Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

T hough Mount Grove was a small town, they had their staples. Mabel Weiss owned Loafin’ Around , one of the best bakeries in the state. The fact that she was also the mother of Danny, one of Carlos’s deputies, was just a bonus because all law enforcement got a discount. The diner where Carlos, Jeff, Steel, Lucky, and Bulldog had met for their meeting as well as where Carlos and Zoe had had their one and only date was one of the businesses owned by the Groveton family, the founding family of their small town. While the name of the business was Groveton Diner , everyone referred to it just as ‘the’ diner because it was the only one. Others had tried to build but they were all run out of business. Even the McDonald’s that had been built just outside the town’s boarders had eventually closed because no one wanted fast food over the diner’s food.

The only other restaurant that could compete with the diner was the pizzeria, which was owned by Tony DeLuca. He was one of the only residents in Mount Grove who spoke flawless Italian, having immigrated from Italy when he was in his early twenties. Unfortunately, his wife, who had been a native of Mount Grove, had died in a car accident on the highway almost a decade ago. Tony had remained in Mount Grove, saying it was where he felt closest to “ Bella Mia” . When Louisa and Carlos had been struggling to learn Italian in preparation for their pending trip eight years ago, they’d come to Tony for help.

Carlos held the door open for Zoe and Kyle. The aroma of tomatoes, bread, and spices flooded their senses. The diner knew it was beat in one category: pizza. It was the reason it had been taken off of their menu when Carlos had still been a kid.

Kyle’s eyes went wide as he took in the establishment. The booths were maroon and worn with traditional red and white checkered tablecloths. A real candle rested at the center of each table with a narrow vase holding a single flower. Eight booths lined the two large windows separated by the door. Six four-seater tables were spread out in the center of the room. What had once been the milkshake bar of a failed restaurant was now a quick service bar with metal stools.

“Booth or table?” Carlos asked.

As good as Tony’s pizza was, residents rarely ate in. The place was too small and it was known that service was slow. Tony was the only cook and he only kept two or three servers on hand to work the front and the phones. Most of the town got pick up or called for delivery because, despite the wait, Tony’s pizza was worth it. Tony had finally broken down about five years ago and hired a driver to work deliveries in Mount Grove. He did not “fiddle” with apps or technology.

Per Tony, “If you want a Tony’s pizza, you have to talk to Tony.”

“Booth,” Zoe said. There was only one other family seated in the restaurant. However, there were a number of people at the bar waiting on their takeout orders.

Carlos acknowledged all of them with a wave or a chin lift as he led them down to the far booth. He seated himself so he was facing the dining room.

“Do you mind watching Kyle?” Zoe pointed to the ladies’ room door. “I can take him with me?—”

“We’re fine,” Carlos assured her. She helped Kyle up onto the booth opposite of Carlos. “Can I order you a drink?”

“Water for me and milk or juice for Kyle please.”

At Carlos’s nod, Zoe hurried off towards the restroom. Carlos turned to Kyle, who was seated on his knees so he could reach the top of the table. He was surprised to see the boy was studying Carlos.

Based on Zoe’s story she’d told him the day before, Kyle was almost four years old. He had brown curly hair and large brown eyes. The kid was certainly cute. Carlos had not seen a picture of his birth father to know how much Kyle took after him.

“Who are you?”

Carlos blinked at the question. “You know who I am.” They’d spent most of the day together yesterday.

Kyle shook his head with as much indignation as a four-year-old child could possess. “I know your name but not who you are. Are you my mommy’s friend?”

Carlos thought about that a second. He was more—or rather, hoped he was more—than Zoe’s friend, but he wasn’t sure how to explain that to a four-year-old. “Yeah, I am. Is that okay with you?”

“Mommy needs friends. She misses her friends.”

He didn’t know who the boy meant. Kyle was too young to remember his birth father or any possible friends Zoe had had in Philadelphia. Did he mean the people who had helped them in Montana, the Mountain Mutineers? Conner?

“What about you, Kyle? Do you miss your friends?”

“I have my mommy,” was the boy’s answer.

