by Dana Corbit
“Oh, I believe you,” she answered in a tone that suggested she was at least smiling.
“Anyway, this time they broke me down. I told them I would go with them tomorrow under one condition.”
He waited for her to bite, but she was quiet for so long that he worried she wouldn’t even nibble.
“What condition?” she said flatly.
“That you and Emma would come with me.”
“We were your condition?”
“With Brett and Tricia, the condition was that I be allowed to bring guests. A specific two to be exact.”
“Are you saying that you’ll only go if Emma and I go?”
“Of course not. That would mean I was using guilt to convince you, and that wouldn’t be right.” He smiled into the receiver. “But if you were to volunteer, then that would be different.”
“Oh, that really would be different.”
“So?” As he waited, her hesitation was telling. His disappointment was just as revealing.
Then she cleared her throat. “Joe Rossetti, Emma and I would very much like to escort you to church and then to lunch at your friends’ house.”
“I would be delighted to attend with you.” But he didn’t feel all that much delight over his victory. Now, manipulative, that was exactly how he felt.
Lindsay was the first to break into a chuckle, and he joined her, even if he had to force it.
“You missed your calling on the other end of the legal system,” she said when she stopped. “You’re good at persuasion. You should have been a defense attorney.”
“Now I’ll need to wash out my ears to get rid of that grimy thought. That’s like suggesting that the Lone Ranger should pop down off Silver’s back and join up with a gang of bank robbers.”
She laughed out loud this time. “I wouldn’t have thought it was that extreme.”
“Believe me, it is.”
“Joe.”
Her small voice signaled that the time for levity was over. He braced himself. Was she going to back out now? He couldn’t blame her. It was a cheap shot, using her concern about his faith to convince her to go somewhere with him, not to mention a big hint that he should be more concerned about his faith himself.
“Yeah.”
“Have you asked yourself why you’re trying so hard?”
“A couple of times.”
“Did you give yourself any answers?”
“Not any good ones.” Or answers he was prepared to share. And he refused to read anything into the fact that this would be the first time he’d brought a woman around his friends. He hoped Brett and Tricia had the good sense not to mention it to Lindsay.
“And Joe?” she said, as though she recognized that his thoughts had drifted. “Thanks for asking.”
His pulse was pounding in his ears as he ended the call. What had just happened? Like the sand in an hourglass, its center slipping through the narrow gap and leaving the sides to collapse in upon themselves, something had shifted between them. He’d been the one helping her—at first to find answers and then to find her way.
But something had changed. Did Lindsay recognize it, too? He hadn’t felt compelled to find some way to be with her because she needed him. It was because he needed her. Lindsay was proof positive that hope and faith could survive tragedy, that there would be tomorrows, even after the worst possible today. Then a thought crossed his mind that he’d never considered before: perhaps it was he who’d needed her all along.
The next morning, the benediction at Hickory Ridge Community Church had barely been spoken before a young couple with a whole brood of children hurried their way. Lindsay steadied herself, feeling as unsettled as she had since Joe picked her and Emma up that morning. Or, if she was being completely honest, since she’d hung up the phone the night before.
There were so many grinning faces that they blocked off the end of the pew. If Joe hadn’t already told her that his friend had married a widow with three children, and the couple had two more together, Lindsay would have been surprised by the age span from teenager to toddler.
She wouldn’t have had any trouble figuring out that the man was a police officer if she hadn’t known that. His commanding presence and straight posture as he scooted down the pew gave him away. With a little blonde girl close to Emma’s age propped on his right hip, Brett reached out to grip Joe’s hand with his free left hand.
“Hey, buddy. We thought you were going to bail on us after all.”
“We were just running a little late,” Joe told him, pulling Emma up into his arms. “Anyway, have I ever bailed before?” As soon as his friend released his hand, he held it up as if to stop Brett’s response. “Oh. Forget it. Don’t answer that.”
“Little ones definitely make it tougher to get out the door in the morning,” Brett said.
Joe gestured to the children surrounding the woman at the end of the pew. “You and Tricia should know that better than anybody.”
The simple image that struck Lindsay then—of that large family greeting the small one she, Joe and Emma made—was so powerful that her breath caught. She turned away to retrieve her purse and Bible to cover her reaction. She couldn’t allow herself to keep daydreaming about Joe.
Wasn’t it enough that she’d been imagining his face all week on the ultrasound screen at work, though she hadn’t seen him in person? One time, while she was performing an ultrasound for two excited parents-to-be, she’d even imagined herself as that expectant mother, with Joe cast in the role of the husband holding her hand.
Those were solid reasons she should have declined Joe’s invitation last night. Reasons she’d ignored. She never would have been able to tell him no thank you, anyway. She’d fallen into the deep end of a pool, and it was becoming clear that she couldn’t swim.
“I’m Brett Lancaster. You must be Lindsay.”
She turned around to find Joe’s friend extending his free left hand. After he shook her hand, he turned to the child.
