by Marie Force
Wearing a button-down shirt that he’d obviously ironed for the occasion and khaki pants, he stood with his hands on either side of the door. “Hey,” he said, his gaze traveling from her face to her feet and back up again. “You look nice.”
“So do you,” she said, unnerved and oddly aroused by the way he looked at her.
“Ready to go?”
“Let me grab my purse.”
He waited while she locked the front door and gestured for her to go ahead of him down the stairs to the driveway, where his truck was parked.
“Let me get that for you,” he said of the passenger door.
As she put on her seat belt, Mallory gave him an A-plus for manners.
“I hope you like seafood,” he said when he was settled in the driver’s seat. “I never thought to ask before I made a reservation at the Lobster House.”
“Seafood is fine with me.”
“Oh good. Tables are hard to get this week.”
“My sister-in-law Stephanie just got back from the winter in California, and she’s booked solid all week at her restaurant.”
“Which one of your brothers is she married to?”
“Grant. He’s the screenwriter. They went to LA so he could work for a few months and came back to open the restaurant for Race Week.”
“I heard this week would be busy, but you have to see it to believe it.”
“This time last year, Grant, Mac and Evan were in an accident when the boat they were sailing on was hit by a freighter in the fog.”
“Jesus.”
“From what I heard, the family had a really long, scary day waiting to hear they were all safe. Their friend Dan Torrington was with them and got hurt pretty badly. The captain of the boat was killed. His mother, Betsy, is now my uncle Frank’s girlfriend. They met after the accident.”
“Wow.”
“The family is anticipating a less dramatic Race Week this year.”
“I’m sure they are.”
“So how was the off-season on the island?”
“Not as bad as I expected. It was actually kind of relaxing. I did a lot of reading and watched a ton of movies. Hung out with my brother and Lizzie and their friends. There’s always something going on.”
“That’s what I’ve heard.”
“If you’re looking to party, it’s not the place to be in the winter.”
Mallory laughed. “I can’t remember the last time I had the urge to party.”
“It’s better for us to avoid that scene, anyway.”
“Yes, it is.” She glanced over at him. “How long have you been sober?”
“Two years.”
“Congratulations. That’s a big accomplishment.” She had questions she’d like to ask but didn’t want to pry. After so much time in the program, she’d learned that some people liked to talk about their journey while others preferred to keep the details private. If she had to bet, she’d guess he was in the latter category.
When they arrived at the Lobster House, he held the door for her and helped with her coat. They followed the maître d’ to the table, and Quinn held her chair.
Mallory looked up at him. “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
The waiter came to give them a list of specials that included far more detail than any average diner needed about how the food was prepared. “I’ll give you a few minutes with the menu,” he said after the lengthy recitation. “In the meantime, may I interest you in a cocktail?”
“I’ll have a ginger ale,” Quinn said.
“Make it two,” Mallory said.
The waiter’s face visibly fell with disappointment when he realized they wouldn’t be drinking. “I’ll be right back.”
“He needs to work on his stage face,” Quinn said.
“I know! We ruined his night.”
“It is kind of a relief to be out with someone who gets it. I get tired of explaining that I don’t drink. People are always curious about why.”
“I know what you mean. For so many people, socializing of any kind means drinking. It did for me until it became a problem.”
“You said you’ve been sober ten years?”
Mallory nodded. “Other than a brief slipup last year after I lost my mother and met my father for the first time along with the rest of my family.”
“Those are big things to deal with all at once.”
“It was a rough time in more ways than one. The thing that really freaked me out was that I never even gave ten years of sobriety a thought when I drank wine with my dad and beer with my brother and champagne at my other brother’s wedding. It wasn’t much, but I certainly knew better.”
“You were focused on fitting into your new family and took your eye off the ball with your sobriety.”
“Which we both know is something that can’t happen.”
“Well, now you’re aware that it’s possible to lose your focus, so next time you’re in a situation where it would be convenient to drink, you won’t.”
“I certainly hope not. Have you had any tests over the last two years?”
“Every day is a test. Every day is a decision to stick with it, to not go back to the dark place.”
Mallory nodded in agreement, wishing he would elaborate but refusing to push for details. If and when he wanted to say more, he would. Or he wouldn’t. Either way had to be fine with her.
They took a few minutes to examine the menu and to compare notes on what looked good. When the waiter returned, she ordered a shrimp dish and he went with the swordfish.
“I’m allergic to tree nuts,” Quinn told the waiter. “Anything to worry about with the swordfish?”
“No, sir,” the waiter replied, “but I’ll let the chef know just the same.”
“Thank you.”
“Tree nuts, huh?” Mallory asked when they were alone. “Have you ever had a severe reaction?”
“Just once when I was a kid, which is how we found out I’m allergic.”
“Where’s your EpiPen?”
Smiling, he said, “Always the ER nurse. It’s in my back pocket.”
