In that moment, Declan saw everything he wanted in this world. All he had to do was figure out how to get it.
Chapter Sixteen
“I don’t want to leave you,” Evie whispered in the darkened room. “But I have to take care of your best friend, who is home thinking about nothing but you. You know that, right?”
In the oversize crate, Judah didn’t move. He lay perfectly still on his side, the stitches visible in the shaved ventral area over his trachea. Evie remembered each pull of the needle when she’d sewn him back up, utterly satisfied with how the procedure had gone.
“With the right PT, he’s going to be a hundred percent.”
Evie turned at the woman’s voice, surprised she hadn’t heard her come into the ICU area, immediately recognizing the physical therapist. “Oh, Christine. Hello. I didn’t expect you to come in tonight.”
“I had to check on him.” The woman, an attractive brunette about Evie’s age, came closer to the crate, but kept her eyes on Evie. “And you.” She dipped her head to whisper, “You’re all anyone around here has talked about today, Dr. Hewitt.”
She smiled at the compliment, stepping aside so Christine could get closer to Judah’s crate. “I’m hoping to take him home on Monday, assuming he’s not in any pain we can’t manage.”
“If you do, I’ll come and do the first two sessions with you,” she said. “After that, you are probably more than qualified to take him through canine rehab, which, as you know, isn’t technically PT. Or, if you want, bring him in here as an outpatient. It’s up to you.”
“Let’s see how it goes,” Evie said.
“You’ve had a long day,” Christine noted, a familiar empathy in her voice. “You know that our vet techs are on duty all night. He’s got the monitor and an IV, but they’ll check on him every half hour, if not more often.”
Just then, Valerie, the vet tech Evie had been working with for the past few hours, came in.
“You honestly can go home, Dr. Hewitt,” Valerie said.
“I must look awful, since everyone keeps telling me that,” Evie said on a laugh, making the other two women deny it. But she looked at Judah again as he stirred and let out a shuddering sigh. “I feel so close to this guy now, it’s hard to take off.”
“Happens when you’ve done an operation like that,” Christine said.
“The whole hospital is buzzing about how you handled that surgery,” Valerie added. “They filmed it, you know.”
“I know.”
“They’re going to use it in some classes.”
Evie reached a finger through the metal crate and stroked Judah’s powerful paw. “I’m honored.”
“They’re lucky to have you at NC State,” the vet tech said.
“Thank you, Valerie.”
“The big schools always get the best people,” she continued, a sad note in her voice. “I didn’t get in there, so…”
“Vestal Valley has a terrific vet program,” Evie said.
“It’s decent, yeah.” The young woman lifted her shoulder, her gaze drifting from Evie to Judah and back. “But surgeries like you did today? Hard to get here. And I want to be a neurologist, too. Of course, I’m just a vet student now, so maybe I’ll get into NC State for my specialty degree.”
“I hope you do,” Evie said, putting a hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “But if you don’t, I’m sure you’ll get into a great school and make a fantastic neurologist.”
She nodded her appreciation. “I hope so. Now, honestly…”
“Yeah.” Christine gave Evie’s shoulder a nudge. “Go get dinner, Dr. Hewitt.”
Dinner. It was that late? Poor Granddaddy. “Yes, ladies. You have my number and can text me. Valerie? Progress reports throughout the night?”
“Yep. And you can knock on the back door anytime if you need a Judah fix before we officially open tomorrow. In fact, you should go out that way.”
“Thanks.” With one more stroke of Judah’s paw, Evie headed out, grabbing her bag from a locker and feeling very…comfortable. This was like a second home to her—the late nights after a big surgery, the dimmed lights and soft snores of sleeping animals in recovery, the incomparable rush of a successful surgery.
She pushed the back door open and blinked into the early evening light, trying to remember where she parked her car about twelve hours ago.
“Right here, Dr. Dolittle.”
She turned at the voice in the shadows, her heart unexpectedly fluttering at the sight of Declan leaning against her car, arms crossed.
“Hey.” And a whole new wave of comfort washed over her, dragging her back twenty years to that summer when she’d work late at Dr. K’s office and Declan would be waiting for her to have dinner or watch a movie or hang out in the square and talk about life at the fire station and vet office.
Right then, all Evie wanted to do in the whole world was go back to those halcyon days, before the fire…and ice…that wrecked that friendship. To pretend twenty years hadn’t happened and they were still kids, young and free and crazy about each other.
“How’s my girl?” he asked as she walked slowly toward the car.
His girl? Well, she might not be young and free, but she sure was still crazy about him. “Hungry, tired, and high on…” You. “A great surgery.”
“The front desk already called to give me the night report on Judah. He’s resting comfortably. It’s the surgeon I’m worried about. She wouldn’t leave the patient.”
She loved the fact that he didn’t move, but kept his gaze pinned on her, that Mahoney smile tugging at his lips.
“I left him,” she said. “But it wasn’t easy.” Just like it wouldn’t be easy to leave Declan tonight.
Finally, as she stood in front of him, he shifted from one foot to the other and reached out to place his hands on her shoulders. “What do you want to do now?”
