A Love for all Ages (Crockett County Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

Moving slowly Stephanie cuddles the kitten as she walks to
the foyer for her purse; picking it up from the hall table she carries it
back to the kitchen.
Sitting on the chair at the table she sets the
kitten on the floor then rummages through her purse until she finds
her pills.
Pills in hand she rises again and retrieves another bottle
of water out of the refrigerator, removing the lid she puts the pill in
her mouth then swallows it down with a long drink.
Back at the
table she crosses her arms on the table top and lays her head down.
Resting for a few minutes will allow the pills time to work.

Waking from her nap Stephanie feels stiff; stretching she
rises up as she looks for the kitten.
Finding the evidence the kitten
left on the floor confirms it had empty its bladder, she looks under
the cabinet for something to clean with.
Using a rag and floor
polish, within minutes the hard wood floor is once again clean.

Going through the mudroom off the kitchen she finds
supplies for the kitten.
At one time her Aunt must have owned a
cat; the litter box and kitty litter are dusty but after checking both
were usable.
Gathering the supplies in her arms she goes back to
the kitchen and assembles the tray for the kitten.
Placing it under
the window she hopes the kitten will know what to do with the tray,
because her Mommy duties don’t extend to litter box training.

Leaving the kitten in the kitchen to discover the litter box,
Stephanie is determined to find the linens to make her bed.
Ascending the stairs she stops at the second floor landing looking up
at the attic.
The feeling to go check out the attic is strong but her
determination to find the linens is stronger, Stephanie walks to the
end of the hallway to the master bedroom.

With her hand on the door knob she remembers the closet
just before her room turning she retraces her steps.
Opening the
closet door she finds the missing linens, the bathroom towels, and
several different colors and designs of comforters.
Looking
through the selections she picks a chocolate color comforter with
matching sheets.
makes her bed.
towels and grabs a bar of soap.
Depositing the items in the master
bath, she decides she really needs to eat something as she heads
back down the stairs.

Stopping on the bottom step she hears a car outside, taking
the last step she walks to the front door.
Moving the curtain over
a few inches she sees a police cruiser.
Disappointed she waits for
Deputy Johnny to walk to the door.
Stephanie opens the door just
as he prepares to knock, seeing his hand in midair, she smiles as he
drops his arm to his side.

“Hello, Deputy.
What can I do for you?”
Stephanie stands
in the doorway then decides she is being rude steps aside, “Come
in.”

Carrying the items back to her room she quickly
Making another trip to the closet she picks out
Chase asked me to bring you the cat food he picked up for your
house guest.”
As Johnny speaks he lifts the bag handing it to
Stephanie. Laughing she takes the grocery bag checking the
items inside.
Seeing the bag of kitten food, the bag of litter and a
few toys she decides Chase has to be one in a million.

Raising her eyes to look at the Deputy, Stephanie sees him
staring behind her, looking over her shoulder she sees the kitten
sitting on the bottom step cleaning its paw.
Looking back at
Johnny, she states the obvious, “That is my kitten.
Sorry I can’t
introduce you, I don’t know its name.”
At his confused expression,
she explains she is waiting for Chase so he can help pick the name
for their kitten.

Shaking his head, Johnny grins then takes his leave.
As
Johnny walks to his cruiser he wonders how the Sheriff will handle
fatherhood. Once in his car, he waves goodbye to Stephanie. On
the road to town Johnny decides to stop by the diner to share this
new development in the lives of the Sheriff and Miss Stephanie.

Stephanie stands at the door watching until the car tail lights
disappear from view.
Closing the door she turns the lock, walking
to the stairs she picks up the kitten.
Carry the kitten and the food
Stephanie goes to the kitchen.
She places the kitten on the floor
before selecting another bowl from the cabinet.
After opening the
bag of food she puts a little in the bowl and places it on the floor for
the kitten. Picking up the bowl from earlier that held the milk she
rinses it then fills it with tap water. Placing the dish beside the
food bowl Stephanie watches the kitten eat for a few minutes.
Deciding it’s time to find something to eat Stephanie moves to the
refrigerator.

