The Promise of Home (Love Inspired) (10 page)

Dev would have to remember that.

“Come on inside.” Jake fished a set of keys from the front pocket of his jeans. “No sense baking in the parking lot. My office is air-conditioned.”

“It’s Saturday. Aren’t you off duty?”

“There’s no such thing.” It was a statement, not a complaint.

Dev followed him inside the brick building and down the narrow corridor. Jake’s office was small, with a window overlooking the park. He motioned to a leather chair. “Grab a seat. The first coat of paint in my dining room is drying and I promised Emma I’d be back in half an hour. With ice cream. You don’t break a promise like that.”

A photograph of an adolescent boy with sandy blond hair and light blue eyes grinned at Dev from a frame made out of seashells and pieces of glass.

Jake caught him looking. “My son Jeremy. He’s twelve.”

The kid’s bright smile reminded him of Logan. Guilt reared up, ready to go another round.

Dev regretted his abrupt departure, but if he hadn’t left when he did, he might not have seen the guy lurking in the woods.

Jake sat down behind the desk and pushed a pile of paperwork aside. “Trip said someone was trespassing on your property?”

“Technically it was my neighbor’s land, but I was the one who saw him.”

“Your neighbor.” Jake frowned. “Jenna Gardner?”

Something in the chief’s expression set off Dev’s internal alarm. According to Jenna, she hadn’t been in Mirror Lake for more than a week.

“Do you know her?”

The police chief made a noise left open to interpretation. “Why don’t you give me the specifics?”

Dev gave Jake the details, along with a description of the man and the vehicle he’d been driving.

“It’s too bad you couldn’t get a plate number.” Jake plucked a pen from a leather cylinder on the desk and scratched something on a piece of paper. “I’ll tell my officers to keep an eye out for the vehicle or someone fitting that description.”

Dev leaned forward. “That’s it?”

The question surprised them both.

“He wasn’t breaking any laws,” Jake said after a moment.

“You think I’m overreacting,” Dev said flatly.

“People from outside the area tend to think that if there aren’t any ‘no trespassing signs’ posted every six feet, they can go wherever they please,” Jake said. “The guy you met could have gotten out of his car to stretch his legs for a few minutes. Took a walk in the woods, just like he said.”

It was a reasonable explanation. Except that Dev couldn’t forget the smirk on the guy’s face. The gleam in his eyes.

“I suppose you’re right.”

“You know Jenna well?” There was a speculative look in the chief’s eyes now.

“I didn’t say that.” Why did Dev suddenly feel as if the tables had turned and he was the one under scrutiny? “But I do know she’s living alone in that cabin with two small children and a guy who might have a rap sheet a mile long was hiding behind a tree, watching her.”

“You
think
he was watching her. But I understand your concern and I’ll ask the officer on night duty to drive past Jenna’s cabin a few times.”

“He won’t see anything. The cabin is at the end of a long driveway.” Dev tried not to let his frustration show. “Isn’t there some kind of neighborhood watch program?”

“As a matter of fact there is. Would you like to sign up?”

“Me?”

Sutton smiled.

“You’re her closest neighbor.”

Chapter Eleven

“V
iolet’s here!”

Logan dashed past Jenna on his way to the door.

The realization that she wanted to hug the dog rather than scold her was a sign that she needed to go back to the city.

“We’ll take her—” Home.

The sentence died when Jenna saw not only the dog, but Dev, on the porch.

Tori lifted her arms and Dev scooped her up as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She looped her arms around his neck and pushed her face close to his, nose to nose.

“We. Missed. You.”

Dev’s eyes met hers over Tori’s head and Jenna felt her traitorous heart kick in response.

“I thought you had plans for this evening.” The words slipped out before she could prevent them.

“I do.” Dev set Tori on the floor. “But I wouldn’t mind some company. Interested in joining me?”

“Yes!”

Her niece and nephew answered the question before Jenna had a chance to speak.

“Jenna?” Dev looked at her.

Seriously? She was supposed to be the killjoy who wiped the smiles off those two adorable little faces?

“Where are we going?”

“To see a show.” Dev smiled and set Tori down. “You’ll need to wear jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and a jacket. And something practical on your feet. No heels.”

“A formal dress code?” Jenna strove to keep her tone light, not wanting Dev to think that she’d been disappointed—or hurt—by his abrupt departure earlier that afternoon.

“And it will be strictly enforced.”

“It sounds…interesting.” She shouldn’t have accepted.

“It sounds like fun!” Logan was already heading into the bedroom to change his clothes.

“I promise you won’t regret it.”

Didn’t Dev realize that was the reason why she was hesitating? Jenna had believed promises before and lived to regret it. And now Dev was asking her to trust him.

