CHAPTER NINE
To: Blue Moon Citizens
From: Blue Moon Police Department
Subject: Planetary Crossing Signs & Symptoms
Dear Citizen of Blue Moon,
In light of recent information, the Blue Moon Police Department has compiled this list of signs and symptoms that you may be affected by the Pluto-Uranus crossing. This is not an exhaustive list. Should you feel a strong desire to do anything out of character, we in the police department ask that you refrain from making any important decisions until November.
1. Beginning or ending a relationship.
2. Eating foods that you have a known allergy to.
3. Altering your physical appearance by any semi-permanent or permanent means.
4. Anything with fire.
5. Making any large purchases that haven’t been planned prior to now (tiny house, time share, new farming equipment, etc.)
Together, by applying caution and careful logic, we will look out for each other and survive this trying time.
Sincerely,
Sheriff Cardona and the Blue Moon Police Department
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This was a date. It had to be. Didn’t it? Why else would she have asked him and not everyone else? Donovan’s mind chugged through the possibilities for a third time as he followed Eva’s curvy hips to a cozy two-top at John Pierce Brews. The host tucked them into the corner with windows on two sides. Donovan took the chair facing the room so he could ward off any planetary dangers that materialized or any bamboozled Blue Mooners.
He tried to calm his date nerves by looking around. The building rehab had been a tedious process but worth it in Donovan’s mind. The Pierces had revitalized the old barn after decades of neglect. It was hard to recognize that livestock had once lived in this very spot. Impressive beam work held up the roof two stories above them. Industrial lighting and fans gave the place an eclectic, loft-like feel. The hardwood floors were scarred with age. The windows, built into thick walls, overlooked pastures and fields. There was a patio behind them and someone had started up the fireplace for the handful of customers who weren’t yet ready to face the transition to fall.
The bar, a long L-shape, was rustic, beefy. There was a comfortable dining room with more seating to the right of the kitchen and a loft above that overlooked the action in the bar.
Eva slid onto the high-backed stool and picked up the beer list.
She was pretty, he thought, studying her. No, not just pretty. Fresh and bright and bold. There was an energy beneath her exterior that buzzed just loud enough to alert him to the fact that she was walking, talking trouble. And that made her beautiful.
She wore her hair loose tonight. Curls tumbling over each other to her slim shoulders. She had a gloss on her lips that she must have put on in the car on the way over. Her sweater, a rich, deep green, looked soft to the touch.
“Well, well. The sheriff and Emma Jr. Isn’t this interesting?” Lila, the server raised her newly pierced eyebrow at them.
“Emma Jr.? Is that the best you can do?” Eva feigned pain.
“You’re right,” Lila grinned wickedly. “What can I get you, Naked in Town?”
“I think you should have stuck with Emma Jr.,” Donovan said to Eva.
“I’m going to kill that Anthony,” Eva grumbled. “I’ll have the Belgian triple please.”
“Stout for me,” Donovan said, handing Lila the menu.
“Any snacks?” she asked. “It’s been a slow night because of the meeting you called, so you should probably order food so you have to tip me more.”
Eva laughed and eyed Donovan. “I know it’s late, but I wouldn’t say no to nachos.”
“Nachos and the beer cheese soup,” he ordered. “Two spoons, please.”
Lila winked at them. “You got it. Be right back with your drinks.”
They sat staring at each other in silence for a moment.
“Sooo,” Eva began, propping her chin on her hand.
“Sooo.” He was nervous, and that was ridiculous. It was just a casual date. He could do this and not end up marrying the girl if he didn’t want to.
“What made you decide to be a cop?” she asked.
Okay. They were playing getting to know you. He could do that. Keep it casual, he reminded himself. Don’t mention marriage and white picket fences. Don’t do it.
“My mom was sheriff here for twenty years.”
“No, kidding? Really?” Eva’s eyes danced. They were lighter than her sisters’, more hazel than green. He couldn’t seem to look away from them.
“Yeah. Mom was sheriff, and Dad was fire chief.”
“Wow. So, public service is in the blood?”
He nodded. “How about you? A technical writer, right? How did you get into that?”
