Authors: Ruth Logan Herne
Mary Sawyer turned toward Tina. “What do you think, Tina? County health laws say we need to produce food in a certified kitchen, so we can't just cook up a storm at home. Liability rules prevent that. How can we set this up?”
“We have a couple of options,” Tina replied. She felt Max's gaze, but kept her attention focused on the other committee members as they helped themselves to coffee and cake. “Certainly we can ask Laura to help. We've done that in the past and, if you remember, Rocco made it clear he wasn't about to undercut his business by feeding folks in the street.”
Several nods said they all remembered Rocco's mean-spirited replies.
“But with Rocco gone, Laura might be more willing to help. Who would like to ask her?”
No one spoke up, but then Carmen Bianchi raised a hand. “I will, dear. No harm in trying, I always say, and I don't know Laura so there's no hard feelings either way.”
“Thank you, Carmen.” Tina smiled at the aging Italian woman and quietly thanked God for bringing Carmen Bianchi and Gianna Costanza to town the year before. The two expert seamstresses had brought a thriving business and warm, open hearts to Main Street, a definite plus for the popular village.
“With or without Laura's help, we'll be fine,” she went on, and when a couple of people raised skeptical brows, she met their unspoken concerns head-on. “I haven't been spending these four weeks with my head in the sand. Piper Harrison has offered the use of their kitchen at the McKinney Farms Dairy store. And Lacey Barrett has done the same at the apple farm across from the Campbell house on Lower Lake Road. If we set up the heated tent on Main Street like we always do, we can have food prepped at either or both of those locations, and we can do on-site cooking/grilling right in the food tent like we've done in the past.”
“That would work just fine,” Mary announced. “Tina, thank you for making those arrangements. And I know the fire department is excited to be manning the grill as always.”
“Perfect.” Tina smiled at her, glad that her legwork had defused the situation. “Andâ”
“Well, that's another thing,” Georgia interrupted with a tart glance to Carmen's east-facing window. “How in the name of all that's good and holy are we going to have a pretty, sweet, inviting Christmas festival with the mess from Tina's fire just sitting there, getting wetter, soggier, smellier and sloppier every day?”
Tina's heart froze, the very heart that had built a thriving business over years of hard work and sweat equity. It didn't matter that she felt the same way. To have Georgia throw it up in her face in a sneering, I'm-better-than-everybody way cut deep.
“It may not be a problem.”
Attention shifted to Max. He splayed his hands, clearly comfortable with taking charge as he stood and moved toward the group. “The investigation into the fire is still incomplete. I know the arson squad feels the need to comb through the remains of Tina's coffee shop to find clues about who would do this kind of thing, but I also know they've slated the comb-through for tomorrow. After that, we should be able to schedule the big equipment for demolition and removal.”
“They can get it done that quickly?” Mary Sawyer looked impressed.
“The change in the weather is pushing them,” Max told her. “And they know the town needs to put a sad piece of history behind them and move on.”
“But what if he strikes again?” wondered Jason Radcliffe, another committee member. “I've been a volunteer fireman for years. Arson is rarely a single-crime event. How do we protect the town and the festival? I can't pretend I'm not concerned about that.”
“Me, too.”
Again all eyes turned to Max, and Tina had to give it to him. His squared-off, rugged but calm stance said he'd do whatever it took to get the job done. And when he smiled at Georgia Palmeteer, Tina was afraid the older woman might keel over on the spot. Clearly her sour temper didn't make her immune to Max's dark good looks and take-charge style.
“But that's why the squad wants to get this done. If there's evidence to be found at the scene, they might be able to make an arrest before the festival and that would put an end to our concerns.”
“Oh, it would!” Georgia nodded as if Max was the smartestâ
and cutest
âthing on the planet.
“It would be a relief,” Carmen agreed. “The thought that someone could destroy another person's hopes and dreams is a shock in such a wonderful town.”
