“He likes you.”
“Don’t be silly,” Emma said briskly. “He likes attention.”
“I gave him attention,” Jake reminded her.
“You gave him toys.”
Jake opened his mouth to argue…and then realized she was right.
“Hi, Jake!” The front door slammed and Jeremy bounded up, bypassing him and going straight for the animal lying prone at his mother’s feet. “Cool! Is this your dog?”
“It’s a stray I picked up today.”
“A stray!” Excitement backlit the blue eyes. “Can’t we keep him, Mom?”
Emma was already shaking her head. “He doesn’t belong to us, sweetheart.”
“But he doesn’t belong to anyone else, either,” Jeremy said reasonably. “So why can’t we keep him?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
Why not?
Emma could come up with a dozen reasons. Well, at least two.
“You’re starting school in a few weeks and I’m at work all day.” Emma could tell she was weakening. Unfortunately, so could her son.
“How about a trial period?” Jeremy pushed. “To see if he likes us?”
Jake coughed but Emma knew he’d done it to hide a laugh. Emma’s huff of exasperation covered one of her own. What was she getting into? She didn’t even know if the dog was housebroken.
The dog licked her hand and whined, as if adding an appeal of its own.
“We’re not really set up to take in a dog on such short notice.” Emma scratched the furry muzzle and heard a contented sigh. “We don’t have any dog food.”
“I have a bag in the car.” At her incredulous look, Jake lifted his hands. “Hey, it was either provide kibble or have holes eaten in the upholstery.”
Emma raised an eyebrow. A comment like that was supposed to convince her to bring the dog into their home?
“It sure looks like he’s settled down a lot, though,” Jake said, immediately recognizing the error of his ways. “I don’t think he’s destructive. Like you said, he just needs some attention.”
“I can give him lots of attention.” Jeremy grinned up at her.
“We’ll keep him for the weekend and see if we all get along. That’s the only promise I’m willing to make.” Emma only hoped she wouldn’t regret the decision!
“I’ll show him my room.” Jeremy jumped to his feet. “Come on—” He looked at Jake. “What’s his name?”
“You can do the honors.” Jake lowered his voice. “I won’t tell you what Mrs. Peake called him.”
Emma hid a smile. Delia Peake served as the chairwoman of the library board. The woman had a backbone as strong as her pink walking stick.
“I’ll think of one.” Jeremy patted his leg. “Come on.”
The dog looked at Emma, as if asking for permission. She wasn’t fooled for a minute. This had to be some sort of conspiracy. She waved her hands. “Go on. You may as well let Jeremy take you on a tour of the place.”
The dog rolled to its feet and grinned, the pink tongue unfurling like a ribbon.
“He knew what you said. He’s smart, isn’t he?” Jeremy said.
“He seems to be.” Emma’s eyes narrowed on Jake. The smug expression on the man’s face had her wondering if this hadn’t been his plan all along!
“You might want to give him a dish of water,” Jake suggested.
“You aren’t leaving, are you, Jake?” Jeremy’s worried gaze shifted from Jake to his mother.
“I’ll stick around for a few minutes.”
“Mom, can Jake stay for supper?”
“Jeremy!” Emma choked on the word.
Her son looked at her, wide-eyed. “What? I asked you first this time.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Emma saw Jake smile. He would realize that she’d been backed into a corner and offer her a way out.
“I’m sure Jake already has dinner plans.”
Please have other dinner plans.
The glint in Jake’s eyes told her that he’d read her mind.
“I’d love to stay.”
“What are you two doing out there?”
Jake winked at Jeremy as he handed him another nail. “Tell her it’s guy stuff.”
“It’s guy stuff, Mom.”
“Guy stuff, hmm? That explains why it’s so noisy.” Emma’s sigh was audible through the window screen. “Supper will be on the table in five minutes.”
Jake had waited until Emma disappeared inside the house before asking Jeremy if he would like to assist him in a small project. Just as Jake had suspected, Jeremy was more than willing to help. He had led Jake to the barn, where a rusty box held the tools they needed.
He wasn’t sure how Emma would react to him fixing the loose boards on the porch. Especially considering he’d already turned her day upside down by signing Jeremy up for the raft race without her permission. And dumping a stray dog into her lap.
