trying to keep it very low-key-some of these donors aren’t ready to tip their hands yet about their support for any of the party’s candidates.”
“And if you take my car, it won’t draw attention from the press?” Stacy guessed. “Of course you can use my car.”
“When was the last time you took it in for service?”
“I had the oil changed about a month ago, but the tires could probably use balancing, and I guess I should have the brakes and tires checked.”
“Can you take it in today to have it checked out? The governor will need it around 4:00 p.m.”
“Of course.” She was planning on a quiet night with Zachary and his
“Perfect. Just get the receipts for the service to the governor and she’ll be sure you’re reimbursed for the expense.” Greg walked away without saying goodbye, pulling out his BlackBerry and punching in a number.
Rob Sanchez stopped him at the checkpoint, Stacy noted with amusement. Harlan McClain, or whoever at CSI had hired the young bodyguard, had good judgment in personnel.
She glanced at her watch-twelve-thirty. If she left now, she’d have time to leave her car at Hal’s Garage for the checkup and service, walk to the day care to pick up Zachary and then take him to the diner for lunch. She pulled out her phone to let Hal’s Garage know she was coming.
HARLAN HAD THOUGHT WORKING at the CSI offices that morning would make it easier to keep his mind on the work at hand and off of his growing attachment to Stacy Giordano and her son. But he’d spent most of the morning wondering what they were doing.
He knew Zachary would be at the day care, probably learning how to control his random chatter and the finer points of relating to his peers without freaking them out with his intensity and complete disregard for personal space. The kid was bright and interesting, and it would be a damned shame if his schoolmates treated him like a pariah. He had so much to offer, but kids could be cruel.
If Harlan was experiencing just this small amount of angst for the boy, what must his mother go through every day as she dropped him off at school?
No wonder she put up walls between herself and other people. Being Zachary’s mother was a round-the-clock job she already had to share with her work for the governor.
But when he entered Talk of the Town and spotted Stacy sitting at a booth near the counter, his whole body seemed to leap at the sight.
Zachary was with her, Harlan saw as he drew closer. Zachary spotted him first, mostly because he was peeking his head around the booth to watch the other diners. His blue eyes widened when he saw Harlan, but he quickly went back to the task of scoping out the other customers.
Harlan figured for Zachary, that brief moment of recognition was as good as an excited greeting. He’d take it.
When Stacy caught sight of him, her expression was a bit more subdued. She gave a nod of recognition but didn’t exactly make him feel welcome.
He supposed he deserved that for the way he’d left this morning without a goodbye. And if he were a smart man, he’d nod back and keep going.
But nobody had ever accused him of being smart.
“Everything going okay at the ranch?” he asked, stopping at their table.
“Fine,” she answered flatly.
Zachary didn’t say hello, but he scooted to the end of the booth and started playing with the sugar dispenser, making room on the bench for Harlan to sit down.
“Just you two for lunch?” Harlan asked.
Her lips flattened to a thin line, but she made the offer. “Would you like to join us?”
He felt a little guilty for forcing the invitation, but not guilty enough to refuse the offer. He sat next to Zachary. “Have you ordered yet?”
“Just our drinks. Molly should be back in a minute for our lunch orders.” The cool tone of Stacy’s voice made Harlan’s stomach ache.
Figured. He finally found himself thinking of something more than sex with a woman and she was determined to cut him off at the knees. Of course, his hasty retreat that morning probably hadn’t done much to endear him to her.
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I just hotfooted it out of there this morning. That was rude.”
“You were there to keep us safe. You didn’t owe us anything else. We appreciate it.”
The pained look in her eyes showed her reluctance to have this conversation. But ignoring the attraction between them hadn’t seemed to work very well so far. Maybe getting it out in the open and putting it to rest was the only solution.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
He glanced at Zachary. “I want to discuss this in private, but since that’s not an option, I guess I want to be honest about something. I’m not a good bet for happily ever after. Been there, done that, got burned.”
Her lips curved slightly. “Same here.”
“But that doesn’t mean I’m not still a grown man.”
“With grown man needs?”
He nodded.
“Is this some sort of proposition?”
“No,” he said quickly, realizing he was botching this conversation royally. “I’m not proposing anything. I just thought we should get clear about what happened last night. I guess I’m asking what you want to happen.”
“I don’t want anything to happen.”
He frowned at her quick refusal. Couldn’t she have at least considered the possibilities before she nixed starting any kind of relationship? “Okay, then.”
She gave him an oddly sympathetic look. “It’s not that I don’t find you attractive. I do. I’m just old enough and wise enough to understand the difference between wanting something and needing it. Whatever I might want where you’re concerned, I know I don’t need it. I don’t need the complication or the headache. Can you understand that?”
Probably better than she knew. And he could accept it, he supposed. He just didn’t have to like it. “I understand,” he said. “And now that we’re clear, maybe we can work in the same room without things getting so strange between us.”
“Absolutely.”
“A hug should only last for the count of three,” Zachary commented from his end of the booth. He wrapped his arms around Harlan’s waist and counted aloud. “One. Two. Three.” He grinned up at Harlan and let go.
Stacy chuckled. “Charlotte’s been teaching him some interrelational skills. How not to scare the other children.”
“I could use a little training in that area, buddy,” Harlan told Zachary. “What else did you learn today?”
Before Zachary could answer, the sound of sirens rose outside the diner. As the lunch crowd started moving toward the windows to see what was going on, Stacy’s cell phone began to ring. She answered it, then listened for a couple of seconds to the speaker on the other end of the call. To Harlan’s alarm, every bit of color leached from her face. “What?”
The doors of the diner burst open, and a pair of Freedom sheriff’s deputies rushed inside. One of them, a tall, lanky man in his mid-thirties, barked out an order. “Everybody, we need to evacuate the area. If you’re on foot, we’ve got a couple of vans outside. Otherwise, we want you to head east and gather at the Baptist Church on Mesquite. We’ll let you know what’s going on once we’ve cleared the square.”
Harlan looked back at Stacy. Her eyes were wide and dark in her bloodless face. “What the hell is going on?” he asked.
She spoke in a faint, strangled voice. “That was Hal from the garage on the phone. They found a bomb
