About the Boy (4 page)

“Gather it wasn’t a planned tryst then,” Patrick said with a sly grin of his own.

“No, actually, she kind of took me by surprise,” Lucas said, reaching for a roll out of the basket being passed around. “I really wasn’t expecting her.” Smiling, he passed the basket to Katie and she almost snapped his fingers off as she snatched it from him.

“That’s cute, Lucas,” she muttered for his ears only. “Real cute. What on earth do you think you’re doing?” she hissed, wanting to bean him with the breadbasket.

“I wouldn’t mind having a female surprise me in the middle of the night,” the mayor grumbled. “Might perk things up a bit around here.”

“I guess that all depends on the female,” Lucas said, breaking his roll apart. “This one was a real spitfire, I tell you. It took everything I had and then some to handle her.” He chuckled. “For a while there, I thought I was going to have to call in reinforcements. And Patrick, you were the first person to come to mind.” He grinned, a pure male grin that had Katie’s temper going straight to boil. “But I managed to get the job done by myself.”

“Lucas!” Katie growled under her breath in warning. He was making it sound as if they’d had some illicit sexual tryst last night!

“I’m not ashamed to tell you she nearly wore me out,” Lucas added with a smile and Katie just hung her head, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her.

She was simply going to have to kill him, she decided. Something slow and gruesome. No, on second thought, death was too good for him. She’d think of something worse—something
far
worse. And then she’d just plead insanity. It was the only defense a single mother had.

“But, it all worked out well in the end,” Lucas said with a smile. “And we both ended up getting what we wanted,” he added with a careless shrug, causing Katie to start choking on the bread she’d been chewing.

Absently, Lucas reached over and patted her back, picking up her water glass and handing it to her, grateful she didn’t throw it at him.

“And I’ve got six beautiful brand new pups to give away this morning as a result if anyone’s interested,” Lucas added with a smile, glancing around the table at the chorus of laughter.

“Dogs?”
Patrick glanced around the table in confusion. “Are you saying the commotion at your house last night in the middle of the night was a female
dog?
”

“Not just a dog, Patrick,” Lucas corrected solemnly. “But a pregnant female sheltie. Most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. Stop by the house and I’ll show you the pups,” he offered with a smile, giving Katie a wink as she let out a long, silent sigh of relief.

Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t have to kill the blasted man after all.

“They’d make a great addition to the firehouse, Patrick. Keep you company during the down times.” The pups had actually been born two nights ago, but Lucas wasn’t about to tell anyone that, nor was he going to impeach Katie or her reputation just for the sake of gossip. How word got out that he’d had some kind of commotion involving a woman at his house last night simply amazed him. He had a feeling small town life was going to take some getting used to.

“You know, now that might not be a bad idea,” the fire chief muttered, stroking his chin in thought. “Not a bad idea at all.”

“Well, if we’re done talking about women, I’d like to get down to business,” the mayor announced.

“Good idea,” Lucas said, reaching for Katie’s hand under the table and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Ma,” Rusty yelled from his bedroom, his voice echoing down the long hall. “How much longer do I gotta do this?”

“Until it’s done,” Katie called back, climbing over several boxes as she searched for a lamp. It was after six, she was exhausted. It would be dark soon and she didn’t want to be searching around in the dark for a light.

The movers had left about two hours ago, leaving boxes piled everywhere. Furniture had been set up in their proper rooms, but they still had to unpack.

Hopping down off a box with a frown, Katie scanned the living room/dining room combination, trying to remember which box had lamps in it.

Maybe if she wasn’t so excited she could think better. Shaking her head, she pushed her hair off her face, trying to concentrate. This house—
her
house—had been a dream for so long, that tonight, actually knowing that dream had become a reality seemed almost surreal.

She had to keep walking through the rooms—actually, stepping onto boxes was more like it—just to see everything, to remind herself this was
hers. And Rusty’s.

It wasn’t a new house by any means, but it was a comfortable one, large enough for Rusty to have his own bedroom, and for her to have a rather spacious master bedroom with her own bathroom. As a bonus, there was also an extra bedroom down the hall for her office.

At the back of the house was a huge, sprawling family room adjacent to the kitchen, complete with a fireplace for frosty winter evenings.

