16
Asher stoodout in front of the community center and tried to mentally prepare himself for the next eight hours. Blake was already inside the event; she had come with Dorsey and his family. But, for once, his teenage daughter wasn’t the person he was worried about. It was Ava, who he knew was also inside. He’d been texting her to let her know that he was running late.
He would’ve been here an hour ago, but he was on duty and he’d been called out to a suspicious looking abandoned vehicle about thirty miles outside of town. It turned out that the driver had run out of gas the night before and gone to a family member’s house for the night before coming back to fill the tank. Normally, when he went on calls, he wasn’t hoping that something nefarious had gone on. But he was this time, because it would’ve given him an out that he desperately wanted.
From the outside of the building, he could hear the festivities inside. The fundraiser was already in full swing and he was supposed to report for his dance time in less than ten minutes. He still couldn’t believe how epically this plan had backfired.
All he’d wanted was some bonding time with his daughter. Instead, he was going to have some bonding time with the woman that he’d been doing everything in his power to avoid. He had a bad feeling this wasn’t going to go well.
He tried to put things in perspective by reminding himself that the only thing that truly mattered was that Blake was okay. And she was. She’d had her ankle set and was in a cast that she’d have to wear for six to eight weeks. After that, she’d have to see a physical therapist to work on her mobility and strength once the cast came off, but from what the doctor said she shouldn’t have any lasting issues.
When he’d rushed to the urgent care, his only concern was getting there and seeing with his own two eyes that his baby girl was okay. After the nurse showed him back to the room, he walked in to find Blake’s arms wrapped around Ava and his heart had jumped into his throat.
He’d been relieved to see for himself that his daughter appeared to be fine, but there was more than that. An emotion he wasn’t sure he wanted to identify, even if he could, had overwhelmed him when he saw Ava and Blake embracing. He’d known, on an academic level that the two of them knew each other, but seeing them together and how bonded they were made him seriously second guess him keeping the past he and Ava shared a secret.
Before he’d had a chance to process any of that, Blake had dropped the bombshell that she’d asked Ava to sub-in so she could still get her phone.
His knee-jerk reaction had been to say no. Absolutely not. But two things stopped him from doing that. First, the look in Ava’s eyes was so raw, so vulnerable, he knew if he’d responded in the negative it would have hurt her feelings, and that’s the last thing he’d ever want to do.
And second, he didn’t have a better plan B for a replacement partner. He wasn’t going to let down the department, and he had no clue who else he’d ask. Especially, since he was one of the last to sign up his time slot was one of the worst, he was going to be dancing from eight at night to four in the morning. Not that there weren’t women who’d be willing to spend eight hours on the dance floor with him, but he didn’t want to lead any of those women on.
Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself all he had to do was get through the next eight hours and then he could go back to business as usual, which especially after seeing how close Blake and Ava were, was to avoid her completely. The problem with that plan was that it had taken every drop of self-control he possessed to stay away from her these past few weeks. There’d been so many times when the devil on his shoulder whispered in his ear that one call, one text, one stop-by wouldn’t hurt anything or anyone.
“Hello there, son.” Henry Walker, the mayor of Hope Falls, slapped a large hand on his shoulder, smashing the devil that was posted there. “How are you settlin’ in?”
“Pretty good.” Asher gave the mayor the same response he gave everyone else.
He’d met the mayor the first week he’d arrived and liked him immediately. The man wore cowboy boots, a Stetson hat, Wranglers with a large silver belt buckle that had a deer rearing up on its back legs etched into it, and he spoke with a noticeable down-home twang. Asher assumed that the man had to own a ranch or farm of some sort and been raised in the South. He’d learned from the chief though, that Mayor Walker was born and raised in Hope Falls and his clothing choices were just personal style that had nothing to do with his lifestyle. He’d been a lawyer for years and became the interim mayor after the town’s mayor, and his lifelong friend, passed away suddenly. The interim position turned into a full-time job and he was on his third term.
“I’ve heard good things about you from Eric. He says you’re doing a real fine job.”
Chief Maguire seemed like a pretty laid-back guy and was by far the best boss Asher had ever had. He seemed to trust his team and only step in or say something if there was an issue. Asher’s performance review wouldn’t happen until his probation period ended in eight more weeks, so it was nice to hear that the chief had shared positive feedback about him.
“Thank you, Mayor Walker.”
“Oh now, you can just call me Henry. We don’t really do formalities ’round here.”
Asher nodded with a grin.
Henry took a deep breath and squeezed Asher’s shoulder once more before dropping his hand. “Well, don’t suppose we’re gonna get much dancin’ done out here. We better be headin’ inside.”
“Yes, sir.”
As the two men entered the community center, Asher was acutely aware that his heart was beating a mile a minute and his palms had dampened. It took him a moment to realize that what he was experiencing was nerves. He’d never really had an issue with nervousness before. That was one of the things that had served him so well in his undercover work.
It didn’t matter what the situation was, Asher remained calm, cool, and collected. He didn’t have to disguise any anxiety over not being who he was pretending to be because he never had any. Until now.
Deceiving murderers, drug dealers, human traffickers hadn’t caused him to sweat in the slightest. But the thought of dancing with a woman who he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about had him more jittery than if he’d mainlined espresso.
Within seconds of arriving, Henry was intercepted by Mrs. Dawes telling him that no one from the city had come out to fix the pothole in front of her house. To his credit, the mayor seemed to take the complaint very seriously.
Asher could never be in politics for so many reasons, but one of the main ones was if he felt something it was broadcast in hi def on his face. Jenna used to tell him he had an anti-poker face. She always knew if he was upset or didn’t like something or someone. He just hoped the opposite wasn’t true. He hoped that for the next eight hours he’d be able to conceal how he felt about Ava.
He was just getting his bearings when he saw a familiar face approaching him. His daughter was in a blue dress that she’d “borrowed” from her mom for a dance in eighth grade and kept. He couldn’t believe how old she looked. Her hair was pulled up and she was wearing a little bit of makeup. But it wasn’t the mascara or lipstick that caused her to look more mature, it was her face thinning out. She was losing the chubby cheeks she’d had since she was a baby. In one week, she’d be fourteen. In two years, she’d be driving. In four, if everything went as planned, she’d be headed off to college.
Those were also facts that he knew logically, but when he looked at her, he still saw a toddler in footed PJs lifting her arms in the air and asking to be picked up.
Blake gave him an assessing once over. “Wow, Dad, you look so handsome!”
