Sean's Reckoning

by Sherryl Woods

  Ruby shot her a wry look. “It’s not like it’s all that hot at the moment, anyway. An excuse for a break will do me good. I can use the time to reevaluate the way I’m going about choosing the men I date. Clearly I’m doing it all wrong.”

  Ruby sounded totally sincere, but Deanna studied her worriedly. “Are you sure? Really sure?”

  “This is what friends do in a crisis,” Ruby repeated. “Now quit worrying about it. We’re going to be fine.”

  “I don’t know how to thank—”

  “No thanks are necessary, and if you keep it up, I’m going to get cranky. Now, I just got paid for helping Mrs. Carlyle clean her apartment, so I recommend we get Kevin and go out for pizza.”

  Deanna shook her head, struggling to her feet. “I have to get back to work.”

  “You most certainly do not. Joey knows what happened. I explained when I called. And I’ve already told him you won’t be back in until at least tomorrow, possibly the day after.”

  “This is no time for me to miss work,” Deanna protested, as panic rose up in her belly. “He could fire me.”

  Ruby grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. “Hey, wake up. Not even Joey is dumb enough or mean enough to fire you under these circumstances. You’re half the reason people keep coming back there. It’s certainly not for his gourmet cooking. Now listen to me. You’ve just been through a trauma. In my experience the only thing to do in this kind of situation is eat comfort food. In fact, I think we ought to follow the pizza with hot-fudge sundaes.”

  Despite her dismay over the wild spin her life was taking, Deanna laughed. “I’m the one with the crisis. How come you get to indulge?”

  “I’m giving up men.” Ruby winked at her. “In my book, that is a genuine trauma.”

  For Deanna, who’d given up on men after being dumped by Kevin’s dad, it didn’t seem like any sacrifice at all, but she wasn’t Ruby. Ruby might have been devastated by her divorce, but she’d bounced right back into the game. She made no apologies at all for the fact that she enjoyed having a man in her life.

  “You could always take Kevin to the fire station. Try your luck with Sean Devaney again,” Deanna suggested, ignoring the surprising pang of dismay that swept through her at the prospect of pushing Ruby and Sean together.

  “And have that gorgeous hunk reject me twice? I don’t think so. A woman has to have some pride.” Ruby regarded Deanna slyly. “Of course, when you take Kevin over there, I might just tag along and see what the rest of the pickings are like.”

  Deanna sighed heavily. “I suppose that’s how I’m going to pay you back for taking me in.”

  “Absolutely.”

  An image of Sean Devaney crept into her head. The man was seriously gorgeous. What healthy woman wouldn’t want to sneak another look at him? It didn’t mean she was actually interested in anything more. And she did owe Ruby big-time.

  “Done,” she agreed eventually.

  And based on the way her hormones dipped and swayed in jubilation even as she uttered the word, she’d better make very sure that all of her carefully honed defenses were firmly in place.

  “And Mom said I shouldn’t bother you because you’re probably really busy, but I was thinking that if you weren’t busy, maybe you could come over in the fire truck and take me for a ride,” Kevin Blackwell was saying earnestly to Sean.

  The call had come in on the nonemergency line at the fire station about five minutes earlier. Sean had barely gotten a word in edgewise. The kid definitely had a lot to say, and he was saying it all in such a rush that Sean could barely keep up with him.

  “Hey, Kevin, slow down, okay?” he said, laughing.

  “Oh, okay. I thought you might be in a hurry.”

  “Not right this second,” Sean reassured him. “How did you know how to find me?”

  “It was easy. Ruby found the number in the phone book.”

  Ah, so the notorious Ruby was promoting this idea. For whose benefit? Sean wondered. The kid’s or her own? Or was she by any chance matchmaking? That possibility intrigued him far more than it should.

  “Is she there now?” Sean asked, hoping to clarify things before he agreed to anything.

  “Uh-uh. I’m at the pay phone outside the laundry. Ruby’s inside. She’ll be out in a minute, though. She said it was okay if I called. It is, isn’t it? You’re not mad, are you?” he asked worriedly.

