“All right. I should have enough help without you.” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not going to bail on me, are you?”
“No, I’m not bailing. I should be back in a half hour.”
He stopped in the nearly empty campus center parking lot and watched Autumn until she was inside. No matter how old she might be, she was still his little girl.
The half hour turned out to be more like an hour. When he returned, the sun had gone down and the parking lot was at least half-full. Inside, the hum of voices vied with the DJ’s music selections to produce an almost deafening din.
“Hey.” A couple of guys from one of his classes waved him over. “You didn’t say you were coming.”
“My—” He stopped himself before he said “my daughter talked me into it.” “Last-minute decision.”
“Us, too. Nothing else much going on,” Tyler said.
“Check it out!” Ryan interrupted.
Neal automatically followed the guy’s gaze and spotted Anne. She was a little old for them, but he couldn’t argue with the sentiment. Anne was looking good. Her gauzy blouse in muted fall colors and tailored chocolate-brown slacks should have made her look out of place in the sea of T-shirts and jeans. But on her, the dressier clothes looked perfectly Anne. Even in high school, she hadn’t been a fashion slave like so many of the girls.
“That blonde talking with Dr. Howard is hot.”
Neal hadn’t noticed anyone with Anne.
“Maybe we should head over that way,” Ryan said.
“Not me. I get enough of Howard in class. There are plenty of other hot chicks here.”
Neal would have found Tyler amusing if he weren’t dissing Anne.
“What’s wrong with Dr. Howard?” Neal asked during a lull in the music, booming over the other voices.
A few heads turned in his direction. Maybe he could leave now and pick Autumn up later. He’d put in his appearance for her. His gaze shot back to Anne. She was still talking with the student. He released a pent-up breath.
“Obviously, you aren’t in any of her classes,” Tyler said. “She’s so tight. Doesn’t cut anyone any slack.”
“You’ve got that right.” Ryan launched into a litany of wrongs Anne had committed. To Neal, her actions sounded like an instructor keeping her class under control and making sure she covered all the course material.
“Come on, guys. I know for a fact Anne can be a fun person.”
Both guys gave him a strange look.
“We went to high school together.”
“Get out!”
Before Neal could jump to her defense, the band struck up an old slow song. The haunting strains took him back nearly two decades to the Schroon Lake High School gymnasium and Annie in his arms at the junior prom.
“Prove it,” Ryan said. “I’ll ask the blonde to dance. You ask Dr. Howard.”
“Ha!” Tyler scoffed. “I dare you. I say you both get shot down.”
“You’re on.” Neal’s words were a lot more confident than he was.
* * *
“I think this is our song.” Ryan sidled up to the blonde who favored him with a dazzling smile.
Anne frowned at the interruption. The young woman had approached her and asked about four-year colleges with good environmental engineering programs. So few women were interested in engineering. She’d thought she’d found a protégée. From the way the woman was so easily distracted by Ryan, perhaps she’d been wrong. Anne had always put her career first, even as a student.
A familiar deep voice broke into her thoughts. “Actually, I think it’s our song.”
“Neal.”
Ryan’s eyes popped, and Neal smirked. Something was going on here that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be part of.
“Would you like to dance?” Neal’s mouth curved into a real smile.
She shouldn’t, especially after the way she’d been silently chastising the woman she’d been talking with for dropping their conversation to accept Ryan’s invitation. Besides, Neal was a student and far too attractive in a metal-gray T-shirt with a dark stripe that accented his broad chest. His faded jeans hugged his slim hips. She fiddled with a button on her blouse, suddenly feeling overdressed.
Without waiting for a verbal assent, Neal took her hand and led her toward the other couples who were dancing in front of the DJ’s stand. She glanced furtively from side to side to see if anyone was watching them before allowing the song to take her back to a simpler time. A time when being asked, or not asked, to dance could make or break a girl’s world.
Neal’s arms slid around her waist and she rested her hands on his shoulders and stepped close to him. It had been a long time since a man had held her in an embrace, and she missed the feeling of protection. But this man was Neal Hazard, not her husband, Michael. She stiffened and put more space between them. Neal looked down at her quizzically, and her face flushed. She turned her head away to the side and let the music wash over her. It was only a dance. Neal was an old friend. Nothing more.
Anne shivered at the song’s end when Neal released her and stepped back, breaking the cocoon of warmth that had enclosed her.
“Would you like a drink?” he asked. “I could use a soda.”
“Me, too.” Her parched throat and dry mouth made the words come out in a squeak.
As they walked over to the refreshment table, a petite girl with long blond hair gave them what looked like a thumbs-up as they passed by her. A goofy grin spread across Neal’s face, then settled into a half frown.
“My daughter, Autumn,” he explained. “I’ll introduce you after we get our drinks.”
“Sure.”
It was hard to believe Neal had a college-age child. Many of her college friends and colleagues had kids now, but they were all babies or in elementary school. And in their eleven years of marriage, she and Michael had barely gotten to the think-about-a-baby stage.
“Cola or ginger ale?” He held up a can in each hand. “Or it looks like they have some kind of punch, too.”