Her words provided the balm to close the meeting peacefully. As Tina tugged her coat from the row of hooks inside Carmen's kitchen door, strong hands reached over hers, withdrew the coat and held it open for her to put on.
“Thank you, Max.”
He frowned at the coat, then her. “It's too cold for this jacket.”
“I only have to go up the hill to get home.” She tugged her coat sleeves down over her hands to avoid the deepening chill. “And it wasn't this bad when I headed down here. I must have missed the weather report that said arctic air was nose-diving into Kirkwood Lake.”
“Lows in the twenties,” Max advised. He turned toward Carmen and gave her a big hug. “You did great. Thank you for hosting the meeting and for your vote of confidence. I wasn't sure which way things would go right then, but your words tipped the scales. I'm grateful.”
“Well, it's much ado about nothing,” Carmen replied. “When folks don't have big things to concern themselves with, they pay too much attention to little things.”
Her words hit home with Max.
Self-satisfaction wasn't an easy lesson learned. He'd learned to like himself in the service, and had earned his share of respect and responsibility along the way, but he'd had a hard time wrapping his head around what he needed versus what he wanted.
He needed to be forgiven. That might or might not happen, but he couldn't be back in town and walk in the shadow of old lies and live with himself. Which meant he needed to set things straight with the Sawyers, a task he'd do as soon as time allowed.
On top of that?
He longed to belong somewhere. To be part of something calm and quiet. He'd done the gung-ho thing to the best of his ability, but seeing his father's decline and his mother's worry showed him a dark mirror image. He'd let shame keep him at bay for too long. His unexplained absence hurt his parents and his family. He would never do that to anyone again. “Thanks again, Carmen. I'm going to see Tina homeâ”
“Are not.”
Max ignored her and continued, “Then I'm going to set up camp at the hardware store, but I'm going to leave my car stashed behind Seth's place.”
“You're baiting a trap.” Approval laced Carmen's comment. “Gianna told me what Seth and Tina saw last night.” Carmen directed her gaze toward the window that faced Tina's burned-out shop. “It's creepy to think someone was out there, snooping around in the dead of night while I was sleeping. What do you think he was hunting for?”
Max shrugged. “I'm not sure. But once word gets around that the arson investigators are going to go through the site, the perp is likely to come back for whatever he lost.”
“So you guys are going on watch patrol, hoping you've tempted him or her out?”
“That's why I mentioned the time limit at the meeting,” Max admitted. “This way word gets around, folks will yak it up, and the arsonist might show up.”
“Unless I was the arsonist and you just warned me off,” Tina countered, looking straight at Max, and the look on her face said she was voicing her own personal concerns. “Maybe I wanted out of town so badly I torched my own business.”
“Tina, that's ridiculous,” Carmen spouted. “Anyone in their right mindâ”
“I expect it's what a few people might be thinking,” Tina continued. “And I know the arson team investigated me.”
Max put a hand to Tina's face, her cheek. He left it there, trained his gaze on hers and uttered one short sentence. “You didn't do it.”
* * *
Her chin quivered.
She firmed it and pulled back, but the coat hooks got in her way.
“They have to investigate everyone, Tina,” he continued. His low, level voice helped calm her frayed nerve endings. “That's the job of the arson squad. But we all know you would never do such a thing, so you need to relax. Shove off the urge to take offense, let the investigators do their job and keep helping me at the hardware store so I don't mess up Dad's business. And maybe we'll catch whoever it was you and Seth saw last night.”
“You believe me.”
Max's wry expression said that was about the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. “Woman, I never doubted it for a minute. No real coffee lover destroys a crazy-expensive espresso machine. It just isn't done.”
He meant it.
He meant every single word even though people used insurance fraud to pad their budgets far too often. “I do love my coffee,” she admitted. And then she smiled up at him, and he smiled down at her, and for just a moment there was no Carmen, there was no divisive meeting, there were no worries, there was just Max's smile, warm and soothing, the kind of smile a girl could lose herself in for oh...say...forever?
