by Stacy Finz
Those early weeks were like a dream, spending entire days in bed, wrapped in each other’s arms. Sometimes they’d go away, stay at a fancy hotel with a hot tub or camp in a tent under an awning of trees.
Eventually, real life intruded and the romance didn’t seem quite as shiny or as perfect. Sue began to complain that his work hours were preventing them from having a normal social life. Like her mother, she enjoyed attending charity events, the symphony, and the opera. Her father had left her a comfortable inheritance when he died, and although she wasn’t rich, she could afford to attend some of Chicago’s glitzier affairs. He attempted to explain to her that his job would never have banker’s hours. At first, she tried to be understanding, but his unpredictable schedule became a constant bone of contention between them. It got to the point where she threw crying fits when he had to leave for the fire station.
“What do you want me to do, Sue? This is my job.”
“Why can’t you do what Eddy did and become a consultant? It pays better and you’d have regular hours.”
“Because I don’t want to be a consultant. I love my job.”
“More than having a family?”
He didn’t see how they were mutually exclusive. His father had raised four kids while working for CFD. More than half the employees in the department had families.
“You’re being selfish,” she accused.
“How is doing what my family has done for three generations being selfish? Sue, you knew what I did when we started dating.” That was the thing; she wanted to change him. Wanted him to wear a suit and a tie, make a six-figure salary, hang out with Biff and Buffy, which no way, no how, would ever be in the cards.
“At least we should get married,” she said. “We’re not getting any younger and when we start having kids, you’ll want to have a nine-to-five job.”
“And if I don’t? You think that’s a good way to test a marriage?”
By the third year, they’d decided to live together so Sue could go back to school and get her teaching credential. She’d been a technical writer but was bored brainless. Aidan was trying to get promoted in the Office of Fire Investigation Division. The hope was that living under the same roof would give them more time together as their careers grew more demanding. Aidan knew that cohabitation before marriage was a big compromise for Sue, who subscribed to the whole why-buy-the-cow adage, but he wasn’t ready to take those vows. The honest truth was, he was having serious doubts about the relationship, which was effed up because Sue loved him and everyone loved Sue.
Anyway, he never got the chance to question those second thoughts because two months after moving in together, Sue’s mom died from a stroke. Aidan, and by extension his parents and siblings, were her only family now. She needed him more than ever, and he didn’t want to let her down, not when she deserved security. That was when she became obsessed with having a baby.
“As soon I move up in rank we’ll get married, Sue, and have a baby.” But at the back of his mind he knew he was lying.
Apparently, she knew too, because six months later she moved out and started seeing Sebastian at the school where she was finishing her teaching program.
“So if you don’t mind me asking, what’s going on with you and Dana?” Brady asked, pulling Aidan out of his thoughts.
“We’re just friends.” He cast an eye over the partygoers and found her standing by herself, reorganizing the salads. “Jeez. Hang on a sec, I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ve got it covered,” Brady called.
Aidan walked across the yard to Dana. “Are you not having fun?”
“I totally am,” she said.
“Then why are you here alone?”
“I just wanted to neaten the table up a little.”
He gently clasped her shoulders. “You don’t like parties, do you?”
Dana let out a breath. “It’s not that I don’t like them, I’m just not good at mingling and making small talk. The truth is, I haven’t had a lot of practice.”
“Why not?” He cocked his head to the side. “It’s not like you smell or anything.”
She tossed him a flippant smile. “I wasn’t that outgoing as a kid, and after my brother died my parents and I sort of became recluses. By the time I got to college, I kept to myself.”
“But you’re a friggin’ real estate agent, a salesperson. Don’t you have to be good with people for that?”
She shrugged. “It’s a job and I’m good at my job.”
“Hang with me, then.” He draped an arm around her shoulder.
“You don’t have to, Aidan. Go talk with your friends. I’ll be fine. I actually like watching people.”