Eva waved a hand. “It’s what happens when a creative writing major can’t land a six-figure book deal right out of college. We take whatever job that comes along involving writing words. It’s nothing like what you do. I mean, you would put your life on the line to stand between your town and whatever danger is out there, right?”
Donovan ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I mean, that’s part of the job.”
“Part of the job?” she grinned. “You realize to us civilians that sounds insanely heroic. Your job requires you to put yourself in danger.”
“There’s not a lot of danger in Blue Moon,” he pointed out. He didn’t want Eva thinking he was something he wasn’t.
“Still. Bad things happen everywhere, and you’re one of the people who stops those bad things. What is it in a person’s character that makes that an acceptable risk? Are you less selfish than the rest of us?”
“Are you saying you wouldn’t take a bullet for someone?” Donovan asked, skirting her question.
“Sure, I would. But it’s a select few on the bullet-taking-for list.”
Lila returned with the drinks and napkins and then bustled off again into the thickening crowd.
“What about a stranger?” he pressed.
“I’d like to think I’d be brave and selfless and heroic, but how can anyone know how they’d react in a dangerous situation? That’s what training is for, right?”
Donovan picked up his beer, sipped. “Yeah. The training is so ingrained that it becomes reflex. You don’t have to fight your instincts. You just act.”
“Wow.” She took a contemplative taste of her beer and then switched glasses with him. “Mind sharing?”
“I don’t mind.” He drank from her glass, watching her. She closed her eyes and made an “mmm” noise. When they switched back, his fingers lingered over hers, or hers under his, and their gazes met.
She was the first to pull her hand away. “So, you got into this line of work because it’s what your family does. What do you think you’d be doing if your mom hadn’t been sheriff?”
“I don’t ever remember not wanting to be a cop,” he admitted. “And I always wanted to be one here. This place is home. These are the people I care most about. It’s an honor to protect and serve here.”
“Damn,” Eva shook her head slowly. “You’re a really good guy, Cardona.”
He laughed. “I don’t know about that. I’m sure there are some tarnished spots on this armor,” he joked.
“We all have our secrets, I suppose.”
The way she said it made him wonder exactly what her secrets were and how long it would take before he could find out.
Their food arrived, and they talked between bites. He watched her closely, finding it interesting that she seemed determined to get to know him while keeping him in the dark about her.
“Why do you do that?” he asked when she brushed off a question about childhood.
“Do what?” This time, he could tell she wasn’t pretending to misunderstand.
“Why are you so interested in learning about me but dodge all questions about you?”
She flushed, light pink high on her cheeks, and picked up a soup spoon.
“Old habit, I suppose.”
“See, like that. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Why do you want to know, Sheriff? Am I under investigation?”
“Say my name.” He gave the order quietly.
“What?”
“I want to hear you say my name. Not Sheriff. Not Cardona. My name.”
“Donovan.” Her voice was silky soft.
The blush on her cheeks deepened. But her eyes. Oh, those eyes. They delivered a message. Interest, trust, heat. That had been a mistake, but he wasn’t going to waste time regretting it.
“How old were you when your mother left?” He shifted gears fast enough that she didn’t have time to put her walls up.
“Eight.” She blinked as if surprised that she’d answered the question.
“I bet you got tired of having everyone ask you if you were okay all the time back then.”
She was studying him now. “You’re an interesting man, Donovan.”
“You interest me, Eva.”
“I do? In what way? Am I a puzzle to solve? A victim to save?”
He sidestepped her questions. He wasn’t sure how she’d react to the blunt honest answer. That he wanted to take her to bed and then learn everything there was to know about her before potentially marching her down the aisle. There was something here. Something in her that called to him. Despite her evasive answers, despite her veneer of mystery, he recognized something inside her. And he wanted it. He just needed to find the key.
“I want to know what goes on in that dizzying mind of yours,” he confessed.
She grinned at him and lit up the room with the smile. Honest, genuine, sweet. “You wouldn’t survive an hour in there,” she predicted.
He leaned in. “Try me.”
She bit her lower lip, considering. And he felt his eyes narrow. Despite the food on the table in front of him, Donovan Cardona was hungry.