by Amy Vastine
“I need a cookie.”
Pete put his hands on her shoulders and spun her around so she was facing the door. “You need to go back outside, Eva. You, too, Mia.”
His son, Sean, poked his head in. “Come back outside, you two! I told you not to bother Mom and Dad.”
“I need a cookie. I’m dying of starvation!” Eva claimed in dramatic fashion. She put a hand on her belly and the other on her forehead.
“Come into the kitchen,” Gianna said, giving in. Who wouldn’t? She was too cute.
“My son is the same way,” Max told Pete. “The world is ending right after I ask him to get ready for bed.”
“Kids,” Pete said with a shake of his head. “You gotta love them or they won’t take care of you when you’re old.”
Gianna and Pete had planned a family-style dinner. Gianna’s Italian heritage was evident in everything they had prepared. There were fresh, homemade pastas and pesto-rubbed chicken. She’d made some swordfish puttanesca and eggplant Parmesan lasagna. The fresh-baked Italian bread was the perfect combination of crusty on the outside and soft and warm inside. Charlie wanted to be invited over for dinner every night.
Dessert was a sampling of cannoli, tiramisu, cookies, mascarpone and dark chocolate mousse in white chocolate cups, and berries in some sort of cream that made Charlie’s taste buds feel as if they had died and gone to heaven.
“Everything you’ve tasted tonight we’d consider our signature dishes, but if you have a particular menu in mind, we can always—”
“You’re hired,” Max said without letting Gianna finish. He glared at Charlie and then Emma. “How’s that for difficult?”
Charlie threw his hands up. “Dude! She was about to suggest we have another tasting. You blew it!”
Everyone at the table chuckled. Even Emma, who had remained quiet for most of the dinner.
“You can come over anytime, Charlie,” Gianna offered. “But is the bride-to-be on the same page here?”
Kendall nodded, her mouth full of one of those chocolate cups. She swallowed it down. “Everything was amazing. We would love you guys to cater our wedding.”
Charlie stole a glance in Emma’s direction. She was busy sneaking another cannoli onto her plate. She hadn’t been sure about hiring Pete and Gianna when he’d first suggested it. He watched her take a bite and close her eyes when the incredible flavors hit her tongue. Looked as though she was also won over.
Charlie’s chest tightened. It felt as if his heart was being squeezed. There was no one prettier in the entire world than Emma. Dr. Not-That-Charming had no idea what a gift he was being given.
Before he had a chance to look away, their eyes met. One corner of Emma’s mouth curled up. She licked some of the cannoli filling off her fingers. Charlie was sure he was going to burst into flames. Thank goodness Pete was a firefighter.
“What about the maid of honor? Is it unanimous?” Pete asked Emma, causing her to break their connection.
“Absolutely. That was the best food I’ve eaten...maybe ever.”
What Charlie wouldn’t give for her to see everything his way. He wished she could see how good they could be together. He didn’t have a perfect smile or a fancy medical degree, but he would give her the world if she asked for it.
“You guys should open your own restaurant. I’d eat there. Heck, I’d manage it,” Max said to Pete.
Pete smiled appreciatively but shook his head. “We thought about it once, but with my hours at the station, it wasn’t practical. I would have to quit my job and that’s too big of a risk when you’ve got three kids to take care of.”
“Maybe when you retire,” Max suggested. “I expect a phone call if you do.”
Gianna started collecting plates. Pete and Kendall hopped up to help. Gianna tried to get Kendall to stop. “You don’t have to do that. Please, sit. You’re our guest.”
“You have to let us help you clean up. It’s the least we can do,” Kendall insisted.
“Let’s send the men out to keep an eye on the kids while we take care of these dishes,” Emma suggested.
Gianna refused, but the sisters were adamant. There was nothing she could do but let them have their way. Pete offered the guys another drink and they headed outside to see what the children were up to.