Kiss you. Hold you. Fly back in time. “Get my grandfather something to eat.”
“Didn’t you check your Granddaddy cam?”
“I haven’t had a chance.”
“Well, he had his ‘linner’ at four, got his dentures out, his meds in, and is probably sound asleep by now.”
Her jaw loosened. “How…why…what did you do?”
He laughed. “How was easy. The back door was open. While I was there, I finished the last of the windows and worked on some floorboards.”
“Oh.” She slid her hands around to the back of his neck and pulled him into her. “Could you be any more wonderful?”
“At gin rummy, I could be. Your grandfather cleaned my clock.”
“You played cards with him?”
“‘Played’ is a strong word. I tried to survive every hand.”
She squeezed him in gratitude, folding closer when he wrapped his arms around her. “I swear he cheats, but thank you.” She looked up at him, close enough for a kiss, but holding off because looking into his eyes was its own kind of pleasure.
“You’re the one who should be thanked for all you did today. How can I? Dinner? A drink? Cry pie? That coffee shop is open. I checked.”
“I was just thinking about what I wanted.” She grazed his neck with her nails, getting a kick of satisfaction when his whole body seemed to tense in response.
“Anything,” he said with such sincerity she knew he meant it.
“To go back in time,” she whispered. “Twenty years, Dec. Before…it all. To that incredible summer when we were so stinking innocent and ambitious and…” She leaned into him, lightly pressing her body to his.
“Supercharged,” he whispered into her ear, making her laugh.
“That was the young part,” she joked.
“Speak for yourself. I’m pretty charged.” He splayed his hands over her back, riding them up and down over her cotton sweater, making her arch into him ever so slightly.
Tipping her head back, she relaxed into him, looking up. “Can we do that? Go back in time?”
“’Fraid not. But we can…” He
brushed her lips with the lightest kiss. “Be right here, right now, tonight, not thinking about all those roads not taken. Just the one that we’re on this minute.”
“Mmm. I kind of like this road.” She lifted up on her toes to deepen the kiss, parting her lips to taste more of him.
“Me, too.” He pulled her tighter to him, letting her whole body feel the cuts and slopes of his powerful chest and the sexy pressure of his hips. He slid his hands up her back, tunneling into her hair, giving her a million chills and shivers.
Angling his head, he intensified the kiss, letting their tongues touch and send electrical shocks of pleasure down her body.
“Evie,” he whispered into the kiss. “I can’t believe how much I’ve missed you.”
She let out a light groan of agreement, lifting her chin to let him kiss her jaw and throat.
Heat rose from deep inside, a sweet, torturous burn that made her want to kiss him longer and harder and…everywhere.
The back door to the animal hospital clunked with the sound of someone coming out, automatically inching them apart.
“You want to leave?” he asked.
“I am hungry,” she admitted. “So maybe some food is a good idea.”
He eased her away, but held on to her waist. “Let’s go.”
They walked arm in arm around the corner, falling into an easy conversation when he asked for more details about Judah’s surgery. Talking about the procedure helped her hormones settle down, but the buzzy, achy, thrilling feeling never really went away, still there when they ordered and ate and talked and laughed.
By the time they finished dinner and ordered their pie to go, Evie finally felt like that full-body hum was under control.
“So…” Declan wrapped his fingers around the coffee mug and leaned forward. “Can we make this official?”
She started humming again. “Like, Facebook official?”
He laughed. “Is that still a thing? Do you not see these gray hairs?” He pointed to his temples. “I mean family official.” He inched closer and lowered his voice. “Will you go to Sunday dinner at Waterford with me tomorrow?” He leaned over the table. “My mother issued a very personal and heartfelt invitation.”
She had no doubt that was true. She’d seen so many members of his family in the waiting room that morning—including Colleen Mahoney, who’d been warm and sweet and parted with, “We hope to see you tomorrow!” And the grannies, of course, who’d showered her with interest. They’d all been so welcoming and genuine.
“I’d like that,” she said. “Not sure if it makes anything ‘official,’ but…”
He smiled. “I can’t remember taking anyone to that dinner before.”
“Not…what was her name? Bethany?”
“Not anyone.”
“Well, hate to break it to you, but you took me there a lot of times.”
“Anyone else,” he clarified. “Not that there ever has been…” His voice drifted off, and he looked down into his mug.
“Declan, I’m sure there have been many other women in your life.”
“None that mattered.” Then he reached across the table and closed his hand over hers. “Have you been in love these past two decades, Evie?”
“I’ve been in like,” she said. “I’ve wanted to be in love, almost talked myself into it a few times, but…” She lifted a shoulder. “It never happened.”
“And that’s why you’ve never had a baby?”
She dropped back and sighed, wanting to tell him at least some of her journey. “I tried assisted reproduction or donor insemination, as it’s called.”
He curled his lip.
“Exactly,” she replied. “It’s about as inviting as it sounds. And it failed twice, and I didn’t want to go through it again. It was stressful and exhausting.”
“You can get pregnant, though, right?”
“As far as I know, everything is working.”
“And you really want a child,” he said.
“More than life itself,” she whispered, making him close his eyes as if she’d hit a bull’s-eye. She squeezed his hand. “But the fact that I don’t have one isn’t your fault, Declan.”