  “No. I’m not mad. I’m glad to hear from you,” Sean said, realizing it was true. He’d thought about the boy—and his mother—a lot the past couple of weeks. He’d dismissed the thoughts as perfectly normal under the circumstances. He often worried about people whose homes had been destroyed, though few of them haunted his dreams the way Deanna Blackwell had.

  “How are you and your mom doing?” he asked.

  “Okay, I guess. Staying with Ruby is kind of cool,” Kevin said. “She keeps way better stuff in the refrigerator than Mom did.”

  Sean bit back a chuckle at the boy’s standards. “Such as?”

  “Ice cream and sodas and a whole bag of candy. Mom says I’m not supposed to touch that ’cause it’s Ruby’s crisis food, whatever that is. But I don’t think she’d mind if I ate one candy bar, do you?”

  “No, I don’t imagine she would, as long as you asked permission first.” More curious than he cared to admit, Sean asked, “Does Ruby have a lot of crises?” And what kind were they? he wondered. The kind no five-year-old should know about?

  “I don’t know,” Kevin told him. “Maybe you could ask her. She just came out.”

  “In a minute,” he said, hoping to put off a conversation with Ruby until he had plenty of backup to distract her, namely Hank. “I can’t get away from here, but maybe you and Ruby can come on over to see the fire truck, like I promised.”

  “Wow, that would be cool,” Kevin said enthusiastically. “You talk to her, okay? She’ll do it if you ask. Here.”

  Sean heard the flurry of excited conversation on the other end, then finally Ruby took the phone.

  “You sure know how to win a kid’s heart,” she said.

  Sean ignored the compliment. “What about it? Can you bring him by?”

  To his surprise she hesitated. “How about in a couple of hours? Will you be around after seven?”

  “Never can tell when we’ll get a call, but I imagine we will be. Any particular reason you want to wait?”

  “Deanna will be home then. I know she wants to come along. I think she has some money she wants to pay you.”

  “I told her that there was no rush on that,” he said, feeling unreasonably irritated that Deanna was in such a hurry to pay him back. Since he never liked being indebted to anyone himself, he realized he should be more understanding, but it rankled nonetheless. “It’s only been a couple of weeks. She can’t possibly be on her feet financially already.”

  “She isn’t, but you don’t know her,” Ruby said, sounding every bit as exasperated as Sean felt. “She’s got this mile-wide stubborn streak and more pride than any woman ought to have. She won’t rest until she’s paid you back every cent.” She lowered her voice and confided, “Frankly, I think she’s on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. She was already working two jobs. Ever since the fire, she’s added extra hours at the restaurant. Tonight’s her first night off, and she wouldn’t have taken that if I hadn’t called and told Joey he had to insist on it.”

  “You called her boss?” Sean asked, not sure whether to be impressed or shocked. “What did you do? Did you have to blackmail him?”

  “Pretty much,” she said cheerfully. “I told him if he didn’t let her out of there, I’d come over and tell his customers he was a total creep for making her work all these extra hours when she’s practically asleep on her feet.” She paused. “And I might have mentioned something about spreading the word about a case of food poisoning I had recently.”

  Sean grinned at the thought of a vengeful Ruby descending on the hapless Joey. Whoever the poor man was, it was unlikely he
would be a match for her.

  “What about Kevin?” he asked. “Does Deanna have any time for him these days?”

  “Kevin’s okay. He’s with me,” she said, her voice immediately taking on a defensive edge, as if she understood the implied criticism of her friend.

  “A boy needs his mom,” Sean said fiercely, perfectly willing to risk Ruby’s wrath to make his own point.

  “Yeah, well, he needs a roof over his head, too,” she retorted, switching gears to take her friend’s side. “And Deanna’s determined to give him that. I keep telling her she doesn’t have to make it happen tomorrow, but she won’t hear it.” She hesitated, then added thoughtfully, “Maybe you can get through to her.”

  “Damn right I will,” Sean muttered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. But if you all come by, I’ll talk to her.”

  “We’ll see you in a couple of hours, then,” Ruby said with what sounded like a hint of satisfaction in her voice.

