Love Built to Last

by Lisa Ricard Claro

  “This is amazing. How did you do all this without me knowing?”

  “It wasn’t easy. I had to wait until you left for work and then haul everything out here. I enlisted the help of your Giving You Paws group. They agreed to find reasons to keep you overtime on your Saturday adoptions until we were done. It was more of a challenge for the landscapers than for me. But everyone was on board with keeping it under wraps.”

  Maddie surveyed the landscape while staying in the circle of Cal’s arms. “Thank you. This is—wow.” Her eyes welled. “I can’t believe you remembered.”

  “Hey, Dad, did you ask her yet?”

  “No, blabbermouth, I haven’t. It’s supposed to be a surprise, remember? Now hush.”

  “Ask me what?”

  TJ hopped up the gazebo stairs and smiled up at Maddie. “We wanna know if you’ll marry us.”

  Cal groaned, Maddie laughed, and Pirate barked.

  “So, will you, Miss Maddie?”

  “This didn’t go the way I intended. Somebody—” Cal narrowed his eyes at TJ. “—messed up the game plan.”

  “It seems pretty perfect to me,” Maddie said.

  “I hope that’s a yes.” Cal brushed his lips back and forth against Maddie’s, reminiscent of that first butterfly touch on the porch so many months ago. “Because I can’t remove this gazebo. I’m afraid it’s a permanent structure.”

  “I’m not surprised. I have it on good authority that you always build things to last.”

  “So is that a yes?”

  TJ wrapped one arm around Cal’s leg and the other arm around Maddie’s and looked up with an expectant grin. “Is it, Miss Maddie?”

  “Well, I’d be a fool to say no to the smelly Walker men, wouldn’t I? So, yes. Definitely yes.”

  “Give her the ring, Dad.” TJ nudged Cal’s leg. “So she doesn’t change her mind.”

  “She already said yes. We don’t need to bribe her.” But he dug into his pocket and pulled out the ring anyway. “It was my grandmother’s. I think it suits you, but if you want something else just say so and we’ll go shopping.”

  Maddie offered her hand and Cal slipped the ring on her finger. “This is perfect.” She pressed a kiss against his lips. “And it fits like it was made for me.”

  “I borrowed a ring from your jewelry box and had it sized.”

  “Pretty sure of yourself, mister.”

  “I’m an optimist, and I like to be prepared.” He glanced down at TJ. “Okay, it’s official. We get to keep her.”

  “Sweet!” TJ leapt from the stairs with a whoop and took off in a madcap dash around the gazebo. Pirate absorbed the boy’s excitement and raced after him, barking and nipping playfully at TJ’s heels.

  “There’s something else I need to do. C’mere.” Cal pulled Maddie out of the gazebo and toward the creek.

  “What now?” she asked, her tone teasing. “I’m already overwhelmed.”

  “Right here.” Cal brought her to a stop in front of the creek and took her face in his hands. He lowered his lips to hers, soft as butter, then deeper, and deeper still.

  “Mmm. Wow.” Maddie blinked open her eyes.

  “The last time we stood here I wanted to kiss you, but it was too soon. I pretended you had a mosquito on your cheek so I could touch you.”

  She smiled up at him, amused by his sheepish grin. “I remember that. Very sixth grade of you, Mr. Walker.”

  “Hey, you just agreed to marry me, so clearly my strategy was brilliant.”

  They took their time wandering back down the winding path to the house. TJ ran ahead with Pirate, and when Maddie and Cal stepped into the yard, they found the little boy sitting on the kitchen porch stairs with the dog in a happy heap at his feet.

  “It’s getting dark, buddy,” Cal said when he and Maddie reached the steps. “Almost time to go in.”

  “I wish the fireflies would come out,” TJ said. “I miss them.”

  Maddie sat beside him on the steps and drew him into a warm hug. “They’ll come back next summer.”

  TJ snuggled close and tilted his head to look at her. “Could we get married then, Miss Maddie? With the fireflies?”

  Smiling, Maddie nodded and took Caleb’s outstretched hand. “At the gazebo with the fireflies glowing—that will be perfect.”

