A Hero for Tonight (3 page)

Krista slipped inside the house and stepped out of her sneakers. She could have easily walked home, and would have preferred it, but the temptation of irritating Shane, as always, was too much to resist. Walking through to the kitchen, she smirked, replaying the conversation in his parents’ kitchen. She’d warned Mary time and again that if Shane ever caught her little lunch group, he was going to be furious. Deep down—although she’d never admit it to him—she had to take Shane’s side on this. It was hard living in a small town and running into people you’d had a relationship with. She’d often wondered what it must be like to live in a big city where, when you broke up with someone, you probably never saw them again in your life.

Like her and Shane. They’d always rubbed each other the wrong way, but even now, they were thrust together due to her relationship with his family. People used to say they fought like siblings, but even growing up, she’d never once thought of Shane Donovan as her brother or even a cousin. He was Shane; half jerk and half hero. Although she would admit to having a bit of a crush on him in her early teens, never, not even one time in all those years did he even once show any sign of noticing her as a woman.

She furrowed her brow.
Until today
. Twice she’d caught him staring at her butt. Twisting around, she tried to view her backside. Had she gained weight? Her jeans still fit just fine. She shook her head.

Shane would definitely have delighted in telling her she was splitting her seams.

They’d had this weird adversarial relationship their entire lives. Ever since their mothers plopped them down on the floor together and she’d grabbed his hair, making him cry. In school, if they were in the same class, they ignored each other. Since then, the only time they had any contact was with his family—and that unfortunate incident when he arrested her boyfriend. Not one of her best moments, but she couldn’t even say she regretted it. Bruce had a good heart under all that stupidity.

So then, what was up with the gawking today?
Weird
. Although, she hated to admit, her heart always did do a weird flip-flop thing when he walked in the room in his uniform. Not so much his deputy uniform, as in his marine fatigues, and especially his dress blues. Yep, she was as a pathetic as any other woman; Corporal Shane Donovan was one good-looking marine.

Down in the basement, she grabbed the bag of containers she’d recently bought along with the cinnamon. Her late mother had been Mary’s best friend. The two women started the small seasonal fruit stand the year Krista turned ten. That apple season after her mother died of breast cancer, Mary hadn’t wanted to do it anymore; it had been Krista who asked if they could continue the tradition, together. In Mary’s typical way, she couldn’t say no, even though Krista was barely fifteen at the time. Hard to believe her mother had been gone ten years last month.

Her father remarried a year ago to a woman with three young kids, and agreed it was smarter to live in Patricia’s bigger house.

She’d made the decision to stay put and let her father start his new life alone. Though she had a great relationship with her new step-family, she enjoyed them far more if she didn’t have to live with them.

Up in her bedroom, she grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. The nights were getting cooler, and if she ended up out late, she didn’t want to be shivering in her shorts.

Back downstairs, she shut the front door and drove the short distance back to Mary’s to put in a long night of apple cooking.

Chapter Two

It was barely six the next Saturday morning when Krista pulled into the farm market. Over the years, the building that had started as a simple stand had been added onto until it was now a completely enclosed store that sold everything from apples to homemade quilts every fall.

The Apple Basket was set at the end of a long driveway lined with hay bales and pumpkins. On Saturdays during good weather, complimentary hayrides were given by Shane or his father. Krista was proud of all that she and Mary had accomplished in the past six years. She only hoped her partner would be excited when she shared her idea for keeping the market open year round. Not that she expected Mary to work it all year. Her partner was usually more than happy to be done with it after Christmas. Over the last two years though, Krista had been thinking she’d like to have the business open year round, or at least from April through December.

As she unlocked the door and flipped the lights on, warmth enveloped her. The furnace had kicked on automatically a half hour ago so the building was already warm and cozy. Moving around the shop, she performed the morning rituals automatically—started the coffee pots and turned on the two oversized ovens in the kitchen.

Within an hour, she had apple muffins and bread baking, and her third cup of coffee was almost gone. A glance at the clock showed there was still over an hour and a half before they opened. She settled behind the counter and flipped on her laptop.
Plenty of time to work on the new website.
She’d been toying with the idea of taking orders online for their apple products and having them ready for the customers when they arrived. Hopefully next year.

She was so engrossed in the new project that she literally jumped when the door burst open. Her heart beat erratically, and her hand automatically went to her chest in reaction.

Relief mixed immediately with annoyance as Shane’s tall frame filled the doorway.

“You scared the crap out of me, slamming the door open like that.” Shaking her head, she went back to her computer screen.

“This door needs to be locked when you or Mom are out here alone, especially at this hour.”

Her gaze slipped to the clock on her screen. “It’s after seven.”

“I forgot, rapists and psycho killers clock out at six-thirty. Good to know.” He strode to the coffeepot in the corner. “Makes my job
much
easier.”

“Your job couldn’t
get
much easier,” she muttered half under her breath.

“Look who’s talking as she plays on Facebook. Then you’ll tell us all how you were at the shop by seven and working hard until it closed.” He grabbed a muffin from the wire cooling rack.

When he didn’t seem in any hurry to move on, she said, “You need to get the tractor out.” They didn’t open for another hour, but giving him an order made her feel as if she was back in charge. Shane sometimes—no,
usually
—acted as if he was part owner of the shop, too, and felt it his duty to tell them what to do.

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think it’s a bit hokey, the whole hay ride thing?”

