Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) (5 page)

change.

Ah, it must be Ben calling her.

The change in Lauren’s demeanor whenever she talked about or to Ben amazed Lily. From what Lily

had observed on the few occasions she’d been around Lauren, she was controlled, contained, measured.

Some might even say detached and cool. But as soon as anything Ben-related came into her consciousness,

her entire facade just melted.

“Hi!” Lauren’s face softened as she answered the call. “I’m just about finished up.”

A blush rose up Lauren’s cheeks and her lips turned up into a smile.

A barely noticeable huskiness filled her tone as she said, “Sounds good. See you then.”

As Lauren disconnected the call, Lily handed the signed documents including the check for first and last

months’ rent and the deposit to her. Lauren flipped through everything, making sure that it was all in order.

“Everything looks good. You can either mail or drop off the rent to my offices before the fifth of each

month.”

“Got it,” Lily confirmed.

They moved to the front door, and Lauren paused. Turning back, she asked, “Do you have movers

coming or do you need some help?”

Lily was once again blown away by the community atmosphere that each resident, even Lauren, who

was a reality show celebrity, seemed to have. “I’m good. It’s just a few boxes. I’ve got them.”

Lauren’s gaze focused directly on Lily. This was the second time today that she had been on the

receiving end of that assessing stare. The first had been in the café when Lauren had been attempting to

decipher what exactly was going on between Lily and Eric.
Yeah, Good luck with that
. And now it was happening again while Lauren was deciding whether or not Lily really didn’t need help.

Lily pasted on her brightest, most confident smile, and after a few moments, Lauren tilted her head as

she narrowed her eyes. “Okay, but if you change your mind, give me a call. I can have Ben, Ryan, and

Luke over here with one SOS text to Karina and Sam.”

Lily felt that good ol’ reliable emptiness bubble back up inside of her. Lauren had a fabulous life. She

not only had amazing friends—whom Lily had found out over the weekend called themselves “the

Fabulous Four”—but all of them had amazing men in their lives. Lily couldn’t begin to imagine what a

support system like that would feel like.

“Thanks so much for the offer, but really, I don’t have that much stuff,” Lily insisted.

Lauren paused for a moment then nodded, letting it go.

They said their goodbyes, and as Lily shut the door, she could practically hear the studio in the back calling her name.

“Lily, come dance in me.”

All she wanted to do was change into leggings and a loose shirt, grab her iPod, and go put that space to

good use. But instead of giving in to her impulse, she decided to do the responsible thing and unpack her

Jeep. She at least needed to get the perishable food that Sue Ann had sent into the freezer and a couple of boxes inside, she negotiated with herself mentally.

Yep, she could do that.

---~---

“I got a call that Scooby made the great escape once again. Do you need me to go take care of it? I’m on

my way home, so I can swing him by,” Eric offered. He was exhausted and sore, but he would do anything

to help out his sister.

“No. I’ll head out and round him up. I’m almost done grading papers and was just about to leave

anyways.” Amy’s voice sounded a little frazzled. “Did they say where they saw him?”

“Yep. He was walking down Main Street like he owned the place.”

His sister sighed in frustration. “He’s probably going to Two Scoops. Ever since Maxine gave him that

scoop of vanilla last summer because she thought he was ‘hot,’ he keeps going back. No matter what I say.

she keeps serving him ice cream.”

Eric tried to suppress a laugh. He knew that his sister didn’t think that her dog’s shenanigans were

funny. But he had seen Scooby walk up to the to-go window at Two Scoops and it was hilarious. Still, he

understood Amy’s frustration. “Hey, I’ll grab Jake this weekend and we’ll reinforce the fence and add a few feet to the top. That might make it a little tougher for him to get out.”

“Thanks, E. If anyone else calls with a sighting, let me know,” she said with a sigh.

“Will do, Sis.”