It would make sense that he didn’t have any friends his age, but Carlos still felt bad for the boy. For the past year, they’d hadn’t left the club’s property. Four days ago when Carlos had seen Kyle running around the pentagon-shaped backyard with Scotty and Lila was the first time Kyle had met the club kids.

“Can I be your friend?” Carlos asked as Penny, one of the waitresses, approached.

“Evenin’, Sheriff.” The brunette greeted them with a smile. She was a few years older than Carlos and had been working for Tony as long as Carlos could remember.

Carlos was dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, but he still had his badge and gun on him. Even though the official announcement hadn’t gone out yet, the entire town knew about Hannigan’s resignation and Carlos’s appointment to sheriff.

“Penny, good evening. Can we get two waters and…” He turned to Kyle, “did you want milk or juice?”

“Milk,” was the definitive answer.

“And a milk, please,” Carlos added to Penny.

“Sure thing. You got company tonight?”

Carlos nodded. “My girlfriend’s in the bathroom.”

“Girlfriend?” Penny’s voice rose with surprise.

There was a loud clank up at the counter. Carlos looked around Penny to see what had happened, only to find everyone in the restaurant had paused and was facing him. He frowned. Kyle shifted around too, his big eyes going wide when he saw everyone was looking at them.

Which of course is when Zoe exited the bathroom. She had her head down, looking at something in her shoulder purse. She was partway back to the table when she looked up and found the entire restaurant staring at her.

Carlos saw her face pale as the fight or flight instinct kicked in. Her eyes immediately flicked to the exit and he imagined she was working out her escape in her head.

He quickly rose and went to her. He moved to block her from the prying eyes of the restaurant goers. “Small town,” he whispered into her ear. “You’re safe. They’re just really surprised to see that I have a date.”

“I’m just… I don’t like… What if someone recognizes me? This was a bad idea. We shouldn’t have come out.”

“Shh…” he soothed, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. “Sunshine, no one will recognize you. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I thought it was unsafe. Just remember, you’re Jenna’s widowed niece. That’s all anyone needs to know for now.”

He heard Zoe swallow nervously. Still, the last thing he wanted was for her to be uncomfortable.

Carlos spun around, keeping Zoe behind his broad body. “Quit your staring!” he snapped. “She’ll never go out with me again if you guys turn our date into a spectacle.”

That seemed to snap the onlookers out of their astonished gazes. Conversations started back up slowly as people turned away from them. Carlos waited another second to ensure there were no stragglers and then guided Zoe back over to the booth.

She sat opposite of him next to Kyle.

Penny still stood at the end of the table. Her eyes were wide, like she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to stay or go.

Carlos sighed. “Penny, this is Zoe and her son Kyle. Zoe, Kyle, this is Penny. She’s worked here for as long as I can remember.”

Penny scoffed and swatted him with her order pad. “Don’t say that. That makes me sound old!”

Carlos winked at her. “No older than I am, sugar.”

A flush speckled her cheeks. “I’ll grab your drinks for you. It is nice to meet you, Zoe.”

Zoe nodded but didn’t say anything. She turned her attention to Kyle, pulling a coloring book and crayons out of her purse. Kyle stood up and leaned over the table as he started coloring in typical four-year-old fashion. As in, all over the page with no regard to the lines of the zoo animals.

Carlos watched as Zoe fiddled with her purse some more, then grabbed a napkin out of the dispenser and started to wipe the table down, then helped Kyle organize his crayons, then took another napkin and place it over her lap… Anything but look at him.

“We’re a small town,” he reminded her gently. “You’re new. That makes you news. The fact that you’re with me and I’ve made it known that I don’t date within the town… Well, it’s bound to draw the locals’ attention. I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

Zoe shrugged but still didn’t look at him.

Penny returned with a tray of their glasses and a paper cup with a lid and straw for Kyle. “You ready to order?”

When Zoe still didn’t look up, Carlos turned to Penny. “Can you give us a minute?”

“Sure thing.” She put her pad back in her apron and walked away.

Carlos waited a second to ensure Penny was out of earshot and then he reached across the table. Zoe’s hands were on her lap, so he couldn’t reach them. He tapped the table in front of her to catch her attention.

She startled, looking up.

“Why are you hiding from me?”

Her cheeks reddened as her eyes cast downward again. “I’m not.”