Although the house needed updating, Katie wasn’t in a hurry. When she looked around, she didn’t see what was there, but what
could be—would be
once she got through with it. The possibilities were enough to make her giddy.

Glancing around at the trail of boxes leading every where, Katie grinned again, then scolded herself for stalling. She had to find those lamps and get a path cleared and some of this stuff put away before morning.

And then of course, she thought with a weary sigh, she had to think about dinner.

Moving a box with her foot, she grinned in triumph, opening it to find her living room lamps neatly tucked into it. She pulled them out, set them on a couple of boxes on either side of the living room, turned them on and went back to work.

“How you doing, honey?” she called, about thirty minutes later, wondering why it was so quiet in Rusty’s bedroom.

“Fine, Ma.” His voice was muffled and so dejectedly put-upon she had to smile. He’d been in his room, trying to unpack his boxes and set up his room since he’d come home from Sean’s.

“We’ll work just until it’s full dark, honey,” she called, “and then how about if we get a pizza?”

“With sausage?”

She laughed. “With anything you want,” she promised, opening another box. “We just need to get our bedrooms in some order so we can sleep, and I need to get a few more boxes unpacked so we can at least move around a bit.”

The doorbell rang and Katie frowned, wondering who on earth was at the door. Probably just a neighbor. Or her mother and aunt, she thought, wondering if her mother had ever remembered what she wanted to tell her. Her mom had called the office two more times today, but unfortunately she still couldn’t recall what she wanted to tell Katie.

Pushing her hair back again, Katie carefully threaded her way over the stacks of boxes to the front door.

She paused for a moment and glanced down at herself, then groaned. Some impression she was going to make if it was a new neighbor. She’d had on her oldest, paint-stained jeans that were a few sizes too small now and worn white nearly everywhere. The sweatshirt she wore had lost its sleeves somewhere and was also full of paint—unfortunately it didn’t match the colors on her jeans.

She’d yanked her hair back into a ponytail, but that had been hours ago, and now, strands were loose and drooping around her face.

When the doorbell pealed again, Katie forgot her appearance and yanked open the front door. Her mouth dropped open, almost hitting her tennis shoes.

“Lucas?”

Before he had a chance to respond, Rusty’s scream of fear shattered the silence. “Ma! Help. Get it off me! Ma, hurry!” Before she could even move, Lucas was gently nudging her aside.

“Where is he?”

“Down the hall. Third door on the right,” she said, pointing as Rusty screamed again.

“Rusty? I’m coming, honey.” She tried to follow Lucas, hurrying behind him, but his legs were much longer and he’d traversed the line of boxes in a few short steps, racing down the hallway toward her son’s bedroom.

With her heart beating a percussion rhythm, she hopped over the last of the boxes, and headed down the hall at a run. She pushed open Rusty’s door just in time to see Lucas sitting on the floor, cradling her prone son.

“You’re okay now, son,” Lucas soothed, glancing down at the boy as he held him close. “You’re okay.”

“Rusty?” Terrified, Katie went to her son and knelt down beside him, running her hands over his arms and legs, wanting to assure herself he was all right. “What happened?” She glanced around, saw his box spring and mattress were not where they were the last time she was in his room.

“He tried to move his bed,” Lucas said. “He couldn’t quite manage it and the box spring came down on top of him.” Lucas glanced down at Rusty. “But he held his own for awhile there,” he said, not wanting to embarrass the boy further.

“Hey, mister?” Confusion glistened in Rusty’s green eyes. “Uh…who are you?”

Lucas laughed, his gaze meeting Katie’s over Rusty’s head.

“I’m sorry,” she said with a shake of her head. “Honey, this is Lucas Porter, the chief of police.”

“Police?” Rusty said, his eyes darting from his mom to Lucas then back again. “You’re a cop?” He craned his neck around Lucas to see his mother. “Am I in trouble or something, Ma?”

Laughing, Lucas slowly stood, righting the boy as he did, making certain Rusty’s legs were steady before he released him. “No, son, you’re not in any trouble.”

“Then how come you’re here? I thought cops only came if there was trouble,” Rusty said.

“I’m not here because I’m a cop or the chief of police,” Lucas explained. “Actually, I’m here looking for…” He pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and glanced at it. “I’m looking for Jed Jackson Murphy,” Lucas said, glancing at Rusty again.

