Chapter 6
six
DREW
Dan was right. The number of tourists in town before the opening of the annual Christmas festival is at least triple what it’s been for the seven years I’ve lived in Evergreen Lake.
They’re everywhere.
In the town square.
On the street.
In the shops.
And overflowing every eating establishment in town.
Including Lips & Hips.
Not one piece of the eclectic mix of mismatched furniture is free, and it’s standing room only in the small area in front of the hostess stand.
At this rate I won’t get lunch ordered, never mind made, before next week.
“Hey, Deputy Westwood, can I get you a table?”
Glancing to my side I find Missy Martinez next to me, a loaded tray of dirty dishes held over her shoulder, and wonder where she thinks she’s going to find me a table in this chaos. There’s not one empty seat in the place. And that includes the few highchairs.
“I’m after takeout if I can get it.”
With a grin, she says, “Hit me with it and I’ll get you out of here in no time.”
My eyes scan the room behind her and I’m skeptical of her words. “Been this busy all day?”
“Sure has. From the minute we opened. But we’ve always got time for our locals.”
“If you’re sure.” She’s nodding so I give her my order. “I’ll take two chicken salad sandwiches on sourdough, please.”
“Two? Got yourself an appetite today. Guess I’m not the only one run off my feet with all these tourists in town for the festival opening tomorrow night.”
“It’s shaping up to be the biggest turnout I’ve seen,” I say.
I don’t bother correcting her on her assumption the whole order is for me. The last thing I want is to become fodder for the town gossips and if anyone finds out I’m having lunch with Georgie, our names will be on all the wagging tongues until the next interesting thing pops up.
“Me too. And I’ve lived here my whole life. Okay. Two chicken salads on sourdough coming right up. If you want to wait outside, I’ll bring it out when it’s ready.”
With a nod, I hand her a fifty and tell her, “Keep the change,” before weaving my way through the customers waiting to be seated and push my way through the few standing in the open front door.
Cold air slaps my face and a breath of relief fills my lungs. That relief is short lived when I turn to find Mildred Blumenthal standing beside me with a devious smile on her face.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t our resident broody deputy.”
“Mrs. Blumenthal.”
“What brings you to Lips & Hips? Meeting someone for lunch? Or are you picking up some lunch for someone?” The whole time she speaks there’s a speculative twinkle in her eyes.
She can’t know I’m having lunch with Georgie. Although I wasn’t very secretive about asking, it’s the time between asking and now that makes it impossible for the gossip mill to have worked that fast.
Then again, this is Evergreen Lake, and Mildred, along with her two best friends, Sheila and Bernice, are the queens of gossip in this town. They somehow seem to know things before they happen.
“Keeping it close to your chest I see. Well.” She pats my arm with a wrinkled hand. “Whatever it is you’re doing, you keep doing it.”
The smile she gives me does nothing to bring me clarity, neither does the weird wink—which could be a tic—but I’m not about to ask her what she means because the last thing I need is to get caught up in whatever is going on in Mildred’s head.
I’m busy watching Mildred walk away and pondering whether I should warn Georgie about possible gossip about us when the crowd beside me parts and Missy comes barreling out onto the sidewalk, a carryout bag in her outstretched hand.
“Here you go.”
I grab the handle and turn to leave when Missy speaks.
“Keep the bag upright. I included a couple of tubs of our soup of the day. Cream of corn and chicken. It’ll go nicely with those sandwiches.”
When I turn, she has a knowing smirk on her face.
“And it’s Georgie’s favorite.”
I’m too stunned to speak.
“Tell her hello from me and let her know she was right. The book she recommended is fantastic! I’ll be in to get the next one in the series before the book’s return date.”
I nod, because I’m not sure what else to do or say. The last few minutes have been unusual in that both conversations seemed personal.
Nothing like the normal ones I have as Deputy Westwood, protector of the residents of Evergreen Lake.
Before the silence gets awkward, or I can come up with some kind of response that would make things more uncomfortable, Missy waves and disappears back inside Lips & Hips.
The beep of my watch reminds me of where I need to be and with a few quick strides I head for my department issue SUV. My plan is to park at the precinct and walk over to the library for my lunch date with Georgie.
But when I reach the curb, I find Sheriff Roberts waiting for me.
“Sir?”
“Westwood.” My boss shakes his head and sighs. “Still can’t knock that sir shit off, can you? I know I’m retiring but I’m not that old and hearing you call me sir makes me feel like I should be in a rocking chair with a crocheted blanket over my lap at the Evergreen Fields nursing home.”
I shake my head. It doesn’t feel right to use his last name—or first. I didn’t with my superiors back in Chicago. The term of respect is long ingrained and I doubt I’ll ever be able to stop.
I barely manage to refer to Stan and Dennis or any of the other deputies by their first names and I don’t use anything other than last names on the job.
In seven years I’ve kept a distance between myself and the men I work with. One I’ve been comfortable with.
I’m not looking forward to the coming change in command. I don’t know Sheriff Roberts’ replacement, although Dennis assures me he’s a good guy. A local boy who left town after high school and after years of policing in a larger city is returning to his small-town roots.
Not that I need to be worried about the new sheriff. Not when I have the current one in front of me.
“Is there something you need me for?” I ask when he doesn’t say anything else.
“Just a ride. I walked here but when I saw the cruiser I figured I’d hitch a ride back.” He nods at the bag in my hand. “Lunch?”
“Ah, yeah, I, um.” Shit. This having a personal life is proving difficult to navigate. How do I tell my boss I’ve got a date for lunch?