A rush of cold air changed the course of her thoughts as Max pulled Carmen's door open. They hurried through, closed the door, then headed up the sloped incline of Overlook Drive toward Tina's apartment.
Cold, biting wind didn't allow casual conversation, and when a strong gust tunneled down Overlook, Max grabbed hold of Tina's arm, gaining leverage for both of them.
And then he didn't let go.
Her heart did one of those weird flippy things girls talk about all the time, like it used to when she watched Max from afar fifteen years before.
Stop it, heart. Stop it right now!
Her pulse refused to listen. The grip of his hand on her arm, the solidity of him, the intrinsic soldier effect, combined to make her heart jump into a full-fledged tarantella.
Working side by side with him taught her something new. Max had changed in his time away. He was still crazy attractive, the kind of dream date any girl would want, but he was more now. He'd grown up to be a man of honor and strong character. Suddenly the two past relationships she had thought might end in happily-ever-after paled beside the valor of the U.S. soldier escorting her home. Did that make her fickle? Or stupid?
I'd go with smart
, her conscience advised.
Tina wasn't so sure about that. She'd almost married one guy and had thought about it again with the other. So...not smart.
Wrong.
The mental scolding came through loud and clear as they approached Tina's door.
Why is it okay to notice Max has grown up and not realize you've done the same thing? Every princess kisses a toad or two. That's how we find Mr. Right. Eventually. And let me take you back to Sherrie's bit of advice... Have you given this to God? Prayed about it?
She'd done no such thing, and the realization shamed her.
“We're here, we didn't blow away. And wear a warmer coat tomorrow. Please.” Max added the last word when she frowned up at him, and the look he gave her, now that they were in the sheltered alcove of her door, said he wasn't just being bossy. He was concerned.
Her heart didn't flip this time.
It softened under his warm look of entreaty, as if her comfort mattered. From somewhere deep inside, an old feeling dredged up, a fledgling feeling of something good and warm and holy.
His gaze flitted to her mouth, then back to her eyes, wondering.
She stepped back into the doorway.
She'd put her heart on the line twice before. And even though it was no longer baseball season, every American understood the “three strikes and you're out” rule. Right nowâ
She paused, gazing up at Max, and realized she wasn't sure what she wanted right now, because when Max Campbell was around?
Her thoughts muddled.
“You did mention that you weren't seeing anyone.” Max smiled down at her and touched one chilled finger to her cheek.
“And I have no intention of seeing anyone.” She held his gaze, refusing to back down or step forward. “My short timeline says we need to leave things uncomplicated. We're coworkers.” She squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “And that's only until I move away. I can't afford to get involved, I have a serious disregard for broken hearts and I'll be gone soon. The hardware store is slower in winter. That will give you time to train someone else to step in.”
“They won't be as pretty,” Max observed, but he took a step back.
And the minute he did? She wished he hadn't.
He glanced up. “Head in, get warm. I'll watch until your lights come on, then I'm circling around as if I'm leaving. That way if anyone's watching, they'll have the false assurance that I'm gone and Seth's on duty in Clearwater.”
“Is he?”
“No. He's staked out inside the vestibule of the church. Reverend Smith was more than happy to give him a warm place for his watch.”
“The reverend and his wife are good people.” She thought the world of the Smiths, a wonderful couple. They seemed so strong, solid and peaceful in their faith. Sometimes she sat in the back of church, feeling like an imposter. Did she believe in God?
Yes.
Did she trust Him to take charge of her life, lead the way?
No.
Isn't that why He gave her two arms, two legs and a working brain? So she could run her life her own way?
How's that been working out for you lately? You might want to rethink that whole trust-in-God thing. Just a suggestion.
She silenced the internal rebuke, but hadn't Sherrie been telling her that same thing lately? To put God in charge, play Him on the front line and not leave Him on the bench?
The very thought required courage she didn't have. “Be careful tonight.”