He’d ended up dozing off as well, and had woken to find Fiona nestled in under his arm, her hand around his waist. He remembered thinking he could get used to looking down at her first thing in the morning. His grin spread then as he recalled just how she’d looked. Flushed cheeks, fabric wrinkles pressed into her face, mascara smudged under her eyes, and all that curly hair that somehow managed to get into a bird’s nest, even when she wasn’t tossing and turning. Or wrestling her way out of her man-eating scarf.
He glanced over at the passenger seat in his cab, and thought it was odd that it felt empty in the truck without her. Even silent and worrying, she’d been an energy force that had filled the small space. He missed that. He missed her. “Yeah, you’ve got it bad,” he murmured, but rather than bring on a moment of What in the hell are you doing? worry, it just made his grin deepen further.
He picked up his phone, thinking he’d just check in, see if they’d heard anything else. She’d gone back to the Point with Logan and Alex. He was dropping the women off there, then heading back into the Cove to deal with police business that had understandably ballooned during the storm. Alex had a truck, so they wouldn’t be stuck out there. She’d needed to get back to do what was necessary to preserve all the food she’d started prepping for the feast they hadn’t had. She’d bring Fiona out to the farm to get her car later on, once the roads were more fully cleared and the temps had climbed back up above freezing.
Calder had left to make his way back to his horse farm and the never-ending chores to be done there, not wanting to pull any of his employees away from their families on Thanksgiving Day if he could help it. Fortunately the storm hadn’t had too much of an impact out there. That left Hannah and Kerry at the hospital to maintain their vigil over Fergus and keep them all updated on any news. Kerry refused to leave, so Hannah basically stayed to run interference, and protect the doctors and nurses from Kerry. At some point, Ben figured, she’d drag her youngest sister out bodily, if for no other reason than to shower and get a change of clothes.
It was funny. He’d been an only child, and while the McCraes had always been the big, noisy, crazy family he’d wished he had, he’d spent the bulk of his life, and certainly the last dozen or so years, flying solo. Even with Annalise, he’d never felt like he was connected to anything bigger, or at least deeper. Her family was far from the warm and cozy sort, and the more time he spent around the adult McCrae clan, the more he realized just how separate and apart Annalise had kept herself, too. Ben had always thought that was what suited him about her, that she wasn’t all clingy and suffocating, that she allowed him his space.
“Now you can’t stand being in the cab of your truck alone,” he murmured. He thought about his mother’s reaction to the news that he had been spending some time with Fiona, and that if he had his way, he’d be spending a lot more time with the middlest McCrae sister. He hadn’t been sure, given the confusing direction of their previous conversation, exactly what she’d think of that, but he trusted her judgment above all others, which was why he’d gone ahead and told her. He’d tried to make it something of a casual statement, but she’d leapt on it like a starving cat on a mouse. Probably another sign of her hunger for grandchildren, he’d told himself at the time.
But her comments regarding the situation he was facing, with both he and Fiona facing big personal changes, had actually been calm and well reasoned. She was happy for him. And she hoped things progressed. They hadn’t gone so far as to discuss what he’d do when it was time to go back to Portsmouth.
His mother was a great believer in letting things sort themselves out in their own good time. That faith was being sorely tested by his father’s disease. That was going to operate on its own timetable, which the rest of them would just have to deal with. But even with that harsh truth staring her in the face, she’d cautioned him to take his time, to let Fiona take her time. Besides, she’d told him, rushing was never the best way to enjoy anything. “Words to live by,” she’d told him. “And to love by.”
He’d just picked up his phone, thinking that it wasn’t exactly rushing if he called Fiona to make sure they’d made it back to the Point okay, but his phone vibrated first. Thinking it was Jim, or one of the guys already out at the farm doing prep work for opening day, or, if he was lucky, Fiona, he answered without looking at the display.
“Ben Campbell,” he said, keeping his attention on the road. The wind was blowing the powdery snow back over the roads in some areas.
“That is who I dialed,” came the amused, familiar voice.
He groaned inwardly. “Annalise. What can I do for you?”
She laughed in that way he knew all too well. “Oh, that list is far too long for this conversation. I just wanted to follow up on the party details.”
“I’m sorry. I thought I made it clear last time that I wouldn’t be attending. My schedule has doubled, tripled even, at the moment. Please extend my regrets.”
“Oh, but come now, surely you can make it by for just an hour or two? It’s the perfect showcase for your recent star turn in AE. Everyone who is anyone will be here. You could double your client roster in one night. Write it off as a business expense if you need to rationalize the time.”
Ben paused as he debated how to reply. He didn’t have any interest in upsetting Annalise. Not because he was avoiding conflict between them, but pissing off Annalise meant pissing off her parents. And while he had no plans to go schmooze the Mandervilles just to expand his client list, neither did he need them actively working against his business and the clients he already had. “As I said, I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to make it.”
She huffed. “You’re being such a bore about this. When are you back in Portsmouth? I’ll come by and we’ll figure something out.”
“Why are you doing this, Annalise? Why the sudden interest in my business?”
