Falling for the Sheriff Read online

  And how will you handle it if she says no? Disappointment would be too mild a word to cover his feelings if Kate didn’t want to see him again.

  “I have a confession to make,” he said.

  “Please tell me it involves another soap opera from the eighties,” she teased. “Because that would make my night.”

  “Brat,” he grumbled affectionately. “No, I was going to say that, as much as I enjoyed tonight, I’m eager to see you again when I don’t have to share you with anyone else.”

  She slanted him a look that was difficult to read in the dark. “I’d like that.”

  “Maybe I could cook you dinner.” The offer surprised him. When was the last time he’d cooked for a woman? “I’m sure Mom would be willing to keep the girls at her place for a few hours.” It would mean admitting to his mother what his plans were, but he was willing to endure one of his mom’s inquisitions in order to get unchaperoned time with Kate.

  “Sounds wonderful.”

  “I’ll check my schedule and call you so we can figure out a time.” He was relieved that he sounded normal and not like a lovesick fool who was already counting the hours until he could be with her again.

  * * *

  KATE WAS AT the desk in her room, checking email on her laptop when the phone rang late Thursday morning. Since she knew Gram was in the house, she ignored it and started typing her response to the high school drama teacher, who’d written to ask if Kate offered voice lessons. The high school would be putting on a musical in the fall, and the teacher thought it might be wise to call in reinforcements for helping the teens prepare.

  “Katie?” Gram knocked on the bedroom door. “Phone for you, dear.”

  Was Cole calling to cancel their dinner date this evening? It was a completely irrational thought—she had no reason to expect him to bail—but she’d been thinking about tonight so much, it was the first thing that occurred to her. When she’d accepted his invitation, she hadn’t expected their next date to be quite so soon. But as he’d explained when he phoned yesterday, between duty at the county courthouse and the upcoming festival, his schedule was pretty packed for the next week and a half.

  She opened her door. “Thanks, Gram.” She raised the receiver to her ear, torn between fierce hope that Cole’s plans hadn’t changed and the niggling, cowardly hope that he did need to postpone. Based on how he’d kissed her the last time he’d seen her—and how she’d kissed him back—she knew their physical relationship was escalating. Was she ready for that? “Hello?”

  “Hi, Kate. I hate to do this to you, but I need to cancel. Monica’s got a bad summer cold.”

  Kate blinked. “Mrs. Abernathy?”

  “Yes. Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed your grandmother told you who was calling. I’m afraid Monica won’t be able to make it this afternoon.”

  “Oh.” Relief that it wasn’t Cole on the phone flooded her, overwhelming her so completely that it took a moment to collect her thoughts. “I’m sorry to hear she isn’t feeling well. Just call me back when she’s doing better, and we’ll schedule a makeup lesson.”

  “Thanks for understanding. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  As Kate disconnected the call, she was struck by the revelation of how much she wanted Cole. The sheer joy that had filled her when she’d realized it wasn’t him, that he wasn’t abandoning their plans, was staggering. To some extent, it was even liberating. Yet, now that she’d confirmed how much the night ahead meant to her, the unoccupied hours between then and now yawned in a void, the perfect incubation conditions for self-doubt.

  In dire need of moral support, she dialed Crystal’s number, expelling a pent up breath when her friend answered. “Hey, it’s Kate. You know how we’ve been saying we should get Luke and Noah together? By any chance, could we do that today? I’m having dinner with Cole tonight, and I desperately need to be distracted so I don’t spend the next seven hours fixating.”

  “Dinner, again?” Crystal whistled. “Jazz said she and Brody just went out with you guys. Two dates in one week—tell me again how this isn’t serious?”

  I can’t. Not when she’d spent the majority of her waking hours obsessing over their last date, replaying his kisses in her mind. She’d even downloaded that ballad they’d danced to, had listened to it so often in the last day and a half that Luke and Gram were beginning to look at her strangely. “So...do you have some time this afternoon?”

  “Well. I did have scintillating plans to do laundry—you wouldn’t believe the amount of clothes five kids go through—and clean out my refrigerator. Obviously, I’ll be brokenhearted to have to reschedule all that, but since it’s for you...”

  After a few more minutes of discussion, they decided to feed their respective children early lunches, then meet at the community pool. Kate knocked on the door to Luke’s room to alert him to the day’s agenda. He didn’t react with anything as drastic as a smile, but he nodded quickly. He was probably getting cabin fever hanging around the farm.

  He was almost cordial during lunch. Though she hated to jeopardize that progress, it was time to tell Luke about her plans to go to the festival with Cole. She broached the subject on the way to the pool, while he was buckled into the passenger seat and couldn’t retreat to his room.

  “Luke, you know the Watermelon Festival is coming up, right?”

  “Duh. Everyone’s been talking about it since we got here. These people take watermelon really seriously.”

  That made her laugh. “The festival is a town tradition and, believe it or not, a huge tourism draw. I was planning on taking you.”

  He shrugged. “’Kay.”

  “It’s a four-day event and we don’t have to go every day, although Gram mentioned there are some stations that could use a little extra volunteer help. But on Sunday, the last day...” She cast him a nervous glance, unsure how he’d react. “The sheriff and his daughters asked us to join them. We could all go together.”

