There was a pounding at the door.
Sunny sighed and pulled herself from his grip. “Well, here’s a bright side for you,” she said. “I’m going to kill my uncle.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
SUNNY THREW OPEN THE DOOR and glared at her uncle Nathaniel. “Not real patient, are you?”
Nate had his hands plunged into his jacket pockets to keep warm. He glared back. “A—you didn’t go where you said you were going to go. And B—you didn’t come out when I honked. Something could have been wrong!”
“A—I’m twenty-five and can change my plans when it suits me. And B—something could have been right!” She turned toward Drew. “Thank you for everything. I’ll get this lunatic out of here.”
“Sunny,” Drew said. “UCLA Medical. Orthopedics Residency. I stand out like a sore thumb. I’m the one the senior residents are whipping and screaming at.”
She smiled at him. “I’ll remember. I promise.”
Sunny grabbed her jacket, her camera bag and pulled the door closed behind her as she left. Nathaniel let her pass him on the porch. She stomped a little toward the truck until her skinny heels stuck into the snow covered drive and she had to stop to pull them out.
“Must’ve been tough, walking from that wrecked car to the cabin in those boots,” Nate observed.
She glared over her shoulder at him. “He carried me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Nate said. “It was two miles!”
“Piggyback,” she said, trying to balance her weight on the balls of her feet until she got to the truck. She pulled herself up into the backseat of the extended cab with a grunt.
Annie, who sat in the front of the truck, had her arms crossed over her chest. When she looked into the backseat, there was a frown on her face. “Are you all right?” she asked grimly.
“Of course, I’m all right,” Sunny said. “Are you angry with me, too?”
“Of course not! I’m angry with Nathaniel!”
“Because…?”
“Because you were laughing with Drew Foley and I didn’t want to crash your party!”
Sunny laughed lightly. “Oh, you two,” she said. “It wasn’t a party,” she said just as her uncle was getting behind the wheel. “It was supposed to be a tour of the cabin, but it turned into a deer accident and a two-mile trek. Poor Drew. He had to carry me because of my stupid boots.”
“But were you ready to leave?” Annie asked, just as Nate put the truck in gear.
No, Sunny thought. Not nearly ready. She loved everything about Drew—his voice, his gentle touch, his empathy for kids and animals, his scent…. Oh, his scent, his lips, his taste. But she said, “Yeah, sure. Thanks for coming for me. Sorry if I was a bother.”
“Sorry if I was a lunatic,” Nate said, turning the truck around. “I have a feeling if I have daughters, Annie will have to be in charge.”
“First smart thing you’ve said in an hour,” Annie informed him.
“Well, I have a responsibility!” he argued.
Sunny leaned her head forward into the front of the cab, coming between them. “You two didn’t have your New Year’s kiss, did you? Because whew, are you ever pissy!”
“Some people,” Annie said, her eyes narrowed at Nate, “just don’t listen.”
WINTER IN THE MOUNTAINS is so dark; the sun wasn’t usually up before seven in the morning. But Sunny was. In fact, she’d barely slept. She just couldn’t get Drew out of her mind. She got up a couple of times to get something from the kitchen, but she only dozed. At five-thirty she gave up and put the coffee on.
By the time it was brewing, Annie was up. Before coming into the kitchen she started the fire in the great room fireplace. She shivered a bit even though she wore her big, furry slippers and quilted robe.
“Why are you up so early?” Sunny asked, passing a mug of coffee across the breakfast bar.
“Me? I’m always up early—we have a rigid feeding schedule for the horses.”
“This early?”
“Well, I thought I heard a mouse in the kitchen,” Annie said with a smile. “Let’s go by the fire and you can tell me why you’re up.”
“Oh, Annie,” she said a bit sadly, as she headed into the great room. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Wrong?” Annie asked. She sat on the big leather sofa in front of the fire and patted the seat beside her. “I think you’re close to perfect!”
Sunny shook her head. She sat on the sofa, turned toward Annie and pulled her feet under her. “I made up my mind I wasn’t getting mixed up with another guy after what Glen did to me, then I go and meet this sweetheart. He’s pretty unforgettable.”
“Oh? The guy from the bar?”
Sunny sipped her coffee. “Sounds funny when you put it that way. Drew—a doctor of all things. Not a guy from a bar. He was up at his sister’s cabin to study and only came into town to get a New Year’s Eve beer. I never should have run into him. And even though he’s totally nice and very sweet, I promised him I’d never get involved again, with him or anyone else. I told him I just wasn’t ready.”
“Smart if you ask me,” Annie said, sipping from her own steaming cup.
“Really?” Sunny asked, surprised. Wasn’t this the same woman who lectured her about letting go of the anger and getting on with her life?
Annie gave a short laugh. “After what happened to you? Why would you take that kind of chance again? Too risky. Besides, you have a good life! You have work you love and your parents are completely devoted to you.”
“Annie, they’re my parents,” she said. “They’re wonderful and I adore them, but they’re my parents! They don’t exactly meet all my needs, if you get my drift.”
Annie patted Sunny’s knee. “When more time has passed, when you feel stronger and more confident, you might run into a guy who can fill some of the blank spots—and do that without getting involved. Know what I mean?”
