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It went pretty much as Zack had expected The Hickman kid had to flex his muscles The other three had folded, and Zack expected Carl to get hisBut Hickman had to prove he was smarter, braver, and far superior to some dinky island sheriff
From his place on the dock, Zack watched the rented boat putt along toward the lobster traps He was already on the wrong side of the law, Zackafter dark without running lights That would cost hirand that the little defiance was going to cost the college boy&039;s father
He expected the kid was going to give him some trouble when he hauled hi a few hours in the station house that night One of them behind bars
Well, lessons learned, Zack decided, lowering his binoculars and reaching down for his flashlight as the boy began to haul up a pot
The screaave Zack a hell of a jolt He switched on his light, shot the bright bea crept over the surface, so that the boat seeripped in both hands, the look on his face as he stared into it one of sheer horror
Before Zack could call out, the boy flung the trap high and wide Even as it splashed into the water, he was tu in
"Oh, well, hell," Zackwet He stepped to the end of the dock, scooped up a life preserver The kid was doing ress toward shore
"Here you go, Steve" Zack tossed the preserver in "Head this way I don&039;t want to have to come in after you"
"Help ed to grab the flotation "They&039;re eating my face!"
"Almost there" Zack knelt down, held out a hand "Come on up You&039;re still in one piece"
"My head! My head!" Steve slipped and slithered onto the dock, then lay there on his belly, shuddering "I sawmy face!"
"Your head&039;s still on your shoulders, son" Zack hunkered down "Catch your breath Had yourself a hallucination, that&039;s all Been drinking a bit, haven&039;t you? That, and soot to you"
"I saw I saw" He sat up, laid shaking hands on his face to an to shake in stupendous relief
"Fog, dark, water It&039;s a tricky kind of situation, especially on a couple bottles of beer You&039;re going to feel a lot better when you give Carl that forty dollars In fact, why don&039;t we go get you cleaned up, get your wallet, and go by his place now? You&039;ll sleep better for it"
"Yeah Sure Right Okay"
"That&039;s fine" Zack helped hi the boat back, don&039;t you worry"
That Mia, Zack thought as he led the unprotesting boy away froive her credit for creativity
It took a while to calm the boy down, then to calm four boys down once he&039;d taken Steve back to the rental Then there was Carl to deal with, and the boat Which was probably why Zack ended up nodding off at the station house just before three AM
He woke two hours later, stiff as a board and annoyed with himself Ripley, he decided as he stu the first shift
He otten into the habit of swinging past the yellow cottage at the end of his shift Just towas as it should be
He hts in her s Concern as et out of the car
Because the kitchen light was on, he went to the back door He was lifting his hand to knock when he saw her standing on the other side of the screen, a long, sripped in both hands
"If I tell you I was just in the neighborhood, you won&039;t gut an to tremble, and her breath exploded out of her as she dropped the knife on the table with a clatter
"I&039;ht as I was hey, hey" When she swayed, he bolted through the door, gripping both her ar her into a chair "Sit Breathe Head down Jesus, Nell I&039;m sorry" He stroked her hair, patted her back, and wondered whether she would just keel over on the floor if he julass of water
"It&039;s all right I&039;ht I heard the footsteps In the dark It&039;s so quiet here, you can hear everything, and I heard you co toward the house"
She&039;d wanted to run like a rabbit in the other direction and keep going She didn&039;t re up the knife, hadn&039;t known she could
"I&039;et you soht" Mortified now, she realized, but all right "I just wasn&039;t expecting anyone to come to the door"
"Guess not It&039;s still shy of five-thirty" He sat back on his heels when she lifted her head again Color was co up?"
"I&039; as the oven tih she pounded a fist on her heart "I&039; to be lucky to survive till sunrise at this rate My ot up quickly to take them out of the oven, slide the next batch in
"I didn&039;t realize you started so early"
He could see, now that he looked around, that she&039;d been at it a while There was soe bowl of batter sat on the counter Another bowl, covered with a cloth, was beside the stove Still oneso before he&039;d scared ten years off her life
Ingredients were lined up, as organized as aband
"I didn&039;t realize you worked so late" She cal into the flour for her pastry dough
"I don&039;t usually I had a little project to finish up last night, and when it was all said and done, dropped off in iveIt&039;ll embarrass us both"
"Oh Sorry U there Cups?"
"Cabinet to the right of the sink"
"Want me to top yours off?"
"I suppose"
He poured a cup, filled hers as it sat by the sink "You know, I don&039;t think these ht"
With the bowl tucked in the crook of her arm, she turned Her face was a study of alarm and insult "What do youWhy don&039;t you let rin that had her lips twitching
"Oh, for heaven&039;s sake Why don&039;t you just ask for one?"