After checking the freezer she selects a frozen pizza.
Finding a pizza pan she sets the oven and waits for the preheat
buzzer to sound.
While waiting Stephanie removes her computer
from the case and plugs it in the electrical outlet closes to the table
turning the computer on she watches as it powers up.
Hearing the
buzzer she goes back to the stove, puts the pizza in the oven and
sets the timer.
As she waits for the pizza to cook Stephanie sits
back down at the table.
Glancing at the computer she decides to
wait until after she eats before logging on.
When the timer beeps
she removes the pizza from the oven, after cutting her a slice she
stands by the counter to eat.

Finished eating she checks the time; it’s early still, just a little
after eight in the evening.
Feeling tired she opts to just watch
television and relax, letting work wait another day.
Powering
down the computer without even checking her emails Stephanie
leaves it setting on the table.

Upon entering the living room Stephanie turns on the
television then she sits on the loveseat as she flips through the
channels; stopping when she finds a rerun of a crime series.
Smiling she snuggles on the couch pulling the throw blanket from
the back of the loveseat over her legs she gets comfortable.
Half
sitting, half laying she leans her head on the back cushion as she
watches the show.

Chase sits down to eat his supper, he wasn’t hungry but his
Mother had brought him a burger plate from the diner.
Knowing
he has to eat he picks up the burger and takes a big bite.
While he
chews he wonders what Stephanie is doing. Is she getting settled?
Is she feeling better?
Swallowing he pushes the burger across the
table. Why is she becoming so important to him?
What is it
about her that makes him want to get to know her better?

Getting up from the table Chase paces around the apartment
above the sheriff office.
He stops in the middle of the room
looking at his home. It is one big room; the kitchen, the bedroom
and small alcove he uses as his living room have no walls to separate
them.
The one closet and bathroom are the only spaces with
doors. Noticing the lack of personal items he concludes he just
spends time here, this is not a home. He had not made it a home;
having lived here for over two years he should have done something
to bring his style and his personality to the apartment.
Right now
this could be a motel room, because it sure in hell isn’t a home.

Walking over to the bed he sits on the edge of the mattress,
leaning forward he places his elbows on his knees as he allows his
mind to wonder.

Thinking back in time, he had just been elected Sheriff of
Crockett County.
He was engaged to a beautiful woman.
Beth
was tall, slim and blonde.
Her features were considered classical,
like a goddess.
Young and in love Chase had his future set.
Great
career, loving woman, plans for marriage then children.
Chase had
felt he was on top of the world.
He was twenty-nine years old and
had his life planned.

He should have discussed his plans with Beth, as she
informed him after he had won the election.
She didn’t want to be
stuck in this small town with these hick people.
She wanted to live
in New York; she wanted to be a model.
She didn’t want to be the
wife of a Sheriff in a town that time had forgotten.
She wanted to
get out of Kentucky not set down deeper roots.
And children,
good grief, children would ruin her figure.
Children were not part
of her future.

He would have figured when he campaigned for the job of
Sheriff she would have known he wasn’t moving to New York.
When they had met the year before, he had told her about his
hometown, how one day he wanted to be Sheriff. Describing
himself as a good ole country boy she had always seemed pleased.
She had never once let on she wanted more than what he offered.
Never once did Beth talk about being a model or her dream of living
in New York.

The night he became Sheriff was the night Beth walked
away. She didn’t even look back after she packed her bags, she
just told him she would send for the rest of her things.
After she
had left he had gone back to his celebration party alone. No one
had said a word to him about her leaving but the looks of pity was
on every face in the room.
How he had gotten through that night
he didn’t know.
He had tried to act natural as if his heart wasn’t
breaking.

Over the next month he had packed her things sending them
to her parents.
Then he had moved in here, selling the house he
had been purchasing for them to start their lives together.

