asked me to give up my days off to accommodate his love life.”
“Now, hold on a moment. I didn’t ask you to give up your days, I asked you to switch. And I never said anything about my love life.”
Ginger snorted. “Like we all can’t tell that you are pawing at the barn door to get to your heifer in heat.”
“Heifer in heat?” Gabi chortled a laugh. “I can’t wait to share that one with Savannah.”
This friendship between his deputy and his lover made life awkward at times. However, Zach was in too good a mood to allow workplace teasing to bother him today. He glanced at the clock. Half an hour until the bus’s scheduled departure.
“I think I’ll do one more foot patrol before I call it a day.” He’d feel better about things if he actually watched TJ get on the bus and saw it drive out of town. “Buzz me if anything needs my attention … until ten o’clock. After that, Gabriella is in charge.”
“Ah, words that are music to my ears,” she said. “I have such plans for this little burg. Ginger, as soon as he leaves, let’s get to work on that town beautification idea we discussed.”
Against his better judgment, Zach asked, “Town beautification?”
“I noticed that the budget has three thousand dollars in surplus funds for that line item. We thought we’d use it for pedicures for local residents.”
“Very funny.” He strode toward the door, lifted his hat from the hat rack, and offered up a parting shot. “You girls be good.”
“Bet you don’t say that to Savannah,” Gabi called after him.
Zach grinned all the way to the school parking lot.
There he saw Savannah dressed in that yellow sundress of hers, the one that was his favorite, and—whoa, was that TJ? What had happened to his hair? It was … brown. And trimmed. Couldn’t even tell he’d had a Mohawk. Plus he only had one earring in one of his ears.
Savannah stood with Sarah Murphy, Ali Timberlake, and Cat Davenport. He joined them, indulged in the urge to give Savannah a quick buss on the mouth, then asked, “So who is that kid standing in for TJ?”
“Crazy, isn’t it?”
“What brought it on?”
“I’m not sure. He came downstairs like this, didn’t say a word, and with one of those mule-headed looks told me not to ask.”
“Where did he get those normal clothes?”
“Sarah brought them over. She said they were some of Devin’s things that he’d outgrown.”
“That was nice.”
“It was a lie. She and Gabi got together and bought a few things and washed them a half-dozen times. They even authenticated the shirt with a chocolate stain.”
“I see nothing wrong with that sentiment,” Cat said.
Zach decided to bring the conversation back around to the boy. “Whatever the reason, we can be thankful for it. He looks good.”
“I think he has a crush on Gabi,” Savannah said.
“Oh-h-h. Yes. That makes sense. She told me she’d been shooting basketballs with him and Mandy West.”
If Savannah hadn’t been in his life and he hadn’t been Gabi’s boss, he probably would have had a crush on her, too.
Cat said, “Looks like our camp director is ready to load the kids up.”
Zach observed the excitement on the faces of the town’s children. “You and Jack are doing a wonderful thing here, Cat. Most of these kids’ parents couldn’t afford summer camp.”
“We are just as excited as the kids—excited and nervous. We’re happy to have these sessions for the local kids to give us time to work out the wrinkles. We want everything to go smoothly, but I know we’ll have our challenges.”
“According to Devin, not for lack of preparation,” Sarah said, speaking of her son. “Devin said that training for the Wounded Wings One Hundred bike race had nothing on what Jack put the counselors through during their training sessions.”
Cat shrugged. “Jack went a little overboard. It’s his background. Says you can never be too prepared.”
“True,” Zach said. Whatever work Jack Davenport had done for the government, he no longer did it. He and Cat had dedicated their efforts to the charitable foundation, Lauren’s Gifts, established in the name of their deceased daughter. Zach was glad to see the Davenports so happy after the bumpy road they’d traveled.
The children began filing onto the bus, and Cat said, “Okay, then. I’d better head on up there. I promised Jack I’d beat the bus so that we’re together when our first campers arrive.”