“That’s me,” Rusty said. “I’m Jed Jackson Murphy. But everyone calls me Rusty.” Wide-eyed, he stared up at Lucas and swiped at his nose as he frowned. “So why you looking for me if I’m not in trouble?”

With a smile, Lucas folded the piece of paper slowly, putting it back into his pocket. “Well, son, it seems that I’m your buddy.”

“Huh?”

“You?” Katie said, trying to hide her shock. “You’re Rusty’s
buddy?
” She shook her head. “Wait, I don’t understand. I didn’t sign Rusty up for a…” Her voice trailed off. “Mother,” she said, nodding her head in understanding. “Now I know what she kept forgetting to tell me.” Her mother must have signed Rusty up for the Buddy for a Boy program and that’s what she kept forgetting to tell Katie. “You’re Rusty’s buddy?
Really?
” She wasn’t quite sure she believed this, it was as if her mother and the Gods were conspiring against her, doing everything in their power to throw her and this man together.

“Afraid so,” Lucas said with a sheepish grin, slipping his hands in his pockets as she sagged against the bedroom wall.

“Uh…Ma?” Rusty looked at Katie nervously. “Sean’s my buddy,” he clarified with a confused scowl. “I know Sean. We been buddies forever.” Her jerked a thumb at Lucas. “I don’t know this guy, so how can he be my buddy?”

Chuckling, Katie ruffled her son’s hair, frowning when he winced. “Rusty, Lucas isn’t that kind of buddy,” she absently explained, slowly running her fingers over his scalp to search for any signs of injury as she talked. “A Buddy is a special program in Cooper’s Cove.”

“May I?” Lucas asked with a lift of his brow.

“Be my guest,” she said, extending her other hand to encourage Lucas to go ahead. She couldn’t wait to see how he handled this. And her son.

“Rusty, my name is Lucas Porter, and I am the chief of police. But I’m also what’s called a Buddy.” He smiled at the suspicion in the boy’s eyes. “What that means is, we have a special program in town, one that lets boys who don’t have fathers…sort of borrow…fathers, but they’re not really fathers, they’re friends. Friends who don’t have any children. So, we take a boy with no father and a father without a child, and we match them together so they can learn from one another and teach one another. And be buddies.”

“You mean buddies like Sean’s my buddy?”

“That’s right,” Lucas confirmed. “You and I will be buddies just like you and Sean.”

“Yeah, ’cepting you’re bigger.” Rusty tilted his head back. “Much bigger.”

“That’s right. But I don’t just get to be a buddy to you. You get to be a buddy to me.”

“I get to be
your
buddy? So what do I gotta do?”

Lucas shrugged. “Nothing really. Nothing more than friends would do.
Men
friends,” Lucas said pointedly. “We can watch some games together, play some ball, shoot some hoops, maybe take in a game. Do whatever you like.”

“A real live game?” Rusty asked, his voice lilting up in excitement.

“Yep, a real live game.” Smiling slowly, Lucas realized it was time to pull out the big guns. “I used to work security for the Chicago Bears during college. I get tickets every year, go into the locker room, talk to the players. So I thought since the season just started, maybe you’d like to take in a Bears game some Sunday?”

The boy’s mouth fell open as his eyes widened. “The Chicago Bears,” he repeated in whispered awe. “You’re gonna take me to see a real live Bears game?” Shaking his head in disbelief, Rusty grinned. “Awesome.”

Grateful he’d scored some points, Lucas smiled. “There’s some things I know how to do that I’ll be happy to share with you and show you. If you’ll show me and share with me some of things you know and like to do. Isn’t that what buddies do?”

“I guess.” Rusty paused, then grinned suddenly. “I can spit almost seven feet,” he crowed proudly, pushing his tongue between the space between his two front teeth, ready to demonstrate.

“Rusty!” Katie’s breath hissed out as Lucas’s lips twitched.

“That’s quite impressive.” Lucas rocked back on his heels, tucking his tongue in his cheek. “But I held the third-grade record.” His grin was full of masculine pride. “Seven feet, six inches.”

“Sweet,” Rusty said with a grin of his own, impressed. “So what else can you do?”

Lucas was thoughtful. “Well, let’s see. I thought maybe we could build a clubhouse—”