Love to Believe: Fireflies ~ Book 2

by Lisa Ricard Claro

  “You sound serious,” Maddie said. “I think it’s a great idea. Bright Hills needs a restaurant like that downtown.”

  “I think it’s a good move. And, of course, it will put me just down the block from my little wildcat at the L&G.”

  “You are such an asshat.” Brenna frowned and sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it, though, your idea is a good one.”

  “High praise,” Dante said.

  “Don’t let it go to your head. I still think you’re a Neanderthal.”

  “Sean’s office is right around the corner, too,” Maddie said.

  “Maybe I’ll serve primo cappuccino, espresso, and latte to compete with the L&G. That could be fun,” Dante said.

  Brenna flipped him off, which only made him throw his dark head back and laugh, then looped her arms with Maddie’s and Rebecca’s. “C’mon, ladies. Grab some food, some alcohol, and let’s go have us some girl time.” She scowled in Dante’s direction. “It’s too crowded in here.”

  ***

  Sean twisted the top off a beer, lifted the bottle to his lips, and tilted his head back for a long pull. It wasn’t his favorite brew—he preferred a dark lager—but it would do. He leaned against the bar and listened to his father carry on an amiable argument about football with Caleb’s dad, William, also known as Big Will, and a couple of other men. The big screen TV, set in perpetuity to ESPN, hung on the opposite wall with the pool table in between. A battered dartboard hung on the adjacent wall, next to an open entryway leading to a fully stocked kitchen and bathroom off to the right. Caleb, Nate, and Dante had a game of eight ball going.

  “So how’s the lawyering business?” Big Will asked Sean. “I understand Myra Manischewitz is your secretary. How’s that working out?”

  “Mrs. M is fantastic. Best legal secretary I’ve ever worked with, and she runs the office, and my schedule, like a battalion commander. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

  “I’ve heard she’s good,” Big Will nodded. “She attends our church. I tried to get her to jump from law to construction some years back, but she wouldn’t do it. I could use someone like her to keep things straight at the office.”

  Caleb shot a ball into the corner pocket, straightened, and threw a frustrated glance at his father. “Rebecca keeps our operation humming like a fine machine, while doing a million other things besides, including site inspections, zoning meetings, and—hell, last week I caught her at the Brumbill building hanging drywall with the crew. We were behind schedule so she put on a hardhat and a tool belt.”

  Sean’s mind drew an immediate picture of Rebecca clad in a hardhat, tool belt, heels, and nothing else. He punched down the image and gave himself a mental cuff on the back of the head.

  “I never said Rebecca wasn’t capable of helping out,” Big Will said, “but construction is a man’s business, son. Would you want your Maddie traipsing around in steel-toed boots and hauling two-by-fours?”

  “Now that would be a picture.” Cal grinned in a way that had Sean wondering if maybe Maddie’s man needed a whack upside the head, too. “But of course not. Maddie and Rebecca are two very different women, Dad, and you know it. Rebecca grew up working in the family business. She knows more about construction than most men.”

  “But not as much as, say, you, for instance. If you’d come into the business full time—”

  Caleb turned back to the pool table to set up his next shot. “No, Dad.”

  “I’m just saying—”

  “I have my own business to run.”

  “Stubborn,” Big Will huffed.

  “I thought Rebecca just took care of the office,” Nate said. “She’s a CPA, right? I assumed she handled the books. But you’re saying she goes out to the sites and works with all those construction jocks? Alone? Doesn’t that bother you?”

  Caleb nodded to Dante to take his turn and cut his attention to Nate. “I’m a construction jock. Something wrong with that?”

  “I don’t mean any disrespect by the term and, anyway, you aren’t just a construction jock, Cal. You own your own business, and you’re an architect besides. Not quite the same thing as a straight laborer.”

  “Walker Construction couldn’t survive without them, and I’ve never once seen any of our guys treat Rebecca with disrespect. On the contrary. She’s proven herself knowledgeable, and they respect her a great deal.”

  “Besides,” Dante added with a grin, “she’s capable of kicking some serious ass if any one of them got out of hand.”

  Nate frowned. “How’s that?”

  Dante and Caleb exchanged a look. Sean finished off his beer and waited with interest for the explanation.

