An Engagement for Two

by Marie Ferrarella

  Motioning Jeff to the side, she waited until he joined her then asked in a lowered voice, “Don’t you want to go straight home after dropping them off?”

  “Not particularly. I’m going back to the restaurant. I thought you might want to follow me there for that drink or dessert we talked about,” Jeff reminded her.

  That had been more than an hour ago, and in all the excitement over Henry’s arm, she had honestly forgotten that conversation.

  “Are you still up for that?” she asked, surprised.

  “More than ever.” He grinned, his eyes washing over her. “I have to confess that watching you in action invigorates me.”

  Mikki’s eyes met his. Right back at you, she thought. “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”

  “Great,” he told her.

  He was tempted just to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, but he was afraid that might make her back off or change her mind about waiting for him. He still wasn’t sure where he stood, so for now, he was taking baby steps.

  He turned toward Mrs. Hendricks and her son. With a flourish, he bowed before the boy and said, “Mrs. Hendricks, your chariot awaits.”

  “What’s a chariot?” Henry asked.

  Very gingerly, Jeff picked the boy up. “A stagecoach without a top.”

  “Your car doesn’t have a top?” Henry asked, his eyes widening. “Where is it?”

  Jeff looked over toward the boy’s mother. “I bet he keeps you on your toes, doesn’t he?”

  For the first time since she had pounded on the clinic’s door more than an hour ago, Henry’s mother smiled as she followed her son and his new hero. “Oh, you have no idea.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “How did you get to be so good with children?” Mikki asked, sitting across the table from Jeff.

  True to his word, Jeff had returned to the clinic less than half an hour after taking Henry and his very relieved mother home. As soon as he had returned, Mikki had locked the facility up again. And then, with his leading the way, she had followed Jeff over to his restaurant.

  They were now sitting at a table for two that, unlike the table where they had first shared dinner the other night, was tucked off to one side, away from the other diners.

  Because she had liked it so much the last time she’d dined here, Mikki decided to order another slice of tiramisu. Foregoing the wine Jeff had suggested, she’d asked for a glass of sparkling water.

  “Well,” Jeff answered, “I used to be one myself.” When he saw her continue to look at him as if she was waiting for him to elaborate further, he explained, “And I had to look after my brother and sister while my mother was at work. I found that Robert and Tina didn’t like having to listen to me, and yelling at them didn’t get me anywhere, so I had to come up with a different approach.”

  A fond smile curved his lips as he recalled those days. Sometimes, it felt like a million years ago. At other times, it was as if it had all happened yesterday.

  “I talked to them as if they were human beings—even though—” he laughed “—I had some pretty strong doubts about that at the time.”

  “Well, your method certainly worked on Henry,” Mikki told him. “I don’t think I would have been able to get a clear X-ray of his arm, never mind getting that cast on him, without you. Having you there, talking to him, was extremely helpful.”

  “Glad to be of assistance.” Jeff raised his glass in a silent toast to their successful venture. “I did my best.”

  Taking a sip of wine, he set the glass down again. And then he looked at the woman he found himself growing increasingly attracted to, debating the wisdom of whether or not he should say something. He had a feeling that Mikki would probably prefer that he didn’t say anything, but in all good conscience, Jeff really felt that he needed to ask—it had been preying on his mind ever since it happened.

  Taking a breath, he pushed on. “You don’t do that very often, do you?”

  “You mean work late?” Mikki guessed. “About half the time. It’s hard turning people away just because they happen to be sitting in the waiting room when it’s time to close up.”

  It was a way out and part of him thought he should take it. But he found that he was worried about her. He didn’t want anything happening to her just because she had such a kind heart.

  “No,” he persisted, “I mean open the doors after hours when everyone else has left the clinic.”

  Rather than look at the subject in general, Mikki was still focused on the specific. “Mrs. Hendricks was frantic. You saw her.”

  “I saw her,” he agreed. “And I was with you so if there was any danger, I’d be there to protect you.” He saw a somewhat skeptical look enter her eyes. Jeff doggedly pressed on. “But what I’m asking about is if you were there alone after hours—if I wasn’t there and the nurse was gone—would you open the door?”

  Very slowly, her lips curved into a small, touched smile. “Are you worried about me?”

  “Guess my secret’s out,” Jeff quipped, and then he grew serious. “I’m just saying that it’s a dangerous neighborhood—it’s not like Bedford—and some punk might use a ruse, claiming to be sick, to get into the clinic when no one else is around.”

  Mikki thought she knew what this was ultimately about—breaking in to steal drugs. “You don’t have to worry. All the drugs are securely locked up in the safe,” she told him.

  How could someone so sharp be so beautifully naive at the same time? “You know the combination?”

  “Yes. I have to be able to open the safe in order to dispense the medication,” she told him.

  He hated having to state the obvious, but maybe if she heard it, she’d think twice the next time someone was pounding on the doors, asking to be let in after hours. “A desperate punk would think nothing of doing whatever he needed to do to make you open the safe. Or he might not even be after the drugs,” Jeff said pointedly, looking at her.