Eric loved all of his siblings equally, but Amy had always held a special place in his heart. There were

four kids in the Maguire clan. Eric was the oldest. Then came Jake, Amy, and finally the baby of the family, Nikki. Jake and Nikki were definitely the more wild of the foursome. You never really knew what they

would do in any given situation—or in Nikki’s case, what would come out of her mouth.

Eric and Amy were much more quiet and reserved. Amy was shy. Eric just didn’t like to say things

unless they needed to be said.

He always knew that Jake and Nikki could take care of themselves. Hell, they used to get pissed when

Eric would try to step in to take care of things when they were younger.

But not Amy. Amy brought out all of Eric’s protective instincts, and it didn’t seem to bother her when

he acted on them. Which was why he had suggested that she get a large breed dog in the first place. Their

family had always had dogs growing up, and Eric liked the idea of the added protection once Amy had

moved out on her own after college.

Eric’s suggestion had been for Amy to get a Rottweiler or a German Shepherd. His sister had researched

both breeds and gone down to Lake Tahoe to meet with several breeders. Four hours later, she’d come

home with a Great Dane puppy and named it Scooby Doo, Scooby for short. Scooby may not have been what Eric had envisioned for Amy’s home security system, but he did the job. He was massive. Plus, he had

more personality in his right paw than most of the people Eric knew.

Pulling up in his driveway and turning off the engine of his new city-issued SUV cruiser, Eric yawned

and rolled his shoulders back. His muscles were screaming.

Aside from his normal workouts, he had taken up the martial art of Jiu Jitsu. He practiced three times a

week from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. This morning’s session had been especially brutal thanks to his sleepless

night, which was due to one incredibly sexy, dark-haired beauty he could not erase from his mind. If his

dreams over the last few days were any indication, it seemed apparent to Eric that he didn’t even need to be conscious for Lily to consume his thoughts.

He stepped out of his truck, and when his boots hit the pavement, his calf muscles tightened and

cramped. He was so glad that he had decided to purchase the enclosed hot tub that now sat in his backyard.

His brother Jake had given him a hard time about it initially, saying that Eric was only doing it so he could have an excuse to see women in their bathing suits.

At the time Jake had made that accusation, Eric realized that the thought of having an excuse to have

half-naked women lounging around hadn’t even crossed his mind, but it certainly wasn’t a bad idea. Still,

truth be told, Eric had had the tub almost a year and the only women that had been in it were his sisters and mom.

Women had tried to get an invitation and had invited themselves. Hell, a few had even showed up in

bikinis on his doorstep, but he’d turned them away. He’d had no desire to share the place he felt the most

relaxed in and got the most rejuvenated from with any of those women.

A sound caught Eric’s attention, and he looked over to see that a red Jeep was parked in the driveway

of Judge Pattinson’s unoccupied house. Curiosity to meet his new neighbor did not trump the sore muscles

he was suffering from, so he decided he would go over and say hello tomorrow. Or the next day. Right

now he just wanted to go sit in his hot tub and let the pulse of the water as it jetted in streams massage his achy body.

“Umphh!”

Eric heard a female voice grunt as he was putting his key in the door. Sighing, he hung his head down

in defeat. He knew that the hot tub would have to wait.

He moved off the porch and started across the lawn to answer the call of duty. Stepping around the

Jeep, he saw two legs below a
huge
box and tiny fingers wrapped precariously around the sides.

“Here, I got it,” Eric said as he lifted the box. Immediately he noted that, even with his size and strength, this thing was
heavy
.

“Oh…thank…you,” a hoarse female voice said between short pants of breath.

He felt more than saw his new neighbor move around the side of the box and figured she was going up

to the front door. He followed without having to see where she was headed since he knew the path with his

eyes closed. Before Judge Pattinson had decided to make the big move to Shady Pines Retirement Home,

Eric had checked on the elderly man up to three times per day.

He flexed his hands around the box to tighten his grip as it began to slip just as he heard the door open.