  The End

  If you enjoyed

  Love BUILT to LAST

  turn the page for a sneak preview of

  Love to BELIEVE

  Book 2 in the Fireflies series

  Chapter 1

  A key scraped in the front door of the Walker & Son Construction management office. Rebecca Walker jerked her head toward the sound, her eyes going wide. A second later, the deadbolt slid to the unlocked position with a thunk.

  “No, wait!” She scrambled for her jeans. “Don’t come in!”

  The door swung open and the two men at the threshold watched with surprised appreciation as their operations manager shimmied into a holey pair of skinny jeans, affording them a brief glimpse of her butt-hugging boy-shorts. When their attention rose to her lacy push-up bra their smiles expanded.

  “Rebecca? You still there?” A disembodied voice crackled from the glow of a laptop sitting on the desk, facing away from Rebecca.

  Rebecca thrust her face in front of the laptop video cam. “Hold on, Vern, okay? Just gimme a second.”

  “Holy crap,” fifteen-year-old Vern choked through a mouthful of sparkling orthodontia. “Are you naked?”

  Rebecca slapped the laptop shut, grabbed the sweater lying on her desk, and pulled it over her head without regard for the clip keeping her coppery curls under control. Helped along by the wrenching of the bulky knit, the clip popped free and bounced out of sight. When Rebecca’s head popped through the neck of the sweater her spirals sprang out in wild abandon. She opened the laptop and stuck her face in view of the screen again. “Hold on, Vern, okay? Just a sec.” To the men grinning in the doorway she said, “What part of ‘wait, don’t come in’ did you two not understand? Shut the door for Pete’s sake, you’re letting all the cold air in. And how’d you get a key?”

  “It ain’t that we didn’t hear ya,” Trey, the younger and lankier of the two men drawled, “we just was already fixin’ to open the door.” He gulped, and his eyes bulged with the effort. Rebecca stared, ever fascinated by Trey’s uncanny ability to look like a human Chihuahua.

  “And if I may say,” the older and fleshier of the two began, his eyes bright with amusement, “you’re looking particularly lovely this—”

  “No, Howard, you may not say, and if you do, you’re fired.” Rebecca dragged her gaze from Trey’s protuberant eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She mustered a stern look and directed it at Howard, who was old enough to know better, annoyed that both men continued to gawk although she was now covered ankle to throat. “It’s after hours, and I locked that door for a reason.”

  “Right. Well.” Howard shrugged and swallowed his smile. “Big Will gave us the key and the code. We’ve got finishing work on the Bartholomew building in Gainesville tomorrow and there’s some notes we’re supposed to bring. Cal made some changes.”

  “Rebecca? You still there?” Vern called from the ether. “Becca?”

  She grabbed the laptop and lifted it up to eye level. Vern’s pimpled face filled her line of vision. “Sorry. I’m trying to multitask, and failing. You want me to call you later?”

  “I just wanted to make sure you’re still there.”

  “Still here, Vern.”

  “I’ll wait. You’re the best tutor out there and this econ homework is killing me.” He adjusted his chunky glasses and his face loomed large as he leaned closer to the camera on his end. “Hey, are you still naked?”

  Rebecca snapped the laptop shut. A second later her cell phone rang out the Hawaii 5-0 theme song she had designated for the sheriff’s deputy she was dating. She set the laptop down and snatched up the phone.

  “Hey, Nate. Can you hold on?” She muted th
e call and turned back to the two men in the doorway. “I assume Dad told you where you’d find them.”

  “Uh, yes’m.” Trey pointed to the closed door beyond Rebecca’s desk. “On a clipboard on his desk.”

  She waved them in with her hand. “Be speedy. I’m trying to get out of here. I’ve got someplace to be.”

  Rebecca stood in the doorway to the office her father sometimes shared with her brother, Caleb, and watched Howard and Trey poke around on the desk, a scarred and dented monstrosity purchased new by her Grampa Boone at an office supply sale down in Atlanta sometime in the 1950s. She tapped her bare foot on the thin carpet and made a mental note to talk to her father about not handing out keys to the office without first giving her a head’s up.

  “Got it.” Howard held the clipboard over his head like he’d won a prize.

