on a hook near the sink. “Me.”
“The prettiest dishwasher I’ve seen.” The second he said it he wanted to snatch the words back. His comment produced a pink flush on Annie’s cheeks that highlighted her beauty. Caleb tried not to notice. Annie probably wouldn’t stick around Christmas long, so why become interested in her? He didn’t want his heart broken a second time. Once was enough.
“Thanks.” She ran the wet dishcloth around the sink.
Busywork, as though she were nervous. “I just appreciate a home-cooked dinner I don’t have to make.” Caleb folded the towel and placed it on the counter. “I’ve got a question for you.”
She stopped in mid-rotation, her body tensing. Then as if shaking it off, she completed her turn, throwing a glance over her shoulder.
“Jayden has red hair, but yours is light brown. Was Jayden’s father redheaded?” Great going, Jackson. Why don’t you just ask what happened to her marriage? Is the guy still in the picture?
“Yes.” Lowering her eyelashes, she veiled her expression. “I’d better get Jayden to bed. Can I see you out?”
He deserved that. The subject wasn’t one she wanted to discuss. Which only piqued his interest. “I can find my way to the front door.” He tried to inject humor into his voice, hoping to see Annie’s smile.
Instead, she said in a serious tone, “I know Sara’s been recovering from a fall. Did she break anything? Was she in the hospital?”
“She fell but didn’t break any bones. Her hip is bruised, and she pulled a muscle in her leg. Her doctor forbade her getting up on a ladder anymore. It happened two weeks ago.” Caleb passed the front room and gestured toward the eight-foot tree that could be viewed from the street. “Decorating that.” At the door he faced Annie, rubbing his hand along the stubble of a day’s growth of beard. “Sara tends to want to do everything herself.”
“I can understand that.”
Caleb stepped closer, taking a whiff of her flowery scent. “The dinner tonight was great.”
“Thanks.” A dimple appeared in her cheek, enticing him to touch it.
Caleb curled his hands and kept them at his sides. “Good night, Annie. I’ll bring Ralph down tomorrow for Jayden to see.”
The crisp night air surrounded him as he left Sara’s house and strolled toward his smaller home at the end of the block. He’d enjoyed himself a lot tonight, but something wasn’t right. He felt it in his gut. During the conversation at dinner Annie had revealed little about herself and her life in Florida, as though she wanted to avoid anything having to do with her past. And really, telling them she was from the Sunshine State wasn’t a big secret since her Mustang sported Florida tags.
He would keep an eye on Annie Madison. Even though she was Sara’s cousin and his longtime friend hadn’t had a problem with an unexpected guest appearing right before Christmas, that didn’t mean something wasn’t going on. Sara hadn’t been expecting her to show up today. This evening Annie had been nervous whenever anything remotely personal came up. Sara hadn’t seen Annie in fifteen years. A lot could have changed in that time.
Inserting the key into the lock, he wished he could turn off the cop in him, but it had been drilled into him from his years on the force in Tulsa and now here in Christmas. He would never forgive himself if something happened to Sara.
He was protecting Sara by being vigilant. Or was he really protecting himself? He’d been in a serious relationship in Tulsa, but when he’d asked the woman to marry him and move to Christmas, she’d decided there was no way she could live in a small town, especially one so kitschy. And he’d known better than to date a woman who wasn’t a Christian, but he’d thought it might work out. Wrong! And he’d paid for that assumption.
Caleb had been the police chief for two years, ever since he came back to Christmas to take care of his ailing father, who died last year. His death left a hole in Caleb’s life. His dad had been his best friend, and he was glad he could help ease the last few years of his life.
He tossed his keys on the table in the foyer and set his toolbox down, then made his way to the den. Ralph lay in front of the fireplace and stood when he saw Caleb. His pet wagged his tail so much that his whole back wiggled in his excitement. Greeting his dog was a great way to end his day.
Tonight while Annie had gone to get Jayden for dinner, Sara had told him she had a gut feeling Annie was in need of a good friend. That the Lord had sent Annie to Sara so she could help the young woman with the adorable child. Caleb wasn’t so sure about that. Since her grandniece had moved away last January, Sara had been lonely, even depressed, which definitely could be coloring Sara’s perception of Annie.
It was up to him to make sure she wasn’t taken advantage of.
Annie rolled over and pounded her fist into the pillow. She should have fallen asleep hours ago, but instead she couldn’t shut down her thoughts long enough for sleep to overtake her.
She kept replaying the evening with Caleb. A look he sent her. The touch of his hand. A wink, as though they shared some secret. And then there was his smile. She must have contemplated that for a good thirty minutes. Remembering it bathed her in warmth. She had no business being interested in a man right now. She didn’t even know if she would stay in town long after Christmas. After all the commotion of the holidays passed, she needed to decide what she should do next. She had a life back in Crystal Creek she wanted to return to and didn’t know if she could.
Frustrated, Annie flipped back the covers and slowly stood, making sure she didn’t disturb Jayden sleeping on the other side of the queen-size bed. She paced to the window and pushed the curtain back to peer outside. The blackness of night only reinforced her fear of the dark. She shivered and turned away from the window, letting the drapes fall back into place.
She needed to do something now. Was Bryan alive somehow? How could she find out? Call all the hospitals in that part of Florida? She didn’t know their names, but maybe information could help her.
Her gaze fell on her cell, which she’d finally started charging when she’d unpacked earlier. The green light indicated she could use it. She turned it on for the first time since before she’d fled Crystal Creek. When she’d gotten up Saturday, it had been dead, but she hadn’t gotten around to charging it before everything changed after Bryan’s phone call to her apartment. She’d been too tired to charge it on the road. Annie stiffened. Two messages were on her cell. Afraid of what she might find because few knew her new cell number—one being Bryan—she couldn’t keep her hand from trembling.
“Annie, my meeting with my father went badly. He won’t acknowledge me. I’m coming to see—” A pause of several seconds then, “I’ll call you back. I guess I was going too fast. A cop is behind me and wants me to pull over.”
She punched the next message, hoping it was Bryan to explain further, to help her to make some kind of sense of all that was happening. “Annie, you can’t run forever. I’ll find you, just as I found Bryan.”
Listening to the second message from a gruff-voiced man, the same one she’d heard as Bryan was being beaten, only strengthened the terror that was a constant companion. There was no going back to Crystal Creek.
THREE
The next day at the library