“How does this look?” Jeremy sat back on his heels.
Jake surveyed his work. “One or two more whacks with the hammer should do it.”
Twin lines of concentration plowed rows between Jeremy’s eyebrows as he followed Jake’s instructions. “Is this better?”
“It looks great.”
Emma poked her head around the door. “Come in and wash up now.”
“We’re fixing some loose boards on the porch, Mom.”
“I see that.”
Something in her tone told Jake that his list of misdemeanors was growing by the minute.
They trooped inside and washed up at the kitchen sink. The house boasted no formal dining area but Emma had tucked a small oak table in the corner. The table had already been set for three, the floral china arranged just so. Not a paper plate or plastic fork in sight.
Jake sniffed the air appreciatively. A pan of lasagna served as the centerpiece, the cheese still bubbling around the edges. A basket heaped with garlic bread and a salad completed the meal.
The comfortable setting was so far removed from what he was used to, he wasn’t sure what to do next. As an undercover drug officer, the places he’d called “home” over the past few years hadn’t been the kind that encouraged people to linger. The furniture, what there was of it, reeked of cigarette smoke. Dishes would pile up for days, waiting until someone came down from their high long enough to do a cursory cleaning.
“You can sit here, Jake.” Jeremy pointed to the chair next to his.
“As long as I don’t have to share my garlic bread.”
Jake had meant it as a joke, but when he glanced at Emma, the color had drained from her face, making her eyes appear even more blue.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. Please, sit down.” Emma glanced at the chair that Jeremy had offered him. The one at the head of the table. Brian’s chair.
Chapter Thirteen
H
e should have known better.
If Andy called tonight, asking for details, his brother would probably contact Matt and have him removed from the team of mentors.
“I’ll sit here instead.” Jake pulled one of the other ladder-back chairs away from the table and sat down. “That way, I can fight you for the garlic bread
and
the salad.” He winked at Jeremy.
“Okay.” Jeremy grinned but didn’t reach for either one. “Should we pray, Mom?”
Emma’s head jerked up and her gaze collided with Jake’s across the table. “You go ahead, sweetheart.”
Jeremy closed his eyes. “Lord, thank You for this food and thank You that Jake could stay for supper. Thanks for Shadow and I pray that he likes it here. Amen.”
Emma might have offered up a thank-you for the food, but Jake wasn’t sure she would have joined Jeremy in thanking God for the rest. Especially considering that he and the dog hadn’t been on the guest list for the evening meal.
“You named him Shadow?” Emma looked up.
“He looks like one, don’t you think?” Jeremy reached down and patted the dog on the head.
The dog’s tail began to thump out a gentle beat against the floor, almost as if it approved of the name.
“He was as hard to catch as one,” Jake said. “But he seems happy here.”
If he didn’t know better, Jake would have thought someone had switched dogs when his back was turned. The one who’d terrorized the police department all day now lay stretched out on the rug, the picture of contentment.
“I showed Mom the plans for our raft, Jake.” Jeremy’s smile glowed as bright as the candle burning in the center of the table. “We have to sign up for the race by Monday.”
Emma’s strong reaction to the raft race had left Jake hoping for another opportunity to discuss it with her. The last thing he wanted to do was undermine her authority as a parent.
“When we talked about the raft race last night, I assumed you had your mother’s permission to enter,” Jake said carefully.
Jeremy sank a little lower in the chair and peeked at his mother from beneath a thick fringe of sandy brown lashes. “Is it okay with you, Mom?”
Emma gave a short nod. “I suppose so. As long as Jake is willing to help you.”
“He promised he would.” Jeremy’s expression shifted from relieved to anxious once again. “Didn’t you, Jake?”
“Yes, I did.” Jake was glad he could put the boy’s mind at ease now that Emma had given her permission.
Jeremy passed the bowl of salad to him. “The first
thing we have to do is build a model of my design to make sure it floats.”
“Can’t you just build the raft ahead of time?” Emma asked.