They both heard a car door slam at the same time. A few minutes later, Harlee, Colin, a cop Sloane worked with, and a woman with red, white, and blue hair—no shit—strolled into the party. Harlee saw them huddled together and wandered over.
“I hope you don’t mind that we’re crashing your barbecue,” she said. “Sloane invited us.”
“The more the merrier.” Aidan grinned and watched the cop and Colin add more drinks to the cooler.
“I would’ve invited you,” Dana stammered. “We just decided to have something yesterday and I figured you were already busy.”
“We planned to bowl, but the place is packed with senior citizens. The Nugget Mafia is monopolizing two lanes.”
“The Nugget Mafia?” Aidan asked.
“They’re a group of old-timers who think they run the town,” Harlee said. “One of them is the mayor, Dink Caruthers. And Darla’s dad”—she nodded in the direction of the chick with the flag hair—“he’s Nugget’s never-going-to-retire barber.”
Aidan figured there was a story there. But before he could ask more, flag hair joined them.
“Hi. I’m Darla.” She shook Aidan’s hand and reached out to stroke Dana’s hair. “You need a moisturizing treatment.”
Dana combed her fingers through the spot on her head Darla had just touched. “I do?”
Aidan tightened his arm around Dana protectively. After being with Sue all those years, he knew how catty women could be.
“You’ve got gorgeous hair, but with the dry weather . . . come into the barber shop and I’ll fix you up. Maybe a little trim too.”
“She did mine yesterday,” Harlee said.
“Okay,” Dana agreed.
He gave her a quick squeeze, and it didn’t go beyond his notice that the other two women exchanged glances.
“You should come in too,” Darla said and ran her fingers through Aidan’s hair. She was an oddball, that one. “Nice and thick. I could thin it a little. So how are you liking Nugget?”
“I like it.” He backed away a foot or two. “You live here long?”
“My father did. But I grew up in Sacramento with my mom. I only moved here permanently two winters ago.” She gazed around the yard at the lanterns. “Looks so festive, right?”
“Dana did that,” Aidan said.
Sloane caught sight of them standing together and came over to greet Harlee and Darla. “You guys made it.” Both women hugged Aidan’s sister. He didn’t realize she had so many friends here.
“Is that Hutch over there?” Darla said, squinting at the group assembled near the grill.
“Yeah, you know him?”
“I cut half the guys’ hair at Cal Fire. Hutch comes in occasionally but mostly uses a place in Glory Junction and probably pays twice the price. Everything in that town is a rip-off.”
“So, Dana, there’s a rumor going around that a big corporation is buying the Rosser place,” Harlee said. “I’d love to get something in the Trib about it. You know anything?”
“It’s not even close to being a done deal,” Dana said, and Harlee’s eyes grew round with excitement.
“There’s actually some truth to it? I assumed it was bogus, like most of the rumors in this town. How do you know about it? Are you representing the buyer?”
“I can
’t really talk about it. Sorry.”
“Can you talk about it when it’s a done deal?” Harlee asked.
“I don’t think so. But you’ll figure it out.”
“Whoa, you make it sound big. Are the buyers planning to build a resort or something?”
Sloane and Darla seemed just as curious as Harlee and started peppering Dana with more questions. Evidently, this passed as big news in Nugget. He really needed to get back to the grill to relieve Brady, but he didn’t want to leave Dana to fend for herself against the nosy vultures. But Dana surprised him by laughing at her interrogators.
“Guys, I can’t tell you anything.” She mimed locking her lips closed with a key. “If it goes through, you’ll know soon enough.”
“Do you make a lot of money selling real estate?” Darla asked, effectively changing the subject. Aidan wondered if the hairdresser wasn’t as dizzy as she looked.
“I do all right,” Dana replied. “The problem is, you can have long dry spells where you don’t sell anything. Recently, the market has been pretty good, though.”
“What’s the most expensive place you’ve ever sold?” Harlee asked.
