Page 17 of There’s Trouble Brewing

“Sure, but you handled it fine on your own,” she responded warmly.

Standing there amid the laughter and music of the festival, their eyes locked in a moment of silent understanding—the kind that said more than words ever could. They moved toward each other, momentarily forgetting where they were. Mark reached out and brushed a curl behind her ear. “That’s not true. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Glad to be of service,” she whispered, her lips just inches away from his and ready for the taking.

The moment was interrupted, however, when a stranger wearing a black leather coat and sporting a Mohawk and tattoos appeared at the booth glaring at them. “You got to be kidding me, Em. Who’s this guy you’re flirting with?”

Emily’s eyes rounded helplessly as her eyes darted between them.

Mark wasn’t sure what was going on, but he wasn’t going to let some guy get in Emily’s face. He stepped forward, hands easy at his side, at least for the moment. “Is there a problem here?” Mark’s voice carried quiet authority.

A muscle twitched in the other guy’s jaw. “Yeah, there is,” he growled. “But not with you.”

Emily stood frozen, a look of concern written across her face. It bothered Mark to see her so unsteady. He nodded for her to step back, letting her know he could take care of this. She bit her lip and moved behind him. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Mark ordered.

The stranger’s shoulders were all sharp angles and disbelief. “It’s a public space, man. I haven’t done a thing.”

Mark noticed how Emily’s breath grew shallower every time the other man looked at her. His instincts to protect her kicked in. He hated unwanted attention, but his need to keep Emily safe mattered more. He planted himselfsquarely between Emily and the other man, raising his voice above the festival noise, “Last chance to leave before this gets messy.”

The stranger made a loud show of defiance. “It’s a free country, man, so back off. Everyone’s here to have fun.”

Mark looked him straight in the eye, unwilling to back down. “Not you. It’s time for you to leave. Now.” He could feel the heat of the crowd’s attention settling on him like a fog of warm breath.

The stranger must have realized that Mark wasn’t leaving any room for negotiation, because he turned on his heel and stalked off.

“Sorry. I didn’t expect that,” Emily sighed with relief as she reached out and squeezed his hand. “You’re good to have around in a crisis, Mark.”

“Who was that?”

“Just this guy I dated a couple of times back in Hero. I told him that I didn’t think we were a good fit, but clearly, he thought otherwise.”

Mark wondered if there was more to it than that, but he didn’t want to press her. When she was ready, he hoped she would tell him the rest of it.

“You think he’ll be back?” Mark asked with concern.

Emily shook her head. “Not after you went all John Wayne on him.”

“Okay, but—” before he could finish, the mayor’s assistant came up and grabbed Mark by the arm.

“It’s time for the ceremony,” the bottled redhead announced as she ushered him away.

As he was pushed onto the stage, Mark could have sworn the entire town seemed to be there. Mark scanned the crowd for one small figure, a face he hoped to see above everyone else’s. Emily was tucked between a paramedic and a curly-haired kid in a red T-shirt.

“Some folks say he should have worn a cape,” the mayor announced with a grin and a pause for laughter, “but today, we’re making do with a certificate of appreciation.”

Mark shifted on the stage, switching between pride and discomfort as the mayor read from a note card. “Our newest neighbor may be used to the occasional splash in the paper, but I don’t think he’s used to the welcome Faith Valley is giving him. When I asked him why he did it,” the mayor continued, “his answer was the kind of answer you expect from a true hero. ‘I was there. I couldn’t do anything else.’ That’s what Mark Merlot told me.”

Mark felt the briefest flush of embarrassment. He didn’t think of himself as a hero, and he’d told the mayor, but Cletus West had decided otherwise. The mayor looked up from his note card and grinned a full-toothed, public servant grin. “Or, as my daughter-in-law put it, Mark was the most determined person she ever saw.”

When the mayor handed him the plaque, Mark mumbled a thank-you and let his eyes settle on Emily. She was the one person who made him feel at home.

“We don’t expect you to be as comfortable with our appreciation as you are in the water,” the mayor finished, “but you’d better get used to it.”

A few seconds later, Mark was off the stage and working his way through the crowd of well-wishers. The closer Mark got to Emily, the less he cared about the plaque and the limelight and his own discomfort, and the more he wanted to share it all with her.

“You look a little green around the gills,” she teased with a smirk when he was close enough to hear.

Mark shrugged. “I told you I wasn’t good at this. Give me a cold lake any day.”

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