Lynn Patrick - Home to Sparrow Lake

Okay, then. Back to work for her.

She had the ability to concentrate even in the midst of chaos. Sew Fine was fairly calm compared to the office she’d last worked in. As she clicked on internet links to check out several potential programs, she heard the entrance door opening and closing, customer questions being answered about the pros and cons of using patterns as opposed to kits, soft laughter coming from someone at the other end of the store. Nothing affected her concentration.

Not until a jarring noise came from directly behind her on the other side of the back wall, as if someone was stomping on loose boards.

Kristen tried to ignore the noise, and for a moment it went away. Then a rough, grating sound scraped straight down her spine.

“What the...?”

She turned to see movement on the other side of the broken window. Had the handyman simply shown up and started the job without telling anyone? But wait...the person wielding a tool that scraped the frame was dressed in black.

Suspicion made her hackles rise. Lunging out of her chair, she made for the back door and threw it open only to find Alex, a rectangle of glass in hand, standing on the Dumpster. He was trying to set glass into the empty window pane.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

He gave her a quick glance before returning his attention to his task. “You’re welcome.”

“I didn’t thank you.”

He sighed. “I figured you wouldn’t, but that doesn’t stop me from being polite.”

Realizing she’d let her temper best her when it seemed he was simply trying to do her a favor, Kristen took a big breath to calm herself. What was wrong with her? She never used to be like this. Then, again, she’d never run into an Alex Novak before. Now he was using some kind of a tool to push little pieces of metal into the frame, undoubtedly meant to hold the glass in place.

“Look, I’m sorry,” she said and meant it. “You just...well, kind of startled me, is all.”

He glanced her way again and grinned. “You weren’t ready for me, huh?”

Not sure any woman would be, she asked, “Did Aunt Margaret call you to take care of the window?”

“No one had to ask me.” He rolled a cord of white stuff around the glass frame and used the tool to press it in place. “I could see you needed a little help. You couldn’t get Margaret’s handyman to return your calls, and I assumed you wanted the place locked up and the alarm set tonight.”

“Well, yes, of course.”

He used another tool to remove any goopy stuff off the glass. “And I don’t want to have to respond to a burglary in progress, so I’m taking the easy way out.”

Kristen realized he was done when he jumped from the Dumpster and landed next to her. And she realized she’d sounded ungrateful for a charitable act.

“Well, thank you, Alex. I mean that sincerely.”

He set the sunglasses back in his hair and cocked his head, his gray eyes going soft as they swept over her face. It put a knot in Kristen’s stomach.

“You’ll have to get someone to paint the compound and touch up the frame. Wait a couple of days, though, so the compound has time to dry out.”

“Okay.”

“In the meantime, I’ll take a look at your alarm system, make sure it’ll work now.”

Kristen followed him inside and watched as he pulled a chair under the window and stood on it. Glancing around the store, she realized that no one was paying them any mind. Alex checked something attached to the window frame then stepped down.

“Looks all right,” he said, returning the chair to where he found it.

“Well, thank you again.”

She noticed his attention was elsewhere. He wore a speculative expression. Alex seemed to be focused on Brian, who was still working on filling those orders. Undoubtedly he was surprised to see a teenage boy working in a store frequented mostly by women.

When Alex turned his gaze back to her, Kristen said, “If there’s ever anything I can do for you—”

“There is.” A slow, easy grin lit his face. “You can have dinner with me.”

Though her pulse fluttered at the thought, she frowned in response. “Dinner?”

“You know, that’s when you eat to satisfy those hunger pangs in the evening hours.”

“Um, I don’t—”

“Eat?”

“I was going to say that I don’t think it would be appropriate.”

“Which part?”

“My dating you to pay you for fixing the glass.”

“That’s not exactly what I was asking you to do.”

“What, then?”

“I just want to get to know you better.”

Tempted, Kristen swallowed hard. She had to admit the police chief had more going for him than she’d first thought and not just in the looks department. He might be a little snarky at times, but he was a well-intentioned person. His fixing the window had been very thoughtful. But she’d had a purpose in moving to Sparrow Lake, and it certainly wasn’t to find a man. She wasn’t going to be here that long, anyway. A few months at most. Getting involved romantically would just complicate things.

Alex cleared his throat. “About dinner?”

“I appreciate your interest, but I don’t think it’s a good idea under any circumstances.”

His expression went neutral when he asked, “Any particular reason?”

Realizing she might have offended the man again, Kristen assured him, “It’s not you, Alex. I simply have too much on my plate right now to be indulging in any kind of extracurricular activities.”

“Wow, that sounds sad.”

“What’s sad about my being focused?”

“On work?”

“Aren’t you focused on your job?” Which he ought to be, considering he was chief of police, Kristen thought.

“Within reason. But...hey, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’ll just leave now.”

“Good... I mean...all right. And thanks again.”

If he heard her, he didn’t respond, simply headed out the door.

And Kristen quickly deflated. Turning back to her computer, she realized Aunt Margaret was standing there, had probably caught the whole show.

“Aunt Margaret, I didn’t realize you were coming in this afternoon.”

“I just came back from my meeting with the dean.”

Indeed, Aunt Margaret was dressed more conventionally than usual in a skirted suit. Of course, she’d added a purple-and-blue flower-print blouse and matching earrings.

“So what are you doing here?”

“I just thought I would check in to see how things were going.” Aunt Margaret arched her eyebrows. “Which seems to be in an interesting direction for you.”

Desperate to get her aunt talking about anything but Alex, Kristen asked, “How did your meeting go?”

Her aunt gave her a look that said she knew Kristen was avoiding. Then she said, “Dean Whitiker was very cordial, and of course he understood that I needed time to do other things.”

“So you’ll still be able to teach a few classes if you want?”

“He seemed amenable to the idea.” Her aunt looked up. “I see the window is fixed. What time did Chuck get here?”

“Actually, your handyman never got back to me.”

Appearing surprised, Aunt Margaret asked, “Then how—”

“Alex.”

“Really. The chief of police fixed our store window? And how did that happen?”

Kristen explained, telling her aunt about their earlier encounter and then Alex’s showing up to replace the pane of glass.

“I do believe he’s sweet on you.”

“Is not!”

Her aunt laughed. “You’re certain of that?”

“Well, it wouldn’t matter if he was.” Kristen threw herself back into her desk chair. “I can’t get involved with anyone from Sparrow Lake.”

“Why ever not?”