Page 27 of A Lonely Road (Spruce Hill #2)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jake

I f I had to choose between our previous nightly sleepover routine, an intimate lakeside getaway, or simply hanging out on the couch watching old movies, I was a little shocked to realize that the couch was pulling slowly into the lead.

Something about eating Chinese food from takeout cartons and cuddling up with Nora in my favorite room of the house had me thinking about the future.

More specifically, about my desire for Nora to be a part of that future.

Still, no matter how the walls around her had crumbled, I was wary of saying anything that might cause her to pull away after the stress of the day.

It was nearly midnight when we ended up lying spooned together along the faded brown leather, Nora’s head resting on my bicep, slowly cutting off my circulation.

“I could stay here forever,” she murmured.

Though my muscles jolted in surprise, I forced myself to relax when I realized she was very nearly asleep. She might just as likely have been referring to the couch itself, rather than the more general here that could mean Spruce Hill, my house, or my arms.

Still, the quiet words filled me with hope and I tucked her closer against my chest.

My lips feathered along the shell of her ear as I whispered, “Then stay.”

Her breathing grew slow and steady, and I found myself drifting right along with her. I was comforted by that sleepy confession, whether or not it meant what I hoped it did.

Sometime during the night, my phone vibrated against the coffee table.

The buzzing sound was loud enough for me to jerk awake, but Nora didn’t stir.

I lay there for another minute, wondering what had woken me, until another short buzz indicated a missed text message.

I reached carefully over Nora’s soft, still form for the phone and blinked a few times to clear the sleep from my eyes.

It was just after three in the morning and the preview showed only that it came from a private number.

I swiped at the screen to open the message.

She’ll pay. You’ll both pay .

For a moment, I stared blindly at the words, then I swore under my breath, powered down the phone, and tossed it onto the floor next to the couch.

Nora shifted in her sleep but didn’t wake, causing a swift rush of relief to course through me.

I would wait until morning to get in touch with the police.

God knew Nora had been through enough already and needed a good night’s sleep.

I reached over to pull down the folded blanket from the back of the couch, spread it awkwardly over us both, and tried desperately to forget those ominous words.

M orning came too quickly for Nora’s taste, if her sleepy grumbles were any indication, and too slowly for mine—I'd lain awake for the rest of the night, staring up at the dark ceiling as I considered the possibilities behind the text.

A moment later, Nora rolled toward me, almost kneeing me right in the balls. Her eyes flew open when I flinched away.

“Oh crap, I’m sorry,” she whispered, cupping her hand over my crotch.

I gave a strangled groan and lifted her hand away to press a kiss to her palm. “The family jewels are safe,” I said dryly, “but we have something else that needs attention before those, I’m afraid. ”

Her gaze shot to my face, swept over my features, and her expression fell.

The sight of her sleep-flushed cheeks and mess of chestnut curls made me want to kiss her, but we needed to get the bizarre text out of the way first. She sat up more carefully to avoid kneeing me again and spotted my phone on the floor.

When she bent to pick it up, I rubbed my hands over my jaw.

“Someone texted me around three,” I said quietly. “No phone number came up, but the message was . . . threatening.”

Nora nodded slowly, as though this was a perfectly normal occurrence. Then again, it was starting to feel a little too familiar for my liking.

“Right. Okay. What did it say?”

Wishing I could shield her from this but recognizing that was impossible, I turned on the phone to show her.

A frown appeared between her eyes as she read it.

She picked up her own phone to check for anything strange, but there were no incoming texts or phone calls after Sam’s message about the movie.

“Why would they send something like that to your phone instead of mine? I mean, obviously the second part applies to us both, but it seems a little odd for a threat directed at me to come through you.”

“I don’t know. My phone number is probably easier to find than yours—plenty of people in town have it, for personal and business reasons. I’m going out on a limb here, but I assume you don’t give yours out quite so willingly.”

Nora gave a choked laugh, but she didn’t deny it. “No, I think you and Sam are the only people I’ve given it to since I moved here.”

“Then that probably gives us the answer to why they sent it to me. I’m thinking we should go over to the police station, if you’re up for it.”

