Home to Sparrow Lake (Harlequin Heartwarming) (10 page)

Appearing stricken, Addison asked, “Am I bad?”

“No, honey.” Kristen hugged Addison. “You just made a mistake. So you need to say you’re sorry and you won’t do that again.”

“Okay.”

Taylor hugged her sister, too. “You weren’t bad, Addison. It was just a mistake.”

Alex said. “I’ll drive you all in my official patrol car.”

Addison’s screwed up expression cleared and both twins squealed with delight.

“Can we have the sirens on?” Taylor asked.

Addison added, “And flashing lights?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Alex promised. He turned to Kristen. “That okay with you?”

Relieved that the crisis was over, Kristen said, “It’s fine with me on one condition.”

“Which is?”

“You figure out how to get the car seats out of the SUV and securely fastened in your patrol car. I have no clue.”

CHAPTER TEN

L
ESS
THAN
A
half hour later, Alex was happy the misunderstanding was straightened out. Addison had bravely made her apology through quivering lips and the manager had shaken her hand when he accepted it. Alex guessed the little girl finally realized she’d done something wrong. He felt sorry for the five-year-old, but he actually felt even sorrier for Kristen, who seemed worn out by the twins.

She was buckling in Taylor while Alex secured Addison, when Emily Auerbach walked out of the store. As usual, the mayor’s wife wore a nondescript dress that looked as if it was thirty years out of date along with a sour expression that seemed frozen on her face every time they met.

Mrs. Auerbach gave them a piercing look. “Ms. Lange. Chief Novak. Arresting children now? Well, I never!” She shook her head, her hair-sprayed silver hair unmoving, and tsk-tsked as she passed. “I can’t wait to see what Samuel has to say about this.”

Alex didn’t bother trying to explain. Mrs. Auerbach was an odd bird with even odder ideas. She seemed to like making something out of nothing. In the two years he’d been police chief, she’d made multiple complaints against various townspeople that had been a waste of his department’s time. The mayor definitely needed to talk his wife down.

Again noting how exhausted Kristen seemed, he wondered how long she would be with the twins before Heather returned from class. Unless he stepped in, she would have to deal with the girls alone.

Ruffling Addison’s hair, he said, “You know, you did such a great job making that apology, I think you deserve a reward for such good behavior.”

“Reward?” Addison echoed, her little face brightening.

“I was thinking that maybe some ice cream—”

“Yay!” the twins yelled together.

From the open door on the other side of the vehicle, Kristen gaped at him. “Yay,” she said, her voice flat.

They closed the doors and got into the vehicle.

* * *

A
LITTLE
DOWNTIME
in the company of another adult who could help wrangle the twins gave Kristen a chance to recoup. And Cherries On Top Ice Cream Shoppe was a cute little place she’d loved as a kid. They sat at a round glass table, the twins separated and sitting between her and Alex.

“Did someone at FamilyMart call 911 about the sweaters?” Addison suddenly asked.

Alex seemed surprised. “No. The guard called it in.”

Kristen asked, “How do you know about 911?”

“Mommy told us,” Taylor said.

“Mommy said it’s for ’mergencies,” Addison added. “She showed us how.”

“Your mother is correct,” Alex said. “Calling 911
is
for emergencies. You only call it when someone is in trouble and needs help.”

Both twins nodded, but Kristen wondered if they were old enough to understand what that meant.

Alex changed the subject. “So now that you have your new clothes, are you ready to start school next month?”

“Yes!” Taylor shouted. “Kiddygarden!”

“Oh, kindergarten.” Alex sounded impressed. “That must mean you’re what?
Four?
”

“Five!” Addison told him with a giggle.

“What are you going to learn?”

“To read!”

Taylor said, “I can read Spotted Pony.”

“No, she can’t.” Addison rolled her eyes. “Mommy reads it to us so much that Taylor mem-rized it.”

“Did not!”

“Did, too!”

For a moment, Kristen feared they would start another shoving match.

“You know what,” Alex said. “I’ll bet it’s both. Memorizing words helps you remember them when you see and hear them at the same time.”

“Oh.” Addison licked the ice cream off her spoon.

