Then There Was You

by Miranda Liasson

  Instead of getting up, she crossed her arms and settled back into the couch. “I’m not going anywhere. Maybe Sara doesn’t want to come around and upset you because of your head problem, but frankly I don’t have a problem doing it. What’s wrong?”

  He felt like he was thirteen again, being stubborn and sullen and Cookie was telling him to snap out of it. “Nothing’s wrong. Sara and I are friends. I’m just having a hard time doing nothing all week. It’s all fine.”

  “Well, when I saw her yesterday she looked about as unhappy as you do. I’m old, and my clock is ticking. That means I have a low threshold for bullshit. What’s going on?”

  He was close to Cookie, and they’d sat here on this couch many a time throughout his growing-up years. Except now his troubles were a lot different. He didn’t normally discuss his love life with her, and he felt at a loss.

  “I know you feel you have to be the man of the house and take care of us all the time, but I can see you’re hurting now.”

  Colton sighed. “I have been seeing Sara, but don’t get your hopes up. She came right down to the ER the other night. Rafe called her dad and her dad called her and then…there she was, at my bedside. She took one look at me and…” He squeezed his eyes shut. It hurt to remember the look on her face when she’d seen him. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn’t want to remember it.

  “She was upset,” Cookie offered.

  He nodded. “I don’t want to hurt her. Nothing good comes from a relationship with a cop. Families end up getting hurt. We all know that.”

  Cookie fell silent. She patted his calf before she spoke again. “Colton, you remind me so much of your father. You look like him. You have his big heart. You’re handsome like him. But mostly you’re stubborn as a mule. Just like him too.”

  “I’m not being stubborn, I’m being smart. She told me she’s not ready for anything serious. So I don’t know why she got so upset seeing me in the ER, or why she’s upset I introduced her as my friend.” Oh, he knew why. His gut was telling him why, with all its churning and pitching like a small vessel at sea. It was because their casual arrangement had gone to shit. For both of them.

  “What happened with your father was a terrible tragedy,” Cookie said. “And it led to other bad things. You were forced to act like an adult when you were only a child. You lost your father and your mother way too young. That’s a lot of loss for a young boy.”

  “It is what it is, Cookie. We got through it.”

  “You’re not understanding what I’m trying to say. This isn’t about your getting beat up on the job and being afraid to upset Sara. It’s about you being afraid of getting hurt yourself. You’re not worried about Sara. You’re worried about yourself.”

  Colton jolted upright. Champ startled awake, his dog tags jingling. “That’s ridiculous,” he said, but even he was beginning to see through himself. “I just wouldn’t want to put anyone through a cop’s life is all.”

  “Nonsense. You were all by yourself, as it were, taking care of Hannah when your mother couldn’t be counted on. Your parents were both gone by the time you were a teenager. And so you protect yourself against more loss by not getting close to anyone. It’s no wonder you’re afraid to pull the trigger.”

  He shot her an incredulous look. “Afraid to pull the trigger?”

  “Well, they call you the Revolver, don’t they?”

  “Geez, Cookie. Where’d you hear that?”

  “The ladies at the beauty shop talk, Colton.” She sighed. “Out of love for you, sometimes you need to hear things. I hope you understand that. Plus there is my need for great-grandchildren.”

  “Sara’s not going to stay around here. She’s meant for bigger things.”

  She shrugged, turning her palms up to the ceiling. “Well then, I guess there’s no use in trying. Or asking her what she wants.” She got up from the couch but didn’t turn away. “I know you were sweet on her in high school, but you deferred to Tagg. But Tagg’s out of the picture now. The only thing stopping you is yourself.”

  Was Cookie right? Had he been protecting himself? “I’ll think about what you said.”

  She smiled and patted his calf again. “Well, you have plenty of time to do just that, don’t you?”

  * * *

  Just Sara’s luck. Of course she would get the job of chopping onions for the salad the night of the big family dinner, which happened to be at Dad and Rachel’s house this week. And pungent onions they were, making her eyes leak and her nose run as she sat at the big kitchen island.

  Rachel passed by on her way to the stove and squeezed her shoulder. “You OK?” she asked.

