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“Learning to use a compass and make your way through the woods can be useful,” Alec commented. “Your dad would have been an expert. Navy SEALs have to be able to navigate wherever they’re dropped.”
“This description mentions that the course is based on U.S. Army training,” Julia chimed in, trying not to sound unacceptably bubbly. “Minimum age is...thirteen. Wow, you qualify.”
“You mean, I could go somewhere without my little sister?” he asked sarcastically.
Liana couldn’t hide the flash of hurt, but she had enough spirit to stick out her tongue at her brother.
Alec met Julia’s gaze, his expression rueful, but he kept quiet. She’d seen him biting his tongue enough to know he wouldn’t always handle Matt’s snotty attitude the same way she did, but he was very careful not to act the part of a parent.
Depressed, she asked herself who could blame him. It was miracle enough that he was willing to do as much as he did. Even to completely uproot and move. When she’d asked Josh to choose between his family and his dangerous, high-adrenaline job, he’d chosen the job. It scared her to think Alec might hate it here in Angel Butte, so far from the high-adrenaline job he’d loved. From what he’d said, he was now stuck behind a desk, probably the last thing he’d ever wanted to do with his life.
I didn’t ask him, she argued with herself. He offered.
But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t blame her if he began to chafe at this new life.
He kept insisting they were his family, but they weren’t really, were they?
The fact that she wished they were would remain her secret.
* * *
HE NOW HAD a new challenge, Alec was disconcerted to realize: keeping his mind on the job now that he had the distraction of family. Alec was known for having a single-minded, intense focus. Back in L.A., Julia and the kids hadn’t affected him so much, because he didn’t see them daily. Apparently, things were going to be different now.
They hadn’t even been in town forty-eight hours, and whether he was conducting meetings, talking on the phone or working on procedures, his attention was split. Worry about Matt was constantly on his mind; happiness tumbled with the bleak knowledge that Julia was going to be a big part of his life, but wasn’t his.
This meeting was a good example. Alec rose to usher Naomi Wallace out of his office, hoping he’d actually taken in everything she’d told him. She was the community liaison working for the police department. This was their first meeting of any substance, although of course he’d met her and they had both attended the same meetings a few times. He shouldn’t have put this off for so long.
He thanked her for letting him know how the police department was involved in both the Fourth of July parade and fireworks and the upcoming arts-and-crafts fair taking place later in the month. “I’ll look forward to Frontier Days,” he lied, but knew Julia would love an art fair that would take over eight city blocks for three days.
Yeah, throughout the discussion he’d been thinking, I have to tell Julia about that or Good, that’ll be great entertainment for the kids.
The parade and fireworks slated for the Fourth would be a hit with Liana for sure. He was assured that this one included not only the traditional floats, honking fire trucks with firefighters throwing candy, the high school marching band and a lawn-mower drill team some local men with a sense of humor had dreamed up, but also horses. Lots of horses. The princess chosen by the Angel Butte Merchants Association didn’t ride on a float; she was slated to ride a palomino horse. Liana would be in seventh heaven. He had hopes even Matt would come around, since Alec had been told a motorcycle-stunt and drill team also participating was enough to make the most hardened citizens gasp. The Fourth was always a headache for law enforcement, but he’d already made up his mind to take the evening off. He’d keep his phone with him if he was needed, but he wanted to watch the fireworks with Julia and the kids. The Fourth was a family holiday, and he now had family.
This meeting, he reflected, was a part of the job he’d been least prepared for. He actually had learned a great deal from Naomi Wallace about his department’s role in special events—closing off roads, patrolling for maximum safety and ensuring activities met city codes.
Now, by God, he had to get back to his current focus, projecting manpower requirements and documenting his findings in a way he could sell to the city council.
He’d called up the folder on his laptop and was trying to remember whether he’d received the statistics on calls logged by patrol that he’d requested from Brian Cooper, the captain on the patrol side of the department, when his cell rang. Since he’d been struggling to focus anyway, he glanced at it with irritation.
The number was unfamiliar. Nonetheless, he picked it up. “Chief Raynor.”
