Annie's Neighborhood (Harlequin Heartwarming) (5 page)

The main question still ricocheted inside Sky’s head—was there truth to Annie’s assertion that spiffing up the neighborhood would translate into safety? Sky hated to think that his reluctance to take her seriously could lie with the fact that she’d laid him out in her front yard, thereby threatening his masculinity. Preferring to put that incident and the woman out of his mind, Sky was glad to arrive at his destination.

* * *

S
ADIE
ANSWERED
HIS
knock. She enveloped him in a hug, which was her way of greeting everyone. “Why thank you, sugar,” she drawled when he gave her the plant. “Koot, are you too old to learn some manners from your younger boss?” she said with a laugh when her husband walked up behind her. She kissed his cheek to take away the sting of her rebuke as she showed off her gift. Koot flung an arm around her shoulders. His brown eyes twinkled as he feigned being stabbed in the heart by Sky, who grinned and followed his hosts through the kitchen and out to the back patio, where an outdoor table was already set. He felt the cares of the day recede. His friends had the kind of marriage he wished his had been.

“Grab a chair,” Koot said, picking up a platter and a spatula.

Sadie handed Sky a chilled bottle of light beer and set one each in front of her husband’s plates and hers.

“Prepare to eat the best pulled-pork sandwiches you’ve ever tasted,” Koot called over his shoulder. He opened the lid on the barbecue and the scent of spices made Sky’s mouth water.

“No kids tonight?” Sky asked when Sadie moved a tray of condiments to make room on the table for a green salad.

“Marcus is coaching a junior baseball team at the boys’ club,” Koot said, returning to the table with a platter of buns, piled high with meat oozing a tangy-smelling sauce.

Sadie used tongs to set a sandwich on Sky’s plate. “Sam is helping his sister study for her bar exams. Poor Sam, he wishes he’d stayed in college instead of dropping out to get married. His job as a hospital orderly just pays the bills.”

“He could go back and finish his degree,” Koot said, whipping open his napkin.

Sadie defended their middle son. “It’s almost impossible with two kids, and tuition fees climbing.”

“I was lucky to finish college with some help from ROTC. Then I went straight into the police academy before getting called to active army duty,” Sky said. “A lot of guys I met overseas hoped they could attend college after their tours,” he added. “If they already had a family, it’d mean sacrifice. Maybe Sam will go back, though, if Koot keeps after him.”

“I could have helped him out financially if I’d continued teaching.” Sadie dished out salad and passed around dressings.

“You didn’t need the hassle.” Koot turned to Sky. “It got to where she was trying to teach kids who didn’t care. You know how many times we get called to that high school. I wanted her and Diandra out of there.”

“I picked up a packet of pretty high-grade weed at the middle school today.”

“Middle school? Dang.” Koot shook his graying head. “Can our job get any tougher?”

“Which reminds me. Apparently the school board voted to defund summer school. We’ll have to be extra vigilant about keeping watch on the buildings.”

Koot rolled his eyes. “Like that’s gonna be easy. If it didn’t affect my pension, I’d retire tomorrow.”

Sadie patted his hand. “Do it if you want.”

“Don’t you dare,” Sky put in. “Guaranteed our city manager won’t replace you.”

“It’s a shame everything’s gotten so bad in Briar Run,” Sadie said. “It’s never made sense to me how things began to slide, and then one downward trend led to another. You may not believe this, Sky, but Briar Run used to be as nice as this town. What you need to do is find a miracle worker—preferably a volunteer.”

“An army of them,” Koot flung out. Sky mulled over Sadie’s comment, which led back to his earlier thoughts about Annie Emerson. “Do you think one person could start a movement capable of turning a whole town around?”

Koot was quick to say no. Sadie seemed more willing to explore the possibility. “Briar Run didn’t fall into decline overnight. We stuck it out for a long time. What happened was like a row of dominos. The first one that toppled was economic. The factory closed, and that affected the livelihoods of more than half the workers in town. One by one more dominoes fell. No job, no money. No money, fewer taxes paid. Fewer taxes, fewer city services, and so on and so on. You get the picture.” She rose and collected their plates. “I’m going to the kitchen to get our dessert.”

“Briar Run is in a hopeless spiral,” Koot said after Sadie left. “I’m sorry you bought a house there, Sky. I know you took the job because it’s near your ex. Unfortunately, conditions in Briar Run are so degraded, her lawyers can legitimately harangue you. The best hope you have is to keep sending out résumés for any comparable job in a forty-mile radius of your ex and her new hubby’s horse farm. Ah, chocolate pie,” he exclaimed as Sadie returned. “My favorite. Let’s find a happier topic, so as not to give ourselves heartburn.”