“Yes, cranberry.” A girl behind the punch bowl held up a ladle full.
“I’ll take that.”
The girl handed her a cup, and Anne took a sip. The tangy liquid was cool and refreshing. Who would have thought a slow dance would leave her so thirsty?
Neal opened his soda with a pop. “Everything good with your lights now?”
“No problems at all.”
“Good.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I stopped by the other evening to check, but you weren’t home.”
Her stomach tingled. The punch hadn’t seemed that carbonated.
“Everything is light and bright.” She gulped the rest of her punch, not believing she’d actually said that.
“Hi, Dr. Howard. Hey, Dad, having a good time?”
Neal’s daughter was beautiful. Her white-blond hair and petite stature must be from her mother, but Anne could see Neal’s sister, Emily, in Autumn’s eyes and heart-shaped face. And Autumn’s mischievous grin was pure Neal.
“How could I not be?” He glanced from Autumn to Anne.
Warmth bubbled through Anne.
“Anne, this is my daughter, Autumn.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You, too,” Autumn replied.
Neal gestured around the room. “You know, Autumn set this all up.” His pride came through in his voice and radiated from his face.
“Not quite all of it. I let a select few other people help me.”
Anne joined in Neal’s chuckle. Autumn sure was Neal’s daughter. At least the good-humored, take-charge Neal she’d known in high school.
“And, before I forget, you can leave early if you want.” Autumn tilted her head toward Anne. “I can catch a ride back to Ticond
eroga with one of the kids in my anatomy class, so you don’t have to stay to the bitter end.”
* * *
“Neal,” someone called from behind him. Tyler came bounding across the room waving his hand.
Neal turned to run interference while Anne and Autumn chatted on. He gave Tyler a tight shake of his head.
“I thought you’d left without my congratulating you.”
Obviously, he’d been too subtle. Neal glanced sideways at Anne and Autumn. Anne met his gaze.
“I didn’t think either you or Ryan had a prayer of a chance.”
Anne kept her gaze focused on him. Prayer might be a good idea.
“Who would have thought—”
The band chose that moment to take a break, reducing the noise in the room by several decibels.
“—that Dr. Howard could loosen up like that. Way to ace a dare, man.” Tyler pounded him on the back.
“I enjoyed meeting you, Autumn.” Anne’s voice rang over the hum as clear and cold as a high peaks January morning. “Tell your father I had to go home and grade papers.”
“I messed something up, didn’t I?” Tyler asked, his expression contrite.
Neal watched Anne leave through the main door. “Yeah, but not as much as I did.”
Chapter Four
“Hello! Anybody home?” Emily’s voice echoed up the stairs and down the hall to Neal’s apartment.
He pried open his eyes and scowled at the alarm clock. Eleven-fifteen. He stretched and shook off the last vestiges of the sleep he’d finally achieved about dawn. The last time he’d slept in this late was probably before Autumn was born. He wanted to recapture the life he’d lost, didn’t he? But minus the teen angst.
“Mom? Dad?” Emily sounded more urgent.
Neal pulled on some clothes and descended the stairs two at a time down into his parents’ living room. Emily’s due date was next week, and her husband, Drew, had been called to New York City on business. Although it seemed to Neal that babies usually came late, Autumn had been early.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he hit the floor next to her. With her waist-length hair down, rather than pinned up as she usually wore it, his little sister looked about Autumn’s age—too young to be having a baby.
“I’m fine.” Her voice hitched and she lifted her hand to her belly.
“You’re sure?”
“I’ve been having false labor all week. It’ll stop in a bit. Where’s Mom? I want to borrow a couple of eggs to make brownies for Drew. He should be home this afternoon.”
“I don’t know. I just woke up.”
“Late night?” she teased.
“Not really. I went to that college mixer thing Autumn wanted me to go to.” And tossed and turned all night once he’d gotten home. He debated whether to tell her about the debacle with Anne. Get a woman’s view on it.
“Oh, yeah, Autumn told me you were going. She seemed to think you were meeting Anne Howard there.” Her eyes lit in question.
How many people had Autumn said that to? It was probably all around town by now. He shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. He was in enough hot water with Anne already without making her the subject of local gossip.
“Well?” Emily rubbed her belly.
“No, I wasn’t meeting Anne. I went as a favor to Autumn. She wanted me there for whatever reason.” He still hadn’t figured out why.
“So was she there?”
“Who?” Neal asked, fully knowing who Emily meant.
She rolled her eyes. “Anne.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
He cleared his throat. He might as well tell her or she’d pester him all day with questions. Or, worse, hear about it from Autumn—or Anne herself. Neal crossed his arms and replayed the evening to Emily, from his conversation with Tyler and Ryan to the dance with Anne and her abrupt departure.
“Big brother, you are an idiot.”
“What?” As if he didn’t know. He just didn’t want to admit it.
“Come on. Don’t you remember my senior prom? Matt Norton took me on a dare from his football buddies. I found out after we got there.”
“I didn’t dance with Anne because Tyler dared me. I wanted to.”
