by Marie Force
Definitely not prepared. She cleared her throat. “Of course I know that.”
“And that you’ve found the perfect guy for you. I couldn’t have picked anyone better for my little girl.”
“I’m so glad you like him. Means a lot to me.”
“I’m just sorry that I can’t… you know…”
She really didn’t know. “What?”
His sharp blue eyes were filled with despair that broke Sam’s heart. “I never told you how much I hated giving you away to Peter. I couldn’t stand him. But Nick… I sure do wish I could give you away to him. I’m sorry I can’t.”
“What are you talking about? Of course you’re giving me away. Who else would do it?”
“But I can’t—”
“Yes, you can. I have a whole plan worked out.” And it dawned on her that she probably should’ve shared it with him. “I was thinking I’d put my hand on your shoulder, and we’ll go in like that. If that’s okay with you.”
“If you’re sure that’s what you want.”
“Dad… Come on, I can’t do this without you. It’s exactly what I want.”
Right before her eyes he seemed to brighten. “Okay then.”
“I wish you had talked to me about this rather than stewing in silence.”
“I didn’t want to bother you.”
Sam got up and rested her head on his shoulder. “Just because it seems like everything is changing, some things will never change. You got me?”
“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “I got ya. Love you, Sam Holland.”
“Love you too.”
“Could I ask you something else?”
She rested her hands on his shoulders. “Anything.”
“Is your mother coming?”
“Not this time.”
“Did you invite her?”
Sam shook her head. “I wanted you to be able to enjoy yourself.”
“And after the scene I made at your first wedding—”
“That had nothing to do with why I didn’t invite her this time. I don’t want her there.”
“I hate that you girls never see her.”
“That was her choice, not ours. She should’ve thought of us before she cheated on you.” She kissed his forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow if not before.”
“I’ll be here.”
“You’d better be.” She left him with a smile and went into the living room where Celia was wiping up tears.
“I should’ve known it had something to do with the wedding,” she whispered.
Sam hugged her. “It never occurred to me that he’d be worried about giving me away. I should’ve talked to him about it sooner.”
“Your plan is perfect, honey.”
“I’m glad you think so. Nick will drop off Dad’s tux on Friday.”
“Sounds good. Thanks for coming by.”
“Like I told him—nothing is changing. I’m right up the street any time you need me. My future husband saw to that.”
“Which is just one of the many reasons we love him.”
Chapter 7
Drained from the conversation with her father and beating herself up for not talking to him sooner about the wedding, Sam arrived at her HQ office to find Shelby Faircloth waiting for her. “Did we have an appointment, Tinker Bell?”
“Nope, just a few last-minute details that I need to pin you down on, and since I can’t get Mohammad to come to the mountain…”
Sam grinned at her. She’d been fully prepared to hate whatever wedding planner they hired, but Shelby was damned hard to hate. “Mohammad is at your service. Fire away.”
Shelby withdrew a pink portfolio from a pink briefcase.
“Don’t you ever get sick of all the pink?” Sam asked.
Shelby recoiled. “Sick of pink? Never! It’s my signature color.”
“No! Really?”
Grinning at Sam’s sarcasm, Shelby withdrew a three-panel brochure containing the groupings of flowers she’d given Sam to choose from. “This is it. You have to decide. What’s it going to be? Orchids, calla lilies or tulips?”
Sam moaned and put her head down on the desk. “I can’t decide! I like them all!”
“I’ve got the florist and the cake lady so far up my kazoo I can’t take a deep breath without hearing from one of them. You can’t put it off any longer.”
“Which one would you pick?”
“It’s not my wedding.”
“Shelby!”
“Most brides would’ve made this decision weeks ago. It’s only because all these people are so thrilled to be affiliated with your wedding that they’ve let you slide this long.”
“Eeny, meany, miney, mo…”
Shelby dissolved into laughter. “I should’ve gone to Nick with this.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I figured something had to be your choice.”
Sam scowled at her. “Fine. Go with the orchids. That’s it. A decision. Are you happy?”
“I’m thrilled!” Shelby fired off a text message from her BlackBerry. “Now, let’s talk about your hair.”
“What about it?”
“Up and sleek, down and smooth, up and messy.” Shelby placed photos of each style in front of Sam.
“What will best hide this?” Sam pointed to the still-healing scar at her hairline from the car accident she and Nick had been in.
“Don’t worry about that. My makeup girl will make it disappear.”
“What makeup girl?”
“The one I hired to do your makeup.”
“I’ll do my own.”
“Can you make that scar disappear? How about those bags under your eyes?”
“Now you’re just being mean.”
“I’m keeping it real, sister. You need her.”
“I want Nick to recognize me when I walk in there.”
Shelby rolled her eyes. “Puleeze. Would I hire someone who’d make you look freakish?”
“To pay me back for being a pain in your ass? Yes.”
Snorting with laughter, Shelby said, “Then stop being a pain in my ass and decide.” She tapped on the photos to refocus Sam’s attention. Even Shelby’s fingernails were painted pink.
