When Shadows Fall (Callaways #7)

by Barbara Freethy

  "I know I've come off a little strong on that subject, but tonight I'm just looking for a drink or two and some distraction."

  "Good. And who knows? You might even have a little fun."

  "Let's not get carried away," she said dryly.

  He gave her a sexy grin that made her stomach flutter. She'd been so caught up in what she'd learned at Molly's house that she'd forgotten the other dangerous part of this whole adventure—and that part was Colton. It was strange how quickly they'd become friends—or whatever they were. But she'd probably spent more time with him in the past two days than she'd spent with any man in the last year.

  "Come on," he said, opening his door.

  "I'm right behind you."

  The restaurant had brick walls, an open grill along one side and a long bar on the far wall. There were a few booths lining the walls with a dozen or more tables taking up the rest of the space. Flat screen televisions hung in the four corners of the room, each playing a different game.

  The room had a great vibe, warm, friendly, the kind of neighborhood place where everyone in the room seemed to know each other. Even if Colton hadn't told her that Brady's was a popular firefighters' bar, she would have guessed that the second she stepped inside, because there were men everywhere. And not the kind of guys she was used to seeing in her New York City bars. These guys wore mostly jeans and t-shirts, some with SFFD insignia on them. They gave off a distinct vibe of being physical, rough-edged and pretty loud.

  There were at least a half dozen men standing at one end of the bar watching a baseball game on the flat screen. The other action was in the middle of the room where four tables had been pushed together and another dozen or so guys were sharing platters of ribs, wings and nachos.

  There were also four women in the group. She didn't know if they were girlfriends, wives or firefighters, but they seemed to fit right in, and she felt a little out of her element. The nervous feeling intensified when they drew nearer to the table and more than a few people gave her curious looks.

  "Colton," a man said, getting to his feet. "You made it. How's the hand?"

  "It's better," Colton said. "Happy birthday, Adam."

  "Thanks. This is Dana," he said, nudging the shoulder of the pretty redhead by his side.

  "Nice to finally meet you," Colton said.

  "Likewise," Dana returned.

  "So, who did you bring?" Adam asked.

  Adam gave her a curious smile, and she couldn't help wondering if there was a requirement that every guy in the San Francisco Fire Department be hot, because Adam was also very attractive with his beach-blond good looks.

  "Olivia Bennett," Colton said, putting a casual arm around her shoulders. "This is Adam Powell, the birthday boy."

  She shook Adam's hand. "Happy birthday."

  He tipped his head. "Thank you. Join us." Adam grabbed two more chairs from a nearby table, and the group made room for them.

  "This is Olivia," Colton said as they sat down. "And this is everybody," he added with a wave of his hand.

  "Hi everybody," she said lightly.

  "Hank was just telling us about the date he had with that woman he pulled out of a car last week," Adam said, tipping his head toward the man across the table.

  "Hank—you never learn, do you?" Colton said, shaking his head.

  Hank appeared to have about ten years on Colton with brown hair and a square face. "What can I say?" Hank replied. "She wanted to take me out to dinner to thank me for cutting her out of her car. So I said yes. And, by the way, she didn't just treat me to dinner; I got breakfast, too," he added with a wicked twinkle in his eye.

  As the group responded with a mix of groans and laughter, Olivia turned to Colton. "Is that common?"

  "For women to want to sleep with us after we save their lives?" he asked dryly. "I wouldn't say common, but it does happen. It's the hero thing. We usually don't go out with them, though."

  "Why not?"

  He shrugged. "It's hard to live up to the image they have in their heads. When we're not being heroes, we're just guys." He paused as one of the men nearby let out a loud burp. "Sometimes obnoxious guys."

  "Sometimes?" the woman next to Olivia asked with a roll of her eyes. "I'm Robin Kendall," she added with a smile. "I'm an EMT. I had to force Colton to go to the hospital the other day."

  "A couple of broken fingers didn't require an ambulance ride," Colton cut in.

