Whiskey and Gumdrops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance (32 page)

While jotting some notes about the judge's schedule in her tattered black notebook, Piper heard the bell over the door of the diner jingle as a man entered. He was someone she hadn't seen during her weeks at the diner, and she found herself intrigued. After a couple days perched in one seat you tended to see the same people, so a stranger was interesting.

The man was tall and too thin for Piper's taste, though, to be honest, she didn't think she had a taste in men. Her past had made men as a whole seem rather repulsive. He looked like someone recovering from the flu in need of rest and food. Outside of that, he was beguiling enough in his own way to pique her curiosity, and she continued to watch him. His hair was dark, almost black, and cut short in a military style. He had great posture, and Piper thought perhaps he was a soldier who had mastered standing at attention. There didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about this man, but for some reason Piper was captivated by him. She watched him the way you might watch a child who's been accidently separated from his parents in a crowd—watching to make sure he found his way. This man seemed lost in some way, and Piper stared, waiting to see if he'd find what he was looking for.

Betty jumped up from the stool where she sat counting her tips when she saw him enter. "Bobby you look like you've been running all over hell's half acre." For a moment Betty looked like she might throw her arms around him, but instead she slapped him across the shoulder.

"Oh come on Betty, don't give me any shit. I've been laying low for a while, waiting for this whole thing to blow over. Can I get something to eat or what?" Bobby scanned the diner as if to make sure whoever he was avoiding while laying low wasn't present.

"You have nothing to feel bad about. It could have happened to any cop on the force. Two week suspension is malarkey. I'd've gone right in there and given that captain a piece of my mind if I didn't think those crooked bastards would be in here shutting the diner down the very next day. You keep your chin up, and I'll get you the usual." Betty was halfway in the kitchen as she finished her sentence and Bobby had no time to retort. His face was flush with embarrassment, and he sulked over to the corner booth where Piper was sitting.

He didn't notice Piper until he was almost ready to sit across from her. There were plenty of other empty booths, so she looked annoyed as she said, "Excuse me." The man seemed to wake from a dream and shot back an equally irritated and confused look.

"This is my booth. You're in my booth." He stood waiting for the girl to gather her things and move. When no attempt was made, he backed away more aggravated.

"I've been sitting here for the last couple weeks," she croaked at him. Piper thought to herself,
what kind of weirdo has his own booth and expects people to get up when he comes in
?

"That's because I haven't been here for the last couple weeks, but for five years I've been sitting here every morning for breakfast. So yeah, it's my booth. But whatever, I don't need this today." He slinked into the adjacent booth as Betty re-emerged from the kitchen and immediately read the scene.

"Oh Bobby, get over it. It's just a seat and this young lady has been a loyal customer, as loyal as you or Judge Lions. Like clockwork." At the sound of these words Piper's cheeks pinked. Had she been so obvious with her attempts at surveillance that a waitress could spot her motives?

"Fine," Bobby mumbled. "I just want to get my life back to normal as soon as possible. My suspension is over, and I'm back on duty this morning. I was hoping that two weeks of being gone wouldn't mean my whole life would be upside down." He peppered the eggs Betty had brought him and moved them around his plate like a pouting child.

Betty smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder. "Well you weren't suspended from the diner, and in the words of a wise man 'move your feet, lose your seat.'" She leaned in and whispered loud enough for Piper to hear. "It's going to be all right Bobby, and if it means that much to you, go sit with her." He rolled his eyes up at Betty and put his hand over hers that rested now on his shoulder. He let the firmness in his jaw relax slightly but stopped short of smiling.

For no apparent reason, and without much thought, Piper was intrigued enough to chat with this man. "So what did you do? You know, what got you suspended?" Initiating a conversation with a stranger was completely out of character for Piper. She hated small talk. Why, she wondered, was she even bothering to talk to this guy?