“That one.” Sam pointed to the sleek up do with the flower tucked in. “Nick prefers it long, but he can take it down afterward.”
“There’s the spirit. Now, about favors. What’d you decide?”
“Instead of favors, we’re doing a donation in the name of each guest to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for spinal cord research.”
“I love that idea.”
“I’m glad you approve.”
“We’ll have something printed up and placed on the tables.” Shelby withdrew a velvet pouch from her bag. “One more thing.” Tugging open the pouch, she dropped three platinum rings on the desk.
“Don’t you have enough work to do, Lieutenant?”
The voice coming from the doorway turned her stomach. “Get out of here,” she said, refusing to even look at her nemesis Lieutenant Stahl.
“I’ll have to talk to your captain about how you’re spending your work time.”
Sam still didn’t look at him as she got up and shut the door in his face. “Now,” she said to Shelby, “you were saying?”
Shelby cleared her throat. “We can do this after work if that would be better for you.”
“Now is fine.” Looking at the rings for Nick, Sam’s heart beat faster all of a sudden as it suddenly dawned on her that they were getting married. Saturday. “Oh, boy,” she said, perusing the choices. “They’re all beautiful.” Sam picked them up one-by-one and studied them closely. The first was made of brushed platinum with engraved edges. The second had two engraved circles in the middle, and the third was the brightest of the batch, also with engraved edges. “Which one best matches the one he chose for me?”
“Nice try, but you are not getting that out of me. They all match yours.”
“All right then, which one do y
ou like best for him?”
“I like them all, or I wouldn’t have brought them to you.”
“Just for the record—you’re no help at all.”
Shelby giggled. “I beg to differ.”
Sam looked the rings over again and kept coming back to the first one—classic and elegant, but not flashy. Just like him. “This one.” She held it up for Shelby.
“Excellent. Now what would you like to have engraved inside?”
Sam blanched. “Engraved? I have to engrave something?”
“Well, it is customary.”
“What did he put in mine?”
Shelby rolled her eyes. “Stop asking me that stuff.”
Sam rested her hand on her weapon. “I could make you tell me.”
“No, you couldn’t.”
“You’re awful ballsy, Tinker Bell. I gotta give you that.”
“I have to be to manage you.”
A knock on the door interrupted them. “Unless you’re Stahl, enter.”
Freddie entered. “Definitely not Stahl.”
“What’s up, Cruz?”
“I can come back when you’re not busy.”
“Help me out here—what should I have engraved inside Nick’s ring?”
“You haven’t decided that yet?”
“Thank you,” Shelby said. “A man after my own heart.”
“You’re too old for him,” Sam said, earning a glare from Shelby. Returning her attention to Freddie, she handed him the ring she had chosen. “You like this one?”
He took it from her, examined it from every angle and held it up to the light. “Yep. That works.”
“So what do I put inside?”
Shelby reached into her bag and withdrew yet another piece of paper. “Here are some suggestions.”
Sam scanned the list and passed it to Freddie. “Nothing really jumps out at me.”
“Personally, I like ‘Someone to watch over me,’ because you certainly need that,” Freddie said, which got him a scowl from his boss and a snort from Shelby.
“If you don’t have anything productive to add, hit the road,” Sam said to her partner.
“I need to talk to you about Gardner when you’re free.”
“Give me five.”
“Good ring choice,” Freddie said on his way out. “Nick will like it.”
Shelby leaned in to whisper to Sam. “He hasn’t RSVP’d for the wedding yet.”
“Huh?”
Shelby shrugged.
Sam couldn’t imagine why Freddie hadn’t replied to the invitation. “I’ll talk to him.”
“Now, about the inscription…”
“I think I know what I want,” Sam said, feeling embarrassed. “It’s kind of hokey, but it works for us.”
Shelby reached for a pen. “Ready when you are.”
“How about, ‘You’re my home. Always, Samantha.’”
Shelby looked up at her, clearly startled.
“What? That’s stupid, isn’t it?”
“Not at all.” Shelby wrote it down. “In fact, I think it’s just right. I’ll get the ring over to the engraver.” She got busy gathering up her belongings. “We should be all set now.”
“What about Scotty’s gift to Nick? The Fenway Park cake? That’s good to go, right?”
“I was over there earlier to check on their progress. It’ll be fabulous.”
“Scotty is so excited about that.”
“With good reason. Nick will love it.”
Thinking about the other gift she’d procured for Nick and Scotty made Sam smile. She couldn’t wait to give it to them on Friday. “Shelby?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“You did a great job of keeping the crazy away from me. I appreciate that, and I’m sorry if I was a bit of a handful.”
“I meet a lot of brides and grooms, but every so often I get to work with a couple so absolutely perfect together that it’s my pleasure to do whatever it takes to ensure their day is every bit as perfect as they are for each other.” She leaned in to squeeze Sam’s hand. “I’ll see you Friday, and don’t worry about a thing.”
“I won’t,” Sam said, taken aback by Shelby’s compliment.
