Sirens in Bliss

Chapter Eight:

Rafe

Rafe settled Sierra down in her crib, trying to resist the urge to reach down and brush his hand across that little cap of black hair. Maybe if he woke her up again, he could avoid the crazy people in the living room for another hour or so.

After Zane had pronounced those fateful words—Mr. Mayor—Sierra had conveniently pooped and gotten terrifically fussy. Stella had offered to change her but then Polly had said something to Long-Haired Roger about his new sign placement and Long-Haired Roger had started arguing about flashing lips hurting his business, and Stella had been forced to referee.

Because Hi wasn’t around to do it anymore.

The whole morning was gone and now they were starting the afternoon and he wasn’t any closer to getting his peaceful house back.

He stared down at the tiny baby who was rapidly becoming the center of their world.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Hiram Jones. How hard had it been to not follow his family? Sure, Hiram had been an adult, but even adults wanted that connection to family. In making the decision to stay in Bliss, he’d given up everything he’d known before.

Had he been lonely? Had he lived all these years in Bliss wondering what his life could have been?

It was different for Rafe. He had Laura and Cam and their baby. He wasn’t alone. He had a family already in place.

He just needed to find his place. What if his place was back in Miami?

“They are awfully cute when they’re sleeping,” Zane said quietly. The big tavern owner leaned against the doorframe, his normally hard face soft as he looked at the baby. “I never thought that watching a baby sleep could be so peaceful.”

Rafe glanced back down at his daughter in her pink blanket sleeper, her tiny belly rising and falling as her mouth sucked on some dream pacifier or bottle. “Being a parent is the most important job in the world.”

He would never turn his back on her. Never. No matter what she did. Even when she was forty, she would still need to know her father was around.

Zane nodded. “Yes. I know that more than most. My father walked when I was ten and my mom was more interested in partying than raising a kid. My childhood was a little unstable. It’s weird to think about it, but Nate Wright was the only constant in my life before I came to this town.”

Zane and Nate had come to town after their jobs in the Drug Enforcement Agency went bad. Nate had become the sheriff of Bliss and Zane opened Trio. “Do you miss your old job?”

Sometimes Rafe really missed his. He missed the adrenaline of the chase, the mystery of the puzzles. He missed feeling important.

Zane’s mouth curled up in a little smirk. “Do I miss getting my ass shot at, pretending to be a drug runner and being tortured when the people I’m investigating find out I’m not really a drug runner? No.”

Yes, well, their jobs had been very different. Zane had been undercover and Rafe had profiled in the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Though a couple of times he had gotten his ass shot at.

“You do miss your old job,” Zane surmised.

Rafe sighed. It was so much more than that. “I miss having a job at all.”

“Well, that’s good because I’m offering you a new one, one that will definitely keep you busy.”

Rafe shook his head, gesturing for Zane to move into the hall. He closed the door to Sierra’s room after making sure the baby monitor light was working. “I’m still not quite sure how you can offer me any job at all.”

“It’s called a coup, Rafe.” Zane’s massive body took up most of the space. “This is a good old-fashioned political coup. It’s also what’s best for this town and very likely what’s best for you. You’re drifting.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. Even if it was kind of true. “I’m looking for a job.”

“And yet you’re still here in this cabin all day long. Hey, I know about what happened with the feds. Sorry about that, man.” His green eyes became grave. “If you want to work in government again, you’re going to have to lie about your living arrangement. Unless you work in Bliss. I wish it wasn’t true, but the outside world isn’t going to accept Cam. Have you talked about keeping him a secret from work?”

Cam Briggs was his best friend and the best man Rafe had ever known. “I won’t say I haven’t thought about it. What am I supposed to do? Pretend Cam is some lazy friend who lives in the guest bedroom? How would I ever explain that to Sierra?”

Cam had been the one to give up putting his name on the adoption papers. Sierra was legally Rafe and Laura’s. Cam trusted him. He couldn’t betray his best friend like that.

And he also couldn’t just stay in the cabin for the rest of his life. But shouldn’t the mayor be voted into office?

“I suspect that would cause trouble down the line if you decide to work outside of Bliss. Of course, you could make a difference right here in the town where your daughter will grow up.” Zane was doing a reasonable impersonation of Mephistopheles. That was exactly what Rafe needed, his own personal deal with the devil.

“Explain this little coup attempt to me.” In the background he could hear Marie arguing with Polly.

Before Zane could say a word, Laura was walking into the short hallway. The space was starting to get cramped.

“Rafe, what’s going on? Why is there a town hall meeting in our living room?” Laura asked, concern in her eyes.

“Because we’re trying to avoid a town hall meeting in the town hall,” Zane explained.

“Hiram died.” He wasn’t going to keep that from his wife.

“Damn it, Kincaid.” Zane slapped at the wall. “We’re going to have to work on your discretion.”

Laura’s eyes filled with tears, her whole face softening. “Oh, I suppose that wasn’t unexpected given his age. It’s just so sad. When is the funeral?”

“Whenever they decide to take him out of Zane’s freezer.”

Those tear-filled eyes went wide. “What?”

“Our friends are here because they stuffed Hiram into Zane’s freezer in an attempt to take power.” It was a very Blissian-style coup. No real violence, just a pacifist hooker and a freeze-dried mayor.

Laura turned on Zane, her body on full alert. “You need to explain what is going on right now, Zane Hollister, or I swear I am going to tell Callie and she is going to be so upset with you.”

