I wanted to save the world one news story at a time. All that got me was an angry ex-wife who didn’t believe a man could be working all those nights—so there must be another woman—an ulcer and trouble sleeping at night. But I want to help you and I’m very good at asking the right questions. Let’s work together.”

Then he waited. When Sarah returned with the coffee, Andi huffed a put-upon sigh. “Why are you even here in Tall Pines? It’s not exactly a hotbed of news or social life.”

He licked his lips, then smiled. “Okay, since I don’t think you’re going to play the game correctly because you have a decided ornery streak, I’m going to give you the long, convoluted answer.”

And Andi was hooked. That one sentence told her that he understood a whole lot more than she’d given him credit for. And she wanted to know more.

He stirred cream and sugar into his cup and placed the spoon on the saucer. “I love news but more than anything I love newspapers. I worked for my high school paper, my college paper and I studied journalism. I love the words and how they look on the page. I like how newspaper smells and I even enjoy the black smudges ink leaves behind.” With a sigh, he said, “And since you won’t ask me, I’ll tell you that I love them because my father and I would read the paper together every day. When I was little, he’d hold me in his lap and ask for my considered opinion of the headlines, but when I got older, we would talk about sports or current events at the breakfast table. He’s been gone since I was a senior in college, but newspapers remind me of those times.”

So his entire life hadn’t been charmed. It was clear he still missed his dad a lot. Uncomfortable with her discovery, she pushed away the plate that once held a lovely tower of cheesecake and asked, “But why Tall Pines?”

Andi could tell he was pleased. He believed he was reeling her in—and he just might be—but she wasn’t going to let him know.

“Burnout. It’s as simple and complicated as that. My whole life was about the job. I pursued the biggest stories I could, tried to make a name while fighting a kind of crusade. And I was very good, but everything else fell apart. Here, I love what I do again. The Times might be stories of elementary school spelling bees, histories of old farmsteads and the occasional unsolved mystery, but I like the pace. Advertising is easy to sell. There’s not much of a crime beat, thank God. I can breathe, sleep through the night and fish very badly.” He smiled at Andi. “I have a life here, not just a job.”

“Right. So were you looking for small-town papers for sale and stumbled upon the Times?”

“Nah, I actually knew the editor from way back. When he decided to sell, he sent me an email to see if I’d be interested.”

“Wasn’t it hard to pack up and move hours away to a place where you don’t know anybody? I can’t imagine trying to wedge myself into a town like this where everybody knows everybody from way back and most of them are related somehow.”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t hard. I think Jackie’s accusations helped make me a sympathetic figure, and I’ve made a real effort to fit in. If you’d told me five years ago I’d be entering cooking contests and running recipes under my column, I’d have asked what planet you were from.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and rolled his head on his shoulders. “You aren’t going to ask about my personal life, either. I can tell. I was divorced about six months before I moved to town. She’s remarried to a corporate lawyer who makes very good money and spends every night with her. And I’m here, living the good life.”

Andi snorted and he laughed. She wondered if this might be what a really good date was like. She’d had so few of those that she wasn’t sure.

“Sounds like you might be too unbusy to help.” Andi shrugged. “And I can handle Jackie’s case on my own. Besides, how would it look if I needed your help to solve this case? Ray Evans would have a field day.”

Mark glanced around the shadowy restaurant, and Andi noticed the crowd had gotten a little larger. When she saw Sarah and Amanda with their heads together, whispering in the corner, she realized how this might look to the people in the restaurant.

“There’s an easy enough way to handle that. We’ll pretend. We’ll go out to dinner again and just like that, we’re dating. No one would suspect that I was your secret weapon then.” He reached across the table and picked up her hand. “How am I doing?”

Andi wasn’t sure if she gasped or not. His hand was hot and the tingling in her fingers was back and spreading.

“What, like a working date or something?” She jerked back her hand and straightened in her seat.

Sarah chose that minute to deliver the check. Mark snatched it out of Andi’s numb fingers, took a couple of crisp bills from his wallet and handed it back to Sarah with a smile. “Keep the change.”

She flushed before she flip-flopped back to the kitchen.

When he looked back at her, Andi wiped one sweaty palm over her brow and tried to take calm, even breaths.

For once in his life he did the right thing. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t smirk. He didn’t tap or jiggle or jostle or in any way appear impatient. When Andi managed to look at him, he just looked certain. And that scared her more than anything else.