"Who the hell are you?" he barked, and Piper shrank back, not expecting that degree of harshness from a man with such warm brown eyes. If this had been two years ago, if she had been back home still living her own life, then this man would have been in for the tongue-lashing of the century. She would have gone up one side of him and down the other, spouting expletives he probably had never heard before. But things were different now. Just like she had worked hard to lose her accent, she had worked hard to control her temper. Where she was from it was a weapon that proved necessary, but here all it would do was turn heads her way.

"Nobody," she whispered. "You can have your seat back." She was painfully aware of how drawing attention would undermine what she was doing here in the first place. She grabbed her things, left money on the table for Betty and hustled past him. He called something out, but Piper was already under the jingling bell of the door.

Bobby reluctantly peeled himself from the booth and jogged out to catch her.

"Wait," he called out to the girl as she crossed the street. He saw her turn and look back toward him and then increase her pace slightly. He was a high school track star and one of the fastest men in his class at the police academy. There was no way she was going to out run him. He hadn't been a perfect gentleman, but he wasn't so rude that she needed to run away. This all seemed a little extreme to him.

As he jogged up behind her she stopped abruptly, looking completely frazzled by his presence.

"What?" she asked, clutching her notebook tightly to her chest. She worried that perhaps he had glimpsed her notes or maybe Betty had tipped him off to her peculiar behavior.

Bobby ran his hands over the bristly stubble that covered his cheek and sighed loudly, looking utterly overwhelmed. "I'm sorry I was short with you. I'm not having a great couple of weeks." Piper caught a glimpse of his flexed bicep and felt herself drawn to it, staring for a moment. He stood nearly a foot taller than she was but, unlike some men of that size, he was warm not intimidating. He was the kind of man that made you feel safer when he was around. It was clear the blustery rudeness he had just exhibited was not his normal temperament. His face was tired but too gentle for that to be true. Still, Piper wasn't interested in his apology.

"All right," she snapped curtly, and began to turn away from him.

"That's it? That's all you have to say? I'm trying to apologize here." He may have chased after her partially out of guilt but also because she was captivating. Not gorgeous, not exotic, but there was something fascinating about her. His curiosity, however, was waning as her rudeness seemed to grow. He had thought that he might be able to redeem himself by the over-the-top gesture of running after her and apologizing. He was wrong. Much like the rest of his life right now, things weren't going as he had imagined.

He watched her impatiently tuck her silky brown hair behind her ear and he realized that maybe he had misread her. Back in the diner he thought her murky dark-brown eyes had been calling out to him in a haunting way. She seemed to have a depth that he had struggled to find in anyone lately. Maybe at first she seemed like something beautiful that had been knocked down and was waiting to be picked up and dusted off. Now standing on the sidewalk, with no words passing between them, he felt silly.

"Well, I guess that's it then," he said awkwardly, turning on his heels. It wasn't usually hard for Piper to watch anyone walk away from her. She normally found herself relieved to be alone. This felt different. She had to stifle a little tug at her heart as she watched this man leave, and all that did was annoy her. She didn't need butterflies in her stomach; she needed ice in her veins.

Piper didn't like the way he looked at her penetratingly, like he could see something that others couldn't—the heaviness she carried. Starting right now he would be someone she'd need to avoid.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chasing Justice
by Danielle Stewart is a
free download
from Amazon!

Romance with heat set on a beautiful island in Maine:

Enjoy this sneak peek excerpt from
Cali MacKay
's

One Sweet Summer: A Mermaid Isle Romance

Chapter One

Riley fought to take a breath, the news hitting her like a sucker punch to the gut, her world crumbling out from under her. "You can't sell the inn. It's the heart of the island. It's my home."

She knew business had slowed with the downturn in the economy, but they'd managed to stay profitable, even if the numbers were down. She'd hosted conferences and booked more weddings, kept the numbers up for the artist retreats, and even held treasure hunts for the legendary Mermaid Isle pirate treasure. They'd all busted their butts to make sure the inn stayed afloat. It was just a rough patch they'd need to ride out, but they'd been through worse and managed to pull through.