Zane did not look impressed with Laura’s temper. “Who do you think suggested the freezer at Trio? Callie’s really smart. She was totally in on this. And don’t try to call Nate. He’s backing me on this. He knows what could happen.”

Laura shook her head and walked back into the living room, talking as she went. Rafe and Zane had no choice but to follow. “I can’t believe this. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.”

“You told her?” Long-Haired Roger asked. “Maybe we should rethink this. Rafe is not as sneaky as Zane said he was.”

Rafe was a little offended. He could be very sneaky when he wanted to be. He shut his mouth. It actually worked on his behalf if no one thought he was sneaky. “I don’t lie to my wife.”

Of course he hadn’t told her about the Miami offer either.

“Stella, how could you?” Laura looked at the café owner. “Hiram was one of your best friends.”

Stella stared her down. “And I’m trying to save his legacy.”

Marie stepped up. “Will you think about this for two seconds, Laura? What happens if Hiram dies without a deputy mayor in place?”

“We do what every other town in this country does. We have a special election.” Laura crossed her arms over her chest, a sure sign that she was irritated.

“Yep,” Zane said as he sat back down on the couch. “We have a special election. How’s Nell going to handle that?”

Laura sighed. “Well, she would probably run. She would think of it as her civic duty.” Nell was one of Laura’s closest friends, but even Rafe could see she was a little disturbed by the idea. “Obviously she wouldn’t win.”

No one in their right mind wanted Nell with real political power. She would force the citizenry to switch to eco-friendly cars. She would turn city hall into an animal refuge. Rafe tried to imagine Zane Hollister stuffing his massive body into a Prius.

“You would think that,” Stella said. “But I’m not so sure. We’ve run several scenarios and you would be surprised at what happens. I had the Farley brothers make a computer simulation of the most likely outcome. You see I happen to know that Stef is planning on bringing in his own candidate.”

“See, Stef will pick someone good. He loves this town. He’ll find the right candidate and then Nell won’t stand a chance,” Laura pointed out.

“Oh, Laura, but you’re not thinking about the fact that Bliss has two kings now and they are battling it out.” Polly shook her head with a rueful sigh. “Ever since Seth Stark came home, he’s been trying to prove he’s just as generous as Stef. Poor Gene. Stef gave him a loan to upgrade his projectors at the drive-in and then Seth turned right around and paid for new screens. And then Stef brought in new popcorn poppers and a brand new audio system and then Seth had to pay for someone to teach Gene how to use all that stuff. He was crying, I tell you. Caught between two billionaires. It’s horrible.”

There were a lot of women Rafe knew who wouldn’t think it was horrible, but he was starting to see the issue. “You’re afraid they’ll compete to put in their own mayors.”

Marie shook her head. “I’m not afraid. I know it will happen. I offered to shoot them both, but Stella had a problem with it.”

“I’m not going to let you shoot my son.” Stella had taken to calling Stef her son ever since she’d married Sebastian Talbot. She would shrug and say she really just meant that he was her stepson, but Rafe knew the truth. Stella had raised Stef.

There were odd little families all over Bliss.

“I wasn’t going to kill him,” Marie shot back. “I was just going to make sure he was laid up. He and Seth could share a recovery room and maybe they would learn to play nice.”

“No one is shooting Stef and Seth.” It was really time someone laid down the law. If he allowed them to go on, they would argue in circles for hours. “And Seth is spending most of his time in New York right now. Stef has a baby on the way. They don’t have time to dabble in small-town politics.”

Stella coughed a little and mumbled under her breath.

“What did you say?” Polly asked, her eyes narrowing.

Stella cleared her throat. “I said Stef already has a plan.”

Marie pointed an accusatory finger Stella’s way. “I knew it. And if Stef is involved, Seth won’t be far behind.”

“What kind of plan does Stef have? Hey, you don’t think he sent Bambi to Hi, do you?” Long-Haired Roger asked.

“He certainly did not.” Stella sent the mechanic a stern look. “Stef loved Hiram, but he’s been waiting for him to step down and he definitely planned on installing someone who would be friendly to Stef’s plans. He hired a political consultant and he’s got it between two candidates, neither of whom actually lives in Bliss right now. He’s planning on moving them in.”

Rafe felt a frown cover his face. He actually didn’t like the sound of that plan. “Why on earth would Stef bring someone from the outside in?”

“Because he doesn’t think anyone in town could do the job except himself and he really doesn’t have time for that,” Stella explained.

Really? Stef didn’t think a man who had been educated at an Ivy League school could handle small town politics? “If I decide to be the mayor, I assure you I can handle the job.”

Laura looked back, obviously startled. “You?”

Did anyone think he could do it? “Probably not, but it’s been discussed, though apparently not by Stef and Seth. So Stef intends to bring in a candidate and you believe Seth would follow by bringing in his own candidate.”

Zane groaned a little. “Oh, he will absolutely follow. Do you honestly believe he won’t? They would go all out. They would try to beat each other. We would be in for weeks and weeks of those political calls. You think you like the local radio station that plays classic rock? Well, forget about it because all we’ll hear are ads for the two parties, and you know what happens at the end of all of it?”

Laura gasped a little. “Oh my god, everyone gets sick of the city folks and votes for Nell. Nell will be the mayor of Bliss.”

Zane gave her a thumbs-up. “Like we said—it’s the apocalypse.”

Laura turned to him. “Rafe, you have to save us. Please tell me you have a plan.”

Yes, he had a plan. Moving was looking better and better.