  Mikki let out a long breath and inclined her head. “Point taken,” she allowed. He wasn’t saying anything that hadn’t crossed her mind already. “And if it makes you feel any better, that was the first time I was ever alone after hours—and technically,” she said, looking at him pointedly, “I really wasn’t.”

  He nodded, but his mind still wasn’t at ease. “Promise me that if you ever find yourself in that position again, you’ll call me.”

  Mikki smiled as another forkful of tiramisu disappeared between her lips. “Right. And you’ll come running over.”

  “Yes,” he assured her seriously. “I will.”

  She could have sworn she felt a hot flash passing over her entire body, which was ridiculous because, at thirty-five, she was way too young for that. Mikki admitted to herself that it had more to do with the man sitting across from her than with her age.

  “Oh,” she finally said, forcing the word out of a mouth that felt bone-dry. She tried not to dwell on him coming to her rescue as if she was some sort of old-fashioned damsel in distress. “Well, lucky for you, I only work there one day a week and this has never happened before, so it shouldn’t happen again.”

  “Yeah, lucky,” he repeated in a monotone voice that said he really didn’t feel that it was lucky at all. To tell the truth, he rather liked the idea of having to come to her rescue.

  Seeing that she had finished both the cake and the goblet of sparkling water, Jeff asked her, “Can I get you anything else?”

  “No, thank you.” She picked up her purse from the floor next to her, ready to leave. “I think I’d better be getting home. I went in early today and it’s been a really long, long day,” she emphasized.

  “Okay.” Jeff rose to his feet. He pulled out her chair for her, then tucked it back up against the table after she stepped away.

  When he began to follow her to the door, Mikki paused to tell him, “I know where I left the car this time. You d
on’t have to walk me to the parking lot again.”

  “I’m not,” he answered.

  “Then why are you still walking with me?” she asked.

  “Because this time,” he told her, “I’d like to see you home.”

  It wasn’t as if they were on a date, although she had to admit that maybe, at another time and place, she would have liked that. “There’s no need to do that,” Mikki told him.

  He’d been more than a great help today, starting with all that food he’d brought to the clinic. She didn’t want him to feel obligated to do anything more for her.

  Then, recalling what he had said earlier about the clinic’s location, Mikki reminded him, “After all, this is Bedford.”

  “I know,” he answered amicably, still walking beside her, “but it would just make me feel better to see you to your door.”

  Well, she wasn’t going to argue with him. “I guess chivalry isn’t dead,” she remarked.

  Jeff supposed that was one word for it. But if he were being totally honest, chivalry didn’t have anything to do with why he was doing this. He just didn’t want the evening to end just yet.

  But he had a feeling that if he said as much, that might frighten Mikki away. So he murmured, “I guess not.”

  Since they had arrived at the restaurant together, their vehicles weren’t parked that far apart.

  “Wait here,” he told her. “I’ll get my car and pull up behind you. Then you can lead the way to your house—or apartment,” he amended, realizing that he had no idea if she lived in one or the other.

  “House,” she told him. “It’s a house. I live in the Woodbridge development.”

  That caused him to stop walking for a moment. “You’re kidding.”

  She looked at him, confused. “No, why?”

  He laughed. “I live there, too. I guess that kind of makes us neighbors.”

  Mikki couldn’t really explain why she felt that flutter in her stomach when he told her that, or why that flutter seemed to intensify by the moment.

  She did her best to appear unaffected. “I guess so,” she agreed. “I’m on Mayfair,” she told him, then added, “It’s a cul-de-sac.”

  “Alsace,” he told her, giving her the name of the street where he lived. “That’s on the other side of the development.”

  She knew that. She knew all the names of the streets in the development. And, considering the size of the neighborhood, his street wasn’t all that far away from hers. It probably took ten, maybe twelve minutes to reach on foot.

  “Small world,” she commented. Belatedly, she noticed that she’d reached her car.

  “I was just thinking that,” Jeff told her. Pausing for a moment at her car, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll go get my car. Be right back.”

  Her stomach continued to flutter as she watched him go to fetch his vehicle. For a brief moment she told herself that she should go now, while he was getting his car.

  But she didn’t.

  * * *

  Mikki had no idea why she kept glancing up into her rearview mirror every few minutes. Jeff knew where he was going. It wasn’t as if she was going to lose him in the Saturday-night traffic.

  It seemed like everyone and his cousin was out on the road tonight, determined to get to wherever a good time could be had. She supposed that she was one of the few people out on the road who just wanted to get home rather than to a club or a party.

  The sudden sound of screeching brakes behind her had Mikki automatically tightening her hands on the wheel, instantly alert. Her heart had flown up into her throat and was throbbing hard there.

  Straining to see behind her using her side mirror as well as the rearview one, she realized that the screeching sound had come from Jeff’s car. He had slammed on his brakes, narrowly avoiding hitting a car that had flown through the intersection and a red light. The driver of the other car just kept going, either unaware or indifferent to the fact that he had nearly been the cause of an accident.

