Janey’s eyebrows rose as surprise flitted through her. “Really?”
Gretchen’s face said otherwise, and she’d confessed to Janey more than once that money was tight for her. That she had to keep the shop open as much as possible.
“I just don’t want to be consumed by it anymore,” she said.
Drew took her hand and squeezed it, and Janey admired his silent show of support.
“Everyone’s here anyway,” Janey said. “No one’s going to be buying flowers today. It’s not the Lavender Festival.”
“Yep, you’re right.” Gretchen turned as the police sirens started. “Is Adam leading the parade?”
“He’s at home, making soup,” Janey said.
“He’s not here?” Drew asked.
Janey looked at him and found the incredulity on his face. “No...why? Is that a problem?”
“He’s the Police Chief,” Drew said. “He’s led the parade for six years.”
Janey didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t acted like it was a big deal that he have Milo drive the cruiser in the parade, and she’d never asked how he’d entered the competition in the past. Maybe he got special privileges because he was the Chief of Police.
She didn’t know, and she didn’t want to spend the whole parade thinking about it. So she shrugged and edged forward a few feet. “Can I sit by you, Dix?”
“Sure.” She scooted over. “Where’s Jess?”
“He’s making a soup for the festival.” She smiled at the girl and leaned closer. “If I tell you what kind, you could vote for his.”
Her face lit up and she whispered, “Which kind?”
“Corn and crab bisque.”
Dixie’s cute face scrunched up. “Ew. I don’t like crab.”
“Have you ever had it?”
“Yeah, sure.”
The police sirens neared, screaming so loudly that talking was impossible. Several cars passed, and the colors followed. The crowd stood as if doing the wave, and Janey joined everyone in placing her hand over her heart.
She loved the horses clippity-clopping down the street. Loved the trucks that had been decorated by hand-drawn banners. Loved the children’s bike troupe, which Jess had ridden in for a couple of years.
By the time the parade ended, her tailbone ached. She stood and stretched, stole one more piece of bubble gum from Dixie’s stash, and said, “I’m headed over to find Adam and Jess. You guys want to come?”
“I’ll take the chairs to the truck.” Drew shouldered them both, as well as the blanket Dixie had been sitting on, and Gretchen linked her arm through Janey’s.
“So things with Adam are fairly serious?”
“Well, I suppose you could say that,” Janey said, a coyness to her voice she liked. “I like him a lot, and I think he likes me.”
Gretchen giggled so loud, several people turned and looked at her. “Janey, that man is head over heels in love with you.”
Janey ducked her head and giggled too, the thought of being loved by someone like Adam almost too overwhelming to think about. So she once again, employed Annabelle’s suggestion, and didn’t think about it.
She paused at the statue in the middle of the park. “They’re supposed to meet me here.” Turning in a circle, she scanned the crowd for them and didn’t find them. She pulled her windbreaker tighter, glad the sun was out but wishing the wind wasn’t quite so whippy today.
“Mom!”
She turned in the direction of Jess’s voice to see him working his way through the crowd. The taller, boxier form of Adam followed him, and they reached the statue in a few seconds.
“Hey,” she said with a chuckle. “How did the soup-making go this morning?”
“Great.” Jess glanced at Dixie and cleared his throat. “I mean, it was okay.”
“Did you get yours turned in on time?”
Adam’s arm snaked around her back and she leaned into him. “We did.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Jess said he wanted to eat and then go over to the—”
“It’s nothing,” Jess said over him, and Adam swung his head toward the boy. Something silent passed between them, and Janey didn’t like it.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Did you want to look at the booths with me?” Dixie asked. “My mom said I could have ten dollars for whatever I want.”
Jess looked at her, and his face brightened. “Yeah, sure. Are you gonna eat first?”
Janey sucked in a breath as all the pieces clicked into place. She twisted to face Adam, her excitement almost through the roof. “He....”
