The Hearts We Mend (14 page)

“There's been a rush on potato salad already, Evie.” Belinda held up the empty bowl as proof. “I'm going to make a quick kitchen run and grab some more out of the fridge.”

“Thanks.” Evie took a quick inventory of the food on the table. “It looks like we're going to need another jar of pickles too.”

“Got it! Be right back!”

Evie was about to check the ice in the coolers when a shadow fell across the table.

“Hi, Evie.” Nicki stood in front of her, a shy smile on her face and Grace teetering on the ledge of her hip.

Reminding Evie of the mistake she'd made.

But wasn't Jack's response—his quiet
“Yeah, I guess you would”—
an indication that he'd made some assumptions about her too?

That was the thought that had been chewing at the edges of her mind over the past few days. But she smiled at Nicki and tapped a finger against Grace's button nose.

“It's nice to see you here.”

“Gin invited us.” Grace was straining toward the bowl of baked
beans, so Nicki shifted her to the other hip. “How much does a hamburger cost?”

“There's no charge for lunch. All the activities are free too.”

“Really?”

“Really. I can hold Grace while you make up a plate.”

Nicki hesitated a fraction of a second before transferring her daughter into Evie's outstretched arms. The toddler grinned up at her. Today she wore a red sundress with a ladybug appliquéd on the pocket and a smudge of grape jelly on her chin.

“How are you today, Amazing Grace?” Evie tickled her bare toes.

“Jack calls her that too sometimes.” Nicki tipped a spoonful of baked beans onto a paper plate. “He said it's the name of his favorite song.”

“It's my favorite too.” Strange that they had that small thing in common.

“I've never heard it.” Nicki added a few wedges of ripe water-melon to the plate and looked around for a place to sit.

“The sun is pretty warm. Why don't you and Grace sit back here in the shade for a few minutes?” Evie suggested. “You can have my lawn chair—I'm not going to need it for a while.”

“Thanks.” Nicki sat down, balancing the plate on her lap as she reached for her daughter.

“Have you heard about the Moms' Day Out ministry we have here?” Evie poured a glass of lemonade and set it on the corner of the table for Nicki. “On the third Tuesday of the month during the summer there's free babysitting while the mothers with young children get together for an activity.”

“I usually work on Tuesdays . . .” Nicki's plate suddenly slid off her lap, scattering the contents all over the grass.

Evie's first thought was that Grace had knocked it out of her mother's hand—until she saw the expression on Nicki's face.

“Nicki? What's wrong?”

Grace let out a squawk of protest as Nicki vaulted to her feet. “N-nothing.”

“Are you sick? You're white as a sheet.” Evie followed the direction of Nicki's gaze to a young man standing at the edge of the parking lot. Without breaking eye contact, he tossed his cigarette onto the pavement and slowly, deliberately, ground it out.

“Who is that, Nicki?”

The girl's mouth opened and closed, but the only thing that slipped out was a soft whimper that chilled the blood running through Evie's veins.

“He isn't supposed to be here.” Nicki hunched over Grace as if she were trying to shield the toddler from view. “I filed a restraining order a few weeks ago.”

Evie's heart began to hammer in her ears. “What do you want me to do?”

“Can you find Jack?”

“Stay here.” Evie called over her shoulder. “I'll be right back.”

There was no sign of Jack anywhere on the grounds, so Evie went back inside the church. The low murmur of masculine voices drew her down the short hallway that branched out from the foyer.

Relief weakened Evie's knees when she recognized the uniformed police officer talking to Jack and Keith in the pastor's office. She and Ryan Tate had gone to school together, and he'd been a close friend of both Dan's and Max's while they were growing up.

“Ryan.”
Evie pushed the door open without knocking first. “Thank goodness—”

“If you could give us a minute, Evie.” Ryan's brows pulled together in a frown.

“But he's out there
now
and Nicki looks terrified. Don't you want to arrest him?”

“Who's out there?” Jack started toward her, but Ryan stepped between them, a blue polyester wall that almost completely blocked Jack from view.

“I'm not sure . . . but Nicki said she'd filed a restraining order against him.”

“Victor.” Jack lunged toward the door, but Ryan anticipated the move and put his hand on Jack's arm.

“I'll have someone check it out.”

“Aren't
you
going to check it out?” The words were out before Evie could stop them.

“I think we should give Officer Tate and Jack some privacy,” Keith murmured.

Officer Tate?
Ryan had attended Hope Community almost as long as Evie.

“I don't understand.” Evie didn't budge. “Didn't Jack call Ryan and ask him to come down here?”

She'd directed the question at Keith, but it was Jack who answered it.

“Officer Tate came here to talk to me, Evie.”

“You?”
Evie glanced at Ryan for confirmation, but she'd never realized an unreadable expression was part of the uniform.

“If you'll come with me.” Ryan tipped his head toward the door.

Evie couldn't believe this. “You're taking
Jack
to the police department?”

“It's okay, Evie,” Jack murmured.

It didn't look okay.
Jack
didn't look okay.

“Don't worry about cleaning up after the picnic, Jack,” Keith said. “We've got it covered.”

Evie knew the pastor was trying to be helpful, but the shadows in Jack's eyes deepened.

“Evie, will you tell Nicki that I'll get in touch with her as soon as I can—and that she's going to have to take care of Lily today?
Make sure she knows she can't drop her off at the house until she hears from me.”

“All right.” Evie followed him to the door. “Is there anything else I can do?”