  “Killer onions,” Sara responded with a watery smile. Yep, her tears were all the fault of the onions. Not at all due to a certain cop who had friend-zoned her. Revolved her. Because that’s what he did.

  “Where’s Malcolm, by the way?” Evie asked Gabby, who was tossing the salad. Through the big paned window, they could see their dad grilling his specialty salmon while Rafe and Joe played ball with the kids.

  “He’s lying down upstairs,” Gabby said. “He had a sinus headache and needed a little quiet time.”

  Sara hoped he’d find it now, because once they were all around the table, quiet was going to go right out the window.

  “Who’s Malcolm?” Nonna asked. She sat at the island slicing strawberries for the top of the Jell-O salad.

  “That’s Gabby’s sweetie, Nonna,” Evie said, sneaking a strawberry. She turned to Sara. “Speaking of sweeties, how’s Colton?”

  “He’s not my sweetie,” Sara said, chopping more vigorously.

  “You do know you’re chopping the onions into microscopic pieces, don’t you?” Evie asked.

  “Oh! Sorry!” Sara set down the knife.

  Gabby brought Sara a beer. “Everything all right?”

  She smiled and took the beer. “I’m fine. Thanks, Gabs.” Or at least she would be, once she stopped thinking about him. It had been a week since she’d poured out her heart and he’d handed it back to her.

  A loud siren bleat suddenly sounded from outside the house. Then another and another. It sounded like all the rescue vehicles the town owned had come to a stop in their driveway.

  “Colton’s here,” Rachel announced as they rushed into the dining room to see what the commotion was all about. “And every other emergency services person in town.”

  Colton’s here. The words hardly registered. Sara pulled back the dining room curtain only to find an EMS unit, a police car, and a fire engine, lights flashing. Dear God. She looked around, sniffed the air. Just the smells of a delicious dinner cooking. Was the house on fire and they didn’t even know it?

  “I saw Nonna pick up the phone a few minutes ago,” Gabby said. “You don’t think she could’ve…”

  Oh Lord. Dialed 911. Nonna?

  Nonna was at Rachel’s side, innocently peering out the window. “Here comes Colton,” she said. “My, that man is good-looking, even without his uniform on. And look, he’s carrying flowers!”

  “Flowers? To an emergency?” Rafe said, coming in from the backyard with the other men and the kids. Everyone gathered around the windows as if Sara were sixteen and getting picked up for a date. Except for the sirens wailing.

  “Oh, I wanted him to come,” Nonna said. “I called 911.”

  Evie rushed to Nonna’s side. “You’re kidding, aren’t you, Nonna?”

  Maybe Nonna didn’t hear over all the commotion because all she said was, “I haven’t seen a fire engine this close up in a long time.”

  It didn’t appear that the house was burning down, Colton was here, and he had flowers. Anticipation fizzed up and bubbled over inside Sara like too much soft drink in a glass. She tried to tamp it down, and then finally just bypassed everyone and opened the damn door.

  And there he was, looking amazing in a dark polo and khaki pants. And a suit coat, even though it was eighty-five degrees. “Everybody OK in here?” Colton asked, surveying the fo
yer. Sara couldn’t help wondering what they all must look like, standing there gawking at him.

  Nonna ran up to Colton, took the beautiful bouquet of flowers, and put them to her nose. “Oh, they’re lovely! Just like the ones you brought Sara for homecoming.”

  Colton let that crazy comment pass and flashed a smile at Nonna. “Glad you approve, Mrs. F.” His gaze scanned the foyer. “So we’ve got a report of a 911 call coming from this location.”

  “Nonna may have accidentally done it,” Sara said quietly, so Nonna wouldn’t hear. She rubbed her temple, where a massive headache was forming, despite the fact that dinner hadn’t even begun. Sirens, trucks, flowers, Colton. Her entire family now staring at her.

  A big burly firefighter appeared behind Colton, whom Sara recognized as Randall Ames, one of Rafe’s friends. “OK if I go in and check around, Chief?” he asked.

  “Have at it, Randy.” Colt turned to Sara and smiled a big, wide smile, looking at her with an intensity that almost made her forget why they’d fought. “I think I better go out there and talk with the guys.”