He looked at her, silent, obviously not agreeing with that.
“I also looked into adoption, here and overseas.”
“How far did you get?”
“Not very,” she admitted, shaking her head. “I didn’t have whatever a person has to have to go that route alone. Time, energy, enthusiasm, unspeakable courage. None of it was there for me. If someone had handed me a baby and said, ‘Here, this is yours to raise and love,’ I would have been delirious. But the process is designed to weed out the weaklings, and I guess I was one of those.”
He snorted. “You’re anything but weak.”
“I wasn’t strong enough to do that alone. So maybe I’m not strong enough to be a single mother. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. It’s too late.”
“Is it?”
She searched his eyes for a clue to what he was thinking. It wasn’t hard to figure out, not when she could read his eyes as well as anyone on this earth. “You’re not still thinking about that, are you?” she asked.
“I’m not…not thinking about it.”
“Declan.”
“Evie.”
She smiled. “Step back and try to work out the logistics of that for a minute, will you?”
“A little complicated since you live in Raleigh and I live here, but…”
“Are you moving to Raleigh?” she challenged. “Because if I had a child that belonged to you, I know darn well you’d want to be with him or her every day.”
“Probably.”
“And your family would want to be…”
“Yeah,” he said on a laugh. “Whatever a family could be to a kid, mine would be it on steroids.”
“And what if you met someone, and you wanted a family with her?”
He stared at her.
“You could meet and marry a twenty-five-year-old or thirty-year-old, Declan. How would she feel about you having a kid with another woman who—”
He pressed his fingers against her lips. “Shhh. You’re getting worked up about a hypothetical woman who, I can already tell you, would be exactly like every other woman I’ve ever dated.”
“Which is…”
He tipped his head, looking surprised she didn’t know. “Not Evie.”
“Declan.” She pressed his hands as an indescribable pleasure danced through her at the words.
“Sorry, it’s true. Like you, I’ve tried and wanted and given things a chance, but in the end, I only wanted…you.” He lifted their joined hands, drawing her fingers closer and stroking her knuckles. “And I don’t know how to tell you how good it feels to admit that.”
Holding his gaze, she nodded. “We sure did ruin each other for everyone else.”
“Truth.” He kissed her knuckles and pointed at her. “And you, sweet doctor, are dead tired.”
She touched her face. “Can you tell?”
“Yep. I know you. I’m going to follow you home and make sure you don’t fall asleep at the wheel, then pick you up tomorrow for Sunday dinner.”
“Whoa, you have it all figured out, don’t you?”
He laughed. “Tomorrow, maybe. After that? It’s a blur.”
“Okay. But one quick stop first?”
“Where to?”
She pointed in the direction of the animal hospital. “Let’s say good night to Judah and make sure he’s sleeping and comfortable.”
“See that?” He dropped some money on the check and reached for her hand to bring her out of the booth. “It’s like we have a kid already.”
If only it were that easy.
Chapter Seventeen
“Wait. What? Is that a legit Bloody Mary that just went into your mouth?” Connor leaned in and sniffed the drink. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you actually drink a drink, bro.”
Declan shrugged, leaning against the kitchen counter
, where he had a perfect view of Evie chatting with Molly, Ella, Darcy, and Pru, passing baby Danny back and forth and laughing at his antics. When Evie held him, he had to force himself not to stare.
“So you’re losing control, huh?” Connor continued, then glanced over his shoulder to follow Declan’s gaze. “Ahhh. Now it makes sense.”
Declan narrowed his eyes. “Don’t make me stuff this celery stick down your throat.”
Connor laughed. “Man, I haven’t heard you make a threat like that for years. You’re back, dude.”
“What’s so funny?” Braden asked, sliding into the conversation.
“Declan is losing control and making jokes.”
Braden’s brows shot up in silent disbelief.
“I’m not losing anything. I’m in a good mood.” He had been since walking Evie to her door last night, and making out with her in the entryway of Gloriana House until they damn near lay down on the curved steps. They somehow managed to say good night, still dressed but aching for more.
“Well, I’m either going to make things better or worse,” Braden said, still not smiling. “I got a lead on Kirby Lewis, the arson investigator.”
“Yeah?” Declan lowered his drink, interested.
“Rumor has it he lives up near Boone, but no one knows how to get in touch with him. I have a good friend at NCSBI who has a girlfriend who works in personnel, and she might be able to ‘find’ his address.” He used air quotes.
“Which sounds ‘illegal.’” Declan air quoted back.
Connor nodded. “Maybe get him a message that Declan wants to talk?”
“I’d be more comfortable with that than stealing his address,” Declan agreed.
“I figured that,” Braden said. “Let me see what I can find out. I should know something next week.”
“Thanks.” Declan looked from one brother to the other, a punch of gratitude hitting him. “And no news could ruin my day.” He glanced at Evie. “Not much could right now.”
Connor chuckled. “We can tell.”
“Yeah, the whole family’s talking about how chill you seem,” Braden said.
Declan looked skyward with a half laugh, half snort. “Y’all need to get lives, then.”
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