“We saw you on television.” The voice was weirdly muffled. Not metallic, as if it was being electronically altered. More as if something was between the mouth and the phone receiver.
“Who is this?” he asked sharply.
“You will withdraw your support of Captain McAllister for the position of sheriff.” Muffled or not, the speaker sounded deathly serious. “If you don’t do as we ask, we can make you very sorry.”
The click was audible. His caller was gone.
The phone number was local and clearly a landline. After a moment’s hesitation, he called it. It rang half a dozen times with no answer. He redialed. Another half-dozen rings. Again.
This time he got an answer. “Jerry’s Tavern and Pool Hall,” a man said brusquely. “What can I do for you?”
“This is Police Chief Alec Raynor. Not two minutes ago, I received a call from this number.”
“Customers use it sometimes. Maybe it was a wrong number.”
“No,” he said coolly, “it was a threat.”
Silence. “I sure as hell didn’t call you.”
“I wasn’t suggesting you did. I’m asking if you saw who used the phone last.”
“I’m afraid not. Uh, I’m Jerry. This is my place. I was down in the basement grabbing a keg. There are a couple of locals in here. Let me ask.”
Jerry covered the phone, but Alec could still hear him call, “Hey, Billy! Marvin, is that you? Yeah, either of you just use the phone?” Their answers were indistinguishable. “Uh-huh,” Jerry said a couple of times. Then, “You see somebody making a call? Just a minute ago?”
He came back on. “They were playing a game of pool. Neither of ’em could see the hall from there. I had the back door open.” He sounded apologetic. “This isn’t a real busy time of day. I was bringing in supplies from a Sam’s Club run. Afraid pretty much anyone could’ve walked in and used the phone quick, if they were of a mind to.”
Alec asked a few more questions, but knew it was hopeless. Out of curiosity, he thought he might drive by Jerry’s and see how easily a passerby could have seen a way to slip in and use that phone, unseen.
He wanted to think it was a prank call, but well-developed instincts said no. One of Sheriff Brock’s increasingly desperate staffers? More likely. If so, Alec doubted the threat was real.
He couldn’t dismiss it altogether, though. Fanatics could be found anywhere. Frowning, he sat thinking about the call. He wasn’t worried about himself. He’d been a cop too long to ever be anything but wary. What he didn’t like was knowing that he now had an Achilles’ heel.
Three of them, to be precise. And, although his home address was and would stay unlisted, it wouldn’t be hard to follow him home. Or even just ask around. This small city more often felt like a small town to him. Everyone knew everyone. And anybody watching him would see quickly that the woman and children living on the other side of the duplex weren’t just renters.
But the caller hadn’t mentioned them, he reminded himself. Anyone in law enforcement got used to being threatened. This one hadn’t been atypical. He couldn’t deny that it had unsettled him, though.
Tell Julia?
No. All he’d do was upset her and make her overprotective, which wouldn’t go over well with Matt right now.
He swore aloud, disconcerted when he heard his voice. Damn it, he was overreacting.
One thing he could do was check with Noah Chandler and find out whether he’d had a similar call. Chandler wouldn’t be any more likely to give in to that kind of pressure than Alec was, but, like Alec, he had recently acquired an Achilles’ heel of his own. In fact, if Alec wasn’t mistaken, Chandler’s wedding to Colin McAllister’s sister was only a couple of weeks away. He had an invitation.
Alec wondered if any security had been planned for the wedding.
It was a good ten minutes before he could drag most of his attention back to his required-manpower projections for the city of Angel Butte.
CHAPTER THREE
TWO DAYS LATER, they were moved into the duplex, a huge relief to Julia after the aeon she and the kids had spent trapped together, first in the car and then the hotel room. At least with three bedrooms, each of them had a refuge. She would have been ashamed to admit to anyone else how grateful she was for the hours Matt usually spent holed up in his bedroom.
The one drawback was that the kids’ bikes arrived on the moving truck along with the furniture, and now that he had wheels, she couldn’t think of a good reason to forbid Matt from disappearing to who knew where.