Sadie cut each man a generous slice of pie.

Sky continued to worry the subject the others had dropped. “If I understand you right, Sadie, are you saying that if people do stuff like painting the exterior of our houses, new landscaping, making the outside more appealing, it
won’t
significantly improve their outlook? The city still lacks the economic development necessary to make folks less poor but wouldn’t this make a difference?”

She gave a shrug. “Yes and no. I’ve long been interested in the effect housing design has on alleviating poverty. After I left teaching, I took design classes at the community college. One thing we learned is that housing developments with homeowner associations that have strict rules for keeping up homes and yards have happier, healthier residents. But...they still need funding.”

Using the tines of his fork, Sky made a crater in the whipped-cream topping of his pie. “So...say, somebody got us all to gussie up our houses and maybe redo the park. Would that be enough to put a dent in crime? Will it encourage residents to get out and about?”

“Sounds like you wish a fairy godmother would wave her magic wand and turn Briar Run into utopia.” Koot tipped back his head and roared with laughter. “Dream on, my man. Dream on.”

Sky flinched. “Yeah, I see how the whole notion seems silly.”

As the trio polished off their pie in silence, Sky thought how ironic it was that he’d mentally tagged Annie Emerson the “curb-appeal fairy.” She
would
have to work magic, he realized, to accomplish even a tenth of the grandiose ideas she’d outlined.

Chapter Three

A
NNIE
’
S
HOUSE
PROJECT
had multiplied. Her enthusiasm sparked some of the results she’d hoped for. Mike Spurlock liked the looks of Gran’s Victorian after Annie’s painting was under way. Mike had a few days off from his business travel and, at Missy’s urging, borrowed Annie’s sander. Within a few days, the Spurlock home was ready to paint. Peggy Gilroy got the bug next. Their siding was shingle; a good washing left it in shape to be painted before Annie finished her trim.

All the homes had been a dingy gray. Annie chose Wedgwood blue with navy trim to give the street a pop of color. Since her house sat between the other two, it looked even prettier after Peggy painted hers cream with chocolate shutters and matching gingerbread scrollwork. Missy loved both of their color schemes, but she couldn’t make up her mind. She had Mike test sample paint on the back of their house until she settled on honey gold with dark green edging.

“I’m so excited about how good our homes look,” Missy said the afternoon Annie climbed down from putting the final touches on three cupolas jutting from her third story. The Spurlock home was only two-story and less ornate. Mike had whipped right through painting it.

“They do, Missy, and they’ll be even prettier after we’ve tackled the yards. That’s assuming my body holds out,” Annie added wryly as she rotated her shoulders. “Every night, what I wish for is some muscle man who’ll cart my ladder around for a few weeks.” The minute the statement crossed her lips, Annie pictured Sky Cordova, which jarred her until Missy spoke again.

“I could never climb an extension ladder the way you do, Annie. I get dizzy watching you. It was really nice of you to paint the upper section of George and Peggy’s place. His back really bothers him. Peggy’s gutsy for her age. She would’ve tackled it, you know.”

“I do know. In a lot of ways she’s like Gran Ida was.” Annie paused, battling back the sadness that descended whenever her grandmother’s name came up. “That indomitable spirit is why I was in denial when Peggy phoned to tell me Gran’s health was failing. To me she never seemed to age. I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

Missy threw both arms around her in an impulsive hug. “I’m sorry for reminding you, Annie. She brought us a casserole the night we moved in. Mike, his brother and I moved everything we’d stored in his folks’ garage into the house, all in one day. We were exhausted. And over she came with food. I called her an angel.” Missy grinned. “She said we should call her Gran Ida because everyone did. She was proud as a peacock of you. I wasn’t sure I’d like you, the way she made you sound like a saint.”

Annie laughed self-consciously. “Stop already.”

“I don’t mean to embarrass you. I think it was sweet. What you’re doing now, restoring the house, is exactly what she said you’d come here and do one day. Only she had grander plans. I’m sure you’ve seen the photo album that’s filled with pictures of how every street in town used to look.”

“I found it a few weeks ago,” Annie murmured.

“Well, I’m sure you remember the park. It was beautiful, with rose gardens, benches and walkways. Looking at it now, you’d never know it’s the same place. Peggy and I got together with Gran Ida most afternoons for tea and cookies and she’d bring out her album. She’d tell us that when you came home to stay, you’d get people to make the town look like it used to.” Missy giggled delightedly. “See why I expected you to be a saint? Maybe Gran Ida wasn’t quite herself toward the end, as Peggy pointed out, but I loved listening to her dreams. I had similar ones when we bought this house. Mike and I settled on a fixer-upper, which was all we could afford. I wish we’d known about the crime. I suppose it goes with the territory of low-income housing,” she said, ending on a sigh.

