Chapter 2
Two
JACK
Nothing ever happened in Fate… despite his best attempts to cause a ruckus. One main road, a smattering of houses, one wishing well, a whole bunch of friendly busy-bodies with nothing else to do – and him.
Well, not just him, but most people left Fate long behind when they realized that the same kids who picked on them were now asking them out on a date.
There was no spark, no excitement, no element of wonder in the relationship…
for example, if you knew that Becky Sue Hollis dated Terry, kissed Tommy, had Matt’s baby, was engaged to marry Everett – but quietly cheating on him with Jimmy…
and every woman in town was pining for Rory to look their way – including Becky Sue.
Again – not him.
That was from a girl’s point of view, according to his grandma, who loved to gossip and Maybelline, the dispatcher of the smallest police department on God’s green earth.
Fate had three officers whose calls usually involved a stuck vehicle, a broken-down tractor in the road, someone’s dogs got loose, a ‘Rory-Spotting’ that sent Maybelline into a tizzy despite her married status, or gossip about the infamous Becky Sue.
Jack was the mouthy one who had nothing to lose.
He believed in luck, a whole lot of it, honestly – with a helping of destiny.
I mean, when you live in a town named Fate, there has to be a bit of magic somewhere, right?
A sprinkling of fairy dust, a mist of something otherworldly… or perhaps that was pollen.
Today was gonna be another boring day, another dreary shift, spent harassing his buddies at the station, pushing Maybelline to make her famous banana pudding – or finding some other way to amuse himself.
Heck, they didn’t even have a fire department in Fate for him to harass like other towns… yet he couldn’t leave.
He grew up here, ran through these fields and trees like a barefoot heathen, learned how to catch a catfish in the moonlight with only his hands, and he had so many memories that were precious within the town that never seemed to grow, never seemed to expand, almost as if it was frozen in time.
He heard about those wild boys at the fire station in Ember Creek, shook his head at some of the antics that had reached his ears from Yonder…
and truthfully, the only reason they actually had somewhat of a police station was it was too far out of Tyler’s district and not close enough to Lufkin or Nacogdoches.
If you looked at a map, managed to find Tyler, brushed off a speck of dirt…
Fate would be the shadow of yet another shadow, if you meandered on a dirt road down to the southeast – maybe.
One stop light, one mail truck, a family-run convenience store, one gas station…
and if you blink – then you’d pass right through Fate.
That was home.
One lonely, barely-there police officer, one small town time forgot, one old house he was fixing up with his free time for a family someday…
and one heartfelt wish for something more.
That silent wish had gone unanswered for so long that Jack thought today would be just like all of the other ones – until today.
Her.
Heidi.
Now, Jack might have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night. He took one look at that woman, saw a keen lack of appeal in her eyes, and knew it was on him to change her mind. She was a novelty, a new person, fresh ‘meat’ in town, and he found her first.
If that wasn’t destiny, he didn’t know what else it could be.
“Now, Miss Heidi…”
“You can address me Miss Thompson,” she snapped at him – and that was perfectly fine. He liked a little sass in a woman, which is why he was always harassing Maybelline. She was safe – married, with grandbabies, and didn’t take flak from anyone, much less him.
“Fine, Heidi,” he chuckled. “We’ll play your little game for a hot-minute…”
“I’m in a police car with one bare foot, and my car is stranded on the side of the road. How is any of this a ‘game’ to you, officer?”
She was pissed – and he was fighting back a smile at her reaction. Gosh, did she even realize how adorable she was talking with her hands like that? It just made him want to grab her wrists, hold them in front of her, to see if it made her silent.
“Feisty…” he clicked his tongue at her – and her eyebrows shot up as her mouth worked before the hands went flying. He was sincerely grateful there was a grate between him and his newfound fascination – Miss Heidi Thompson.
“Where are we going? I thought you said that town was a few miles away – that means minutes to anyone who drives faster than idle. If you didn’t know it, ‘Oss-a-fer’, the pedal on the right is the gas… so let’s do us both a favor and mash that sucker down as hard as you can – right now!”
And he chuckled.
“You think this is funny?” she railed, her face getting redder and redder, as he just drove along slowly, navigating this bad patch of road so she didn’t bump her head.
The debate on whether this road was Ember Creek’s, Fate’s, or part of the Baird Property was getting a little old.
He was half tempted to patch it himself…
except he was pouring every extra dollar into his house.
This road was the town’s responsibility – not his.