“You’ve chosen well, Max,” Pete said as he leaned against the porch railing.
“Your cooking made it an easy decision.”
“Not that,” Pete said with a laugh. “Although, that was also an excellent choice. I meant your bride-to-be. She’s a keeper.”
Max got that smitten look on his face. “I definitely think so. I’m very lucky.”
“And her sister’s the nurse, isn’t she?” Pete asked Charlie. “You have good taste, my friend.”
Max’s expression changed to surprise. “Pete knows about Emma?”
“There’s no Emma,” Charlie said, wishing he had never told anyone about his interest in the unattainable. “I mean, there’s obviously an Emma. There’s no me and Emma. She’s dating someone else.”
“Bummer,” Pete said. “She’s cute, seems nice.”
“You sure she’s dating that guy?” Max asked.
“I’m sure. All she talked about the other day when we met to discuss the wedding was him.”
“The ice-cream date?” Pete was too good at putting two and two together.
Charlie’s face must have been redder than a tomato. “It wasn’t really a date. It was more of a meeting. She’s all about this doctor guy. I have no chance.”
Max gave Charlie’s shoulder a squeeze. “Sorry, man. I thought there was still hope. Kendall hasn’t said anything about it being serious between the two of them.”
Well, it was true, and Charlie needed to get over it. He had to forget about his feelings for Emma and move on. The sooner, the better.
Pete’s daughters climbed the front-porch steps. “Can you help us do jump rope?” Mia asked her dad.
“Jump rope is more of a Mommy thing. I can’t help, girls.”
“But we want to play Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear! We need one more person, and Sean won’t do it.”
Not many teenage boys wanted to play jump rope with their little sisters. Fortunately for these lovely ladies, Charlie was an expert jump-rope twirler.
“I can do it. My sisters used to jump rope all the time.” He grabbed the rope from Eva and led the two very excited girls back to the sidewalk.
“You don’t mind if I take some video to show the guys back at the station?” Pete shouted from the porch, cell phone in hand.
“No, as long as you don’t mind me whipping you with this jump rope later. Go right ahead,” Charlie replied.
Pete put his phone away. Charlie and Mia twirled the rope for Eva first. The little girl’s smile put one on Charlie’s face, as well. She was so proud of herself when she managed to turn around without tripping up the rope, but when she had to touch the ground, she forgot to keep jumping.
“Good try, Tinker Bell.” He put up a hand so she could give him a high five. She had to jump to reach his hand.
“If you’re still single when my girls are grown up, I bet they’d marry you for this!” Pete shouted.
Charlie took the ribbing, but he hoped it wouldn’t take that long for someone to fall in love with him. By then, his heart might have hardened into stone.
The front door opened and Emma stepped out onto the porch. Charlie’s heart picked up the pace the way it always did when she was around. It wasn’t made out of stone just yet.
“Gianna sent me to check on you guys. I’m supposed to make sure there are equal amounts of socializing and child watching going on. Looks like Charlie’s got you guys covered on the latter.” She rested her forearms on the railing and watched as Charlie twirled the rope for Mia th
is time. The eight-year-old was a little better at the Teddy Bear routine than her sister. She didn’t get caught in the rope until the teddy bear was headed up the stairs.
“You want to come jump, Nightingale?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking. Keeping his distance from her was not easy.
Surprisingly, she took him up on his offer immediately and kicked off her shoes. Holding on to her skirt so it didn’t fly up when she jumped, she stood facing Charlie. She smiled as they waited for Eva to give the handle to Mia. Emma was too tall for the little one to get it over her head.
Stop smiling at me like that, he wanted to say. “Ready?” he asked instead.
Mia and Charlie counted down from three then swung the rope up and over. Emma jumped in time, and once she had a steady rhythm going, began singing the song.
“Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch your shoe. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, that will do. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, go upstairs. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say your prayers.”