“Didn’t think it was a hard question,” he chuckles as he claps me on the shoulder and turns toward the passenger side. “Just drop me off at the precinct.”
“I was going to return the cruiser to the precinct before taking my break in case someone needs it. If you drive, you can drop me off on the way.”
“The library is barely a block away from us.”
“I know. But I’d prefer it to be on hand for official use than have it sitting in the parking lot behind the library. Or out the front.”
“It might be good if it were on the street out the front. Let all these tourists know we’re watching.”
“Do you think we should expect trouble?”
“No. No. But it pays to be proactive.”
“There hasn’t been anything other than a couple of traffic infringements so far,” I say, my mind running through other possibilities which, with my previous police work in Chicago, are a lot more serious than going five miles over the limit.
“Speaking of traffic offenses. Please tell me that’s not lunch for you and Marnie Gordon.”
“What?” Digging in my pocket, I pull out the cruiser keys and toss them at my boss as I walk past him.
We’re in the cruiser and pulling out into traffic before the Sheriff answers me.
“Marnie Gordon. Tell me you’re not having lunch with her.”
I have no idea why he’d think I’m sharing a meal with her. “Eh, no.”
“Good. No one needs to deal with him.”
“Umm…Marnie’s not a him.”
“No. But her father is. And he’s a pompous pain in the ass. I can’t wait to hand that bullshit over to Maddox.”
“Ah.” I understand what he’s talking about now. Mr. Gordon is definitely a pain in the ass.
“Yes. I don’t know what Maddox will do about her and her father but I don’t care how long the Gordon family has lived in Evergreen Lake or how much money they have put into this community over the years. Speeding is speeding, and if you get caught you pay the fine, and if you get caught often enough you lose your license.”
“Who ticketed her?” I can’t imagine Stan or Dennis doing it and I haven’t since my second month on the job which was when I discovered Mr. Gordon’s pain in the ass tendencies.
“Me.”
“Oh.”
“You all could have warned me what to expect. The last time I did a traffic stop I think the girl was in middle school. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still have given her the ticket, but I’d have been prepared for Mr. Gordon.”
I cringe. We should have warned him it’s an unspoken rule between us deputies that if we catch Marnie speeding we let her off with a warning. It isn’t worth dealing with her father if we ticket her, and having stopped her usually means she slows down for a few days, sometimes weeks.
“Um, yes, we tend to give her warnings, Deputy Mitchell says he threatens to take her keys for twenty-four hours.” I shrug. “I’m not sure how that makes a difference but it keeps her speed down for the longest when he’s the one to pull her over.”
“Huh.” The Sheriff slows for a group of tourists crossing the road. “You going to tell me who you’re sharing that lunch with?”
Georgie’s name is on the tip of my tongue but I don’t speak. I want to protect us from possible gossip but that’s not the only reason I can’t bring myself to say her name.
I don’t want to talk to anyone about what might be happening between me and the town’s librarian.
I want her for myself.
The thought of sharing her has my gut cramping and my fists clenching.
I’m sure it’s an overreaction due to the way my marriage ended and completely unfair to Sheriff Roberts or any other man in Evergreen Lake.
I trusted my wife to be faithful and that trust was misplaced.
But Georgie?
We might not have spent a lot of time together, and I might not know her in the conventional sense, but I’ve watched her for seven years.
Seven years of observing her, of seeing the way she treats those around her. I know she occasionally goes out with Ben Harper but it’s nothing more than friendship between them.
If it was more, the last thing she’d do would be accept a date with me.
I can only hope that the fact she agreed to have lunch with me today and meet me for dinner tomorrow night isn’t the same as her meals with Ben.
“Here you go.” Sheriff Roberts pulls up in front of the library.
Looking out the window I see Georgie inside. She’s helping someone at the checkout desk and the smile she gives them has one growing on my own face.
“You getting out?”
I can hear the humor in the Sheriff’s voice and turn to face him. “Yes. I’ll let dispatch know I’m on break and I’ll be back in an hour.”
“I’ll tell them when I get to the office. Just call in when you’re finished. I might want you to do a walk around, make sure we’ve got a visible presence for the tourists pouring into town.”
“I can do that.”
“All right. Let dispatch know when you head out, I’ll get one of the others to head out on foot too.”
I glance at my watch. It’s a little before one. “Tell whoever to meet me here at two. We can tour the town together.”
“Okay.”
“Thanks for the ride,” I say as I pop the door open, but before I can get out Sheriff Roberts stops me.
“I’ve known that girl most of her life. She didn’t live here year-round when she was younger but every summer she and her family would come to town and stay with her grandmother. She shouldn’t be able to keep the smile on her face with the losses she’s endured.”
“I...” Swallowing, I roll everything I know about Georgie around in my head.
Her grandmother died three years ago and I know neither of her parents are alive and she has no siblings. What I don’t know are the circumstances of her being on her own.
“The last thing I would do is hurt her.”
“Good. Good.” He’s nodding, the grim line of his mouth turning up. “Not that I thought you would, but take it from someone who’s seen and experienced a few things over the years. Georgie Bookman is one of the rare ones. She’s worth the effort and any man who snags her heart would have to break it to lose it.”
It’s then I realize I never told him where to drop me or who I’m meeting. How he knew I was coming to the library to Georgie doesn’t matter. The words he’s shared are a truth I know to my bones.
If a man was lucky enough to have her heart, he wouldn’t want for anything else.
And he would have to break Georgie’s heart to lose it.