The Two of Us

by Victoria Bylin

  As for Jake, she wasn’t sure why he had invited himself, though he hinted about an idea she might like. She was about to approach the hostess when she spotted him standing off to the side. Dressed in dark khakis and a polo shirt the color of pine needles, he greeted her with a wave. Pirate was nowhere in sight.

  Mia hesitated. With their attention on the possible miscarriage, she hadn’t officially canceled breakfast with him. She hated loose ends and was eager to say something, but she didn’t want to taint the conversation with Sam. The breakfast problem would have to wait.

  She approached Jake with a friendly smile. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” he said back.

  “I don’t see Pirate.”

  “He’s a little too big for a crowded restaurant. I left him snoozing in the room.”

  “I thought you took him everywhere.”

  “Not necessarily. I use him mostly when I’m alone to alert me to sounds I miss without the hearing aids, things like a knock on the door.”

  Mia remembered the episode in the truck. She still felt bad about her remark. “He’s also a friend.”

  “And a bit of a mind reader.” Jake indicated the crowded restaurant. “Let’s sit. Sam came early and saved a table.”

  More high marks to Sam. He had planned ahead and made it easy for her to find him. When Mia reached the table, a square one with a view of the pool, he stood and offered his hand.

  “Mia,” he said graciously, “thank you for coming.”

  “Thank you for inviting me.”

  Jake pulled out her chair, then took the seat opposite her that gave him a view of both the pool and the bustling restaurant. Sam sat next to him, his back to the glass wall.

  Her gaze flicked between their faces. They didn’t look anything alike. Jake’s face was lean, hard, and difficult to read. Sam’s face was round and expressive. With his muscular arms, square jaw, and buzz cut, he belonged on a US Army recruiting poster.

  Mia set her purse at her feet. “How’s Lucy?” It still rankled her to be kept away from her sister, especially with her symptoms.

  “She’s doing a lot better.” Sam gave Mia all the details of the hospital visit and answered her questions with the kind of precision she appreciated and rarely got from Lucy. The bleeding was lighter now, and the cramping had stopped. He and Lucy had stopped at a Subway on the way back, and she had devoured a six-inch turkey sandwich on wheat bread, a big chocolate chip cookie, and two cartons of milk.

  With every word out of his mouth, Sam impressed Mia more. After a waitress took their drink orders, he reached into his shirt pocket. “How would you like to see the first picture of your niece or nephew?”

  “I’d love it!” Mia pinched the white edge of the Polaroid and studied it through the damp sheen in her eyes. She saw ultrasound pictures all the time, but this one came alive in her mind. She imagined the little legs kicking against Lucy’s belly, the fingers clenched in a fist, and the baby’s thumb in its mouth.

  A lump scraped against her vocal cords, roughening her voice as she handed the photo back to Sam. “She’s lovely.”

  “Or he.” Sam grinned. “We’ll be thrilled either way.”

  “So will I.” Mia smiled, but in her mind she heard the tick of her own biological clock and the soft tread of her approaching birthday. She was done with dating and might never have kids of her own, but she was going to be a fabulous aunt.

  The waitress returned with their beverages, whipped out her notepad, and took their orders. Mia went with the Jungle Salad. Jake ordered a bacon cheeseburger with coleslaw, and Sam ordered the half-pound Elephant Burger, an extra side of fries, a quesadilla, and a glass of milk.

  “Good grief!” Mia laughed out loud when the waitress left. “Does Lucy know how much you eat?”

  Sam answered with a grin. “I might order dessert too. But I’ll get that to go so I can share it with her.”

  Jake shook his head. “Your mom used to complain that you drank a gallon of milk a day.”

  “I did. But only during football season.”

  “Your friendship,” Mia remarked. “Jake told me he worked with your mother. I just want to say that I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you.” Sam gave the kind of gracious nod Mia would have offered. “She was a remarkable woman. Did Jake tell you she was his training officer?”

  “No, he didn’t mention that.”

  Jake grumbled under his breath. “You are not going to tell stories on me.”