Not wanting to hold this monstrosity any longer than necessary, he quickly navigated up the final step and

entered the small cottage.

“You can put that down here.”

Eric felt the hairs on his arms stand up at the voice that had just given him that instruction. He froze.

It couldn’t be
.

Forcing his temporarily paralyzed limbs to move, he lowered his arms, setting the box down.

Holy shit! It is her.

He was standing face to face with his new neighbor. Lily.

For a second, he thought that this might be some kind of prank. Like maybe they’d brought the MTV

show Punk’d back and were punking non-famous people.

Her eyes widened in recognition before something that looked close to fear flashed in her gorgeous

brandy-colored eyes as she asked tensely, “What are you doing here?”

“I live next door,” Eric quickly explained. “I didn’t know that it was you who was moving in. I just

heard someone struggling and came over to help.”

“Oh, okay.” Lily’s body relaxed. She smiled a half-smile, almost looking embarrassed about her first

reaction. Then her eyes traveled down to his chest and stopped.

He looked down, thinking maybe he had spilled something on himself at lunch this afternoon when he

had hastily eaten a pastrami sandwich at his desk. But to his great relief, he didn’t see any evidence of

spillage anywhere on his uniform.

“So, does that mean
you
are the Chief of Police that lives next door?” Lily’s shocked tone took Eric a little aback.

“Yes,” he said, trying not to sound as defensive as he felt.

“How old are you?” she asked, still in disbelief.

“Thirty-four,” Eric replied a little more softly than his first response, now realizing that her reaction was not condescending, just an honest knee-jerk response. He actually thought it was pretty cute that she had

been so shocked. But now that the subject had been broached, he started wondering. “How old are you?”

Lily didn’t say anything for a moment then abruptly began apologizing. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have

asked that. It’s none of my business. It’s just, well… I guess I just assumed you were in your twenties.”

Eric got that a lot. Well, not in Hope Falls, since he had grown up here, so everyone knew how old he

was. But anywhere else he went he still got carded. His grandma always said that he had a baby face. It

wasn’t something Eric was happy about.

“Well, thanks for the help. That box was a doozy,” Lily said, looking down at the floor as she moved

and reached for the door nervously.

Eric realized that in her apology she had neglected to say how old she was. Looking at her now, wearing

jeans and an oversized sweatshirt, her hair pulled up into a ponytail and no makeup, she looked like she

could easily be as young as eighteen. That thought made Eric feel like a total pervert for the things he had been thinking about her.

“How old are you?” The question came out much more harshly than Eric had intended.

Lily’s eyes darted to his, and he definitely saw that they flashed with fear before her expression turned

completely blank. “I think you should go.”

Shit! Eric couldn’t believe how badly he was handling things with the girl standing before him. He’d

never had a problem talking to women. In fact, he’d always done exceptionally well with the opposite sex.

But it seemed every time he opened his mouth he caused Lily to either become uncomfortable, scared, or

mad. It was kind of messing with his head.

He desperately wanted to start over with her. Never before in his life had he wished he could have a do-

over, but that is exactly what he wanted with her. A fresh start. A blank slate. He looked down into her

large doe eyes and what he saw there made him think that starting over wasn’t likely to happen.

Eric moved to the door and stepped outside but turned back, deciding that he at least wanted her to try

and explain his behavior. “I’m sorry if I said something that made you feel uncomfortable. It’s none of my

business how old you are. I only asked because, since meeting you at the wedding, I’ve been thinking about

you. A lot. And it kind of freaked me out that I may have been thinking about an
eighteen
-year-old.” He blew out a puff of air and shook his head. It sounded so much worse once he’d said it out loud. He should

have just kept his mouth shut.

To his surprise, Lily’s eyes danced with amusement and a small smile played on her lips. He thought,

for a moment, that she might actually start laughing at him, but instead she just beamed up at him, saying,

“Don’t worry, you aren’t
that
guy.” She took a deep, steadying breath in through her nose and out through her mouth.