Annie listened while she washed out paintbrushes. “Now you sound like our illustrious police chief. Missy, low income doesn’t have to be synonymous with high crime. A family shouldn’t have to sell and move away to feel safe.”

“You can say that after all our homes were burgled in the same afternoon?”

Setting her clean brushes out to dry, Annie prepared to haul the ladder back to her garage. “Do you think that if people see what we’ve done, they’ll want to do the same thing? That’s my hope, anyway—that one set of highly visible improvements will encourage others in our community to follow our lead.”

“Peggy said you plan to call a meeting. But if Mike’s out of town I won’t be there. We’ve decided it’s not safe for us both to be gone at the same time. And I can’t say whether what we’ve done will induce anyone else. Mike said yesterday that if you hadn’t arranged for us to get such a deep discount at the paint store, we wouldn’t have been able to afford this makeover. Same goes for Peggy and George.”

Annie shrugged. She’d let them all think they were getting paint at a discount when, in fact, she’d made up the difference. She hoped they wouldn’t discover what she’d done. They had no idea how much money Gran had left her. With those funds, she was in a position to underwrite other projects and fulfill at least part of her grandmother’s dream. She’d told Gran’s lawyer that she didn’t want word of her inheritance to leak out. And she was more than willing to help families who pitched in by doing part of the work themselves. Mr. Manchester had said keeping the funding under wraps might be tricky. Annie guessed she’d deal with it if that became necessary.

Missy returned to her house and Annie stored her tools.

She walked to the end of her driveway to study the trio of newly painted homes, and thought they looked fantastic. It gave her personal satisfaction to see them so fresh and attractive—more satisfaction than she’d felt in a while. She’d thought she loved her job in L.A. But maybe the work had begun to weigh on her more than she’d realized. Her challenges here were more physical than mental. Here she used her creativity. Until now she hadn’t noticed how long it had been since she’d done any cooking, sewing or gardening. Her main regret, though, was that she hadn’t budgeted her time well enough to visit Gran Ida sooner.

Because her recent loss was still too raw, she distracted herself by installing the window boxes she’d bought. Soon she’d fill them with trailing roses. She wanted to tear out the old wisteria that covered a rock retaining wall. With Louisville gearing up for the Kentucky Derby, nurseries were selling gorgeous rosebushes. Annie pictured roses in a riot of color all across the front of this house, down the road and through the park again.

The next day, the weather turned from sunny and warm to muggy rain. Bad weather drove Annie inside. She alternately worked on kitchen curtains and a flyer to inform residents about her restoration planning meeting. The place, date and time were set. Darn it, though, she’d hoped to do some landscaping before she took pictures to put on her flyer. But the rain hung around for two more days, putting the kibosh on all her outdoor plans. She dug through Gran’s boxes of fabric and found just what she needed for drapes.

* * *

K
OOT
T
ALMAGE
BLEW
into police headquarters on a gust of rain and wind. Shutting the door with some difficulty, he stamped water from his wet boots, then shook off his official yellow slicker and hung it on a peg near the door.

Sky saw him and stepped into the hallway, his coffee cup in hand. “Are we going to have a real gully washer today?”

“Already is,” the other man grumbled as he met Sky at the coffeemaker and helped himself to a clean mug hanging on a wall rack.

“Is it causing flooding around Grandiflora or Hybrid Tea?” Sky named two streets that paralleled the river.

“Nothing like it used to before our city manager ordered storm drains installed. I remember how the people on those streets griped about the inconvenience when they tore up the intersection. Aaron Loomis won’t be hearing any complaints now.”

“That’s good. Listen, I want all of us out on patrol about the time the high school lets out. Hopefully seeing our cruisers will slow the kids down. First big rain after a dry spell, young drivers tend to forget cars can hydroplane if they drive too fast. We don’t need any of our kids ending up rearranging anyone’s front landscaping.”

“Speaking of landscapes, have you driven down Rose Arbor recently?”

Sky choked on a swig of his coffee. “Not really. Why?” he mumbled after Koot had pounded his back. Sky had made checking the street that suffered the three robberies part of his nightly routine. Because his checks weren’t entirely of an official nature, but partly a personal interest he’d taken in Annie Emerson, Sky wasn’t about to admit that he already knew about the improvements on Rose Arbor. He didn’t
want
to feel any interest in Annie, but he did—and he wasn’t about to admit that, either.

“Well, there’ve been big changes at the three homes where we investigated those break-ins.”

