Christmas on the Coast - Lee Tobin McClain Page 0,2

gun she hadn’t known he was carrying, and her heart gave a great thump.

“Put the gun down,” she forced out through a dry throat.

Davey knelt on the floor behind Paul, wrapping his arms around his knees. “I don’t like this,” he fretted, rocking back and forth.

Sarge stood, the hair on his back bristling as he watched the door.

“Amber? You okay?” Trey’s voice outside the door sounded loud, concerned. He must have seen her and Paul through the window.

Heart pounding, Amber stepped in front of the door. She was facing Paul and directly in his line of fire, but she was praying he wouldn’t shoot a woman. “Everything’s fine,” she said to the rigid man whose eyes were glued on the door behind her. “It’s my brother-in-law. I called him when Davey came over. He’s a cop,” she clarified when Paul showed no sign of relaxing his fighting stance.

Davey was sobbing quietly.

“Everything’s fine,” she repeated.

“Amber! Open up!” Trey pounded on the door again.

“Just a minute,” she called over her shoulder and then she frowned at Paul. “I’d appreciate it if you’d put your gun away.”

His eyes narrowed. He slid his weapon into a holster inside his jacket but kept his hand on it.

“Why don’t you just sit down,” she said quietly. “You’re scaring your son.” For whatever reason, she didn’t want Trey to come in and find this man an utter basket case, someone who should have his kid taken away from him.

Paul’s head drooped for a minute and pain crossed his face. “Sorry,” he said. He looked back at Davey and it was as if a switch flipped; he knelt and picked the boy up and held him close. “It’s okay, buddy. Everything’s okay.”

Curiosity licked at her. She waited until he’d sat down, Davey on his lap, before opening the door to her very tense, angry brother-in-law.

* * *

THE FEEL OF HIS SON in his lap—safe, warm, alive—helped Paul get his heartbeat back to something resembling normal.

He tried to make his face look normal, too, to stop sweating, but the big guy at the door was a cop and clearly on high alert. He’d almost certainly seen Paul’s weapon, because he was watching Paul with narrowed eyes. So was Amber.

Of course they’re watching you. You acted like a madman.

Just as he’d done on the job, leading him to be here in a little shore town in a program designed to help him heal.

At least Davey was calming down. Paul focused on his son, used a napkin to wipe his tears and held it to his nose. “Blow. Real hard. There you go.” He wiped Davey’s nose. “You’re fine. We’re all fine. Okay?”

Davey looked up at him and nodded, and Paul’s heart seemed to warm and grow. He didn’t deserve the trust in his son’s eyes, but he’d try to live up to it. He stroked Davey’s hair.

“Everything okay here?” the guy asked Amber.

“Yeah. I think so.” She backed away from the door and beckoned the guy to come farther in. Her hand was shaking. “Sorry to call you out so late, but Davey, here, came to visit me, and then his dad showed up a few minutes later.”

“Hey, buddy.” The cop walked slowly in their direction, smiling at Davey. He stopped a good eight feet away and knelt down, hand subtly near his waist where, almost certainly, a weapon was concealed. “My name’s Trey. I’m a police officer, just making sure everything’s okay.”

Davey looked up at Paul, his face solemn, and then back at Trey. “It’s okay. My daddy’s a cop, too.”

Paul blew out a breath and tried to smile at the officer. He shifted slowly, held out a hand. “Paul Thompson. Just moved into the cottage next door, and Davey took a notion to come outside while I was dozing on the couch.”

“Trey Harrison.” The officer stood, stepped closer and shook his hand, looking directly into Paul’s eyes. Then he refocused his attention on Davey. “It’s late to be outside by yourself. You’re, what, five?”

“Four.” Davey held up four fingers. “I have a birthday coming. Then I’ll be five.” He held up five fingers now, to illustrate.

“Wow,” Amber said, moving over to the counter and leaning against it. “Five is big.”

“Sure is,” the cop, Trey, agreed.

Davey nodded, his face solemn. “Daddy said I can have a party.”

Now that the immediate danger was past, shame licked at Paul’s insides. He was a poor excuse for a father, scaring his son like that, but he was all Davey had. And Davey