AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She abruptly pulled away. “We need to stop—whatever this is.”
He winked. “Saturday evening, seven o’clock?”
He was out the door and down the steps before she could answer.
Standing in the open door, she watched him drive off, leaving tracks in the fresh snow. As his patrol car disappeared, she dissolved into helpless laughter.
“For a deputy, you are one tricky guy,” she muttered as she climbed the stairs to her apartment and shut the door behind her.
One she wished she could get to know a lot better.
* * * *
SARA KNOCKED LOUDLY on Leon’s door the next day, then took a step back so she could watch for any movement at the front windows. Harold sat at her side with his tail sweeping broad arcs in the snow, his gaze locked on the door.
“Come on, Leon, I know you’re here. Harold says so. I’ve got something for you.”
Silence.
The guy sure was stubborn. It had been more than two weeks since he’d been shot, and she’d stopped by nearly every day, but he refused to open the door to her.
The social worker and public health nurse had managed to examine and dress his wound twice, but he’d stood at his front door and hadn’t let them come in.
The housekeeper who’d been sent to help him twice a week hadn’t gotten any further. Now she simply brought out a box of perishables—dairy items, bread, ground beef—from the county-run food pantry twice a week and left them on his porch. She could imagine what kind of squalor existed in Leon’s house, but at least he accepted the food.
“A present, Leon!” Sara called out. “Don’t you want to see what it is? I’ve got some treats, too. If you don’t answer the door, Harold and I are going to eat them ourselves.”
His tail wagging faster, the dog whined and rose to his feet. A minute later the front door opened a few inches and Leon scowled out at her.
“This is for you.” Sara held up the shiny, crimson-wrapped package. “But I won’t hand it through the door. You have to come out.”
He seemed to ponder the situation, then finally the door squealed open and he came out onto the porch. When she handed him the package, he stared down at it for a full minute.
“You can open it,” she said softly. “Do you need some help?”
Without taking his gaze from the package, he shook his head once, his expression changing to wonder as he examined the package from all sides. Had he never received a present? Had old Earl just let birthdays and Christmases pass without acknowledgment?
Finally, with deliberate care, he unwrapped the package to reveal a cardboard box inside. “Just be careful, Leon. It might break if you drop it.”
The foam inner lining seemed to baffle him, but when he finally got through to the object inside, his eyes lit with wonder.
She’d found a music box in the shape of an old upright piano at a store on the edge of town. Maybe the twenty bucks had been a bit much for something that might easily be lost or damaged in Leon’s house, but when she’d seen the name of its tune on the box, she’d had no choice.
When she showed him how to gently wind the key and a tinkly version of “Für Elise” filled the air, his face folded into a wide grin.
“Remember this? I’ve heard you play it on a piano. Maybe someday you can play it for me.”
He edged a half step away, suddenly wary, and she knew he was on the verge of bolting into the house. Rather than lose the ground she’d just gained, she lifted the grocery sack at her feet. “I’m leaving now, Leon. There are a few things in here you might like.”
On her way to the front gate she heard the sounds of paper and cellophane rustling, and the music box playing its tune once again.
When she glanced back, Leon held a package of Twinkies in one hand, the music box in the other. She’d never seen such an expression of awe and delight.
Step one, Leon. Before she left town, she was going to make sure that he had more to look forward to than endless weeks alone in this shabby place.
* * * *
THE MOMENT SHE ARRIVED at her apartment after a run with Harold on Friday afternoon, Sara walked into her bedroom and checked her e-mail. Yes!