“You could have woken me up, Jake,” she said softly, laying a hand on my stubbled cheek. “You look like you didn’t sleep very much.”

I leaned into her caress, then turned my head to press a kiss to her palm.

“You needed a break. This is a small town, so I don’t even know who’s at the police station overnight.

It didn’t seem worth getting anybody out of bed for, least of all you.

Besides, now we can show up with donuts and look like superheroes while also having donuts for breakfast.”

Her soft laughter eased some of my tension and within half an hour, we were on our way to the station with a large box of donuts. Nora held them on her lap and shot me a suspicious look.

“Just how many police are on this small town force? This seems like an awful lot of donuts.”

I winked at her. “Speak for yourself. I intend to eat at least half of those.”

Even though my lighthearted comments were for her benefit alone, they seemed to help keep both of us from tipping toward panic. I knew she’d been on the verge of it as soon as I mentioned the text, and worrying about her safety was what had kept me awake most of the night.

You’ll both pay.

I pondered the words again. Pay for what?

When we pulled into a parking spot outside the tiny police station, I jogged around to help her with the box, lingering to kiss her lightly on the lips before she slid down from the seat.

Nora followed me inside and rolled her eyes when I cranked up the charm as I delivered donuts to the few officers out front.

Even the police chief, a man named Roberts who I didn’t think Nora had met yet, strolled out of his office to partake.

She hung back while I murmured to the older man, then I tipped my head toward the chief’s office and we followed him there.

“Nora, this is Chief Roberts. Chief Roberts, Nora Cassidy,” I said.

The chief smiled kindly at her as we sat before his desk, folding his hands over his round belly. “Been having a bit of trouble, I hear.”

With a tight smile, Nora said, “Yes, sir.” She glared at me when my eyebrows shot up. “Navy brat, remember?” she muttered.

“A Navy brat named Cassidy, huh? Your daddy wouldn’t happen to be Captain John Cassidy, would he?” the chief asked, rubbing his chin.

Now it was Nora whose eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Yes, sir, that would be him. You two know each other? ”

My eyes narrowed on the chief’s face—something in his smile looked a little too innocent, a little too benign, like he’d already known very well who Nora’s dad was.

Though I hadn’t realized her father had any ties to Spruce Hill, I wondered now if that was how she’d found the apartment.

Mr. Jenkins’ odd behavior surrounding the provenance of his new tenant might just have something to do with this tangled web that was only now starting to unravel.

The chief shot me a subtle wink and I shook my head in resignation.

Chief Roberts leaned back in his chair with an affectionate smile. “Your daddy and I went to basic training together. We kept in touch a bit over the years. Does your father know about the break-in?”

Nora shook her head. “No, sir, not yet. I didn’t want to worry him if it all amounted to local kids making trouble. And please, call me Nora.”

The chief nodded, folding his hands over his midsection.

“Well, Nora, tell him I say hello next time you talk to him. As for the break-in, we talked to all the neighbors, but no one saw or heard anything unusual during the time you were away. We’ll keep poking around, but with nothing stolen, I’m afraid it might not amount to much. ”

I pulled up the text from that morning and passed my phone across the desk. “There is one more thing, Chief. This came through around three this morning. ”

Pursing his lips, the chief nodded. “Mind if I have Detective Hanson check into this? She’s our unofficial tech specialist, and she should be getting in just about now.”

“By all means,” I said.

“She’s gonna be pissed if all the Boston cream donuts are gone,” he muttered.

While the chief rose and took the phone out to Detective Hanson, I threaded my fingers through Nora’s and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. She still looked blown over by the knowledge that her father was personally connected to Spruce Hill, so I decided to take her mind off it, however briefly.

“Kind of sexy hearing you all ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir,’ Cassidy,” I murmured with a devilish grin.

She wrinkled her nose at me. “Oh, you like that, do you?”

Laughter rumbled in my chest. “Well, I like just about everything you do, so I guess it’s only natural. I can’t believe the chief knows your father, though. Talk about a small world.”