Emily glared at him, reminiscent of Anne before she left the mixer. “The next day when you found out from Mom, you were ready to teach Matt a lesson or two.”
He swallowed, remembering how outraged he’d been on his sister’s behalf. “It is sort of like that.”
“Sort of?”
“Okay, just like that. Except I didn’t plan it.”
“The hurt’s the same.”
“We’re only friends.” His statement probably sounded as lame to Emily as it did to him.
“It’s okay to hurt friends?” Emily didn’t wait for his answer. “All the more reason to apologize to her.”
Shame washed over him. He’d been thinking more along the lines of avoiding Anne to make it easier on both of them. “You’re right. I will.”
Emily doubled over and hugged her belly. Neal looked over at the clock on the DVR. “Hey! That’s like your third contraction in ten minutes. How long has this been going on?”
She waved him off. “I told you, I’ve been having Braxton-Hicks contractions, false labor, all week.”
He glared down at her. “How long?”
“Since early this morning.”
“You need to get to the hospital.”
She breathed in deeply and blew the breath out. “The contractions will pass. They always do. I’ll make the brownies to get my mind off them. Drew can take me to the hospital when he gets home if I’m still having contractions then.”
Neal wiped his palms on his jeans. The hospital was a good hour away.
“We’re going now. Call your midwife. What’s her name? Kelly?”
Emily nodded.
“We’ll stop by your place for your hospital bag.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “But I need Drew. Or Mom. Where’s Mom?”
“I don’t know.” He gritted his teeth. “They don’t check in and out with me.”
“But I need a labor coach,” Emily said, a hint of hysteria working its way into her voice.
Neal swallowed hard. “I could do it. It hasn’t been all that long since Autumn was born, and I know the process hasn’t changed.”
“Eww. You’re my brother.”
Like he was any happier about this than she was? “When will Drew be back?”
She sniffled. “In a couple of hours. He planned to leave the city about ten.”
Vanessa had been in labor with Autumn for hours. Drew would be back for the important part. “It’ll be fine.”
She bit her lip and her eyes widened.
Another contraction so soon? “You can call Kelly on the way to your house.” He hustled her out to his truck.
As Neal had figured, Emily’s midwife told her to go to the hospital. And on the way, Drew called from a gas station near Warrensburg to say he’d left earlier than expected and would be home in about forty minutes. Emily told him to meet them at the hospital. Her smile when she put her phone back in her bag broadcast her relief loud and clear. The rest of the drive sped by, helped along by Neal’s heavier than usual foot on the gas pedal.
When he turned off the truck in the hospital parking lot, Emily shoved a handful of papers and her medical insurance card at him. “Here, take this stuff. You can take care of admitting me. We already filled out all of the preadmission forms.”
He took the papers and guided her to Labor and Delivery.
“Hi, I’m Emily Stacey,” she told the motherly looking nurse at the desk.”
“We’re expecting you,” the nurse said. “You’
re our first baby in two days. I’m Liz. Let’s get you into a room. Then, we’ll call your status in to Kelly. She’s on her way.”
Liz turned to Neal. “Mr. Stacey, please wait here. Jenn, the other nurse on duty, should be right back. She’ll go over all of the admission information with you and bring you in.”
“I’m Emily’s brother, Neal, not her husband.” He could have added that he wasn’t at all sure he wanted to be brought in.
“Drew should be here in a half hour or so,” Emily explained. “And you—” she pointed at Neal’s chest “—can man up and keep me company until he gets here.”
Right. Now that they were at the hospital, and his offer to be a substitute coach was looking less and less inviting to him, Emily wanted to take him up on it.
“It’s not like I’m going to drop this baby in the next half hour.” Emily looked to Liz for confirmation.
“That’s what we need to get you into your room and checked out for.” Liz guided Emily to a room a couple of doors down from the nurses’ station.
Neal walked down the hall to the water fountain and took a long drink. Then he paced back to the station and studied the painting on the opposite wall. Looked like Ausable Chasm. Probably a local artist. He started to cross the hall for a closer look.
“Mr. Stacey?” A young woman in scrubs who looked barely older than Autumn, walked up the hall to him. “I’m Jenn.”
It struck him that she might not be much older than his daughter. Next summer Autumn would be a registered nurse.
“I’m Neal Hazard, Emily’s brother. My brother-in-law should be here soon. I have the information for her admission.” He waved the handful of papers his sister had given him.
“We can sit over here.” She indicated a desk next to the wall behind the station counter.
Neal answered all the questions and provided the required insurance card.
“That should do it. I’ll go see if they’re ready for you yet.”
“Okay. I need to call our parents and let them know Emily’s here.”
“You can use the waiting room if you want some privacy. I’ll be here at the desk when you get back.”
“Thanks.”
Neal took his time walking to the waiting room, alternately worrying about Emily being alone and hoping Drew got here by the time he’d finished calling Mom and Dad. The nurse, Liz, would stay with Emily, wouldn’t she? She’d said they hadn’t had any babies in two days. Wouldn’t that mean they had no other patients?
Small-Town Dad Page 4
