That Runaway Summer (11 page)

“We can only hope,” Jill said, hearing the wistful note in her voice.

“That sounds like you’ve changed your mind about moving.”

She hadn’t thought about relocating at all recently. After more than a year in hiding, she’d concluded she couldn’t spend every minute looking over her shoulder. Today she hadn’t once considered somebody at the amusement park might be tailing her and Chris. Neither, however, could she pretend she was free to lead a normal life.

“The move’s still in the cards, but it’s on hold.” She changed the subject before he could comment. “Is everyone on this bus asleep except us?”

“I hear some murmuring in the front of the bus,” he said, “and I’m pretty sure the bus driver’s awake.”

She smiled. “I’m sort of sleepy, too.”

“You work too much.” He smoothed a lock of her hair back from her face. A shiver danced through her. “It can’t be good for you to burn the candle at both ends.”

“Thanks, Dad,” she teased, partly to hide how good it felt to have someone worry about her for a change.

Now that she’d admitted to her fatigue, she had a hard time keeping her eyes open. Her head lolled. She straightened it.

“Go ahead,” he invited. “Lean on me.”

Probably all sorts of reasons existed why she shouldn’t accept his offer. She admitted she was too tired to figure out what they were. Sighing, she surrendered to temptation and rested her head against his shoulder. Immediately she was enveloped by his scent and a sense of peace.

She snuggled against him and closed her eyes. She imagined she felt a kiss against her hair but she could have been dreaming, so quickly did she sink into sleep.

“Mrs. Feldman is having some dumb old card game tonight,” Chris said. “Jill is making me go out for pizza with Lindsey and her mom and dad.”

That explained the message Jill had left for Dan earlier today that the Whitmores would pick up Chris.

“That sounds awful!” Dan ruffled the boy’s soft, curly hair. “I can’t believe you have to eat pizza!”

Chris seemed confused. “You don’t like pizza?”

“It was a joke, buddy.” The young boy was entirely too serious. “Of course I like pizza. Why don’t you want to go?”

He thrust out his lower lip. “I want to see Tinkerbell and Bluebell.”

“You see them every night.”

“They like me.”

“Lindsey and her parents like you, too,” Dan said just as they reached the waiting area. Lindsey was the only occupant. She jumped to her feet, looking young and breezy in a pale blue sundress. A smile wreathed her pretty face.

“Hi, Dr. Maguire,” she said, and he returned the greeting. She switched her attention to Chris. “Ready to go, Chris? My mom and dad are saving a table. The place is already packed.”

“Be sure to eat an extra piece for me,” Dan said.

Despite the grousing he’d done to Dan, Chris followed Lindsey obediently. The door opened before they reached it, admitting a familiar tall, gray-haired gentleman wearing a neon-orange shirt.

“Hi, Mayor Bradford.” Lindsey beamed at him. “Love the shirt!”

“It is nice, isn’t it?” Charlie Bradford looked down at himself and brushed at some imaginary pieces of lint. “Would you believe my wife wants me to get rid of it?”

“I know clothes, and that’s a keeper,” Lindsey said, her grin growing.

“My sentiments exactly!” Charlie said.

“See you, Mayor.” Lindsey moved past him, with Chris silently trailing.

“I can’t get used to being called that,” Charlie told Dan as he walked deeper into the office, shaking his head. “I never counted on becoming a politician.”

“You’re a good one,” Dan said, then grinned. “Or so Stanley is fond of telling me.”

Charlie laughed. “I got that old coot fooled. Is he done cleaning Sweet Thing’s teeth yet?”

Sweet Thing was Charlie and Teresa Bradford’s dog, who made up in temperament what she lacked in looks. Part pug and part something unidentifiable, the much-loved dog proved that beauty was overrated.

“Just finished,” Dan said.

“I’ll go on back, then.” Charlie headed toward the exam rooms, then hesitated. “Hey, wasn’t that Jill Jacobi’s little brother with Lindsey?”

“Yeah,” Dan said. “He’s been helping around the office. Cleaning the cages, sweeping the floor, that kind of stuff.”

“You don’t say.” Charlie stroked his chin. “How well do you know his sister?”

Not nearly as well as he’d like to, Dan thought.

“Jill and I are friends,” Dan said.

“Friends?” Stanley interjected. Dan hadn’t heard the other vet come up behind him. He was cradling Sweet Thing in his arms, his face more pinched than the dog’s. “You didn’t give me the impression friendship was what you were after. You change your mind or what?”

He hadn’t. With each passing day, he became more sure of his feelings for Jill. He just hadn’t expected anyone to ask him to explain himself.

“Give the kid time, Stanley,” Charlie interjected, coming forward and taking his dog from his friend’s arms. “There’s a lot to be said for relationships that begin as friendships. That’s how Teresa and I started out.”

