Page 2 of Promises & Pumpkins
I shrugged. “Okay, fine. My sister moved to Hazy Cove recently and convinced me to come out. It’s a really cute town.”
“It is,” he said, pulling the window open and flooding me with relief. “Although there aren’t usually people trying to break into houses around here.” Miles looked at me from the side of his eye, and I covered my face.
“Yeah, about that…”
His laugh was infectious when he did it again. “Come on, let me help you up.” Miles formed a step with his hands. I stepped up onto it, and he hoisted me up to the window.
When I crawled over the window and into the kitchen sink, I looked at the counter. My keys were sitting exactly where I thought they had been. “Thank you,” I said, holding my hands up in an appreciative, prayer-like gesture. “Do you want to come in for something to drink? I have tea. I can put on some water.”
“Do I have to come through the window?” He winked, and I paid close attention to the creases next to his eyes that looked like they held a mixture of joy and years of life experience.
“No, no. Sorry.” I jumped out of the sink, holding up my finger briefly before I hurried to open the front door. I bent down, grabbing the bags I had dropped on the porch while he walked up the first few steps. “I almost forgot I had groceries. Tea?” I held up the bag that held the new fall blend I had just bought at the store.
Miles smiled but shook his head. “I would love to, but I need to get to work.”
“Right,” I said, swallowing the disappointment. “Just in case there are more breaking and entering cases for you to help on.”
“Exactly.” He laughed again, winking before he stepped back off the porch.
“Thank you again for saving me from having to break the window.” I looked toward the side of the house as if to remind him.
He nodded. “I was happy to do it. Welcome to the neighborhood, Harper.”
Chapter 2
Miles
“What are you looking at, Daddy?” I blinked a few times, barely turning away from the window that faced my new neighbor’s kitchen to look over my shoulder to where my daughter was picking at the bowl of cereal she had demanded I pour. She scrunched her nose and lifted her little eyebrow with curiosity.
“Nothing, sweet pea.” Then I caught a glimpse of my too-young-for-me-to-be-staring-at-her neighbor, and I paused. “Finish your breakfast.” I listened to her dig her spoon into the bowl but instead of watching to make sure she took the next bite, I watched while Harper bent down in her kitchen. When her blonde hair fell over her shoulders and in front of her face, I struggled to look away. I’d imagined running my fingers through it when she invited me in for tea yesterday.
Maddie sighed, swirling her spoon around her bowl so the milk got dangerously close to spilling over the side. “I don’t like it.”
“What do you mean you don’t like it? Fruit Loops are your favorite.” She had demanded them when we were at the store and again the second she woke up this morning. Just like a six-year-old to change her mind before the sugar-coated pieces had even gotten soggy.
“Not anymore.” She shook her head, pushing the bowl away from her. I sighed, and she cocked her head to the side. Her stubbornness was masked with a smirk. “Can I dance?” When she asked, Harper’s front door opened, and I watched her step onto the front porch in a pair of tight leggings and a matching sports bra that accented the soft curve of her waist too well.
“Dance?” Harper skipped down the steps to her car, leaning in the front door. I stared while my daughter hummed in agreement. “Sure. We can dance after you finish your breakfast.”
She scrunched her nose like she considered the offer—things were so serious for a six-year-old. “Like a ballerina?”
Where had that idea come from? “Of course, sweet pea. You can be any kind of dancer you want to be.”
Maddie got excited, clapping her hands together. “Yay, Daddy!” She wiggled in her seat, even less likely to remember the breakfast I had told her to eat. I forgot about the new woman next door and the guilt I felt for staring at her—and for wantingto stare longer—and I walked over to the table. Maddie pouted when I slid the bowl back in front of her. She crossed her arms. “It’s soggy now.”
“That’s because you didn’t eat it fast enough.” I watched her flip the cereal over in the bowl one piece at a time. When she rolled her lip out, I softened. “Do you want something else?” She shook her head.
When my phone started to ring on the counter, my stomach sank at the same rate that Maddie’s face dropped. Before I answered it, we both knew what it meant. “Oh no,” she said, sighing.
I ignored the two words that squeezed my chest like a vice. “Captain Hunter,” I said, bringing the phone to my ear.
Stanley sounded hesitant. “Hey, Captain, we got one for you down here. A breaking and entering.” I thought about Harper and the way she had prepared to break into her own house, and a small smile broke through the inconvenience. “I know it’s your day off. This one is complicated. Appears to be linked to a small chain of B&Es in a neighboring county.”
“Gotcha.” I sighed, looking down at Maddie. For being so young, she was perceptive. “I’ll be there soon.”
“See you soon, sir. Tell your little girl we’re sorry for ruining her Saturday.” I swallowed the guilt—she was used to it.That’s the worst part.
“Will do.” I hung up the phone, shoving it in my pocket.