  Listening to her, Sean felt his gut tighten. He had his answer for sure now. The woman was matchmaking, no question about it. If he had half a brain in his head, he’d develop a sudden case of the flu and be long gone before they got to the station.

  But an image of Kevin Blackwell’s excited expression as he’d crawled up into that fire truck crept into Sean’s head. Add to that the boy’s obvious yearning for a man he could look up to, and Sean knew he wasn’t going anywhere. There were plenty of men in the world who didn’t think twice about disappointing a kid, whether their own or someone else’s, but Sean would never be one of them. He’d lived with way too many disappointments of his own.

  Deanna was still irritated by the way Joey had summarily dismissed her just as the dinner hour was getting into full swing. No matter how hard she’d argued that she needed the tips, he’d kept right on shooing her toward the door.

  “Wednesdays are always slow,” he’d said, despite the fact that every table was occupied. “How much would you make tonight, anyway?”

  “Every little bit helps,” Deanna had countered.

  He’d opened the register, pulled out a twenty and slapped it into her hand. “This will make up for some of it, then. You need some sleep. You need to spend some time with your boy.”

  Deanna’s gaze had narrowed at that. “You’ve been talking to Ruby, haven’t you?”

  “Ruby who?” he’d inquired with completely phony innocence.

  “You know perfectly well who I’m talking about,” she’d responded. Joey and Ruby had taken an almost instant dislike to each other years ago. They tried not to let it show in front of Deanna, but it was hard to miss. “Okay, if you and Ruby have actually reached an agreement about something, I know better than to argue with you. I’ll go home. I’ll spend some time with Kevin. I’ll sleep.”

  Joey gave a nod of satisfaction. “And tomorrow you’ll be back with a smile on your face for all the customers, so they’ll double their usual tips.”

  “If only,” Deanna had muttered. Most of Joey’s customers were senior citizens living on fixed incomes. That was one reason they came for Joey’s early-bird specials in the first place.

  Now that she was actually on her way home, Deanna found her feet dragging. Exhaustion clawed at her. She would give just about anything for an hour in the tub, a glass of iced tea and twelve uninterrupted hours of sleep.

  Instead she found Ruby and Kevin waiting for her on the front steps.

  “You’ve got five minutes to go inside and make yourself beautiful,” Ruby announced.

  “Why?”

  Kevin bounced up and down in front of her. “We’re going to the fire station to see Sean. He invited us, didn’t he, Ruby?”

  Instantly suspicious, Deanna glanced at her friend. “Sean called?”

  “Well, the truth is that Kevin called him, but Sean did ask us to come by. I spoke to him myself.”

  Deanna sensed a plot, one she wanted no part of. “Then why don’t the two of you go on over there? You don’t need me. You can take that cash I have for him.”

  Kevin’s face fell. “But we waited for you, Mom. You’ve got to come.”

  “That’s right,” Ruby agreed, giving Kevin’s hand a squeeze. “Sean’s expecting all of us. You don’t want to disappoint him, do you?” She glanced pointedly at Kevin to indicate that Sean wasn’t the only one who was going to be disappointed if Deanna refused to go.

  Pushing aside her exhaustion and her suspicions, Deanna forced a smile. “Okay then. Give me ten minutes to shower and change.”

  Kevin’s expression promptly brightened. “Hurry, Mom. We don’t want to keep him waiting too long. He might get too busy to see us. Or he might go home.”

  Deanna pressed a kiss to her son’s forehead. “I’ll hurry,” she promised.

  As she passed Ruby on her way up the steps, she leaned down and whispered, “And I’ll get even with you for this.”

  Ruby chuckled. “I doubt it. In fact, if things go the way I’m anticipating, someday you’ll thank me. I left my red halter top on the bed. I think it’s just the thing for you to wear on a hot night like this.”

  “Don’t count on it.”

  “Mom!” Kevin whined.

  “I’m going,” she said, slipping inside and trudging up the stairs. Going to the fire station was absolutely the last thing she wanted to do tonight.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t say quite the same thing about seeing Sean Devaney…and that reaction scared her to death.

