Standoff At Christmas

His hand on the knob, he peered sideways at her. For a few seconds his gaze trapped hers, and she didn’t want to look away.

“Is something wrong with your aunt?”

“I don’t know. She called upset, but we haven’t had a chance to talk alone yet. I’ll stop by after work to see what’s going on.”

“When she went into the processing room, I said hi to her and she didn’t even acknowledge it. She just kept going. I know I’ve been gone, but that’s not like her. She’s the first to want to know everything about a person.”

“I agree she isn’t acting normal.” Rachel headed into the lightly falling snow and made her way toward the office building.

She’d make sure Aunt Betty came to dinner. She’d been invited. The storm shouldn’t hit full force until after midnight, and if she had to, Aunt Betty could stay at her sister’s.

“Why were you at the processing center? I was surprised to see you there.”

Jake smiled. “To see you. I saw you entering the building and came to say hi. I hear you were promoted to bookkeeper.”

“Yes, which reminds me, I have to finish my rounds and give out the payroll checks. I’ll see you tonight.”

* * *

Midway through the afternoon, Rachel called Sean’s office to see if she could talk with Aunt Betty. His secretary told her that her aunt had clocked out early and gone home. Rachel tried Aunt Betty’s home number. No answer. She might not be home yet.

When Rachel was ready to leave two hours later, she made the call to her aunt’s again, and the phone still rang and rang. Rachel’s worry mounted. What if she was sick and couldn’t answer it? She had looked pale earlier. And why had she wanted Jake’s help?

Rachel hurried to her Jeep and navigated the snow-packed streets to the outskirts of Port Aurora. Aunt Betty’s house was on the same road out of town but before Aunt Linda’s house. Both her aunts and Lawrence Nichols, Jake’s grandfather, loved living a little out from town.

When she reached Aunt Betty’s drive, she drove down it and parked in front of the cabin, not far from the shed where her aunt’s truck was. She was home.

Rachel made her way to the covered front porch, the wind beginning to pick up and blow the snow around as it fell. Rachel knocked. A minute later she did again.

When Betty didn’t come to answer the door, Rachel stepped to the side and peeked into the living room window. She froze at the sight of the chaos inside.

* * *

Jake finished getting the supplies for Gramps and strolled toward the checkout at the Port Aurora General Store. It had been good to see Rachel again. Talking to her this morning made him realize he missed their conversations. While in Anchorage, he’d kept himself busy, and he’d let their friendship slip. He should have come back to town before this. Port Aurora had been his home for years until... He shook the image of Celeste from his thoughts and put the items on the counter. Marge, the owner’s wife, began ringing up his purchases.

A bell rang, announcing yet another customer coming into the popular store near the harbor. Jake glanced toward the person entering. He stiffened. He’d known he would see Celeste Howard—the woman who broke off their engagement eight years ago—during his extended stay at Gramps’s, but he’d hoped not the first day in town.

Their gazes clashed. He gritted his teeth and swiveled his attention to Marge to pay for his supplies.

Marge’s eyes twinkled. “She always comes in right before Brad leaves work and gets a drink at the café. She usually picks him up.” Marge, one of the best gossipers in Port Aurora, waited for his response.

He smiled and said, “Thanks. Merry Christmas,” then grabbed his bag and started for the exit of the store, which was dripping with Christmas decorations.

Celeste intercepted his departure. “Hi, Jake. It’s good to see you again. I heard about your injury. How are you?”

She had meant everything to him at one time, but when he looked at her now, a cold rock hardened in his gut. “I’m fine, as you can see.” Then he continued his trek toward the door, welcoming the blast of icy wind as he stepped onto the porch.

The heartache and humiliation of their breakup, done in front of a large audience at their engagement party, still fueled his anger. After his mother had left him with Gramps and gone on her merry way, he’d been wary of forming any deep relationship. First losing his father in a fishing accident and then his mom because she didn’t want to be a mother anymore, had left its mark. Rachel’s friendship had helped him through those hard times because she had gone through something similar with her own mom. Then when he’d fallen in love with Celeste, it felt so right. But the whole time, she’d been making a play for Brad Howard, the son of the richest man in town, using Jake to make Brad jealous.

Jake climbed into his grandfather’s SUV and headed home. He was glad to have gotten that inevitable meeting over with. The earth didn’t shake and swallow him because he’d seen her today. He was a different man than the one who had naively fallen for Celeste eight years ago.

In the dark of a winter day, Jake turned down the long drive that led to a cluster of several homes, one being his grandfather’s on a few acres. He shouldn’t have stayed in town so long. Although dinner at Linda’s wasn’t for a few hours, he wanted to spend time with Gramps and help him as much as he could around his place. Gramps, at seventy-three, moved slower and wasn’t as energetic as he once was.

When Jake entered his childhood home, Mitch, his black and brown German shepherd, greeted him at the door, his tail wagging. He hadn’t been sure how his dog would do, flying in a small plane, but he had been great. He would miss working every day with Mitch when he returned to the Anchorage Police Department. Mitch had been retired early because he’d lost one of his legs in the accident at the bomb site they had been searching.

“Did you miss me?” Jake rubbed him behind his ears.

Mitch barked.

The noise brought Gramps into the entry hall. “Every sound sent Mitch to the window to see if you were coming home.”

“I stayed a little longer than I planned. I’m surprised at how much Port Aurora has grown, changed.”

“Yes, it’s been a harbor of busyness for the past year. Lots of construction in the summer. The roads still okay?”

“Yes. Five or six hours from now they might not be.”

“If the storm blows through quickly, they’ll have the roads plowed by tomorrow afternoon.”

“All the way out here?” They didn’t when he lived here as a child, but Port Aurora’s population had been only twenty-eight hundred in the winter. With its growth came more needs for the residents.

“Yep, that’s called progress. They don’t plow the long drive, but I’ll get out there and do that tomorrow morning.”

“I can.”

“No, you’re on vacation.”

“I’ve been on vacation for months, and frankly I can’t wait to get back to work.”

Gramps turned and ambled toward the great room where he spent a lot of his time. “Then let’s pray your doctor says you’re ready to go back to work at the first of January. Did you see any old friends?”

“Rachel and Sean.” Since Celeste wasn’t a friend, he left her name out. Whenever she was mentioned, Gramps always got angry.

“How’s Rachel?”

“Fine.” Jake sat on the couch while his grandfather took his place in his special lounger. “We really didn’t talk long. Aunt Betty was upset about something, and Rachel was focused on that.”

“Really? Betty is one lady that goes with the flow. She doesn’t let much of anything get to her. I should learn something from her.”

The landline rang, and Jake reached toward the end table and snatched up the receiver. “Hello.”

“Jake, I’m so glad you’re home.” The relief in Rachel’s voice came through loud and clear.

“What’s wrong?”

“I stopped by Aunt Betty’s house on the way home, and no one answered the door, but her car is here. I just looked into the living room window and someone has tossed her place. It’s a mess.”

“Call the police, stay outside and I’ll be right there.”