That easily, Alex avoided a confrontation. Kristen was impressed. While the twins seemed to have energy, Kristen could tell they were tired, too. Alex had such an easy way about him when dealing with the twins that they actually behaved—well, so far—undoubtedly because they liked him a lot.

Kristen had to admit that she did, too. Why had she fought so hard against getting to know him? She enjoyed his company. Admired the way he thought about others. And he really was a fine-looking man. She was admiring his chiseled features when he caught her staring. His mouth curled into a slow smile that sent a jolt through her. The spoon she aimed at her mouth missed and chocolate ice cream dribbled down her chin.

Flushing with embarrassment, she grabbed a napkin, but before she could repair the damage, Taylor said, “Aunt Kristen spilled her ice cream!”

Not only did they laugh at her, but she heard snickers from somewhere nearby. And Alex was biting back his own laughter. In the end, she laughed at herself.

Alex’s grin made him look even more attractive. “You should do that more often.”

“Spill ice cream on myself?”

“No, laugh,” Alex said. “You have a nice laugh.”

Flushing again, she met his gaze and felt a real warmth inside. Why had it taken so long for her to admit she was attracted to him? From his actions, the attraction was mutual.

As if they were mentally in tune, he said, “I’m taking tomorrow afternoon off so I can go into Lake Geneva to pick up a window I’m having repaired.”

She arched her eyebrows. “A window? Were you trying to break in somewhere?” she teased. “And why didn’t you fix it yourself? I seem to remember you’re good at that.”

“And you have a good imagination,” he said, grinning. “But it’s a stained-glass window from a transom over my kitchen door. It’s needed fixing since I bought the place. No one around here does that kind of work. If you can play hooky that afternoon, maybe you’d like to come with me for the drive.”

That he wanted her company made her smile. It wouldn’t be a long drive—less than an hour each way—but it would be pleasant to spend that time alone with him. Why not, then? Having one afternoon off wouldn’t hurt anything. She looked at the twins. Alex had taken his own time to help her with them. She would make up the hours at the store during the rest of the week.

“All right. I’ll go with you.”

“Great.”

The twins had finished their ice cream, and it was time to drop them off at home.

A half hour of relaxation and laughter had done her a world of good. Not to mention being able to look forward to a date with Alex. Holding hands with both girls as they headed for the patrol car, she realized she actually felt happy...a feeling that had eluded her for months while her life had spun out of control. But things were changing...shaping up...and Alex was partly responsible.

They secured the girls in their car seats and Kristen slid into the passenger seat. Relaxed, she sighed and laid her head against the headrest as Alex drove out of the parking lot.

“Thanks for your help tonight, Chief.”

“Alex,” he reminded her, finding her hand and giving it a warm squeeze.

Kristen felt happiness bubble up in her. “I meant your official help with the manager of FamilyMart. And thanks,
Alex,
for the ice cream break. I definitely needed to wind down.”

He gave her a quick glance that warmed her inside again. “My pleasure.”

She was so relaxed that she was actually wondering where this connection with Alex might lead when he said, “I don’t know if you heard, but there was another incident in town last night.”

His words chilled the smile right off her face. “Oh?”

“Yep. I didn’t know about it when I talked to you before, but some teenagers used chalk to draw graffiti on the back wall of the old gas station at the edge of town. That’s a little more serious than a harmless prank. The building is stucco and the chalk didn’t wash out with a hose. The owner had to spend hours scrubbing that stuff off to get rid of it. He’s really ticked.”

Though Kristen was certain she knew the answer, she asked, “Why are you telling me about it?”

“Just wondering if you know where Brian was in the middle of the night.”

Of course. Brian, again. This time she wasn’t angry, the way she’d been the first time he’d brought it up. She didn’t believe Alex made accusations willy-nilly. In fact, she was starting to worry there might be a basis to his suspicion.

Still, she said, “My brother was in his bed sleeping.”

“You know that for sure?”

Actually, she didn’t. She remembered a noise waking her. She hadn’t been able to identify it and hadn’t heard it again. She’d figured someone had gotten up to go to the bathroom or to the kitchen for an early-morning snack. It could have been Brian sneaking inside in the early hours.

Not that she was going to share that information with Alex. Not yet.

Somehow she was first going to have to find out if something was going on.

