Burned(10)

No one texted him before nine a.m. because everyone knew he barely managed to get up by eight and get Sophie to school. Vic, who was the least high-maintenance person he knew, never texted him before noon because she had learned he detested all things morning when they’d carpooled during school.

This had to be important.

The reach for his phone—still whistling from the pocket of his jeans he’d walked out of at five a.m.—turned into a scrambling belly crawl from the bed to the floor. Sophie had finally gotten well enough to return to school, but then he’d ended up running the bar and handling closing alone when all his staff called in with the flu, which meant he’d had maybe eight hours sleep in the last three days.

This better be really important.

With the morning chill of fall quickly creeping through the wooden floor, he grabbed the phone and crawled back beneath the heavy covers. Feeling as with it as he could so early, Hauk read the text message.

Dani is coming to watch Sophie. Be at my place by 7. Yes a.m.

He rubbed the heel of his palm over his eyes and yawned. Was she crazy? She expected him in twenty minutes? No way.

He texted back. Rough night. Why?

When five minutes passed without a response, he began to worry. It wasn’t so much a concern over her safety. More about what she was planning, and his curiosity wouldn’t allow him not to find out. He dragged himself out of bed and pulled his jeans on. First he’d kissed his best friend. Then he had spent a couple of days thinking about the feel of her body. Now she had him out of bed more than an hour before normal and sex wasn’t even on the table. Vic was having him break all sorts of personal rules.

He’d no sooner dug a shirt out when a heavy knock landed on his main front door. Grabbing his socks and shoes, and with concern for Vic propelling him past frustration and tiredness, he headed to the living room.

Instead of Dani, the town doc, Hauk found her new husband and one of his closest friends on his doorstep. “Braydon.”

“This is awful early for you, isn’t it?” Braydon closed the door behind him and settled comfortably on the couch.

Hauk nodded and went about putting on his shoes. “I thought Dani was coming.”

“The baby felt it was more fun to keep her hugging the toilet.” He said it with a grin that clearly announced how tightly wrapped he was around the baby’s finger, and they were barely out of the first trimester.

“So, why am I taking Sophie to school this morning? What in Whispering Cove has you up with the fishermen?”

“Vic.”

“She okay? Dani only said I needed to get over here.”

“I think so.” She better be. He hadn’t seen her for a few days, not since she’d walked out after… Shaking off the thought of what they’d almost done, or jarring it back a few paces, he struggled to wake up. She would pay for getting him up so damn early.

Braydon laughed as Hauk pulled on his jacket. “Well, take your time. I’ve got your girl.”

Hauk hesitated at the door. He’d never left Sophie before she woke, and even knowing she was perfectly safe didn’t ease his anxiety.

“It’s been awhile since I did a morning school routine, but I can handle it.” Braydon waved off his unspoken concerns. “Go see Vic.”

Five minutes later, with his ears painfully cold, Hauk knocked on Vic’s door. He trusted Braydon to keep his mouth shut if he suspected anything, but the courtesy would only extend so far. Dani would know, and she wouldn’t waste any time giving Hauk shit about hooking up with Vic. She too, though, would save the harassment for more private times. Glancing around as the neighborhood began stirring, Hauk winced. Vic’s neighbors, many of whom were elderly women who frequented her salon, thrived on gossip. If any of them saw him at her door so early without Sophie, they would talk.

He had spent enough time as the subject of town discussion. He didn’t want to return to the eye. Vic needed to answer the door, or he was going home.

He knocked again. Harder.

She still didn’t answer after another minute. He heard the lock next door turn and knew Mrs. Paulette would appear shortly. The ringleader of the town gossips was the last person he wanted to see him.

Hauk reached for the knob and relief flooded through him when it twisted. He rushed in. Closing it behind him, he breathed a long sigh.

Maybe this early morning call was Vic’s plan to drive him out of his mind.

“Vic.”

She didn’t answer his call. His worry that she was plotting something shifted into real concern. She had a wicked mind when she decided to use it, and he wasn’t thinking this morning’s summons was emergency related.