Adam shook his head and she spun back to her son. “So let’s go eat,” she said in a falsely bright voice.
Jess looked at Dixie again and they set off together. Dixie leaned over and said, “Your mom told me which soup you made, so I’m gonna vote for you.”
The very tips of his ears turned bright red, and giddiness danced through her. “He has a crush on her,” she whispered to Adam.
He nodded, his mouth remaining steadfastly closed.
“How long have you known?”
“He told me at the beach. It’s why he didn’t want to sleep in the same room as her.”
Janey shook her head, still in a bit of disbelief. “I had no idea.”
“He’ll grow out of it.”
“I think it’s cute.”
“What’s cute?” Gretchen asked.
“Jess—”
Adam’s grip on her waist tightened, and Janey said, “Jess...cooking with Adam.”
“What did you make, Chief?” Gretchen asked.
“Oh, can’t tell you that. It’s anonymous.”
Gretchen snorted and laughed. “You’ll be the only one who hasn’t told everyone they know to vote for them.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Adam said. “Where’s Drew?”
“He took the chairs to the truck.” Gretchen looked over her shoulder. “He’ll be here in a minute.”
Janey picked up a bowl and a slip of paper with all the choices on it. “There’s a lot of entries this year.”
“Soup is very Fall Festival,” Adam said. “The public vote is kind of dumb with this many choices. How can anyone possibly sample every kind?”
As they moved down the line, there were small, white plastic tasting spoons at every pot of soup. She tried a half a dozen before coming to Jess’s. She tasted it too, surprised at how rich the flavor was, how smooth the texture.
“This one’s good,” she said loudly, and Adam rolled his eyes. She checked it on her paper with a chuckle and kept moving.
She very nearly tasted all the soups, even though Adam had said such a thing wasn’t possible, and she turned in her paper with her top three choices. Adam’s butternut squash, and Jess’s bisque, and a potato chowder with bacon and chives.
“The voting will be closing in fifteen minutes,” a voice over the loudspeaker said. “Please put your votes in the blue box at the front of the meal tent.”
She linked her hand in Adam’s and said, “You promised me a funnel cake.”
“You want to cash that in right now? We just ate.”
“Little sips of soup,” she said. “Hardly anyone takes a bowl and gets one kind, the way you did.”
“That wild leek with sausage and mushrooms is going to win.” He glanced around the fair as if his police training had taught him how to read minds. “I wish I knew who made it.”
“Well, if it wins, then you’ll know.” She danced in front of him, hoping to lighten his mood. “Come on, Chief. It’s sunny and they’re not going to announce the winners until later anyway. Get me a funnel cake, and let the kids shop the booths, and I think there’s a pumpkin carving contest later too.”
A smile cracked his stoic expression and he relented. “All right. But I don’t think Jess brought any money.”
She turned to find the kids several paces ahead. She called them back and gave him a twenty dollar bill from her purse. “Share with Dix if she doesn’
t have enough for something, okay? You’ve got your phone?”
“Yeah, Mom. Right here.”
“Adam and I are going to get a funnel cake. Gretchen and Drew are around somewhere. We’ll meet you over in the booths in a few minutes.”
Dixie grabbed Jess’s arm. “Come on, Jess! They’ll sell out of the llamas if we don’t hurry.”
He grinned as Adam said, “Be good. Take care of her,” and then ran off.
“They’re so cute,” Janey said, her heart warming at the sight of them. She’d always loved their friendship, and she hoped Jess’s heart wouldn’t be too wounded with this childhood crush.
“Come on.” Adam took her hand again. “Let’s go get you sugared up.”
Chapter Twenty
Adam’s senses were heightened as he walked through the food booths and the sales booths with Janey and the kids. He kept his head moving from left to right, noticing all the little details just in case.
He couldn’t relax at the Fall Festival; he’d never been able to. He worked it. He’d told Janey that, but she seemed to have forgotten. He wasn’t wearing his uniform; he was just one of six plain-clothes cops in the crowd.