Thank heavens for the positives she was able to cling to as the first week in their new home went on. Number one, of course, was Alec. He was there. Eating with them every evening, quietly interceding with Matt, teasing Liana, giving Julia a sounding board. He was everything she’d wanted Josh to be, and while making a comparison like that disturbed her, she was too grateful for Alec’s solid presence to let herself dwell on whether she was a dreadful person for contrasting him with Josh.
Second, Matt had yet to pull anything awful, like get drunk or be caught shoplifting, or even get into a fight. He wasn’t exactly a delight, but she was letting herself hope, if only a tiny bit. Could having Alec so much more involved in their lives be making a difference?
And then there was the fact that, despite her shyness, within a day Liana had made tentative inroads with a neighbor girl.
Bothered that the girl seemed to be home alone all day, Julia kept an eye out the front window near the end of the third day. When she saw a car turn into that driveway, she strolled over to meet Sophie’s mother, who introduced herself as Andrea Young. Obviously feeling a need to explain why her daughter was alone during the day, Andrea immediately started talking about her divorce and the fact that her ex had shortly thereafter moved to Texas. To her credit, she kept an eye on the girls to be sure her daughter wasn’t overhearing her. The ex called occasionally, Andrea said with some bitterness, and that was about it.
“I count my blessings he’s paying his child support so far.” She cocked her head. “You on your own, too?”
“I’m a widow.” Julia hated saying that, seeing the instant sympathy. “My husband was military. The blessing is that we do have death benefits, so I’m not as strapped financially as most single mothers. As soon as we’re settled in, I’ll be job hunting, though.” She explained about her relationship to Alec and said that they’d decided to move to a smaller town for the sake of the kids, without being specific about her troubled son.
Both women continued to watch the girls, who were playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, having drawn the squares with colored chalk Julia had provided. Sophie was apparently artistic, as she’d gotten Liana to help her decorate the sidewalk for several additional squares in each direction with elaborate, intertwined curlicues. They’d probably had more fun doing that than they were having now playing such a childish game, even though they kept making mistakes—seemingly on purpose—and then giggling madly.
Julia mentioned Liana’s upcoming birthday, when she’d turn eleven.
“Sophie’s twelve,” Andrea said, a slowness in her voice. “It’s legal to leave her alone now, but I’d rather not. Full-time day care is so expensive, though, and she begged not to have to do it, anyway. This in-between age is hard. She’ll be able to ride her bike to some of the Parks Department activities. I make her call me anytime she leaves the house.”
She sounded helpless and maybe hopeless, too. Julia sympathized. Both emotions had become familiar to her.
“I plan to sign my kids up for some of those activities, too. If she’s interested in any of the same things Liana is, I’ll be glad to chauffeur Sophie, too.”
When Andrea invited her in for a cup of coffee, Julia was happy to accept. The two mothers pored over the Parks & Recreation Department schedule. Then they called the girls in for a consultation.
The two-week horse day camp was a definite go, as were swim lessons. Sophie and Liana weren’t quite at the same level, but the advanced class took place right after the intermediate, and Julia insisted that it wouldn’t kill any of them to hang around the pool for an extra half hour one way or the other. Sophie wrinkled her freckled nose at the idea of ceramics class, but thought she might like tap dancing.
Studying the two girls, Julia was disconcerted to see that, only one year older, Sophie was developing a figure. She didn’t wear a bra yet, but she probably would be before she started back to school. Which, in her case, would be middle school here in Angel Butte. In L.A., Liana would have been starting middle school, too. Thank goodness she wasn’t here. The fact that the two girls would be separated for school in September would probably kill this budding friendship, but as far as Julia was concerned, if it lasted the summer, she’d be happy.
Now, if only there was a nice neighbor boy Matt’s age.
But she didn’t kid herself that Matt would want anything to do with a nice boy.
Which left her worrying about what he was doing when he rode away on his bike and didn’t return home for two or three hours at a time.
When she asked, he only glared at her. “There’s nothing to do around here. I’m just, like, riding my bike, okay?”
