Snowfall on Haven Point(41)
“I did. And I meant it. Think of it as my way of repaying you for all the trouble you just went to.”
“Please?” Chloe entreated.
Andie looked down at her children, then at him with an expression that managed to mingle puzzlement and suspicion. She was probably wondering how he could flip so abruptly from telling her basically to stay away to inviting them for dinner.
If she figured it out, he would like to know the same thing.
“Serrano’s pizza is delicious and I haven’t figured out any other plans for our dinner,” she finally said. “I suppose that would be okay, if you’re sure.”
“Positive. To be honest, I get tired of eating by myself. My own dinner conversation is pretty boring.”
This made Chloe giggle but was nothing less than the truth. He spent a great deal of his free time in solitude. Unless he was grabbing lunch with Cade or one of his deputies or having family dinners at his mother’s, most of his meals were spent at his desk or in front of the television set on low for background noise while he worked on reports.
He had always thought that a perfectly acceptable state of affairs, but suddenly it seemed a pretty isolated way to live.
CHAPTER NINE
WHOEVER WOULD HAVE guessed the serious, gruff sheriff of Lake Haven County was lonely?
Andie sat across from Marshall Bailey at Wynona’s kitchen table and finished her final bite of the basil-and-mozzarella goodness that was Barbara Serrano’s margherita pizza, trying to figure out the man who seemed to be more layered than some of Barbara’s famous tiramisu.
Even before he was injured, Marshall Bailey had come across to her as stiff and unapproachable, a hard, solemn, dangerous man who didn’t have time for things like children and little dogs and silly women who seemed to become increasingly flustered around him.
As early as that morning, she would have been convinced he was fiercely proud, the type of man who refused to rely on anyone else. He hated needing help; he’d said so himself. Yet as she listened to him interact with her children over pizza and crusty bread sticks, she was forced to reevaluate her perception.
So many adults claimed they liked children, but they quickly tired of them. Marshall seemed patient at their endless questions and genuinely interested in their opinions.
He was even cute to Sadie. Andie had caught him more than once reaching down to pet her. The dog, in turn, seemed enamored and had plopped beside his chair on the opposite side from his broken leg.
Andie didn’t want to be attracted to him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to deny.
After dinner, she and the children cleaned up while Marshall took a call from one of his deputies in the den. When she served up dessert on a plate and carried it in, she found him looking pensive, lit only by the lamp beside the recliner and the glowing Christmas tree.
“Thanks. It looks delicious. I’m a sucker for dessert.”
“I believe I’ve noticed,” she said. “The kitchen is clean. I put the rest of the pizza in the refrigerator for you to heat up tomorrow. The kids and I are going to take off, unless you need something else.”
“No. I’m good. Thanks again for everything.” He hesitated and she had the distinct impression he wanted to say something else. Finally he sighed.
“This is awkward, but I need a favor and I don’t know who else to ask.”
She did her best to hide her shock. Had he come so far in one evening that he could not only tolerate someone helping him but actually ask for it?
“Of course,” she said quickly. “Whatever you need.”
The words hovered between them, for some strange reason. She hadn’t meant anything sexual, of course, but when she heard the echo of them, she felt her face heat. What did he need? And why did her mind immediately go there?
After a charged moment, he cleared his throat. “I’ve got to take care of a few things I left hanging at the sheriff’s office in Shelter Springs tomorrow and I’m not cleared to drive. I could probably manage it with my left foot on the gas, but I guess that’s not the example I should be setting for my department, let alone the community at large.”
“You need a ride,” she said.
He looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Yeah. If you can manage it. If not, there’s a taxi service in Shelter Springs. I can call them out here.”
“I thought you were ordered to take time off until after the holidays.”
“I was, but I’m in the middle of a couple of investigations and I don’t want to lose momentum. Some of the secured files are on my computer at work and I can’t access them from the network, only in person. And it has to be me.”