  “She’s done a lot of self-defense training,” Caleb said. “And she can shoot a gun, probably better than you, and yes, I know you’re a cop. But when my baby sister aims at something, she doesn’t miss.”

  Nate nodded. “I’ve seen her shoot. We actually met at the range. And you’re right. She’s a helluva shot. She never told me about the self-defense thing, though.”

  “Why don’t you ask her for a demonstration?” Caleb said, his lips twitching in a smile.

  “Uh, I’m thinking no.” Nate shook his head and chuckled. “From your tone of voice I’m guessing she’d kick my balls into my throat.”

  “Smart man.” Dante patted Nate on the back. “Your shot.”

  Sean went behind the bar for another beer and thought about Rebecca Walker. He didn’t know her that well, and their friendship—if it could even be called that—consisted of a handful of inappropriate, though entertaining, conversations and lustful glances with some occasional chit-chat thrown in. He admitted his attraction to her, but he suspected she wasn’t the type of woman to enter into a meaningless relationship and, as he wasn’t a man to enter into any other kind, pursuing the spark they created seemed a bad idea at best, especially given the impending family ties being created by Caleb and Maddie’s upcoming wedding.

  And, of course, she was in a relationship with Tate—

  Nate.

  Whatever.

  But damn, she’d rocked that towel, all long-legged and rosy, skin glowing like—

  Sean pinched the bridge of his nose and laughed at himself. He’d been without a woman in his life for too damned long.

  “Something funny?” Papa Ron slapped his son on the back.

  “Just contemplating trouble,” Sean said.

  “Oh, yeah? What’s her name?” Papa Ron chuckled at his own joke.

  “Always a woman,” Big Will nodded. “Watch yourself. You’ll end up an old married man like the rest of us.”

  “Speak for yourself, Big Will,” Dante said, picking up his beer.

  “One of these days, m’boy, you too shall fall,” Big Will said. “It happens to the best of us.”

  “I’m safe.” Dante’s lips curved into a rueful grin. “The only woman I want thinks I’m demon spawn, and I won’t settle for anyone else, so,” he shrugged, “I’m destined for permanent bachelorhood.”

  “But not celibacy,” Caleb pointed out.

  “Well, hell, no,” Dante said, and every man in the room laughed. “There’s only one woman I want to marry, and if and when that happy miracle occurs, I’ll be faithful forever. In the meantime, when it comes to sex, I’m not too proud to settle for less.”

  “Gentlemen.” Sean raised his beer. “Here’s to those among us who have found their true love, as well as to those of us destined to flit from flower to flower. No matter our marital status, now or in the future, may the Lord be kind and see that we all get laid on a regular basis.”

  Beer bottles clanked together amidst a chorus of hearty male voices chanting, “Hear, hear!”

  ***

  “So what’s going on with you and Nate?” Brenna popped one of Dante’s shrimp in her mouth. She laid her head back against her headboard, closed her eyes, and moaned. “Damn it. The Neanderthal was right. These little bastards really do melt in your mouth. God, I hate him so much right now
. Here, try this you guys.” She crisscrossed her legs and set the plate of shrimp in the middle of her bed.

  Rebecca, lying on her stomach across the foot of the bed, rolled onto her side to take up Brenna’s offer. “I’ll dish on Nate after you tell me what you have against Dante. I can’t figure you out. I’ve had a crush on him since I was fifteen.” She bit into the shrimp. “Oh, my god. This is better than sex.”

  “Comes darned close.” Maddie sat next to Brenna with her back against the headboard and her legs stretched in front of her. She flipped off her shoes and wriggled her toes inside her red Santa socks before crossing her legs at the ankles. “Dante’s a sweetheart, Bren. I can’t figure out what you have against him.”

  “You both have to like him because he’s Caleb’s best friend. But to me he’s just the asshat who lives next door to my condo and disobeys all the neighborhood covenants. He ignores all the rules and just does whatever he wants, and he’s so—I don’t know, personable, or whatever—that no one cares. Everybody thinks he’s all that and a bag of chips. If Dante’s on the left side of the road, everyone in the neighborhood will cross the street to stand with him. He drives me crazy.”

  “You drive him crazy, too,” Maddie said with a laugh, “but in a very different way.”

