Abound in Love (9 page)

“I
understand you really like living in Georgia.”

She
nodded again.  “I really do.  The countryside is beautiful.  The summers can
get warm, but then, it can get awfully warm here too … during the … summer.”

“Of
course, you have real summers in Georgia, from what I understand.  And someone
told me you sometimes see sunshine well into autumn.”

“True,”
Laura said.  “I do love the south.  The people, the sense of history…”

Candace
sighed.  “I’ve often considered visiting, but…”

Dan had
mentioned that too.  “I wish … you had,” Laura told her.

Candace
drew silent and dropped her head, seemingly intent on studying the tabletop. 
Finally, she lifted her head and sought Laura’s eyes.  “Laura, I wanted to tell
you something.  I mean, the truth is…” 

“Yes?”

Suddenly,
Candace’s cell phone trilled in her purse.  She winced apologetically as she
tugged it out and checked the screen.  “Laura, will you excuse me for a
moment?”

She
nodded, and Candace hurriedly rose and walked several steps away.  Laura could
just make out a bit of what her sister was saying.

“How
much?” she asked eagerly, and then nodded briskly.  “Okay.  Yes.  I’ll be
there.”

She
hurried back to the table.  “Laura, I’m … so, so sorry.  But I’m afraid I have
to go.  Something’s come up.  Do you think I could have a rain check?”

“Uh,
sure,” Laura said.  What else could she say?  In truth, she could think of a
million replies.  For one—‘You asked me to dinner, Candace, and now you’re
leaving.  What’s more important than visiting with the sister you haven’t seen
in nearly eight years?’  Instead, she remained silent, and fixed an
understanding smile on her face.

Candace
pulled a ten out of her purse and held it out to her.  “Laura, here’s ten for
dinner…”

She
shook her head.  “No, please.  Don’t worry about it.”

To her
surprise, Candace leaned forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  She
pulled her into a hug and then turned on her heel and dashed out of the
restaurant. 

Laura
watched from the window as her older sister did an abrupt about-face and
re-entered the restaurant.  “Laura, I’m your ride.”  Her face was rife with
indecision.  “Is there any way you could…?”

To her
credit, she looked utterly miserable.  “It’s okay,” Laura assured her.  “I’ll
find a way home.  I’ll call … Thomas.”

“Oh,
Laura, I will make this up to you.  I promise.”

Laura
watched her hurry out of the restaurant and to her car.  She started it and
sped out of the lot.

Laura
couldn’t help wondering what was so critically important to her that she’d just
canceled dinner with her, and left her sitting, actually stranded, at a fast
food restaurant in the heart of Battle Ground.

Lord
knew, she missed Georgia.

***

With a
weary sigh, Laura rose from the table and left the fast food place.  She
checked her watch.  It was nearing seven.  She needed a ride home. 

Unfortunately,
Thomas was on a much-needed night out with his fiancée, and she wasn’t about to
call him and force him to cut his evening short.

Briefly,
she contemplated walking home, but dismissed the idea.  It was too cold, and it
would be dangerous walking along the country road in the dark. 

She
wondered if Battle Ground had cab service and pulled her I-phone out of her
purse.  She was engaged in searching the Battle Ground directory, when a police
car pulled into the parking lot.  She didn’t notice it, until the passenger
window rolled down and a voice she recognized called her name.

She
immediately spotted Dalton leaning across the passenger seat and watching her
with concern.  “Laura!” he called again.

She
forced a smile as she crossed the distance between them.  “Hello.”

He
raised his shoulders in question.  “What are you doing?  I thought you and
Candace…?”

“Yeah,
that.”  She sighed.  “She got called away.”

“Why
are you…?”

“Standing
here?  Looking lost?”

He
nodded.

“Well,
since Candace drove us…”

“She
left you standing here, without a means to get home?” he demanded
incredulously.

“Well,
I think something important came up and…”

He
shook his head.  “Laura, get in the car.”

“But,
you’re on duty.  I don’t want you to get in trouble for conducting personal
business on the job.”

He
laughed without humor.  “Hey, you’re a citizen who is legitimately in
distress…”

“I’m
not in distress,” she assured him.

“Well,
I am,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair.  “Please, get in.”

She
climbed in and immediately felt claustrophobic in the front compartment of the
car.  Gadgets galore clogged the space, a rifle mounted left of her leg dug
into her thigh, and being petite, she could barely see over the dash.

“Nice,”
she mused, prompting Dalton to laugh.

“Yeah, you
look really comfortable.”  He arched his brows in question.  “Hey, did Candace
feed you?”

She
laughed.  “Well, no, we didn’t get around to eating, but I’m a big girl.  I can
actually ‘feed’ myself.”

He gave
her a rueful glance.  “I was going to ask you if you’d like to join me for
dinner?”

“Do you
have time?”

“Even
cops get to eat,” he assured her, as he pulled into traffic.

Laura
glanced around her, still surprised at the extensive growth of new business in
the small town. 

“The
ol’ hometown’s really changed, hasn’t it?” he observed.

She
nodded.  “I can’t get over all the new homes.  I saw so many new developments
as I drove in.  And that new interchange off of I-5 is awfully handy, isn’t
it?”

He
nodded.  “Hey, what sounds good to you?”

“Whatever
works for you,” she said agreeably.

“I tend
to steer clear of the drive-throughs, in favor of buffet-style eating.”

Laura
immediately understood his meaning.  “A lot easier to tell if your food’s been
tampered with, eh?”

“Yeah. 
I just abhor ordering a burger and finding a citizen has spit in it.”

“Ah,
Officer Jance, you do sound awfully jaded,” she told him, smiling
sympathetically.

