Reflection Point: An Eternity Springs Novel (9 page)

“I’ve run short on three of the handouts,” Savannah said. “If you’ll show me how to work the copy machine, I’ll finish up. I’ve never seen one like it.”

Zach slipped his phone in his pocket. “It’s a ditto machine, and I suspect it qualifies as an antique. But it works, so I’ll use it until it gives up the ghost. Which pages do we need more copies of?”

“These. I’m short six copies of the first two and seven copies of the third.”

When she passed over the pages, their hands brushed. The touch was electric, and judging from the slight widening of her eyes, he suspected she felt it, too. She didn’t look any happier about it than he did.

That made Zach feel marginally better. It made sense that an ex-con drug dealer would harbor hard feelings toward law enforcement. It seemed only fair that if he was going to suffer, then so should she.

For the first time since he checked her rap sheet, Zach
wondered how someone like her had gotten tangled up in the drug trade. She should be teaching school or baking cookies or, well, making soap. Not growing weed or cooking meth or recruiting members for her drug ring. What circumstances had caused her life to veer off the straight and narrow?

Family influence had to be part of it. Or lack of influence from a family. He’d seen
that
often enough.

He turned his attention to a demonstration of how to use the machine. When she leaned forward to study the paper feed, he caught a whiff of her clean, fresh scent—a blend of lavender and summer rain—and the workroom suddenly felt crowded. One of her own soaps, he surmised.
She’ll make a mint
.

He jabbed at the on switch with his thumb.

The ditto machine spat pages. Savannah picked up a sheet stained with fresh purple ink, brought it close to her nose, and inhaled deeply. Her full lips stretched into a sensuous smile. She literally purred. “Oh, wow. This makes me think of third grade.”

Zach went hard as Murphy Mountain. The urge to kiss her swamped him, and Zach leaned forward.

A sliver of self-preservation guided words onto his tongue and he drawled, “That’s the closest you’ll find to cocaine around here, Ms. Moore.”

She froze. The paper slipped from her hand. Her gaze flew up to meet his. Grimly she said, “You know.”

SIX
 

Savannah felt sick. “You ran a background check on me.”

Knowledge gleamed in his blue eyes along with the too-familiar blend of disapproval and disgust. “I keep an eye on what happens in my town.”

Bitterness washed through her. From the moment she’d discovered who had yanked her away from the point at Lover’s Leap, she’d known this would happen. Was there some sort of lawman homing beacon embedded in her butt?

The sheriff’s lips twisted in a sneer as he added, “I’m putting you on notice that if you’re thinking to grow anything other than geraniums in Eternity Springs, you’ll be answering to me.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. What is this? The Cartoon Channel? Showdown at the Purple Ink Corral?”

“Try the reality of being on probation. What did you do to warrant unsupervised probation, anyway?”

“What? You think I screwed a cop or something like that? Typical.” She pivoted and headed for the door, calling over her shoulder. “Guess what, Barney—traditionally it’s the other way around.”

She almost could hear his teeth grinding. She was halfway
to the outside door when he said, “What’s your story, Georgia?”

She stopped and whirled on him. “What do you mean, ‘What’s my story’? It’s all there in the databases, isn’t it?”

“The bare facts are there, yes. I know you were convicted of cultivation and distribution of a controlled substance and served six years in a Georgia women’s prison. What I don’t know is why.”

“Why should you think you get to know why? You don’t have a right to any information about me beyond what you can look up on your computer. I haven’t forfeited all of my rights just because I’m a felon. I think I still have the right of privacy.”

If this
were
the Cartoon Channel, she’d see steam coming out of his ears, she decided. He braced his hands on his hips and declared, “I despise drugs. They destroy families. They destroy communities. They destroy lives. I won’t let you hurt people I care about. I won’t let you hurt this town.”

Emotion rolled through her, the familiar combination of rage and pain and helplessness that she’d first felt shortly before her scheduled wedding day. Fierce, hot, and mean, it was a sensation she’d sworn she’d never again experience.
Damn you, Zach Turner
.

