Moore.
His palm was wrapped around the handle of a carry-on bag on wheels, and his thick black dress coat was unbuttoned, flapping as the wind picked up. She knew he’s planned his layover in Chicago carefully, to have a short, but important, business meeting there, which explained his formal dress.
Tall and graceful, he was the epitome of a successful businessman, the kind you wanted to relax with over a fine dinner, or talk to while playing eighteen holes on the golf course.
A charmer.
Moore was a charmer.
The police officer gave him a hard look that made Moore step back, hands going up a bit.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, questions in his eyes as they bounced from Tomes back to her. “Is–” He looked down, head snapping back in surprise. “Tim?”
“Moore?”
Before Tim could say another word, men in red jackets appeared.
Paramedics.
Thank God.
“Moore!” Tim shouted up. “You were smart! You never dated her! You’re just friends. Stay in the friend zone, man. Don’t do it or she’ll hurt you!”
Now Tomes glared at her, but turned to Moore. “Excuse me, sir. I’m in the middle of talking to…” He looked at her with suspicion. “Name?”
“Colleen Luview.”
As she said her surname, the officer jolted. “Luview? As in Love You, Maine? The town?”
“Yes, sir.”
Tomes glanced down at his left hand. A beautiful platinum ring rested on it, the metal textured as if someone had taken thin branches from trees and braided them.
“I was married there.” He looked at Moore, tilting his head. “And I swear I know you.”
Charm was something Moore had in spades, an easygoing, affable manner he didn’t so much turn on as access through his daily life. Colleen felt him go from concerned to engaged as he offered his hand to the cop and said, “Talia. October 2021, right? You’re Alberto.”
The officer’s squint instantly changed to an expression of pleasure while the paramedics began evaluating Tim, who was now groaning in pain and apparently unable to continue accusing Colleen of conjuring the dark arts.
“The jeweler! You’re the guy at Love You Jewelry. I’m sorry, man. I don’t remember your name.”
“Moore. Moore Mottin.”
As they shook hands, Officer Tomes gave Moore his full attention, pulling him two steps away from Colleen. Another officer, a short woman with a dark ponytail under her cap, waved at Tomes, who then gestured toward the mess of cars. She immediately began directing traffic, while a third cop talked to the kid who actually hit Tim.
You know. The one who really hurt him.
Within ten seconds, Moore was chatting up Alberto as if they were best buds who happened to run into each other. Colleen’s dad always joked that Moore could climb Mount Everest and find someone he knew at the top.
“Look, man, it’s nice to see you again, but this situation is, ah…” Officer Tomes looked at Colleen, then Tim. “You know these two?”
The impish look Moore gave her made it clear he desperately wanted to crack a joke, but now was not the time. In that way old friends have of communicating telepathically, she sent him a stern no with three eye twitches, along with some choice nonverbal profanity.
“Sure. Colleen’s a nurse in Luview. Her brother is the new chief of police and he’s my best friend.”
Magic words. Magic, magic words.
“Why didn’t you say so?” the cop admonished her. “I didn’t realize you’re practically family.”
“I, uh–”
“Don’t date her!” Tim rasped as the paramedics stabilized his neck and lifted him onto a stretcher. “Don’t do it, bro!”
Officer Tomes held up his left hand. “I’m married.”
“I meant Moore! Colleen’s playing a long game with you. She’ll get you under her spell like she got me. All these years, I thought her ears stuck out a little too much for my taste–”
Colleen reached up and felt her earlobes. What?
“–and when she kisses, she bites–”
“HEY!” she shouted, earning a look from Moore that said this was going to be town gossip unless she paid for all their dart games for the next month.
“–and now she broke my leg!”
Moore rolled his eyes. “She didn’t do a thing to Tim.”
“Then what’s he going on about, that she’s evil and cursed?”
“He never said evil.”
“He certainly implied it.”
“Third Date Colleen,” Moore explained as if he were giving him directions to a gas station. “Every guy Colleen makes it to a third date with somehow ends up injured, in her emergency room.”
“You’re serious?” Tomes gaped.
“No, he’s not. Because Tim and I had our third date a few days ago and he’s not in my ER,” Colleen replied with a sniff.
“But this is close enough to the curse,” Moore argued. “Jake sliced himself with the hedge trimmer. Joe got that snake bite. Gerry had food poisoning. Mike–”
Officer Tomes cut him off.
“You’re serious? Every single guy?”
“Yep.”
“Then why are you with her?”
Moore’s face went blank with astonishment. “Me?” he said in a two-toned voice.
“Yeah. You two are together, right?”
“Oh, no!” Colleen chimed in. “I’m just picking him up from the airport. I’m dating Tim.”
“ARE NOT!” Tim called out as the medics slid him into the back of their ambulance, the doors closing on that parting shot.
Tomes laughed softly through his nose. “Sounds like you’re on the market again, Ms. Luview.”
“Call me Colleen. And besides, Moore and I–no way. We’re just friends.”
“My wife and I were ‘just friends,’ too.”
The female officer jogged over and Tomes said goodbye quickly. Horns blared behind them and Colleen realized she needed to get back to the truck.
Thank goodness.
Without a word, Moore followed her, shoving his carry-on in the back seat then climbing in.
Heart smacking against her chest like she was clapping at one of her niece’s soccer games, Colleen pulled away from the curb as Moore clicked his seatbelt in place, twisting back to get one more look at poor Tim.
“Huh. The only thing worse than that would’ve been if you were the one to hit him.”
“I hate you.”
“Is that any way to greet one of your best friends?”
“When it’s you with that mouth of yours? Yes.”
“‘Welcome home, Moore,’” he said in a sing-songy voice. “‘It’s good to have you back, Moore.’”
“Not when you tease me about–” she waved her right hand in the air in a vague way meant to convey the mess that was her love life. “That.”
“Third Date Colleen?”
“You know I hate that phrase.”
“Unfortunately, the universe just proved it true.”
“Technically,” she said, her voice going high and reedy with emotion, “that didn’t count.”