Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding)(30)

“Be careful with that one, Hayley. He’s not like Eric. He cares too much.”

Confused, she tucked her gramps in and shut off the light. First he was gunning for Jackson and now Gramps was protecting him? She started to ask him what he meant, but his eyes were already closed.

Her gramps’s snores echoed through the room by the time she reached the door.

She lingered in the doorway, wishing she could fall asleep that quickly. At least then she wouldn’t have to worry about going home and replaying every moment that had passed between her and Jackson from the towel hitting the floor to the phone ringing.





Hayley managed to avoid Jackson the following morning by heading off to the station long before he arrived to “work”. Although she’d been pleasantly surprised at what he had accomplished the day before, she’d half assumed he wouldn’t start working until noon. At least she had until her mother phoned to say that she’d just passed Jackson picking up coffee for the two of them bright and early.

Getting her mother off the phone without getting into an argument had been nearly as tricky as finding a reason to be away from the station all morning in case Jackson planned on stopping by to deliver the coffee. Thankfully, Phil hadn’t minded getting out of the office to follow a couple random leads.

No further in their robbery investigation, she’d gotten back to her desk just as a tip on a months-old breaking and entering case came along from a source Hayley had used before. She and Phil had made the arrest that afternoon, hopefully proving to her captain she wasn’t as overwhelmed as he seemed to think.

With her shift over for the day, she swung by the hospital, grabbed one of the veggie smoothies that Gramps grumbled about but secretly loved, and popped in to see him. Seeing as he was deep in concentration watching the NHL draft, she didn’t stay long.

On her way out, Gramps stopped her. “Are you in love with him?”

“Jackson?” she asked, realizing a second too late who he meant.

He arched a bushy brow. “Are you dating any other hockey players I don’t know about?”

Laughing, she shook her head. “No to both questions. We haven’t been…together long enough,” she settled on, ignoring the guilt greasing her stomach.

“Are you sure? Could have sworn you were in love with him years ago with the way you were hanging around the rink all the time.”

“I loved watching you coach. Loved the game.”

“Uh-huh.”

She returned long enough to press a kiss to his cheek. “It’s a little premature to be dreaming about mini Stones and Knights lacing up and scooting around the rink like future All-Stars, don’t you think?”

He made a sound of disagreement, but let the subject drop. Thankfully.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After leaving the hospital, she drove past Stone’s, pulling into the parking lot once she confirmed that Jackson’s car wasn’t there. She really needed to stop avoiding him, or at least figure out if she was more afraid of him taking advantage of their dating arrangement, or taking advantage of it herself.

Two feet inside the bar, she stopped. Jackson was behind the counter. He leaned against the bar, that effortless smile in place as he chatted to Bernice Cabot.

On instinct she turned away, thinking about joining one of the regular tables, only to change her mind. The days of flying under the radar and avoiding direct confrontation had been over for a long time. She’d learned to face everything head-on, and that included what had happened between them last night, something she’d found plenty of reasons to not think about after she went to the hospital.

Promising herself that she’d think about it later had seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe even a practical one. Except later had expired half a minute ago, and last night was suddenly all she could think about.

Decision made, she walked toward the bar. She regretted it three seconds after the fact, and it had nothing to do with last night and everything to do with the oversize bear costume sitting on the other side of Bernice.

Crap.

“Hayley.” Jackson called her name, making it impossible to go hide with the regulars after all.

Ignoring the mascot costume that still looked faintly tie-dyed, she forced a smile and approached the bar. She chose a stool a couple down from Bernice, giving the former high school gossip queen a polite nod.

Bernice returned the gesture, looking mildly annoyed when Jackson moved closer to Hayley.

“Look what Bernice brought in.” He snatched the bear head off the body and planted it right on the bar in front of Hayley. “Remember this guy?”

“Is that Fuzzy Wuzzy?” Laughing, Matt emerged from the kitchen. “He’s looking good for having his ass glued to a Beamer and his tail set on fire.” True to form, Matt hopped over the bar to show everyone the scorched spot where the costume’s stubby tail used to be.

“I don’t remember hearing how his tail caught fire.” Jackson looked directly at Hayley.

She turned to Bernice. “How did you end up with him?”

“After we graduated, the principal decided he couldn’t be cleaned well enough for the next school year and ordered a new one.”

“And he’s just been collecting dust in your closet since then?”

She couldn’t help but grin at Matt’s crack, which only made Bernice scowl harder.

“No.” Bernice snatched the bear suit out of Matt’s hand and repositioned him on the stool. “I had him in the attic. I just thought Jackson might like to see him since he didn’t make it to the reunion.”

Matt frowned. “You brought him to the reunion? Must have been a cheap date.”

“He was on display.” Bernice’s patience was running on fumes.

Sliding onto the stool next to Hayley, Matt shrugged. “I don’t remember seeing him that night, do you?”

“I only remember having to leave early because some jackasses decided to take the party to Sunset Bluff and were setting off fireworks.” Not that she’d minded leaving as she’d stupidly let Matt talk her into going to the reunion to begin with. She would have preferred listening to Gramps and Trudy bicker all night over pretending she’d been friends with most of the kids she’d graduated with.

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Jackson said.

Hayley snorted. “They ended up setting a car on fire.”

“Hayls just hated missing out on a good time.” Matt grinned.

“It was a wonder one of you didn’t drive right off the cliffs that night.” More than a few, including two other cops she worked with, had certainly drunk enough to do something that stupid. Ten-year reunions were apparently a reason to be ten times crazier than they had been in high school.

“Wasn’t there a time you would have been leading the pack?” Bernice inquired, smirking just a bit.

Hayley went with the same tactic she’d used back in high school when Bernice wanted to get a reaction out of her. She ignored her completely.

Bernice lifted a shoulder at the dismissal, her attention predictably drifting back to Jackson.

He nodded at the mascot. “And how did his tail catch fire?”

Damn. He just wasn’t going to let it go, was he?

“Not everyone respected that he was a symbol of school spirit,” Bernice put in, her disgusted tone probably meant to hurt Hayley’s feelings. The gossip-queen-turned-real-estate-agent wasn’t making it hard to remember why the two of them had never clicked.

“Hayls, how did his tail catch on fire?” Matt, not clueing in that she’d rather talk about anything but the mascot costume and impulsive high school pranks, bumped her arm.

“That was Gavin.” She honestly didn’t have a clue which one of them might have been responsible, but it was an answer. At least Gavin wasn’t here to mind being thrown under the bus.

Before anyone could poke holes in her explanation, she slid off her stool and went behind the bar to pour herself a beer.

Another regular, Tim, motioned her down the bar. The woman next to him, Sarah, was only a year or two younger than Tim’s fifty-five. Both of them had lost their spouses to cancer a few years back, and as far as Hayley knew, the pair had been dating for a few months now.

A few people would occasionally grumble about how affectionate the two were in public, insisting they needed to get a room, but Hayley thought they were cute together and lucky to find someone else to share their lives with.

“So how’s the torrid romance going?” Tim asked.

Hayley smiled and leaned a hip against the counter. “I’m not sure torrid is the word I’d use.”

“So what word would you use?”

The question came from behind her, just loud enough for Tim and Sarah to hear, and close enough to Hayley’s ear to shoot a warm shiver straight up her spine.