  “Oh yes. Of course.” She moved aside to let him do his job, staving the wave of disappointment that rolled over her. What was she expecting? An apology during a 911 run?

  “I’ll come with you,” Rafe said, moving to the door.

  “Just a sec,” Colton said, pulling Sara aside. He dropped his voice. “I’ve been an ass. Forgive me.” He raised her hand briefly to his lips and kissed it. “Talk later?”

  Words caught in her throat. A shiver ran through her despite the warm day. Around her, her family became oddly quiet. “Um, sure,” she managed.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” he said, reaching into his suit coat and pulling out a long thin box. She recognized it immediately as being from the upscale candy shop downtown. “For you. Hope they’re not melted.”

  Chocolate coconut nests. Her favorite. Stupidly, her eyes teared up, as if the chocolates were as precious as a diamond ring. “Thank you,” she said, her voice sounding a little raspy and choked up.

  He gave her a wink, then ran out the door to disperse the EMS people. As soon as the door shut behind him, her sisters swarmed.

  “Oh, wow. He knows your favorite candy,” Gabby said. “This is serious.”

  “He knows because he asked me,” Evie said, reaching over her shoulder to steal a piece.

  “So he really was coming for dinner,” Rachel said. “Not just for the—um—emergency.”

  “I guess so,” Sara said incredulously.

  “Can I have one?” Nonna asked, nearing the chocolates.

  “Hmm…I wonder what it means that he decided to surprise you and come to family dinner after all?” Evie said, with a little groan of pleasure over the chocolate.

  “It means Sara has a boyfriend,” Nonna said.

  Evie reached over and tugged the apron tie at the back of Sara’s neck. “Not that you don’t look beautiful, but maybe you should take this off.” She pulled off the apron and rolled it up in a ball.

  “What’s going on?” Malcolm asked, running into the foyer from upstairs.

  “We had a misdialed 911 call,” Gabby said quietly, nodding in Nonna’s direction and putting a finger to her lips.

  “Grandma did it?”

  “Rachel, may I put these in a vase?” Nonna asked, holding up the bouquet.

  Rachel smiled. “That would be lovely, Nonna.”

  “I’ll help you,” Gabby said, taking Nonna’s hand and leading her into the kitchen. “C’mon, Malcolm, you can keep us company.”

  A few minutes later, Colton and Rafe walked into the kitchen, where the women were finishing up the meal preparations. Malcolm was perched on a stool at the island sipping wine, watching them work.

  “Is everything OK?” Rachel asked.

  “The crews were having a slow day anyway,” Rafe said. “They enjoyed the excitement.”

  “Everything’s under control,” Colton said. “And the kids are loving the vehicles.” He shook Rachel’s hand and said, “Mrs. Langdon, hope you don’t mind I showed up for dinner.” He glanced at Sara. “Sara invited me off the cuff.”

  Sara raised a brow. Oh well, she supposed that was sort of true. But how had he even known dinner was here this week instead of at Nonna’s?

  “I don’t know,” Rafe said with mock seriousness, patting Colton’s stomach. “He eats a lot, Rach. I may have to go to the store for more salmon.”

  “Oh, Rafe,” Rachel said, chuckling. She turned to Colton. “Ignore him.”

  “Yeah, really. We usually do,” Evie said, passing by and ruffling Rafe’s hair. He scowled and smoothed it back down.

  “Please, call me Rachel.” Rachel took Colton by the elbow and steered him to a seat at the island. “And thanks for the flowers. We’re thrilled you could join us. Your head is better?”

  “Back to work tomorrow for a full day,” Colton said. “Can’t wait.”

  “Some cities charge big fines for false 911 calls,” Malcolm said. “What does Angel Falls do? I mean, Grandma must’ve told them the house was burning down to get an engine out here.”

  Colton shrugged. “We have a pretty good sense of humor for accidents,” he said. “A real nuisance call would be treated differently.”

  “Isn’t anyone going to talk to her about that?” Malcolm asked. “I mean, old ladies can’t just go around summoning every EMS vehicle in the county on a whim.”