The idea was that having cops in uniform reduced problems simply by them being present. The plain-clothes cops provided another layer of security, and he’d lectured them to keep their eyes open while they played carnival games with their families. He had to do the same.
He managed to enjoy himself. Heck, he would’ve enjoyed himself anywhere, doing anything, if his hand was secured in Janey’s. Her touch kept his nerves over the soup contest at bay, something he’d used his uniform to do in the past.
He watched Janey carve out a blocky pumpkin face while Jess and Dixie worked on one together. They were terrible, but Adam acted like they should’ve won the carving contest. He waited with Dixie while she got her face painted, and he bought the kids apple cider.
“We better get back over to the meal tent,” Janey said, and Adam checked his watch.
“Oh, right.” He glanced around for the kids. “Jess, come on. They’re going to make the announcement in a few minutes.”
They wandered back over to the main square of the park, where a small crowd had gathered to hear the announcement. Probably just the people who’d entered, as this contest wasn’t nearly up to the level of the Lavender Festival competition. No crowns awarded, no public panel tasting the food, no speeches to be made at podiums.
“What was your number again?” Janey asked.
“I was thirty-seven,” Adam said.
“I was sixteen,” Jess said.
“I hope you win,” Dixie said, clenching her arms around herself. “Do you win anything?”
Jess turned to Adam. “I don’t know. What do you win?”
“A bit of money,” Adam said. “Not much, mind you. A couple hundred dollars. Just the recognition.”
“A couple hundred dollars?” Jess’s voice lifted into the air. “Wow!”
“We’re ready to make the announcement of this year’s Fall Festival cookoff, with the theme of soups. In third place, number forty-two, Ira Mansville, with the wild leek, sausage, and mushroom soup.”
Adam applauded along with everyone else as Ira, a gentleman about a decade older than Adam, whooped and danced toward a couple of people near the voting box. Adam’s hopes crashed and burned. There was no way his butternut squash soup had beaten that wild leek concoction.
“In second place, number thirty-seven, Chief Adam Herrin, with his butternut squash soup with ginger coconut cream.”
Janey squealed and Jess spun on him. “You got second!” he yelled as if Adam hadn’t heard the man over the loudspeaker.
“Go on,” Dixie said, her face one bright ray of happiness.
Adam went through the crowd and shook hands with Beth Yardley, the director of the Fall Festival.
“Good job, Chief Herrin,” she said, handing him an envelope and nodding for her assistant to continue with the winner. Adam stayed by her and Ira, smiling for the people.
“And our winner this year...number sixteen, Jess Germaine, with his corn and crab bisque.”
Several cheers went up, and Adam watched as Jess ran down the aisle to Beth. She shook his hand and presented him with an envelope and Jess pranced over to Adam, his grin so wide it had to hurt his face.
“I can’t believe it,” Jess said. “The soup wasn’t that good, was it?”
“It’s because you got Dixie to vote for you,” Adam said out of the corner of his mouth.
Jess started laughing, and the sound was so joy-filled that Adam couldn’t help joining in. Later, when he pulled up to Janey’s house to drop Jess off, the boy paused before getting out of the cruiser.
“Adam?”
“Yep?”
“I—I had a great day with you. Thanks for letting me come over and cook.”
Adam looked evenly at the boy, his heart completely open to him. “Anytime, Jess.” He smiled and said again, “Anytime.”
Jess nodded and got out of the car. He took a couple of steps away and then came back. “My mom wants to talk to you,” he said through the window.
Adam got out of the car to see Janey haloed by the porch light and as Jess went up the stairs, she came down. They paused and said a few words, and in that brief moment, Adam knew he loved them both.
The emotion hit him so strongly, he gasped. The love moved through him, making his muscles warm and everything around him soft along the edges.
He moved around the car and met Janey at the front hood. Taking her into his arms was as easy as breathing, and she said, “Thank you for a great day.”
