Page 2 of Fools in Love

“Yeah, kiddo?” He took her hand in his.

She shifted to look at him and set the remote down on the armrest of the sofa. “What am I going to do now?” Tears burned her eyes as her father wrapped his arms around her.

“Whatever you want, kiddo,” he said into her hair. “Whatever you want,” he repeated, and she heard his voice crack.

Chapter One

Tom stood back and held the umbrella as he waited for Patty O’Neil to walk through the door of the police station. Patty had been the first to welcome him to town when he’d moved here from Las Vegas almost three years before. The older woman used a walker but still moved around pretty quickly.

Switching from one of the largest police forces in the country to a small-town police station had changed his life—and saved it. He’d only just passed his exams when he’d requested the transfer and hated himself for saying on his application that he had over a year of experience in the field instead of only the three months he really had. Still, there wasn’t a day that went by that he wasn’t thankful for the job and the town.

“Thank you, Tom,” Patty said as she continued towards the front counter slowly.

Patty’s silver hair was tied up in a bun at the base of her neck. She was always wearing brightly colored pants and even brighter shirts. Stylish, but very bright.

“Are you sure there isn’t something I can help you with?” he asked for the third time.

“No, I’m just here to gossip.” Patty motioned towards the town’s long-standing mayor, Lacey Stevens, who was sitting behind the counter talking to Aiden Brogan, Tom’s boss and the chief of police in Pride.

Lacey had been the third person he’d met in town. The short woman was a spitfire, which was probably why she’d been mayor for so long. No one in their right mind would go up against her.

Aiden Brogan was the son of the old police chief in town, Robert, who still showed up to the office every now and then and filled in for one of the dispatchers. Aiden had taken over when his father had been seriously hurt in an accident years before. The older man walked with a slight limp, but outside of that, appeared in perfect health.

“So, it’s true?” Lacey said, jumping up from a chair. Lacey often sat in the station to chat. Tom knew firsthand that she visited every business in town at least once a week.

“It is.” Patty nodded as she sat down in one of the waiting room chairs. “She’s home for good. She arrived two days ago, apparently, and hasn’t left the house since.”

Lacey sighed and sat down again. “That poor girl. To have her career and dreams taken away so soon.”

“Now, she’s had more than ten years to bask in the spotlight. She made some really great memories and touched a lot of people with her talent. God only knows what he has in store for her now,” Patty replied.

Tom tried not to eavesdrop, but he was busy filling out his time sheet at the main desk and couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Who?”

Everyone turned to him with strange looks on their faces.

“Why, our very own Kate,” Patty answered.

His eyebrows shot up. “Kate…”

“Sean and Becca’s girl,” Lacey added.

“Nick’s sister,” Aiden said at the same time.

Becca Farrow ran Sara’s Nook with her sister Sara, the owner, and her daughter, Brook Masters.

Tom had taken Brook out on a date or two, but they just hadn’t felt any spark for one another. Instead, they’d fallen into a friendly relationship. She was more like the sister he’d never had.

Sean Farrow headed up the big Coast Guard facility outside of town along with Allen Masters. A lot of people living in Pride either worked or trained out there.

Sean’s son, Nick Farrow, had moved back to town shortly after Tom had taken the job. Nick was ex-military and had started working shortly after his return to town. Tom and Nick had been made partners after their first year on the job.

“Right.” Even though Nick didn’t talk about her all that often, he’d heard all about his sister and how she’d been a dancer in New York.

“What happened to her?” he asked. He’d been out on vacation for the past week and hadn’t talked to Nick. The extended fishing trip had been just what he’d needed to reset. His job wasn’t stressful, but he’d needed some downtime.

“Her partner dropped her. Right before her big performance opening night,” Patty answered.

“It was such a horrible thing.” Lacey shook her head. “Rumors are floating around that it wasn’t an accident. Kate’s understudy has been fighting for the lead for months, and it is widely known that she is dating the guy who dropped Kate.”