“And you must be Emma. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Lindsay definitely couldn’t say the same about Joe’s friends. Everything she knew about the Lancasters, she’d learned during the ten-minute drive from Wixom to Milford.
Brett stepped back again to his family and gestured toward the petite brunette holding a toddler who looked just like her.
“Lindsay and Emma, this is my wife, Tricia, and that’s our youngest, Claire, with her. Then we have Lani, Rusty Jr., Max and—” he paused and looked down at the preschooler in his arms “—this is Anna.”
“There will be a test after lunch,” Joe said.
“But we promise we’ll let you cheat.” Tricia assisted her with a warm smile. “I still don’t know how you got Joe to come. He’s been to our church exactly twice in the six years I’ve known him. One of those was our wedding, and he was obligated to come that time because he was the best man.”
“Then I’m glad I could help out,” Lindsay said.
She sneaked a look at Joe, but Brett caught her doing it and gave her a knowing grin. What did Joe’s friend know that she didn’t? And for that matter, she couldn’t understand why it was important enough to Joe that she and Emma attend church with him that he’d ruined a good track record of turning down his friends’ invitations.
She wanted to explain away his determination as the response of a guy who wasn’t used to rejection, but that excuse didn’t hold up any more than her explanation that she’d come today for Joe’s spiritual well-being alone. That was her story, and she wanted to stick to it, but the pile of rejected outfits on her bed this morning and the butterflies flitting madly in her belly were making it difficult to hold her ground.
“Did you enjoy the service?” Tricia asked her, unaware that Lindsay had taken a hiatus from the conversation.
“Yes, it was really welcoming,” Lindsay said. “And the ‘Parable of the Talents’ always makes for a good sermon.”
Lindsay figured at least Reverend Bob Woods hadn’t spo
ken on the Ten Commandments and mentioned that she should be honoring her mother and father because she would have been squirming in her seat over that one. She’d told her parents she and Emma would be visiting a new church closer to home, but she’d neglected to mention who would be joining her. If she really believed she was an adult who didn’t have to report to her parents, then why was she being so secretive about it?
“I don’t know about you, but I can’t help relating to that last servant, burying his cash in the ground to keep it from disappearing.” Tricia tilted her head to indicate her family. “Especially with all these guys around.”
“I’ll second that,” Brett said.
Tricia started for the door with the others following closely behind her. She stopped and turned back to Lindsay.
“This is going to be fun,” she said. “I’m sure all the kids will be friends by this afternoon.”
“That sounds great, doesn’t it, Emma?” Lindsay felt the same thing about herself with Tricia and Brett, and she couldn’t help feeling excited over the prospect. Aside from Joe, they would be the first friends she’d made since she and Emma had become a family.
“Are we going to play?” Emma wanted to know.
“We sure are,” the older daughter, whom Brett had introduced as Lani, told her.
As they stepped outside and started for their cars, Lindsay finally began to relax. She even smiled when Joe galloped toward the truck with Emma on his back, leaving the rest of them trailing behind.
Maybe coming today wasn’t a mistake after all. Not only had she been there for Joe as he took a first baby step toward reclaiming his faith, but she would be able to give Emma and even herself the chance to make some new friends. Contrary to what her parents seemed to think, she knew she could make time for friends without losing her focus on Emma. That could apply to Joe, too, if she could forget her ridiculous fantasies about him.
The older Lancaster children guided their younger siblings to the family Suburban, while Brett and Tricia walked with Lindsay to the truck. Joe already had turned on the engine and blasted the air-conditioning and was buckling Emma into her child safety seat in the truck’s second-row bench when they caught up with him.
“Hey, Joe,” Brett said. “I just realized something.”
Slowly, Joe turned back to face them, leaving the door open to let out the steamy air. “Are you sure it’s something you need to share with the rest of us?”
“Oh, I’m sure,” Brett said.
Lindsay looked back and forth between them, not understanding, but Brett’s grin and Joe’s frown hinted that one of them wouldn’t be thrilled to hear what the other had to say.
“Then what did you realize?” Joe said in a flat tone.
“That this is first time you’ve ever brought a woman over to meet us.”
Tricia turned to her husband, her eyes wide. “You’re absolutely right.” But then she grinned, as if she’d been part of the plan to tease him all along.
It was all Lindsay could do to catch a breath as her rationalizations concerning Joe disappeared faster than the cars pulling from the church lot. Was this really a “meet the friends” event for Joe, rather than simply a long-overdue visit to church? Okay, she was the first woman he’d brought to meet them, but was that significant?
Joe’s expression was so difficult to read that Lindsay couldn’t decide whether he was angry or embarrassed or something else entirely. He seemed to have lost the confidence that he usually wore, even out of uniform. As his gaze connected with hers, he chewed his bottom lip, but then he shrugged.
“You see what happens when people get married?” Joe shook his head. “All that bliss turns their brains to mush, and then they can’t help projecting their happy status onto everyone around them.”
