Snow Day: Heart of the Storm / Seeing Red / Land's End

“Oh, Delaney.” Sandy looked as if she was going to cry, so Delaney focused her attention on putting a fresh bag in the can. “We thought he was going to propose, too.”

“Guess he fooled us all.”

“I don’t think he meant to. Not that it helps any, but I think he was scared and confused.”

She wasn’t really in the mood to hear Brody defended, but Sandy was his sister, after all. Delaney knew she was only trying to help. “It was a long time ago. I’m over it.”

That was a lie, but Sandy was too busy shifting Noah’s weight to her other shoulder to see it on her face. Delaney hadn’t spent the last five years—okay, four and a half years, maybe—pining away for Brody Rollins, but she hadn’t found a man to replace him yet.

She’d dated. She’d even had a couple of relationships that might have grown serious enough to head to the altar and give her the family she wanted if her stupid, stubborn heart had been able to give up on the man who’d broken it.

But, even though she’d met some really nice guys who would have made good husbands, she hadn’t met one yet who made her feel the way Brody had. And, judging by her reaction to being around him, maybe still did.

* * *

THE ONLY THING worse than driving back into Tucker’s Point was riding shotgun around Tucker’s Point during an ice storm. The big plow truck with the massive sand-and-salt hopper on the back went okay, but it was still white-knuckle tense in the cab, especially with a little girl lost.

Brody kept his focus on the passing scenery, eyes peeled for a flash of purple or white or pink, but he saw nothing but the town he’d grown up in. They’d been at it for hours, going around the outskirts since people were searching the main downtown area on foot.

“This is a waste of time,” Mike said, not for the first time. “She’s not going to be walking down the side of the road. She’s hiding somewhere. Taking shelter.”

“You never know what a kid will do. She could be trying to walk home right now.”

“Not giving up. Just think it’s a waste of time. Now we’ve not only got a lost kid, but a whole lot of people who should be safe inside are out looking for her.” He handed his Thermos to Brody, signaling he was ready for another hit of coffee.

He poured Mike half a cup, strong and black, then screwed the lid back on. His brother-in-law was going to start getting jittery soon if he didn’t lay off the caffeine. “Hopefully somebody will find her soon.”

“Yeah. If it was Noah out there...” Mike swallowed some coffee, then shook his head. “I’d want every able-bodied person in the whole state of Maine out looking for him.”

Brody had to agree. He’d only known Noah less than a day and he’d already take on a pack of dragons with nothing but a butter knife for the kid.

“If this gets any worse, we’re going to have to head back,” Mike said in a grim voice. Ice was sheeting over the windshield so fast the defroster and wipers could barely keep up, and the kids could play pond hockey on the streets. “They’ll keep looking. Red’ll be out on Betsy—that John Deere of his—and they’ll keep searching on foot. Some of the guys have ATVs with chains on the tires. They’ll go out.”

Brody could hear the reluctance to give up in Mike’s voice, but he had to agree. Conditions were moving past treacherous and straight into deadly. “It’s like you said. She’s probably hiding somewhere under cover, anyway. It’s the door-to-door searches that’ll turn her up and we don’t want to pull people off that to come rescue us.”

He looked out the window, still looking for a flash of purple, while Mike radioed in for an update and to voice his concerns.

Cased in glittering ice, his hometown looked beautiful and peaceful, like something out of a snow globe. And he had to admire the way the town pulled together. He’d been listening to the chatter on Mike’s radio and this was a community that knew how to stand together and help their neighbors.

Maybe it was only as a grown man he could appreciate qualities like that. Growing up and in the few years after he graduated from high school, he’d felt nothing but resentment. Now he’d seen a little more of the world. Played cards in places like Atlantic City and Las Vegas and Miami. Flipped houses in almost every kind of suburban neighborhood, working his way up to some commercial stuff. It was easier to appreciate the bonds a town like Tucker’s Point fostered and why people might stay instead of getting out at the first opportunity, like he had.

“We’re heading back in,” Mike said, breaking into his thoughts. “We’ll take a different route back to cover the ground, but they’re pulling the road crews in.”