  “Okay, guys. Out.” She closed and locked the inner office, strode across the room to the front office door and opened it with a flourish. “Not one word to anyone about seeing me in my undies. I’d hate to have to bury you under a ton of concrete. “

  “Yes’m.” Trey nodded, his Chihuahua eyes warm and sincere.

  “And don’t forget who does your time cards.”

  The men grinned and waved on their way out. Rebecca smiled back, locking the door behind them—not that doing so would keep anyone out, apparently—and took her boyfriend off mute.

  “Hey, Nate. Sorry about that. I’m trying to do too many things at once.”

  “I’m used to it.”

  Rebecca cringed. “Are you at the party already?”

  “Yes, Rebecca, I am and you’re not. Big surprise.”

  “Oh, c’mon, big guy, don’t be mad. My meeting with the inspector ran over, and I promised Vern I’d help him with his econ paper.” Vern. Oh, crap! “Hey, Nate, hold on a sec, will you?”

  “Rebecca—”

  She hit the mute button and opened the laptop. Vern’s face popped into view. “Sorry about that. Can you hold on just another sec?”

  “You still naked?”

  She winced. “Ice those hormones, buddy. That was a flash you weren’t supposed to see. Listen, I’ve got Nate on the phone. Wait two seconds and I’ll give you my undivided attention. Okay?”

  Rebecca shut the laptop again, took a breath, and unmuted the phone.

  “Nate?”

  “Rebecca, this has to stop. You can’t keep standing me up.”

  “I’m not standing you up. I’ll be there. I mean I have to, right? It’s my brother’s engagement party. Can’t miss that.” She forced a laugh. Nate’s silence spoke for him. “I’m really sorry. There was a problem at one of the job sites and—look, I’ll be there within the hour. Who all’s there?”

  “Almost everybody. If you’re not here before eight you’re going to miss surprising Caleb and Maddie.”

  “Let’s hang up so I can help Vern with his homework, and then I’ll be on my way.”

  “Can’t the kid figure it out himself?”

  “Do you want to argue with me, or let me go so I can finish helping Vern and get to the party?”

  After a protracted silence Nate responded with a curt, “Bye.”

  Rebecca shut her eyes and took a breath. She blew it out in a puff, tossed the phone on the desk, dropped into her chair and checked the time. She could give Vern twenty minutes and still get to the Kinkaids’ house by eight as long as nothing else held her up. She tucked her long legs underneath her, opened the laptop, and plastered on a smile.

  Thirty minutes later she powered off her computer and made a final trip to the bathroom before heading off to the party. She wrestled her curls into some semblance of submission with an elastic band she’d found at the bottom of her purse and perused the results in the bathroom mirror. Giant top-knot messy buns were in, right? So what if she looked like the love child of Pebbles Flintstone and Marge Simpson.

  Fussing with makeup wasn’t her thing, but she figured she owed it to Nate to at least look like she tried, so she flicked a mascara wand against her lashes and smoothed tinted balm on her lips before flipping off the lights. She double-checked the alarm and lock, checked them again for good measure because you never could be too careful, and power-walked to her car. The parking lot was well lit, but she was still alone out here, with the building situated away from the road and behind a stand of Georgia pines so draped in dormant kudzu they looked like a cluster of muddy swamp monsters.

  The November wind gusted. The shrouded pines shivered, and the whispering rustle caused Rebecca to glance around her with unease. She increased her pace, clicking the button on her key fob in rapid succession and breathing easier when the chirp-chirp signaled the unlocking of her car door. She checked the backseat for serial killers—yep, all clear—and slid behind the wheel, pulled the door shut, and hit the locks. Being inside the vehicle didn’t relieve her of the notion she was being watched, but at least she was locked up and out of the cold, safe and sound.

  She took a deep breath and sighed. She really had to stop watching crime shows with Maddie and Brenna. They were making her paranoid.

  Yeah, right. Like TV is to blame.

  She blew out another long breath and buried the thought.

  She drove from the parking lot and cranked the radio full blast, singing loud and proud with Miranda Lambert, undaunted by her own lack of a musical ear. Who needed pitch? What she lacked in talent she more than made up for with attitude and enthusiasm. Between the pounding bass and her own singing she never heard the boom of thunder warning of an impending downpour, nor the telltale thwunk-thwunk-thwunk when her tire went flat.