“Liar.” He said the word without malice or rebuke. “Baby, you might as well be sitting at a completely different table. Tell me what’s wrong. If you don’t want to eat here, we can take our pizza to go.”

“It’s fine,” Zoe said shortly. “We can eat here.”

Carlos glanced to Kyle but he was focused entirely on his drawing and not paying attention to either Carlos or his mom. Carlos scratched the back of his neck, trying to figure out what had happened, what had triggered her. If it was them being here in public, wouldn’t she have taken the out he’d offered and asked to leave?

He was about to ask what type of pizza she wanted, just to have something to talk about. Their first date had gone so smoothly, effortlessly. There’d never been an awkward pause or that first date lull where they tried to think up something to say. They’d talked for so long that the diner had closed down on them and Kelly the waitress had had to gently kick them out. He was completely baffled about what had happened now to evoke such a one-eighty change.

“You called her ‘sugar’.”

Carlos blinked at Zoe’s words. “What?”

“The waitress. Penny. You called her ‘sugar’. Are you… Have you…?”

Though she was staring down at her hands on her lap, Carlos understood where her incomplete questions were leading. “No.” She glanced up at him and he repeated more sternly, “ No .”

Zoe’s eyes came up—except she was looking anywhere but at him. “It’s just… You two seemed friendly.”

“Zo, will you please look at me?”

Her eyes stopped dancing around. Slowly, they traveled over to meet his.

“Hi,” he smiled at her. Her cheeks pinkened. Carlos reached a hand across the table, palm up. It was an invitation, not a demand. Hesitantly, Zoe lifted her right hand and placed it into his larger one. “Zoe, do you think me such a player that I would move you into my house, into my room ,” he said evasively, eyeing Kyle, “while dating or seeing other women?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t think that. I just… I don’t like… I didn’t like…”

“I was a deputy of a small town for ten years and now I’m the sheriff. People know me. People relate to me. I might use a familiar endearment like ‘sugar’ or ‘darling’ but it’s not a term I use intimately.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re the only one I call and will ever call ‘sunshine’.”

Zoe looked away, her chin quaking slightly. “I’m being silly.”

“You’re reacting to what you know,” Carlos defended. “I’m guessing your husband flirted with other women in front of you.” She nodded slowly. “I would never do that, Zoe. You’re the first woman to ever touch my heart. I’ve vowed to protect you. That includes from me too. I’d never hurt you.”

She wiped her eyes with her free hand. “I know that. I never would have agreed to move in with you if I didn’t trust you, Carlos.”

“You’ve had a rough couple of years. Topped with moving twice and the fear of discovery, I can understand your reaction.” Carlos waited for Zoe to look at him again. “All I ask is that you talk to me. Don’t keep anything in, sunshine. If you have a concern, a worry, a thought—hell, a plot for world domination, I want to hear about it.”

Zoe cracked a smile. “World domination?”

He shrugged. “You never know.”

She squeezed his hand back. “I promise. I’ll get better at this. I just need some time.”

“I can give you all the time you need,” he promised. Leaning closer, he added, “But there is one thing that I need from you right now .”

Zoe swallowed nervously. “What’s that?”

“Your pizza order,” he said straight-faced. “My stomach is about to gnaw its way out of my belly.”

Zoe watched him for a bewildered second and then started laughing.

Zoe felt so foolish for her reaction in the pizzeria. The rest of their meal felt light and Kyle started peppering Carlos with his knowledge of dinosaurs. Carlos even made a promise to look into some dinosaur-themed parks or kid museums for Kyle, which gifted him a large, pizza-sauce covered kiss on the cheek.

Their night ended with Zoe tucking Kyle into the king sized bed. Kyle’s new bed wouldn’t be arriving until the next day. Zoe laid down beside Kyle and started reading him a book warning him not to turn the pages, because there was a monster at the end of the book. Kyle giggled each time the monster Grover appeared on the last page and demanded she read the book again.

During their third reading, Kyle’s eyes started to droop. During their fourth, he was passed out against her chest.

Zoe gently placed the book on the large mattress beside her hip. She dipped her head and pressed a kiss to her son’s brunette curls. But she made no move to separate herself from him, even though she knew that Carlos was waiting for her in the living room.