“I can’t believe Jess beat me,” he whispered into her neck. She giggled and he laughed lightly with her. “Greatest day ever.”
She pulled back and gazed up at him, and when she kissed him, he thought maybe she could love him too.
Halloween came and went, and Adam turned all his focus to the Festival of Trees. Honestly, he sometimes wished he would’ve grown up in a town with slightly fewer festivals on their schedule. He supposed four a year wasn’t too bad, but he felt all he did was maintain relationships with his officers and prepare for big events.
One Thursday in mid-November, he was able to sneak away from the office and get behind the wheel to just drive. He loved nothing better than to drive around, looking at the neighborhoods in town, speed down the beach highway, and loop back around to town on the Lavender Highway.
He’d been in the car for about an hour before he stopped at Duality for something to eat and something caffeinated to help him through the rest of the afternoon.
Back in the car, he ate his sidewinder fries and kept his eyes open as he eased onto Main Street. As he drove along his beloved beach, the rain started to fall. By the time he made it back to town, it was freezing rain and he needed to return to the station.
“Weather alert,” bubbled over the radio. “Sending out the warning to all radios, televisions, and Internet stations.”
Adam recognized Sammy Puth’s voice, the weather expert out of the bigger town of Port Williams.
Only moments later, Trent came on Adam’s shoulder. “Where you at, boss?”
“Heading back.” He turned the corner, the heavy cruiser sitting right down on the road and sticking. He hit a slick patch, but the car righted pretty quickly.
A horn sounded, and Adam scanned, searched, scrambled to find where it was coming from. The volume of it increased, and he still couldn’t see anything. He tapped the brake, but the car slid—and that was when he saw the ice cream truck emerge from the alley between the grocery store and the bakery.
He couldn’t avoid it, so he braced for impact. Time slowed as he looked right into the headlights of the massive truck, only a few feet from his eyes.
He inched by—maybe he’d make it past.
Time jumped forward again, and he gripped the steering wheel as the front of the huge vehicle clipped the rear door on the driver’s side.
&nb
sp; He spun, his headlights facing the truck’s now. A yell tore from his throat as the truck hit his car again and pushed it across his own lane. More bright light flashed in his peripheral vision and he had just enough time to look out his side window to see another pair of headlights as they bore down on him.
The car that had been behind him smashed right into his door. The sound of breaking glass and crunching metal filled Adam’s ears. Panic pounded through him, and pain shot up his left leg and sliced his face.
The air bag deployed. Something hot lanced his forearm. He pulled his hands from the wheel and sucked in a breath as everything came to a halt.
Panting, he took a few moments to figure out where he was and that he was still okay. He touched his cheek, and his fingers came away sticky with blood. He depressed the button on his shoulder radio.
“I’ve been in an accident. Sixth and Main. Send an ambulance.” His head fell back against the seat and his first instinct was to jump from the ruined cruiser and see if everyone else was okay.
But the freezing rain—now diving into the car because the windshield had separated from the car, and his side window had been completely smashed. He tried to pull his left leg from the bent metal on that side, and it didn’t budge.
“Chief? A car accident?”
“With another civilian vehicle and an ice cream truck. I can’t get out.” His head swam and he wasn’t even sure why. He could breathe okay. He knew nothing was too hurt, though things were starting to throb now.
“Call my brother and my parents,” he said. “Call Janey.” His voice weakened, and he knew he was going to pass out. “Send an ambulance.”
The last words he heard were, “Help is on the way, Chief.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Janey Germaine, please report to the security desk. Janey Germain to the security desk.”
Janey’s heart leapt to the back of her throat at the sound of her name over the loudspeaker at the lodge. When the rain had started, they’d pulled everyone in off the trails, despite their complaints. Tourists didn’t understand how dangerous freezing rain could be, and she’d just stopped in front of the fireplace to warm her hands.