In the Line of Duty Read Online Free Page B

ready to leave in forty.
    Standing there wishing it’d just go away wasn’t helping.
    With a sigh, she threw on her winter gear and trudged outside. The snow was pretty, a temporary cover on the dingy snow piles and the patchy brown grass, but that wasn’t going to last long. Already it was melting, dripping from the eaves of her house. Grabbing her shovel—darn it, she’d really hoped she was done with the thing for this year—she got ready to get to work, then heard the whine of a snowblower across the street.
    A quick peek revealed Matt out clearing his driveway. Callie allowed herself a moment of pure, unadulterated snowblower envy. Jason had always enjoyed the physical act of shoveling. Something that Callie had never understood, but she hadn’t argued, since he got it done. Now he was gone and the task fell to her.
    She heaved a shovelful of the heavy stuff to the side of the driveway. Maybe she should go find one on sale for the end of the season. Jason would shake his head at her and give her that full-on grin. Why are you doing this, Cal? Some days the memories hurt. Others, they were bittersweet. Today, she smiled a little at his voice in her head.
    Callie dumped another shovel load and looked up. The sound of the machine was getting closer. Matt was coming across the street—which wouldn’t get plowed for hours, if ever—toward her house. She leaned on her shovel and couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous he was in well-fitting jeans, a navy down vest over a gray sweatshirt, and a colorful knit hat. Guilt hit her at once—though it wasn’t his fault, darn it—and she frowned when he stopped in front of her. “Can I help you?”
    “That’s what I was going to ask you . Can I help you with this?” He gestured at the driveway with one gloved hand. “It won’t take long.”
    Callie accidentally caught his ice-blue gaze and her breath snagged. Heat rose in her face. She looked away and cleared her throat. “I’ve got it. Thanks, though.”
    Right then the front door burst open. “Mom! I dropped the milk on the floor!” Eli’s voice was half-hysterical. Callie squeezed her eyes shut.
    “Hang on,” she called back. “I’ll be right there.” She gave Matt a weak smile. “Kids.”
    “Callie. Let me do this for you while you tackle the milk.” There was a quiet humor in his voice and part of her wanted to respond to it. She bit her lip, then nodded. There was no rational reason to turn him down. You make my insides do funny things didn’t count as an excuse.
    “Okay. That’d be great. Thank you.” Despite her best intentions, the words came out sounding stiff.
    He didn’t seem to notice. “No problem.” He turned back to the snowblower and Callie hurried as best she could though the snow to the garage. She’d been thrown off kilter wasn’t fully sure why Matt made her feel this way. She’d seen plenty of attractive men since Jason died. Many of them had known her husband. None of them—not a single one—had registered with her until Matt. It worried and annoyed her.
    “Eli,” she said when she entered the kitchen, shedding her gloves and coat, and noting the large puddle on the floor. “What happened in here?”
    He looked up at her out of her husband’s eyes. Blue, as well, but more of a denim rather than the startling crystal-blue of Matt’s. “It kinda fell.”
    “I see that.” It had been a nearly full gallon. Usually she poured some into a smaller container to make it easier for Eli to use, but she’d forgotten about that in her hurry to shovel the driveway. “If your socks are wet, go ahead and change them while I clean this up. Is Liam up yet?”
    “I don’t know. Liiiam,” he yelled as he ran out of the kitchen, and Callie laughed in spite of herself. If Liam hadn’t been awake before, he would be now.
    She cleaned up the milk and threw the sopping towels into the washer in the basement. When she came back up, she looked out and realized Matt had finished not