  Brenna shook her head and her river of black hair shimmered in the light. “Never mind him. I want to know what’s going on with our redheaded friend and hot cop.”

  “So tell us, Becca,” Maddie commanded and took a sip from her mug of mulled wine.

  “There isn’t anything to tell.” Rebecca flipped to her back and laced her hands under her head. “We’ve been dating about five months now. I met him this past summer right after the Fourth of July. He’s a nice guy, but he’s looking for serious and I’m not. I keep telling him I want to keep things light, you know? I’m too busy with work and other stuff to devote my time and attention to a relationship, and he keeps pressuring me.” She blew out a frustrated sigh. “Can’t a girl just get laid?”

  Maddie sputtered her hot beverage and, coughing, set the mug on the bedside table next to the Bedazzled phone. Brenna sat up and thumped Maddie’s back.

  “You wicked, wanton woman,” Brenna said, choking on laughter. “You’ve sent our sweet Madelyn Rose into pulmonary distress.”

  Rebecca sat up when her own laughter began. “Poor Maddie. Done in because her sister-in-law is a slut.”

  Tears coursed down Maddie’s cheeks and she gasped, laughter interfering with her aim to steady her breathing. “Which one of you? You’re both—”

  “Sluts? Are you serious?” Brenna asked.

  Maddie clutched her stomach and doubled over with laughter. “I was going to say sisters-in-law, not sluts.” She struggled to breathe.

  “I’ve always said there’s nothing wrong with a girl enjoying some Situational Developments,” Brenna said. “You know what Situational Developments are, Rebecca? It’s a Maddie-ism for ‘hot time in the old town,’ that’s what. Coined when she and Caleb first started doing it.”

  Rebecca took a deep breath to still the last of her laughter. “No talk about my brother and sex. That’s just gross.”

  “Not to me.” Maddie held out her left hand to admire her engagement ring.

  “So what is it you’re looking for? You want sex without commitment, is that it?” Brenna asked.

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.” Rebecca grabbed one of Brenna’s fluffy pillows, pressed it over her face, and groaned. She lifted it and turned on her side to face Brenna and Maddie. “I don’t think I have a commitment problem. I think I have a commitment-to-Nate problem. He’s a great guy. Good looking, fun to be with, blah-blah-blah. He’s even okay when we’re, you know, having Situational Developments. Which hasn’t happened in a while, actually.” She took a moment to consider. “Maybe that’s why I’m cranky.”

  “Just okay?” Maddie said. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “That’d be a deal breaker for me,” Brenna said. “Just okay is like, I don’t know, settling for gluten-free bread when you really want gourmet Belgian waffles.”

  Rebecca shook her head. “He’s not gluten-free bread. I said ‘okay,’ but it’s not like that. He’s great, actually, but we just don’t—I don’t know—connect. Like, take those waffles you mentioned, for example. Any plain old waffles are good, right? Yummy. But plain old waffles are disappointing if what you’re really itching for is gourmet Belgian. Nate is just plain old waffles to me, because of the ‘connect’ thing. To someone else, he’ll definitely be gourmet Belgian.”

  “With whipped cream and strawberries,” Brenna said, her voice low and seductive, making Maddie laugh along with Rebecca this time.

  “Caleb’s my gourmet Belgian waffle.” Maddie’s cinnamon eyes sparkled. “Whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries, and a sprinkling of powdered sugar.”

  “Don’t forget the side of sausage,” Brenna said and snorted at her own joke.

  Maddie giggled, and Rebecca covered her face with the pillow again but couldn’t hold back her laugh.

  “What about you?” Rebecca asked Brenna. “Any waffles and sausage on your plate right now?”

  “Unfortunately, no. The L&G keeps me so busy I don’t have time for any man but Dirk.”

  “Dirk?” Rebecca picked her head up and looked at Maddie. “Do we know Dirk?”

  “That’s the name she gave to the new espresso machine she bought for the L&G last summer. He’s hot, steamy, and buff. That’s what she told me after she installed Dirk.”

  “Maybe I need a Dirk in my kitchen,” Rebecca said. “Less hassle than a real man.”

  Brenna’s lips curved in a smirk. “The best part is shutting him off when I’m through with him.”