  "A concussion did," Robin retorted.

  "It wasn't a big deal. I have a hard head." Colton paused as the waitress came over with a tray full of shot glasses. "Now we're talking. Do you want one, Olivia? Or would you prefer wine?"

  After the day she'd had? "I'll take a shot."

  He smiled. "Shots it is."

  As the group toasted Adam's birthday, Olivia tossed back the shot of Jack Daniels, shivering a little as the whiskey blazed a fiery path down her throat. She wasn't a big drinker, and normally she did stick to wine or beer, but finding out she might be Molly's granddaughter had shaken her up.

  It wasn't like she didn't know she was adopted. As she'd told Colton, it had been a fact of her life for as long as she could remember. But she hadn't thought about her biological parents in years. When she had thought about them, she'd imagined all kinds of scenarios in which they might meet, but she had never ever anticipated the possibility of discovering what might be her birth certificate in a dusty box at the back of Molly Harper's closet, a woman whose letter she might not have responded to at all. It had just been luck that she'd opened it.

  "You're thinking about earlier," Colton said warningly.

  "Guilty."

  "We're staying in the moment, remember?"

  "Right."

  "Do you want another shot?"

  "Maybe I'll switch to a beer," she said, already feeling a little lightheaded. "And a cheeseburger. That one looks good." She tipped her head to the guy across the table, who was taking a bite out of a thick, juicy burger.

  "A girl after my own heart," Colton said lightly.

  As he called the waitress over to take their order, she couldn't help wondering what kind of girl would steal Colton's heart. It wasn't going to be her, she reminded herself. She was leaving in a few weeks. She had a life on the other side of the country, a good life, or at least a life that made sense to her. Ever since she'd landed in San Francisco, she'd been faced with one surprise after another.

  "So how do you know Colton?" Robin asked curiously, drawing her attention.

  "We met through his grandmother."

  Robin was an attractive brunette with sparkling brown eyes and a cluster of freckles across her nose. Dressed in jeans and a silky floral top, she appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She gave Olivia a smile and said, "I never heard that one before."

  She smiled back. "It was a first for me, too. I actually live in New York City. I'm just in town for a few days."

  "What do you think of San Francisco?"

  "I like it a lot. There seems to be an amazing water view everywhere I go. And the weather is great."

  "Fall is always good for us."

  "So how is it working with all these guys?" Olivia asked. "Do you work out of the firehouse?"

  "I do, and it's great."

  "Really? You don't run into the occasional male chauvinist?"

  "Oh, more than occasionally," Robin said with a laugh. "But I can handle that. There's no question that the guys can be pains in the ass, but they're good men, each and every one of them. I've seen them do amazing things, really beyond courageous. They go where most people would never go. And they don’t do it reluctantly. They charge in. They want to save the day."

  A chill ran down Olivia's spine at Robin's words. She could picture Colton in action, determination in his eyes, not a speck of fear in his heart.

  If she were in trouble, wouldn't she want just that kind of man?

  But when she wasn't in trouble…that would be a different story.

  "I know it's hard to imagine that this mot
ley group of men is so amazing, but they work as hard as they play," Robin added.

  "Do you know Colton very well?"

  "Pretty well. We've been working out of the same station the past six months. And I've worked with his brother Burke, too, as well as his cousin Brody. The Callaways are a force in the fire department."

  "So I've heard." She debated the wisdom of her next question but then decided to ask it. "Does Colton play hard, too? Does he bring a lot of women around?"

  Robin gave her a knowing smile. "You like him."

  "Not that way." In the face of Robin's disbelieving gaze she had to add, "Well, maybe that way—a little. But I'm leaving town soon, so…"

  "So maybe you'll change your plans," Robin suggested.

  "My job is in New York."

  "We have a lot of jobs here."

  "I wouldn't move across the country for a guy. That would be stupid."

  "Ordinarily, I'd agree with you. I wouldn't move for just any guy, but if I were in love…"

  "I've known Colton for two days. Don't get carried away."

