Starting Over at Lane's End (Harlequin Heartwarming) (10 page)

Chapter Twelve

P
ICTURES
HAD
BEEN
taken, followed by fingerprints. After questioning the few staff members who had still been on campus at the time, Gen made plans to ask the remaining teachers if they’d seen anything suspicious. Finally, Sergeant Conrad asked two other officers to take Gen’s squad car back to the station.

Through it all, Gen was torn between duty and her desire just to react. She felt angry and violated. Now she knew what it felt like to be a victim and she didn’t care for the feeling one bit.

“Well, that’s it for now,” Sergeant Conrad said. “Slate, you’re going to be busy tomorrow.”

“Yep. If you’ll give me a lift to the station, I’ll file this report—”

“Whoa. You’re off duty, Slate.”

“But—”

“I saw your time card. You reported in at six this morning.” He glanced at his watch. “I think twelve hours is long enough. Sam’s going to type up the notes.”

“But my car—” When she’d picked up the cruiser at the start of her shift, she’d left her Outback at the station.

“Sam and another officer are going to drop it off at your home later,” Cary said, gently curving an arm around her shoulders. “Everything’s taken care of.”

“You sure?”

Her sergeant’s eyes softened. “Positive. Go take a break, Gen. See you, Cary.”

“Bye, John,” Cary said as he unlocked his Explorer’s doors. “Let’s order a pizza, Gen.”

After seeing that Conrad and Sam definitely had everything under control, Gen finally relaxed. “You know, pizza sounds even better to me now. I just realized I’m starving.”

“Me, too.”

“So...your place or mine?”

He grinned. “How about we go to yours? If we go to mine, I have a feeling we’ll run into Melissa and Dean. They’re going to ask a dozen questions, and I’m just not up for that right now.”

“Me, neither.”

As Cary drove out of the parking lot, Gen couldn’t deny that she was shaken up, not only because she’d been personally touched by the vandal, but she now knew the perpetrator was targeting people who had a connection with Cary.

As if reading her mind, Cary murmured, “This has something to do with me, doesn’t it?”

“I think so.”

“Any idea why?”

“Not yet.” She leaned her head back against her seat. “As far as I know, you’re well-liked in the community, so the only thing I can think of is that someone might have a crush on you.” Attempting to lighten the mood, she added, “Besides me.”

Her words hung between them like clothes on a line. Yet again, she’d blurted her inner thoughts. She waited for him to contradict her, to patiently explain how she’d completely misread his feelings, but the exact opposite happened.

“You’ve got a crush?” he asked, looking pleased.

“Yeah, I do.” She studied his profile, liking the way a hint of a beard was visible on his face. Liking the way he never shied away from his feelings or from hearing hers.

He was a far different man than Keaton was. Though Cary, too, had seen his fair share of heartache—losing both his parents, having to give up some of his own needs to help his brother and niece—the experience didn’t seem to scar him. He still acted hopeful about the future, was content with himself.

At that moment, Gen wanted to grab on to him and hold on tight.

It felt good to be with him. She was incredibly thankful he’d stayed by her side this evening. Maybe, despite her fear of being hurt again, they did have a chance together. Maybe—

A horn blared to her left.

Cary grinned when she jumped. “Settle down, Slate. It’s not a crisis—it’s the horns from the band. Look at them!”

Sure enough, twenty kids wearing jeans, old tennis shoes and black T-shirts were lined up in front of the community center, playing the Lane’s End High School fight song. The mascot, a large golden lion, held a tub of candy and was passing it out to children who came forward.

Pinned across the center’s front porch was a pair of sheets with the words
Go,
Lane’s End!
painted in bold black letters.

Cary laughed as cars all around them honked their approval. “The more things change in Lane’s End, the more they stay the same, huh? You and I aren’t the strangers we once were, yet we’re still here in the same place, doing the same things.”

Gen couldn’t agree more. While she’d been attempting to uncover a vandal and get a handle on her relationship with Cary, life had gone on. Once again, she was stuck in LEHS traffic.

“I’ve been so focused on what’s been going on with you I completely forgot about the tournament,” she admitted with some surprise.

Squeezing her hand, he teased, “I wouldn’t mention that to another person around here.”

“I wouldn’t think of it.”

