He shrugged, turning back to her. “Both? I don’t know. It was a happy memory. My parents got along for the whole weekend and it was the only family vacation I remember us ever taking. And the food was that good.”
Jamie tried to imagine a teenage Scott, driving around looking for this place. His mom had died when he was nine and he would have been at least sixteen to have his license, so enough years had passed that she was surprised he’d found it. And it could have gone out of business or changed ownership and names. He must have really wanted to reconnect with the place.
“How often do you come here?”
“I try to get here a couple of times a year. It’s been a while, though. The last time I was here I brought Ashley not long after she and Danny split up, just to get her out of the neighborhood for a day. The time before that I think it was me and Aidan and Rick.”
“Family, huh? I thought maybe this was your hot date spot,” she said, half-jokingly.
“Nope.”
That was all he said, but the way he looked directly into her eyes when he said it seemed to give her the answer she’d been fishing for. He wasn’t in the habit of bringing girlfriends here, then. So was this simply a two-birds-with-one-stone situation—take her on a date out of the city while revisiting a favorite restaurant?
Or did bringing her to this place that was so important to him he’d gone looking for it as a teenager mean something?
* * *
SCOTT LOOKED ACROSS the table at Jamie and, maybe for the first time in his life except for his mom, wished everything could be different.
He wished he and Jamie didn’t work together. That their relationship didn’t have to be a secret. That he was the kind of guy she would want to have a real relationship with, and that she didn’t think he was on the hunt for some kind of television wife who’d stay home and bake cookies while raising their children. When he looked into Jamie’s eyes, he could almost see his future...if only their present wasn’t so screwed up.
When she gave him a questioning look, he realized his thoughts might be showing on his face and smiled. All that mattered right now was the fact he was sitting in his favorite restaurant with a woman who could set his blood on fire with just a look or a single word.
“What’s good here?” she asked, picking up one of the menus.
“Not to be unoriginal or anything, but definitely the seafood.”
He already knew he was having that, so he watched Jamie as she read over the menu. Her face was expressive, and he could tell when something sounded appealing to her and when something didn’t.
Their server arrived to introduce herself and take their drink orders. Jamie ordered a glass of white wine from their limited list, and Scott asked for an orange soda. While they waited for the drinks, they decided to split the seafood platter and a big basket of fries.
Once they’d placed their order, Jamie sipped her wine and looked out the window, her face relaxed and happy. “I can see why you like to come here. I’m surprised it’s not overrun by tourists, though.”
“It’s just far enough off the beaten path, I guess. And it’s a word-of-mouth kind of place. It’s been busier since people started using those restaurant review apps, though. There’s no hiding from the internet.”
“I’m glad you were able to get a reservation for this table. It has the best view.”
“It’s too bad I have to go with Aidan tomorrow to pick out suits. Otherwise I would also have reserved us a nice hotel room down the street with a deck facing the ocean.” He looked at her over the rim of his glass, wanting her so much his body ached. “Maybe I could tell him I’m sick.”
“You can’t call in sick to best-man duties for your best friend,” she said, laughing. “Besides, I’m going shopping with your sisters tomorrow and I suspect I’m going to need a good night’s sleep to get through that.”
“Shopping? Didn’t you just go shopping?”
“Yeah, but for groceries. We’re going shopping for dresses.”
He laughed and held up a hand. “Okay, I should have guessed that. How the hell did you get roped into dress shopping with my sisters?”
“I didn’t get roped into anything. My friend invited me to help her and her sister pick out dresses for her wedding.”
“That’s weird.”
She frowned at him. “Taking friends wedding dress shopping with you is weird? For a guy who grew up with two older sisters, sometimes you don’t seem to know a lot about women.”
“No, not the shopping. Women shop in packs. It’s just a little weird that Lydia’s my sister. And Lydia’s your friend. But there’s no three of us together. Does that make sense?”
She nodded. “Yeah, it does. It’s weird for me, too. It’s like living two separate lives, but the lives intersect in multiple places.”
“Yeah.” He paused and then smiled at her. “Don’t forget to mention the cake thing, okay?”
“I’ll do my best to save us all from cake with vegetables in it. But in return I want you to tell me something. What made you decide to take a break from dating?”
The question seemed to come out of left field and he mentally flailed for a few seconds, trying to come up with an answer that might make sense. “It was a lot of things, I guess. Part of it’s probably just a natural progression of life. I’m almost thirty, so there’s that. It’s time to starting thinking about the future and all that. But the last woman I had what I’d consider a real relationship with started asking a lot of questions about my benefits and whether they’d cover plastic surgery. And she said if she got pregnant, I’d have to marry her and put her on my bennies plan.”
When Jamie’s eyebrows shot up and her lips tightened, he almost laughed. She was angry on his behalf, and he liked knowing that. “Are you serious? Did she have absolutely no self-respect at all?”
“I don’t know, but I do know she didn’t respect me. And I do have some self-respect, so that was the end of that relationship. And I realized I didn’t have a great track record when it came to asking out women who I’d want to spend more than a few weeks with. If that long.”
