Heartwishes (5 page)

“If you have any really creative things to teach, let me know,” Colin said seriously.

“So you can pass them on to your constituents?”

“Of course,” Colin said. “As an elected official, they’re all I care about, and I believe it’s my duty to educate them.” Smiling, he got out of the car, then waited until she was beside him. Together they went into the store.

The inside of the grocery was dim and cool, and to the right was a huge produce area that glistened with colors and seeming perfection. She followed Colin as he headed for the back of the store.

“Colin!” a woman said, and he halted. She was young and looked as though she hadn’t had a lot of sleep lately—which was understandable. She was holding a two-year-old boy by the hand, and he was dancing about in the age-old pantomime of “bathroom quick!” On her hip was a six-month-old girl chewing on a bagel.

With a movement that seemed as though he’d done it many times, Colin took the little girl in his arms. With a smile of thanks, the mother lifted the boy and started running.

“And how are you, Miss Caitlyn?” Colin asked the little girl he was holding, and she grinned at him.

With a glance at Gemma, Colin kept walking toward the back, little Caitlyn secure and quite happy in his big arms.

As they walked, Gemma looked around the store. The items on the shelves were very high-end, and she thought the place was much too upscale for her to afford. She wondered where the local giant-size, cheap market was.

She followed Colin to a tall, glass-fronted case that was full of fresh-looking seafood. Yes, definitely out of her price range.

“Colin!” said a good-looking older woman from behind the counter. “You’re just the man I wanted to see.”

Before he could speak, a little boy, about four, came running up. He held up a toy truck in one hand and the wheels to it in the other. There were dried tears on his face, and he was looking up at Colin as though he were Superman. “Sheriff?” he whispered, a catch in his voice.

Colin started to reach for the truck but his arms were full with the baby.

Without a thought, Gemma took the little girl from him, and Colin squatted to eye level with the boy and snapped the wheels back into place. The child ran off just as his mother rounded the corner.

“
There
you are, Matthew. Do
not
run off like that again. Oh, Colin! Thank you.”

“Any time,” he said to the woman as she picked up the boy and left. The first woman came back and Gemma handed her daughter to her.

Through all this, the woman behind the counter had been watching. “Same as always, huh, Colin?” she said, smiling.

“Not much different. So what did you want to see me about, Ellie? You have a break-in?”

“You’re funny. Can you make a delivery for me?”

“To our favorite little man?”

“Certainly my favorite, since he helped my daughter. Can you take a couple of boxes out to the farm?”

“Why isn’t he coming in to get what he needs?”

“The club ladies are after him again.”

Colin grinned. “Okay, pack it up. Anyway, I’m sure Gemma would like to see Merlin’s Farm.”

“Am I to take it that Gemma is your fellow babysitter? The young woman behind you?”

Colin turned to see Gemma inspecting the chickens that had just been taken off the rotisserie. “Gemma, this is Ellie Shaw, my . . . What are you?”

“Fourth cousin, removed once or twice,” Ellie said to Gemma. “A town resident just did a genealogy for some of the families in Edilean, and we’ve at last found out how we’re all related. I’d shake your hand, but—” She was wearing sterile gloves.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Gemma said. “Do you own this store?”

“What gave me away?” Ellie asked.

“Bossiness,” Colin answered. When he heard a baby start to cry, he said quickly, “Could we get some sandwiches? To go?”

“Colin is our resident Pied Piper with the kids,” Ellie said to Gemma, looking from one to the other in curiosity.

“Come on, give me a break,” he said. “I’m trying to impress her that I’m the sheriff and that I deal with dastardly crimes.”

“Impress her, are you?” Ellie asked.

Gemma thought she should clear the air. “I’m one of the applicants for a job that Mrs. Frazier is offering.”

“Oh, right, cleaning out that mess she bought in England.” Ellie looked at Colin. “So where are the other two who are trying for the job?”

“At home in the pool. Mom’s taking a nap.”

Ellie snorted. “Your mother never took a nap in her life.”

“I know she hasn’t,” he said, smiling.

Ellie again looked from him to Gemma. “So what kind of sandwiches do you two want?”

“Roast beef,” they said in unison.

“Side dish? I have coleslaw or potato salad.”

“Coleslaw,” they again said together.