“Because you’ve had such a long day, I’m going to do you a favor when we get to your place.”

“Rub my back?” She hadn’t been able to forget about his earlier promise.

“I will. Then I might even put on the game and teach you everything I know about basketball.”

She rolled her eyes. “Just because I forgot about the tournament doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the game. I know the basics.”

“Xavier University’s playing at seven. You up for it?”

“Maybe. Can we have mushrooms on the pizza?”

“Only if you have something to down it with.”

“I have Coke.”

“Then it’s a yes.”

Gen chuckled to herself as he pulled in to her driveway. There was something very good happening between them. A tension, an awareness she sensed had never been between her and Keaton.

And more importantly...how had she not realized something so vital in creating a strong relationship had been missing in her feelings for Keaton?

* * *

“I
HAVE
TO
ADMIRE
A
gal who can almost single-handedly finish a whole pizza.”

“There was a reason I ordered two.”

Cary raised his second Coke to her in a toast. “Here’s to planning ahead.”

Gen playfully clicked her can with his before taking a sip.

As the Xavier game ran into the third quarter, he was happy to see that they were up by ten. They’d been looking good tonight. Good enough that he thought he could pull his attention away for a few minutes.

“So...did you do any hunting and fishing while growing up?”

“Yep.” She tilted her head and studied him carefully. “You ever fly-fish?”

“Nope.”

Gen leaned back. “One day I’ll take you to the New River. There’s some real pretty sections where the fishin’s good. I’ll outfit you in waders and we’ll have a go of it.”

Cary laughed. “Your West Virginia voice is talking.”

Unexpectedly she blushed. “I guess it was. I try to tame the twang, but when I think of things I used to do when I lived in Beckley, I can’t help but think of them in terms of the language I used growing up.”

“You shouldn’t try to get rid of your accent. It suits who you are.”

Gen’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that funny? Do you always think of yourself as an algebra teacher?”

“I certainly hope not!” Sipping his drink, he studied her. “But I see what you mean. Some vocations are like that.”

She leaned closer. “So what would you say you are?”

He shrugged. “Too many things...and in some ways, not anything. I’m Dean’s brother. We’re closer than most. I’m Melissa’s uncle. I wouldn’t have missed living next to her for anything.”

Thinking back to how he’d wanted a change just a few short days ago, he shook his head. Now he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. “Lately I’ve been hoping for more.”

“Like what you had with Kate?”

Cary sighed. “Looking back on the time Kate and I were dating, I’ve realized we weren’t really ‘together.’ Now I can see that we both knew it...I just didn’t want to face the truth.”

Finding out about Cary’s past was interesting. “So before Kate, did you ever have a serious girlfriend? Even in college?”

“Not in college. I dated Sarah Williams during my junior and senior years in high school.”

“Pretty name.”

“Yeah,” he said fondly. “Wow, I haven’t thought of Sarah in years.” Turning to Gen, he smiled at the memory. “Sarah not only went to my school, she went to my church. I was with her constantly.”

“Pretty?”

“Oh, yeah. But in a way, her looks didn’t matter, you know? After a while, she was just Sarah.”

“What happened?”

“The usual. She went away to college and we grew apart.” He shook his head. “I worry about Melissa sometimes. She and Brian are so close and he’s heading to college next year. I don’t know what she’s going to do or what I want her to do. If she and Brian break up, she’s going to be devastated. If they stay together, she’s going to spend her whole senior year wishing she was someplace else.”

Belatedly realizing he’d just droned on about more than she’d asked him, he said, “What about you?”

“Me? Well, hmm. No, I never did the serious-boyfriend thing.”

“Not even in high school? I would have thought the boys would love a girlfriend who liked the things they did.”

Gen shook her head. “If they did, they didn’t tell me about it. In a lot of ways, I stayed in the shadows. My sister, Margaret, was homecoming queen and prom queen and student council vice president. She’s petite and feminine and caught the eye of every boy in the county. I was just her sister.”

The hurt in Gen’s eyes stung Cary. Imagining how awkward that must have felt and knowing how easily a guy could chase after a pretty, popular girl, he said, “Was that hard for you?”

“Back then, it didn’t bother me too much. Meg’s social success made me even more determined to move away from Beckley and do something different. I started looking at colleges my sophomore year of high school.”