“So you thought the best way to find the right woman was to stop dating?”
He laughed, feeling more than a little stupid. “I needed to take a step back and rethink how I went about dating, I guess. Stop hanging out in clubs and stuff like that. When spending the rest of your life with a woman is the objective instead of having sex with her that night, you have to break the behavior patterns and start over.”
Jamie leaned forward and propped her chin on her hands, the candlelight reflecting in her eyes. “What made you break your temporary vow of abstinence for me?”
He froze, terrified by what might come out of his mouth. The seconds ticked by as he sorted words in his head, trying to separate what he wanted to say from what he didn’t. What he didn’t want to say was that, if their circumstances had been different, she might have been the woman he’d broken the cycle to find. That was a lot of depth to throw at a casual friends-with-benefits situation.
“Probably the same thing that made you break your rules about having sex with a guy in your company,” he said finally. “We have insane chemistry and I wanted you so much I couldn’t resist you.”
The blush across her cheeks was faint, but he didn’t miss it. “We certainly do have chemistry.”
“Okay, fair’s fair,” he said, wanting to change the subject away from his feelings and more toward hers. “Lydia told me you moved here with a guy—and for the record, I didn’t ask her and it just came up in conversation one day—so what made you stay in Boston when he left? Why wasn’t he the one?”
She sighed and leaned back in her chair. “We started talking about the future and hypothetical kids. I said I thought eighteen months between having hypothetical number one and getting pregnant with hypoth
etical number two would be ideal. I’d have time to get back in shape and get back on the job for a while before having the second.”
“And he disagreed?”
“He assumed I’d give up my career and stay home with the little hypotheticals.”
“Was his expectation that you would have given up any career to be a stay-at-home mom, or was it because you’re a firefighter?”
“It was mostly about me being a firefighter.” She swirled the liquid in her glass, watching it with an expression he couldn’t quite read. It wasn’t sadness, really, or annoyance. Maybe both. “If I’d been a teacher or a lawyer or something, I think he might not have been so adamant about it.”
“And you wouldn’t quit if you had a baby?” He almost recoiled from the look she gave him. “I’m not saying I think you should. But you know I lost my mom when I was a kid. I know how shitty that is, so my kids having a mother in a high-risk job is something that would make me nervous.”
She met his gaze across the table, her eyebrows furrowed. “I’ve heard it’s pretty shitty for kids to have their dads die, too, but nobody thinks twice about guys running into a burning building.”
“Is there any way for me to say I think it’s different without sounding like a sexist asshole?”
“No, not really.” After a few seconds, she leaned back and her expression softened. “I get it, though. I know you’re not a sexist asshole and I know most people have a harder time with moms having dangerous jobs. But I know how well I do my job and how safely I do it so, when I meet the right guy, I’m going to get married and have children without sacrificing my career.”
When I meet the right guy. Because she hadn’t yet, of course. If she had, she wouldn’t be killing time with him. Ignoring the sharp jab of regret because this was what he’d signed up for, he looked at her across the table. She was staring at him, her gaze boring into him as if willing him to say something.
“He’ll be a lucky guy,” he said, lifting his glass in a mock toast.
She frowned slightly and her lips parted as if she was going to speak. Then she took a deep breath and lifted her own glass to take a sip of her wine.
The server arriving with their food put an end to their conversation and Scott wasn’t sorry. It hadn’t been going anywhere good, and he didn’t want this night ruined by him being envious of a guy Jamie hadn’t even met yet.
“There’s no way we can eat all this,” Jamie said.
He looked at the paper-lined baskets of all sorts of fried seafood and fries, and grinned. “Maybe not, but we can put one hell of a dent in it.”
They talked while they ate. Not about anything serious, since they seemed to have both had their fill of that, but about the other guys in the company. The upcoming wedding. And, of course, about Ashley and Danny’s pregnancy.
“I can’t wait,” he confessed. “They said they’re not going to find out if the baby’s a boy or a girl, which is killing me.”
“Are you hoping for a boy?” she asked. “The next generation of kick-ass, sports-loving, hot-tempered Kincaids?”
He grinned. “You think if I have a niece, she won’t be a kick-ass, sports-loving, hot-tempered Kincaid?”
“True.” She shook her head, laughing. “Maybe she’ll be like her aunt Lydia.”
“Danny’s a pretty levelheaded guy, unless he’s pushed too far. And Ashley’s a lot more like Mom than Lydia and I are. We definitely got Tommy’s genes in a higher concentration. But, boy or girl, I can’t wait.”
They lingered a lot longer over dinner than he’d anticipated, and by the time they were in her car and headed back into the city, it was late. Throw in traffic due to drivers rubbernecking a minor accident, and it was very late by the time they got off the highway.
“Your sisters want me ready at a ridiculously early hour,” she said, and he could hear the regret in her voice. “I think Lydia has to work in the afternoon, which means morning shopping.”
“We’re not hitting the suit place early, but I told Aidan I’d meet him for breakfast.”
