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“I have absolutely no details for you, Holls. Last night he mentioned he was looking into a cold case, and I could tell exactly which one he meant. But that was the end of the conversation.”
Holly finally went back to present wrapping, but she snuck a glance at Robin through the sweep of blonde hair that fell over her shoulder as she worked. “How do you feel about that?”
“Honestly? At first, it was weird. But then I realized it only felt weird because itshouldbe weird for someone like Jack to be looking into my husband’s death, but it doesn’t. Does that make sense?”
Holly shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you mean by ‘someone like Jack’? An outsider? Since he wasn’t even here when it happened?”
“No.” Robin flared her eyes at Holly, trying to get her to read her mind so she wouldn’t have to spell it out.
“Ah. Someone you have feelings for.”
Robin’s gut twisted, and she squirmed in her sensible heels. Thankfully, the mayor had a day trip planned with his wife for their anniversary, so Robin had gotten a midweek day off. But thanks to how little she’d slept last night—before and after the thing with Jack at the window—she’d gotten dressed for work and walked Abby to school before she even remembered she was off today.
The man was distracting, that was for sure. And not simply for all the best reasons, like thinking about whether or not he’d been wearing any pants when she saw him at the window the night before.
No, it was much more than that. It touched her that he’d wanted to look into Matthew’s case. It showed her that even though he didn’t have a dog in the fight, so to speak, he wanted to find answers to the mystery that everyone else in Snow Hill had stopped looking for.
And why was that? At first, there’d been a total sense of outrage that something that horrible could happen in their town—to one of their own. To one of the men who was sworn to protect them, and both Snow Hill PD and the residents seemed desperate for answers.
And then… it was like the whole thing hit some kind of invisible wall, and everything came to a standstill.
Until now.
UntilJack.
Holly reached out and put her hand over Robin’s, halting her progress with a box of plastic doll food. “If you can put your feelings for Jack aside, are you happy he’s looking into the case?”
Robin nodded without hesitation.
“Good. I’m happy too. Maybe he can help you get the closure you need, and if not, we’re all here for you, always. Okay?”
With a tiny sniff, Robin nodded again. It was all she could manage, but she knew it was enough.
* * *
Miss Patty’scookie decorating classes were something of a tradition for Robin and Abby. The first year they’d done it, Abby had only been five. She’d struggled so hard to wrap her tiny hands around the large icing bags that Miss Patty offered to give her smaller ones to work with, and it had made Abby’s night to have special equipment built just for her.
The following Christmas, when she was six, they’d done the class with Holly and Nick sitting at the table in front of them—on their first date, in fact. It’d been Holly’s birthday, and even though she hadn’t even told anyone about her special day until right before it, Nick had signed them up for the class as a surprise for her.
Thus, several years later, Robin and Abby sat in their usual place, with Nick and Holly in front of them once again, having a traditional date of their own.
They hadn’t brought Noelle, however. Maybe when she was older they’d bring her along and change it from a date night to a family affair. But Joan had insisted that with baby number two on the way, they should take advantage of the limited time they’d have for themselves while they still could and offered to keep Noelle at home.
Robin’s heart pinched as she watched Abby decorate a cookie shaped like a snowman. Unsurprisingly, she’d chosen to start with that one even though there were five other designs for her to decorate.
She’d only opted for the smaller icing bags that first time they’d been offered, and even though she’d covered Robin in red icing that year when she was six since the bigger bags were still hard for her to handle, she’d since perfected the art of wielding the bag.
That memory only served to make her think of Jack, however. There she’d been, her white sweater covered in bloodred icing, startled by the sight of Jack’s hulking form bursting through the door like she’d been shot or something.
Back then, he’d still been Holly’s bodyguard, and he’d been lurking outside even though his sister had made him promise to take the night off. So when he’d seen all that red on her sweater, he’d charged in without taking the time to realize how unlikely it was that she’d been mortally wounded while icing Christmas cookies.
The fear she’d seen in his eyes had all but made her throat close up. He’d looked at her as if he’d do whatever he could to save her, and even though he’d quickly realized his error—and Holly had promptly scolded him for overreacting—it’d taken more than a few heartbeats for Robin to get over the swoony feeling that’d overtaken her when he’d rushed in.
Not to mention the heart-stopping way his lips had turned up in an embarrassed smile. He’d always been so stoic, almost grumpy, every time she’d seen him up until that point, and the boyish smile on his face had been a welcome sight indeed.
As if conjured by her thoughts, Robin looked up from watching Abby pipe a layer of black icing on Frosty’s hat to find Jack moving to stand in front of their table.
“Figured you two would be here.”