“Did you always know you wanted to become a cop?”

“Pretty much. I wanted a job where I could be outside a lot, not chained to a desk. I thought about being a firefighter, but frankly, I wasn’t sure if I could pass the physical tests. I was a lot leaner back then.”

“So then...”

“I earned an associate’s degree, then applied to the Cincinnati PD. The rest is history.”

“Except why you’re here.”

“I needed a change.” Closing her eyes briefly, she said, “I had thought—mistakenly—that I had finally found the guy I would spend the rest of my life with. Ultimately it turned out he didn’t feel the same way as he fell in love with someone else. I thought I could handle working with him after that, but I was wrong. It was then I decided it was time to move on.”

Her eyes wide, she reached out to grip Cary’s arm. “I’ve never told anyone about him. About Keaton.”

“I guess it was time then.” Wrapping an arm around her, he held her close.

As though she was embarrassed about her admission, she turned to the TV. “Hey! Xavier’s up by twelve.”

It was too bad he couldn’t have cared less. At the moment, Gen was the only thing on his mind. The way her long, sleek black hair felt like liquid silver whenever it brushed against his hands. The way her dark-blue eyes could look sad and hopeful at the same time. The way every inch of her was finely toned and incredibly strong yet seemed so delicate, daring him to touch her soft skin. Giving in to impulse, he traced her collarbone.

“I’ve been thinking about doing that for a while.”

Her lips curved up, her expression tentative. “Do you still want to rub my back?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” he murmured.

Without another word, Gen presented her back to him.

Annoyed with himself for feeling like a schoolboy, he began kneading her muscles. He felt a knot above her shoulder blade and massaged it.

Gen moaned. “Oh, that feels good.”

Yes. Yes, it did. Gen’s skin was velvety-soft and lightly tanned. The fresh scent of lemons surrounded her. He breathed in deeply and sighed, wanting to kiss her again.

He dug deep for a little control. “Okay. This is what we’re going to do. You’re going to watch the game, and I am going to rub your back.”

Gen raised an eyebrow as she looked at him over one shoulder. “I thought that’s what we were doing?”

Almost against his will, he spanned her waist, caressed her lower back.

Gen rolled her spine forward.

As Xavier rebounded and the crowd on the television went wild, Cary tried to resist the urge to pull her back into his arms and kiss her senseless.

Chapter Thirteen

F
ROM
THE
MOMENT
the first bell chimed, Gen felt way too out of place at Lane’s End High.

Rather than befriend her or volunteer any information, students avoided her like the plague. They talked in whispers and darted the other way when they saw her coming.

Her inability to blend in was extremely irritating. Sgt. Conrad would rip her to shreds if she didn’t make this work. What she needed was to lose her natural reticence and be warmer and chattier. If the run of vandalism didn’t end soon, eventually a person was going to get hurt, and everyone affiliated with the case would feel the sting of lost opportunity.

When the first health class of the day started, Pat Brown introduced her. Gen strode to the front of the room with more than a little trepidation. She’d never had to address a bunch of kids before, and any hiccup could affect the students’ opinion of her.

“Hi, everyone. I’m Officer Slate and I’ll be on campus for the next month.”

Not one of the thirty kids looked as if they cared.

Gen pretended they did. “I’ll be acting as a liaison between you and the police department. Schools in Cincinnati have police officers on campus on a regular basis. We’re testing it out here.”

One boy slumped in his chair in the back raised his hand. “Aren’t you really here because of the smoke bomb and the graffiti?”

“Well...yes. That’s the other reason.”

The class seemed to breathe a collective sigh as they realized she was going to speak straight, tell it like it was.

“
My
job is to keep everyone safe so you can do
your
job and get an education. I’m hoping we can be partners. Someone around here has made it his or her business to make the environment here uncomfortable. These pranks may seem harmless, but they can get dangerous, and someone might get hurt.”

Gen paused to let her words sink in. “If you know anything about what’s been happening, or who might be involved, you need to speak to me or a teacher. I think we’d all feel horrible if someone got hurt and it could have been prevented.”

“Listen to what Officer Slate has to say,” Mrs. Brown said. “She’s here to make sure we all stay safe.”

Only silence met that suggestion.

Gen was just wondering what else she could talk about when a hand rose. “What do you think about the Lions?”

