The Vacation

Chapter 12

It had been a long couple of days. She still had one more day before she had to head to work. It would be light duty because of her foot but she'd already checked in with the other inspector and she had several thumb drives of pictures and a stack of lab results waiting for her so she'd stay busy.

Getting around the house had proved quite the task. It had taken 4 trips, scooting up and down the stairs on her rear end, to get her things put away since her suitcase was too heavy. Three cups of coffee and a couple of hours had gotten her mail sorted and the bills filed away. The rest of the day had been devoted to weeding the garden and getting all the little things in order.

That morning Brenna decided gratitude was owning an automatic vehicle that could be operated with one foot. She'd gotten a few looks maneuvering around the grocery store in their motorized cart. Her neighbor Karen had come by just in the nick of time to help her unload the car and even picked a few peaches for her before they settled down onto the porch to drink iced tea and review Brenna's trip photos. Her eyes had gotten wide as saucers when she'd seen a picture Derek had taken of Mac carrying Brenna out of the ER after her stitches.

"Who is that? Please tell me he is single and into older women?"

"That is Mac. He's Pete's buddy who came on the trip. He is single. I have no idea about his age preferences. He'll be here in a few hours if you want to ogle the real deal." Her friend's jaw visibly dropped.

"Hey now! Shut that dirty mind down. He offered to come mow the lawn for me, in exchange for a home cooked dinner, since I'm slightly disabled at the moment." She took a drink of her tea. "He admitted to not being a cooker and I think he got spoiled during the trip."

"Uh huh." Karen just stared with the most infuriating smirk.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Oh geez!" Brenna rolled her eyes.

"Well I have to get home and feed the horses and dig out my binoculars so I can spy on you and the hunk later." She winked at Brenna. "Remember that I'm old now and don't get much action these days. Take pity on me and make it good."

Brenna found the most useful use of her crutches yet to swat at her neighbor and friend as she scurried off the porch laughing.

A little while later she stood in front of the kitchen window letting the small fan she had there cool her down. It was a nice mild day outside. The gas oven did a great job of heating up her kitchen and it had been running a couple of hours. On her counter stood two golden, flakey crusted peach pies. They'd have one for dessert and she'd pack one up for him to take home.

The oven now held a homemade chicken pot pie. She'd figured if she had to make pie crust she'd better make it worth her while. She'd just opened a bottle of wine to breathe when the door bell rang.

She could see him standing on the other side of the screen door. She'd thought he looked good in shorts and a tank top but there was something crazy sexy about a man in a well fitting t-shirt and tactical pants. Reego charged into the house the moment she opened the door.

"Sorry about that. He's been in work mode all day and lost his manners." She just smiled and waved it off as she scrubbed the dog's ears. "I missed him. Come on in. Do you want some iced tea?"

"Sure. I'm just going to use your bathroom to change if you don't mind and then if you'll show me to the lawnmower?"

She motioned to the first door on the left down the hall and retrieved a glass of tea from the kitchen. When he emerged he'd changed into worn Carhart's and a slightly less close fitting gray shirt. It wasn't bad in the least but she still mourned the loss of the uniform. She handed him the glass of tea and they made their way outside.