Shane always complained about the tractor, so she simply shrugged. “It’s all about the ambience. Folks come from the city and want to feel like they’re out in the country. Put some hay in the wagon, drive them around a few cornfields and they spend a lot of money in the store.” Krista kept her attention on her laptop, trying to reformat the apple pictures to showcase the differences between Ida Reds and Red Delicious. It was important that the customer had as close to the same experience online as they did coming to the shop.

“How’s your dad and the new family doing?”

Pulled out of her concentration again, she cast an aggravated glance his way. “He’s fine.” She glared at him as he popped the last bite of muffin in his mouth and balled the napkin in his hand.

Shane brushed his hands down his pants and picked up his coffee once more. “Hey, when did we get travel mugs?” The bright, red plastic coffee mugs were her latest purchase. Piled neatly by the counter, she hoped they would be a great impulse buy for travelers. “Last week.”

Helping himself to one, he returned to the coffee pot and poured a fresh cup.

Krista moved to the cash register and rang it up. “That’s ten dollars. Do you want me to run a tab, or do you want to pay for it now?”

Shane snorted. “You want me to pay for a coffee mug from my mother’s store?”

“You get free coffee, free baked goods, and free lunch. You aren’t going to start taking free coffee mugs, too; those are expensive.”

He shook his head. “Fine, run me a tab.”

Krista drummed her fingers on the counter. They both knew his mother would never make him pay any tab. “All tabs have to be cleared by the time we close at Christmas.”

Raising one eyebrow, he strutted back to the counter. With his face so close, she could smell his coffee breath.

“I’ll tell you what, sweet-pea. If I don’t pay my tab, you can tell the sheriff.”

He straightened and walked outside before she could retort. A few seconds later, she heard the tractor start up.

What a pain in the ass.

What was it about him that women found so appealing? Yeah, he looked good in his jeans and T-shirt, and when he smiled, he could make anyone’s knees tremble, but underneath all that was an annoying personality.

It wasn’t the first time she wondered if maybe she was the only one who was on the receiving side of that particular part of him. Her friend Paula had drooled over Shane since they were teenagers. Constantly, she’d bugged Krista about what she thought kissing him would be like. She’d shuddered.

Of course, a few years later, Paula wasted no time in telling her exactly how good it was to kiss Shane Donovan, and more. Paula was married with a baby now, and yet when Shane was around, her friend freely admitted he still made her pulse race. Women just never seemed to get over him. And yet, he left her as cold as the cider in the cooler.

****

“Hands inside the wagon. And no one stands up until we come to a complete stop. Ready?”

At the chorus of “yes” and delighted squeals from the youngest kids, Shane put the tractor into gear and chugged up the familiar path. As the sun was already going down, it would be the last run of the day and the farm market would be closing when he got back.

When they reached trees with apples low on the branches, he parked.

“We’ll stop here for ten minutes, so get your bags and go ahead and pick whatever apples you want to take with you. But don’t take them off the ground,” he cautioned, knowing the littler kids would make a beeline for the dropped apples.

Leaning against the wagon, he watched for a second until everyone had scampered off, then pulled out his phone, and typed,
Last wagon will be back in twenty minutes. Any coffee left?

When there was no response, he figured Krista must be busy with customers. There’d been a pretty steady stream of people all day, which was unusual for this early in the season, but they’d managed with just the two of them. If this kept up, it would keep the whole family busy the entire month, every evening and every weekend. They all breathed a sigh of relief when Halloween came and things slowed for a couple of weeks before the big Thanksgiving push.

What was it about the chill in the air that made people want to go look at leaves, pick apples, and ride wagons? What people would spend their money on amazed him. What also amazed him was how friendly and warm Krista was to each and every one of them. She truly loved talking with the hordes of people and helping them find just the right item whether it was a pumpkin or a loaf of apple bread. She never seemed to be rushing anyone, even if she had a store full of customers.

Not him. He couldn’t stand being in there with the throngs of people. Even now, several years since he’d been deployed, being in a large crowd made him nervous. He was constantly watching, waiting for something to happen.

Driving the wagon was enough. But he did enjoy being out in the fresh air even if he had to deal with the apple pickers.

Ten minutes later, he pushed away from the side of the cart and yelled through the orchard, “Everyone in the wagon.”

Once the last rider was on board, it was only a short ride back to the store.

Shane jumped down to help everyone out of the wagon. The last was a pretty blonde dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. She was with a small girl who looked to be her miniature. The little girl seemed unsure of the big drop to the ground, so he stepped over and opened his arms.

“Here, I’ll help. Set your bag down.”

With a big grin, she did as told and eagerly fell into his arms. Shane swung the young girl high in the air, and then down to the ground as she giggled. Looking back at the wagon, his gaze collided with identical blue eyes in a far more grown up face.

He tipped his head and held his hand out to help the woman down the large wagon step. She set her hand in his, and as he expected, it was soft and feminine and brought out all of his protective instincts.

“Thank you. And thank you for the ride. We both enjoyed it very much.”

“You’re welcome. Was this your first time here?” He reluctantly released her hand.

Around them, the other customers wandered off either into the farm market or out to their cars.

She brushed the hair back from her face. “Yes, we just moved here from Rochester.”

Shane followed her gaze to the little girl who stood patiently by. “Well, then, welcome to town. I’m Shane Donovan. Besides giving apple orchard tours, I’m also the town’s deputy sheriff.”

The woman placed her hand on the little girl’s head. “I’m Melissa Steeple, and this is my daughter, Brittany.”

Shane smiled at Brittany. “You must be in the first grade then. You might even know a friend of mine, Connor?”

Brittany frowned for a second and then her eyes widened. “Does he have really, really red hair?”