“Good to know.” Then she remembered what she’d ordered for dinner. “You’re not allergic to shellfish or anything else, are you?”
“Nope, just the nuts.”
“It’s been a shellfish kind of day for me,” Mallory said. “I had a lobster roll for lunch with my dad.” After a pause, she added, “I really love saying that out loud. My dad.”
“It must’ve been weird to meet him for the first time.”
“Actually, it wasn’t. Mostly because he’s incredible. He was totally shocked, don’t get me wrong, but he said and did all the right things—much more than I expected, in fact.”
“What did you expect?”
“Nothing, really. I remember being on the ferry that morning and feeling sick with nerves. It had been exactly a week since I’d found the letter my mother left me that told me where I could find him. Part of me was incredibly excited just to see him and to fill in that blank, you know? The other half was terrified that he’d say there was no way he could be my father.”
“I’m trying to see it from his point of view. A gorgeous woman shows up and says she’s his daughter. What that must be like.”
Mallory was stuck on his description of her as “gorgeous.” Certain her face must be bright red, she cleared her throat and gave thanks for the low lighting. “After he read the letter, he was stunned speechless for a minute, and I’ve since discovered that’s a rare thing.”
“I haven’t met him, but I’ve heard great things. Everyone likes him.”
“It’s impossible not to like him.”
“So what did he say when you told him?”
“He said I look just like his mother.” Mallory could still remember the wallop of that revelation. “I look nothing at all like my mother, so I’ve always wondered where my looks came from. Later, my dad showed me a picture of my grandmother as a young woman, and the resemblance is uncann
y. That and the letter my mother had given me were why he never questioned my claim.”
“That’s so cool.”
“I know. I was overwhelmed by that. That picture of our grandmother made things easier with my siblings, too.”
“Were you afraid they wouldn’t believe you?”
“I wouldn’t have blamed them. My father and his wife, Linda, have been very successful. Here I am out of the blue claiming to be the daughter he never knew he had. They were pretty cool about it, mostly because he asked them to be. It was hardest on Janey. She was used to being his only daughter.”
“Something like this brings out the best and worst in people.”
“I’ve seen only the best of my family. I got very, very lucky. When I arrived the other day, they were waiting to help me unpack and move into my new place. What I thought would take three days took three hours thanks to their help. Of course, my dad was right in the middle of it, bossing everyone around.”
“And you loved it.”
“I did. I can’t deny it. I’ve never had a tribe to rely upon. It’s taken some getting used to.”
“You’re used to flying solo, and now that’s not possible.”
She appreciated that he understood. “It was my choice to move out here and live in the middle of the scrum.”
“True.”
“I’m dominating the conversation. Tell me about you.”
“Your story is far more interesting than mine.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“Let’s see. We grew up in Paramus, New Jersey, which is just outside of New York City.”
“Who is we? You and Jared and who else?”
“Two older sisters, Katherine and Melissa. They’re both married with five kids between them. Kath is a lawyer and Mel works for Jared’s company. We also have a younger brother, Cooper. He’s in grad school in Boston.”
“What number are you?”
“Three out of five. Middle child and first son, who was given our mother’s maiden name for a first name.”
“I like it. It’s not a name you hear every day.”
“I like it now, but not so much when I was a kid and wished I had a name like Tom or Mike.”
Smiling, Mallory said, “Isn’t the middle child the one who causes all the trouble?”
“That’s me. I’m the reason we had rules, or so the others say.”
Mallory laughed at the face he made. “So you’re the black sheep?”
“I guess so, although I never set out to be the rebel. Just sort of worked out that way.”
“How so?”
“I got into a lot of trouble when I was a kid. Drinking, smoking pot, running with the wrong crowd. You know the drill. The day I turned eighteen, my dad took me to an army recruiter and told me to sign on the dotted line.”
“Whoa. That’s pretty hard-core.”
“Though I wanted to kill him at the time, he saved my life. I was going nowhere fast until the army got ahold of me and showed me there’s more to life than me, myself and I. At first, I railed against the structure, the authority figures, the rules. The dreaded rules. There were so many of them.” He took a sip of his ginger ale. “But they wore me down over time. They forced me to grow up and get my head out of my ass. I had this drill sergeant… You’ve seen An Officer and a Gentleman, right?”
“Only a hundred times. Hello, Richard Gere in uniform.”
The comment earned her one of his rare laughs, and oh, what laughter did to his handsome face. Dear God…
“My guy made Louis Gossett Junior’s character look like a pussycat. He worked me hard. Made me hate him. Later he said it was because he saw potential in me, but you couldn’t tell me that at the time. I thought he hated me.”
“When did you find out he didn’t?”
“Years after boot camp. I was a lieutenant colonel when I ran into him at a retirement party for a mutual friend. He told me then that he’d always known I would go the distance.”
