Chapter Ten
“You look a little scruffy there, brother,” Matt greeted him as Rance walked into the café the next morning.
There were quite a few people already having the buffet breakfast laid out for them.
Rance didn’t take a seat right away, nor did he respond as he normally would have to his brother’s jibe.
His gaze was moving around the room. He was looking for a particular woman.
“If you’re searching for a certain lady, she’s in the kitchen making some really great biscuits…look at the size of these things,” Matt said, and held up one.
“Erin made those. You’re sure?”
“Saw her do a batch myself. From scratch. That lady can cook. And I hear she’s available.”
Rance shook his head at his brother. “You’re as bad as our sisters. I thought at least you would understand. Guys don’t go for their families pushing them down paths they don’t choose to go.”
“What guy chooses to go at all? We all have been there…even me. And I was as ignorant as you at first. But then a moment comes, and you realize that you never knew anything at all, until that lady meant for you looked at you and that is that. Then you must listen to your female relatives telling you that they were right.”
“Sounds painful. I need coffee.” Rance left his brother to his biscuits and went in search of coffee…via the kitchen.
He found Erin rolling out a big mound of fresh dough on a long table.
But he stopped to take in the sight before him.
This woman was about as far from a black robe and high bench than anyone could get.
Her apron had caught a lot of flour over it, her hands were covered in sticky dough, there were streaks on her sneakers, and she raised the back of her hand across her forehead very quickly and a smear of the white stuff ended up on her forehead and a few flakes on her nose.
For a second he entertained the idea of pulling out his cell phone and snapping a quick photo. But at that moment, she looked up and caught sight of him. He moved to stand next to her, working to keep a straight face. “I woke and you were already gone. Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“You deserved to sleep longer. Besides, I wanted to see if I could pull off my biscuit recipe. I’ve only done it a few times because I make so much at one time, I always need to take them to the court and feed the bailiffs. Besides, kneading the dough is a bit of a stress reliever, too.”
“Well, they are a hit, and Matt is out there singing your praises between bites.”
She looked up at him a bit longer than before. “Is that some sort of smirk I see trying to hide so innocently?”
“You do have a sharp legal eye there,” he confessed, “but it is difficult to keep a straight face when talking with you right now.”
“Why?” She stopped what she was doing.
“Allow me to help out,” he said, and picked up a dish towel from a shelf beside her.
One finger of his left hand gently raised her chin, while his other hand used the towel to wipe the stray bits and streaks off her face.
“It is a virtue of a good chef to get into his or her cooking. So that makes you a master chef today.” The grin couldn’t stay hidden at that point.
The towel accomplished its job and went down on the table.
“I’m fairly certain that is not the case,” she breathed, her gaze on his. The moment forgot to move.
“And I was correct…just remember this in about a month or so.” Matt’s voice put motion back into play.
Rance dropped his hand and sent a pointed look in his brother’s direction that had a clear message, arrow sharp.
“And now I just wanted to thank you, Erin, for the best biscuits I’ve had in years, and I hear my office calling. Bye!” His exit was short and sweet.
“Do I want to know what he meant by that or why you shot him such a look?”
“No, it’s just brother stuff. He likes to think he’s a comedian. We just ignore him.”
Erin looked skeptical. But she didn’t push it and for that Rance was grateful.
“Thanks for not letting me walk around looking like a clown,” she said.
“You are welcome. But I look forward to trying one of those hot biscuits. Did you eat?”
She nodded. “I ate very early so I could keep up with the fresh biscuits as people came in.”
“If I didn’t know better, I would say that you might be enjoying yourself. You might love the law and that power, but there is another side to you that enjoys helping people and nourishing them in other circumstances besides coming before you in trouble.”
“I’ve got a career and an overloaded docket waiting on me. I’m basically under house arrest, so I’m trying to be helpful and not go stir-crazy. And take it out on you.”
“There is that,” he conceded. “And I am grateful. So, I better get a biscuit and get busy before Tori tracks me down.”
“Is the flood going down, like I heard some talking about earlier?”
“It’s in its banks again and not flooding, but there is a lot of damage to be surveyed and people to find.”
“Find?”
He nodded. “I need to get to it. See you later.”
Rance knew he hadn’t answered her question completely, but they needed more facts before the news…good and bad…could be shared.
*
Erin kept busy for the next hour. There were volunteers to feed and more meals to be planned and cooked. Cassie came in from taking food over to the courthouse.
“You need a break, Erin. I must drive over to the gym with some bottled water they loaded in the back of my truck. Want to get some air and come with me?”
