2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
T his can’t be happening.
With a frustrated groan, Belle put on her right-turn signal and looked for a spot to pull over. When she pulled to a stop, she tried to figure out what she was getting pulled over for. She definitely wasn’t speeding, not in this winter weather.
Her gaze strayed to the digital clock on her dash. Only three minutes remained until she was late for work. She stared straight ahead, trying not to get worked up. The calmer she remained, the sooner she’d be on her way. The boutique was only a block away.
After a moment, when the officer still didn’t appear at her window, she glanced into the side mirror. He hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet. Her gaze returned to the clock. Only two minutes now.
Her hands clenched as the endless waiting continued. This had to be some sort of mix-up. Somehow, she didn’t think Mavis would find it interesting.
And then the door of the car behind her opened. At last. Belle watched as the officer got out of the car. Even with the wide-brimmed hat hiding part of his face, she’d know Sheriff Bishop anywhere.
His steps were measured. He wasn’t in any rush. It was almost like he knew she was now officially late for work. And it was all his fault. He better have a good reason for stopping her.
When he neared her car, she lowered her window. A gust of wintry air rushed inside the car. Yet another reason this stop needed to be brief.
The sheriff stopped next to her door. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking because of those tinted sunglasses. She felt as though she were at a disadvantage.
“I wasn’t speeding.” She’d skipped the pleasantries. They weren’t friends, so there was no point in pretending they were.
“For once.” His voice was deep and firm.
Not having time for this nonsense, she asked, “Why did you pull me over?”
“Your tail light is out.”
“My tail light?” Was he serious? By the no-nonsense look on his handsome face, he was perfectly serious. She struggled to keep her voice neutral. “Thanks for letting me know. Now can I go?”
“Not so fast.” He held up his citation book. “Could I have your license and registration?”
“My what?” Surely, she hadn’t heard him correctly. “But it’s only a burned-out tail light?”
His brows rose. “License and registration.”
She was losing her effort to stay calm. He’d just written her a ticket last month. This was starting to get costly.
“You surely aren’t going to give me a ticket, are you?” Rushing on, she said, “I mean, I obviously didn’t know the light was burned-out, or I would have fixed it.”
Without a word, he held out his hand for the requested items.
She frowned at him. It was no wonder they weren’t friends. They hadn’t been friends in school, and things hadn’t changed since they’d graduated. The man was so irritating and such a stickler for following the rules. He never knew what it was to bend rules at times.
Every time she saw him, he was always so serious. Sometimes, she’d swear that if he smiled, his face would crack, which would be a shame because he was quite handsome. Not that she was interested or anything. In fact, if he was the last man alive on the planet, she still wouldn’t be interested.
She wasn’t sure her car insurance could handle another ticket.
They already raised the rates for the past two speeding violations.
The first ticket had been last summer when she was three miles per hour over the limit.
The second time was just last month when she was four miles per hour over.
It was why she kept a close eye on her speed when she was in town.
In fact, she now drove below the speed limit.
And that was why getting pulled over this time really bothered her.
Still, her mother used to say: “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” So, Belle tried to put some honey in her voice. “Couldn’t you just let it pass this time?” She forced a smile to her lips. “After all, I was under the speed limit.”
He arched a brow at her. “You should always drive the speed limit. You shouldn’t get rewarded for following the law.”
No wonder this guy was still single. With a huff, she reached for her purse and grabbed her wallet. She held it out to him.
“Please remove your license.”
She didn’t want to do anything to help him write her a ticket. But she didn’t have time to drag this out. She was certain her boss was wondering what had happened to her. She yanked out her license. Without even looking at him, she held it out.
“And your registration.”
With another sigh, she leaned over and opened the glove box. A bunch of white napkins filled it. It’d been a while since she’d cleaned it out. She’d been distracted since she’d gotten the puppy.
She yanked the napkins out and placed them on the passenger seat. After tossing a few more things on the seat, she finally located the registration card. She handed it over to him.
“I really need to get to work,” she said.
“I’ll just be a moment.” He walked away.