  “So what are you going to do about Nate?” Maddie asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe if he was the right man, if I was madly in love.” Rebecca puffed out a sigh. “But he’s not, and I’m not. I’ll talk to him at dinner tomorrow night, try to make him understand. In the meantime—” She nudged Maddie’s foot with her own. “How are the wedding plans coming along?”

  “We haven’t really talked about it yet. I promised TJ we’d have the ceremony in June because that’s when the fireflies will be back.”

  “I heard that. What’s the big deal about fireflies?”

  “They light up their asses to get laid,” Brenna said.

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “Ignore her,” she instructed Rebecca. “TJ loves fireflies, and so do I. There are tons of them out at my place, and we like to sit and watch them light up the yard in the summer.”

  “That,” Brenna grinned, “and they light up their asses to—”

  “Quit trying to push my buttons.” Maddie poked Brenna in the ribs to emphasize her demand. “They glow to attract mates. It’s romantic.”

  Brenna smirked. “Yeah, bug love. So romantic.”

  “It is,” Maddie insisted. She focused her gaze on Rebecca. “I told her that I’m like a firefly because I glow for Caleb. She—” Maddie indicated Brenna with her thumb. “—claims she’s never glowed for anyone.”

  “I haven’t.” Brenna blew out a sigh. “I think I’m incapable of caring that much about any man.” She threw her hands up when Maddie gave her a look. “What? It’s the truth.”

  Rebecca fluffed the pillow and resituated it beneath her head. “I’ve never glowed for anyone either. Maybe it requires a special gene we’re lacking.”

  Maddie shook her head. “A little romance goes a long way, you two. Open your hearts. Sweet Lord, who knows what you’re missing just because you’re being stubborn?” Brenna opened her mouth to say something, but Maddie stopped her with a raised hand. “Put your sass away.” She turned her attention to Rebecca. “Anyway, that’s why a June wedding. TJ likes the firefly show, and I sure love that little boy. He and Caleb light up my life. I never thought I’d be this happy again.” The moment the words left her mouth her expression sobered and her gaze cut to Brenna.

  “It�
��s okay, honey.” Brenna’s eyes softened and she patted Maddie’s leg. “Just because you love Caleb doesn’t mean you love Jack any less. We all know that.” Brenna looked at Rebecca. “It must be a little strange for y’all, too. Your family loved Caleb’s first wife so much.”

  “Gwen was really great.” Rebecca sat up and took Maddie’s hand in hers, studied the diamond ring that had belonged to Rebecca and Caleb’s grandmother. She raised her gaze to Maddie’s. “Did Caleb ever tell you how you got Gram’s ring?”

  Maddie’s dark eyes shimmered with tears, and she shook her head.

  Rebecca raised a brow. “I won’t tell you if you’re going to cry.”

  Maddie sniffled. “I’ll try not to.”

  “Okay. So, Gwen was like the sister I always wanted and never had. After she died, Caleb was—well, you know. You went through it when you lost your Jack. I thought Cal would never meet anyone who could come close to Gwen for him, but you brought him to life again.” She pointed her finger at Maddie. “Knock off the blubbering or I won’t tell you the rest.”

  “You’re such a bitch.” Brenna’s lips curved into a wicked grin. “I love it.”

  Rebecca flashed Brenna a smile and looked back at Maddie. “So, anyway, Cal told the family he planned to propose to you. He was so cute, all ‘if Maddie says yes—if,’ as if there was the slightest chance you were going to say no.” Rebecca grinned and Maddie smiled, tears still shining in her eyes. “Grampa Boone suggested giving you Gram’s ring to show you we accept you and love you, and that we all know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re perfect for Cal and TJ. You’re perfect for all of us, Maddie.”

  “Oh, geez.” Brenna gulped back a sob and climbed off the bed to grab a box of tissues from the dresser. She dropped it on the bed next to the empty plate that had held Dante’s shrimp, wiped her wet eyes, and blew her nose. Maddie grabbed a tissue, and Rebecca followed suit.

  “Sorry,” Rebecca said and laughed through her tears. “I didn’t mean to make everybody cry.”

  Brenna wiped the moisture from her cheeks with her hands. “You didn’t make me cry. I’m too self-centered for that.”