“That must’ve felt good.”
“It did. We became friends after that, and we’re still in close touch to this day. He’s someone I truly admire.”
“That’s a great story. Your dad must be proud of your career, too.”
“He is. Of course, he also likes to pat himself on the back for dragging me to the recruiter.”
Mallory laughed. “Likes to say ‘I told you so,’ huh?”
“Loves it.”
“So how’d you go from enlisted to trauma surgeon officer?”
“That’s a whole other story.”
Chapter 8
While they ate, Quinn told her about starting out as a medic and applying to a program that put soldiers through college and medical school in exchange for army service afterward.
“To me it was a no-brainer. I got a free education and only owed them eight years after medical school. I’d planned to be a GP, but surgery really called to me and that’s where I ended up. The years I owed the army coincided with a pretty intense period of conflict, so I rotated between tours in Iraq and Afghanistan doing front-line combat surgery and stints stateside at Walter Reed, tending to the wounded. Then I got hurt, and that was that.”
Though he struck a matter-of-fact tone, she could see that he was anything but. “That must’ve been tough.”
“More than three years later, it still is.”
Three years. So his sobriety followed his separation from the army. That couldn’t be a coincidence. “What’ve you been up to for the last couple of years?”
“Rehabbing my leg and figuring out what’s next.”
“And is this it? The new facility, the new job?”
“I guess we’ll see. The jury is still out.”
“Funny how we’re both in this odd state of flux as we stare down forty. It’s not what I expected, that’s for sure.”
“What did you expect?”
Mallory thought about that for a minute. “I thought I’d be thinking about sending kids off to college by now. Instead, I’m contemplating a career change as well as an address change.”
“You thought you’d be a young mom?”
Mallory nodded and decided to be honest with him. “I was married at twenty-two and planned to have kids as soon as my husband and I finished our residencies.”
“What happened?”
“My twenty-seven-year-old husband dropped dead in the OR from a previously undiagnosed heart condition.”
“Oh God. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. All my plans changed after that.”
“I’m sure. I don’t know what to say.”
“It was a long time ago, and while I’ll never forget him, I have figured out how to live without him. That took a while.” Mallory put down her fork and blotted her lips with the cloth napkin. “I haven’t talked about him in a long time, and I’ve told two people about him today.”
“You told your dad.”
Mallory nodded. “I wanted him to know.”
“I’m honored that you told me.”
“You should be,” she said with a teasing smile. “I don’t tell my sad story to just anyone. I haven’t even told my siblings about him.”
“I’m sure you will. When the time is right.”
“Probably.”
“So you were a doctor.”
“I wondered if you’d picked up on that part.”
“It caught my attention.”
“After Ryan died, I walked away from the residency and just about everything else, for that matter. By the time I emerged from the fog of grief and alcoholism, I barely recognized myself, let alone my so-called career. I had no desire to pick up where I left off.”
“That’s understandable.”
“My mom didn’t understand at all how I could ‘throw away’ all that time and education and money, and after a while I began to agree with her. I got my nursing degree, and I’ve never looked back.”
“No regrets?”
“None. I made a much better nu
rse than doctor. I liked being on the front lines with the patients and their families. By the time I was promoted into management, I was ready for a change and embraced that challenge. It all worked out the way it was meant to, I suppose.”
“You never got married again?”
“Once, very briefly, but it didn’t last a month. That was a huge mistake that occurred during the drinking years. What about you?”
“Never came close. Girlfriends here and there, but army life makes for complicated relationships, especially when you’re deployed more than you’re home.”
“That has to be hard.”
“It’s all complicated. Civilian life has its own challenges.”
The waiter came by to clear their plates and offer dessert.
“Split something?” Mallory asked.
“Sure. You choose.”
After studying the dessert menu, she settled on flourless chocolate cake that was served with vanilla ice cream.
Quinn also ordered coffee.
“If I drank coffee at this hour, I’d be up until tomorrow afternoon.”
“Since I quit drinking, I sleep like a dead man. Coffee or not.”
“I have a complicated relationship with sleep.” She tapped on her temple. “That’s when my brain decides to thoroughly rehash every difficult thing I’ve ever been through.”
“My sister Kath is like that. She swears by melatonin.”
“That worked for me for a while but not anymore. I’ve been sleeping better since I got laid off. I’m sure that’s not a coincidence.”
“You miss the job?”
“Not even kinda, which is surprising. I thought I would, but I don’t. I miss the people I worked with, but they keep in touch. I do miss having somewhere to be every day, but that’s about to change when I start back to work part time for Mason.”
“Have you done that before?”
She nodded. “I made paramedic training and regular shifts on the rescue mandatory for my senior nurses in the ER. I was one of six who decided to get fully certified. Who knew that would come in handy someday?”
“You’re way overqualified to work on the rescue. For that matter, you’re overqualified to work with me.”