“I’m not doing anything other than offering someone I know and care about an opportunity. I know we didn’t part on the best of terms, but neither did we part on the worst. It’s not like one of us did something awful to the other. Okay, so perhaps I was awful on occasion, but we’ve sorted through all that, haven’t we? Please say you’ll come.”
This was classic Annalise. She didn’t whine or bicker or demand or throw fits. She just kept on and on and on until she wore him down and he agreed just so she’d stop pestering him. Then she’d smile, kiss him, and thank him for being smart enough to see things her way. If she was pushing really hard, she might even climb on his lap or whatever other part of his anatomy was available to make sure he wasn’t too put out with her. And sap that he was, he’d let her get away with it far too often.
He immediately pictured Fiona rolling her eyes and casting aspersions on the general male populace and the ease with which they were led around by their collective raging hard-ons. Oddly, it was that image that stirred him. Differences of opinion with Fiona weren’t about thrust and parry, or wheedle and wear down. She just came out and put what she was thinking on the table, and was more than happy to tell him when she didn’t agree with his take on the matter. And he was the one who wanted to drag her off to his cave and see if he could convince her otherwise. He swallowed a snort, thinking she’d probably let him, too. Then tell him where he could stick his clever machinations, as soon as he was done.
With Fiona, even their conflicts kept him engaged, interested, turned on. In fact, if she’d been sitting next to him at that moment, he’d have happily dragged her onto his lap and proven just how lusty the thought made him.
“Ben? You’re not even listening to me.”
No, he thought, I’m not. And isn’t it lovely that I no longer have to?
“I have to go, Annalise,” he said. “I won’t have time for a meeting when I’m back. Again, please give my regrets to your folks. You have a good holiday.” He clicked off before she could reply and tossed the phone back on the seat just in time to turn down the long driveway to the farm. He was smart enough to know that A
nnalise had something else going on, and whatever it was, his participation was apparently a key element. He knew he’d be hearing from her again. “Yet another reason to check your phone before answering.” He could only hope she wouldn’t waste her time and his by coming back up to Snowflake Bay.
His phone vibrated again as he pulled around the house and took the road down to the outbuildings and tree fields. “Oh, for the love of—” But when he snagged the phone, he saw that, this time, it was Fiona calling. All thoughts of Annalise vanished for good as he answered. “Is everything okay? Did you hear anything else?”
“I’m out at the Point, but no, no word from Hannah or Kerry. Hopefully the hospital staff hasn’t locked them up somewhere.”
Ben smiled at that. “You doing okay? Did Alex at least feed the two of you with that mountain of food she was talking about?”
“She actually wasn’t kidding about that. My God, I don’t know who she thought she was feeding, but it would take all of us and at least fifty of our closest friends to plow through this spread.”
“Or me, Logan, Calder, and an afternoon of football.”
She paused. “Also true.”
He wanted to hear the smile in her voice, but all he heard was fatigue. That didn’t surprise him, but it made him wish there was something more he could do. “Well, maybe a plate of warm food and a soft bed for a few hours wouldn’t be a bad idea. You guys could take turns in shifts at the hospital. It’s not going to do anyone any good if you’re all running on empty.”
“I know,” she said tiredly. “You’re right. And I will. Eventually. Alex wanted to know if the roads were good enough for me to get my car out. Or when you thought that could happen. We’re just trying to coordinate on our end. I know starting tomorrow, things are insane for you, so I’m trying to factor that in as well. I know the last thing you want to do is dig my car out, and it’ll be dark soon.”
“Why don’t you have Alex bring you out in the morning, or whenever is best for you tomorrow? Like I said at the hospital, I’ve got a company truck you can borrow. If you’re comfortable with that.”
“That’s very generous, truly. But of all the times for you to be down one company truck, I’m thinking this is not that time.”
“It’s my dad’s truck. We didn’t take it down to Carolina, and it’s not assigned to anyone.”
“Oh,” she said, sounding caught short. “Ben, that’s—thank you. That’s very kind, but—”
“It’s also very practical. And it has the added benefit of prolonging your car-versus-SUV argument with Logan.”
“Yes, well, there is that to consider.”
He did hear the smile now. It made him feel like he’d scored a goal. If he wasn’t worried about the roads getting icy after sundown, he’d have asked her to get Alex to bring her out to the farm right now. Then neither one of them would get any sleep, but what the hell. Some sacrifices were worth it. He wasn’t sure she’d agree, but as a distraction from her troubles, it wasn’t a bad option either.
“Why don’t I give you a shout—or I can text, seeing as you’ll probably be overrun with folks coming out to get their trees tomorrow—and let you know when I’ll be out. And . . . yes, thank you. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’d very much appreciate the loan of your truck. Really sweet of you.”
“I wish I could do more.”
“You’re very kind. And you’ve already done more than you know, being there for us all, staying at the hospital all night long when I know you have other things you should be doing.”
“There’s no ulterior motive by the way,” he said, in case she was concerned. “It’s no different than if I’d loaned the truck to Logan.”
