About four months before Christmas …
Above all things, Maya Badger prided herself on keeping her cool. All of Lost Harbor would most likely agree that she had no trouble bringing order and authority to any situation, including drunken brawls and stray moose wandering into traffic. That was why she was the youngest police chief in Lost Harbor history.
But she’d never faced someone quite like the extremely fit man in the Lost Harbor holding cell with her. He wore a gray cable-knit sweater and jeans, along with work boots. He’d introduced himself as Rune Larsen, her father’s new nurse. But he looked more like a ski champion or an extra in a Thor movie. He just had that physicality about him that screamed “athlete.” Maybe that was why he looked vaguely familiar. Maybe she’d seen him in a movie or on TV competing in the Olympics.
He glanced around the tiny jail cell with eyes the color of a green lake on an overcast day. “Do you normally hold meetings in here?”
“No. We’re short on space. You said you wanted to meet privately and right now, this is the best I got. So you’re the travel nurse the agency assigned?”
That’s me. I just arrived in town.”
“Welcome to Lost Harbor.” She gestured around the holding cell. “Sorry for the lack of a fruit basket or whatever. But I sure am glad you’re here. My dad’s apparently running for Worst Patient of the Year.”
He smiled slightly. Again that tug of recognition blinked at the edge of her mind. “I hear that a lot. No worries.”
His voice was deep and somehow very reassuring. But when it came to her father, “no worries” didn’t apply.
“Sorry, but of course I’m going to worry. It started with heart surgery, but it cascaded from there because he refused to just rest. He got an infection, then he sprained his wrist. If you’re going to work with him, I need to know you’re taking it seriously.”
His eyebrows lifted slightly. “Of course.”
She wondered if this was how parents felt when they handed over their children to daycare. Fretful and nervous. “I mean, I didn’t think I’d need a private nurse. I thought I could take care of him myself. But I’m the police chief around here and that means I have a lot of serious responsibility and—”
A knock sounded at the reinforced metal door. She opened it; Bob Hollister, one of her five sergeants, held up a flyer. “You want to approve this before I post it, Chief?”
Of all things to impress the hot nurse, a flyer of a missing yak would not have been her top choice.
The Tibetan yak belonged to Mrs. Holt, who was close friends with the mayor. Maya had caved to political pressure and opened a case on the missing yak. A reward was being offered. Flyers were being posted.
She glanced at the flyer, which featured several shots of the yak—two closeups from different angles, one of the yak chewing some grass, another of him posing in a field, even one with Mrs. Holt riding him in the winter parade.
“You can drop the photo with Mrs. Holt. The yak is missing; she’s not out there riding it.”
“Someone else might be.” Hollister stroked his fringe of white beard, which made him look vaguely like Santa. “Got to cover all the bases.”
“Did she send you that photo?”
“I got it from the archives. Winter parade two years ago.”
She sighed. “Clear it with her. Make sure she’s good with her face showing up all over town.”
“Yes ma’am. Good thing I checked. That’s why I interrupted whatever you’re doing in here.”
He glanced curiously at Rune Larsen—by her count, at least the third time he’d done so.
“Back to work, Sergeant.”
“Yes, Chief.” He whisked himself back to his desk, but left the door open. She saw that the other people in the office—another sergeant, a citizen filing a complaint, and a state trooper—were also peering into the holding cell.
Firmly, she closed the door and faced Rune again.
He looked highly amused. A crease dented his cheek, which was covered in a nicely trimmed layer of beard. Normally she wasn’t crazy about facial hair on a guy, but she could make an exception in his case. He pulled it off.
She folded her arms across her chest.
“Obviously, I’m extremely busy with a lot of earthshaking duties. My dad needs more than I can do for him right now.”
“Understandable.”
“He doesn’t like me fussing over him.”
“Of course not. Too independent, right?”
“That’s one way to put it. Stubborn works too.”
Another knock. She let out a frustrated breath and opened the holding cell door. “What?”