“I think they’re great,” she said in relief. “They might even have a chance to get to state.”

A gal in the front row smirked. “A chance?”

Obviously those were fighting words. Since anything was better than stone-cold silence, Gen egged the students on. “Given the team’s past record, I’d say ‘chance’ is a little generous.”

As expected, the room erupted into shouts and laughter.

Mrs. Brown chuckled from her post near the back of the room before she called out, “If you wanted to get them talking, you couldn’t have picked a better topic, Officer Slate.”

“Call me Gen,” she said with a grin.

* * *

“Y
OU
ALMOST
LOOK
like a freshman,” a woman commented to Gen as she patrolled the halls two hours later. “You’ve got that same scared look they all do.”

Gen smiled. “I’m not scared, I just keep getting lost in this building.”

“Where are you headed?”

“Lunch.”

The gal’s face brightened. “I’m heading there, too. You buying or did you bring your lunch?”

Gen held up her brown paper bag.

“Smart woman.” As they left the math wing and walked up a flight of stairs, the other woman introduced herself. “I’m Christy Pardue, by the way. We met the other day. I teach with Cary.”

Recognition clicked in. “Now I remember. You had your hair up and glasses on before, right?”

“Yep. Good memory.”

Gen nodded in acknowledgment. “Thanks for helping me through this maze.”

“No problem. How’s your day going?”

“It’s going.”

“Have you done this before? Been assigned to a school?”

“Not in a long time and not by myself.” Feeling as if she should be more positive, she added, “It’s a nice change of pace, though. Far better than directing traffic in the rain.”

“Especially if you catch whoever’s been causing so much trouble. The batch of pranks has got us all on high alert. Things like this just don’t happen around here. At least I didn’t think so.”

“In my experience, unexpected things happen everywhere. They just make more of an impact in a small town. But I’m confident we’ll find out who’s behind all this. Spray painting my cruiser was so blatant I think he or she wants to get caught.”

To Gen’s surprise, Christy looked at her for a long moment. “Maybe he or she does,” she murmured before making another turn. Christy then stopped and opened the door to a large staff room.

“We wondered if you were ever going to take a break,” an older man in wire-rimmed glasses said as she and Christy claimed two chairs. “How’s your first day going?”

Christy gave everyone a knowing look. “Right now, Officer Slate is attempting to negotiate the labyrinth we call Lane’s End High.”

“Good luck,” another teacher called out. “Took me two weeks to find the copy room.”

“I can believe it,” Gen said with a laugh. “I took two wrong turns and ended up in the wrestling room.”

As others introduced themselves, Christy put change in a pop machine and pulled out a Coke. Gen did the same.

After they sat down, the older guy spoke again. “So have you run into Matthew Reid yet?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You’d know him if you saw him. He’s currently wearing a skull-shaped nose ring.”

“It sets off his bald head,” another teacher said.

“No, I haven’t seen him,” Gen replied. “What’s he like?”

“Smart as a whip. Sarcastic. You’re going to love him.”

“I’ll be on the lookout for him, if I get the chance. Maybe he’ll stand out in health class.”

Christy nodded as she opened up a carton of yogurt. “Evan was smart to place you in Pat Brown’s room. She’s a good teacher and she’s got a nice rapport with most everyone.”

Two more teachers entered the room, speaking excitedly, their conversation grabbing everyone’s attention.

“What’s going on?” Christy called out.

“We just broke up a fight. Jimmy Aiken and Brian McCullough.”

Gen tensed. Those names she recognized. Brian was Melissa’s boyfriend, and she’d dated Jimmy twice before him.

Christy shook her head in mock surprise. “Goodness, I wonder what that could have been about?”

As everyone laughed, Gen turned to Christy. “Melissa?”

Christy sighed. “Yep. Always Melissa.”

The taller of the two men who’d announced the news grabbed a paper sack out of the refrigerator and joined them. “When is Jimmy ever going to get it through his head that Melissa isn’t going to give him the time of day? The poor kid practically tackled her on the way out of class.”

“What happened?”

“They were walking out of History when Joe Kelly dropped a book. Melissa knocked into him, and Jimmy went to the rescue, trying to catch her before she fell.” The teacher rolled his eyes. “He put his arms around her, Melissa yelped and Brian went into rescue mode.”

