In Shelter Cove (7 page)

His door opened, and his assistant walked in. Betty Jones was a no-nonsense fifty-five-year-old mother of three, who kept the department running like a well-oiled machine. She was one of the few people who didn’t find him intimidating.

“Who are you talking to?” she asked.

“No one. What do you need, Betty?”

“Charlotte Adams is here. She wants to know how many spots we’re taking at the chili cook-off on Friday. The fire boys are putting up three entries. We’ve got Hamilton and Laughton signed up, but Lynch is out this year, and no one else around here can cook worth a damn. Are you up to the challenge?”

He’d heard something about the long-standing
rivalry between the police department and the fire department at the chili cook-off, but he had no idea exactly how it worked. “Why don’t you send Dr. Adams in?”

Betty rolled her eyes. “She’s just going to tell you what I did.”

“Then I’ll hear it from her.”

He got to his feet, ignoring Betty’s knowing smile as he tried to calm the sudden jump in his pulse rate that always seemed to occur when Charlotte was nearby.

Charlotte had on a black suit, and her expression was all business. He was disappointed. He liked seeing her in her jeans or, better yet, her running shorts, her thick blond hair blowing in the wind, her cheeks pink, her blue eyes bright. Actually, he just liked seeing her—but she’d been avoiding him for a few weeks, ever since Rachel had left town. At least, he thought she was avoiding him. Maybe she just didn’t find him as fascinating as he found her.

“I didn’t want to bother you,” Charlotte said as Betty closed the door behind her.

“It’s fine.” He waved her into the chair in front of his desk and sat down again. “Is your medical practice so slow that you have time to run the chili cook-off?”

“I’m on my lunch break. The cook-off is my mother’s baby, but she’s been down with a cold, and she’s now frantic that we don’t have enough chili makers. So I was told to find more entrants or don’t bother to come home.”

Joe grinned. Monica Adams was a force of nature; he doubted anyone could say no to her. He could see why she and Charlotte butted heads so often. But one thing they had in common was a desire to help people.

“So what’s it going to be, Chief? Are you going to let the fire department send three entries while you only send two?” Charlotte challenged.

“I have no idea how to make chili.”

“There are lots of recipes on the Internet. I’m sure a smart, capable, and community-spirited man like yourself could find a way to whip something up.”

“Nice job on the flattery. You really are desperate, aren’t you?”

“I am,” she admitted with a guilty smile. “Some of the regulars dropped out this year, and if the hall isn’t filled with chili pots, my mother will lose face, and many other bad things will happen—mostly in her head. But I’ll have to hear about them. And it will be completely my fault.”

“I’ll tell you what. Find me a recipe, I’ll put it together.”

“It’s a deal.” She got to her feet with a happy smile.

He came around the desk and extended his hand.

She hesitated and then put her hand in his. Her warm touch made his fingers tighten around hers. One swift pull, and he could have her in his arms. He could almost taste her sweet mouth under his.

She yanked her hand from his and cleared her throat, her eyes a little too bright. “I’ll drop off a
recipe with Betty tomorrow. I’d better run. I’m meeting Annie at the church. Andrew thinks he might have found a couple to adopt her baby, ” she added, quickly changing the subject.

“I didn’t realize Annie was interested in giving her child up.”

It probably wasn’t the worst idea. A pregnant eighteen-year-old, Annie Dupont had no family support and would have been on the streets or in a shelter if not for Charlotte and her mother.

“She’s considering her options. It might not be easy to find a couple willing to adopt her baby without a release from the biological father, whom Annie is unwilling to name.”

“I don’t understand why she’s protecting him. Unless she doesn’t know who the father is.”

“Oh, I think she knows. But so far she’s been very good at keeping the secret.”

“She’s lucky to have you looking out for her.”

“It’s actually nice having her in the house. She’s a good buffer between my mother and me.” She paused, her gaze thoughtful. “You never talk about your family. Do you get along with your parents?”

“Yes, very well. I’m one of six kids, though, so no one got too much attention.”

“It sounds fun and chaotic.”