Brody would be lying if he said he wasn’t relieved, but that didn’t make it any easier to abandon the search. And with Mike, Sandy and Noah together as a family, Brody was going to be left to his own devices, and there was nowhere to hide in the gym. Either for him or for Delaney.

They were almost back to the school when Mike changed the subject from his job, which Brody now knew more about than he’d ever wanted to, to the past. “We might have run with different crowds, but I remember you used to date Delaney. Sandy said you were still together when you moved away.”

There was no question, but his brother-in-law seemed to be waiting for some kind of response. “Yeah.”

“Must be weird, seeing her again.”

Now that the sucker punch of seeing her face had been absorbed, Brody was starting to like the idea of seeing Delaney again.

They definitely had unfinished business between them.

CHAPTER FOUR

BECAUSE, DESPITE HERSELF, she’d been watching for his return, Delaney knew the first thing Brody did when he walked through the gym door was scan the room until he found her. Their eyes met and she held his gaze until Mike said something to him, drawing his attention.

She was in trouble. Now matter how often she reminded herself of how badly he’d hurt her, the magnetism that had first drawn her to Brody and the chemistry that pulled them together were still as strong as they’d ever been. He was a rip tide that would suck her in and pull her under, but some reckless part of her wanted to throw caution to the wind and dive in headfirst.

But several members of the road crew, besides Mike, were arriving, so she went into the kitchen to brew a fresh urn of coffee. Most of them would crash for a while, but she wanted to have it ready, just in case.

“Miss Delaney?” The small voice startled her, and she turned to see Mariah Turner standing in the doorway. “Did those men find April?”

“Not yet, honey.” Mariah and the little girl who was lost would be classmates, she realized. And no matter how discreet adults tried to be in their conversations, she’d obviously overheard somebody talking about April. “There are still people out there looking, though. They’ll find her, honey.”

“Did she run away?”

“I don’t know.” Delaney gave her a comforting smile. “Did she say anything about running away? Was she unhappy at school?”

“Nope. But if she didn’t run away, did somebody take her?”

Delaney didn’t know what to say. There was no training for this during the town’s emergency response drills. “I don’t know what happened to April, Mariah. But we’re going to think positive thoughts and when the searchers find her, we’ll be able to ask her ourselves, okay?”

“Okay. Can me and my sister have some oyster crackers?”

That she could deal with. She reached into a big box the restaurant had donated and took out two packets of oyster crackers. They were good snacks for antsy young people. Tasty, crunchy and—most importantly—not loaded with sugar.

“Thanks, Miss Delaney!” Mariah skipped out, almost colliding with Brody.

“Whoa!” He did a side step to keep from tripping over the child, then smiled after her. “The world was a less complicated place when a package of oyster crackers made everything better.”

“I’d give anything to have half her energy right now.”

“I was hoping for some artificial, caffeine-fueled energy.”

“Then you’ve come to the right place.” The conversation was so...normal, Delaney could hardly believe she was having it with Brody. “The fresh stuff’s still brewing, but there’s some left in that pot that’s not too old.”

“It could be motor oil and, with a little cream and sugar, I’d drink it right now.”

“Bad out there?”

“Pretty bad. I think I’m going to be here awhile.”

Was that a warning? “Sandy will be happy to hear it. She’s missed you.”

“I can help with Noah, too.”

“And John and Camille must have been happy to see you.”

“I, uh...haven’t been to see them.” She gave him a look designed to make him feel like something scraped off the bottom of a shoe, but he only shrugged. “I was going to stop by on my way out of town tomorrow, but the power went out.”

“Sandy talked to them while you guys were out. Not for long because Noah woke up in a really bad mood, but she said they’re doing okay.”

“They’re hardy. And stubborn.” He took a sip of the coffee and, when he closed his eyes to savor it, she looked away. “I really am sorry about the way I left town, Delaney.”

She forced herself to shrug, as though it was all so far in the past it didn’t hurt a bit. “It’s been five years.”

“Which means you’re five years overdue for an apology. I should have called you after I left.”

“You know what would have been better? If you’d called before you left.”