Seriously? She couldn’t believe he was dragging this out. Couldn’t he just write the ticket and be on his way? No. He had to take his good old time. It wasn’t like she had anywhere to be or anything.
She put up her window. With a huff, she watched in the rearview mirror as he got into his cruiser with the lights still flashing, as if enough people hadn’t noticed that she had been pulled over again. This was humiliating.
Her fingers drummed on the steering wheel. What was he doing? Running her plates? Checking her ID for any outstanding warrants?
She’d have gladly told him that he wouldn’t find anything. The only place she had any tickets was in Kringle Falls. And the only officer who insisted on pulling her over was him. It was like he had it out for her or something.
At last, he walked back to her car. He was just about to hand her license and registration back to her when her phone rang. A quick glance at the screen on her dash let her know it was her boss. Oh, boy. This is not good.
“You can have these.” He handed over her cards.
As she put them away, she caught him writing something. Probably how much she now owed city hall or whoever collected the fines.
He tore off the ticket but before he handed it to her, he said, “You really need to get that light fixed as soon as possible. With the bad weather that’s supposed to blow in, you don’t want a tail light out. It isn’t safe.” Then he handed her the ticket. “Have a good day.”
A good day? Is he serious? He wrote her a ticket, and she was late for work. What was good about any of that?
Without taking the time to read the ticket, she tossed it onto the passenger seat with the heap of napkins. She put the car in drive and resisted the urge to tramp the accelerator. Instead, she put on her turn signal and then calmly merged into traffic.
When she reached the boutique, she drove around to the back, where there was a small parking lot.
She turned off the engine, and since she was already late, she took a moment to gather her thoughts.
She was still steamed over the fact that Sheriff Bishop had pulled her over and proceeded to write her a ticket for her tail light being out.
Couldn’t he have just let her know and let it go at that?
Now that she was late, Mavis would give her a hard time about leaving for lunch. And she had to step out because she had the puppy at home counting on her to give him a potty break. With a sigh, she grabbed her purse and phone. She got out of the car and closed the door.
She turned and took a step. Her foot landed on ice. In the next instant, her feet slipped out from under her. It happened so fast the next thing she knew, her backside smacked the ice. Ouch.
She groaned. This day was totally against her. What was it her mother used to say? That bad things came in threes. She was late for work. She got pulled over. So, did this make her third bit of bad luck? She hoped so.
A car door closed in the alleyway. Before she could get to her feet, she heard a familiar voice.
“Belle, are you all right?” Sheriff Bishop rushed to her side. “Do you need an ambulance?”
He was the very last person she wanted to see, especially in this awkward situation. She frowned at him. “I’m fine.”
When she tried to stand up, her feet slid across the ice. It appeared the whole parking lot was nothing but a sheet of ice. The cold and dampness seeped through her skirt. Not only was she late, but she was going to look like a mess too. It appeared her bad luck just kept rolling along.
The next thing she knew there were capable hands wrapping around her and helping her to her feet. She was grateful to be off the ice, but she wasn’t happy for his help. They weren’t friends. They weren’t even friendly.
“What are you doing here?” She pressed her hands to her hips, ignoring the tender bruise forming on her left side. “Are you following me?”
He frowned at her. “I didn’t really expect a thank you, but I don’t deserve that accusation.”
Her gaze searched his. She refused to acknowledge the way his intense stare made her heart beat faster. Instead, she focused on her suspicion that he’d followed her. But why? She’d noticed he hadn’t directly answered her question.
Her gaze narrowed on him. “Why are you following me?”
A lopsided smile formed on his lips before he shook his head.
She hated the way her breath caught in her throat as she stared at him.
He was undeniably handsome. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the way he’d irritated her since they were kids.
And she wasn’t going to think about the time he’d gotten her disqualified from a school track meet because her foot had accidentally been over the start line.
“I wasn’t following you.” His tone was matter of fact. “As you know, I patrol the town, and it’s a small town. We are bound to run into each other.”
It was true this was a small town. At times like this, it was too small. She had no choice but to accept his words.
“Fine. I have to go to work.” She paused. “Unless you plan to give me another ticket.”
His brows lifted high on his forehead. “No. No ticket this time. But make sure you get that light fixed.”