“Get those vows written,” Shelby called over her shoulder as she left in a cloud of pink.
“Oh my God,” Sam moaned, dropping her head to her desk once again. “Vows!”
“What’ve you got on Gardner?” Sam asked Freddie.
“I dug into some of his priors, and it seems nothing ever sticks to him. He’s managed to plead his way to probation for charges that should’ve gotten him locked up for years.”
“You’re thinking he’s pulled this intimidation thing before.”
“Seems possible.”
“Except we can’t exactly go around interviewing former assistant U.S. attorneys about something that could possibly get them disbarred.”
“True. So what’s the plan?”
“Let’s find out where he and his pal Simmons were on December 28, 2008.”
“With you, boss.”
Once they were in the car, Sam tried to find a tactful way to broach the subject of the wedding. She’d been surprised to hear that Freddie hadn’t responded. “So, um, are you coming on Saturday?”
“Of course I am. Why?”
“You never sent back the RSVP thingie. Shelby’s having vapors over it.”
“Oh. Sorry. I was… waiting, but um, I’ll get it to you later on.”
“No need to worry about the card. I’ll tell her you’re coming. Unless… Are you bringing someone?”
He looked down and brushed what might’ve been doughnut powder off his jeans. “I asked Elin.”
Sam almost drove off the road. “You did? When?”
“A week ago.”
“And?”
“She said no.”
Sam had no idea what to say.
“It was stupid. I shouldn’t have asked her. Nothing’s changed, right? My mother still can’t stand her, and I’m not interested in a sex-only relationship. So what’s the point?”
“There must be a point if you asked her in the first place.”
“It’s so stupid.”
“What is?”
“I only went out with her for a month, but I can’t stop thinking about her. I miss her.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“Not really. I said I wanted to see her, asked if she wanted to go to the wedding and she said she didn’t think it was a good idea. That was it.”
He was so dejected that Sam’s heart went out to him, even though she hadn’t liked Elin for him, either. “Is it possible,” Sam said, clearing her throat, “that you might be, you know, in love with her?”
“How would I know? I’ve never been in love.”
“I hate to say that it seems like you could be now if you can’t stop thinking about her and you miss her so much.”
“What do I do?”
“That depends on you. Are you able to get past your mother’s disapproval and move forward with Elin or…”
“Or what?”
“Or not,” Sam said with a shrug.
Moaning, Freddie banged his head against the headrest. “I can’t deal with this. I seriously can’t.”
Sam pulled into a parking space in Washington Heights and cut the engine. “You’re almost thirty years old, Freddie. At some point you have to cut the cord with your mother and live your own life.”
He looked over at her. “I thought you were glad I wasn’t with Elin anymore.”
“I’m not glad you’re unhappy.”
“I want to be the guy who tells off my mother and does whatever the heck I want, but that’s so not me.”
“Christ, you don’t even swear properly.”
That drew a short laugh from him. “What’ve I asked you about taking the Lord’s name in vain?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m going to tell you something, but you have to promise you’ll never let on to your mother that I encouraged you to
pursue Elin.”
Smiling, he said, “Promise.”
“I first met Nick six years ago. We spent an incredible night together and connected on every possible level. But then he never called.”
“That doesn’t sound like him.”
“Turns out he did call—repeatedly, but douche bag Peter, who was my roommate at the time, never gave me his messages.”
“That son of a bitch!”
“There it is!” Sam said, laughing.
“I can believe he’d do that!”
“Peter worked my disappointment to his advantage. Wormed his way in by pretending to be my friend. Eventually, Nick gave up on me.” She looked over to find Freddie hanging on her every word. “I can’t tell you how much I wish I’d tried to call him rather than just accepting he hadn’t called me. Can you imagine how different the last six years would’ve been for me—and him?”
“No bombs, no restraining orders…”
She smiled. “Exactly. When I was married, I’d take these mental vacations and allow myself to remember that one perfect night with Nick. It would get me through, you know? It made me so sad to think he hadn’t called.”
“Wow, that really sucks.”
“Do you understand why I’m telling you this?”
“Ahhh, is it because all this talk of weddings has made you go soft?”
Sam punched his arm lightly. “Don’t spend years pining away for the woman you love when all you have to do is pick up the phone.”
“I get it, and I appreciate you sharing that with me. I had no idea. I knew you’d met Nick a long time ago, but not all that about Peter. That guy is such a scumbag.”
“You won’t get any argument from me on that. So you’ll think about what I said?”
Freddie nodded. “Thank you.”
“Tell you what. I’ll let Shelby know you’re coming with a guest—just in case.”
“But what if—”
Sam rested her hand on his arm. “Either way, it’s fine. With or without. It’s up to you.” She glanced at the dilapidated row houses. “Let’s talk to Gardner.”
As they approached the house, Sam noticed it was the best-looking place on the run-down block. It boasted a fresh coat of white paint and bushes rather than the trash that collected in front of the neighboring houses.
“Nice place,” Freddie said. “For this neighborhood.”