His mouth twisted and she saw the guilt on his face. “I knew if I told you I was leaving, you’d be hurt and I’d see it on your face. I was afraid you’d cry and I wouldn’t be able to walk away from you.”

“Oh, clearly it’s all my fault, then. Shame on me for loving you, I guess.”

“I knew if I stayed, eventually I’d hate you.”

She blinked, feeling his words like a slap across the face.

Brody shoved his hands through his hair. “I hated fishing. I hated my parents for not wanting a better life. I hated this town. If I stayed for you, in time I would have hated you, too.”

“I thought we were happy and that it would be enough.”

“You were happy because, at the end of the day, you went home to your parents. No matter how much time we spent together, it wasn’t the same as being married and on our own. It wouldn’t have been a few years as my wife before you were exhausted from doing laundry that smelled like low tide no matter how many times you washed it and trying to pay bills and feed kids on short pay. And I would have been a bitter, chain-smoking drunk, just like my old man.”

If that was truly his vision of their future, it was no wonder he’d run. “The fact you couldn’t tell me that just proves it wasn’t meant to be. You saw me as a burden, not a partner.”

“Delaney, I—” He was interrupted by the angry shriek of a newborn echoing through the gym. “Damn. Mike’s exhausted. I’m going to go see if I can walk the baby and let him and Sandy get some rest.”

She nodded, simultaneously relieved this conversation could end and disappointed he was walking away from her. It was probably for the best. He couldn’t unbreak her heart and, even if he could, nothing had changed.

Tucker’s Point was her home and it was a place he didn’t even want to visit, never mind return to for good. They could be civil—maybe even friendly—but there was no point in looking into the past. Brody Rollins wasn’t part of her future.

* * *

THERE WAS NOTHING like trying to keep a fussy infant soothed and quiet in a gym full of people to kill a guy’s new and fragile urge to start a family.

His arms ached, he had a tweak in the small of his back, his shoulder felt damp and his feet hurt. And, when he’d managed to sneak a peek at his watch mid-jostle, it had only been a half hour.

Parenthood was not for sissies.

He had nobody to ask for help, either. Not long after Mike and Sandy lay down, he’d seen Delaney slip behind a screen to the cot she and another volunteer were taking turns using. With those three people all napping, Brody was essentially alone in a room full of people.

He’d walked away from this community and he knew, from the looks he’d been getting, they hadn’t forgotten he’d snuck out in the dark, leaving them, his family and Delaney behind.

“Why don’t you let me help you with him?”

A woman who looked vaguely familiar stood next to him. While it was a relief to know he wasn’t alone, after all, he wasn’t too sure about handing Sandy’s baby over to just anybody who asked.

“I’m Dani Harbour.” He must have looked blank, because she arched one eyebrow at him. “I was a year behind you in school.”

“Delaney’s friend.”

“Yeah, Delaney’s friend.” The you jerk was implied by her tone. “Let me walk Noah for a little bit. You look beat.”

She knew the baby’s name. And it’s not as if she could go anywhere. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“In this town, we help our friends and neighbors.” She paused. “Sandy and Mike are both.”

Just so he knew he wasn’t either. “I appreciate it.”

He handed Noah to Dani and then pressed his hands to the small of his back, twisting to work the kinks out. Relaxing was an entirely different thing, however, and he found himself hovering as the storm’s refugees took turns passing the baby. While he appreciated the way the community stuck together, that was his nephew they were playing hot potato with.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Sandy emerged from behind the screen almost an hour and a half later. Noah was obviously winding himself up for a good bawl and even the comfort of snuggling against Rebecca Cox’s really ample breasts wasn’t doing it for the little guy anymore. He wanted to eat.

Sandy looked well-rested, though, which was good. With her husband safe and her baby being looked after, she’d managed a power nap she desperately needed. She smiled when she spotted them and made her way over.

“Time for the little monster to eat,” she said, taking Noah from Becks. “Thanks for babysitting. I feel so much better now.”

“You needed the rest,” Brody said. “I wish you could have slept longer.”

As he said it, he caught Delaney slipping out of her sleeping area through the corner of his eye. She should have slept longer, he thought. Wearing herself out taking care of things did nobody any good.

