Chapter Forty-Four
Adam
Our shift the next day started at nine, and when I walked in the kitchen at eight-thirty, Lainey was sitting at the island with a cup of coffee, dressed and ready, like she was going somewhere.
“You regretting that three a.m. feeding?” she asked with a grin as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and poured coffee in my travel mug.
“Never!”
That was the truth. I freaking loved that little boy and cherished my middle of the night time with him. When it ended, I was going to be crushed.
I think being under the same roof and continuing to spend time with Lainey had lessened the blow of our fling ending. Although the thought of her going on a date with someone else still made me queasy, I at least got to be around her.
It didn’t make not being able to touch her any easier though.
“I’m still liking that uniform on you, Officer Callahan,” she teased as she brought the mug to her lips.
“And I’m still liking those jeans on you, Ms. Beaumont. Although I liked them better on the floor next to my bed.”
Her eyebrows raised in surprise at my reply.
“Wow, that escalated quickly.”
“You started it.”
She gave me a saccharine smile.
“And like you, I’m ending it.”
“That’s not fair, Lainey.”
“What’s not fair about it?”
I chewed on my bottom lip as I struggled to come up with a retort.
Finally, I blustered out, “We both agreed it was temporary. You said, ‘Secrets make it hotter,’ remember? Well, we’ve reached a point where it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.”
“You’re right, I did say that.” She looked at me with a sad smile. “I guess I wasn’t ready for it to end so quickly.”
“I wasn’t either, prince—Lainey. But it’s probably better now than later, after we’d fallen in love.”
A little voice popped into my head to whisper, “Too late.”
Fuck.
I couldn’t already be in love with her.
But I knew I was.
Once we figured out who was behind the threats to her, I had to get the hell out of town before I did something I’d regret.
Like make her mine.
****
Lainey
Teresa was waiting on the porch when I pulled into the O’Briens’ driveway.
I quickly got out and went around to the backseat to unbuckle Conor, then grabbed the insulated bag with the bottles of breast milk off the floorboard and rushed up the walk.
“You are a lifesaver!” I exclaimed as I handed Conor to her.
“I told you, dear, I’m happy to take my grandson anytime. Aren’t you glad you started him on a bottle?”
“I have never been more glad about anything in my life!”
Okay that was a slight exaggeration, but I felt it in the moment.
I jogged down the porch steps and called over my shoulder, “Hopefully, the bakery’s window gets installed with no problem, and I can open by noon, at the latest. So, if you need to bring him by, I can take him to the apartment.”
I opened the Civic’s door and paused for her response.
“I think I’d feel safer if he were with us.”
“Yeah, me too. Thank you again, Teresa.”
She blew me a kiss and I slid into the driver’s seat and drove toward Main Street.
~~~~
Earl’s rusty, white pickup was already at the bakery when I pulled into a parking spot between it and three spaces that had been blocked off by orange plastic cones.
The cones were a good sign.
I dug through my purse for my keys on my way to where he was waiting with two college-aged guys on the sidewalk in front of the bakery.
“Sorry I’m late!”
“You know,” Earl chastised as I unlocked the original lock, then the deadbolt that Brian had installed. “I’m supposed to be able to access the property.”
I opened the door and smiled sweetly at him.
“With twenty-four hours’ notice.”
“I’m entitled to a key, Lainey.”
“I’ll see what I can do about getting you a copy.”
It wasn’t top on my priority list, but I knew I needed to comply. As the owner of the building, Earl was within his rights to demand a key to the new lock.
I tried to ignore how he stared at my tits while the younger men made quick work of removing the plywood covering the hole in the facade of the building.
They then went about vacuuming any remaining glass in the window frame and sill with a portable vacuum one of the guys carried on his back like a backpack.
“Wow, that thing’s pretty awesome.”
He gave me a flirtatious smile that revealed straight, white teeth and a dimple in his cheek.
“I get that a lot.”
With that smile, I bet that wasn’t all he got.
But he was too young for me. Funny how my tastes and priorities in men had changed in only a year.
What used to be, “Is he hot and will we have fun together?” had turned into, “What kind of father would he be and is there any long-term potential?”
Well, excluding Adam.
That had been all about sex.
At least the first time.
Earl turned to me and asked, “So, what are you going to do to reimburse me for the deductible?”