"Riley, you've done an amazing job running the place, and it's because of you that we've managed to hold on as long as we have. But the roof will need to be replaced in the next year or two, and the entire place needs to be updated. We just don't have the money to keep up with everything that's needed, and the truth is, we're getting old. We want to retire while we're still young enough to enjoy it." Jack reached over and took Ava's hand, giving her a smile. Married forty years and still in love like they were teenagers.

She could only be so lucky to find love like that someday.

Ava's easy smile could normally part the grayest clouds, yet today, it did little to take the edge off Riley's nerves. "We weren't looking to sell just yet, but we got an offer out of the blue. We couldn't refuse, Riley, but we negotiated your position into the sale, so you'll have nothing to worry about. You have the option to continue working at the Siren Song Inn or you can take the generous severance package they're offering. We're hoping you'll stay, though. It'll be easier for us to leave the place if we know you'll still be here to take care of it."

At least she could still stay if she wanted to. Not that it would be the same with Jack and Ava gone and new owners at the helm. They'd want to change it. Turn it into another cookie-cutter hotel. Gone would be her artist's collective and the herbalist conference. And who knew what they'd do with the century-old cottages.

Maybe if it was an individual or a couple rather than some corporation. They might stand a chance then. "Who's bought the Siren?"

As if reading her thoughts, Jack frowned. "Holt Enterprises. They're big, but promised to let you take the lead on the changes they'll be making."

Yeah...and dreams were made of cotton candy and gumdrops. She bit back a groan, not wanting to make this anymore difficult on Jack and Ava than it already was. "Where will you go?" Now that she'd made Mermaid Isle her home, she couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

"Honey, another Maine winter will do us in." Jack sat back and laughed. "I want sun and warm waters. Sandy beaches that I can walk on without getting swept out to sea. Drinks I can sip out of a coconut or pineapple and are loaded up with rum."

Riley wanted to protest that they could have those things here, but knew it wasn't the same. And Jack was right—the winters could be harsh this far north, even if they were still in the southern part of Maine.

"Might do a bit of traveling before we settle down." Ava looked at her, her motherly concern still worrying her brown eyes. "But we'll come back during the summers. And we'll stay in touch. We'll only be a phone call or email away—not to mention all the current technology. What's it called? Swipe?"

That made Riley laugh. "The world must be coming to an end then, if I'm going to finally get you two to go online and actually answer emails."

"You'll manage just fine, my dear." Ava got to her feet and Jack followed suit. "If anything, you might finally get the funds to do all those things you've been wanting to do here at the Siren. Change is good."

"When? When will the sale be finalized?" Riley's breath hitched as she waited for an answer. She'd come here every summer as a child, worked at the inn during her vacations once she'd turned eighteen, and then full-time straight out of college. It was where she'd grown up, where she'd fallen in love for the first time. It was all she knew, all she loved—and she'd given it her all.

"In two weeks. And don't worry—we'll tell the others." Ava gave her a big hug. "Just remember, this will always be the Siren Song Inn. As long as you're here, the heart of it will never change."

"I hope you're right." She couldn't bear to think of the Siren changing so much it no longer felt like home.

Riley waited for Jack and Ava to leave her office and then collapsed into her chair, tears stinging her eyes as she tried to swallow down the golf ball-sized lump in her throat. She knew they'd been looking to retire, but she hadn't expected them to sell the place. Not that she held it against them—all their money was tied up in the inn, and they'd never be able to retire without freeing up those funds.

She thought of what the Siren meant to so many people. Cultivated over the years to be an artist's retreat, there was a long list of people who came year after year to meet with other like-minded folks, and be inspired by the rugged natural beauty and colorful town.

Unlike other places that catered only to the rich and well off, Mermaid Isle was more approachable and far more unique than any other resort town Riley had ever been to, especially given its long history. Legend had it that thieves and pirates had stashed their plunder in one of the many caves that could be found on the island, and later, it was settled by a small group of women who'd come north to escape the witch trials that reached far past Salem. Add to that the commune that blossomed in the sixties and the artisans that flocked to it in the last few decades, and it would be impossible to duplicate the character of the island and its people.