“Uh-uh.” Jeremy shook his head. “That’s one of the rules. You have to bring the stuff to make it and build it right there. And you only get ten minutes to do it. You can’t use parts of a real boat, either. Or sails. You have to paddle them. Some of the rafts tip over right away because of the uneven weight distribution, but I know a way around that.”
Jeremy paused to take a breath and Emma squeezed in another question. “How do you know so much about the race?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a few years now,” Jeremy said matter-of-factly. “I just got tired of being afraid to
do
it. Jake said that being afraid shouldn’t stop a person from doing the things they want to do.”
Jake said.
The words hung in the air between them.
Great, Jake thought. Between the dog and the raft race, he’d probably worn out his welcome. The trouble was, he was in no hurry to leave.
He wanted to linger over the best meal he’d had in ages. And finish fixing the porch.
And spend more time with Jeremy and Emma.
While his head questioned whether he belonged there—with them—his heart seemed more than ready to make itself at home.
“You were afraid sometimes when you were undercover, weren’t you, Jake?” Jeremy tucked into his lasagna, unaware of the growing tension at the table.
“That’s right.” Jake just hadn’t expected it to come up again as dinner conversation!
Emma’s eyes darkened in confusion. “But that was a long time ago, wasn’t it? You must have had a desk job of some kind before you came to Mirror Lake. A patrol officer doesn’t just skip to the rank of police chief.”
She was right. But that “patrol officer” could skip a few rungs on the department ladder when God had a hand in things.
“Technically, I held the rank of sergeant when I left my last job.”
“But why did you move to Mirror Lake? Do you have family in the area?”
“No.” The innocent question pinched a nerve. Jake had limited contact with his family when he’d agreed to go undercover, telling himself it was best for everyone that way. Andy had tried to set him straight at the time, but he hadn’t listened. Rebuilding a relationship had come more slowly with his mom and stepdad than with his stepbrother. “Mirror Lake is the place I’m supposed to be. I believe that God brought me here for a reason.”
And now that he’d met Jeremy and Emma, that reason was becoming a little more clear. From what he could see, Emma’s grief had formed a protective wall around both of them for so long, it almost seemed as if they’d become trapped inside of it.
Emma’s smooth brow furrowed. “You think that God cares about things like that?” she asked hesitantly.
Jake met her doubtful gaze head on. “I know He does.”
“That’s because God saved Jake when he got shot,” Jeremy added helpfully.
Emma’s fork clattered to the floor.
“You were…shot?”
Jake winced.
Yeah, come to think of it, he’d mentioned that to Jeremy, too.
Jake had been shot.
Shot.
Emma’s gaze flickered to the crosshatch of scars on the underside of his jaw. Had a bullet grazed a path there?
The thought made her stomach pitch.
“No.” Jake caught her staring. “I wish I could impress you with a heroic deed, but these particular scars were caused by stupidity.” He scraped the back of his hand over the scars. “When I was eight years old, I decided to make a tree fort in the backyard.”
“What happened?” Jeremy leaned forward, fascinated by the tale.
“It didn’t work. I fell. But instead of landing in the sandbox, I bounced off the fence that separated our yard from the neighbor’s. Mrs. Parker grew prizewinning roses.” He winked at Jeremy. “But not that year. She also got the sympathy vote from my mother, which meant that I had to spend the entire summer weeding flower beds.”
Jeremy laughed but Emma couldn’t. She was still reeling from the knowledge that Jake had survived an injury much more serious than falling into a rosebush.
She excused herself from the table and went to get a clean fork. As it was, Jake saw too much—she certainly didn’t want him to see the tears that had sprung to her eyes.
Tears that caused her doubts to surface once again. For the past six years, she had done her best to shelter Jeremy from the pain of losing his father at such a young
age. Now, not only had she agreed to let Jake mentor her son, but she had just discovered that he was a living testimony of how dangerous his chosen profession could be.
Jeremy was already getting attached to Jake. Emma could see the hero worship in his eyes—hear it in his voice—whenever he talked about the man.
Jake had survived a gunshot wound once, but Emma knew from bitter experience that there were no guarantees he wouldn’t be hurt again. Not even in a small town as idyllic as Mirror Lake.
How would Jeremy handle that?
How would you?