What am I going to do?
I joked, “I can give you free pastries for a month.”
And once again his eyes were glued to my boobs when he replied, “No… that’s not what I had in mind.”
Ew.
I hoped he wasn’t implying what I thought he was implying. Because the beer gut hanging over his belt buckle, slicked back hair, and nicotine-stained teeth weren’t doing it for me.
“Um, I thought you said I could make payments?”
His gaze lifted to my face. Finally.
“Yeah. Exactly. What kind of payments were you thinking.”
“How about a hundred dollars a month for five months?”
“Can you make the first payment on Friday?”
“I should be able to swing that.”
“I’ll come by Friday evening.”
The truck containing the window stopped in the street, and one of the college guys ran out to move the cones so the driver could park along the three spaces.
A crowd formed as the men unloaded the glass.
This was probably the most exciting thing the Haven Springs’ citizens would see all day.
Thankfully, Earl’s wife showed up, and he took his eyeballs outside to talk with her and some other people he recognized.
No doubt he’d make sure to tell them all about the help he was giving me with the deductible.
Thanks to how much he liked to toot his own horn, everyone in town already knew I didn’t have a rent payment until August first because he was so generous .
Barf.
I sat down and watched the window installers put in the new piece of glass. They made it look so easy, and I quickly realized I was going to be able to open earlier than I’d thought, so I fired off a text to Marie and asked her to come in as soon as she could.
Once the men started caulking the window, I headed to the kitchen to get ready to open.
****
Adam
I backed the patrol car into a space across the street from the bakery, and Brian and I watched as people approached to watch the window be installed like it was a fucking play being performed.
“Anyone look out of place?” I asked as I scanned the group.
“No.”
“Who’s the chubby guy who came out of the bakery?”
“Earl Schilling, her landlord.”
I scoured the crowd again, looking for any skinnier-than-average guys who were a little shorter than me who seemed like he could wield a bat.
The window installers looked like they might play league softball on the weekends, but they were all stockier than the man who’d jumped me.
No one fit the description. The more people I met in this town who didn’t fit the description, the more convinced I was it was that Freddy dude who allegedly got beat up by a cow.
I noticed Brian’s fingers flying over the keyboard as he typed out a message. A minute later, his phone buzzed.
“Lainey says she’ll be open by eleven thirty. We can drop in later and see how she’s doing.”
I put my seatbelt on, started the engine, then put the car in drive.
“Where to, boss?”
The computer made a beeping noise I hadn’t heard yet. I’d begun learning the basics that morning, so I wasn’t familiar with all the different sounds and what they meant.
“Hang on a sec.”
Brian swiveled the screen and keyboard toward him so he could use the computer and clicked a few buttons. His department email account popped up, and he opened a waiting message. From my angle, I wasn’t able to see who it was from.
After a few minutes, he muttered, “Oh shit. DPS’s lab was able to lift some messages from both the note yesterday and the first letter.”
“Damn, that was fast.”
“Angus must have had some dirt on someone to get it turned around that quick.” He looked over at me with a grin. “Looks like we’re headed to the station to talk to their forensics guy.”
****
Lainey
I went to unlock the bakery door and almost burst into tears. There was a line waiting to get in.
As irritating as it could be having everyone know my business, there was no denying there were perks to living in a small town.
This being one of them. Haven Springs always rallied around their own.
I flipped the sign and opened the door with a big smile.
“Welcome!” I said and watched in amazement as person after person filed through.
Damn, I hope Kristy and I baked enough yesterday afternoon!
~~~~
The baked goods selection for the people at the end of the line was more limited, but there were still items available for customers when they reached the counter.
My stomach dipped when I noticed who was last: a group of girls who’d been seniors in high school when I was a freshman. They’d been the typical mean girl clique, but I’d managed to fly far enough under the radar to not experience their wrath firsthand before they graduated.
When I noticed Shawn’s ex-girlfriend, Molly Daugherty, among them, I had a feeling that was going to change.
While technically I’d never done anything to her—she and Shawn had broken up before they’d even headed to college, to hear Granny O’Brien tell it, the two had still been destined to be together. That is, until I came along and ruined everything.
Shawn never once gave me the impression he was hung up on Molly, but I had no idea what her take on the situation was. There had to be a basis for Granny’s conviction the two were going to get married someday.