“Think of it as a field trip,” he added.

Which was the reason she had no choice but to go along. No matter how Dev felt about her, this outing was for Logan and Tori.

“We’ll be right out.”

Jenna helped Tori find her jacket and then quickly slipped on the pair of hiking shoes that had arrived with the shipment of new clothes she’d ordered for the children. She would probably never have an opportunity to wear them again, but they were similar to the pair she’d seen Abby wearing the day of the housewarming party.

Dev was waiting on the porch when Jenna shepherded the children outside a few minutes later. They took the path through the woods but when they got to Dev’s cabin, he continued across the yard and led them to another trail that curved around the shoreline.

“Where are we going?” Tori whispered.

“You don’t have to whisper,” Logan told her.

“I know. But it feels like I should.”

Jenna understood what Tori meant. The mournful call of a loon occasionally broke the silence as they followed Dev deeper into the woods. He shortened his stride to match Logan’s, moving with the confidence of someone who’d done this a thousand times.

Every so often, Dev would stop to point things out. The shaggy silhouette of an owl perched on a branch. A fresh raccoon track in the sand. The wink of a firefly in the grass. The slap of a beaver’s tail against the water, alerting its mate to their presence.

Sights and sounds Jenna would never have noticed if Dev wasn’t with them.

They hiked up a small rise with only the narrow beam from Dev’s flashlight and a sliver of moon to guide them. He stopped at the top and set his canvas backpack on the ground. “We’re here.”

Jenna looked around. All she saw were trees and…trees.

“Where—”

“Look up.” Dev suddenly stood beside her, the heat from his body like a physical touch.

Jenna tipped her head back and felt the breath tangle in her lungs.

A black velvet ceiling stretched above them, the stars close enough to touch. Flawless as diamonds and each one just as stunning in its clarity.

“Everyone have a seat.” Dev’s lips moved upward in a smile. “The show is about to start.”

Jenna felt a shimmer of anticipation. Dev McGuire had some very unusual ideas about the best way to spend an evening.

Violet, who seemed to understand the proper protocol, waited for Dev to spread a blanket out on the dew-tipped grass.

Logan and Tori flopped down immediately, burrowing into the fleece blanket Dev pulled from his backpack. Jenna settled beside them and rested her chin on her knees, a feeling of peace spreading over her that she couldn’t explain.

In the city, artificial light muted the beauty of the night sky. Jenna couldn’t remember the last time she’d even noticed it. On the nights she worked late, she walked to her car on autopilot, focused on planning her agenda for the next day.

Tori snuggled against her as Dev dropped to one knee and wrestled another object from his backpack.

“Sweet.” Logan wiggled closer to get a better look and aimed the flashlight beam at the telescope Jenna had noticed propped in the corner of Dev’s living room.

“Do you want to help me set it up?”

“Sure!” Jenna found herself holding the flashlight as Logan dropped to his knees beside Dev and traced his fingers over the letters written on the side of the telescope.

“Who’s Jason?” he asked.

Dev almost dropped the telescope, a knee-jerk reaction to hearing his brother’s name.

His parents never talked about Jason. Brent McGuire buried his grief as deep as the footings of the structures he built. His mother wore hers like a mourning cloak, a silent but public display for everyone to see.

Only Talia talked about Jason. She called Dev on his birthday. Repeated his favorite sayings and remembered his dreams.

“My brother.” Dev pushed the words out, aware that Jenna was listening.

“Did he give it to you?”

All Dev could do was nod as a memory crashed over him.

Jason had asked for a telescope for his twelfth birthday and surprisingly enough, their parents had granted the request. He’d become obsessed with mapping the stars and could name every one of the constellations.

Dev could still remember the night he’d come home from a date and Jason had met him at the door, barely able to contain his excitement.

“Come outside, Dev. I have to show you something.”

“Let me guess—you found a new galaxy that no scientist has ever seen before.”

“No.”

“You struck oil in the backyard.”

“Better.”

Dev had followed him onto the spacious deck of their home more out of resignation than curiosity. Jason’s telescope was aimed at the stars. Nothing unusual about that.

“So what did you discover?”

“Do you believe in God, Dev?”

“Why?”
Dev had chosen the safest response.

“Because when I was looking at the Andromeda Galaxy tonight, I saw him.”

“You saw God? I think you need to cut back on the Mountain Dew and get more sleep.”

Jason’s smile hadn’t dimmed.
“Okay, maybe I didn’t actually see him, but I realized he has to be real. The universe is so amazing. So big…something has to be…bigger.”

Dev had laughed.
Laughed.

Even now, twenty years later, the memory churned a sick feeling in his gut.

