Chapter 21

Wyatt drove on the erratic side from his house to Deirdre’s, which was only about ten minutes. She’d claimed she was okay, but she’d barely been able to speak. He couldn’t help the paths his imagination took, and he envisioned everything from her being gone from the house to chilling on the front steps with his favorite pizza.

His heart bobbed around inside his chest, nothing anchoring it. He thought of her stories about how she’d come to love lemon drops, and he really hoped the call had stemmed from something good, not something sinister.

He turned onto her lane and approached her house a little slower than he’d been driving. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Her car sat in the shallow driveway, and the door was closed. After pulling next to her, he jumped from his Jeep and hurried to the front door, calling, “Deirdre?”

“Just a sec,” she said, and that was good. She could speak now.

Wyatt remained on high alert, scanning left and right as if the danger would present itself from there.

She opened the door, and Wyatt knew the most dangerous thing was now standing in front of him.

He found himself unable to speak as he took in her yoga pants. The tight pink T-shirt with the words Team Bride across the chest. She wore bare feet and her hair piled up on her head in a messy bun.

“Hey,” she said, and while her voice was strong, a river of uncertainty flowed through her eyes. He felt the same thing cascading through his whole body. Her chin trembled, and Wyatt took her into his arms.

She cried against his chest, and Wyatt let his own emotions storm through him too. “It’s okay,” he said several moments later. “Let’s go inside.” He wasn’t sure what kind of neighbors Deirdre had, as she kept so many people at arm’s length. She hadn’t spoken of them much, and Wyatt hadn’t even seen that warning sign that she might not be ready for a relationship with him.

He’d always thought it was him who needed to overcome certain hurdles.

They went inside, and Deirdre kept her face turned away from him while she wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Something happened, and I wanted to tell someone.” She lifted her eyes to his then. “I wanted to tell you.”

Wyatt’s chest vibrated with every breath, but he didn’t know what to say.

“Wyatt, can we try again?” She folded her arms and looked at him with a level of vulnerability that made him want to erase every bad thing from her life. “I made a mistake,” she said. “About us. You are the one of the best things in my life, and I don’t know why I didn’t…” She shook her head. “I need all the good things I can get.”

He studied her for a moment, already knowing he’d take her back over and over again. “I know you internalize things differently than I do,” he said. “But I’m willing to be by your side through whatever happens.”

“You are?”

“Of course.” He approached her and took her hands in his. “Deirdre, I’m falling in love with you, and I hope that doesn’t scare you. We can go slow. I’m not in any hurry.”

Deirdre closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his chest. “I’m falling in love with you too.”

Wyatt shut his eyes too and tipped his head back. Being loved was the best feeling in the world, and he couldn’t believe he got to experience it twice.

“I called Dalton.”

Wyatt snapped his eyes open. “Your ex-husband?”

Deirdre smiled as she stepped back. “Yes, and he’s going to the courthouse tomorrow to find out how to cancel the protective order. That was why I called you. I wanted you to know.”

“Wow.” Wyatt didn’t know what else to say. He honestly didn’t care why she’d called, only that she had. It didn’t matter that he’d just ordered dinner from FoodNow—his chest squeezed. “I have food coming to my house.”

Deirdre started laughing, and Wyatt pulled out his phone. “Give me a second. I’ll see if they can deliver it here. Then you’re going to tell me the whole story.” He tapped and found that the driver hadn’t left the Hawaiian barbecue joint he’d ordered from.

He looked up as Deirdre quieted. “Thank you for coming,” she said, everything laid out between them.

Wyatt abandoned the app and tossed his phone onto the couch. He took Deirdre’s face in both of his hands and looked right into her eyes. “I’ll always be here.” He kissed her, and she kissed him back.

The past two weeks of misery melted off of his shoulders, and he couldn’t believe this good woman had chosen him.

***

An hour later, Wyatt and Deirdre had finished all of the pulled pork and macaroni salad, and she’d told him everything about Dalton and Emma.

“So what are you going to do?” he asked. They currently sat on her couch, and Wyatt had her tucked against his side while he leaned back. He was full and warm and absolutely content to stay with Deirdre until she kicked him out.

