How To Land Her Lawman. Teresa Southwick
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Man, it was going to be a long, hot summer.
* * *
April heard a knock on the sliding glass door in her kitchen and hurried to answer it. Kim Fletcher was standing on the back porch and she yanked the other woman inside.
“Thanks for coming. I’m glad you didn’t have plans with Luke.”
“I’d have canceled if I did. You said it was vital that we talk. What’s up?”
Her friend was engaged to be married this summer to another teacher at Blackwater Lake High School, where she worked in the English Department. Luke was the football coach in addition to teaching science. Her son, Tim, played freshman football and approved of the man his mom was going to marry. She’d found her happily-ever-after and April was glad at least one of them had.
“Did anyone at home know you were coming over here?”
Kim gave her a “really?” look. “News flash. My father, brother and son are guys. They don’t pay any attention to me. I could announce that I was going to be a fire eater in the circus and they’d say ‘Have a good time.’ I’m invisible to them.”
“Okay.” With Will in Chicago all this time, April had forgotten how inconvenient it was that her best friend and her ex were siblings. Who now temporarily lived together under the same roof. All she’d thought about was her own personal emergency and made an SOS call to her bestie. “I need to talk to you and the conversation calls for wine.”
“Twist my arm.” Kim held it out. “I promise I won’t say no.”
Kim Fletcher was pretty and for a long time April hadn’t thought about how much she looked like her brother. Same blue eyes and brown hair, although her friend’s was heavily highlighted, making her look more blonde. The thought of manly, masculine Will with highlighted hair almost made her smile.
After April poured Chardonnay into the two wineglasses waiting on the kitchen island, they carried them to the family room and sat on the sofa.
Kim scooted back and tucked her legs up beside her. “You saw Will.”
April sipped her wine then nodded. “I’d say you’re psychic except that he admitted the meeting was your idea. To avoid an awkward, public encounter.”
“You’re welcome,” Kim said.
“Hold it. I’m not on the gratitude train yet.” April had been jittery and uneasy ever since seeing him again. She liked status quo and really wanted it restored but wasn’t quite sure how to stuff all the emotional junk back in the jar. “It might have been better to take my chances. Maybe I wouldn’t have run into him at all.”
“Seriously?” The other woman gave her a you’re-kidding-yourself look. “This town is the size of a postage stamp. The sheriff’s office is right across the street from your shop. He’s living not very far from your back door. If you really believe your paths won’t cross in the three months he’ll be here, you’re in serious denial.”
“I know. And you’re right. But I wish you’d warned me.”
Kim shook her head. “Surprise was better. Your reaction had to be natural. Unscripted.”
April wanted to crawl into a hole when she thought about how it had gone seeing Will again. She hadn’t been prepared and preparation was her thing. When she got in the car, she mentally plotted the route to her destination. Writing a grocery list started on aisle one and ended at produce. For a photography sitting she always had cameras, lenses, backdrops and props ready.
Even though he lived in Chicago, she knew Will would return to Blackwater Lake from time to time because his family was here. Kim had always warned her when he was visiting and she’d successfully avoided him. In fact she hadn’t seen him at the hospital when his dad had surgery, but she knew he’d been there. She managed to stay out of his way. None of that stopped her from picturing how a meeting between them would go and in her imagination she’d always been less tongue-tied, her wit sharp as a stiletto. Her moment to make him sorry he hadn’t waited for her.
“I don’t know about unscripted,” April said ruefully, “but it was unsomething.”
“How was it? Seeing him again, I mean?” Sympathy gathered in Kim’s eyes.
“He looks good.” Really good. April hated to admit it, but he’d been right that she hadn’t wanted to tell him so. “And it’s nice of him to put his life on hold and come back to help the family.”
Kim nodded absently. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my brother. But I think there’s something going on with him. Career-wise, I mean. There have been family crises—God knows I was one. Being an unwed teenage mother certainly qualifies for family-crisis material. Mom was killed in that car accident not long after he entered the police academy. It’s not to say he doesn’t care because I know he does. But he never put work on hold to be here for us before.”
“Has he said anything?”
The other woman shook her head. “No. He just seems edgy, tense. Different. I don’t know. Maybe I’m seeing ghosts where there aren’t any.”
“Maybe you should talk to him about it.” April didn’t have the right to be involved in his life and it annoyed her that she couldn’t shut off her concern. “Get him to open up.”
“You know better than anyone that my brother doesn’t talk about stuff. Right now getting Dad back on his feet is the most important thing. Will stepping in for him as sheriff means Dad won’t worry about this town and can focus on getting strong again.”
“That’s true.” But April’s life would be far less complicated if the sheriff trusted someone besides his son. No matter how well Chicago PD trained its officers. On top of that Will knew Blackwater Lake inside and out. There was no doubt he would take good care of the town. “I just wish I knew how to get through the next three months with Will here.”
Thoughtfully, Kim tapped a fingernail against her wineglass. “A statement like that makes me think you’re still in love with my brother.”
“No. You’re wrong. It’s been a lot of years.” April rejected that suggestion with every fiber of her being. “That would just be stupid. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
“Hmm.” The woman stared at her. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
“A cliché? From Blackwater Lake High School’s favorite honors English teacher?”
“Clichés work because they convey a lot of truth. In this case, you seem to have strong feelings about seeing Will again. That doesn’t happen if you don’t care.” She finished the wine in her glass. “Hence, smoke and fire.”
“I can assure you that what I feel for Will isn’t love. It’s ancient history. I’ve had relationships since him.”
“But you make sure they never work. You always find an excuse to not take things to the next level. As soon as a guy even hints at getting serious, you shut down and blow him off completely.”
April shrugged. “So sue me. I want something special, to be swept away. Settling for less isn’t an option for me. And you have to kiss a lot of frogs...”
“Maybe.” Kim didn’t sound convinced. “Or maybe you need closure with the first frog. Maybe you never moved on after Will hopped away.”
“Finding him with another woman seemed like closure to me.” But, darn it, today he’d looked genuinely sorry about what had happened.
“Then why did you call me over here to talk? What’s the problem?” Her friend didn’t sound annoyed as much as frustrated that she couldn’t help.
“I guess the problem is that I really want to hate him. That would make this summer so much easier and less awkward. Hate is simple, straightforward and sensible. I can deal with hate. But