“Coming up.” When Ellie turned away, she was smiling.

“Like to look around?” Colin asked.

“So I can tell Isla about the place for when she lives here?”

“That’s exactly what I had in mind.” He was teasing, but whether or not she got the job was no joke to her and he saw it on her face. He lowered his voice. “I’ll talk to Mom tonight, and I’ll get Dad to
talk to her too. And Shamus. Maybe the three of us can persuade her to choose the right person.” He started to say more but broke off because a woman standing near the cereals started running toward him.

“Colin!” she said. “I went by your office today but Roy said you were away on family business. I am so glad to see you.”

“Did it happen again, Tara?” Colin asked.

For the first time, Gemma saw his “sheriff face.” In a second he went from teasing and laughing to very serious.

When the woman said, “Someone trampled my flowers again,” Gemma had to restrain her smile. The news on TV was full of murders and other heinous crimes, but this woman was concerned about her tulips?

“Did Roy make casts of the footprints?”

“Yes. She came as soon as I called.”

Gemma’s eyes widened. Footprint casts? This sounded more serious than just flowers being knocked down.

“Colin, I don’t know what to do,” Tara said. “I have two little kids and with Jimmie away so much . . .”

Colin put his arm out to the woman and she laid her cheek against his chest as she tried not to cry. “Want to stay in our guesthouse?” he asked as he put his hand on her back. “The big one is taken, but you and the kids are welcome to use the second one.”

She pulled away. “No, we’ll be all right. That man you recommended is putting the cameras up, and Jimmie will be home tonight, so we’ll be fine.” Tara pulled a tissue out of her pocket and blew her nose as she looked at Gemma. “Is this a new girlfriend?”

“I’m one of the candidates for the job of cataloging the Frazier documents,” Gemma said quickly, stepping a little farther away from Colin. She didn’t want to be the cause of any gossip in the small town.

Judging from Tara’s blank look, she had no idea what Gemma was referring to. “If Colin likes you, then you have my vote.” She glanced at her basket. “I have to go before this thaws. Colin, thank you for . . . for everything.”

“You have my cell number. If you hear or see anything, call me and I’ll be there.”

“Thanks,” she said, then wheeled her cart away.

He turned to Gemma, looking as though nothing unusual had happened. “So this is the aisle where Ellie keeps the cereals. If you like Kellogg’s Raisin Bran—the kind that real people eat—you have me to thank for its being here. I told Ellie that if she didn’t start stocking Raisin Bran I was going to Williamsburg to—”

“What was that all about?” Gemma asked, cutting him off. “Please say you can tell me or I’ll go crazy trying to figure it out.”

Colin shrugged. “We don’t know anything for sure. Someone keeps walking through Tara’s flower beds in the middle of the night. Yesterday there was a light rain, so my deputy, Roy, could get some casts of the footprints. It’s an old-fashioned technique, but then we’re an old-fashioned town—and our budget is limited.”

“Do you think it’s malicious, meant to frighten her, or is it a robber . . . or worse?”

“No robberies, no outlet to her backyard, but it’s scared the daylights out of Tara. She’s having surveillance cameras installed.”

“And you offered her a place to stay,” Gemma said.

“Yeah, we mostly use the guesthouses for anyone who needs them. Ellie’s waving at us. Our sandwiches are ready.”

Gemma followed him to the back and waited as Ellie handed him a white bag.

“Did you talk to Tara?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah,” Colin said. “Whoever’s doing it doesn’t seem to mean any harm, but I’m going to be cautious.”

“You always are. Oh, by the way, Taylor took the boxes out to Merlin’s Farm this morning, so you don’t need to go. Did you meet our newest resident? Dr. Burgess?”

“Not yet,” Colin said, “but I’ve heard of him.” He turned to Gemma. “A retired professor of English history has moved here. He wants to be near Williamsburg, and he used to teach at Oxford.”

“Sounds interesting. I’d like to meet him.”

“I don’t think he’s in good health, poor man.” She looked at Gemma. “If you two are planning to eat outside, you should know that there’s a playgroup out there. Colin will be swamped.”

“Thanks for warning us,” he said, then moved aside for Gemma to go ahead of him toward the front. There was a big refrigerated cabinet full of fruit juice drinks near the registers. “Take your pick.”