“I wasn’t worried about that, but I appreciate you clarifying. I—I’ve been giving some thought to our conversation. The one we were having before all this happened.”
“Fi, don’t worry about that right now. About any of it. Okay? You’ve got enough on your plate and now is not the time to be figuring out new things. I get it.”
“Actually, I was going to say that it’s been a nice thing to think about, especially now. Unless you—I mean, I know we were all being our typical pain-in-the-ass selves at the hospital, but you’ve seen us like that before.”
He smiled then. “I know this will sound weird, and it’s not in any way meant to diminish what’s going on with Fergus, but it was kind of comforting in a way. Like coming home.”
She paused, then said, “That’s maybe the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” The smile was back, along with a note of affection.
“It’s the truth. I wish you were here, Fi. I wish . . . well, I wish a lot of things. Just . . . don’t think about it, about us, now. The topic will still be ripe for discussion when this crisis is over.”
“Is that some kind of farmer come-on? Being ripe for me?”
She was teasing, but he welcomed the respite from the worry and the fear. “Would it work if it was?”
She laughed briefly. “At the moment? Maybe. But don’t let that go to your head.”
Too late, he could have told her, but just said, “Scout’s honor.”
“We’ve been over that already.”
“Shoot,” he said. “I’m beginning to realize the drawbacks of dating someone who has known me all my life.”
“Yeah, no smooth pickup lines. I know all your secrets. At least I don’t have to worry about my face going flame red over every little thing. You’re already overly familiar with my fireplug aspects.”
She was clearly teasing and he was glad she could joke about it.
“Too soon?” she asked, and he realized he’d let the moment play out.
“No, no. I—no.”
She laughed at that. “I kind of like you being tongue-tied over that awful nickname. And the answer is, yes, I can joke about it, and no, you can’t. Too soon for you.”
“So noted,” he said, smiling again. “For the record, even this clueless male had figured that much out.”
“Nice to know.” She paused, then said, “So . . . is that what we’re doing? Dating, I mean?”
“I—it was just a phrase. But . . . no, that’s not what this feels like.”
“I guess we’ve known each other too long to think of... whatever this is as dating.”
“We could always do dinner and a movie and see how that feels,” he said, smiling.
She hummed in what sounded like agreement, then fell silent.
“You should probably get back to helping Alex,” he said at length, suddenly feeling like he’d stepped into a whole new landmine-strewn field. “Would you mind letting me know if you hear anything regarding your uncle?”
“No,” she said immediately, easily. “Of course not. And yes, I will. I’ll let you know when we’re on our way tomorrow, too. I don’t know Alex’s schedule and I’ve more or less given up on doing anything with my business until we get a handle on what’s happening with Fergus. But I didn’t anticipate getting much done over the holiday weekend anyway. I had planned to use that time to work on Hannah’s wedding, but . . .”
“Are they still talking about putting it off?”
“Yes. Fergus is supposed to walk her down the aisle, and I told her having the wedding as a goal might be the motivation he needs to focus forward. Once we know what obstacles he’ll be facing . . .” She sort of trailed off there at the end.
“Fi—”
“It’s okay. I just . . . I am really trying not to think about the worst possible case. I know you know what I mean, probably better than anyone. It’s just . . . not always easy to do that.” She took a deep breath and hurried on. “But wedding plans will continue, at least as it concerns the parts that don’t require deposits and advance orders. I told Hannah I was lugging my stuff to the hospital to force her to do something positive and forward-thinking, too.”
“You are a positive force, you know that?” he said, quite sincerely, thinking that right there pretty much summed up his attraction
to her. “It’s a really good thing to be.”
She laughed tiredly. “I’ll remind you that you said that at some point, I’m sure.”
“I look forward to having it tossed back in my face,” he said, smiling now, too. “I’ve got a crew of guys converging on my truck. They left their warm homes with full turkey bellies to get out here and do storm damage control so we could open on time tomorrow, and I’m guessing they think I should probably get out of my nice warm truck and help them.”
“True,” she said, humor still in her tone. “Thank you, Ben. For . . . well, for everything.”
“I’ll always be there, Fi. Family first.”
She paused, then, in a quieter tone, said, “Yes,” sounding quietly stunned. After a moment, she added, “Me, too, Ben.”
“Good.” He switched the phone to his other ear and motioned to the guys that he would be out in a moment. “What I said earlier, about what this feels like? It feels like we have solid bonds, Fi, forged over time. They run deep. Knowing we’ll be there for each other, no matter what, is not something I take for granted.”
“Me, either.” Another pause, then, “I like how that feels.”
He felt as if a huge weight had just been lifted off his chest, and all the mines in that field seemed to disappear. “But I’d still like to take you out to dinner and a show.”
“Deal,” she said, and they ended the conversation with that smile back in her voice.
He got out of the truck thinking he wanted to make her smile as often as possible, and for a very, very long time.
Chapter Seventeen
“You want what kind of cake?” Fiona looked up from her planner, certain she hadn’t heard Hannah correctly.
“We wanted something different,” Hannah explained.
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