  Chapter Three

  Sean tried to pretend that he wasn’t watching for Deanna’s arrival at the firehouse. He kept his nose buried in a book. As a kid he hadn’t been much of a reader, but during the endless hours between calls at the station, he’d picked up a fantasy novel one of the other firefighters had just finished and he’d been hooked. He’d enjoyed the pure escape from reality into realms where good always triumphed over evil.

  He was currently finishing up the latest Harry Potter book, enjoying the way the beleaguered kid stood up to the bullies around him. He couldn’t help wishing he’d had Harry as a role model when he’d been a kid. Tonight, however, even though he was as engrossed in the latest adventure as he had been in all the others, his attention kept drifting to the sidewalk outside.

  “Looking for anyone in particular?” Hank inquired, dropping into a chair next to him.

  “Who says I’m looking for anyone?” Sean replied, testy at having been caught.

  “Usually when you get lost in one of those books of yours, this place could burn down around you and you wouldn’t notice, but tonight you seem distracted. You keep glancing toward the street.”

  Sean considered lying, but since he was going to need Hank’s help to get some alone time with Deanna, he decided to come clean. “Deanna Blackwell’s on her way over with her kid.”

  A grin spread across Hank’s face. “I knew it!” he said triumphantly. “She’s the doll from that fire a couple of weeks back, right? You’ve been seeing her all along on the sly, haven’t you, you sneaky dog? I knew you were lying through your teeth when you claimed you weren’t interested.”

  Sean frowned at him. “I have not been seeing her. The kid called today and wanted to come by to see the fire trucks. I said okay. It’s no big deal.”

  “It’s worth fifty bucks to me,” Hank gloated.

  Sean studied his friend’s expression, looking for even the tiniest hint of guilt. “You actually had bets going on whether I’d see her again, didn’t you?” he asked. Hank didn’t even flinch.

  “Well, of course I did,” Hank said with no evidence of remorse. “Your love life—or lack thereof—is the subject of much speculation around here. All the guys keep wondering why you’re not married, since every woman you meet falls madly in love with you.”

  “I don’t see anyone long enough for them to fall in love with me,” Sean contradicted.

  “Which I explained to the guys, but they think you’re just holding out on us, that you’ve got some gorgeous babe
stashed away and that you sneak off to spend every spare minute making passionate love to her.”

  Sean groaned. “You all clearly have too much time on your hands.”

  Hank grinned. “True enough. So, is the delectable Deanna bringing her hot friend with her?”

  “If you’re referring to Ruby, the answer’s yes.”

  “Then I am forever in your debt,” Hank said solemnly. “I have had a few incredibly steamy dreams about that woman.”

  “You have steamy dreams about every woman you pass on the street,” Sean pointed out.

  “This is different,” Hank insisted.

  Sean rolled his eyes at the familiar refrain. “I doubt that, but you can do me a favor. I need a few minutes alone with Deanna. Can I count on you to show Ruby and Kevin around?”

  “When have you not been able to count on me?” Hank demanded indignantly. “No matter how trying the task, do I not step up to the plate when you ask?”

  Sean chuckled. “Then I take it the answer is yes, even though this is one of those trying occasions?”

  “Yes,” Hank said, then added with exaggerated politeness, “And thank you for thinking of me. Those of us in the Boston Fire Department are here to serve and protect in whatever way we’re called upon to do so.”

  “Try to remember that when you’re thinking about hitting on Ruby,” Sean cautioned, thinking of the way she’d neatly blackmailed Deanna’s boss. “Something tells me she could bring you to your knees if you get out of line.”

  Hank made a show of swooning ecstatically. “This just keeps getting better and better. You know how I love a challenge.”

  “Don’t make me regret this,” Sean said.

  “Have I ever let you down?”

  Ah, Sean thought, that was the thing. For all of his fooling around and his penchant for chasing anything in skirts ever since his divorce, Hank DiMartelli was the best buddy a man could have. There was no one in the department Sean would rather have at his side going into a raging inferno. Hank was fearless and loyal and smart. He’d won more citations for bravery than anyone else at the station, Sean included.