Just a Little Embrace (2 page)

The rest of the day went as smooth
ly
as any other, and after school
,
Matt and I met up with Hannah at her locker as promised.

“Thanks again for letting me join you,” Hannah said, looking past me and at Matt.

Matt grinned sheepishly. He was never one to get nervous around a girl, especially since he spent his days f
ighting
flocks of potential suitors, but Hannah seemed to affect him in ways even I couldn’t understand.

“I’m sure you’re still busy with the move
and getting settled in, so we
completely understand if you aren’t able to start working right away,” I said, making my presence known.

“Oh no,” she said, wearing her mischievous smile. “I think it’s best that we get started right away. What do you say, Matt?”

“I’m with Hannah,” Matt said, turning back to me. “We should put in as much time as we can as soon as possible. It’s always smart to stay ahead of the curve.”

Fortunately for them, I hadn’t scheduled any shadowing hours for this evening.
That 4am
run
this morning was all the
Luke I could handle for one day; at least in that capacity.

Chapter Two

Wednesday
September 12

“This is where you live?” Hannah asked, assessing the two
-
story brick house on the corner of Linden and Main.

Matt smiled proudly and nodded. “Home sweet home.”

Hannah turned and pointed to the neighboring house. “Then I guess we’re neighbors,” she said. “My brother and I just moved in next door.”

I stared at Hannah
, realizing that she was indeed the same girl who’d watched me this
morning as I set off for my run
.
An eerie chill ran up my spine as I looked at her and then back to
her house; s
omething about Hannah Jones didn’t rub me the right way.

Once inside the house, Matt and Hannah spread this morning’s newspaper across the dining room table and began assessing the latest articles. As I struggled to fit between them in order to contribute to the assignment, Hannah moved back
and looked at me straight on.

“Julie,” she said
with an edge to her voice
. “Two newspapers are better than one, wouldn’t you say?”

I nodded as if the a
nswer should have been obvious.

“We don’t use our paper next door,” she said. “It might be easier if you just run over and get it from the driveway. That way we’ll have two.”

“Good idea, Hannah,” Matt said, putting an arm across her shoulders.
“Isn’t that a good idea, Julie?”

I
rolled my eyes at how quickly he’d taken to her and turned on my heel.

“I’ll be back,” I said, taking her order, but not doing so happily.

As I reached the edge of the neighboring d
riveway and picked up the paper,
a
loud voice called over.

“Hey!
W
hat do you think you’re doing?
”

I looked up to find a man—somewhere around Luke’s age—perched against the porch railing and
looking down on me with a grin. His short, strawberry-blonde hair moved slightly in the wind as he shook his head.
And though he was close to Luke’s age, the similarities ended there. This man was thin and cute, not rugged and handsome. He wore silver square-framed glasses, and a grin that that pulled ever so slightly to the left. In the simplest of terms, he was as adorable as a dorky man could be. He was adorkable.

“You go
around
stea
ling everyone’s newspapers, or you just targeting the new guy on the block?”

I half-smiled
and stood tall
as the man stepped off the porch and met me mid-driveway.
He reached forward,
took the newspaper from my hand and nodded in thanks.

“I’ll take that
.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking back at our house. “You must be Hannah’s brother?”

I extended my hand to shake his, but he didn’t return the gesture.

“That depends,” he said. “How do you know Hannah?”

“Oh,” I said, mentally smacking myself. “
She’s in my current events class. She’s working on a project with me and my cousin.” I nodded at our house. “We started working right after school, but only
had one paper and
… well, I guess
three was a crowd. She suggested that I come over and take yours.”

“I’m glad she’s getting involved on her first day,” he said. “She’s never been much for socializing.”

“Ah,” I shrugged. “I don’t think her will to work has quite as much to
do
with the assignment as it
does my cousin
Matt
.”

“Oh, boy,” he said, shaking his head. “She doesn’t waste time, does she?”

I smiled.

“So, b
etween school and robbing neighborhood driveways, what do you find yourself doing for fun in Oakland?
Any tips for a newbie?
”

I shrugged. “
Sorry to report, but there’s just n
ot a whole lot
going on around here
. It’
s such a
small town.”

He looked down the street and back at his house, and then back to me. “I
t sure is
.”

As I stared into his blue eyes, something vaguely familiar ab
out his appearance struck me… a
lmost as if I’d
met him before.
There was a strange connection between us, and yet I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was.

“What
brings you to town?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine it was a job offer, because Oakland’s economy had fallen in the toilet in recent years.
But it couldn’t hurt to be polite… or nosey, and ask.
“Job transfer?”

“No,” he said. “
Just needed a new place for a fresh start. Hannah threw the dart
on the map
and we landed here in Oakland.”

The man nodded, still smiling. His
round
eyes glistened
beneath his glasses
, and as the wind picked up, he finally extended his hand to shake mine.

