Page 14 of Crosshairs

The chain saw blade kicked back, and he gripped the handle to keep from losing control. Better keep his mind on what he was doing.

Linc worked until dawn, thankful it was his day off. Not that he didn’t enjoy his job conducting tours of Melrose Mansion—it was a nice quiet job. When he finished with his last tree, he trudged to his truck only to find Sarah’s mint-green MINI Cooper parked beside his Tahoe with her dozing behind the wheel.

He rapped lightly on her window, and she jerked awake and lowered the window. “You should have gone home and slept,” he said.

“I haven’t been here long.” When he questioned her with his eyes, she said, “I was helping some of Miss Hattie’s neighbors. You ready to grab a cup of java?”

His stomach growled. Coffee sounded good, but he needed food as well. “As long as we add bacon and eggs to the menu.”

Sarah grinned. “How about the Waffle House? They’re open.”

It was also on his route home. “See you there.”

He’d planned to drive by Rose Beaumont’s house. He didn’t figure they’d stayed at the hospital because he was pretty sure Cora would have been put in the ICU, and he wanted to see if she or Ainsley was up. He could still swing by Rose’s house after he left the restaurant.

As Linc drove to the diner, he worried that Sarah might make more of their breakfast than it was. The few times they’d eaten out together had never been a date, more of an impulse like now—“I’m hungry, want to grab a bite to eat?”sort of thing.

Somehow, he had to make Sarah understand that while he liked her, the spark just wasn’t there. Ainsley was the only person he’d ever experienced that special feeling with, and a relationship with her was a lost cause.

Sarah pulled into a parking space on the other side of him and lowered her window. “They’re busy,” she said, nodding at the full parking lot. “Want to try McDonald’s?”

He really didn’t want to do fast food, and besides, with the diner so full, it might keep Sarah from getting personal. “Maybe it’s not as busy as it looks.”

Linc held the door open, and his stomach growled when the aroma of waffles and fried bacon wrapped around him. He spied an empty table near the cash register. Everyone who entered the establishment would pass by their table, but he didn’t see another and guided her toward it.

“Be there in a minute,” the waitress said as he pulled out Sarah’s chair.

Linc sat across from her, not bothering with the menu. Heknew what he wanted. Bacon and eggs and one of their plate-sized waffles.

“I love this place.” Sarah scanned the menu. “I think I’ll have their All-Star special.”

True to her word, a few minutes later the waitress took their orders and quickly returned with coffee. “Be about fifteen minutes before your order is up,” she said.

Linc took a sip of coffee, letting the hot liquid revive him. It wouldn’t be enough to make it through fifteen minutes of small talk, something he’d never been good at, but ever since he’d gotten the feeling Sarah might harbor romantic feelings for him, he hadn’t been sure of what to say.

“How are your parents?” she asked. “Aren’t they in Ecuador?”

She’d kept tabs on his parents? “They’re good. Should return next month.”

“And your sister?”

“She’s good too.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Linc, you can do better than that.”

“Sorry. I’m tired and a little preoccupied. She loves living in Alaska,” he said. “Did you get any good human-interest stories?”

“Yep. Got some footage of you using that chain saw too. When did you learn how to operate one of those?”

Her voice held a teasing note, but when he lifted his gaze, there was a note of sadness in her eyes. “Worked for a logging company one summer during college.”

“There’s a lot about you I don’t know.”

Before an answer formulated in his mind, the waitress plopped their plates on the table and then refilled their coffee.

“Thank you,” he said. The cook had fried his eggs to perfection—crispy on the edges and runny in the middle. He said a brief prayer, and then they spent the next few minutes concentrating on their food.

“So, what has you preoccupied?” she asked, popping a bite of her raisin bread in her mouth.

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