  "Love can be fast."

  "You are way off base, Robin." Her gaze narrowed. "Why are you so interested anyway? Are you sure you're not the one who likes Colton?"

  "No, I don't date where I work. Colton and I are friends. I actually have my eye on a sexy accountant. And I know what you're going to say—that sexy and accountant don't really go together—but he has that boyish, glasses-falling-off-his-nose kind of charm."

  Olivia smiled. "I know that kind of charm."

  "We'll see though. We're really just friends at the moment." Robin paused as she sipped her beer. "But you asked whether or not Colton brought a lot of women around, and I'd have to say no. Not that there aren't always a lot of women trying to get his attention when we're all out somewhere, but he rarely actually shows up with anyone, until tonight."

  "We were doing something for his grandmother earlier," she said, knowing she really didn't owe Robin an explanation, but she couldn't stop herself from providing one.

  "How is his grandmother? I heard she has Alzheimer's."

  "Apparently so, but she hasn't had any issues since I've met her."

  "That's good news. Her husband, Patrick Callaway, was a legend in the department. He set all kinds of records for heroism, and his son, Jack, followed in his footsteps."

  "The younger Callaway men have a lot to live up to," she murmured.

  "They're up for the challenge." Robin paused as the guy sitting across from her demanded her attention. He wanted her to settle some sort of bet.

  Olivia sat back in her seat as the waitress brought her a beer and a cheeseburger. And for the next few minutes, she just ate and watched the action at the table. While there was good-natured bickering and telling of embarrassing stories, it was clear there was a lot of love and respect within the group.

  They were a family, she realized, probably very similar to the work family her dad had had. She'd put those memories out of her head for a very long time, but now bits and pieces of other birthday parties flitted through her mind. Her dad had loved his job and his coworkers, just like Colton, and she felt a bit wistful that she didn't have the same kind of camaraderie at her job. But it was just her, Philip, and Philip's assistant, and while Philip had an office, he was rarely there, and his personal assistant often worked from home, so Olivia had spent a lot of days alone in the small office on the eighteenth floor of a Manhattan skyscraper.

  Colton nudged her arm, and she turned to look at him.

  "Having fun?" he asked. "You're kind of quiet."

  She nodded. "Just observing."

  "You do that a lot."

  "I guess I do."

  "And what have you observed?" he asked lightly.

  "That you have a great group of friends. I feel a little jealous. I work pretty much by myself. I don't think I've been part of a team since I played softball freshman year of high school."

  "A softball player and a surfer? I'm learning a lot about you tonight. What position did you play?"

  "Outfield. I like fly balls over grounders. Did you play baseball?"

  "Third base."

  "The hot corner," she said with a laugh. "I'm not surprised."

  "I like to challenge myself."

  "So do I. But apparently I give myself more room to succeed. The balls take a little more time to get to the outfield."

  She paused, seeing four older men make their way into the bar. She thought she'd seen one of them the day before at the senior center. "Hey, is that your father?"

  Colton turned his head. "Yeah, that's him."

  "Who's he with?"

  "My Uncle Rob. He's a retired firefighter, and I think the other two are cops."

  "I thought this was a firefighters' bar."

  "Sometimes we mix it up, and my dad always likes to do that. He thinks it makes for better cooperation between the departments."

  "Is your father as gruff as your grandfather?"

  "He's decisive, confident, tough when he needs to be, but he also loves to tell stories and have a good time."

  "Sounds like he's got a little of Patrick and a little of Eleanor in him."

  "I never thought of it that way, but you're right."

  Colton had barely finished speaking when Adam said, "Look alive, boys and girls, the brass is here."

  Colton seemed to grimace at Adam's words, and Olivia wondered if it bothered him when his dad showed up.

  The men sat down at a table on the other side of the room, but when Jack saw Colton, he gave a wave and motioned for him to come over.

  "You're coming with me," Colton told her.