“Changes?” Sky played along, even though he’d witnessed stages of the restoration via his car lights and one streetlamp. He knew Annie, the California cyclone, would get the credit or blame, depending on whether or not her plans to spearhead urban renewal caused upheaval among the rank and file.

“As soon as the rain lets up, you need to go take a gander. Those same three homes have been painted from top to bottom. The one in the middle is obviously being prepared for new landscaping. All those renos are pricy, Sky. I wonder if we’ve got ourselves a case of insurance fraud.”

This time Sky did spew his coffee. “Sorry.” He grabbed a paper towel, wiped the counter and bent to scrub part of the linoleum. “Tell me what brought on that conclusion.”

“At least two of those couples claimed losses in the robberies. Ida Vance’s granddaughter never provided us with a list of her stolen goods. After I saw what’s going on over there, I started thinking the gal from California might be some kind of scam artist. The TV news is full of those tales. A lot of ’em are in Florida, but some are in and around L.A. She could’ve set it up so they all collected big on phony insurance claims.”

Sky returned to his office. “Annie Emerson is no scam artist, Koot. And don’t be saying anything like that around town. I told you I got back some of their stolen property that had been hocked. I even found silverware Ms. Emerson didn’t know had gone missing. They’re honest folks.”

Koot followed his boss into his cramped office. “You sound pretty certain of that for somebody who claims not to have seen the work that’s gone on there.”

“Well, the day I returned the stolen goods I was able to track down, Ms. Emerson was sanding old paint off her house.” He winced, remembering how she’d bruised his shin—and his pride—that day. Frowning, Sky sat in his swivel chair and beat a tattoo on his desk pad with a thumb. “Her biggest drawback isn’t that she’s a criminal, Koot. It’s that she’s too stubborn for words. Remember the night I had dinner at your house, and asked you and Sadie whether you thought one person could start a movement and turn this town around?”

“Yep. I recall thinking you’d gotten too big a whiff of that marijuana you’d confiscated from the middle school that day.”

“What you said was that it would take a fairy godmother to wave a magic wand. Well, picture Annie Emerson with wings and a sparkly crown.”

“There you go again, talking in riddles.”

“I didn’t come right out and say that our newest resident presented me with a nutty idea. She plans to conduct a town hall meeting and convince all our residents to paint their homes. She thinks that’ll cure any ills Briar Run suffers.”

Koot dropped heavily into the chair across from Sky. “Why did you beat about the bush instead of telling Sadie and me the truth about what you knew?”

Sky stared at his coffee mug. “I don’t know. Yes, I do know.... I didn’t want you guys calling her a nut job. She’s nice, but has misplaced ideas.”

“Have you gone sweet on Annie Emerson?”

“No.” Sky reared back, shooting Koot a scowl. “The thing is, she asked for my backing and I ran for the car like a scalded jackrabbit. Apparently she hasn’t let that stop her.”

The older man propped his elbows on his knees. “I’ve gotta say the houses look good. But, Sky, if she makes too much noise about believing that her urban renewal plan will drive out crime, won’t that make the Stingers view her as a threat?”

Sky’s nervous thumb tapped faster.

“I don’t want to pile more worry on you, boss.”

“You haven’t said anything I haven’t already considered.”

“Maybe she’ll decide that the amount of work or the cost isn’t practical for most folks. Hey, if this rain slacks off, she’ll probably get back out in her yard. I don’t mind moseying over there again. I can compliment what she’s done and see if she mentions any further plans.”

“Compliments might encourage her,” Sky said. “Better to let it go. Also, she gets her back up easily.”

“Okay, it’s your call, Chief. I’m due back out on patrol. If this rain
doesn’t
quit, I can’t say I’m sorry tomorrow’s my day off.”

“In my old job I got regular days off.” Sky pursed his lips. “Not in this one.”

“Not in the military, either,” Koot pointed out.

“Nope. I’m talking about my last police job. Although come to think of it, working vice in Baltimore involved more personal risk than this one. We had some major crime to deal with.”

“I’ll bet that job came with a higher salary,” Koot joked as he shrugged on his rain slicker.

“There was that aspect. But Corrine’s marriage to a thoroughbred horse breeder didn’t leave me with many other options. I should be thankful I landed this job. For now I can see Zack. Or at least I can see him between the times his mother dreams up reasons to haul me back into court.”

“Any word on whether the court will advance the date of your big custody hearing?”

Sky shook his head. “My lawyer tells me the county docket is full. Chances of getting that court date advanced are slim to none. Sure seems like Corrine’s attorney has more clout than mine does.”

“Bummer. Sadie and I are ready to vouch for you. I hope it’s a slow day here so both of us can go to court to say you’re a good Joe.”