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“What? How would they even know about me?”
“When we mentioned you were bringing her back, they asked who you were. We told them you were the Green Beret who’s living here in Hope Harbor.”
“You’re not supposed to tell people I’m a Green Beret,” he reminded her—too late. “Let me change my shirt.” He took the three steps to the closet and grabbed a clean polo.
She didn’t look away as he quickly changed.
“Wait. Do you have a bow?” he asked.
“For what?”
“My grandma taught me not to show up for a birthday party without a gift.”
“And what are you going to put the bow on?” Wren eyed him with a suggestive smirk.
“Not what you think.” He shooed her out the door and went to the back of his truck where he grabbed a post for the deck. “For this.”
“I’ve got some ribbon we can wrap around it.” She ducked inside Haven House and came out a minute later with a spool of red ribbon. It didn’t exactly scream happy birthday, but it was better than nothing. He formed a bow and cut the end. The guests might not get it, but it was a decent gift, all things considered.
The women must have carpooled. Inside Elizabeth’s house, over a dozen women milled around. He stood out, not only because of his size, but because he was the only man in the room. He recognized Brooke and Jessica from the VFW and nodded to the eclectic mix of women of every age and ethnicity. They all stared at him.
“Here. I’ll put that with the other gifts. I don’t think she’ll need a tag to know who it’s from.” Wren took the post from his hands and put it on the coffee table.
Seeing the spread of food on the dining room table, he ducked in there and found a wide array of options. He filled his plate with a sampling of everything.
Two women picked up plates as he admired the lavish birthday cake that had yet to be cut.
“Good afternoon. Did you ladies bring all this food?”
“We each brought a dish. I made the ham rolls.” The attractive woman looked to be in her thirties and wore turquoise glasses that matched the flowers in her dress. She gave him a shy smile.
John took a bite. “Delicious. I’ll have to get another.”
“I made the cake.” A woman with a strong resemblance to a young Paula Abdul said.
“It’s beautiful. Almost too pretty to eat.”
“Thank you. Because of Elizabeth’s help, I have my own specialty cake business.”
“Do you do kids’ cakes?”
“I do all kinds. Birthday, gender reveals, wedding, cake pops, cupcakes.”
“If you’ve got business cards, make sure you get me some to share with my unit. I’ll try to send some business your way.”
“I appreciate that. I’m Neecy,” she introduced herself as Jillian joined them.
“And I’m Valerie,” the woman in the floral dress said.
“John.”
“We know.” Valerie glanced away with a slight smile
Yeah. What all did they know? “Officer Lewis. Nice to see you again.” He should have expected Jillian to be here, but he wasn’t going to invite her to the wedding in front of everyone. For her sake, and his.
“Elizabeth said you gave the women some security training and set up motion-activated lights,” Jillian commented.
“I did. I think I’ve got them situated now. But if you find my dead body, it’s because they were going off in the middle of the night again and Wren killed me.” He followed the women into the living room.
