Page 32 of Falling For You

I straightened the mower out and kept my eyes on the grass for the next two rows until she stood up and got inside her house. I stared at the lawn for a solid ten seconds, hoping she hadn't noticed me looking.

A delivery truck turned onto the block. I finished the last strip and cut the engine.

"Hey, Wyatt!" Jeff hopped out with a box under his arm. "Another one for you."

Jeff was the regular driver on our route. He'd been dropping off packages at my house long enough that I'd learned his name and he'd learned mine.

"That's the one I've been waiting for." I wiped my hands on my joggers and took the package. "Thanks, man."

"Have a good one!" Jeff waved and climbed back into the truck. I was already thinking about the look on Birdie's face when she saw the hobbit feet. I pulled the tape and opened it.

Lingerie. Black lace, sheer and wispy, folded in tissue paper.

I stared at it. I did not order lingerie. I was certain of this. I checked the label.

C.A. Walsh.

I looked up. Andy was already running across the street in shorts and slippers. Her braid was flying behind her.

"I was wondering when you'd finally come over." I held the box out. "But I wasn't expecting this."

She grabbed the lingerie from my hands and shoved it back into the box. Her face flushed a shade of pink I'd never seen on her before.

"Looks like Officer Walsh likes to have fun."

"Shut up, Brooks."

"Look, I'm sorry I opened it. I thought it was the Halloween costume I ordered until I read the name on the package. C.A. Walsh. What's the C stand for?"

"It stands for mind your own business."

"Is it Camille?"

She was already walking away, the box tucked under her arm. I watched her cross the street, back straight, ears burning. Her braid swung between her shoulder blades with every step.

The front door burst open behind me. Birdie came running out wearing a towel tied around her neck like a cape and a pair of oversized socks she'd stuffed with cotton balls to look like hobbit feet.

"Daddy, look! I'm Frodo!"

I looked at my daughter.

"Those are the best hobbit feet I've ever seen."

I glanced back across the street. Andy Walsh was already through her front door with a box of lingerie I wasn't going to forget about anytime soon.

CHAPTER 12

Andy's Secret

ANDY

The radio sent us to an alarm activation at a commercial building on Charleston just after noon. Fire already dispatched.

On the drive over, I was doing math I didn't want to admit to. Charleston sat on the border between two fire districts. If the call went to Station 108, I was fine. If it went to 110, Wyatt Brooks would be on the other side of that scene tape, and I'd have to work a call next to a man who'd opened a box of my lingerie just a few days ago.

Doug slowed as we pulled up. "Building's already evacuated. Looks like a false pull."

A cluster of office workers stood on the sidewalk in front of a three-story building, some with coffee cups still in their hands. An engine was parked at the curb, crew heading inside to verify.