She faced him, folded her arms, and in a voice dripping with scorn asked, “What do you think I’m going to do? Peddle weed across from the elementary school? I was in prison for six years, Sheriff Turner. Six years! If you think I’ll do anything that might put my freedom at risk, then you’re even dumber than the one-bullet wonder.”

“The what?”

“You need to bone up on your TV trivia. Sheriff Andy only let his deputy have one bullet for his gun.”

“If you don’t stop with this Barney Fife business …”

“What? You’ll arrest me for hitting too close to home?”

With that, she turned her back on him, marched to her car, and slammed the door. It took every ounce of her self-control to refrain from gunning the engine and spinning her wheels on the gravel road as she left, but she wouldn’t put it past Zach Turner to dash to his patrol car, chase her down, and arrest her for reckless driving.

Savannah held the wheel in a white-knuckled grip and blinked back tears as she drove sedately back to town. “What a first-class jerk,” she muttered. “I went out there to help him! Leave it up to Deputy Doofus to be the poster boy for looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

Although she wasn’t exactly the brightest crayon in the box herself. She had gone out to Reflection Point. Talk about stupid. She’d let peer pressure—literally, Sarah Murphy’s elbow—make her do something she absolutely hadn’t wanted to do. “This is what you get for trying to fit in. For trying to make friends. For trying to be a friend. Did you learn nothing in six years at Emmanuel? You can’t afford to care about anyone other than yourself.”

She needed to remember that after Zach spread the word about her past. Of course he’d do just that. Never mind ethics; he had to protect his precious town, didn’t he? “ ‘I won’t let you hurt this town,’ ” she mimicked. “Bastard.”

What really put the cherry on top of her humiliation was that he’d been about to kiss her. Yep, right there beside that old-fashioned duplicating machine, he’d been about to lay one on her. She’d seen it in his eyes, the way they’d fastened on her mouth, the way his lids had grown heavy. The air between them had all but crackled with energy.

And, dammit, she’d wanted it. Her mouth had gone dry. Her heart had skipped a beat, and for the first time
in forever, she’d yearned. She’d wanted a man’s—that man’s—mouth on hers. She’d wanted to taste him, to feel his arms around her. She’d wanted to touch and be touched, for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Damn him. Damn him for doing that to me
.

By the time she reached the Eternity Springs city limits, she’d managed to fight back the tears and lock away her emotions. At least, that’s what she told herself as she unlocked the door to her Victorian and stepped inside, calling, “Inny? Where are you? Mama’s home.”

The dog came running and yipping a hello. Savannah scooped her up into her arms and squeezed her tight. Too tight, she realized, when the poor baby squealed.

Then Inny was licking her face and Savannah cooed back at her. Thank heaven for pets. They were a true blessing. Unlike humans, they gave unconditional love. They didn’t intentionally hurt people.

Inny squeaked again, so Savannah put her down. Her arms immediately felt empty, and a restless energy hummed through her. Now seated at her feet, Inny thumped her skinny little tail, her head tilted to one side as she waited expectantly.

“What?” Savannah asked her. “Are you bored? Do you want to go for a walk? Down to the dog park, perhaps?”

Actually, a walk to the dog park was a good solution for both of them. Inny loved her walks. Hearing the
w
-word almost always caused her to leap with joy. However, the little dog wasn’t built for accompanying Savannah on the long, draining run she needed right now, so she decided she’d let Inny play in the dog park while she ran the circumference of the fence until her legs gave out.

It took her only minutes to change, and soon they strode up Spruce Street toward Davenport Park. Savannah plastered a smile on her face and waved at neighbors,
doing her best to keep her mind off the events at Reflection Point. For the most part she succeeded, and when she reached the dog park and released Inny to play, she returned Ali Timberlake’s greeting with a genuine smile.