“I will.” And then she straightened her shoulders and carefully walked away.
She slipped a couple of times, but she remained upright. And though she didn’t look over her shoulder, she sensed him staring at her as she walked away. She was tempted to glance back at him, but she refused to let him know that his presence got to her.
She opened the back door and let herself inside. Over the speaker system, she could hear “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” This morning, she didn’t know if she agreed with the song.
As she slipped off her coat and hung it up, she heard the click of heels on the tile floor. Belle braced herself to deal with her boss. She hurriedly shrugged off her winter coat and hung it up.
No sooner had she done that when her boss approached her. Her gray hair was pulled up in her standard bun. And her ivory face was made up, but there was a frown on it. “You’re late.”
“I’m so sorry. Everything that could go wrong this morning did go wrong.”
Mavis arched her penciled brow. “You know I don’t care for excuses.”
“Yes, ma’am. It won’t happen again.”
“It better not.” Mavis gave her clothes a once-over. “What happened to you? Your skirt is wrinkled and…and wet.”
Belle sighed, and her shoulders drooped. “I fell on the ice in the parking lot.”
“Oh, no.” Her boss’s brows rose, and then with genuine concern in her voice, she asked, “Are you all right?”
Belle nodded, although she was quite certain her hip was going to have a big bruise by morning.
“That was supposed to have been taken care of.” Her brows drew together as her frown deepened. “I’ll call Frosty Plows. They better get someone here right away.” A look of concern came over her again. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine. I promise.”
Thankfully, Mavis lived above the boutique and had no reason to be in the parking lot.
At her age, a slip and fall could be very serious.
For the last several years, the winters had been getting to her.
She said that her joints didn’t work so well when the temperature dipped.
She’d been talking about moving to Florida to join her sister.
Wanting to reassure Mavis that everything would be all right, she said, “They’re probably running behind after the big snow last night.”
“Probably. But I can’t have people getting injured out there. Look at you. You could have broken something.”
Belle glanced down at her clothes. The side of her blue skirt was covered in muck. And there were a couple of tears. She inwardly groaned. It was beyond repair.
She glanced over at her winter coat. It had taken the brunt of her fall, but it didn’t appear to be damaged—just a bit dirty, but that was easily remedied.
It had protected her navy-blue sweater with a big snowman with a red cap and orange nose.
She’d bought it last year from the clearance rack, and this was the first time she’d worn it.
“Stay right there,” Mavis said. “I’ll be right back.”
Belle looked down at her skirt again. This was her favorite skirt. It matched her sweater perfectly. She rushed to the bathroom and grabbed a couple of paper towels. She dampened them before rushing back to the spot where she’d agreed to wait for Mavis.
Her boss returned. “Here.” She held out a blue skirt. “Put this on.”
“Oh. Uh…” She noticed that it wasn’t one of the cheaper skirts from the clearance rack.
In fact, this skirt was part of the new inventory.
It was dark blue denim that ended mid-calf.
It had embroidered snowflakes along one side.
Belle recalled admiring it when she’d hung it on the rack. It would go perfectly with her sweater.
“Go ahead.” Mavis gave the skirt a quick shake. “Take it. It’s the least I can do after you got hurt.”
“I, uh…” Belle was caught off guard by her boss’s generosity. “Thank you.”
“Can I get you anything else?”
Belle shook her head. “I’m good. Thank you.”
Just then the jingle of the front door could be heard. Mavis looked at her. “I’ll take care of that. You get changed.”
Belle retreated to the bathroom to get changed. She was touched that Mavis had given her the skirt. Maybe it was time to broach the subject of buying the shop.
Although, today probably wasn’t the right time. She was still shaken from being pulled over by the sheriff and being ticketed right there in the middle of town. With the way gossip made the rounds, the news would be all over town before lunch.
As Sheriff Bishop came to mind, she frowned. Why did he have to zero in on her? Weren’t there other people in town that deserved tickets?
Whatever. She would just keep her distance from him. She knew that was easier said than done, considering Kringle Falls was such a small town. But it wouldn’t stop her from trying to avoid him.