"More fun this way No, don&039;t bother I can get it myself" He plucked one out of the pan, burned the tips of his fingers As he tossed the muffin fro to be worth it "I&039;ve sure got a soft spot for your blueberry elow, prefers my cream puffs He said if I&039;d make them for him every day, he&039;d rinning, Zack broke the rant steaelow, a confirmed bachelor, was ninety
He watched her stir the dough, form it into a ball Then she emptied the muffin pan, set them to cool on a rack while she refilled the cups When the tiain, she shifted trays, went back to roll out her pastry dough
"You&039;ve got yourself a real system," he commented "Where&039;d you learn to bake?"
"My hts It was too easy in the quiet kitchen, with all these hoet overly comfortable and reveal too much "My mother liked to bake," she said "And I picked up recipes and techniques here and there"
He didn&039;t want her to stiffen up, so he let it pass "Do you ever make those cinna?"
"Mmm"
"I an to cut the dough for tarts and glanced back at hi back on the counter with his ankles crossed and aof coffee in his hand "I didn&039;t know you cooked"
"Sure, now and then You buy these tubes down at the ainst the counter and peel the bun things out, cook the to it"
It h "I&039;ll have to try that soerator, took out her bowl of filling
"I&039;ll give you some pointers on it" He drained his cup, set it in the sink "I guess I&039;d better get hoet out of your way Thanks for the coffee"
"You&039;re welcome"
"And the muffin It was just fine"
"That&039;s a relief" She stood at the table,into the center of her rounds of dough When he stepped toward her, she tensed a little, but continued to work
"Nell?"
She looked up, and filling slopped out of her spoon when he put his hand on her cheek
"I sure hope this doesn&039;t put you off," he said, and leaning down, he laid his lips on hers
She didn&039;t move a muscle Couldn&039;t Her eyes stayed open, locked on his Watching, as a deer ht watch when pinned in the crosshairs
His lips aristered that And softer than they looked He didn&039;t touch her She iined she&039;d have leaped out of her skin if he&039;d laid his hands on her now
But it was only his ht and easy on hers
He&039;d prepared himself for her to be annoyed, or disinterested He hadn&039;t expected her to be scared That hat he felt froid anxiety that could easily bloom into fear So he didn&039;t touch her as he wanted to, not even a gentle brush of fingers down her arms
If she&039;d stepped back, he&039;d have done nothing to stop her But her absolute stillness was its own defense It was he who stepped back, and kept it light despite a gnawing in the gut that was more than a stir of desire for her-it was a cold fury for whoever had hurt her
"Seems I have a soft spot for more than your muffins" He tucked his thumbs in his front pockets "See you later"
He strolled out, hoping the kiss and the ease of his leaving would give her so to think about
He wasn&039;t going to get any sleep Resigned to it, he thrilled Lucy by taking her for an early- swim in the inlet The roood portion of his stiffness, and his frustration
He watched Ripley finish her run on the beach and dive into the surf Dependable as sunrise, he thought as she cut through the waves Maybe he didn&039;t always knoent on in her head, or how it got there, but he rarely had to worry about Ripley Todd
She could handle herself
Lucy ran out to meet her as she started back, and the tet females had a wrestle and a race They both joined hihted exhaustion, and Ripley sucking on a bottle of water
"Moht" Ripley flopped down herself, on one of the deck chairs "Theyus six ital I&039;m afraid to start the download"
"Sorry I missed the call"
"I told theue in her cheek "They got a kick out of the lobster caper Any updates?"
"Oh, yeah"
He sat on the arm of the Adirondack chair, and filled her in
She turned her face up to the sky and hooted "I knew I should&039;ve gone with you Idiot drunk putz Lobster Boy, not you"
"I figured He wasn&039;t that drunk, Rip"
She lifted a hand, waved it at hiood aMia and her double, double, toil and trouble routine"
"Suit yourself"
"I usually do I&039;et a shower I&039;ll take the first shift You must be wiped"
"I&039; to think how to put what he wanted to say
"Listening"
"I went by the yellow cottage on the way hohts were on, so I stopped in"
"Aha," Ripley teased
"Gutter-face I had a cup of coffee and a muffin"
"Gee, Zack, I&039;m sorry to hear that"
Norhed Instead he rose, paced to the rail "You stop in and see her ht?"
"I guess we&039;re friendly enough It&039;s hard not to like her"
"Women tend to confide stuff to their female friends, don&039;t they?"
"Probably You want o to the school dance with you?" She started to snicker, but stopped when he turned around and saw his face "Hey, sorry I didn&039;t knoas serious What&039;s up?"
"I think she&039;s been abused"
"Man" Ripley stared down at her water bottle "That&039;s tough"
"Some son of a bitch messed with her, I&039;otten help, it seeirlfriend Somebody she could talk to about it"
"Zack, you know I&039; You are"
"I&039;ve got the wrong equipirlfriend, Rip Just just see if you can spend so or" He gestured vaguely "Paint each other&039;s toenails"
"Excuse me?"
"Give me a break I don&039;t knohat you people do in your mysterious caves when hts in our underwear"
He brightened because she wanted him to "Really? I was afraid that was ato get a thing for her?"