Finding Peace (Love's Compass #1) (4 page)

He nodded and headed to the back of the house. When he got to the room that Gideon was playing in, he peeked around the corner. The boy was sitting on the floor with his collection of trains. They were lined up according to color, all in order of the colors of the rainbow. The red caboose was first followed by the red coal car and then the orange car. It went like this all the way to the last one – a violet passenger car.

He then drove the train until the first car looped to the last to form a circle. Once that was accomplished, he used his hands to scoop them up into a big pile haphazardly and began to line them up again.

Sitting on the floor across from his young nephew, Tuck greeted him with a wave. “Hi Gideon!” He was spared a sideways glance. “I like your train.” He pointed to the red caboose. “This one is my favorite. Which one do you like best?”

Gideon didn’t respond to the question. Tuck hadn’t expected him to. He picked up another train. “This one is blue just like your shirt. It has a seven on the side.”

Tuck continued the monologue as he watched Gideon line his trains up again. They all had noticed differences in him since he was a baby. When he was three, he was officially diagnosed with autism. By that time, it wasn’t a surprise, even though they had all been saddened by the challenges that he was facing.

While he could never take the place of a father figure, Tuck insisted on spending time with his nephew and tried to be a male role model for him.

“You know what I think we should do?” Tuck smiled when his nephew briefly met his eyes. “I think we should set up a ramp and race these trains.” Gideon didn’t make any noise of objection, so he took that as a yes.

Using books and some cardboard, he fashioned a ramp and stood at the top. “Now you let the blue one go and I’ll let the red one go. We’ll see which one is faster.” Using hand over hand, Tuck helped Gideon place the train. At the count of three, they let go.

The trains careened down the ramp, sliding more on the sides than the wheels. The blue one landed first and Gideon squealed and laughed as the red one plowed into it. He dashed around to snatch them up from the carpet.

“Let’s have another race or two and then I had better get back to work. Come on, kiddo.” He ruffled the boy’s hair. “I bet the red train wins this time!”

When they were done playing, he told everyone goodbye and headed back to work.

Spending time with Gideon often made him wonder what it would be like to be a father himself. Laurie’s expressive green eyes immediately came to his mind and he groaned in frustration.

He had tried to stop thinking about the beautiful woman and her red hair since he woke up that morning. So far, he had failed miserably.

How could someone he had just met get under his skin so quickly?

Tuck released a sigh. Yep, it was a good thing he wouldn’t be seeing her again.

Laurie groaned as she slid her legs over the edge of her bed and stood. She shuffled to the bathroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror. “Oh yeah, we’re looking good this morning.” Her hair, which usually gave her trouble in the mornings due to the curls, looked especially disorderly. Using her right hand, she untangled some of the rat’s nests with her fingers and scrunched her nose.

Showering was not easy, but when she was done, she filled the tub and soaked her foot for a while. By the time she stepped out, she was able to move a little easier. It took some time to comb through the curls that flowed to the middle of her back. The swelling in her ankle was less as she put the brace on it. Dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and a long-sleeved, light purple shirt, Laurie grabbed a quick brunch.

She used crutches to go down the stairs to the door of her studio. The doors had been locked and furniture pushed in front of them before she’d felt comfortable enough to go to bed. Still, she opened it slowly and peeked through. Everything was just as she had left it.

It was only then that she realized her heart was thundering in her chest. She tried to slow her breathing. For better or worse, she’d always been very independent and sure of herself. Being this scared was new and she didn’t like it. At all.

She squared her shoulders and cleared everything out from in front of the door. By the time her customers had arrived, she had taken an ibuprofen and was ready to go.

Laurie smiled at the three children sitting on the floor. Their father had brought them in for some photos to surprise their mom. She had been more than happy to oblige, imagining how surprised their mother would be.

The three kids were between the ages of four and seven. She set up a couple of poses that were more formal and now had an electric bubble blower going. Capturing their expressions of joy as they popped bubbles had their father laughing.

“You have a real way of making them feel at ease.”

“I appreciate that.” Formal pictures were fine and certainly had their place. But her favorite images were those caught in the moments when her subjects weren’t trying to smile or sit perfectly still.

She laughed some more as she snapped candid photos of the kids clowning around. Once they had begun to calm down a little, she went to the cabinet and picked up the vase of red roses. “Do you want to know a secret?”

All three children – two boys and a girl – looked at her expectantly.

“Moms love flowers. Has your mommy ever told you that she likes them?”