* * *

K
RISTEN
WANTED
TO
believe in Brian, but she was wary of his friends and couldn’t help wondering if they were all responsible for the recent pranks Alex kept telling her about.

The problem was, how could she know for certain if her brother was involved?

By the time she got home, it was nearly eleven, and Aunt Margaret had already retired to her room. There was no sign of Brian, not in the living area, not in his room. She opened the door to check. The bed was as messy as the rest of the room, but there was no sign that he’d been there recently. The room was dark and still except for the light indicating his laptop was fully charged.

His laptop...

Kristen moved to the desk and stood staring down at the computer, torn between respect for her brother’s privacy and worry that he was headed down a slippery slope. She didn’t want to believe Brian was acting out, doing things that were questionable as Alex had indicated, but she would be a fool if she didn’t consider that the police chief could be correct.

In the end, worry won.

Brian was always using his smartphone for social networking. She decided to try to figure out where that networking had led.

When she lifted the lid of the laptop, the monitor awoke immediately. She scanned the icons on the desktop and spotted a big BS in red. She knew that BS stood for BuddyShare Network, one of the new social networking sites. Hesitating only a second, she clicked on the program icon, half expecting she would need a password to get in.

To her surprise, she didn’t.

Brian’s recent life unfolded before her. Photographs and amusing graphics from the internet. A calendar that had his schedule at the store. That he’d taken her advice certainly surprised her. But the calendar also had some kind of coded entries that all took place at night.

Taking a deep breath, Kristen started to read the entries.

Nothing startling in the last few. It looked like a bunch of college students or soon-to-be college students were sharing the trials and tribulations of college life.

But in the left column, there was an item called PrivateTalk. And below that, a link that simply said SL.

Meaning Sparrow Lake?

Clicking on it, she saw there were only three buddies with code names. Brainiac, Hollowboy and Muscleman. Brainiac—Brian because he was the smartest? Hollowboy—Andy because he was so skinny? Muscleman—Matt because he was the big guy of the trio?

The last entry was from Hollowboy:
Meet at our usual time and place. Got some new ideas that’ll be fun.

So Brian had gone to the usual place, wherever that was. And what was the usual time? When had Brian left the house? It seemed to her that he must slip out after he thought it was safe—after she and Aunt Margaret retired for the night.

More importantly, what kind of ideas did Andy have? she wondered, as she continued to read down the page. There were several entries between the three boys that made the hair on her arms stand up.

Brainiac:
Ignore them.

Muscleman:
Parents were invented to give us grief.

Hollowboy:
We can do what we want, when we want.

It was a little weird reading in reverse order, so Kristen went to the bottom of the page and read upward, in the order the messages had been relayed. The boys talked as if they thought they were hotshots, suggesting that they could fool everyone and as long as they didn’t get caught, who cared.

Caught doing what?

Though she scrolled to other pages, she got nothing specific from the conversations. Just these vague entries about things happening and how they could have a good laugh.

Deeply upset, Kristen exited the program, and when the desktop reappeared on the monitor, she closed the lid.

Brian would never know she’d been snooping. She couldn’t lose his trust or she might lose him. She had to talk to him, though, she thought, heading for the kitchen where she would lie in wait for him to come home.

She had to get through to her brother before he did something that he would regret, something he couldn’t take back.

* * *

B
RIAN
SNEAKED
INTO
the house through the lakeside door, the same way he’d left. He tiptoed through the living room, careful not to knock into furniture the way he had the night before. He made it to the hallway before he heard a noise.

Pulse rushing, he stopped to listen. Nothing. He must have imagined it. No one was going to be awake in the middle of the night.

He continued on toward his room and was almost there before realizing someone was standing in his way. Just enough light filtered through the windows that he could make out her form.

“Kristen?”

“Brian. In the kitchen, please.”

“I’m going to bed. I’m tired—”

“l’ll bet you are. It’s 3:00 a.m.”

He shrugged and kept his voice casual like it was no big deal. “So what? I’m on vacation.”

“Kitchen.”

Brian wanted to argue, to push past his sister into his room, but he just couldn’t. He turned and led the way, snapping on the kitchen lights, telling himself his sister didn’t have any power over him. She’d been out of his life practically since he was a kid and she went away to school. Her being around now didn’t make up for those missing years.