“He’s going to call in the morning,” she said. “And if they really do file the paperwork to cancel the order, I’m going to wait until the judge says for sure that it’s over.”

“Of course,” he said. “But then what?”

“I don’t know,” Deirdre said. “Honestly, I don’t. She hasn’t changed, and while I want to be able to text her and go to any store I want without fear of running into her and getting arrested, I’m not sure I need to open myself up to get hurt again.”

Wyatt considered her. “I understand that,” he said. “And it’s smart. Maybe it’ll just be a slow healing process.” He gave her a small smile. “I’ve been through that.”

She snuggled deeper into his side, and satisfaction and love moved through Wyatt. “I’m sorry I freaked out about your family.”

“I’ve already forgotten about it,” he said. “But you made an impression on Amelia and Scott. When I told them you’d broken up with me, Amelia was very worried.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

Wyatt pressed his lips to her forehead. “She seems to think you make me happy. That you’re perfect. Oh, and Pru—my next-door neighbor—said you’d come back because she read it in her tea leaves one morning.” He chuckled, glad when she joined in with him.

She tipped her head back, and Wyatt claimed her lips. “And to be clear,” he whispered, barely putting any space between them. “You do make me happy. And I think you’re perfect for me too.”

She didn’t have to speak to give him the best response in the world. She simply kissed him again.

***

“That tree skirt goes on the tallest tree,” Deirdre said the next day. “Wyatt, can you move that last desk for me, please?”

He did what she said, because the stress level inside the police station was at an all-time high, and all they were doing is decorating for the holiday party.

But Deirdre had descended on the station with boxes and bins and her friend Meg, and Norma had not been ready. So Wyatt had jumped up from his desk and started moving things where Deirdre wanted them. As the minutes passed, the tables got set up and covered. The trees decorated. The gifts placed just-so on the tree skirts.

Meg lit candles that smelled like pine trees and snow, and while Wyatt had never seen snow or a pine tree, it felt exactly like a white Christmas. Not that he’d ever had one of those either.

Deirdre had though, and she beamed around at the normally industrial space and said, “Now this feels homey.”

She’d pushed all the desks to the sides of the room to create more space. The trees and food tables sat against the back wall, and long tables took up the newly opened space. They held the candles, as well as silverware in red and silver and green napkins.

Deirdre moved over to Norma’s computer and started fiddling around with the music. Several minutes later, Meg called, “Food’s here,” and several people started carrying in the crispy chicken sandwiches Wyatt had loved.

“And crab cakes,” he said as Deirdre arrived at the food table. Several other officers had already started to crowd nearby.

“Nobody is to touch a single thing,” she said to them. “Until the party starts.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Wyatt said, because he didn’t want to upset Deirdre. She’d worked very hard on this party, and he wanted it to be everything she’d planned.

She hovered over the punch, over the profiteroles, over the placement of every tray and every serving utensil. She double-checked the doughnuts hanging from pegs on the doughnut wall that had been tempting Wyatt for two solid hours.

She conferred with Meg and Norma, and precisely at five o’clock she nodded at Norma, who came over to Wyatt. “Call them to order, Chief,” she said.

Wyatt stepped over to the nearest desk and picked up the phone there. He dialed the appropriate numbers to get the public address system to activate, and he waited for the beep.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “This is Chief Wyatt Gardner, and we’re ready to begin our police department party in the main room. Anyone with anything to do with the police department is welcome.” He met Deirdre’s eye, a slip of foolishness running through him. But she’d asked, and he’d agreed to say the next part. Her eyebrows raised as another moment passed.

“Ho ho ho!” he boomed into the receiver. “Merry Christmas.” He hung up and grinned at her while laughter burst out of everyone already standing in the room. Everyone who came through the door was also smiling, and Wyatt could see the wisdom in Deirdre asking him to act like this party was exactly what he wanted.

Maybe it was, and maybe it wasn’t.

But as he took her into his arms and kissed her, he knew that she was exactly what he wanted.

Even with everyone looking, catcalling, and clapping.