“Derek.”

“Julie,” I said, shaking his hand. “Julie Little.”

Derek’s blue eyes widened as he stared down on me, his strawberry blonde locks whipping in the wind. His mouth hung ajar as I stared back at him.

“Julie,” he said, acting as though my name left a sour taste in his mouth. He stood taller and pushed his hands into his jeans pockets. “
Well, Julie,” he said, backing a couple steps away. “It was nice to meet you, but I
’ve gotta get back inside.”

He tossed the newspaper back to me and turned
to walk away as a police siren bleeped
on the curb and the sight of blue and red flashing lights came into view from the corner of my eye.

Derek stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, looking from me to the cruiser, and then down to his feet.

The cruiser lights flipped off and Luke stepped out of the car, dressed in full uniform.

“Here to arrest me?” I
called over.

With a small grin, he looked past me and his eyes landed on Derek. “Who’s your friend?”

“Oh,” I said, looking between the two men. “This is our new neighbor, Derek.” I lifted the newspaper a little higher. “
He’s letting me borrow his paper
.
Derek,” I turned to my neighbor. “This is Luke. He’s my… he works for my uncle.”

“Officer
.
” Derek nodded before turning back to me. “It was nice to finally meet you Julie. If you could, please tell Hannah not to be too long. She and I have some things to square away before the end of the day.”

Derek took his porch steps
quickly and
disappeared behind the door.

Luke looked at me with wide eyes.

“Squirrelly guy,” he observed.

“
Yeah, well…
we were having a perfectly fine conversation before you turned the corner and scared the daylights out of him with your lights, siren, and
pompous
attitude.” I smacked him in the chest. “Wha
t’s with you?”

“Just making sure you were alert,” he said, still looking at the house next door. “
Learn anything interesting about the new neighbors?”

I shrugged. “Nothing.”

I traced his facial features with my eyes, taking special notice of the way his scarred lip curved up, as if he was
lost in thought.

“What’s up?” I asked. “Are
you still on duty?”

“I am,” he said, shaking his head as if to wave off fog. “I was just passing by and thought I’d stop and see how you were feeling. How’re your legs?”

After all the complaining I’d done after our
morning
run, I’m not surprised he found it necessary to check in.
I
t thrilled me in ways that I couldn’t explain that he’d been considerate enough to extend such a courteous gesture.

“
G
reat,” I said, admiring the glint in his brown eyes. “Never been better.”

He smiled. For a brief moment, the air between us seemed to take on a heavy magnetic attraction, because I could feel the space between our bodies closing.

Did he realize how close we were
getting?

Before another moment could pass
, the gap between our bodies c
losed. My ches
t pressed lightly against him and
I stared up
to watch his eyes as his face inched closer to mine
.
My heart pounded
rapidly as h
e
tucked a stray hair behind my
ear and leaned in until his lips brushed my lobe.

“
Keep your eyes peeled, Julie,” he
whispered
. He backed away and winked as if he knew how badly he was toying with my heart.
He retreated to his car and turned back long enough to say,
“I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”

Jilted by his
sudden
abandonment, I rolled my eyes and watched as he settled behind the wheel and drove away.

As I turned to head inside, I noticed Derek standing at his window, peeking through the curtains.

Keep your eyes peeled, Julie.

Yeah.

I’ll do just that
.

Because t
his was the second time today I’d been spied on from that very window.

And I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

Chapter Three

Saturday September 15

Thursday had come and gone with another hour of running with Luke. It hadn’t gone any better than the day before. And now, with those two runs in my past, I only had eight hours left in my job shadowing stint before Luke and I would
have to part ways
…
.

I dropped by the station at noon to invite Charlie to lunch, tho
ugh I masked a hidden agenda. I’d hoped
to catch Luke as he stopped in before lunch, but as far as I could tell, he was nowhere to be
found
. His patrol car was missing from the lot, and there was no sign of his eventual return.

“Hey there,
p
umpkin,” Charlie said, leaning against his office doorframe. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hey,” I smiled. “You’ve just been working so much lately,” I said, throwing a glance over my shoulder
, “t
hought maybe you’d like to take a break and have lunch?”

“No can do,
s
weet
p
ea,” he said. “
Had
an early lunch. Today’
s been a day from h
ell
—”

“Yeah, okay,” I s
aid, not really listening
. I looked around the building once again, hoping to catch a glimpse of Luke. With no luck, I turned back to Charlie. “I guess I’ll see you at home then?”

“Absolutely.”

When Charlie disappeared back into his office and closed the door, I slumped my shoulder
s
and headed for the door.

“He’s gone over to West Bridge for the afternoon,” Detective Bruno said.

I turned back to the elderly,
Latino
man.
“Huh?”

“You’re looking for Trigger?” he asked. “He said he had business in West Bridge toda
y. He should be back around six for the poker game
—”