Emma was the champ, making it all the way through the song. The girls giggled and cheered. Charlie could only stand there and stare. Stop being so perfect, he wanted to shout. She had ruined him for all other women. He was sure of it.
CHAPTER NINE
IT HAD BEEN years since Emma had played jump rope. It brought back so many memories of making up rhymes with Kendall and Lucy. Lucy would come up with routines and Kendall and Emma would do whatever she told them to. They usually ended up failing again and again when they attempted all the impossible things their older sister thought up.
“Do another one!” little Eva begged.
Emma was tempted, but knew she’d hear it from Kendall if she didn’t return to the kitchen. “I better get back inside and help clean up. But thanks for letting me play for a couple minutes.”
“Charlie’s turn!” Mia managed to break the weird spell he was under. He had been staring at Emma so intently.
“My turn? You guys can’t get it over my head,” he said. Emma thought it was an attempt to get out of playing. Instead, he grabbed the entire rope and wrapped the ends around his hand until it was the correct length. “But I can do this.”
They had no idea he was about to put on a show like no other. Charlie started out with a boxer jump, fast without any real height. He quickly switched it up and crisscrossed the rope each time he jumped through it. The rope moved so quickly, whipping under his feet two, three times per jump. Then he inched closer to Emma, letting more and more rope out.
“I like coffee. I like tea. I like Emma and she likes me,” he chanted. “Jump in.”
Emma didn’t think, she just did. Ducking under the whizzing rope, she joined him in his game.
“Yes, no, maybe so,” Charlie repeated over and over in time with their jumps.
Emma held her skirt down and laughed as freely as the little girls watching. She tried to keep pace. This had to be one of the silliest things she’d ever done.
“Yes, no, maybe so, yes, no, maybe so, yes—” The rope caught on her foot and she found herself tipping forward. Her hand came up to brace her fall and landed in the center of Charlie’s chest. He was much taller than her, which meant he was close to giant status. Most guys were her height or an inch or so taller. Charlie had almost half a foot on her.
Strong and capable hands caught her and held on until she was steady on her feet. They were both giggling and out of breath.
“Nice job, Nightingale.”
Emma felt the heat creep up her neck and her stomach felt as if it were jumping rope. His body heat radiated through his shirt. Swallowing hard, she took a step back.
“I should get back to the ladies.” Her voice was shaky. He stirred up feelings she did not want to have, not with him.
“My turn. I want to like Charlie, too!” Eva shouted, squeezing in between the two of them as Emma slowly retreated to the house.
“Emma and Charlie sitting in a tree...” Max sang playfully.
She narrowed her eyes but didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response to his teasing. There was no Emma and Charlie. They were playing a game, having fun with the little girls. That was it.
Kendall was busy drying a large serving platter when Emma returned to the O’Reillys’ dream kitchen. It was the nicest room in the entire house. They had a double oven on one wall and a six-burner stove top on the island. The refrigerator was twice the size of the one in Emma’s place.
“I thought maybe you got lost out there or the guys put you to work,” Kendall said, trying hard to mask her annoyance.
“Actually, she thought you were trying to get out of the dishes,” Gianna said with a laugh.
Emma picked up the other dish towel and a handful of cutlery. “The girls and Charlie talked me into a couple jump-rope games.”
“Charlie’s playing jump rope with Mia and Eva?” Gianna set down her sponge. “I have to see that. He is the sweetest thing, isn’t he?”
“He is.” Kendall made a sad face, as if she had said Charlie lost his puppy.
“What?” Emma asked when Gianna was gone.
“Nothing.”
“She said Charlie is the sweetest and you made a face,” she challenged.
Kendall picked up another plate to dry. “Charlie is the sweetest. He’s a really, really good guy.”
That was why her reaction to the statement made no sense. “So why do you look sad for him? It was a compliment. You should have smiled.”
Kendall blew out a heavy breath and turned to face a confused Emma. “You are so blind sometimes.”