The oldest boy nodded. “She always stops and picks sunflowers when she sees them.”

“See! That’s what I’m telling you! How about each of you hold one of these pretty roses and we see if we can get your dad to step in here and take a picture with you all?”

Their father started to protest, but Laurie wasn’t going to take no for an answer and waved him over. “Trust me, your wife will love one with all of you in it.”

He relented, gathering his children onto his lap. She handed the roses out and then backed up, grasping her Canon in both hands. Her ankle was beginning to protest, but she pushed the pain aside. With some coaxing from her and the natural interactions between father and kids, she got several images she was excited to view on the computer screen.

“Alright! You did awesome, and I’m sure your mommy will be excited!” She sat her camera down on the cabinet.

Waving, she saw them to the door and watched as the father herded his children down the sidewalk.

Sure, there were definitely sessions that were difficult to get through. But most were like this. They were fun and reminded her of why she got into photography in the first place.

It didn’t take long to clean up after the photo shoot. Intending to work on the post processing of the images later, she gathered the list of items that had been broken or stolen in the break-in and decided to go by the police station to hand it in.

When Laurie told the officer at the front desk why she was there, he disappeared and came back a short time later with Tuck.

Her pulse sped up. As soon as she realized the change, she held her list out in an attempt to keep him from noticing her response. “I didn’t mean for anyone to interrupt you. I wanted to drop this off. I made a photocopy and will go by and fax it to my insurance company as well.”

He took the paper from her and looked it over. “I think you must have interrupted the burglary pretty early on.”

She wondered how many times she had to be around the officer before his height wasn’t the first thing she noticed. Exactly how tall was he, anyway? Realizing he was waiting for her to say something, she shook the thought from her head. Enough, already! “I was thinking the same thing. Did you have any luck tracking him down?”

“We haven’t found him yet. You didn’t have any more trouble last night, did you?”

“Not at all.” Laurie paused, trying to decide whether to elaborate or not. “Of course, someone would have been hard pressed to get through the locked door plus the desk I moved to block it.” She raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled, his smile reaching his brown eyes.

“Don’t forget to change your locks and have that deadbolt installed.”

She knew that it was Tuck’s job to see that the citizens of Kitner were safe. Still, his concern warmed her heart, even if she shouldn’t let his words affect her that way. “Someone is supposed to be by in a couple of hours to do that.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” He pointed to her ankle. “I’m pretty sure I was there when the doctor said you should take it easy for 48 hours.”

She lifted one of her crutches for emphasis. “I had customers today. I couldn’t sit around. But I’ve been using these and resting whenever I can. Which is going to be as good as it gets.”

Tuck looked like he wanted to say more. Instead, he tapped the list she had passed to him. “I’ll get this added to your file. When we catch him, I’ll be sure to let you know. The odds that we can get your equipment back are not great. It’s good you’re going to go ahead and start the process with your insurance.”

“Thank you again, Officer Chandler.”

“It’s Tuck. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to come by or call.”

“I appreciate that.”

As Laurie limped into the sunshine outside the station, his kind words and warm eyes brought a smile to her face. Her ankle was the furthest thing from her mind.

~

Tuck watched Laurie maneuver her crutches out of the building and took in a deep breath. When he had come around the corner, she had been the last person he’d expected to find.

So much for not ever seeing her again.

He wanted to convince himself that it was a matter of looking out for her – making sure she was safe. But he knew there was more to it than that. Which was frustrating.

A clap on his shoulder made him jump. He found his friend grinning at him. “There’s nothing like a gorgeous damsel in distress, huh?”

“Lance, get back to work.”

The other man chortled and Tuck walked back to his desk. Laurie was certainly gorgeous, but she wasn’t in distress. The strength that she had shown through her situation was one of the reasons he admired her.

He tried, only somewhat successfully, to focus on work for the remainder of the day before heading home for the evening.

He spotted Lexi’s car in his driveway before he saw her sitting on his front porch.

“You could have waited inside so you didn’t freeze,” he said as he got out of his truck. He had given Lexi a key to his house right after he bought it a year ago. There were three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a large living room. It was perfect for him.

And Rogue. He couldn’t forget his black and white border collie, who was sitting on the steps next to Lexi. His furry head moved back and forth in time with the wagging of his rear end.

Tuck patted his legs and that was all the dog needed. He bounded towards his owner. “Hey, Rogue! Have you had a good day?” He gave his dog a full-body massage, starting with his ears and ending with pats on the rump. “Yes, you’re a good boy. Come on, let’s go in.”