“Ugh,” Christy said. “Hey, Dave, do you need professional help with the fight? We’ve got a real live cop here to restore order.”

“Thanks for the offer, but no. The last thing anyone in that trio needs is fuel to fan the situation. I told them to cool off. They will,” Dave said with an Eddie Haskell–looking smirk. Turning to Gen, he held out a hand. “Hi, Officer Slate. I’m Dave. I teach math down in the catacombs with Cary and Christy. My fifth-period class could give any daytime soap a run for its money.”

“Call me Gen.” Intrigued in spite of herself, she asked, “So Jimmy grabbing Melissa is what set everyone off?”

Dave glanced at other interested teachers. “Not quite. After Brian pulled Melissa out of Jimmy’s arms, Jimmy made a comment about Brian not appreciating her.”

Christy put her sandwich down. “Wow.”

“Then Brian said Jimmy was just upset because he failed yet again to get Melissa to break up with him.”

Dave waggled his eyebrows. “I told you it’s better than
As the World Turns
.”

“This bickering has been going on for weeks,” Christy explained.

“And it’s not getting any better. After Jimmy said that, Brian laid into him, and finally Melissa started crying and ran out of the room. I wasn’t sure Cary wanted to get involved, but I had to tell him what was going on since Melissa was in the middle of it.”

Even though she felt a little zing at Cary’s name, Gen concentrated on the real issue. “What about Brian and Jimmy? What are they like?”

The room erupted in laughter. “Let’s just say it’s no surprise that Melissa ended up with Brian,” Kevin said. “Jimmy’s kind of a live wire.”

“I taught his older brother,” a man standing near the microwave said. “The whole family’s wound too tight.”

“Do you think he’d ever do anything illegal?” Gen asked. Maybe Jimmy’s hurt feelings were displaying themselves in new ways.

Kevin turned to her in surprise. “The question should really be, do I think he’d do anything illegal
again?
”

* * *

“M
ELISSA
,
GUYS
ARE
jerks. Once you understand that, everything will get easier,” Cary said that evening. Looking out into his backyard at the four pine trees he and Dean had planted almost ten years ago, Cary wondered where the time had gone. The trees had grown...and so had Melissa’s problems. Once upon a time, a bad day for Melissa had meant she’d gotten a splinter.

“Even you?”

“Especially me,” he said, pulling her into a hug.

Melissa hiccuped as she slumped next to him. “I can’t believe they got in a fight. Over nothing!”

“It probably wasn’t nothing to them.” He cast her a sideways glance. “It was over you, right?”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

He brushed back a long strand of her thick blond hair. “I do.”

“I can’t believe Jimmy said all that stuff in front of everybody!”

“He’s only thinking about you, Missy.”

“I wish he’d stop. He needs to back off, listen to me when I tell him no. I love Brian.”

“Jimmy likes you, Melissa, and he doesn’t understand why you don’t feel the same. I’ve been in his shoes—it’s a frustrating place to be.”

“Is that how you were with Ms. Daniels?”

Hearing Kate’s name made Cary breathe deep. “Yeah. We weren’t serious like you and Brian, but I thought we could be.”

“What about with Officer Slate?”

Now it was his turn to be on the defensive. “Why do you ask?”

Seeing she’d found a touchy subject, Melissa’s pretty blue eyes gleamed. “There’s something between the two of you, Uncle Cary. Everyone can tell.”

“Is that right?”

“Uh-huh. Officer Slate blushes and stammers every time she’s near you.”

Actually, he had noticed the blushing part.

“And you, Uncle Cary, get all tongue-tied.”

He couldn’t deny it. Their relationship was so mixed up on different levels he was all in knots. “You’re right. I like her. I think she likes me, too. But it’s complicated. Unfortunately the older you are when you fall in love, the harder it is.”

“Maybe,” she said with some surprise. “I knew I was in love with Brian when he stayed after basketball practice one day to help me with my geometry homework.”

“When was that? You know I could have helped—”

“Uncle Cary! I didn’t need
help
. I needed
Brian
.” Speculatively she leaned closer. “What do you need?”

He needed his life to go on hold for a couple of weeks so he could concentrate on nothing but Gen Slate and the way she made him feel.