“Anything with raspberries,” Gemma said as Colin held the door open. “What about you?”

“I’m a lemonade man.”

“Pink or yellow?”

He gave her a look.

“Yeah, right. My boys won’t touch anything pink either.”

“So now I’m one of your boys?” He led them to the end register where the girl greeted him by name. Colin held up their food, she nodded, and they left. It looked like he had an account there.

“If I say that you are one of my kids, will it get me the job?” she asked as they got to the door.

“Why do you think I brought you to the most public place in Edilean?”

“I have no idea.”

“By now at least three women have called someone in my family to say that you should be hired.”

“Why would they do that? They don’t know me from the other applicants.”

“Ha! By now they not only know your name but probably your Social Security number.”

Gemma laughed. “This town couldn’t be worse than a college campus. We know who’s researching what before the first book is opened.”

He was standing by the front door and looking out. To the left, under the deep roof overhang, were several little tables, and they were full of young mothers with their children. One of them was the woman whose baby both Colin and Gemma had held. “That sounds like a scary place,” he mumbled.

“And you look scared.”

“Terrified. They know I can change diapers.” Obviously, he wasn’t talking about the academic life.

“Give me your car keys.”

He looked at her. “What?”

“Give me your keys and I’ll drive to the back and pick you up.”

“My Jeep is a standard shift.”

“Gee whiz. With a clutch and everything? However will I manage?” She batted her lashes at him in mock helplessness.

Colin gave her a one-sided grin and handed her his keys. “See you in a minute.”

Gemma gave a nod, then sauntered out the front door. She could feel the eyes of the mothers on her, but she didn’t turn to look at them. When she reached Colin’s car, she quickly got inside and started it. The man her mother had hired to teach her to drive had insisted that she learn on a standard shift, and now she was glad of it.

The moment she put the Jeep in reverse, she knew that something had been done to the engine to escalate its power. Colin might say that he wasn’t involved with his family’s car dealerships, but he owned a vehicle that was far from being standard issue.

Gemma had a moment of panic when she put the gearshift in
first, let up on the clutch, and the car leaped ahead as though it were a cheetah taking off after prey. When she went around the corner of the grocery, even as slow as she was going, she was sure she was on only two wheels. She barely had the car under control when she saw Colin outside waiting for her. He was talking to two young men who were wearing aprons and unloading a pickup truck. She managed to bring the Jeep to a smooth stop, put it in park, then she slid to the passenger seat.

Colin got in beside her and put the food and drinks in the back. “Have any problems?”

“None at all,” she said, then they looked at each other and laughed.

“Does this thing take jet fuel?” she asked.

“See that red button?” He pointed to the cigarette lighter. “That makes the wheels retract and I start flying.”

“I can believe that. The brave sheriff jetting away to escape dirty diapers.”

Chuckling, he drove out of the parking lot and turned a corner that took them back to the square. “If we sit anywhere in this town to eat, it’ll be like it was at the grocery. In Edilean, I’m a fairly public person.”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming on,” she said.

“I have a secret. Like to see it?”

“Sure,” she said, but there was caution in her voice. She didn’t know him well enough to predict what kind of secrets he had.

“Last week I closed on a house, and no one in town knows I bought it, not even my family.”

Gemma let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “An old house?” There was hope in her voice.

“No, sorry. New by Edilean standards. Built about 1946 or 7, and fairly recently completely remodeled.”

“Oh.” Her voice showed her disappointment.

“It looks a bit like a Frank Lloyd Wright.”

“Oh.” Gemma perked up.

“My cousin Luke rebuilt the house. He lived there for a while, but then he married the woman who owns Edilean Manor, so he moved in with her. He and I worked out a deal in private, and now the house is mine.”

“Edilean Manor,” Gemma said, her eyes wide. “I saw photos of it on the Web site. Is it as good as it looks?”

“Better. I’ll make sure you see it.”

“Before I leave,” Gemma said and frowned. In just a few hours the job had come to mean more than just the Frazier documents. She’d met people and was becoming involved in their problems. And maybe she and Colin were becoming friends. Or maybe more than friends. She was quite attracted to him, both physically and as a person. And she liked that he was so well respected by the people in town. Even the children liked him.