“None of this is funny! Not the massive pile of cow poop…”
“Horse,” he offered – but she was in such a snit that she ignored him, still yelling at the back of his head like that was where his ears were.
“Now some redneck-Cletus has thrown my only pair of shoes that I have with me into a field. It doesn’t help that I’ve got two flat tires, or…”
“Are you finished yet?”
“Did you find that gas pedal yet?” she shot back, blasting hotter than a flame.
“I was trying to be nice to my passenger by not flinging you into the headliner by taking a pothole at thirty-five miles per hour.”
“It’s thirty-five out here?” she yelped, looking shocked in the rearview mirror.
“Are you admitting to speeding, Miss Thompson?” he asked carefully, trying to hold back a smile as she suddenly sank back down into her seat and looked away from him – muttering ‘No’ under her breath.
It would only be a few minutes before they entered town, then he’d run her over to the market, where hopefully they’d have something.
If not, he’d go by the church and see if anyone had donated anything lately.
The nearest shopping mall was about forty-five minutes away in Tyler or Lufkin.
As they started to drive into town toward the grocery, heck, all of Fate…
he heard an exclamation from his passenger, causing him to look up in the rearview mirror, hearing something in her voice.
Heidi was staring out the passenger window, looking around in a mixture of disbelief and dismayed surrender.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” she breathed, horrified.
“Welcome to Fate,” he began, and saw her eyes meet his in the mirror as she swallowed before shaking her head.
“No, buddy… this place is where Fate comes to die,” she said hoarsely, looking stunned. “This is not a town, it’s a lost cause…”
“Now there are several people who would disagree with you…”
“Because they’re inbred? Do you hear banjos? How are you going to get me shoes in a barely-there town that probably doesn’t even wear shoes? I didn’t know that there were hillbilly communities that still existed like this. I thought it was people in the backwoods of Appalachia that…”
“I think you’ve said enough,” Jack interrupted, frowning at her. “If you are looking for help or a moment to catch your breath, it would probably be best not to insult the people who are blindly willing to help you out of the goodness of their hearts.”
“Like you – helping yourself to my shoe?”
He put the cruiser in park, turned it off, and got out.
Plastering a congenial smile on his face, he moved to open the passenger door, knowing that several sets of eyes would be on him – them.
As Heidi stood up, he whispered under his breath to her, hoping she understood what he was trying to say as politely as possible.
“Some people have a lot less than you – yes – but they are kind enough to offer the help that you currently and so desperately need… so please, be kind.”
“You realize this place is barely a blip on a map,” she whispered back to him, smiling politely and nodding like they were having some grand conversation.
He felt a bit of relief that she was playing along for the moment, fighting the urge to lean in and kiss the woman senseless.
Yes, he liked a bit of sass in a woman, but she certainly pushed the edge of what was tolerable, making him wonder if he could actually handle someone as strong as her…
or if this was a fanciful mistake on his part.
Maybe I’m wrong about fate or destiny…
“Let’s go,” he gestured – and reached out to grab her elbow before she stepped in the old drain that ran along the sidewalk.
It was an old wrought iron one that was rusted but still incredibly pretty with ‘Fate’ written in the bars like something out of vintage Hollywood.
That silly grate was probably as old as the town that had been founded in 1840, built on hopes and dreams… and Heidi was right.
Many ‘fates’ had died in this town over the years.
“Let go of me…”
“You don’t need to add ‘Tetanus’ to your list of grievances against me.”
She looked down at the grate, looked at her elbow, and then met his eyes. He heard her swallow, felt his heart skip a beat, as he stared into the most glorious brown eyes he’d ever seen. They reminded him of old-fashioned caramel that you’d dip crisp apples in – deep, rich, warm…
“Get off me, you cretin.”
And sour, he thought silently, releasing her elbow and shaking his head as she stomped off – one sneaker and one bare foot as regal as the queen of England. Maybe they were sour, tart, and distinctly bitter apples… or maybe she just needs the right man to sweeten her up?
He thought with a wide grin, watching her.
The door opened with a bell, and she walked inside, which spurred him forward to join her, enjoying this whole adventure with a relish that wasn’t hard to pinpoint where it was coming from.
She was definitely not what he had imagined when he woke up this morning…
There was a bit of excitement to this woman that set his heart pounding, which he was quite enjoying.
“She’s my spicy little Heidi – a bit of sweetness with a whole lot of bite,” he chuckled in quiet delight, hoping that she hung around town for a while.