  “Malcolm, it was an accident,” Gabby said. “Chill, OK?” She turned to Colton. “It was my fault. I should have kept a better eye out. I saw Nonna hang up the phone. I didn’t even think—”

  “No one’s to blame,” Colton said. “On a positive note, the kids got to meet some firefighters and paramedics.”

  “I want to be a fireman,” Michael said. “I wanna ride in the truck.”

  “I’ll take you for a ride in the back of my police car after dinner, OK, Mikey?” Colton said, rubbing his head. “With your car seat, of course,” he said with a wink at Evie.

  “Hey,” Rafe said. “Why would you want to ride in a tiny little police car when you can ride on the big engine?”

  Michael jumped up and down. “I wanna go on both.”

  “Atta boy,” Colton said.

  “Maybe Michael would like to fly in my company jet,” Malcolm said. “If you go to Wharton business school you could fly on a private jet one day too.”

  Sara didn’t miss the subtle look Rafe and Colton exchanged before Michael spoke up. “No!,” he said. “I want to go in the police car and the fire truck!”

  Good boy, Mikey, Sara said to herself. She handed Colton a beer. “Are you on duty?”

  “I’m on backup starting at midnight,” he said.

  “Then take it.” She lowered her voice. “You might need it to get through this dinner.” She tugged on his jacket. “Let me—um—take your coat.”

  “You sure I shouldn’t keep it on?”

  “Well, you can. But if you do, Rafe will never let you hear the end of it.”

  He took the beer and leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Did I tell you—you look pretty tonight.”

  She laughed. “You don’t look so bad yourself. What made you come?”

  “I missed you.” He let that sink in. And oh, it did. The absolute intensity in his eyes told her he meant it. She felt it down to the marrow. Those simple words made her heart skitter and her usual redhead total body flush go into full-blown mode.

  “I missed you too,” she replied.

  Then Rachel was calling everyone for dinner. Sara held Colton back. “Wait—how did you know dinner was here this week?”

  “I didn’t,” he said, his lips curved up in a smile. “I was headed to Nonna’s when the 911 call came in. I got lucky.”

  She shook her head in disbelief.

  “You’re important to me, Sara. I know how important this dinner is to you, and I wanted to show up.”

  “I’m glad you did,” she said.

  They all took their s
eats at a long outdoor table set with pretty blue dishes and matching napkins, Rachel’s elegant doing. It was definitely a step above a normal backyard barbecue. OK, maybe a couple of steps. The patio was surrounded by antique statues and water features, gorgeous flowers blooming in spades. And of course her father’s precious tomato plants, which he took every opportunity to explain in great detail.

  “Rafe, you’re the only one here without a date,” Nonna said as everyone began eating. “You do like girls, don’t you?” She took a sip of her wine. “I mean, it’s OK if you don’t. But who’s going to carry on the family name if you don’t, because there are no other boys in the family?”

  “Grandma, rest assured,” Sara said, patting Rafe on the back. “He likes girls.”

  “I don’t need a date, Nonna,” he said, wrapping an arm around Nonna. “Because I get to sit next to you.” This made his siblings groan.

  “Dinner’s very good,” Colton said, saving Rafe’s ass. And gave him a look that told him so.

  “Yes, dinner’s fantastic,” Malcolm said. “I took Gabby to a private chef tasting in New York City last month. It was around two hundred fifty bucks a head, wasn’t it, babe? Every course was served in a little box, like a present you had to open. And when you’d open the box, smoke from the dry ice would waft out. Very elegant.”

  “Little boxes?” Nonna said. “It doesn’t sound like there was much food.”

  “I was so hungry after that dinner, I ordered a pizza at midnight, Gran,” Gabby said from Nonna’s other side.

  “Well, it was all about the presentation, the taste experience.” Malcolm poured himself more wine—from Sara’s count, his third glass. Not that she should be counting, but the more wine he consumed, the looser his tongue got.

  After dinner Rafe left the table and came back with a football. “Would you boys like to play some catch?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Colton said. Sara tried not to give him a worried stare, but she must have, because he reached over and squeezed her hand. “It’s only catch,” he said and grinned.

  “That’s what I’m worried about. The men in this family are very competitive.”

  Her dad slid his chair back. “We’ll keep it noncontact, sweetheart.”