The one thing he did agree with Beth about was in a small
town everyone knows everything about everyone else.
The town
had rallied around him showing their support and love for their new
sheriff.
To keep his mind busy he had worked long hours taking
over the duties of the Sheriff.
It helped during the day, but at
night he would lay awake trying to figure out how he had misjudged
Beth, how he had fallen in love with a woman totally wrong for him.
Deciding the old saying “love is blind” applied to him.
Yes, he had
been blind to Beth and her ways.
He had seen only her beauty on
the outside; he had not dug below the surface.

During that time of his life his parents and the town’s people
had given him time to recover, figuring he would find a nice local girl
and settle down.
On more than one occasion the good citizens of
Dusten had tried to fix him up with friends, daughters,
granddaughter, and nieces.
He would decline each time until he
got his point across; he did not want to date. He is single and he
likes being single.

It is time to acknowledge he hadn’t loved Beth; he had loved
the ideal of loving her.
He knows now he had wanted to get
married, marriage being part of his agenda.
To be fair to Beth he
hadn’t care enough about her to share his agenda.
He had just
figured he was ready to move forward and she should be too.
If
they had gotten married they wouldn’t have lasted six months.

Laying back on the bed he lets go of his memories; he is over
Beth. He is over the feelings of betrayal. He is ready to move on
and by moving on he is ready to start courting Stephanie.
Feeling
excitement grow inside him, Chase begins planning the best way to
start.

After searching the house for ten minutes or so, Chase
decides to climb the steps leading to the attic, half way up he hears
Stephanie humming a tune.
Continuing his climb he stops when he
reaches the open door.
Leaning against the door frame he
watches as she sorts items in an old cedar trunk.
She is wearing
jeans and a form fitting yellow t-shirt tucked into the waist of her
jeans; as she moves to reach inside the trunk he can see the swell of
her breast, the flawless mound pressing against the fabric.
Tearing
his eyes away from her body, he moves his gaze lower, he notices
she isn’t wearing shoes; she just has bright green socks covering her
feet.
Acknowledging he has it bad because standing here looking
at her Chase knows Stephanie is the sexiest woman he has ever
seen.

This morning after waking up on the loveseat Stephanie had
taken a quick shower then decided to investigate the attic.
Upon
entering this room she felt as if she had found a treasure chest.
For some reason she was drawn to the attic, to this trunk.
As if
someone or something needed her to look inside. She had opened
the trunk carefully, not sure what she would find, inside was mostly
old pictures.

Feeling a sense of wonder Stephanie looks at all of them one
by one. These pictures are her father’s relatives. Having no
memory of her father and never meeting any of his family all the
people in these pictures are strangers.
As she looks through the
old photographs she can see some of the men had resembled Mitch,
or Mitch resembled them; either way some of the men had his eyes,
his nose, and the shape of his head.
Seeing this brought tears to
her eyes.
But the photographs that intrigue her the most are the
ones of her Great Aunt Della.
Looking at her photos was like
looking in a mirror.
Finding only a few of Della was disappointing,
however the few of her as a child and early teens could have been
photos of Stephanie at that age.
They shared the same features,
the same body statue, if they had lived in the same time period they
would have been twins.

Lost in thought Stephanie didn’t notice Chase watching her,
it was the squeaking of the door hinges that had her turning
towards the sound; she stops humming sitting back on her heels she
just looks at Chase.
He is dressed today in jeans and a red t-shirt,
wearing the same brown suede cowboy boots. Again she reflects
he looks like a sexy rancher, not like a Sheriff.
“Hello Sheriff, how
did you get in?
I had the doors locked.”
Frowning as she tries to
remember the status of the door.

“You can relax it was locked but I have the spare key.
I
forgot to give it to you yesterday so after knocking for five minutes I
let myself in, I was concerned about you.”
he had broken out in a sweat with worry.
house needing to find her, to reassure himself she was alright.
Not
moving from where he stood, his eyes drink in the sight of her.
She has her hair down making his hands itch to feel the silky stands.