Her offer to help with Sophie was rewarded only a few days later, when Sophie shyly invited Liana to go to a movie with her on Friday night. The invitation included Matt, too, if he would like to see a blow-’em-up thriller that Andrea had noticed was also at the multiplex and running at close to the same time.
Guilt induced Julia to offer to go with Matt, which earned her a look that almost reminded her of the much more likable boy he’d once been.
“You’d hate that movie,” he said.
She grimaced. “Probably. Still, if you want company...”
He remembered he despised her and sneered, “Sure. My mother. Yeah, thanks but no thanks.”
Knowing she should feel rejected, Julia could only be relieved.
After the kids left, she tried to convince herself that she was blissfully happy alone and wouldn’t even notice if Alec didn’t come home right after work. Or came home only to change clothes because he had a date.
Of course, every time she heard a passing vehicle, her head came up. She hadn’t quite memorized the sound of his SUV yet.
She couldn’t miss it when he pulled into the driveway so close by, though, and only a minute later her doorbell rang. Her pulse accelerated even though she’d half expected him.
He had already shed his suit coat and tie. The cuffs of his white shirt were rolled halfway up strong forearms. He looked tired, she saw, but smiled when he saw her. “Hey. You and the kids want to go out for pizza or something?”
“It so happens the kids have already gone out for burgers and a movie.” She paused for effect. “Without me.”
One eyebrow tilted up, giving his face a wicked cast. “A fairy godmother?”
“Andrea.”
He knew about Liana’s new friendship, but still looked surprised. “Did you hog-tie Matt or drug him into compliance?”
She told him the arrangement for separate but equal movies. “He’ll probably sit at a separate booth at McDonald’s or wherever they went, too, but Andrea seemed to understand. I haven’t started dinner yet, but if you’re okay with something simple—”
“I vote we go out,” he said. “Someplace decent.”
“You mean someplace the kids would boycott?”
She loved his smile. “You got it.”
He suggested Chandler’s Brew Pub, owned by the mayor. There was a live band scheduled, but he thought not until later in the evening. Julia quickly changed, had second thoughts over her choice and would have started over if she hadn’t been so aware of Alec waiting.
When he saw her wearing slim-fitting black pants, heels and a shimmery tunic-length sleeveless sweater, his eyes had a glint that raised heat in her cheeks. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen that expression on his face, but she hadn’t decided what to make of it. If he was attracted to her, he obviously didn’t plan to act on it. Maybe he was only being politely appreciative.
“You look about twenty-two,” he told her. “No one would believe you have a kid Matt’s age.”
“That makes you a dirty old man to be giving me the once-over,” she suggested lightly.
He laughed. “It’s been quite a few years since I’ve looked over a girl that age with anything approaching serious intent.”
She felt a small burst of pleasure. Was he implying he had serious intent where she was concerned?
But when he stepped so ostentatiously aside to let her exit ahead of him, ultracareful not to brush against her, the thrill died as if he’d dumped cold water on it. No, of course not. He thought of her as a sister. What else?
Oh, God, she was so pathetic. Foolishly in love with her brother-in-law.
She had to be sure he never knew. For the hundredth time, at least, she reminded herself that of course she should be glad he didn’t feel the same. His indifference reduced any temptation on her part, and yes, that was good.
Alec was steadfast with her and the kids in a way Josh had never been, that was true. But in one essential way, he was too much like his brother. She’d always known that. She’d listened to the two of them talk so many times, voices laconic as they casually exchanged stories of terrifying exploits, but the excitement they felt seeping through.
Yes, but are they really so much alike? asked a voice in her head, one she’d heard more often lately. Alec made a decision Josh never would have, didn’t he?
But he could still regret it. He could still go back.
And while he called himself a desk jockey now, she saw the way his head turned as they walked to his Tahoe, his expression flat. Julia knew he was conscious of everyone and everything within a block radius, down to any shadow of movement passing behind the reflected sunlight on windows.
Once a street and vice cop, always one.
Please don’t let him be too bored.