“No kidding. I was afraid he was going to offer to call him for me when I said I hadn’t told him about this yet.

You know, I should have known there was something fishy when my dad suggested this town.

I assumed he’d passed through at some point.

Next time I talk to him, he’s going to get an earful for not mentioning this. ”

I just grinned. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall during that conversation. I’d seen Nora go from feisty to sweet, aggravated to subdued—it made me wonder how her father responded to her spirit. Was the man stoic and cold to counter her flames, or did he give as good as he got?

With her free hand, Nora rubbed at her forehead. Though she tried to drop my hand when the chief returned, I kept my fingers entwined with hers. If the chief noticed, he gave no indication that he was anything but pleased.

“While Hanson’s working on that, why don’t you tell me about what happened down at The Mermaid a few weeks ago,” he suggested as he sat back down behind his desk. “I heard you two had a spot of trouble.”

His smile was friendly, his tone casual, but it was hard to miss the sharpness of his green gaze as it moved between us. My mind raced with the possibilities. I could practically see the gears turning in Nora’s mind, too, and squeezed her fingers reassuringly.

“Nora comes to The Mermaid a few times a week to work on her laptop. We had a bachelor party that night, half a dozen guys from Oakville. They were already pretty rowdy when they showed up. One of them decided to make a play for Nora, then refused to take no for an answer. She defended herself after he laid hands on her.”

The chief’s eyes shifted to Nora, so she continued the tale.

“He grabbed my wrist. As you can imagine, my father took self-defense pretty seriously, so I turned it around and brought the guy to his knees. I might have overreacted, but I didn’t injure him.

He went back to the bar and Jake walked me home. ”

“Nora, I wasn’t asking because I think you did something wrong by defending yourself,” the chief said calmly, though his gaze slanted back toward me, “only because I wondered if the man might have held a grudge after that. Especially since the gossip around town says that you came back to The Mermaid after walking Nora home, Jake, and had words with the man.”

Nora’s head whipped around in surprise. “You did?”

I puffed my cheeks as I blew out a breath.

“I did. I wanted to break his nose, but all I did was tell him in no uncertain terms that no one lays a hand on a woman in my place of business. And I might have added that if I ever saw him near Nora or The Mermaid again, I’d make sure he came to regret it.

I didn’t touch him, not even to kick his ass out of my restaurant.

His friends dragged him off the stool and practically carried him out, kicking and screaming.

If they hadn’t, I would’ve called you in to assist, Chief. ”

Though I was watching the police chief, who nodded his head with grudging admiration, I saw Nora’s eyes roll toward the ceiling. Both of us looked at her, though my innocence was completely feigned.

“Men,” she muttered. “I told you I could take care of myself, Lincoln. Did you really need to go all macho after that?”

“Macho or not, I told you that what happened that night would never happen again to you or anyone else in my restaurant, Cassidy,” I countered calmly.

Nora looked ready to scream, her brows drawn tight together and her eyes flashing, so I added, “I would've done the same for any woman who was assaulted in front of my eyes—or any man, for that matter. I’ll admit that wanting to break his nose was maybe a little more personal, but since I refrained, the point is moot.”

Chief Roberts glanced back and forth between us before chuckling. “Well, if that’s settled, I’ll just ask if you happen to recall the assailant’s name?”

I shook my head. “Unfortunately, no. I know for sure that I had every one of them show identification when they got there, but I don’t remember each of the names.

I’ll ask Casey, she was helping me out at the bar that night, and I definitely have a record of the one who called me to arrange it.

I don’t think that was the guy who grabbed her, but I’ll get the information to you. ”

The chief nodded and rose to shake both of our hands.

“I’ll let you know if we find anything on the break-in.

In the meantime, you’re welcome to go in, fix that door, replace the lock, get whatever you need.

” He gave me a long look that conveyed the sort of manly warning I knew Nora would have a field day dissecting, if given half a chance.

“Hanson will give you your phone back. I want to know right away if anything else like that shows up, got me?”

“Absolutely. Thanks, Chief,” I said.

We stopped by Detective Hanson’s desk to grab the phone on our way out and walked back into the morning sunlight.