She kept having to remind herself that she trusted Carlos, that she wouldn’t have moved in with him if she hadn’t. Twice in the same day. Laying quietly in a giant bed listening to her son’s light snores, she felt like she trusted Carlos. Her heart thrummed at the picture of him in her head and anticipation seared her veins at the thought of what sexy fun they could get up to tonight.

But…

But what if that was all it was? Lust? What if she was mistaking trust for lust?

She’d moved herself and her son in with a man, slept with a man, she barely knew. There was no denying that she was falling for Carlos. He was everything and more that she’d ever dreamed of. He was the sort of man she’d thought Davis to be.

But did she actually trust him?

Zoe did not like her current line of thinking. It saddened and frightened her that she didn’t know her own thoughts and heart. The conflicting feelings made her wonder if she was moving too fast, if it had been a mistake to take Carlos up on his offer…

Sunlight woke her. Zoe blinked, and it took her a moment to realize she was in bed with Kyle, still dressed in her clothes from the day before.

Kyle had rolled over in his sleep and was now star-fished beside her on his belly. Stifling a yawn, Zoe adjusted the blankets over her son’s small body and scooted herself out of the bed.

Zoe carefully peeked into Carlos’s bedroom. He hadn’t hesitated to call it theirs , but Zoe still struggled with the word. Shame washed through her. Was she truly second-guessing her decision to move into Carlos’s house after only three nights? Two of which, they’d spent making passionate love and the third… Well, she could argue she’d just fallen asleep reading to Kyle, but she doubted Carlos would believe the lie.

And she didn’t want to lie to him. Not after everything he’d done for her.

The bedroom was empty, despite the early hour. For a moment, Zoe wondered if Carlos had fallen asleep on the living room couch waiting for her. The bed, though, looked slept in, so Zoe doubted that theory.

Still in her outfit from the day before, Zoe hurried over to the closet for some new clothes. She would worry about showering later. She needed to speak with Carlos first. She owed him the honesty of her fears.

She found him in the kitchen. Coffee was already brewing in the large pot. He was standing at the stovetop in his plaid pajama bottoms and nothing else. Her eyes freely roamed over the hard muscles of his back.

He must have sensed her presence because he turned his head over his shoulder. “Morning, sunshine.”

Though his tone was light, she could see the hurt in his green eyes. Guilt gripped her heart tightly. “Good morning.”

He turned back to the pans on the stovetop. She smelled eggs and bacon. “Take a seat. This is almost ready.”

“You cooked for me too?” Surprise kept her where she stood in the doorway.

Carlos was quiet for a minute too long and she realized, again, that she’d hurt him with her question. She hung her head, her dyed brunette curls falling forward to hide her face. Despite her feelings for him, how could this relationship ever work if she was constantly doubting both herself and him? Zoe didn’t want to hurt Carlos. That was the last thing she wanted.

She heard the click of the knobs being turned off, followed by the scraping of the pans and clank of the ceramic plates being picked up and brought to the table. Still, she stood in the doorway. Would he even want to have breakfast with her? Why would he?

Strong arms encircled her, warmth infused her, and Zoe sagged against him on instinct. This felt right. In his arms, there was no doubt, no fear. Her arms looped around his broad chest, tucking under his pits. He was so big that her fingertips couldn’t even touch at his back. Her fingers dug into his hard muscle and she ridiculously wished she could burrow her way inside him. The ultimate shield.

“I’m sorry,” she mouthed against his bare chest. The fuzz there tickled her lips.

Carlos lifted his hands to her face. He cupped her cheeks, gently coaxing her to lift her head. As soon as she did, his lips were on hers. One hand shifted around to grip the hair at the base of her head. Her arms around him tightened as she went up on her toes to meet him with equal intensity.

Carlos bent his knees, scooping her up under her butt by his free arm. The summer dress she’d put on was loose enough that it did not impede her legs from looping around his hips.

“Breakfast can wait,” he murmured against her lips. “Our talk can wait. I have to have you, sunshine. Please .”

She’d barely nodded before he started walking them down towards their bedroom. Funny , she thought, as he closed the door with his foot. She didn’t have an issue calling it their bedroom when she was in his arms.