“Blind to what? That Charlie’s a sweet guy? That he’s adorable and funny and kind to everyone he meets and is extremely good-looking and really, really tall?” Emma had noticed. It was impossible not to notice.
“Don’t forget crazy about you. Have you noticed that he’s crazy about you?” Kendall’s head cocked to the side and she blinked exaggeratedly as she waited for an answer.
No, no, no, no. That was not the plan. Charlie did not fit. He was a paramedic, not a doctor. His job was dangerous and unpredictable. Scott Spencer fit perfectly into her plan. As stupid as it all sounded, even to Emma, she couldn’t let Charlie fall for her when she couldn’t fall for him in return.
“Charlie is nice to everyone. He doesn’t like me any more than he likes anyone else.”
Kendall shook her head and set down the plate she’d been drying. “Whatever you say, Em. I’ve always been in awe of your ability to set goals for yourself and to see them through time and time again, but I worry someday you’re going to paint yourself into a corner. And we both know, nobody puts Baby in a corner,” she said.
Emma twisted her dish towel and whipped it in Kendall’s direction, fighting a smile. There was no corner. Scott was a great guy, and ending up with him wouldn’t be so terrible by any means.
Gianna came back in with her phone in hand. She swiped back and forth between the pictures she had taken outside. “He is so good with those girls. You don’t see their father out there jumping rope!”
She held up the phone so Emma could see the photo of Charlie and Mia jumping together. There was another one of the two girls on either side of him, posing for the camera. It was a heartwarming shot.
Kendall checked them out over Emma’s shoulder. “So cute.”
Emma didn’t say anything. She was too frustrated. Her sister didn’t understand how important it was to stick to the plan. Charlie was famous for saying, “Forget about this or that, let’s do this instead.” Someone like that would flip Emma’s world upside down. That could never work. No matter what her sister said or the stupid butterflies in her stomach did when he was near.
Everyone came back inside and the girls were thirsty after all that jump roping.
“Tinker Bell say
s you have some homemade lemonade hiding in here,” Charlie said, following them in.
“Why you call me Tinker Bell?” Eva asked, hands on her hips.
“Well, look at you,” he said. “You have blond hair. You’re this big.” He held his hands six inches apart. “You’re trouble, and those wings are a dead giveaway.”
Eva tried desperately to see if she had somehow sprouted wings when they were outside.
“I don’t have any wings!”
Mia giggled and joined in. “Her name is Eva, not Tinker Bell!”
“Yeah, right. The next thing you’ll tell me is your name isn’t Bean, as in Jumping Bean!” He picked Mia up and bounced her high enough to touch the ceiling. “You should have seen her out there, Special K. This one jumps so high she nearly touches the sky.”
Mia squealed and Eva pleaded for a turn. The battle for Charlie’s attention would be never ending.
Stop being so perfect, Emma wanted to say. He was ruining everything. The worst part was he wasn’t trying, he was simply being himself.
* * *
EMMA NEEDED TO act fast. Scott Spencer was a great catch and if she didn’t win him over, someone else would. From what she could tell, he had all the qualities she was looking for in a man. A relationship with him would fit right into the plan, and her life would be exactly the way she wanted it.
Only, as she’d lain in bed after the tasting, she’d realized that as much as she denied it, she had feelings for Charlie. She more than liked him. She knew he was also everything she wanted in a man. Except he was too spontaneous. More important, his job put him in danger. She had worked on a trauma case once where a couple of paramedics got split up from their police backup and ended up caught in the middle of a gang fight. Lincoln Park wasn’t known for its gang activity, but it happened. It could happen to someone like Charlie, who would seemingly do anything to help someone.
What Emma needed to do was stay focused. Her plan assured her happiness. It always had. That was why she had to take action. She’d decided that she was going to ask Scott out on a date the next time she saw him. Spending some time outside work would allow her to get to know more about him. It would help strengthen her resolve to stick to the plan.