  “Sure I am.” Sam winked at Mia. “If my mom were here, she’d tell you Jake was a snot-nosed rookie—”

  “Thanks a lot,” Jake complained.

  “—with a mile-wide ego. She’d also tell you he was the best cop she ever worked with.”

  Mia turned her attention fully to Jake. “Somehow I’m not surprised.”

  She expected a smile or a light remark, but his brows collided in a scowl aimed at no one except perhaps himself. “I wasn’t the best when we walked into that building. If I could do it over again—”

  Sam cut him off. “I know that. And you know that I know it. So stop the whining, all right? My mom would be the first to tell you to—”

  “Get over it,” they said in unison.

  Emotion deepened the lines fanning from Jake’s eyes. When he swung his gaze to the window, Mia gave him his privacy and turned back to Sam. They chatted about the baby until a waitress arrived with their plates.

  Sam offered a short blessing, and they began the meal. When Mia cut into the perfectly grilled chicken on top of her salad, she thought of the time thirteen-year-old Lucy had surprised her with spaghetti for dinner. Not the most skilled cook, Lucy didn’t fully drain the pasta before she added the jar of sauce. They had christened the dish “spaghetti soup” and laughed for a week.

  Smiling at the memory, Mia looked at Sam. “You do know Lucy can’t cook, right?”

  “She makes great spaghetti soup.”

  Mia almost dropped her knife. “She told you about that?”

  “She cooked it for me one night.” Sam took a bite of his massive cheeseburger, chewed twice, and swallowed. “It’s a lot better than most MREs.”

  Jake must have seen her confusion, because he translated. “Army talk for Meals Ready to Eat.”

  “I won’t tell you some of the other names for them.” Sam cut his cheesy quesadilla with one quick slice of his knife. “My CO says MREs are great training for marriage. I’ll eat whatever’s in front of me.”

  “I hope you don’t starve to death,” Mia said between bites of her salad.

  “I won’t.”

  Confidence. She had it too, but hers was hard-earned and tested. She wasn’t so sure about Sam’s. Cockiness and confidence looked a lot alike, especially in handsome young men who wore uniforms.

  The three of them bantered through the meal, trading stories and getting to know each other. Mia enjoyed every minute, especially the good-natured ribbing between the men.

  When they were nearly finished eating, Sam cleared his throat. “Before we go any further, I’d like to make a few things clear.”

  “Please. Go ahead.” Mia welcomed honesty.

  “I love your sister, Mia. I can take good care of her.”

  “You mean financially,” she replied.

  “Yes. I’m in my last year of a full-ride ROTC scholarship. I’ll graduate in June with an engineering degree, hopefully summa cum laude, then I’ll begin a six-year stint as an army officer. The next year will be a challenge with the baby, but I have a secure future.”

  “Yes, you do,” she agreed. “But life doesn’t come with guarantees. Feelings can change. In fact, they will change. You and Lucy are both young, especially Lucy. She’s only eighteen.”

  “Almost nineteen.” Sam paused to let the fact stand. “I won’t sit here and tell you Lucy and I love each other as if that’s reason enough to get married right now. The baby pushed up our timetable, but the real foundation here is that Lucy and I have our faith. We’re n
ot perfect, but we’re committed to making this marriage last a lifetime. With God in the middle, I believe we can do it.”

  Mia had spouted similar words when she was engaged to Brad, and they had come back to haunt her. Now she leaned on God alone, not other people. “That’s admirable, Sam. It’s just that . . .” The words trailed to nothing, mostly because Mia didn’t want to explain herself. “Let’s just say life is full of surprises.”

  “It is,” he agreed. “There’s one more thing you should know. It might be a surprise, or it might not.”

  “The trust fund,” she said for him.

  “Yes.” His face softened in a way Mia recognized from her own reflection in the mirror, when she thought of her parents. Grief and love did a complicated dance, and Sam knew that rhythm. “I’d give just about anything to have my mom instead of that money, but I won’t lie. Having money in the bank makes life easier.”

