Precious Blessings

“Uh…no.”

“Did you hurt yourself when you ran into my patrol car?”

“No.”

“Fine. I don’t know why you’re so confused, but I’ve had a hard day. I’m not going to deal with this nonsense, not right now. I suggest you go back inside before you freeze and wait for the local cops to come take your report.”

He watched as the woman reached into her slim skirt pocket. Not for a weapon, no, but a hundred-dollar pen and small notepad. She began writing furiously, pausing to sweep off the fat snowflakes that landed on her dainty pink pad.

Leaning in, she squinted at his chest. She was tall, and in the dusk of the storm, her light hair gleamed like platinum. “Your badge number. Now, your name would be…?”

She didn’t look delusional and psychotic, not for a woman who was standing in an arctic storm in a designer suit and glaring up at him like a hungry reporter ready to jot down crucial information on her square pad of sticky notes. She didn’t look confused, but efficient and organized.

Maybe that was the clue he’d overlooked. He was just dog-tired. He still couldn’t understand why she’d run at his car. She wasn’t in danger and she wasn’t in trouble. “Look, lady, sorry if I missed something. You need help with some shoplifter?”

“Have you heard a word I’ve said?”

“I just finished a double shift, lady. I’m dead on my feet.”

“I’m sure it’s difficult for a father to hear—”

“Don’t listen to her, Daddy.” Hayden popped out of the car and gave him a wide-eyed Bambi look.

Apparently, she’d forgotten about the shocking things she’d done to her face and her hair. And where did she get those clothes? She looked like a thrift shop had exploded on her. He gaped at his daughter, his little girl, and could not see her beneath the layers of thick makeup. A clown wore less makeup.

“We didn’t do anything wrong, honest, Daddy.”

It was that uh-oh feeling in his gut that kept him from believing her flat-out. One question drilled through his tiredness. What had he missed? There was clearly some misunderstanding on the part of this store clerk.

The sound of an approaching car and the wan glow of headlamps had him turning to look over the snow berm in the center of the parking lot. Thank heaven above. “There are the local uniforms to your rescue.”

And mine, he thought.

“Fine. Are you coming or not?”

“Now why would I do that? Hayden, get back in the car.” He meant to take a step back, but it was as if some unseen force held him in place. “You go get the help you obviously need. Good night, ma’am.”

Katherine felt her blood pressure soar into the red zone so fast the top of her skull throbbed. “Sure, go ahead and run off. I have the information I need and I’m sure those nice officers will be in contact with you, Trooper…? What’s your last name?”

“Munroe. I hope you get this straightened out.”

“I will, but I am sorry for your daughter’s sake. Sadly, this happens even in a Christian bookstore, and while I’m very faithful and forgiving, a crime is a crime.”

Katherine watched the lawman’s granite hands fist tight. She felt his gaze sharpen on her like a blade aimed and ready.

“A Christian bookstore?” The trooper’s dark brow arched upward. “Hayden, tell me you didn’t do this. You didn’t shoplift. And not from a Christian bookstore.”

There it is, Katherine thought, the possibility cracking through the denial. Good, she’d rather take care of this now, the right way. “Mr. Munroe, I’ll see you inside.”

She left father and daughter to settle their problems and hurried through the storm to greet the officers climbing out of their cruiser. With every step she took her emotions cooled and she felt the bite of the frigid wind.

And regret.

Chapter Two

This was the last thing he needed right now. Jack swept the white stuff off his hat brim as he watched that bookstore lady disappear into the thick curtain of snow. It had been a long time since he’d disliked a woman so much so fast. He couldn’t say why he had such a strong reaction to her—other than the fact that she’d accused his only child of a crime. Not that she was right about it.

No way, he thought, shaking his head, knocking more snow from his brim. Not his Hayden. Her friend, maybe. Now Jan, he’d believe hands down, was a shoplifter. She was the problem, a problem he was going to take care of right now.

“Daddy, how can you even think that? I didn’t steal whatever she was talking about. She just wanted to blame us. I don’t know why.”

Why was it that whenever he looked at his daughter, he looked past the teenager he hardly recognized to the little sweet thing she’d used to be, five years old with her arm around her favorite doll, running to greet him at the door when he came home from work?

You have to face the facts, man. She’s not five anymore. The more Jack looked, the more he recognized Heidi in that look. In fact, it troubled him deeply that with every passing day, his daughter was acting out the grief of her mother’s death. While time had dulled his sharp grief, it hadn’t seemed to do the same for Hayden.

He had to get control of this situation, put his foot down about the kind of friends Hayden had, and maybe get her involved in church activities. He’d been meaning to join a church, but ever since they’d moved to Bozeman six weeks ago, he’d had his hands full juggling crisis after crisis.

Maybe it was time to let a few things fall and take his daughter to church because he had every intention of keeping her on the straight and narrow. She obviously needed it if this was the type of trouble her new friend was into.

“That store lady is just mean, Daddy.”

“Get back in the car.”

“But Daddy, you don’t believe her, do you?” Big innocent eyes stared up at him.

His heart melted. Again, he still saw his sweet little girl. The trouble was, he also saw a strange teenager staring up at him with his Hayden’s eyes, while wearing clown makeup and rock-video-star clothes.

A momentary flash of rage turned his vision red, blurring everything. Her doe-eyed expression, the rapid blinking that told him she was lying. Man, was he mad. Yep, Hayden was covering for her friend. And he was going to come down on them both like a ton of bricks.

No more makeup. No more unsuitable clothing. He did not approve of this. Red hazed his vision again. Is this how she went to school? Had she been like this all day? How long would it take to change back into the nice-looking, decent girl he was used to seeing? She had to wash the blue out of her hair. Her appearance had to be a temporary thing so that she could wash the makeup off her face, climb back into the clothes she was supposed to be wearing and he’d never know the difference. If he hadn’t stopped by to check on her earlier, he might not have caught this version of his daughter.

Fury wasn’t the word. He set the rules and he expected them to be followed. No arguments. No exceptions. No excuses. “Get in the car.”

“Good, ’cuz Jan has to be home by four-thirty.” She dropped into the front passenger seat and shared a smug look with her friend in the back seat.

Okay, what was up? Whatever it was, his instincts told him he wasn’t going to like it. As he folded his lengthy frame behind the wheel, he already knew what he had to do. He had to get this straightened out fast.

“Did you see her shoes?” Jan asked Hayden. “I think those shoes went out of fashion in 1942.”

Hayden giggled. “And did you see her skirt? She could be a nun in that skirt.”

Okay, he was seeing red again. “Enough. Show some respect. Now I want you to apologize to the store lady and give back whatever it was that you stole from her.” He caught Jan’s gaze in the mirror as he negotiated through the parking lot. “Got it? Or you’ll be in more trouble than you know what to do with. I’ll make sure of it.”

“It’d be hard to do, since I didn’t steal.”

“It’s true, Daddy. She didn’t take anything.”

Lord, I’m gonna need a little help here. He parked next to the townie’s patrol car in front of a lit storefront. Welcome to the Corner Christian Bookstore was written in tasteful black script across the double glass doors. The troubled feeling in his gut went from a squall to a full-out hurricane.