“Add in my mother’s Irish temper and my father’s Spanish passion, and you get even more drama.”

“So where do you get your calm demeanor?”

“I put it on with my suit and tie when I come to work,” he said with a small smile.

“Really? So I’m not looking at the real Joe Silveira right now?”

“You’re looking at the chief of police.”

She nodded, her gaze meeting his, a charge of electricity flowing between them. “It’s too bad both of you are married.”

She was out the door before he could tell her that he might not be married for very much longer.

Charlotte thought she’d grown out of being impulsive, but telling Joe she wished he wasn’t married hadn’t been one of her smartest moves. They’d been casually flirting with each other for months, but both had been careful never to step over the line. She’d even kept her distance since Rachel left town. She hadn’t wanted to put herself in the middle of their troubled marriage, but deep down she had to admit she missed him, missed that little tingle that ran through her body when he turned those dark, sexy eyes in her direction. He was always unfailingly polite, but once in a while she caught a glimpse of a far more passionate nature.

As she drove away from the police station, she couldn’t help wondering what Joe’s wife was thinking. Why was Rachel so determined to conduct her marriage long-distance? And why was Joe allowing it to happen? She didn’t get it. If they loved each other, why wasn’t one of them willing to sacrifice? Not that
she wanted Joe to leave, but obviously someone had to budge.

As she turned into the church parking lot, she saw Andrew Schilling on the steps, talking to the gardener who’d worked at the church for as long as she could remember. She shut off the engine and sat for a moment. It still felt odd to see Andrew as the minister, a position her father had held for more than thirty years. In high school Andrew had been a smooth-talking, party-loving jock.

She had no idea what he’d been up to since then—not because he wasn’t interested in telling her but because she kept putting him off. She wasn’t sure how to handle his renewed interest in her. Their breakup had been messy and ugly and filled with adolescent angst. While they’d both grown up, she was reluctant to rekindle their old flame.

High school had been a painful time for her, a period of rebellion, indecision, restlessness. The role of minister’s daughter didn’t suit her well, not like her older sister, Doreen, or her younger brother, Jamie. Her mother had been continually disappointed in her behavior, and her father, while much more kind and compassionate, had been frustrated by her inability to accept that certain behaviors were required of a minister’s family.

Eventually, she’d left Angel’s Bay and gone to college and medical school, along the way coming into her own. She knew who she was now. As for what she wanted . . . well, that was still to be determined. She wasn’t very good at long-term relationships.
She’d never figured out how to let someone all the way in. It was too damn scary to be that vulnerable; it was much easier to keep things light and fun.

She got out of her car and crossed the lot. Andrew gave her a wave as he finished his conversation. His black slacks and black shirt were set off by his neatly combed blond hair; despite his conservative dress, he was a handsome man. At sixteen, he’d made her heart jump into her throat, and she wasn’t immune to his charm now, especially when he flashed her his golden-boy smile. He’d probably gotten the closest to her of anyone—but look where that had ended.

“Thanks for coming,” he said as she joined him on the steps. “I’m glad you could get away from work.”

“No problem. Is Annie here yet?”

“No, but the Lowells have arrived. I had Jeannie take them into my office.” He glanced down at his watch. “I hope Annie didn’t forget.”

“She mentioned it this morning.” Charlotte hoped that Annie hadn’t backed out. “But she is nervous. She isn’t sure that she wants to give the baby up. I don’t want you to push her, Andrew.”

“Do you think that’s what I’m doing?” he asked in surprise. “I just want her to explore all of her options.”

“I know, but you’re also very persuasive. Annie wants to do the right thing, and she doesn’t want to disappoint you.” She remembered a time when she hadn’t wanted to disappoint him either, but she shook that errant thought out of her head.

“
Adoption is a good solution for her situation, Charlotte. You and your mother have been generous to take Annie in, but do you really want to take on a baby, too? And if you don’t, where will Annie go?”

She understood his argument all too well. “It still has to be her decision. Did you explain to the Lowells that Annie is unwilling to name the biological father?”

“Yes. They’re hoping that Annie will change her mind, but they’ve been waiting for a baby for a long time, and they’re willing to take the chance.”