“Thank you, Charlie,” Dan said.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, “especially since I’m about to ask for a favor. Have you heard of the Poconos Challenge?”

When Dan shook his head, the mayor explained it was an inaugural mountain bike race that would take place in the fall.

“There will be overnight stops in selected Pocono towns,” Charlie said. “It’ll be great for tourism. That’s why I want Indigo Springs to be one of the stops.”

“I don’t see how I can help you,” Dan said.

“Oh. I see what’s coming,” Stanley said. “Charlie’s office has been working up a proposal and he’s trying to talk your
friend
into submitting it.”

“We’ll have the best chance of success if a mountain biker presents the proposal, not to mention helps with the route options. Jill’s the logical choice,” Charlie said. “I’ve been working on her for two or three weeks with no luck. Now you, on the other hand, she might find harder to resist.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Dan thought she’d been doing a pretty good job of remaining immune to his supposed charm.

“It’s worth a shot,” Charlie said. “Stanley and I are going over to the Blue Haven tonight so I can have another go at her. We’d love to have you join us.”

“Even if I believe that Jill should be allowed to make up her own mind about submitting the proposal?” Dan asked.

“That’s the thing,” Charlie said. “She had a blast working on the spring festival. She told me to come to her if I needed help on anything else. It beats me why she keeps saying no. So what do you say?”

Dan hesitated. Given Jill’s passion for mountain biking and the fact that she used to manage a bicycle shop, it did seem odd that she hadn’t embraced the assignment.

“Come on,” Charlie pleaded. “I’m the mayor. I’m supposed to have heightened powers of persuasion. It’ll look bad if I can’t even talk a guy into coming to a bar.”

Dan laughed, figuring it couldn’t hurt to add his vote of confidence that Jill could handle the job. Besides, the more time he spent around her, the better his chances of wearing her down.

“Okay,” he said. “I’m in.”

“Elvis is in the house,” Buster shouted, then threw back his head and laughed.

It might have been funny if Jill hadn’t watched Buster perform the same act at least once a week for the past year. So, apparently, had everyone else. She spotted only one person in the bar who was laughing with Buster.

Then again, she would have noticed her friend Dan no matter what he was doing.

Since he’d come into the Blue Haven with Stanley and Charlie Bradford, the person in the house she’d been most interested in wasn’t fake Elvis.

The three men were sharing a pitcher of beer, the same way Stanley and Charlie did every week. But why had the two longtime pals broken from tradition and invited Dan along? And why hadn’t Dan told her he’d be here tonight?

“Did you forget about my whiskey on the rocks?” called a man sitting at the bar. She whirled to face the guy, a tourist who’d been insistent about his preferred brand.

“Course not. I wouldn’t do a thing like that,” she said. “It’s coming right up.”

She plucked a glass from an overhead shelf, set it down on the bar, filled it with ice cubes and poured. Despite a mental reminder to focus on her work, her gaze returned to Dan. He was really quite a good-looking man. He had a strong profile, his nose long and straight, his chin square, the dark hair springing back from a high forehead.

Almost as though he felt her looking at him, he turned his head and met her eyes across the room. His lips curved into a smile, warm and slow. And…flirtatious? No. That couldn’t be. The two of them were friends.

“Hey, lady, you trying to get me drunk or what?” The tourist’s voice once again broke her out of a trance.

She dragged her gaze from Dan, and the tourist pointed at the glass, which she’d filled nearly to the brim with whiskey. She abruptly tilted the bottle upright before the amber liquid spilled over.

“Sorry about that,” she said.

“Nothing to apologize for,” he retorted, rising from his stool and sliding the glass toward him. He lowered his head and sipped the first inch before picking up the drink.

She made a mental note to pay more attention to the tourist’s sobriety level and less to Dan.

“Hey there, good-looking.” Dan sauntered up to the bar, wreaking havoc with her plan. He wore a blue oxford cloth shirt with the sleeves rolled up, which showed off the definition in his arms and called attention to the color of his eyes. They were smiling. “Having a good night?”

“I always do.” She felt a surge of joy, which wasn’t unexpected. She was generally a happy person. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the bar, and indicated with a slight nod that she should come nearer. She did, leaning so close she could see the beginnings of his five-o’clock shadow. She had a wild urge to run her hand over his lower face.

“I was roped into it,” he whispered, those blue eyes trained on her. “The mayor thinks I can persuade you to come over to our table on your break. He has something he wants to talk to you about.”

Oh, no. Not this again. She straightened, the crazy spell broken, and crossed her arms over her chest. “The bike race?”

“How’d you guess?”