“You’re
in the news biz.  You know it happens all the time.”  He spoke as if reading a
newspaper headline.  “Officer finds cockroach in burger.”

“A
buffet sounds delightful,” Laura said with a grin. 

A
moment later, he steered his patrol car into a local pizza establishment that
offered an evening buffet and salad bar.  “Do you like pizza?” he inquired of
Laura as he pulled to a stop.

“Pizza
is also just fine,” she told him.

He was
out of the car in the blink of an eye and rounding the car.  He reached her
door as she was climbing out.  “Hey, I was going to get your door.”

“Sorry. 
Next time I’ll lag a bit,” she teased.

Together
they walked into the pizzeria, Dalton escorting her along with a hand at her
lower back.  Though the gesture was anything but intimate, it caused her once
again to remember her fondest desire as a love-sick adolescent—to go on a date
with Dalton Jance.

Of
course, tonight certainly didn’t qualify as a date.  It was more a ‘rescue’
operation.  The poor man was both hungry, and stuck with her.  What else could
he do but ask her to join him?  In order to actually get a dinner break, he
likely had to take it during lulls between calls.  Lucky for her, he’d
apparently found her during one of those lulls.

Sitting
at a booth, Laura glanced around the pizzeria.  It was crowded with Friday
night patrons enjoying a respite from cooking after a long workweek.  To
Laura’s surprise, she actually recognized many of the faces around her.

“Do you
see somebody you know?” Dalton asked with a smile.

She
nodded and turned to meet his eyes.  “I’m surprised.  It’s been ten years since
I left town the first time.” 

“That’s
right.  You went off at eighteen, to finish up your junior and senior year in
college, didn’t you?”

Since
she had attended community college from the ages of sixteen to eighteen, and
earned her Associate’s Degree, she had left for university at age eighteen and
completed her Bachelor’s Degree at age twenty.  She had returned home then,
only to leave soon after to start her job in Atlanta.

She
nodded.  “You’re right.  You have a good memory.”  She smiled at a woman she
recognized from church, years ago.  “I forget what it feels like to live in a
small town,” she mused.

“It’s
nice,” he said, smiling.  “People tend to stick around.  There’s a real sense
of community.  It’s a nice place to raise a family.”

Laura
considered his words.  ‘People tend to stick around.’  She hadn’t.  Was that a
jab aimed her way?  She couldn’t be sure.  Had he sounded just the littlest bit
accusatory?  But then, why would he?

She
shook herself.  She was being silly.  Dalton Jance probably hadn’t and didn’t
care an iota that she had left Battle Ground. 

“We
sure missed you when you left,” he said, prompting her to gasp.

“What?”
he asked, smiling questioningly.

“Uh …
nothing.”  She wasn’t about to tell him what she’d been thinking.  She glanced
off toward the buffet.  “You’d better get a plate while you can.  I’ll stay
here and do a surveillance, to assure no one drops anything untoward onto your
plate.”

He
laughed as he stood from the table and extended a hand to her.  “Come on. 
We’ll risk it together.”

“…A
nd then
Thomas came running up behind me, as if he had a bull on his tail.”  Dalton
laughed.  “And, it turns out, he did.”

Laura
chuckled at another recounting of one of Dalton and Thomas’ childhood—and
arguably, childish—antics. 

Dalton shook
his head.  “It’s a wonder we didn’t get arrested.”

“For
trespassing?”

“That,
and trying to tip the bull, that we had
somehow
mistaken for a cow.”

“I’m
not even going to ask why you couldn’t discern the difference,” Laura murmured
with a wince.  “But I am glad you’re alive to tell the tale.”

Dalton
took a deep breath and stared intently at Laura’s face.  “Funny, but you were
the only one of the lot of us who ever had any sense.”

Laura
was taken aback at the remark, which, it she wasn’t mistaken, had been said
with a definite hint of admiration in his voice.   

“You
always knew where you were headed and how to get there,” Dalton mused.

She
colored at the compliment, and asked, “You’re happy here, aren’t you?”

He
hesitated before answering her.  Finally, he nodded.  “Yes, I’m happy living
here.”  He learned forward, bracing his upper torso on folded arms, as his eyes
locked onto her face.  “That reminds me of…  There’s something I’ve been
meaning to…” he began again, but was interrupted by a woman, who appeared
beside their table.

Short,
with medium-length blonde hair, the woman stared at Laura with a big smile on
her face.  “Laura Landers, that is you!” she declared.  “It’s so wonderful to
see you.”

Laura
studied the woman’s face briefly, and then broke into an equally big smile. 
“Stephanie!”  She leapt out of the booth.  “How are you?”

The
young woman threw her arms around Laura’s neck, and then pulled back, and
watched Laura through eyes that had grown moist with tears.  “Laura, it’s so
good to see you.  I think about you every day.”

Laura
smiled.  “You do?”

The
woman nodded.  “I really do.  Hey, are you living in the area again?”  She
clasped her hands together, as if eagerly awaiting an affirmative answer from
her old friend.

Laura
shook her head.  “Just visiting.  I take it you still live in Battle Ground?”

She
nodded.  “I do.  I’m married and have a boy—as you know—and two little girls.”

Laura
smiled fondly.  “How is Drake?  He has to be, what?—fifteen?”

“You’re
right.  He’s a great kid.  I wish he was here so you could see him again.  He’s
off spending the night at a friend’s house.”  She turned and pointed to a
table, where a dark-haired man sat with two tow-headed little girls.  Stephanie
gave a wave in their direction, and the threesome waved back.

“Oh,
Stephanie, your girls are gorgeous,” Laura gushed.  “You must be so proud.” 
She turned to Dalton and smiled.  Her eyes abruptly widened as she realized
she’d failed to introduce him.  “I’m sorry!  Dalton, this is…”