She disappeared in the direction of the bathrooms and, when he saw her again, she was fresh-faced and looked ready to tackle whatever the next thing on her list was.

Well, she wasn’t going to tackle it alone. Brody wasn’t used to sitting around and he was more than capable of helping in any way he could. He made his way over to the check-in table, where she was drinking orange juice and reading something on her clipboard.

“What can I do to help?”

She jumped, almost dropping her plastic cup of juice. “Brody! Don’t sneak up on people.”

“All I did was walk. What are you reading?”

“I’m trying to find anything at all I can to justify putting off the next thing on my list.”

If Delaney was avoiding it, it couldn’t be a pleasant task. “What is it? I can help.”

She sighed, dropping the clipboard on the table. “It’s time to go around and clean and disinfect. With so many people in one place, it’s important to stay on top of the germs so I have to wipe everything down with bleach water.”

“Point me towards a bucket, oh fearless leader.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “I don’t really see you in rubber gloves with that sweater and those shoes.”

“What about them?”

“I know quality when I see it, Brody. It’s obvious you haven’t had to do manual labor in a while.”

That wounded him for reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on. “I’m not afraid of hard work. I might have crews to do the heavy lifting now, but don’t forget I’m from here—from the docks. I know hard work.”

Her eyes met his and she tilted her head, as though he were a puzzle she was trying to solve. “Gee, Brody. That almost sounded like hometown pride there for a second.”

“I’m just saying I can do whatever you need done. That’s all.” Pride wasn’t an emotion he connected to his childhood.

“I’m not going to turn down the help. Let’s go get the stuff.”

He followed her through the double doors in the hallway, trying to keep his eyes above her waist and not on the gentle sway of her hips as she walked. Especially since they were being watched. They were always being watched in the gym as people kept watch for any scrap of gossip.

The supply closet was next to the gym, and he waited while she found the right key on the ring he assumed the school supplied to the emergency management volunteers. The small room must have been on the same circuit with the gym because, when she flipped the switch, the overhead light flickered and turned on. He followed her in and wrinkled his nose at the chemical smell.

“I saw that,” she told him, amusement in her voice. “I can probably find you other work, like holding Mrs. Cameron’s ball of yarn while she knits, if this is too much for you.”

The amusement in her eyes and the light teasing in her voice dragged him back to five years ago, when Delaney had been his only joy. The hours he’d spent with her had been the bright spots in a dismal life, and his body reacted to their achingly familiar chemistry with a rush of desire.

Her eyes widened when he stepped toward her, needing to touch her again. “Brody...”

“Delaney.” There were shelving units behind her and she couldn’t retreat. “Have I mentioned how much I’ve missed you?”

He watched her face, looking for anger or rejection or anything negative, but all he saw was the hot blush across her neck and cheeks, and her eyes focused on his mouth.

“I’ve missed you, too,” she whispered.

It had been inevitable from the second he stepped through the doors and saw her for the first time, he realized. Five years hadn’t cooled what sizzled between them. Under the ashes of his abandonment, the embers burned and now the fire flared again. This was the only woman he’d ever loved and there was no way he could stop himself from touching her.

* * *

BRODY WAS GOING to kiss her. Delaney knew the man more intimately than she’d ever known any other, and his intention was made plain in the hot and hungry look in his eyes and the way he moved toward her.

She should shove him away. There were plenty of other things he could do that didn’t require being near her. Kissing him was a dead-end road and she should bang a U-turn before she ended up stuck in that lonely place she’d ended up before.

But she was going to let him kiss her because she had no resistance against him. She never had. And she wanted the kiss, too.

With his hands braced against the shelves on either side of her head, Brody lowered his forehead until it came to rest gently against hers. His eyes closed and she knew he was fighting the same internal battle she was.

A kiss would be a very bad idea.

“Kissing you is a bad idea,” he whispered.

At least they were on the same page.

“But I want to,” he continued. Definitely on the same page. “It’s all I can think about. And I don’t have to wonder what it’ll be like. I know kissing you is like pulling a royal flush in a high-stakes game. It’s a total rush and nothing will ever beat it.”