“That sounds like a good idea. It’ll give me a chance to see some more of your town.
” She untied the apron and grabbed a quick look in a mirror on the wall beside the door.
At least she had no flour on her face. And that brought the memory of how Rance had held her face and gently wiped it clean earlier.
And then the moment that they just stood not moving…
their eyes had locked. For whatever reason, it felt as if something wouldn’t let them move apart.
He had looked as surprised as she felt. Words rushed through her mind, but none left her mouth.
Then Matt had come in, and a switch flipped in her brain and whatever had held them vanished and they were free.
She needed fresh air, even though the low clouds still threatened rain, and the landscape and roads were wet.
Cassie headed away from the courthouse and Erin could see that there were quite a few stores along the sidewalks.
Antiques, flowers, bakery, auto parts, clothing, and many more she couldn’t see as they turned down a wide street and headed up a small hill where a hospital stood on the left and a high school was on a large expanse of ground on the right, with a football stadium behind it, the tall lights visible over the lower buildings.
There were a myriad of cars, trucks, emergency vehicles and more crowded into the parking lots. Cassie pulled around to a loading dock area and backed up to the dock. There were men there to unload the water. Cassie nodded to Erin to follow her inside.
Erin was stunned to see the number of people…
families, young and old, children, and even pets.
The gym was full and cots and personal belongings were covering the floor.
Tables lined a couple of walls, and she could see people lined up to fill out paperwork and official-looking people seated behind the tables giving information and answering questions.
“This is incredible,” Erin said, standing beside Cassie, taking it all in.
“It’s sad,” Cassie said, putting her own label on it.
“These people, most of them, have either lost their homes totally, or have thousands of dollars in damages to what is left. This isn’t a rich community.
They are hard-working, good people. Some of them are far too old to begin from scratch again.
And the families who are still seeking loved ones…
well it is heartbreaking. They have them waiting for their news across at the hospital meeting rooms. I just can’t imagine what they’re going through. ”
“Rance mentioned that he was working to help find people. But he didn’t explain more than that. Are there casualties? Lots missing?”
Cassie nodded. “Right now, some are listed as missing. That won’t change until they’re found.
We hope for the best but expect the worst. The hospital is full.
The most critical have been airlifted to Austin.
With more rains coming, that will shut down.
” She caught a glimpse of something and touched Erin’s arm.
“And the news trucks are here trying to get stories, so let’s go. ”
Erin was slow to understand why they were leaving as fast as they were until they were in the truck and heading away from the gym.
“Sorry, but I figured you didn’t need to show up on the six o’clock news. My brother would have my hide and then some.”
Erin understood then. “Smart thinking. Thanks. He wouldn’t be happy at all.”
“My brother is very good at his job. I hope you know that. But don’t tell him I said so. His ego is too big.” She smiled and Erin returned it.
“That was my first impression.”
“What else?”
“He was very domineering…giving orders and not waiting for any other opinion. But then he did keep me safe so far. I gather Tori filled you in on my situation.”
“Well, with what has been on television about the judges, and then Rance shows up with a judge in tow, having just left the cabin after being there on his medical leave. We could put two and two together, and he shared just a little bit with us so that you could come to the barbecue and not go crazy under his rules.”
“He has been very good at his job, and I wouldn’t want that to get out either,” she joked back with Cassie. “You said medical leave. He glossed over it when I asked him. What really happened?”
“Well, he isn’t one to share much about his job, but Matt got most of it out of him.
And then Tori and I made Matt give up some of it…
being his loving sisters and all. But there was a kidnapping of a rich couple’s child, a little boy, just outside Houston.
Rance and another marshal made entrance into the building the kidnappers were hid out in.
There was a gunfight, Rance got the boy out, but he took a bullet in his side doing it.
Luckily, it hit nothing major. Those are the main points that were shared with us. ”
Erin was shocked, but she wasn’t surprised.
He had downplayed the actual events when he told her about his reason for medical leave.
Rance would have had no problem going after the child, no matter what.
He took his job seriously. And she knew that he would do the same to protect her.
She hadn’t made it easy on him. And that made her ashamed of how she’d behaved.
He was one of those good men that seem few and far between.
She hadn’t had too much experience with that type.
Rance Parker was part of a rare breed. She had been looking at him as a lawman doing his job.
She was a job. But she wanted to know more about him… as a person.
At the same moment she realized that, she also was hit with the truth that getting to know him more as a real man…that just might be dangerous. And why would it be dangerous? The answer to that realization struck her speechless. She kept silent the rest of the way back to Tillie’s.