“I know what you mean,” Sunny said, looking down. “Problem is, those kind of relationships never appealed to me much.”
“Well, as time goes on…” Annie said. “I imagine you’ll get the hang of it. You’re young and you’ve been kicked in the teeth pretty good. I understand—you’re not feeling that strong.”
Sunny actually laughed. “I had no idea how strong I was,” she said. “I got through the worst day of my life. I helped my mom return over a hundred wedding gifts…” She swallowed. “With notes of apology.”
“You’re right—that takes strength of a very unique variety. But you told me you don’t feel too confident about your ability to know whether a guy is a good guy, a guy you can really trust,” Annie said.
Sunny sighed. “Yeah, it’s scary.” Then she lifted her gaze and a small smile flitted across her mouth. “Some things are just obvious, though. You know what Drew said is the best and worst part of his job as an orthopedic surgery resident? Kids. He loves being able to help them, loves making them laugh, but it’s really hard for him to see them broken. What a term, huh? Broken? But that’s what he does—fixes broken parts.”
“That doesn’t mean you’d be able to count on him to come through for the wedding dance…” Annie pointed out.
But Sunny wasn’t really listening. “When that deer was lying on the hood of the SUV I tried not to look, but he was taking pictures for the insurance and I had to take a peek out the windshield. He gave the deer a pet on the neck. He looked so sad. He said it made him feel bad and he hoped the deer didn’t have a family somewhere. Annie, you grew up around here, grew up on a farm—do deer have families?”
“Sort of,” she said softly. “Well, they breed. The bucks tend to breed with several doe and they run herd on their families, keep ’em together. They—”
“He’s got a soft spot,” Sunny said. “If I ever gave a new guy a chance, it would be someone with a soft spot for kids, for animals….”
“But you won’t,” Annie said, shaking her head. “You made the right decision—no guys, no wedding, no marriage, no
kids.” Sunny looked at her in sudden shock. “Maybe later, when much more time has passed,” Annie went on. “You know, like ten years. And no worries—you could meet a guy you could actually trust in ten years, date a year, be engaged a year, get married and think about a family… I mean, women are now having babies into their forties! You have lots of time!”
Sunny leaned toward her. “Did you hear me? He loves helping kids. He carried me to the cabin—two miles. He petted the dead dear! And he should have broken the heels off my Stuart Weitzmans so I could walk in the snow, but he carried me instead because I just couldn’t part with—” Sunny looked at Annie with suddenly wide eyes. “What if he’s a wonderful, perfect, loving man and I refuse to get to know him because I’m mad at Glen?”
Annie gave Sunny’s hand a pat. “Nah, you wouldn’t do that. You’re just taking care of yourself, that’s all. You don’t have a lot of confidence right now. You’re a little afraid you wouldn’t know the right guy if he snuck up on you and kissed you senseless.”
Sunny touched her lips with her fingertips. “He kisses great.”
“Oh, Sunny! You let him kiss you?”
Sunny jumped up so fast she sloshed a little coffee on her pajamas. “I have plenty of confidence, I always have,” she said. “I started my own business when I was twenty and it’s going great. I know I get help from my dad, but I was never unsure. And I can’t even think about being alone another ten years! Or sleeping with guys I don’t care about just to scratch an itch—bleck!”
Annie shrugged and smiled, looking up at her. “All part of protecting yourself from possible hurt. I mean, what if you’re wrong? Scary, huh?”
“Oh, crap, one hour with Drew and I knew what was wrong with Glen! I just couldn’t…” She stopped herself. She couldn’t stop that wedding!
“You said it yourself—you shouldn’t get mixed up with another guy,” Annie reminded her softly. “You wouldn’t want to risk getting hurt.” Annie stood and looked Sunny in the eyes. “Give it eight or ten years. I’m sure the right guy will be hanging around just when you’re ready.”
Sunny stiffened so suddenly she almost grew an inch. She grabbed Annie’s upper arm. “Can I borrow your truck? I have something important to do.”
“In your pajamas?” Annie asked.
“I’ll throw on some jeans and boots while you find your keys,” she said.
Sunny dashed to the kitchen, put her coffee mug on the breakfast bar and as she was sailing through the great room Annie said, “Sunny?” Sunny stopped and turned. Annie took a set of keys out of the pocket of her quilted robe and tossed them.
Sunny caught them in surprise, then a smile slowly spread across her face. Who carries their car keys in their robe? “You sly dog,” she said to Annie.
Annie just shrugged. “There are only two things you have to remember. Trust your gut and take it one day at a time.” Annie raised a finger. “One day at a time, sweetheart. Nice and easy.”
“Will you tell Uncle Nate I had an errand to run?”
“You leave Uncle Nate to me,” Annie said.
BY THE TIME SUNNY WAS standing in front of the cabin door, it still was not light out. It was only six-thirty, but there were lights on inside and the faintest glow from the east that suggested sunrise. Drew opened the door.
“We never open the door that fast in L.A.,” she said.
“There weren’t very many possibilities for this part of town,” he said. And he smiled at her. “I’m pretty surprised to see you. Coming in?”