“It’s a risk. If the father suddenly appears and wants the baby . . .”

“I agree. But let’s take it one step at a time.”

“I wish they were Angel’s Bay people, so we’d know more about them,” Charlotte said.

“It might be good that they live in Montgomery. It could be difficult for Annie to live in the same town as her child and not be able to mother her. But I also have some Angel’s Bay couples who are interested in adopting.” He paused, giving her a considering look. “I would think that as an ob/gyn, you’d be cheering on the idea of adoption. You must run into a lot of infertile couples desperate to have a child.”

“I do, and I’m in favor of adoption. But Annie has become like a little sister to me, and I know how connected she is to this child. She’s always stroking her belly and talking to the baby. She reads parenting books and eats all the right things. This baby gives her a family again, and she really wants that. At the
same time, she wants to give her child more than she had. She’s torn.”

“Sometimes the right thing to do is the most difficult.”

“Now you sound like a minister.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is that a bad thing?”

She offered him an apologetic smile. “I didn’t mean it that way. Actually, I wanted to tell you that I thought you did a great job at Derek’s memorial service yesterday. You really personalized it. I’m sure it meant a lot to the Kanes to have you perform the service.”

“I hope so.” His gaze turned reflective. “Sometimes I don’t know how your father presided over so many funerals for people he knew and cared about. Last week at Mrs. Johnson’s service, I could hardly keep it together. She used to make me cookies and drive me to baseball practice, and only a month ago she was attending Sunday service. Her husband couldn’t stop crying after she died. He came to me looking for wisdom, hope, peace, and I didn’t know what to say. I felt like a fraud.”

She saw the uncertainty in his eyes and realized that Andrew was still finding his way. “I’m sure you gave him exactly what he wanted. You have a gift for being able to see what people need. I’ve watched you the last few months, and people respond to you. You say things in a way that means something to them. That’s a gift.”

“It means a lot to me to hear you say that.” A
smile curved his mouth. “But if I have that gift, why can’t I see what
you
need? Why can’t I give you what you want, Charlotte?”

She drew in a surprised breath. “Because I—I don’t know myself.”

“We could be good together. We
were
good together.”

She shook her head. “We were terrible together, Andrew. We fought, we lied, we drove each other crazy.”

“And I cheated on you,” he finished. “But I’ve grown up since then. Give me another chance.”

She let out a sigh. “You do tempt me, but—”

“No buts,” he said, cutting her off. “Let’s leave it with the fact that I tempt you. That way, I still have a chance. And Annie’s here.”

Charlotte turned around to see Annie waddling across the lot. In her last month of pregnancy, she was all baby. With her jeans and T-shirt and her long blond hair in a braid down her back, she looked far too young to be having a child.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Annie said breathlessly as she joined them on the steps. “Did they leave?”

Charlotte thought she detected a hopeful note in her tone. “They’re inside,” she said. “Are you all right?”

“I’m nervous,” Annie confessed.

“All you have to do is say hello and get to know them a little,” Andrew said.

“They’ll think I’m bad for being unmarried and pregnant.”

“
No one is judging you. Just try to relax and be yourself. There’s no pressure. You don’t have to make any decisions today.”

“Okay,” Annie said. “But I need to use the restroom first.”

“We’ll meet you inside.”

“You really are good at getting people to do what you want them to do,” Charlotte murmured as Annie entered the church.

“Prove it. Have dinner with me tomorrow night.”

“Andrew, you need to stop asking me out,” she said in exasperation.

“Not until you say yes. Come on, Charlie, it’s just dinner. Are you afraid you’ll fall in love with me again over lobster at the Blue Pelican?”

“Yes, lobster always makes me a little giddy,” she said lightly.

“Then you can order something else. I just want to talk to you for more than five minutes in passing. What do you say—one dinner for old times’ sake?”

“You only want me because I’m saying no. You always liked a challenge.”

“Then say yes, and maybe I’ll lose interest,” he said.

“Fine. One dinner. And I’ll meet you there. I don’t want my mother to get any ideas about us.”