  "No, you can go on your own. So far the men in your family have not been happy to meet me."

  "Well, too bad. You're my date tonight."

  "I don't think this is a date."

  "It's close enough. And I could use a buffer."

  "Why?"

  "Because if my grandfather has told my father anything about you and this book, I am going to get shit for being in this bar with you, so the least you can do is come with me."

  "Well, since you've made it sound like so much fun," she said dryly. "I guess we're talking to your dad."

  Chapter Twelve

  As they walked across the room hand in hand, Olivia could feel not only the heat of Colton's fingers, but also the tightness of his nerves. She didn't know if he was really worried about being seen with her or if there was more to it than that. Colton had stiffened up the second his dad walked into the bar. Maybe at least some of his tension had to do with the fact that Jack Callaway was in essence Colton's boss.

  When they arrived at the table, she could immediately see the similarities between Colton's father and uncle. While Jack had a more stocky build and a ruddier complexion than his brother Rob, they both had dark hair and blue eyes, a dangerously attractive combination that they'd also passed on to Colton.

  The other two men at the table were quite different in appearance. One was short and stocky with a square face and a receding hairline. He was introduced as Donald Rand. The other had a long, narrow face, and his dark brown hair and moustache were edged with gray. He was introduced as Keith Fletcher. Both men were detectives in the police department, although according to Jack, they were also both in the running to be the next chief of police.

  "Sit down, both of you," Jack said.

  "We don't want to interrupt," Colton replied.

  "You're not." Jack gave Olivia a speculative smile. "I've been hearing a lot about you, Miss Bennett. You seem to be a bone of contention between my grandparents and my wife. Now it appears that Colton is also involved." As Jack finished his pointed comment, he turned to the other men at the table. "Miss Bennett has come to San Francisco to write a book about my grandmother and her friends. My father is not happy about it."

  "I heard about that," Rob Callaway said. "I told Dad he should relax and let Mom have some fun."

  "It's not quite that simple," Jack said.


  "What is the book about?" Donald asked curiously. "I know Eleanor is a beautiful lady, but what's her story?"

  "I'm still trying to figure that out," Olivia said. "The book isn't just about Eleanor. I was invited to come here by Molly Harper. Molly said a group of ladies at the senior center would like to share their stories with me."

  "Stories about what?" Keith asked.

  "Well, they were part of a community theater group," she said, not sure how much she wanted to tell to these men.

  Jack smiled. "My mother always had a flair for drama. She also had a ton of friends. She was the queen of the neighborhood back in the day."

  "I remember the theater days," Rob said, an odd expression on his face now. "I actually remember Mom and Dad fighting a lot about that theater. I don't really know why. I guess he didn't want her to spend so much time away from home."

  Or, Olivia wondered…maybe Patrick hadn't wanted Eleanor to put herself in danger.

  "Dad didn't like to share her," Jack said. "But she could be determined when she wanted to be, and she liked putting on those plays."

  "Molly was around a lot then, too," Rob said. "She was always bringing her kids over. Francine was cute, but her brother was a pain in the ass. I don't know how Michael was friends with him."

  "Michael was a saint even when he was twelve," Jack said with a laugh. "Good training for becoming a priest."

  "Did you say that Molly Harper wrote to you?" Donald asked Olivia.

  "Yes. Unfortunately, by the time I got here, Molly had had a stroke. I haven't been able to speak to her. I'm hoping her condition will improve."

  "That's terrible," Keith said. "I hope she recovers quickly. Will you be able to do the book without her?"

  "Maybe. She left me some of her journals to read and other things I haven't gotten to yet. I'm really just getting started." She paused, remembering the picture of Molly's husband in a police uniform. "Wait a second, do either of you remember Stan Harper, Molly's husband? I understand he was a cop."

  Donald and Keith exchanged a quick look and then Donald said, "Yes, I knew Stan. He was about fifteen years older than I was so we didn't spend a lot of time together."