“In a minute, if you still want me. I have to tell you a couple of things.”
He lifted a light brown brow. “About my nose? My hips?”
“About me. First of all, I never lie. To anyone else or to myself. But my whole relationship with Glen? I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but it was one lie after another. I knew it wasn’t going well, I knew we should have put on the brakes and taken a good, honest, deep look at our relationship. But I couldn’t.” She glanced down, then up into his warm brown eyes. “I couldn’t stop the wedding. It had taken on a life of its own.”
“I understand,” he said.
“No, you don’t. It was the wedding that had become a monster—a year in the making. Oh, Glen should take some responsibility for going along with it in the beginning, but it was entirely my fault for turning off my eyes, ears and brain when it got closer! I’d invested in it—passion and energy and money! My parents had made deposits on everything from invitations and gowns to parties! And there was an emotional investment, too. My friends and family were involved, praising me for the great job I was doing, getting all excited about the big event! Not only did I feel like I was letting everyone down, I couldn’t give it up.”
“I understand,” he said again.
“No, you don’t! The wedding had become more important than the marriage! I knew I should snoop into his text messages and voice mails because lots of things were fishy, but I didn’t because it would ruin the wedding! I should have confronted our issues in counseling, but I couldn’t because I knew the only logical thing to do was to postpone the wedding! The wedding of the century!” A tear ran down her cheek and he caught it with a finger. “I knew it was all a mistake, but I really didn’t see him not showing up at the last minute as a threat, so that made it easy for me to lie when everyone asked me if there were any clues that it would happen.” She shook her head. “That he would leave me at the altar? I didn’t see that coming. That we weren’t right for each other? I managed to close my eyes to that because I was very busy, and very committed. That’s the truth about me. There. I traded my integrity for the best wedding anyone had ever attended in their life! And I’ve never admitted that to anyone, ever!”
“I see,” he said. “Now do you want to come in?”
“Why are you awake so early?” she asked with a sniff.
“I don’t seem to need that much sleep. I’d guess that was a real problem when I was a kid. Sunny, I’m sorry everything went to hell with your perfect wedding, but I’m not threatened by that. I’m not Glen and I have my own mistakes to learn from—that wouldn’t happen with me. And guess what? You’re not going to let something like that happen again. So the way I see it, we have only one thing to worry about.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Breakfast. I was going to have to eat canned beans till you showed up. I don’t have a car. Now you can take me to breakfast.” He grinned. “I’m starving.”
“I brought breakfast. I grazed through Uncle Nate’s kitchen for groceries,” she explained. “I wasn’t going to find anything open on the way over here.”
“You are brilliant as well as beautiful. Now we only have one other thing to worry about.”
“What?”
“Whether we’re going to make out like teenagers on the couch, the floor or the bed after we have breakfast.”
She threw her arms around him. “You should send me away! I’m full of contradictions and flaws! I’m as much to blame for that nightmare of a wedding day as Glen is!”
He grinned only briefly before covering her mouth in a fabulous, hot, wet, long kiss. And after that he said, “Look. The sun’s coming up on a new day. A new year. A new life. Let’s eat something and get started on the making out.”
“You’re not afraid to take a chance on me?” Sunny asked him.
“You know what I’m looking forward to the most? I can’t wait to see if we fall in love. And I like our chances. Scared?”
She shook her head. “Not at all.”
“Then come in here and let’s see if we can’t turn the worst day of your life into the best one.”
MIDNIGHT SURRENDER
Jean Brashear
For Ercel, whose midnight kisses still thrill me
CHAPTER ONE
Austin, Texas
“SPILL, GIRL. Who was last night’s victim?” Fiona Sinclair asked.
“What makes you think there was one?” Jordan Parrish responded to her best friend.
Fiona rolled her eyes. “Because you date like a guy, trolling the waters, snagging the juicy ones and playing with them till you’re bored, then throwing them back in. And when’s the last time you didn’t go out on a Friday night?”
“Fee…” Marly Preston, the third member of Girls’ Night, eased between them, a fresh wine bottle in hand. “Don’t badger Jordan. You’ll hurt her feelings. More wine?”
“Shark lawyers don’t have feelings, sweetie.” Fiona grinned at Jordan. Jordan stuck out her tongue in response. She and Fiona always played rough, and kindhearted Marly always worried.
“Anyway, how are we old married ladies supposed to live vicariously through her if she plays her cards close to the vest?” Fiona asked. “We depend on you, Jordan.”
“It’s her business,” Marly protested, “and she doesn’t have to share the details of her sex life…unless she wants to?” Her eyebrows rose at the end of the sentence, along with her voice.
Jordan couldn’t help laughing. Even after five kids, Earth Mother Marly still possessed an innocent air that life couldn’t seem to erase. The room around them reflected her nurturing tendencies: bright splashes of color, soft cushions she’d upholstered, candles made by hand, needlework and thriving plants everywhere.
“Nobody worth mentioning,” Jordan sighed. “I’m thinking of taking a break.”
Fiona snorted.
“You don’t think I will?”
“Seriously?” Fiona finished the last of her wine and held out the glass for Marly to refill. “No.”
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