Rogue’s tail never stopped wagging as Tuck closed the door behind the three of them.

“That dog loves you.” Lexi took the bottle of soda that he handed to her and flopped down on the couch.

He joined her, kicking his shoes off and propping his feet on the coffee table. “So what’s up?”

“Serenity’s birthday. What’s the plan?”

The youngest Chandler was turning twenty-three in a week and a half. They had been struggling with ideas on how to celebrate and it was starting to get down to the wire.

“I have no idea. But I think I found a gift we can get together if you’re interested.” He told her about Laurie and her photography studio.

By the time he was done, Lexi was speaking with enthusiasm. “That’s going to be perfect. We should try and get the photo shoot in before her birthday.”

“I have no idea how booked Laurie is between now and then.”

“On a first name basis, are you?”

He ignored her attempt to bait him. He certainly wasn’t going to admit that saying her name had brought her face to mind. “She said she wanted to meet Gideon before the photo shoot so that he might be more comfortable with her.”

“That makes sense. Invite her over for family dinner on Sunday. Nice dodge, by the way.”

“Practice. Lots of it. I’ll go by and see about getting them on her schedule tomorrow.” He tried to ignore the excitement he felt at the thought of seeing her again. After all, he was going over there for a specific reason and it had nothing to do with him.

“Sounds perfect.” Lexi gave him a wink. “So I had an idea to run past you.”

“Shoot.”

“I’m thinking we could give Serenity a girls’ day out for her birthday. Mom, Grams, and I could take her out for a manicure and go out to lunch at her favorite place. You know, just give her a break.”

Rogue stopped in front of the couch, a tennis ball in his mouth, the bright green color muted by saliva and dirt. He let it fall onto the couch next to Tuck’s hand. His body was motionless and his eyes never left the toy. “If you ladies want to do that, I’m all for it. I can stay at the house. Gideon and I can have a guy’s day.”

Lexi’s eyes followed the ball as Tuck lobbed it through the air and into the kitchen. Rogue tore across the room after it, the sounds of his nails ticking against the linoleum.

“You don’t mind?”

“Not at all. When you’re done, we can have cake back at the house.”

“Awesome. Thanks, Tuck. I’ll mention it to Mom and have her invite Serenity.”

He arched his brows at her words. “Are you two not getting along?” 

“I wouldn’t go that far. There’s been some new behavior issues with Gideon and I suggested talking to the occupational therapist about it. I’m the bad guy again – you know how it goes.”

Tuck didn’t say anything. He had learned a long time ago that it was better not to get in the middle of anything that went on between his sisters. He threw the ball again for Rogue and took another swig of his soda.

“You think I should have kept my mouth shut?”

He lifted his pointer finger off the soda bottle and aimed it at her. “I didn’t say that.”

Lexi rolled her eyes at him. “You can have an opinion, you know.”

“I do. I choose not to express it. That’s why I became a cop. It’s easier to keep the peace in Kitner than it is in my own family.”

~

Tuck entered Capturing the Moment Photography. He admired the way strands of Laurie’s hair fell across her cheek and curled on the desk as she jotted notes in a planner. When the door closed, the sound got her attention and she started, dropping her pen. She recovered quickly and offered him a smile. “Hi, Tuck. What brings you here?”

His name on her lips sounded better than it should have. He had been doing his best to ignore the pull he had towards her. But when he was in the same room with her, it was like the wall he had built up was made of sand that was blown away by the music of her voice.

“How’s your ankle feeling?”

“It’s fine, thank you. I’m still wearing the brace and I use the crutches when I go out. I just hobble around when I’m home and I’m not having any trouble with it.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He took a deep breath. “I talked to my family and we want to hire you to take portraits of my nephew, Gideon. Serenity’s birthday is January 21
st
. I know it’s late notice, but do you have any openings for the shoot before then?”

Laurie took a quick look at her planner, gently nibbling on her lower lip. Tuck found the action adorable and had to keep himself from smiling in response.

“I really wish I could. But I want to make sure I get a chance to meet them first and I don’t think we’ll have time for both before then.”

“You make a good point. Gideon is really shy with strangers. I wondered if you might be interested in joining my family for dinner on Sunday. If he sees you at least once before the photo shoot, he might open up when you take his pictures.” Laurie hesitated and he thought it might be because she assumed he wanted her to do it all for free. “I can pay you for your time, of course.”