Chapter 10 #2
"You used to do this for a living, didn’t you?"
He didn’t have to think about how to answer that. "I did the civil side of this for a living."
“Meaning what?”
Reno did have to stop and think about how to answer that. He exhaled hard and said, “I’m an attorney. I specialized in going after high-powered corporate criminals and prosecuting them.”
“State or federal prosecutor?”
“Private, actually. Big corporations hired me to take down criminals inside their companies before the government could get involved. Saved them a lot of fines and public embarrassment to handle it in house.”
“So you have a lot of experience with criminal investigations. Our little sheriff’s department is stretched thin covering whatever’s going on with Grace, and we could sure use the help of a guy with your background. You interested in helping out?”
The question hung between them.
Reno thought about Grace. He thought about Lily. He thought about Dillon telling him he was allowed to walk through doors in front of him.” I'm in."
Cooper held out a hand, and Reno shook it.
“One thing, Coop. Only a few people in town know about my background, and I’d like to keep it that way. I have no plans to hang out a shingle and go back into law, and I don’t want to be inundated with people looking for legal help.”
Cooper grinned. “Fair enough. My brother, Gray, was complaining to me just the other day that he never should’ve told anyone around here about his background in animal genetics.
Every rancher in the valley is asking him to help them upgrade their herds, not to mention the kooks who bother him with questions about growing bigger tomatoes or crossing weird species of squashes. Your secret’s safe with me.”
Reno nodded his thanks. He’d known Cooper long enough on the rodeo circuit to know the man’s word was his bond.
He drove Grace to the bakery and then headed back to the cottage.
He walked a circuit around the outside of the house and didn’t see anything out of place.
Curious, he strolled down the lakefront and walked out on Grace’s dock.
It was solidly built but nails were starting to poke up out of the wood slats here and there.
Lily couldn’t walk on this barefoot with it like this.
He headed for the garage and was pleasantly surprised by the big, well-stocked workbench along one wall.
He found a hammer and headed back to the dock.
His knee brace made it impossible to kneel properly, so he ended up sitting down and scooching along the dock from nail to nail in need of pounding in.
As he did so, it became clear that the dock was far too rough and splinter prone for tender little feet, as well.
He took the hammer back to the garage and rummaged in the drawers of a big, steel drawer cabinet until he found a package of round sandpaper meant to attach to a drill.
He’d already seen the drill in another drawer and pulled it out, too.
Several long extension cords were coiled on a wall hook, and he spent the next several minutes uncoiling them and laying them across the back yard and down to the dock.
He went to work sanding the boards, sitting down with his legs stretched out in front of him.
Lily and Grace came home when he was about three fourths done with the top of the deck, and they came out to see what he was doing.
“You didn’t have to do this!” Grace exclaimed.
“It gave me something to do, and it’s a beautiful day,” he replied easily. “I should finish this in the next hour or so.”
Grace nodded, looking a bit overwhelmed. “I’ll, umm, go start supper. Unfortunately, I live on baker’s time, which means we eat at about five o’clock so I can be in bed by nine.”
“No need to apologize. That works for me. Can I help with supper?”
She glanced at the freshly sanded dock. “I’m cooking for you, tonight, to say thanks for doing this.”
“No thanks are necessary,” he murmured.
Their gazes met for a moment, his warm and hers flustered. A blush started to bloom on her cheeks, and she looked away hastily. “Come on, Lily. You can feed the cat while I start making us supper.”
By the time he put the tools away and went inside, the house smelled deliciously of something cooked with beef and savory spices. He stepped into the kitchen and took an appreciative sniff. “What’s for supper?” he asked.
“Beef stew!” Lily answered. “And I put the little carrots in the pot.”
“High five!” Reno replied, holding out his hand. Lily reached up to slap his palm with her small hand, and his heartstrings twanged painfully at the sight and feel of her soft little hand against his big, calloused one
He had to clear his throat before he could ask Grace, “Do I have time to take a quick shower before supper’s ready?”
She plopped a mound of dough onto a floured spot on the counter as she said, “Biscuits will be hot out of the oven in fifteen minutes. If you come to the table after that, they’ll get cold and won’t taste nearly as good.”
He grinned. “I’ll be back in ten minutes, and I’ll set the table.”
“Deal,” she replied. She looked at the clock on the microwave oven and said with a smile, “Your time has started.”
He was back in eight minutes. Granted his hair was hastily toweled dry, and his clean black T-shirt clung to him damply in spots.
He recruited Lily to set out the silverware while he got down plates and dishes.
He finished by carrying over the small crystal bowl from the windowsill with a stunning picked flower floating in it.
The flower had soft, almost rose-like petals, but arranged in a more open shape.
Its scent was sweet and light. It reminded him of Grace.
It was the color of her cheeks when she blushed and had the same delicate beauty.
“What kind of flower is this?” he asked Grace.
“A camelia.”
“It’s pretty. Smells nice, too,” he replied, feeling a little silly to be complimenting a flower. But it was better than waxing poetic about how it reminded him of her and having her toss him out of the house.
The timer dinged and she pulled a pan of perfectly browned buttermilk biscuits out of the oven and set them on the table. “Dinner’s ready.” She glanced down at his knee brace and said, “Help Lily into her booster seat and I’ll dish up the stew for us.”
He was grateful she didn’t ask him to navigate around a kitchen carrying bowls of hot liquid with his knee sore in its brace. He probably shouldn’t have repaired and sanded an entire dock with it, today.
He got Lily settled, and as Grace set down the last bowl of stew at their places, he reached for her chair and pulled it out for her.
As she brushed past him to sit down, she said, “You did not have to fix the dock.”
"I know."
"But thank you."
He sat down and unfolded his napkin, then waited for Grace to pick up her spoon and take a bite before he did the same. “It was my pleasure to do something helpful around here, Grace. Thank you for letting me help out.”
Her gaze lifted to his, and he was startled by the vulnerability in her eyes. The same instinct to protect her and take care of her that had overtaken him the first time he ever met her surged through him now. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he said kindly.
“Everything’s okay now,” she said firmly.
Right. Little ears were in range. And goodness knew, Lily didn’t miss a thing.
“That’s what I meant,” he replied cheerfully. But he sent Grace an I’ve-got-your-back look across the table when Lily commenced crumbling a biscuit into her stew with great focus.
Grace nodded ever so slightly. Then her gaze clouded over abruptly. She ducked her head and got very busy splitting and buttering a biscuit.
Now what was that all about? He was dying to ask her, but he would clearly have to wait until Lily went to bed to ask.