Warmth curled through Delaney and she felt the soft breath of his sigh over her face. She placed her hands on his chest and felt his body stiffen under her touch. She could push him away. She should push him away.

Instead, she ran her palms over the soft wool of his sweater and up to his shoulders. A slight nudge, pulling him in, was all it took. His mouth covered hers and the sweetness of it tugged at her heart.

His lips were gentle and she shivered when his tongue danced over her bottom lip. He was savoring her, and she reveled in the sensations that swept through her. No matter what her mind said, her body and her heart knew this kiss. Nobody had ever made her feel the way he could with a simple touch of his lips.

Delaney’s fingertips bit into Brody’s shoulders as he deepened the kiss, but she still didn’t pull away.

She knew she should. Letting herself get too close to Brody Rollins would bring her nothing but a second helping of heartache, and yet there was something about his kiss that felt so right. His tongue danced over hers and she leaned into him as his hand slid up her back. Her body remembered this—the feel of his touch—and wanted more.

It was the sound of the door handle jiggling that finally gave her the strength to break away.

Good lord, a quarter of the town was just a few feet away and here she was, making out with Brody in the custodian’s closet like a teenager.

“Delaney?” It was Alice, one of the other volunteers, and Delaney slipped out from between Brody and the shelves as the door opened.

“I’m in here. What do you need?”

Alice’s gaze bounced between Delaney and Brody a few times, and Delaney was dismayed when she saw understanding dawn in the other woman’s eyes. This would be a nice bit of gossip for everybody to chew on for a while. “Sorry. We’re running low on paper towels.”

She grabbed a few rolls, balancing them in her arms, and then gave Delaney a quick smile on her way out. “I’ll just...go. Take your time.”

Delaney wondered if she’d meant that to sound as suggestive as it came out. “Just grabbing some bleach, rags and buckets. We’ll be right out.”

When the door swung shut behind Alice, Delaney had to stifle a groan. Even if she hurried, half the people in the gym would know she’d been kissing Brody Rollins in the supply room before she got out there. The news would trickle through to the other half whether she was in the gym or not.

“I probably shouldn’t have done that,” Brody said quietly.

“I didn’t exactly put up a fight.”

“No, but now everybody will be talking and...I’m sorry.”

She grabbed two buckets and put a cleaning rag and a plastic gallon of bleach in each one. They’d fill them with hot water from the kitchen. “At least it’s only a matter of time before you get to leave. Again. So you won’t have to hear it.”

“Delaney, come on.”

“At least this time you have to sign yourself out so, as long as I’m manning the clipboard, I’ll know you’re going this time.”

He put his hand on her shoulder, making her stand still. “I don’t know how many times I can apologize for not telling you in person I was leaving.”

“Screw the note, Brody. Has it occurred to you I’m having a little trouble with the fact you didn’t ask me to go with you?”

He didn’t know how to make her understand. “If I’d asked you to go, you would have wanted to think about it and make plans and...I don’t know. Sort through all your stuff and come up with a whole pile of stuff you wanted to take.”

“Like any normal person would.”

“If I’d had to wait for you, I would have lost my courage. I drove out of here in a beat-up car with a duffel bag of clothes and two hundred bucks in my pocket because right then, at that moment, I was more afraid of staying than leaving.”

“Fine. Just don’t lie to me—or to yourself—and say that right then, at that moment, I factored into your decision at all.”

He blew out a breath, then took one of the buckets from her. “You sure know how to take the blush off a good kiss.”

That was the point. “I have work to do.”

She left the supply room and hurried into the gym before he could say anything else.

They worked in silence, washing down almost every touchable surface in the gymnasium with the diluted bleach mixture. He took some good-natured ribbing from some of the guys about his bright yellow rubber gloves, but Delaney tried to ignore the rich sound of his laughter. She tried to ignore the way he stopped to talk to people now and then, rebuilding old bonds he’d severed so unexpectedly.

But no matter how much she tried to focus on the past and wrap herself in a security blanket of old hurts, her gaze was drawn to him time after time. More often than not, he’d catch her looking and his expression would be pensive, as if he were trying to gauge her mood. And she was keenly aware that most of the people in the gym with them were watching them watch each other.