  His expression tightened. “Don’t you two get sick of each other? You’re going out with him again tonight and I haven’t complained about how gross that is. But that doesn’t mean I want to be with you on one of your dates! That I want to see...”

  “Luke—”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Tough.” She’d tried to be patient, but they couldn’t resolve anything with him holed up in his room. Gram had coaxed him out to earn some allowance with farm chores, but he’d avoided interacting with Kate. “We have to do plenty of things in life we don’t want to do.” Like saying goodbye to loved ones. Like figuring out how to move on, no matter how painful or daunting that was.

  Of course, her insistence that they discuss the issue was funny given that she still didn’t know exactly what to say. She kept it basic. “Cole is a very nice man. I’d like for you to get along with him.”

  He shot her a look that made it clear he considered this an insane request. “You never liked my friend Bobby. I don’t have to like your friend, either.”

  She silently counted to ten. “Maybe that will come in time. You do have to be civil, though. That’s nonnegotiable. We’re joining him and the girls next Sunday, at least for an hour or two. The twins look up to you. Can you try to leave the attitude at home?”

  “We don’t have a home,” he said under his breath.

  So much for her hope that he was warming up to life in Cupid’s Bow. She thought wistfully of his buoyant mood after he’d volunteered at the hospital with Rick. Then he’d befriended Sarah. He’d been making strides in the right direction. Until he saw you and Cole kissing. Knowing what a setback that had been for her son, how could she justify going through with her date tonight?

  Cole’s words on Gram’s porch came back to her. You can’t live your life jumping through hoops for Luke. For so long, it had felt as if she weren’t living life at all.
At best, she’d been coping, merely surviving from one day to the next. She’d shown up at work, taught her students songs and gone home to Luke in the evenings, usually with dread over the latest notes from his teachers. There hadn’t been anything she’d looked forward to, nothing she’d anticipated with joy.

  Even the nervous fear that gripped her when she pondered her feelings for Cole was preferable to that bleak numbness.

  “Just promise me, Luke, that you won’t be insufferable at the festival. Don’t be rude to Cole or his daughters.”

  “Fine.”

  Having extracted that agreement, no matter how surly, she decided to count this conversation as a win. Or at least as a strategic advance in the ongoing battle of motherhood. Deciding to be a gracious victor, she turned on the radio and left him in peace for the rest of the ride.

  When they reached the pool and she spotted Crystal unloading five children and all their swim paraphernalia from a minivan, Kate felt a twinge of guilt.

  “Thank you so much for meeting me,” she said as she leaned in the van to help unfasten a one-year-old from a car seat. “I didn’t think about how challenging it must be for you to make spontaneous plans.”

  “Don’t mention it,” Crystal said. “The kids love to come. It’s early enough that I could even bring the little ones and they will absolutely crash later. Come naptime, I’ll be singing your praises while I indulge in some peace and quiet.”

  “All the same, as far as I’m concerned, you’re a superhero.” Kate felt as if she had her hands full with one child, and Crys managed five? It was odd to think that their oldest kids were roughly the same ages. Crys had a child in middle school, one in elementary school, one in preschool and two toddlers. Starting all over with babies at this point felt incomprehensible.

  But what about stepchildren? The thought came totally out of the blue. Kate’s kneejerk reaction was instant denial, but didn’t she know better than most that there was no way to know what the future held? That was true of the blessings as well as the tragedies.

  Between the two adults and the assistance of the older kids, they herded the small children and a metric ton of towels, floatation devices, face masks and dive toys onto the patio area. After making sure everyone was adequately covered in sunscreen, Crystal and Kate agreed that the oldest kids could go to the main pool. Meanwhile, they took the twin toddlers and the five-year-old to a soft-surfaced fountain play area where they could run squealing through cooling jets of water.

  “You sure you put on enough sunscreen?” Crystal asked Kate with exaggerated concern. “I’d hate for you to get sunburned before your big date. Nothing kills a moment like a man reaching for you and you responding with ‘ow!’”

  “Hey!” Kate cupped her hand in a bubbling spray and splashed her friend. “You’re supposed to be distracting me from the big date, remember? Not tormenting me about it.”

  “Oh, please.” Crystal put her hands on her hips. “Other people are willingly babysitting your respective kids so you can have a child-free evening and the incredibly hot sheriff is making you a home-cooked meal. Which part of that is ammunition for torment?”

  Kate made a mental note to try to babysit for Crystal sometime soon; surely she and her husband could use the time to reconnect. “No, it all sounds heavenly. Except...without the angelic, saintly behavior.”

  “Ah, now that sounds promising! Got naughty plans?” Crystal waggled her eyebrows. “The man does own handcuffs.”

  Kate blushed so dramatically she probably did look sunburned to anyone looking her way. “Not helping, you lunatic!”

  Crystal giggled, and her boys wanted to get in on the fun. Splashing and laughter commenced. Kate was holding one of the twins, swooping him toward his mom in threatening pursuit when she caught sight of her own son standing by the pool. Although it was difficult to be certain from this distance, it looked as if he was talking to Sarah Pemberton. Had Luke repaired his friendship after hurting the girl’s feelings? Maybe Sarah had just needed a little time to forgive him—just as Luke needed time to accept his mom’s relationship with Cole.