“Now, that’s an interesting theory, but I wonder why you would jump to that conclusion in this instance,” Brett said. “I had been just about to say how nice it was that you finally brought a friend along.” He leaned toward Lindsay conspiratorially. “After all these years, his stories are getting old.”
“Sorry my friendship has been such a chore for you.”
Brett and Tricia looked at each other and burst out laughing. Joe frowned at the two of them, but soon he was laughing, too. Lindsay smiled, though she wasn’t sure what had just happened. It must have been an inside joke, the kind shared by close friends…or sisters who just happened to be best friends.
At the thought, Lindsay straightened, expecting the relentless fist that always gripped her heart when she thought of Delia. This time, though, the squeeze wasn’t as tight, and she was even able to smile a little over those private jokes she once shared with her sister.
Sure, remembering hurt now, and probably always would to some degree, but she didn’t want to lose all of those precious memories that would allow a little girl to know the mother who left this world too soon. It was strange how being with these people who never knew her sister made her feel closer to Delia’s memory.
“Well, Joe, it looks like you’re already boring her, too.” Brett patted his friend on the shoulder. “That’s not a good sign.”
“Guess I am in trouble.”
“What?” Lindsay shook her head. “That’s not what I— I didn’t mean…”
But they laughed again, and she let it go at that.
Joe lifted an eyebrow, as if he wondered what she’d been thinking about, but he didn’t press.
“Aunt Lindsay,” Emma called from inside the truck. “Can we go now?”
“That’s a good idea,” Tricia said, as she glanced at the Suburban, with all its windows open and children hanging their heads out of them, as if they were smothering inside. “If we don’t get back to the house soon, there’s going to be an uprising.”
When she and Joe climbed into the truck, she expected questions, but he must have been preparing himself for the same thing from her because he didn’t ask any as they followed the Lancasters to their new house. It was probably a good idea that they didn’t talk. If he started asking her questions, she might have to admit a few things she wasn’t ready to say, even to herself.
Chapter Eleven
“He’s a great guy, isn’t he?”
Lindsay started at the sound of Tricia’s voice and adjusted her cane to regain balance. She’d thought she was alone as she moved about the Lancasters’ study, staring at framed documents and shadow boxes with souvenirs of a life dedicated to public service. But now she’d been caught red-handed, searching for a familiar face in the photos.
She turned to find the young mother standing in the doorway watching her. “You mean Brett?” she asked, managing to keep a straight face.
“We both know who I meant.” Tricia smiled. “But my husband’s not half-bad, either.”
“I’m sure he would appreciate hearing that,” Lindsay said with a chuckle.
“Wouldn’t want to make him overconfident or anything.”
“You probably boosted his self-esteem irreversibly when you agreed to marry him.”
“Remind me to tell Joe that we’re keeping you. We knew you had to be special if he brought you here.”
“He’s never introduced you to any of his female friends?”
“I guess he couldn’t choose which one,” Tricia said. “At least with girlfriends, he never kept any of them around long enough to make dinner plans.”
“Oh.” She was having a hard time reconciling the man she was hearing about with the one she’d come to know. The one who’d stepped up to help her and her niece. The one who’d carried her away from the accident scene in his arms.
Tricia watched her for several seconds. “Don’t be too disappointed in him. It was a long time ago. It just takes some of us longer than others to find our way.”
Lindsay knew what that was like, but it was strange, realizing that the man who’d helped her had his own issues. She’d known about the loss of his mother, so it shouldn’t have surprised her that he’d had problems with women.
“Yes, Joe’s very attached…to Emma,” Tricia said.
Lindsay had been taking in the basketball-team pictures and the Thin Blue Line charity certificates, but she looked back to Tricia now, sensing her unspoken message.
“I don’t know what we would have done without—wait.” She jerked her head to look out the window. “Is Emma okay? You said she would be all right for a few minutes with—”
“Don’t worry, Lindsay. She’s fine. She’s still playing out back with the kids. Lani and Rusty have everything under control with their new little mascot.”
“Where are Brett and Joe?”
“In the garage, looking at Brett’s new table saw. What is it about men and table saws? Yes, they’re tables and they cut things, but beyond that, I don’t get it.”
They both laughed.
“Look at this place.” Tricia reached out to touch an ancient state trooper’s hat hanging on the wall. “We don’t call it an office. It’s our ‘State Police Room.’ Most of the members on the force have one in their homes.”
“It looks like Brett has had a celebrated career.”
Tricia brushed her hand over a portrait of her husband in uniform. “If you really want to see a tribute to heroism, you should see the room at Joe’s dad’s house. With Joe’s father and grandfather living there together now, that place is like the state police Smithsonian.”
“Joe told me he has big shoes to fill.” Like her, did he sometimes wonder if he would ever measure up?
“You have no idea,” Tricia said. “But he’s doing a better job than he realizes of filling those shoes. Did you know that Brett and Joe used to be partners on midnights?”
Tricia waited for Lindsay’s nod before she continued. “There’s nobody Brett trusts more to have covering his back. Nobody I trust more to help keep my husband safe.”