This time it was Jessica, her best friend. She, too, shot a wildly curious glance in Rune’s direction. “We’re, uh, taking off now.”
She gestured at the tall man behind her—Ethan James, her new love and a private investigator. They’d taken over her office to fill out some paperwork, which was why she’d brought Rune Larsen in here. “Your office is free if you’d rather meet there.”
“Thank you. You could have just texted me.”
Jessica shrugged, offering a merry smile. “We wanted to say goodbye in person.”
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye. And hello.” Turning to Rune, she offered her hand. “I’m Jessica Dixon, owner of the Sweet Harbor Bakery and B&B. We have the absolute best walnut-cinnamon sticky buns in town, so stop by any time between seven and two-ish, depending on how busy we are.”
“Jess,” Maya said in a warning tone. “Little busy here.”
“Of course. Sorry. Everyone has to eat, though, right? And sleep. Do you need a place to stay?” she asked Rune. “I mentioned the B&B part, right?”
“We have a place for now,” he said in that deep, sexy voice.
We.
For some reason, that word disappointed Maya. That “we” meant he was married, or partnered up with someone.
Sometimes it seemed she was the only one who wasn’t a “we.” Especially now that Jess had hooked up with Ethan, the only “we” in her life was her and her father.
“Gotcha. Okay, I’ll get out of your way. Call you later, Maya. Kate wants to get together for some dancing now that the peony harvest is over. Do you dance?”
Once again, she directed that question at Rune.
He didn’t get a chance to answer because Maya manhandled Jessica out the door and shut it behind her.
“I’m really sorry,” she told Rune. “Just a little taste of my life right there. And it’s still early.”
“I hope with everything going on, you still make time for dancing.”
She shot him a surprised look. Did he mean that in a medical-advice type of way?
“It’s not at the top of my list.”
“I guess you’re a lot busier now that you’re grown up.”
Now that was an odd thing to say. Her forehead creased as she looked at him.
And then looked again.
“Wait…” Why did he look so familiar? Who was he?
He smiled broadly for the first time, a full-on grin that set off another round of bells in her brain. She did know him from somewhere. But where?
He tugged his hair into unruly spikes so he looked like a mischievous kid.
Her jaw dropped open. “Jay? Jay-Jay from Hawaii?”
With a laugh, he smoothed his hair back down as best he could. “That took you a while. And here I thought you were a detective.”
“Yes, but…” She blinked at him as if he might vanish like some kind of mirage. “What are you…I never expected…why didn’t you… Oh my God, it really is you, Jay-Jay!”
He opened his arms wide and she didn’t hesitate. She launched herself at him and flung her arms around her old friend.
Jay-Jay Breton. From Oahu. Her savior during the year her father had been stationed in Hawaii. She meant that literally; he’d saved her life in the ocean one day. He’d been spearfishing while she’d been sitting on a rock, feeling homesick. An extra-big rogue wave had knocked her off into the water. He’d abandoned his gear and swum to her rescue. She’d been so outraged by her dunking that she’d yelled at him about how much she hated Hawaii.
They’d fought about it, facing off on the sand after he towed her to shore. Then a crab had crawled up her leg and she’d shaken it off with a shriek. It had landed in his hair, which had struck them both as so funny that they’d burst out laughing and wound up in hysterics on the sand.
That was how they’d become friends. Jay-Jay was a sunshiny, scrappy kid with a knack for trouble. They were so different; he was friendly, she was reserved. He was reckless, she was responsible. He loved the ocean, she much preferred solid ground. But somehow it just worked and they were inseparable until she went back to Alaska.
He sure hadn’t had the muscles that now surrounded her. Or at least they’d been much, much smaller.
The door to the cell flung open and a laugh of surprise rang out. “Chief Badger?”
She pulled herself away from Jay and whirled around to face Lucy Krakowski, who was a reporter from the local weekly newspaper.