Jack's lips twisted in a smile that stopped short of his eyes. “Give me the name of a good lawyer?”

C
HAPTER
18

C
onsider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

When Jack had opened his Bible that morning, he hadn't realized that the apostle James had been speaking directly to him.

Jack turned to stare out the window. Joy seemed a little beyond his reach at the moment, but he was thankful that Officer Tate had let him sit in the front seat of the squad car. Anyone who'd seen them leaving the church together wouldn't automatically assume that Jack was being arrested for something.

Was
he being arrested for something?

Ryan Tate didn't volunteer any information, and Jack wasn't ready to ask. He would find out what had happened soon enough.

The officer turned onto Main Street, and a group of people waiting at the crosswalk stared at Jack as the squad car cruised past.

“You've been working at Hope Community a few weeks?”

Jack suspected there was more to the officer's question than a polite attempt at conversation.

“That's right.”

“Long enough to get to know Evie Bennett.”

Jack wasn't sure he knew Evie at all. He'd been stunned when
she'd charged into the pastor's office and all but demanded that Ryan do something about Victor.

“Are you avoiding the question?”

“No disrespect, but I didn't realize you'd asked one.”

The officer took his eyes off the road long enough to toss a speculative look in Jack's direction. “I've known Evie since we were kids.”

It was the same thing Dan Moretti had said the first time they'd met. Funny how both men had made it sound more like a warning than a simple statement.

The officer parked behind a brick building and left the engine running as they got out of the squad car.

“I'll see if the interview room is available, otherwise we can talk in my office.” Tate punched in a code on the door and ushered Jack inside. “Make yourself at home. I'll be right back.”

Jack nodded but he could feel his patience stretching thin.

At least the officer didn't see him as a flight risk.

But then again, how far could he get without his truck?

Jack blew out a sigh.

Trav, what kind of mess did you get yourself into now?

Jack had ignored that brief stirring of unease when Nicki had told him that Cheryl and Trav had asked her to keep Lily for the night. What did it say about his family, that he hadn't pictured the couple going to dinner and a movie? Right away, Jack had imagined them gravitating toward a place with loud music and cold beer.

A place that reminded Trav of home.

Whatever his brother had gotten mixed up in, he had somehow pulled Cheryl in too. Or maybe she'd gone willingly.

Jack paced the length of the tiled hall and looped back toward the door Officer Tate had disappeared through. A bronze plaque centered on the wall above the bench caught his eye.

IN MEMORY OF SERVICE AND SACRIFICE

Jack's heart plummeted toward his feet when he recognized the name on the raised shield underneath the photograph of a firefighter.

MAXWELL JOSEPH BENNETT

Evie's husband.

Jack sucked in a quiet breath. The guy didn't look much older than Cody.

A door opened and Ryan stepped back into the hall, noticing what had snagged Jack's attention.

Busted again.

“Max Bennett.” Ryan walked over, his tone softening as he stared at the plaque. “He died in the line of duty. I thought for sure we were going to lose both of them.”

“Both of them?”

“Max and Dan.”

“Dan Moretti?”
“He was my best friend . . . more like a brother,”
Jack remembered him saying.

Ryan nodded. “Max and Dan were searching the house for a little boy when the roof collapsed. Dan barely made it out in time—” The officer's voice thinned. “Max didn't.”

Jack stared at Max Bennett's picture. Clean-cut. Confident smile. The perfect match for a woman like Evie.

“They must have been married young.”

“Right out of high school. Max and Evie started dating their freshman year and got married about a month after graduation. That was Max though. If he wanted something, he went after it, no holds barred. No one else could compete with him.”

“And Evie never remarried.”

The comment earned a sharp look from the officer, one that Jack figured signaled the end of the conversation.

“No,” Ryan said after a moment. “Max was always larger than
life. He would have gotten a kick out of being called a hero, that's for sure.”

Max Bennett was a hero.

And Jack?

Best case scenario, the owner of an alleged stolen vehicle.

The worst?

A suspect in a drug deal.

Evie had been expecting Nicki to pick up Lily when her shift at the diner ended, but it was Jack who appeared at her front door.

“I'm sorry,” he said without preamble. “I had no idea you'd brought Lily home with you until I called Nicki. The bowling league showed up at the diner a few minutes before closing, so she didn't have time to give me anything but your address.”

He looked tired. Tired and rumpled, and Evie felt an overwhelming urge to reach out and smooth a wayward strand of hair off his forehead. She smoothed a wrinkle from her shirt instead. “The friend who'd offered to babysit for her has two children of her own. Nicki didn't want to ask her if she'd watch Lily too.”

“How is Nic doing?”

“A little shaken.” Evie didn't mention Nicki had seemed more upset when she'd told her that Ryan Tate had taken Jack to the police department. “Her ex-boyfriend left before the police got there. Nicki still doesn't know why he showed up at the church. The officer thought he wanted to scare her.”

“Maybe.” A muscle worked in Jack's jaw, and Evie wondered if he had another theory.

A car slowed down and Samantha Bellevue, one of Evie's neighbors, almost clipped the mailbox because she was staring at the tawny-haired man standing on Evie's porch.

“Why don't you come inside? Lily fell asleep watching a movie.”

“Already?” Jack frowned at the shadows pooling on the lawn as if he was just noticing them for the first time.

“We had a busy day.” The door closed behind them, and the foyer suddenly seemed to shrink in size.