  Did Sam know how poor she and Lucy had been while Mia finished school? Her own mother hadn’t left a dime. No life insurance. No house with a little equity. Nothing except some treasures like the floating heart around Lucy’s neck and the Swiss army knife that had belonged to Mia’s father.

  Earlier, in Jake’s truck, she had wondered if love was enough to sustain two human beings through a lifetime of trouble, joy, and the doldrums in between. Now she wondered if love and money together were enough to compensate for Lucy’s youth and inexperience.

  Mia had to admit, Sam was wise beyond his years, someone she would call an old soul. He really could provide for Lucy financially. He was also a man of faith. Christians weren’t perfect by any means, but his faith meant he’d do his best to make this marriage work. And if the marriage worked, Lucy wouldn’t need Mia to mop up her spills. Mia would be free to take the job with Mission Medical and make a change of her own.

  She gave Sam a softer smile. “You’ve almost persuaded me.”

  “Good,” he said. “Because we’re getting married tomorrow at the courthouse.”

  “Tomorrow?” Mia threw back her shoulders. “I thought you’d wait at least a few weeks. Why the rush? This is—”

  Jake drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “This is where I come in.”

  Chapter

  5

  Jake wasn’t at all surprised by Sam and Lucy’s decision to get married tomorrow. Back in Colorado, when Sam first told Jake about the wedding, Jake had put the kid through the third degree. He’d come away from that talk convinced Sam was marrying Lucy because he loved her, not out of obligation. The two of them were alike in important ways and opposites in others. A good balance, Jake believed.

  Even so, he had pushed Sam to think long-term again last night. They were sharing a room in an effort to preserve a bit of wedding tradition, and Jake had been man-to-man blunt.

  “I wouldn’t be your friend if I didn’t throw out some other options. You don’t have to marry Lucy to take responsibility for the baby.”

  “You don’t get it, Jake.”

  “Get what?”

  “I love her. I want to marry her. I’ve prayed long and hard. I know we’re young, but a hundred years ago getting married at this age would have been typical.”

  “It’s not now.”

  “Maybe it should be,” Sam tossed back. “I’m a Christian. I want to live my faith. But I’m human too, and marriage is God’s plan for sex. Why should Lucy and I wait to get married until she’s . . . what? Twenty-one? Until she graduates college? Who made the new rules, anyway?”

  “Beats me,” Jake admitted.

  “Lucy and I want to build a life together—not two lives we have to merge in three or four years. It’s true we’re individuals, but we’re also a couple and committed to each other. We’re not waiting,” Sam had finished. “There’s just no good reason.”

  There wasn’t a thing Jake could say to that. He respected Sam’s logic, and abstinence struck him as unrealistic when men and women waited until their late twenties or thirties to get married. And where did that lead for some people? Pregnancy scares. A lack of commitment. Broken hearts. Jake had been part of that culture until he met Connie. More of a lioness than a mother bear, she had taught him as much about life as she had about police procedure.

  Jake held back a lonely sigh. His own love life was in the tank, a fact he couldn’t seem to change. He envied Sam falling so deeply in love with Lucy. But he was also a realist, and he hoped Sam, Lucy, and Mia would like the idea that hit when his father called back to say he’d found Claire with Barb. They’d been in the kennel feeding the rescue dogs.

  Mia and Sam were both focused on him now, Mia with wariness and Sam with trust. The trust bothered him, because Sam’s pride was about to take a hit. But Mia’s wariness bothered him even more. Unless Jake’s instincts were as bad as his hearing, she didn’t trust easily, a sign that life, or maybe some fool, had kicked her to the curb.

  Determined to put her at ease, he put an extra measure of goodwill in his voice. “I have a suggestion.”

  “What is it?” Mia sounded desperate.

  “Sam knows about my mother. Her name is Claire. She has Alzheimer’s disease.”

  Mia visibly winced. “I am so sorry.”

  “Thank you. She’s in the middle stages. My parents are on a waiting list for a senior community with a memory care neighborhood, but there’s a long wait. Unfortunately, we’ve reached the point where she shouldn’t be left alone.”

  Jake paused to let the details sink in, but Sam forged ahead. “What are you getting at?”