Lucy wore the same look of wild curiosity Maya had seen three times now. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’m on a deadline and—“
“I know, I know, the police blotter. Doesn’t anyone text or email anymore?” Maya couldn’t help but grumble. She hadn’t seen Jay-Jay in twenty years. They hadn’t kept in touch after she came back to Alaska. She hadn’t even known he was in the state.
“We can do this later,” Jay said. “I’ll give you my number.”
“No. No. Stay where you are. Lucy, Sergeant Hollister can help you out. This is a very old friend of mine.” She took care to emphasize the word so Lucy wouldn’t go spreading anything false around town. She was about to say his name when she remembered that he’d used a different name at first.
When—and why—had Jay Breton become Rune Larsen?
Lucy turned to go, and Maya called after her, “We’ll have a flyer for you soon too.”
“The yak, I know.” Lucy waved her hand. “Don’t worry, we’re doing a front-page spread on it. Janet Holt sure has some major pull around here. I’m off to interview her now, actually.”
The door clanged shut again. Maya and Jay/Rune stared at each other.
“Looking forward to reading that,” he said mildly.
They both started laughing at the same moment. Just the way they used to.
“Let’s get out of here,” Maya told him. “I’m gonna put out the ‘gone fishing’ sign and let them all fix their own problems.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
“Nope. You know me and the ocean. We still haven’t really warmed up to each other.”
She swung open the door, saw that everyone in the bullpen was watching with google eyes, and shut it again. “This place has lost its damn mind. They always want to know my business.”
A slow wicked smile spread across Jay-Jay’s face. “Should we really give them something to talk about?”
Oh lord. Here comes trouble. When had he gotten so freaking sexy? Twenty years sure changed a lot of things in a man.
“I think we’ve already got that covered. I have to look out for my reputation. I know my dad’s going to want to see you. How about I drive you over there and we can catch up on the way?”
He nodded, but his face went serious again. “It’s more than catching up. There’s a situation I have to talk to you about. In private, not around your father. It’s why I came to see you as soon as we got to town.”
There was that “we” again. She scolded herself to stop getting carried away just because her old friend had grown into a stone-cold fox.
“I get it. But not here, too many interruptions.” She put her hand to the door handle again, then hesitated. “So which is it, Rune or Jay-Jay?”
“Rune, if you can remember.”
“Rune.” She repeated it silently to herself. At least it suited him, but it would be weird calling him by a different name. Maybe it would help that he looked so damn different. “Rune Larsen, RN.”
“LPN,” he corrected. “Practical nurse. Also a paramedic, but I’ll explain all that later.”
“Let’s go, then. We only have about twenty years of catching up to do.”
He touched her on the shoulder, a gentle touch that made her remember how strong his arms had felt when they’d hugged.
“I always knew you’d grow up to be something special.”
Her face heated, and she braced herself to meet the collective stares of the department after she opened the door.
“I bet you never thought I’d be a police officer though.”
“I didn’t have a clue what you’d be. Just that you’d knock it out of the park, whatever it was.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You didn’t say that when I fell off every paddleboard you tried to put me on.”
“Anything land-based,” he corrected with a grin.
“You’ll find lots of other ocean lovers around here. It’s a fishing town, though we tend to fish from boats instead of swimming around with spears.”
His smile faded. “I won’t be staying, Maya. I only take short-term assignments. Six months at most.”
Right, he was a travel nurse. In Alaska, there was a big demand for travel health care workers, since so many villages weren’t big enough to support a full-time dentist or physical therapist or ophthalmologist.
Important to remember that he was just passing through Lost Harbor.
Also that he was a “we.”
“That must be hard on a relationship.”
He looked at her blankly. “Excuse me?”
Had that come across as blatantly fishing for information? And was that allowed? They hadn’t seen each other in so long. He could be married for all she knew. Her Jay-Jay—married. Such a strange thought.
Considering the possibility, she found she didn’t like it much. She pushed down the door handle. “Whoever you’re traveling with,” she explained.
Just as the door swung open, he said, “Oh, you mean my sister.”
Which meant that the entire department got a good look at her suddenly delighted grin.
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