  The car’s suspension vibrated and the vehicle pulled to the right. No stranger to flat tires, she gripped the steering wheel and guided her car to the shoulder of the road where she parked and gave herself a moment to curse her bad luck.

  The heavens opened up the second she stepped her suede boots onto the ground. She zipped her jacket and ran around the car to confirm the flat—yep, front passenger side—and then got back in the car to call Nate.

  She grabbed her phone, groaned, and tossed it back into her purse. No service. Perfect.

  The dashboard clock glowed the time, and she knew she would miss the surprise portion of Caleb and Maddie’s engagement party if she didn’t get back on the road. She’d have to brave the elements. She chewed the side of her thumb while eyeing the steady fall of rain, and steeled herself for another blast of the wet cold, courtesy of the North Georgia mountains’ November night.

  “Man up, Rebecca,” she said aloud and climbed from the car.

  A few minutes later, she stared into the trunk which looked just as she had left it earlier in the week. Empty, save for the folded comforter still tagged and bagged from a journey to the dry cleaners—a trip made necessary by her cat, Mr. Peabody, who had puked up two fur balls along with the remains of an unfortunate catnip mouse—and the space beneath the matting that should have housed her spare tire lay hollow.

  Oh, yeah, she remembered now. She’d loaned her spare to Vern’s mom, her neighbor Etta, a few weeks ago. Never got it back. Great.

  “Neither a borrower nor a lender be. Do either and you’re a damned fool idiot.” So went the altered quote by Rebecca’s Grampa Boone.

  Rain sluicing over her, she slammed the trunk and would have run to get back into the car, but headlights winding up the two-lane highway held her to her spot of relative safety on the road’s shoulder. She cursed the other car—no, not a car, a Chevy Silverado, tricked out and badass —and its driver as she waited for them to pass. The falling rain, mixed with sleet, pricked the skin of her hands. Great. Just freaking great. She hunkered into her jacket and shivered, willing the truck to hurry by. Damn, it was cold. Since when did it sleet this early in the year anyway? It was usually January before this kind of precipitation invaded the region, and even then, this sort of bad weather wasn’t always a given.

  The truck slowed as it approached. Panic trickled into Rebecca’s extremities.
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  No, no! Don’t slow down. Keep going!

  Why was the guy stopping? What if he was some crazy serial killer? What if he whacked her in the head and forced her into his truck? He could dump her into a ditch, or drag her into the woods. She gulped. Nothing but protected state forest as far as the eye could see. Lots of places to hide a dead body.

  The door of the truck opened and the guy got out. She planted her stance and curled her hands into fists. The man was in for a big surprise if he thought—

  “Rebecca, is that you?”

  Well, hello, gorgeous. Relief pumped through Rebecca’s veins and she relaxed her muscles. Not a serial killer after all, just a guy with killer looks. Damn those crime shows. A smile brightened her face and she jogged around her car to meet her savior halfway.

  “Sean Kinkaid, you sexy beast, your timing is impeccable.”

  “C’mon, let’s get out of this mess.” He took her arm and led her around to the passenger side of his truck and helped her climb up and in.

  “Nice ride,” she said after he slid behind the wheel. “Sorry, I’m dripping all over your leather seats.” She held her hands in front of the warm air blowing from the dashboard and the heat made her shiver.

  “Who cares? It’s a truck.” He flashed a smile. “Did you already call for help? You weren’t planning on changing that tire yourself were you?”

  “I was, but I loaned my spare to a neighbor. I’ll have to call a tow later.”

  “I assume you were headed to Cal and Maddie’s party?”

  “You assume correctly. Let’s just go on ahead. I’ll have to take care of this tomorrow.”

  “You sure? I don’t mind waiting with you if you don’t want to leave it.”

  “No cell service on this stretch of road, so I can’t call for towing. Anyway, neither of us wants to miss the party. I need to get my stuff though.”

  Sean held out his hand. “Give me your keys. I’ll get whatever you need.”

  “My purse and laptop are on the passenger seat. And there’s a big bag of M&Ms in a grocery bag in the back. I’ll share. Consider it your reward for rescuing me.”