“I hate the idea of you walking this late. Maybe we should head to your place and I’ll drop you off there and drive myself home.”
He wanted to make love to her in the worst way, but he knew she was right. If he went home with her, it was going to be at least a couple of hours before they were done for the night. And then he’d either have a late walk home or he’d have to get up very early in the morning to do it.
“I guess since it’s our first date, I’ll let you kiss me good-night,” he said, turning his head to smile at her in the lights of the streetlamps.
He pulled up on the street behind his house. Not only would he have quick access to the stairs in the back, but she’d be pointed in the right direction to head home. After undoing his seat belt, he leaned across the center console to kiss her.
Ending the kiss was almost painful, but they’d both be sorry if they didn’t go straight to bed and go to sleep. “Thanks for going down there with me.”
“Thanks for inviting me.” She smiled, running her thumb across his bottom lip. “It’s a special place.”
“Yeah.” He put his hand on the door pull, since sitting on the side of the street wasn’t any better a plan than going to her place. “Text me when you get home so I know you made it. And let me know how the shopping trip goes.”
“I will.” She got out of the car and walked around to the driver’s side. After another kiss good-night, she slid into the seat.
“And, Jamie, don’t forget the cake.”
She was laughing when he closed the door, and he waited to duck between the buildings until she’d turned the corner. After a final wave, he walked to his dad’s backyard and climbed the stairs to his apartment.
He should have left a light on for himself, he thought. Maybe then the place wouldn’t feel so lonely.
ELEVEN
SINCE LYDIA AND ASHLEY both planned to make breakfast for their guys before hitting the mall, Jamie made herself a breakfast sandwich on an English muffin in the morning. She wasn’t much of a breakfast eater and preferred to wait a few hours before a meal, but she’d learned on the job to eat when she had the chance.
After throwing on jeans and a T-shirt with a light hoodie, along with her comfortable walking sneakers, she steeled her nerves for the drive to the mall. She’d been tempted to ask them to swing by and pick her up, but then they would have had to backtrack. And she was trying to learn the neighborhood while sharpening her Boston driving skills. She couldn’t do that while riding around as a passenger in somebody else’s car, and even that was scary sometimes.
After parking in front of the store entrance they’d told her to meet them at, she locked her car and headed across the parking lot. It was already more crowded than she’d expected, considering the mall had just opened. Lydia and Ashley were sitting on a bench, drinking out of paper cups, and they waved when they saw her.
“We weren’t sure you were coming,” Lydia said.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, thankful it was only by fifteen minutes. “I still don’t have the hang of driving here. I swear, I can drive to the same place six times and it will take me a different amount of time to get there each time I go. Is there a bridal shop here?”
“Oh, I’m not doing a gown. I just want something nice, like a cocktail dress, maybe. Fancy, but not too formal. There are some high-end stores in this mall that might have something.”
“We’re trying not to do all the small boutique stores,” Ashley said. “We don’t have time for that and I don’t want to walk that much.”
In the second store, they found Ashley’s dress. It was a fit-and-flare style in a dark emerald that suited her figure and coloring as though it had been designed just for her. They were about to give up on the mall when Lydia pulled a dress off a rack and
they all sighed. A cream-colored sheath with a cream lace overlay, it was elegant and simple, but not plain. It was very Lydia and when she tried it on, Jamie wasn’t surprised when Ashley got teary-eyed.
Jamie watched the sisters bond over the dress, remembering going through this moment with each of her sisters. They’d both had big weddings, so the process had been a lot more grueling for her, but the emotional payoff was the same.
“What are you wearing?” Ashley asked, looking at Jamie while they waited for the dress to be put into a garment bag.
Her eyes widened. “Me? I don’t know yet. And nobody cares what I’m wearing.”
“When’s the last time you dressed up?” Lydia asked.
“I don’t know. I went to a promotion ceremony not too long ago. And there was a plaque dedication.”
“No,” Lydia said. “I’m not talking about dressing up for work. I’m talking about dressing up for fun. My wedding’s going to be fun.”
“You know, I went to a firefighter’s wedding once where they wore their Class A uniform,” Jamie said. “Everybody matched. It was great, and I’m sure the pictures were stunning.”
Lydia snorted. “Nobody’s wearing their dress uniforms to my wedding. Even if the chief gave permission for the guys—and you, of course—to wear them, which even as a favor for my dad would be questionable because we’re getting married in a bar and there will be drinking, we all live and breathe the fire department enough without it being the theme of my wedding.”
“So what you’re saying is that I need to start thinking about what I’m going to wear.”
“Yes, you do.” Lydia pointed a finger at her, which made her laugh. “You all have it easy every day. Your T-shirts and uniform pants and boots. Turnout gear. Even when you guys dress up, there are rules and a specific uniform. When you’re off duty, you still wear the T-shirts and all you have to decide is sweatpants or jeans. Maybe cargo shorts in the summer. You’re dressing up, Jamie.”
Fully Ignited (Boston Fire #3) Page 14