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The next pic was of Finn helping people get into the pedal boats. Conner instantly thought of Hannah. Was she glad he was late, or was she watching the clock until he arrived?
I’m trying to wrap things up, but I probably won’t make it until the second movie.He sent that text to Rory.
No worries. Ainsley and I arrived early with Finn to help out, but Hannah seems to have a lot of volunteers willing to do her bidding.
Instinctively, he pounded his fist on his desk at the thought, but he couldn’t worry about Hannah being in denial about them. He needed to focus on work and figure out if his hunch was correct. The one thing he’d always been good at was solving a puzzle. He wanted to take down this distributor before more kids got ahold of this new drug running through their city.
Two hours later, Conner had found enough evidence to change the tide of their investigation, and the task force agreed to reconvene the next morning at seven a.m. In the meantime, he’d redirected half of the surveillance team to focus on the millionaire’s girlfriend.
It was nearly impossible to find parking near the warehouse, but luckily, his Jeep could handle some rough terrain so he parked along the side of the road. It took him less than a minute to spot Hannah as he walked around the lines waiting for food. The first movie had ended, and some folks were starting to head out to make room for the next movie showing. Hannah stood under a tent with the former football-star-turned-community-center volunteer, Tank, at her side, laughing at something he said. Instead of interrupting them, Conner decided to stick with his plan to ignore her for a bit longer. He spotted Rory with Ainsley and his parents on two large plaid blankets.
“You got room for one more?” he asked, sitting next to his mom.
She was quick to wrap her arms around him and give him a big kiss on the cheek.
“You finally shaved. What is her name?” his mom said, still hugging him.
“Mother, I don’t know if you heard, but I’m a detective now. I needed to clean up my rugged good looks for the brass.”
“Oh, Rory said you were trying to impress Hannah Paletti,” Ainsley said, earning a squeeze from Rory and laughter from his parents.
“Never hurts to keep the ladies on their toes,” he said, resisting the urge to look back to see how close Hannah was getting to the former national champion.
“Maybe it’s working. It looks like that man she’s been talking with all night is leaving,” his mom said. “He was very handsome, with a star quality. Is he famous?”
“He was a famous Heisman Trophy winner in college,” his dad offered.
“Thanks, Mom.” Conner dropped his head. “On that note, I think I’ll go see if Finn needs any help.”
“Son, don’t let that girl be alone too long, or someone else will swoop in,” his dad said.
“Trouble is, she doesn’t know what she wants yet,” Conner said.
Confiding in his family always came naturally.
His dad nodded. “That’s where that Maguire charm comes in handy.”
They all chuckled as he walked away. Unable to resist looking toward the tent, he didn’t see Hannah anymore. She was probably off making sure the vendors were in place.
The line for the pedal boats wasn’t too long since the last bits of sunset were disappearing.
“You think the boats are gonna be safe in the dark?” he asked Finn as he helped a young couple out of the turtle.
“Safe for what is the question,” Finn said. “Your buddy from the marina is sitting out there making sure no one goes too far, but I think it’s a good idea to cut off this line soon.”
He checked his watch.
“The next movie starts in twenty minutes. That’s the best time to end it.”
“Agreed. You wanna tell the people in line, or should I?”
“Tell the people what?” Hannah asked as she stepped up onto the wide dock platform.
Her cheeks were flushed, her jeans were fitted, and she looked beautiful. Her hair was down around her shoulders now, but it had been up in a ponytail when he first arrived. He wondered if she just pulled it down to tempt him more. He fought the urge to tell her he didn’t appreciate her flirting in front of him, but it would only sound possessive and idiotic.
“We were just going to cut the line off since it’s getting dark. Don’t need any more near drownings on our watch,” Conner said, putting his hands in his pockets so he didn’t reach out to touch her.
“I agree. I didn’t think you were going to make it tonight. But your proxies did a great job.” She smiled at Finn.