  “A solution to your problem and mine,” Jake replied. “I’d like to invite Lucy to move in with my parents and help with Claire. You two can get married tomorrow or in two months, it doesn’t matter to me. But this way Lucy will have a place to live, Claire will have a companion, and you can go off to LDAC knowing she’s not alone.”

  “LDAC?” Mia asked. “What’s that?”

  “An ROTC thing,” Sam answered. “Leadership Development and Assessment Course. I’ll be gone for four weeks in July.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “With the spotting—”

  “I know.” Sam dragged a hand over the back of his neck. “If this turns into a bigger problem, I don’t want her living alone.”

  Neither did Jake. Retired or not, he was a cop at heart and lived to protect people. “It’s a big house. She can have that back bedroom on the first floor. In fact, after you’re married, you can both live there as long as you’d like.”

  Mia interrupted. “What about medical care? How far is Echo Falls from Colorado Springs?”

  “It’s about an hour,” Jake replied. “Some people commute every day.”

  Her brows furrowed. “That’s farther from a hospital than I’d like. Is there a doctor in town?”

  “For now, yes. Dr. Collins is retiring at the end of August. He’s hoping to find someone to take over the practice.”

  She gave a small shake of her head. “That’s tough in the current business climate. I wish him luck.”

  So did Jake. His plan for the camp was to host groups of boys, six at a time, for a one-week stay that would include hiking, sports, handling power tools, car repair, and just hanging out at night. Someone was bound to need stitches at some point. That was just how boys were.

  Mia folded her napkin into a neat rectangle and set it on the table. “Jake’s idea sounds really good. As much as I’d like Lucy to stay with me in Denver, she’d be alone all day. This way, she’ll have company. But I’m worried about her helping Claire. Alzheimer’s disease is demanding at best.”

  “And torturous at its worst,” Jake added. “My mother is still herself and fairly lucid, but she repeats and gets confused. Some days are better than others.” And some days were awful.

  Jake and Mia both turned to Sam, who was already shaking his head. “We’d like to help with Claire. You know that. But Luce and I are getting married tomorrow. That’s not negotiable.”

  “Sam?” Mia spoke quietly, but she also sounded like she
meant business.

  “What is it?”

  “Maybe you should ask Lucy what she’d like to do. She’s a romantic, and canceling today’s ceremony was a disappointment. If you wait just a little while, you could plan another wedding. I think she’d like that.”

  When Sam didn’t speak, Jake decided to sweeten the deal. “How about getting married at the house? Invite some friends. Have a cake and toss the bouquet.”

  “That reminds me.” Mia turned to Sam. “Mrs. Carson gave us the bridal bouquet. It’s in my room. I can bring it to Lucy whenever you’d like.”

  “Thanks.” Sam reached for his phone. “I’ll call her now, but I’m pretty sure I know what she’ll say. We don’t want to put off getting married.”

  While Sam called Lucy, Jake traded a glance with Mia. When she mouthed Thank you, he answered with a nod.

  He and Mia listened as Sam asked Lucy how she was feeling. Her cheery voice echoed loudly enough for them to hear, and Mia smiled slightly. When Lucy paused to breathe, Sam relayed Jake’s offer. “We don’t have to decide right now, but we do have to decide when to get married. What do you think? City hall tomorrow or Echo Falls whenever we want?”

  Sam’s brows shot to his hairline. “You do? Echo Falls?” Looking at Jake and Mia, he raised a hand palm up as if to say, I don’t believe this. “Sure, Pudge. I’m fine with waiting a week. Let me tell Jake and Mia, and I’ll call you back.”

  Looking sheepish, Sam set down his phone. “That shows what I know. Lucy loves the idea of getting married in Echo Falls, but we still want to do it fast. How about the weekend after this one? That’ll give us a week to plan something.”

  “Perfect,” Jake said.

  “I’d have preferred a month,” Mia admitted, “but a week is better than tomorrow morning. What did she say about taking care of Claire?”

  “She said yes right away, but you know how she is.”

  “Impulsive.”

  “And eager to help,” Sam added. “Lucy has a good heart.”