“Charlie does not do subtle,” she said. “That darned man has been trying to get me to help him out with that for weeks.”

“He doesn’t understand why you won’t say yes,” Dan said. “He seems to think you’re into community work.”

That was her fault for gushing about how much she’d enjoyed working on the spring festival. But how was she to know the next opportunity to help out would involve a mountain bike race?

“It’s in Charlie’s best interest to believe all his citizens enjoy community work.” Jill kept her reply carefully neutral. “He’s a wily old devil.”

“You got that right. How do you think he convinced me to help him persuade you?” Dan winked at her. “Don’t worry. I’m taking your side, whatever it is.”

The problem was that she couldn’t adequately explain why it was imperative she refuse, Jill ruminated a short time later when she joined the three men.

“Hi, Jill.” Charlie greeted her like an old friend. “We were just talking about Chase and Kelly. Did you hear they went off to Vegas last week and got married?”

The unexpected subject momentarily threw her. Chase, the mayor’s only child, had been living with his fiancée for nearly a year. They were in the process of adopting an adorable two-year-old named Toby who was much better off with Chase than with his biological mother, a con artist serving a prison term.

“I heard.” She took the chair Dan held out for her. Their bodies brushed, the touch electric. She stole a look at him, and he was smiling. “It’s all over town by now.”

“Hell of a thing,” Charlie said. “They wait all this time, then run off like that. Who does that?”

“That’s what you and Teresa did,” Stanley said. “Chase told me he got the idea from you.”

“He should know better than to use his old man as an example.” Charlie shook his graying head. “They say they didn’t want anyone to make a fuss, but a fuss is what they’re getting. Teresa sent you all an invitation to the party we’re having for them on Sunday night, right?”

“I’ll be sorry to miss it,” Stanley said. “I’m going out of town on a fishing trip.”

“I’ll be there,” Jill said.

“How about you, Dan?” Charlie asked.

“I’m coming,” he said.

“Really?” Jill peered at him. “You know Kelly and Chase?”

“I know Chase.” Dan shifted in his seat, bringing his body closer to her. His clean scent overrode the smell of beer. “He’s a wildlife conservation officer. Where do you think he brings the injured animals he comes across?”

She hadn’t thought of that. With Buster singing another Elvis song in the background and Dan only inches from her, it was hard to think at all.

“As much as I love talking about my son, Jill will have to get back to work soon.” Charlie leaned forward, his full attention zeroed in on her. “So let’s talk about the bike race.”

She shifted so she was a little farther from Dan, the better to keep her wits about her.

“Tell me,” Charlie continued, “did I get it wrong about how much fun you had working on the spring festival?”

“You’re not wrong,” she said, “but you already have people working on this far more qualified than I am.”

“None of them is a cyclist,” he said, “and that’s what I think would put us over the top. All you’d need to do is figure out a couple of route options that would end on Main Street and meet with the nominating committee in Lake Wallenpaupack to present the proposal.”

“Shouldn’t you have somebody on the borough council do that?” Jill wouldn’t let on that she’d been meaning to visit the Poconos Mountain community, having heard it was almost as pretty as Indigo Springs.

“Not necessarily,” Charlie said. “But speaking of the council, I think Chad’s right. You should run for office.”

“I’d vote for you.” Stanley set his beer mug down with a thump while she mentally damned the quiet pharmacist for opening his mouth. “How about you, Dan?”

“I’d
campaign
for her,” he said, “except Jill might have reasons for not going into politics.”

She drew in a quick breath, nonsensically afraid he’d read her mind. Then reason surfaced. She’d told him she was thinking about moving and asked that he keep her confidence. He was on her side, exactly as he’d claimed.

“How did we get on this tangent?” Jill asked. “I never once thought about being a council member before Chad brought it up.”

“You’re right. Running for council is a big decision,” Charlie said, as though she were actually considering it. “Tell you what. I won’t pressure you about the council if you agree to submit the proposal.”

She chewed her bottom lip. The risk of running into someone she knew in the biking world was slight, given that they weren’t in Georgia. A greater hazard was drawing suspicion to herself by continuing to refuse a reasonable request, one that everybody could see she wanted to accept.

“When is the proposal due?” she asked.

Charlie grinned. “The weekend after next.”

“Okay,” Jill said, “but you can’t blame me if we don’t get the nod. I’m not good at talking people into doing things.”

“With that sweet smile and that Southern accent of yours, I’ve got to disagree with that,” Dan said. “You could talk me into just about anything.”

A shiver of pleasure danced over her, more worrisome than the prospect of reentering the mountain bike community.

She hadn’t imagined it.

Just when she’d started to let down her guard around Dan, he’d started flirting with her.

And she wasn’t at all sure she could handle it.