by Hope Ramsay
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 foyer. 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 seats 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.”
“Dad, not you too!” she said.
“Hey,” Rafe said, smacking Colton in the stomach, “we can’t have our police chief getting soft from all this sitting around.”
Rafe, Colton, Malcolm, and her dad went out into the backyard and began tossing the ball while Rachel made coffee.
“So,” Rachel said, giving Sara a conspiratorial look, “Gabby, sweetheart, tell us how things are going with Malcolm.”
“Well,” she said, “I know Malcolm can be a little direct and tell things like they are, but underneath that he’s got a heart of gold. He’s actually a lot of fun, and very spontaneous. He’ll wake up on a Saturday and say, ‘Let’s drive to the beach,’ and off we’ll go on a wild adventure. He believes in not wasting a single second of time. He’s always bringing me flowers or little gifts, and he’s very affectionate in public.”
That was an impressive laundry list, Sara had to admit. Seemed to her that Gabby, in her quest to get the life she wanted, was trying hard to focus on the positives and completely ignore the negatives. But Sara knew her sister deserved more than just to settle.
“Owww!” They heard a yelp of pain from the yard. Sara’s first thought was that Colton had hit his head again. She was out of her seat and in the yard in an instant, but no one was on the ground. But Malcolm was standing beside the patio cursing a blue streak and holding a very bloody nose. Rachel arrived with a box of Kleenex she’d grabbed from the kitchen. “I sent Gabby for paper towels,” she said to Sara. “What else do we need?”
“Maybe an ice pack,” Sara said as she moved to inspect the damage.
“I threw him a pass, and it hit him in the face,” Colton said sheepishly.
“Yeah, thanks a lot, Colton,” Malcolm said loudly. “I think my nose is broken.”
Chapter 18
Colton understood that bloodying Gabby’s fiancé’s nose had probably not been the best way to make an impression. Between the 911 call and Malcolm’s inappropriate comments, it had been a not-to-be-missed dinner.
All he’d wanted to do was make up to Sara for pushing her away. Cookie had made him face up to some uncomfortable truths he hadn’t wanted to face, but Colton was no coward. And Sara was more important to him than his fears. So he’d decided to show up at her family dinner, and with a little help from Nonna’s 911 call, he’d made it. But the evening was degenerating fast.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Rafe said after Gabby and Sara led Malcolm away to ice his nose. “The jerk started to talk about what a great football player he was in the middle of the pass. He looked away.”
“Did you hear how he talks about Gabby?” Joe said. “‘I’ve been trying to get her to lift weights to tone up and lose those ten extra pounds.’ I mean, who talks about their fiancée like that? You should’ve taken him out completely, Colton. Would’ve been better for everyone concerned.”
“We cannot let Gabby marry this guy,” Rafe said.
“Now, boys,” Dr. Langdon said, catching up with them as they walked toward the perfectly manicured hill leading up to the house. “Let’s not forget to be charitable.” He paused. “Wait a minute. He said that about Gabby’s weight? I may have to take him out myself.”
“So Colton, how’s your head?” Dr. Langdon asked after Rafe and Joe went to grab another beer. Colton refrained. He wanted to be clearheaded in case he got called out later.
“Much better, sir. I’m looking forward to getting back to doing everything I enjoy.” Oh, hell, that came out wrong. “Like sports and stuff,” he added hurriedly.
“You’ve got a tough job, son. You’re on call more than we docs are. The worst thing I have to fear most days is a kid puking on me. I never give a thought to physical harm.”
Colton shrugged. “This is my town and I’m responsible for protecting and serving every citizen in it. It’s a privilege to do it, so I don’t mind the hours. As for never knowing what you’re going to walk into—well, I’m sure it’s like that for you too. Medical emergencies are unpredictable too. I guess I don’t spend too much energy thinking about that, just try to be as prepared as I can. In those situations, instinct tends to take over.”
“You’re a brave man. But you’ve chosen a tough life in which to raise a family. Hard on the wife and kids.”
This conversation was taking a turn. Sounded like Dr. Langdon was subtly warning him away from his daughter. Colton didn’t know what to say. Because he’d lived that life firsthand ever since he was born. Everything Dr. Langdon was saying was the truth; he couldn’t deny it.
Dr. Langdon’s comments reminded him that he’d come here to make things right with Sara. That meant being honest with her—about his job, and about how he felt about her.
He was grateful when Sara interrupted their conversation. “Dad, Nonna’s tired. I’m going to take her home.”
Colton stood. “I’ll come with you.”
He liked and respected Sara’s father, and understood he wanted the best for his daughter. Tagg had always spoken fondly of him. He used to tell Colton about how they’d golf together, talk about patients, and attend medical conferences. Dr. Langdon certainly hadn’t found anything to disapprove of about Tagg’s job.
