Page 48 of A Lonely Road
“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 fatherresponded 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. Iwantedto 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 whowas 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.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nora
“Youdidn’teatasingle donut,” I pointed out when we were back in the truck.
Jake groaned. “You’re right. Do you mind swinging by The Mermaid on our way home? I want to check my records for the bachelor party booking and Casey wants an official introduction bad enough that she offered to meet us there,” he said.
Curious to meet one of Jake’s friends, I agreed. I’d noticed Casey behind the bar with him that night and felt a twinge of self-consciousness, knowing she’d witnessed my probable overreaction and almost certainly heard more about it from Jake afterward.
Oh god—the whole town of Spruce Hill had probably heard about it.
“Would you believe me if I told you I’ve never been embroiled in this much drama before in my entire life?” I asked dryly.
“I believe that with every ounce of my being, Nora,” Jake replied with a grin. “I’d go so far as to guess you wouldn’t have spoken a word to me when you first moved in if you’d had it your way.”
“Hmm. I suppose that’s accurate. That howdy thing really was a turnoff, you know.”
Jake laughed, but he shot me a pointed glance. “I say this only because I am utterly infatuated with you, Nora, but I have definitely noticed that you can be a little prickly.”
“Infatuated,” I repeated, cocking a brow. He wasn’t wrong.
“Hopelessly devoted?” His lips tipped upward, clearly pleased that I’d chosen to question that particular word, rather thanprickly.