“Don’t tell Mom and Dad or they’ll take that thing away from you.”

Of course his kid brother hadn’t taken his advice. Jason decided to share his newfound faith over brunch at the country club the following Sunday. To make matters worse, he’d added another stunning revelation.

He’d informed their father that he wasn’t going to join the family company. He wanted to build houses for poor people instead of condominiums and golf courses for the wealthy.

Their mother had knocked over her wineglass. Red liquid had bled onto the Battenberg lace tablecloth while all the color had bled out of Brent McGuire’s face.

The telescope disappeared the next day.

Dev had stumbled upon it several years later, propped in the corner of their grandfather’s cabin. One night, he had actually worked up the courage to set it up on the deck.

The night he’d realized Jason was right.

“Dev?”

He jerked out of his reverie at the tentative touch of Jenna’s hand on his arm.

His heart shifted into second gear and he eased away from her.

“Sorry.”

Maybe this hadn’t been such a great idea. But as hard as he tried, he hadn’t been able to shake the thought of the guy in black skulking through the trees.

He’d taken Jake Sutton’s suggestion to heart and decided that keeping an eye on Jenna and the kids was his civic duty. The only way to do that without looking like the stalker in the woods that he was concerned about was to invite them on a field trip.

For a few hours, he could set aside his disgust that Jenna worked for
Twin City Trends.
Especially when those big blue eyes brimmed with concern for
him.

Dev didn’t deserve her comfort or understanding.

He blew out a slow breath, aware that he’d taken too long to answer Logan’s innocent question.

“Jason is my brother.” Dev carefully tucked the memory aside and worked up a smile. “Now, who wants to get a close up look at the Milky Way?”

Jenna recognized a diversionary tactic when she saw one.

The shadows hadn’t concealed the change in his expression when Logan asked him about the name etched on the side of the telescope.

She tried to remember if Dev had mentioned having a brother. Was there some kind of rivalry going on? Had they had a falling out? Because something had triggered that strong response. Something he didn’t want to talk about.

“Tori can go first.” Logan nudged his sister forward.

Dev gave him a solemn wink of approval, aware of the sacrifice that had just been made. He knelt down and positioned the telescope for a petite five-year-old.

While Logan and Tori absorbed every word, Jenna’s attention shifted from the stunning night sky to the man patiently pointing out Orion and Aquila, the Eagle.

“What do you say we let your aunt have a turn now?”

“Me?” Jenna snapped back to attention.

“You have to. It’s awesome, Aunt Jenna!” Logan moved out of the way, leaving Jenna with no choice but to take part or be labeled a party pooper.

As she knelt down, Jenna felt the feather-soft brush of Dev’s hand and the responding shiver of awareness. He went so still that Jenna wondered if Dev had felt it, too.

“Cold?”

“Yes.” Although just the opposite was true, Jenna thought with rising panic.

Dev took her words at face value because the next moment, he’d stripped off his butter soft chambray shirt and draped it over her shoulders.

“Thanks.” The word sounded more like the croak of a frog.

“The temperature is starting to drop at night. In a few weeks, the trees are going to start to change color.”

And she would be long gone by then, watching the trees change color from her office window.

Tori rubbed her eyes and curled up next to Violet on the blanket. “I want to see—” She yawned. “—a shooting star.”

“I’m afraid I can’t show you one of those.” Dev chuckled. “Shooting stars are flashy but they’re a bit unpredictable. You might get lucky and see one, but a moment later, it’s gone.” He sat down on the blanket and Tori immediately nestled into the curve of his arm. “How about I show you my favorite star instead?”

“Okay.”

Logan dropped down beside them and curled an arm around Violet, too.

“Do you see those five stars?”

Logan bobbed his head. “That’s the Big Dipper.”

“You’re right. Now follow a line to…there.” There was absolute silence as the children tracked the movement of Dev’s finger to another star winking above them. “That one is Polaris. The North Star.”

“It’s not very bright.” Tori sounded a wee bit disappointed.

“That’s true, but it’s still pretty special.” Dev leaned back, settling his weight on his elbows as he tipped his face to the sky. “Sailors and explorers looked to the North Star to help them remain on course.

“It might not be as flashy or get attention like a shooting star, but it’s the one you can trust to always be there. To help you keep moving in the right direction.”

A constant.

Something that didn’t change from day to day like fashion trends or the stock market or opinion polls.

“Kate said that God does that,” Logan said.

“She’s right.” Dev smiled down at him. “Sometimes I think that God put the North Star there so we would remember.”

Jenna couldn’t look at Dev as the words settled deep, shifting her beliefs and values to make room for…for what? Another nice thought? Or truth.