Ali was quite a bit older than Savannah, though she didn’t look like it. Slim and stylish, Ali had that smart, city-girl look that the rural southern girl inside Savannah would have loved to emulate. How Ali pulled off that look wearing sneakers, athletic shorts, a scoop-neck tee, and a sun visor, Savannah couldn’t hazard a guess.

“What perfect timing,” Ali said. “I stopped by your place earlier but missed you.”

Evidently Ali hadn’t heard about the Chamber meeting. “I was … out … for the afternoon.”

“I wanted to invite you to join our softball team. We have a lot of fun, and it doesn’t require a lot of time.” She gestured toward the baseball diamond at the far side of the park. “We practice once a week in May until the weekly games begin in June. Summer is such a busy time for everybody, but we all need a break and this is a fun way to do it. Please say you’ll join us? Practice is about to start.”

Savannah’s gaze drifted across the baseball diamond, and yearning filled her. Once upon a time, fast-pitch softball had been her world, and during those awful years at Emmanuel, the time she’d spent playing ball had saved her sanity. She hadn’t picked up a softball since, but oh, how her fingers itched to give it a go.

She spied Nic, Sage, and Cat Davenport, along with a handful of other women she didn’t recognize. She didn’t see Sarah Murphy, and for that she was glad. She wasn’t up to dealing with the matchmaking machinations of the relatively new Mrs. Murphy, and she did want to join the softball players for at least tonight. Once Zach
Turner spilled the beans about her past, they probably wouldn’t invite her back.

Savannah glanced toward Inny, who was playing happily with Nic Callahan’s boxer. An extended stay at the dog park wouldn’t bother her one bit. “I’d love to join you, thank you. Except, I’m afraid I don’t have a glove.”

“Excellent, and don’t worry about a glove. Someone will have an extra.” Ali beamed a smile toward Savannah and motioned her toward the baseball diamond.

That was another thing Savannah liked about Ali Timberlake. She gestured. She didn’t reach out and touch. She didn’t hug each time she said hello and good-bye.

Ali introduced Savannah to the other players whom she had yet to meet. Rose Anderson was the local doctor and Sage Rafferty’s sister. Julie Nelson taught third grade, Christy Hartford was a stay-at-home mom, and Megan Smith helped run the Blue Spruce Sandwich Shop.

Practice began amid much laughter and camaraderie. Savannah was dismayed to learn that the official coach and assistant coach of the team were Celeste Blessing and Sarah Murphy and that they were due to arrive in half an hour. “Sarah’s mother is in a memory care facility in Gunnison, and she and Celeste went to visit her this afternoon,” Nic explained to Savannah.

Oh, joy
.

While Savannah debated whether or not to mention that she could pitch—she didn’t want to answer a bunch of questions—Rose Anderson said, “Please, Savannah. If you have any athletic skill whatsoever, would you please consider taking my place at shortstop? I’m terrible and I miss balls, and then my sister gives me grief. You would be doing me such a huge favor if you’d let me retreat to the outfield. Oh, please? Oh, please?”

Savannah couldn’t help laughing. “Sure, I’ll play shortstop.”

Rose thanked her, and Savannah took her spot. Nic Callahan occupied the pitcher’s mound. Practice consisted of easy pitches, a lot of pop flies, some girly base running, and some plays that had Savannah’s chin dropping in admiration. Cat Davenport could run like the wind. Rose was a slugger at bat.

Savannah made a couple of diving plays on line drives that had her new teammates cheering and left her shorts covered in grass stains. On her first time at bat, she hit a home run. She ran the bases and arrived at home, then said to the catcher, “This team has some good players.”

“We have our moments,” Nic replied. “When Lori Murphy is here, we’re actually pretty good. She’s played a lot of intramural softball in college and she can throw a pitch.”

“She’s not home from school yet?”

“No. I’m not sure she’s coming home this summer.” A shadow chased across Nic’s face, then she shook her head and added, “What about you? You can throw a softball. Have you ever tried to pitch?”

Savannah hesitated, then responded, “Yes.”