  The anxiety that had been plaguing her all day suddenly seemed ridiculous. Stress was no match for standing in the sunlight, surrounded by laughing children.

  A few minutes later, Luke raced over to the kiddie area. “Mom! Can I go out with Sarah and her brother and her cousin tonight? Her brother and cousin are both old enough to drive. They want to see a movie and get a burger afterward. I have plenty of allowance saved up to pay,” he added when she didn’t immediately agree.

  Money hadn’t been her chief concern, although she was glad he’d volunteered to spend his own cash. Ideally, she’d be home to both vet Sarah’s brother before he drove with Luke in the car and to make sure Luke arrived back by curfew. But, as far as she knew, Gram would be around. Plus, Kate had been the one who’d encouraged Luke to go out among real people, instead of only interacting with online avatars. Wasn’t it better for him to be out with other teens than at home, giving her date with Cole too much thought?

  “All right. I’d like a number for her parents, though, so I can confirm with them that this okay. I need a clear itinerary of what movie showing you’ll be at, nothing R-rated.” The cashier wasn’t allowed to sell tickets for R-rated films to minors, but she knew exceptions got made. “You have to be home by ten-thirty. And do I even need to add that I expect you to behave?”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “I will if you will.”

  * * *

  KATE WOULD HAVE recognized which house was Cole’s even if she weren’t staring at the street number on the gleaming white mailbox. The sheriff’s car in the driveway was a dead giveaway, for starters. But the front yard looked exactly as she would have imagined. The yard was perfectly manicured, hinting at a resident who liked order, but there was nothing fussy or feminine—no flowers or decorative seasonal banners. There were, however, chalk drawings on the sidewalk, a soccer goal set up for practice in the yard, and a glittery purple bike with training wheels leaning up against the house, beneath the shelter of a front porch overhang.

  She climbed out of her car, nervously tugging her halter top into place. After her trip to the pool today, she’d toyed with the idea of stopping by Jazz’s shop to buy something special to wear. She’d ultimately decided against it, though, having already endured teasing innuendo about her love life from one Tucker sister today. More important, she wanted to feel at ease, comfortable in something she already owned. The green-and-blue halter dress was one of the sexier items she owned, while still being completely appropriate for late June.

  The accompanying strapless bra and lacy black panties she wore beneath were slightly less appropriate.

  She’d barely knocked when Cole opened the door. He looked incredible in a pair of jeans and an untucked button down shirt. She found his still damp hair and bare feet oddly endearing.

  “Right on time,” he said, leaning in for a quick kiss as he ushered her inside. “I should have asked earlier, but you’re not allergic to seafood are you?”

  “Nope. Sounds great—and smells delicious. I brought these for you,” she said, stating the obvious as she passed over the pan of walnut fudge brownies she’d baked.

  His eyes lit up. “Oh, good. If the pasta doesn’t turn out right, we can skip right to this.”

  She laughed, following him through a living room decorated in warm earth tones to the kitchen. At the sight of the drawings hung on the fridge with magnets and the two pink-edged pony placemats on the table, her heart gave a funny thump. Her thought from earlier in the day haunted her: What about stepchildren? She still couldn’t imagine ever again exchanging wedding vows. But she had to admit, Cole’s daughters tugged her heartstrings. Plus, his being such a good dad was part of his appeal.

  “The girls are with your parents?” she asked, leaning against the granite-toppe
d counter.

  He nodded. “They’re, um, spending the night. Mom thought a sleepover might be fun.”

  Her cheeks warmed. A sleepover would be fun...although there was no way she’d tiptoe into the farmhouse at sunrise, hoping no one had noticed her all-night absence.

  “Can I get you a glass of white wine?” he asked.

  “Yes, please.”

  “Just between you and me, I’m usually a beer guy, but white’s supposed to go well with shrimp.” He grinned as he poured a glass of sauvignon blanc. “I thought I’d shoot for classy tonight. The girls chipped in, too. They haven’t cleaned with so much purpose since last December, when they were trying to impress Santa Claus. You should feel honored.”

  “I definitely do.” But there were nerves, too. After all the effort he’d gone to, she hoped she could muster enough appetite to do dinner justice. “Anything I can do to help?” Standing here sipping wine and thinking about how good he looked in jeans felt unbelievably decadent.

  He shook his head. “French bread’s in the oven, salad’s tossed and waiting in the fridge. We should be all ready in a few minutes.”

  “You thought of everything.”

  “Including the after-dinner entertainment.” With a grin, he pulled open a drawer and pulled out a DVD.

  When Kate read the title on the cover, she laughed out loud. “The pilot episode of Miranda’s Rights?”

  “Mom got it for me a couple of birthdays ago, as a joke, and I never even took the cellophane off. If it turns out to be any good, I will feel vindicated. If, on the other hand, it’s as terrible as I suspect...” He glanced her way, the heat in his gaze hotter than the blue flames on the stovetop. “Well, then we may have to come up with other ways to entertain ourselves.”