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She flushed. “Oh, gosh, not that. I was wondering if you’d be interested in doing a workshop. The art club is fascinated by your ice carvings.”
“Oh.” Surprise and delight hit me. “Yeah. I would love to.”
“Not that I wouldn’t ask you out if Van hadn’t snapped you up.” She winked at me as she handed me my receipt.
“Yeah, she’s it for me.”
Colette sighed. “The good ones always get snapped up fast.”
I laughed. I had nothing to say to that one without getting myself into trouble, so I quickly took my leave.
I was tempted to stop into the bakery, but the line was out the door, so I detoured down the block and across the street to the path around the lake. Some of the Crescent Cove Tigers were tossing a football around on the common ground while the girls gathered to watch and flirt.
The town was expanding. They’d added an extension onto the high school last year, and now they needed to do renovations on the elementary school to make room for larger classes.
When I’d grown up in nearby Turnbull, the Cove had been a dinky town that barely had a football team. Now they were getting some state attention.
Pretty soon the Chief would have to hire on a few more part-timers to fill the holes. Especially when all of us were expanding our families and didn’t grab for overtime as easily.
I took a seat on one of the benches by the water to be able to watch the guys playing as I sketched out the idea that had come to me.
Soon, I lost myself to the drawing. The hummingbird I’d carved for the wedding made a reappearance, along with a bunny and deer.
The foot of the bassinet took on a woodland story-style setting. I’d always been attracted to birds and small creatures while carving. Instead of worrying about something new, I brought the pieces I’d put in the bird cages into the design.
I pulled out my eraser and changed the head of the bassinet to hold the hummingbird now as well as a penguin just behind her. That wasn’t exactly a woodland creature, but it made me grin.
I remembered reading about Emperor Penguins as a kid. Well, my dad had read to me back then. Having a dad who bore the brunt of the rearing with my mom being career FBI for most of my life had been weird to my friends.
My dad had been the one to carpool, go to my games, and cook dinner. I wondered if I would be the same kind of father. Especially since Van secretly was more of a badass career woman than I’d originally thought.
The once playful drills by the high school team on the common ground suddenly turned into a shouting match. I slapped my notebook shut and left it on the bench as I ran over to break up the fight.
I didn’t notice Austin was picnicking with his little sister, Joey, until he ran over to back me up.
I hauled the blond kid with spiky sweaty hair off the burlier Black kid who was trying his damnedest not to take a swing at the punk.
Austin jumped between them when the shorter hothead tried to go for another round.
“Hey, watch it.” I pushed the blond back a step. “What’s your name?” My tone was firm enough that the blond kid finally got it through his head I was a cop.
He pushed his hair back, looking around at the group of people who were gathering. “I wasn’t doing nothing.”
“Anything,” Austin muttered as he crossed his arms.
“What?”
Austin rolled his eyes. “Never mind.”
The taller Black kid lifted his chin. “Mitchell just needed a reminder that I’m the quarterback, that’s all.”
“Not for long,” Mitchell snarled.
I glanced at the other kid. “You are?”
His jaw tightened. “Kimmel. Josh Kimmel. I don’t want any trouble. Cody,” the sneer in his voice was evident, “just thinks because he moved here from Syracuse that he’s going to be taking my place. Not happening.”
“We’ll see.” Cody Mitchell rolled his neck and puffed up his chest.
