Page 14 of Fire and Ice

"No, no charges. It was nothing," she said quickly.Seriously this damsel-in-distress mode sucks. Maia did not want to press any charges because she was supposed to be off the grid. Just her luck: first day in town and she's a goon magnet.

"See Tanner, no harm. We were just having fun."

"You best be on your way, gentlemen," the detective said, his tone decisive and menacing.

The three jackasses didn't waste anytime jumping into their jeep to drive away. "Later, Detective Tanner," they called out.

Tanner turned his attention fully on Maia.

"You new in town? I'm Detective Rick Tanner."

"Yes, I just got in yesterday."

"Got a name?"

"Uh, Maia."

"Well, Maia, I'm sorry about your intro into the town of Westcove. Syd, Tommy and Benny drove in three weeks ago and have been nothing but trouble. Funny thing is no one wants to press charges. I'm keeping an eye on them. Now I know they are all scary and shit, but the offer still stands. You can come down to the station and press charges."

When Maia didn't answer, Rick continued. "I'm from another town myself. Got assigned here because of some trouble trickling down from the bigger cities."

Maia stiffened. "What kind of trouble?"

"Sorry, can't talk about an ongoing investigation. You might reconsider running anywhere by yourself if you're staying for a while. Given the way you look, there's bound to be trouble."

Now what the hell did that mean? That I brought this on myself?Maia thought angrily.

Rick read her mind and sighed. "Look, that didn't come out right. All I'm saying is you're a beautiful woman. Haven't seen someone as pretty as you. Ever."

Oh, now he's flirting. She could do flirty.

Maia smiled her sultry smile. It obviously had the desired effect on detective as his jaw slackened in response.

"I better head back. See you around... detective."

And with that, Maia turned around and headed back to the stonehouse on the cliff.

***

"I can bake pies," Maia declared to Grace Banning. "I make my dough from scratch too, all butter."

She was hanging out in the kitchen having lunch. Grace whipped up a mustardy-mayo dressing from scratch. That meant starting from an egg-yolk and whisking in the oil slowly. Maia liked nothing better than homemade mayonnaise. A sandwich of prosciutto, provolone cheese, roasted Piquillo peppers and that special dressing between freshly baked focaccia bread was simply divine. Maia could get used to living here. She loved to eat.

She remembered her foster parents. Viktor had been in her life since she was twelve and placed her with a couple he knew personally. He began to train her as soon as she turned fifteen. The training could get brutal but she was lucky. Her foster parents were loving and warm, which was probably why Viktor chose them: so they could balance outthe harshness and coldness that she had to endure under him. Her foster mom loved to cook and she baked everything from scratch.

"Jack loves pies," Grace informed her and smiled. Maia rolled her eyes. She liked Jack's housekeeper except for the way she believed Jack walked on water. Grace was fifty-years old, and was slender with long blond hair held up tightly in a French twist. She moved so gracefully in the kitchen she gave new meaning to domestic elegance. Her older sister Betty ran an upscale grocery store in town and all Grace had to do was email her the order and Betty's son, Kyle, would drop off the goods every few days. Such was life in a small town.

Grace shared that Betty was recently widowed and that her seventeen-year old son was helping his mom out as much as he could.

"That's hard. What about college?" Maia asked.

"Kyle may have to skip the first year of college until his mom can handle the grocery store by herself or afford to hire more help. He is such a bright kid, it would be a shame if he didn't get the opportunity," Grace said sadly.

"So what do you want for dinner tonight?" Grace asked her.

"No dinner for tonight, Grace," Jack said as he strode into the kitchen. "You can go home at 3pm since you had to come in early. I'm taking Maia out tonight to sample Westcove Tavern's famous burgers." A thought occurred to Jack and he asked Maia, "You do eat meat, right?"

"Heck, yeah. I love my meat," Maia replied without thinking and could have kicked herself when Jack raised an eyebrow and grinned wickedly at the double-meaning.

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