  Mikki began to pull over, but she saw that Jeff just kept driving. So she righted her vehicle and continued driving to her house.

  But the moment she pulled up in her driveway, less than ten minutes later, she leaped out of her car and quickly ran up to Jeff’s vehicle. He was just parking at her front curb.

  “Are you all right?” she cried breathlessly.

  Getting out, Jeff closed his door. “Well, I’m a little shaken up,” he admitted. “But no damage done.”

  She wasn’t as cavalier as he was. “Only because you have quick reflexes. That guy was driving like a maniac. He almost plowed right into you,” she said, clearly angry about the incident.

  “The main thing was that he didn’t,” Jeff emphasized.

  She was stunned that he could take it all in so calmly. “Do you always see the upside like that?”

  He was sorry that she’d had to witness the near accident and that it had upset her, but he had his own way of handling things like that, at least when it only involved him.

  “That’s the only way I can keep things from getting to me. I dwell on the positive.” It had been his philosophy in life for as long as he could remember.

  Thinking that Mikki probably needed to get some sleep, he was about to say good-night when he took a closer look at her.

  Without thinking, he took hold of her shoulders. “Hey, you’re shaking. That guy didn’t hit your car, did he?” he asked, glancing at the rear of her vehicle. But from what he could see, it was untouched.

  “No. But I thought he was going to hit you. Really hit you,” she stressed. She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. “Would you like to come in for a drink, or to just pull yourself together?”

  She looked like she was the one who needed to be pulled together, not him. He was not about to leave her like this. Dropping his hands to his side, he smiled at her and said, “I thought you didn’t drink.”

  “I’m not on call tonight,” Mikki told him. “Someone else is, so I can make an exception this time. Would you like to join me?”

  He realized that his heart was not exactly all that steady. Whether that was because of the near accident or because of the invitation, he wasn’t sure. But either way, he knew he was going to take her up on it.

  “Very much,” he replied.

  Pointing his key fob toward his car, he pressed the button that brought all four locks down, then turned to follow Mikki to her front door.

  “You know, odd as it is to admit,” he told her, stopping on her front step, “in all the years I’ve been driving, that’s the first time I ever came close to having someone hit me.”

  “Have you ever hit anyone—with your car, I mean?” she amended as she unlocked the front door.

  “I’m happy to say I never have.” And then he grinned. “Do you think that’s going to jinx me?”

  His question surprised her and she wasn’t sure if he was being serious, or just teasing her. “Are you superstitious? Do you believe in jinxes and things like that?”

  “No,” he answered. “I didn’t want to dismiss it out of hand just in case you were superstitious, but no, I don’t. I believe in a lot of things, but I don’t believe in superstitions.”

  “What do you believe in?” she asked.

  “That’s easy,” he told her. “I believe in hard work and making your own luck. I believe in treating people the way you want to be treated. I believe in returning favors and sharing whenever possible—and in always taking care of your family and friends.”

  Mikki looked at him. The man sounded too good to be true. If her mother had come across him, she would already have him bundled up in her car and heading for Las Vegas.

  Which was precisely why she was so leery of the feelings that were swirling all through her, Mikki thought. Feelings she had never even briefly entertained before about anyone.

 
Gesturing toward the gray sectional in her living room, she said, “Make yourself comfortable.”

  Leaving him there, she went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. There wasn’t all that much to rummage through and definitely not a large selection of alcohol for her to offer him. Actually, there was only one bottle.

  “I’ve got a bottle of rosé,” she called out. “Is that all right?”

  “Then you do drink,” he concluded because up until now, he wasn’t sure.

  “No,” Mikki answered, bringing the bottle and one glass over to him. “My mother does. She brought the rosé over to toast her new engagement.”

  “Well, then congratulations to your mother,” Jeff said. “No,” Mikki corrected. “The wine lasted longer than her engagement. I’m afraid that husband-to-be number five is long gone without ever making it to the altar. But Mother kept the engagement ring—and left me with custody of the wine, which I will now gladly offer to you.” She poured part of the contents into the glass she had brought over.

  He looked at the lone glass, surprised. “I thought you said you were having some.”

  “That’s right, I did say that, didn’t I? Sorry. It’s not something I’m used to doing,” she confessed. “Let me go get another glass.”

  Returning from the kitchen, she set the second glass on the coffee table next to his. She only poured half the amount she’d poured for him into her glass, then raised it in a toast. “May you always have near misses.”

  Jeff raised his own glass. “At least when it comes to car accidents,” he amended.

  His eyes met hers just before he took a sip.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Belatedly, because she had been so mesmerized by the look in Jeff’s eyes, Mikki came to.

  Doing her best to seem nonchalant, she took a sip from her own glass of wine. Less than half a beat late, she could swear that she felt her head beginning to spin.

  Granted, she wasn’t accustomed to drinking alcohol on anything that even remotely approached a regular basis, but she certainly had had wine before on occasion. And this was rather a light wine at that. She sincerely doubted that the tiny bit she’d just imbibed was responsible for the light-headed feeling she was experiencing right at this moment.