Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (31 page)

He nodded.
“
Aha
.”

Angela
gazed back
at him. “Aside from the fact that he can’t do his surgeries when his hands are messed up, why do you care
about their relationship? If there is one
?”

“He
’s been
moon
ing
around
for weeks
. I can’t seem to cut through the haze
, although some days are better than others
. When we went down to the farms the other day, he barely said two words to me the entire time
,
just kept
look
ing out the window
. N
o
questions
or
even
opinions
, like
usual
. You know, picking my brain
the way he does
.
It’s like he’s not with me anymore.”

“Maybe he was
mulling
over
all the things you’re having him
take on
.”

Joe
l
emptied his wine glass
a second time
and began drumming the table edge with his fingers
.

“
Sweetheart
,
stop frowning. Y
ou’re a man.
You should know how men are
,
especially, the tall
,
sil
ent type
—sort of like you
.
”
The corners of her
luscious lips
curved upward
.
“
Don’t ask me what
men
are
like
when they’re in
love
.
I work with women. H
e’s your
second-in-
command
. Why don’t you
just
ask him?”

He grimaced.
“
M
en aren’t into sharing like women are. Besides,
I
already
tried
,
sort of
. He basically
said they were friends.”

“That was it?”
She reached for the salad bowl.

“
And, then
the way he
gave me a look
. Like
I should
butt out.”

Joel
watched one beautiful
eyebrow
arch
when
Angela
gaz
ed
back
at him
.

“
And you concluded
?”
She spooned more salad onto her plate.

“That he’s involved.”

She
sipped from
her wine glass.
“So why are you asking me? You’ve already figured it out.”

“Yes, but, knowing
doesn’t help
all that much
.”
He
pointed to the mixed vegetable bowl and she pushed it in his direction
.

“Honestly, Joel, for such a smart m
an, sometimes you are so dense. K
nowing is everything.
” Angela
laugh
ed
and leaned over to kiss him
on the mouth
.

Danni
was putting the finishing touches on the Thanksgiving dinner when a knock
sounded
.

“Happy, come.” T
he big dog rose and walked
with her
as she approached the door. The stump of his tail
and then his entire back end
began to w
iggle
.

“Who is it?”

“Me.
”

She opened the door, and
Ben
thrust a small bouquet of fall flowers at her. “
For you, beautiful
!” H
e
bowed
and smiled
broad
ly at her.

Her pulse
pick
ed
up
as she took in his
wind-
tousled hair, the color in his cheeks
. “Is it
cold
out
side
?”

He nodded.

T
aking the flowers from him, she replied,
“
Thank
you
, kind sir,
”
and
did her best to curtsy
. “Everything
’s almost ready
.
”

He
followed her
into the kitchen.
“
Yum.
What
do
I smell
?”

“The tiniest turkey
I could find
,
about all
that would fit in the oven.
My mom sent me extra money so I could
buy
it.
And, some green beans, and squash.”

“What about pumpkin pie?” Ben
snacked
on a
crisp
celery
stalk
. “We can’t have Thanksgiving without pump
k
in pie.”

“Is that what your m
om always makes?”
She flipped her
braid
over her shoulder and out of the way
as she leaned down to look in the oven
.

“You bet, and I always
dress
mine in a
thick
blanket of whipped cream.”

“
Me, too.  But
I was afraid I wouldn’t make it right, so I opted for something else
. You’ll have to wait
and see
.” S
he stopped him from opening the oven to pe
ek. “I
t’s not in there. T
he oven’s
only
big enough
for
the turkey.”

Within ten minutes, they were seated
at
her
little table, helping themselves to what she had prepared.
All morning, her mood had bounced between
happy
because
Ben h
ad agreed to celebrate with her
,
and
sad
because
she wasn’t sharing the holiday with her family.

“Do you miss not being with your f
olks
?”
she asked
,
try
ing not to think about what her parents might be doing, what they might be thinking
of her
.

He
shook
his head.
“
I
t’s been
at least three years since I’ve been
there
for Thanksgiving. I usually save my time at home for
Christmas
, except
I won’t
be
doing that this year
. And—
” he cut
two more
piece
s
of tur
key and slid
one
onto his plate
and
the
other onto hers
“
—t
oday,
it’s
y
ou and me
. W
e’re
celebrating together, and that’s good enough for me. How about you?”

She sighed. “I wish I were home, but I know that couldn’t happen this ye
ar, so
I’m glad you said you c
ould come. I would have been—” S
he
squeez
ed her eyes
shut.
“
—
very lonely if
I
hadn’t been able to
share my turkey with you
.”

He reached
over the vegetable bowl
and
took
her hand. “I wanted to,
Danni
. You did me a favor by asking.”

“
Well,
I
’m still grateful.
”

They ate in silence for several minutes, and when she
rose
to clear the table, he pushed
back
his
chair.
“You sit down and re
st. Let me do that. At home, it’
s always
the men who
clear off the debris.”
He
escorted her to the couch to sit down
and gave her braid a little tug
. “I can do it in
a jif
f
—want to time me?
”
Then he proceeded to demonstrate how fast he could remove the dishes and set them to soaking in the sink
, telling her silly Thanksgiving jokes
while he did so
.

As daylight descended into a fiery sunset over the bay, he
joined her on the couch and
spied
a
news
paper
lying
on the floor
.

“What’s this?”

“I almost forgot! I was going to tell you about that.
The police caught this guy. I think he may be the one who raped Sarah’s new roommate.
The police charged him with three rapes
, all
unsolved
from last year
and
an
other
one
in
Octo
ber
.
”
She
looked
at him. “
Guys like that ought to be in jail
.”
She flashed on Steve and what Doctor Wright suspected he’d done to her at the lake, and gave a little shiver.

“
I’m glad they caught him
.”
Ben scanned the article again
, his pulse starting to climb
. “It says here they
i
nterviewed him in the hospital,
that someone beat him up.”

“Yes, the weird thing is, they haven’t found out who did
it
.
Sarah told me they
linked him to the rapes
because of
a finger
print from
one of
the place
s
. T
hat girl
—she’s a junior—
came forward when his picture
was plastered all over campus
.”

“Good timing, too
, that
he’s in jail now
.
” He
glanced
at the dog
, who lay sprawled near their feet in front of the couch
.
“
I’d be worried about you if that man was still around, even though Happy is here. But
I’m going to have to take
him
back with me
soon
.”

“Oh?”

“
The c
hief called and said they’
re ready to assign him a handler,
and they
want
to get him started with his drug training. I was going to
ask you if I could
take him when
your finals are over,
thinking I could bring him back with me then. But, if you don’t
really
need him, maybe I should take him
tonight
.
Steve hasn’t been around, has he?
”

“Nope.” She felt the baby move and she
pat
ted her stomach.
“Here, boy,” s
he called
to
the dog.  “I’m going to miss you, Happy
dog
.”

Happy
yawned and rolled over before clambering to his feet and leaning his head against her hip with a tiny groan
.

She stroked the big dog’s head.
“I’d be worried
if that guy
wasn’t
in jail, but since
he is
, I’m
okay
with you taking
Happy
now
.
Except I’m going to miss him.
”