Good Husband Material. Susan Mallery

“Come to think of it, I never did cash that check.”

      “You can do it tomorrow.”

      “I guess I’ll have to.”

      She led the way into the kitchen. Having him here was strange, she thought. An odd blending of past and present. How many times had he come over for dinner eight years ago? Her grandmother had always welcomed him at their table. Kari had been so in love that she’d been thrilled he’d wanted to spend mealtimes with her. Of course, she’d been young enough to be excited even if all he wanted was for her to keep him company while he washed his car. All she’d needed to be happy was a few hours in Gage’s presence. Life had been a whole lot simpler in those days.

      He leaned against a counter and sniffed. “That smells mighty good. And familiar.”

      “Grandmother’s sauce recipe. I put it in the slow cooker this morning, right after I got back from the grocery store. I also got out the old bread maker, but as it’s been gathering dust forever, I can’t promise it’ll all work.”

      His dark gaze settled on her. “It works just fine.”

      His words made her break out in goose bumps, which was crazy. He was a smooth-talking good-ol’ boy from Possum Landing. She lived in New York City. No way Gage Reynolds should be able to get to her. And he didn’t. Not really.

      “Did you get all the paperwork wrapped up, or whatever it was you had to do after the robbery?” she asked as she checked on the pasta sauce.

      “Everything is tied up in a neat package.” He crossed to the kitchen table and picked up the bottle of wine she’d left there.

      “Kari Asbury, is this liquor? Have you brought the devil’s brew into our saintly dry county?”

      She glanced up and chuckled. “You know it. I remembered there weren’t any liquor sales allowed around here and figured I had better bring my own. I stopped on my way over from the airport.”

      “I’m shocked. Completely shocked.”

      She grinned. “So you probably don’t want to know that there’s beer in the refrigerator.”

      “Not at all.” He opened the door and pulled out a bottle. When he offered it to her, she shook her head.

      “I’ll wait for wine with dinner.”

      He opened the drawer with the bottle opener in it on the first try. Gage moved around with the ease of someone familiar with the place. But then, he had been. He’d moved in next door, the spring before her senior year. She remembered watching him carry in boxes and pieces of furniture. Her grandmother had told her who he was—the new deputy. Gage Reynolds. He’d been in the army and had traveled the world. To her seventeen-year-old eyes, a young man of twenty-three had seemed impossibly grown-up and mature. When they’d started dating that fall, he’d seemed a man of the world and she’d been—

      “Are we still neighbors?” she asked, turning back to face him.

      “I’m still next door.”

      She thought of Ida Mae’s comment that Gage had never made it to the altar. Somehow he’d managed to not get caught. Looking at him now, his khaki uniform emphasizing the breadth of his shoulders and the muscles in his legs, she wondered how the lovely ladies of Possum Landing had managed to keep from trapping him.

      Not her business, she reminded herself. She checked the timer on the bread machine and saw there was still fifteen minutes to go, plus cooling time.

      “Let’s go into the parlor,” she said. “We’ll be more comfortable.”

      He nodded and led the way.

      As she followed him, she found her gaze drifting lower, to his rear. She nearly stumbled in shock. What on earth was wrong with her? She didn’t ever stare at men’s butts. Nothing about them had ever seemed overly interesting. Until now.

      She sighed. Obviously, living next door to Gage was going to be more complicated than she’d realized.

      He settled into a wing chair, while she took the sofa. Gage drank some of his beer, then put the bottle on a crocheted coaster and leaned back. He should have looked awkward and out of place in this fussy, feminine room, but he didn’t. Perhaps because he’d always been comfortable anywhere.

      “What are you thinking?” he asked.

      “That you look at home in my grandmother’s house.”

      “I spent a lot of time here,” he reminded her. “Even after you left, she and I stayed close.”

      She didn’t want to think about that…about the confidences that might have been shared.

      Gage studied her face. “You’ve changed.”

      She wasn’t sure if he meant the comment in a good way or a bad way. “It’s been a long time.”

      “I never thought you’d come back.”

      It was the second time in less than three hours that someone had mentioned her being back. “I’m not back,” she clarified. “At least, not for anything permanent.”

      Gage didn’t look surprised by her statement, nor did he seem to take issue with her defensive tone. “So why are you suddenly here? It’s been seven years since your grandmother died.”

      Her temper faded as quickly as it had flared. She sighed. “I want to fix up the house so I can sell it. I’m just here for the summer while I do that.”

      He nodded without saying anything. She had the uncomfortable sense of having been judged and found wanting. Which wasn’t fair. Gage wasn’t the type of man to judge people without just cause. So her need to squirm in her seat had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her own state of mind.

      Rather than deal with personal inadequacies that were probably better left unexplored in public, she changed the subject. “I can’t believe there was a bank robbery right here in Possum Landing. It’s going to be the talk of the town for weeks.”

      “Probably. But it wasn’t that much of a surprise.”

      “I can’t believe that. Things couldn’t have changed that much.”

      He nodded. “We’re still just a bump in the road, with plenty of small-town problems, but nothing even close to big-city crime. These boys were working their way across the state, robbing hometown banks. I’d been keeping track of their progress, figuring they’d get here sooner or later. Four days ago, the feds came calling. They wanted to set up a sting. I didn’t have a problem with that. We talked to everyone at the bank, marked a drawer full of money, then waited for the hit to take place.”

      Kari couldn’t believe it. “All that excitement right here, and I was in the thick of it.”

      Gage narrowed his eyes. “As you saw, things got out of hand. I don’t know if those robbers got lazy or cocky, but this time, they decided to hold up the bank while there were still customers inside. Previously they’d waited until just before the doors were locked for the day, to go in.”

      “So you weren’t expecting to deal with a hostage situation?”

      “No one was. The feds wanted to wait it out, but those were my people inside. Someone had to do something.”

      She turned that thought over in her mind. “So you just waltzed inside to distract them?”

      “It seemed like the easiest way to get the job done. Plus, I wanted to be there to make sure no one went crazy and got shot. At least, no one from here. I don’t much care about the criminals.”

      Of course. In Gage’s mind, they had brought the situation upon themselves. He wouldn’t take responsibility for their coming to Possum Landing to hold up a bank in the first place.

      “I have to agree with the federal officer,” she said. “I don’t know if you were brave or stupid.”