“When I worked in Tahoe, I once sold a house for two million dollars.”
“Holy crap,” Darla said. “How much did you get of that?”
Even to Aidan, who was an investigator, it was a pretty ballsy question. But Dana didn’t appear to mind, telling them a standard agent’s commission. He watched her tell a story about the ugliest house she’d ever sold, and by the time he slipped away to man the barbecue she positively glowed.
“What’s going on over there?” Brady asked him.
“They’re talking real estate and asking Dana how much money she makes.”
Brady chuckled. “It’s a weird little town. Want a burger?”
“I want a burger and a hot dog. Here, let me take over.”
“I got it,” Brady said. “This is what I do.”
“Is the cop who’s talking to Hutch and Kurtis with Darla?” They’d come together, but Aidan couldn’t see them as a couple. The cop had a buzz cut that reminded Aidan of a marine. Despite the patriotic flag hair, Darla struck him as . . . out there.
“Yep.” Brady flipped three burgers in a row and topped them with cheese slices more deftly than any short-order cook. “She’s a character, Darla. But good people. Both of them.”
Aidan called to the crowd that they should start lining up for burgers and dogs hot off the grill and proceeded to watch Dana with the group of women he’d left her with. She seemed to be holding her own and even looked like she was enjoying herself. She had on one of those sundresses he liked, her legs long and shapely—and ghostly white. The lady needed a tan. She must’ve sensed him observing her because she offered up a shy smile and waved. He waved back, and something indefinable but intimate passed between them, something that made his heart move in his chest.
Chapter 10
Harlee had more clothes than a department store. Every time Dana found a skirt or blazer she liked, Harlee threw another one on the bed just to confuse her.
“You can have them all if you want,” Harlee said. “Don’t worry about offending me if there’s stuff you don’t like. I don’t know why I bought some of these pieces in the first place. I used to have a shopping problem. If I saw something I wanted, I had to get it in every color. Thank goodness Colin built this house with big closets. But I need to get rid of a lot of these clothes before they overtake the house.”
At the barbecue Harlee had once again insisted that Dana come over to her house to look through her clothes. It would’ve been insulting to turn her down, and Dana had always wanted a friend to play dress up with.
Harlee went into the hallway and wheeled another rolling rack into the bedroom. “I have so much that I’m forced to keep clothes in the garage.” She pulled a red shift dress from the stand. “This color goes good with your hair and skin tone. Try it on.”
“I don’t feel right about taking all this.” Dana looked at her growing pile of pantsuits, dresses, skirts, blouses, and jackets. “Even if you’re trying to get rid of stuff, you could sell these clothes.”
“Used clothes don’t exactly fetch a fortune. I’d rather give them away.”
“What about Darla?” Dana knew the two women were best friends.
“She’s already picked what she wants, which wasn’t much. The two of us don’t exactly have the same taste. I would say you and I are closer in style.”
Dana was stunned. “Are you kidding me? You look like a fashion plate. I’m just happy to look professional.”
“You have . . . had . . . some nice pieces before the fire. Quality and very classic. But . . . and don’t take this the wrong way . . . you dress a little too conservatively, in my opinion. I think the clothes from Farm Supply suit you better.”
“It was so kind of Grace.” Dana went in Harlee’s big master bathroom to try the shift dress on but kept the door open a crack so she could still carry on a conversation. “She saved me from having to go out in public in a see-through nightgown the day after the fire, and everything is so cute. But it’s all a little more fitted than I usually wear.”
“That’s why it looks good on you. Hey, just saying. And Aidan certainly seems to appreciate it.”
“Huh, what do you mean?” Dana popped her head out of the bathroom.
“He can’t keep his eyes off of you. I seriously think he’s into you.”
Dana came out in the dress. “No, he’s going through a bad breakup.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
Dana didn’t think she was betraying any confidences. Other than to tell her that Sue was getting married, Aidan hadn’t disclosed much about his past relationship. “His ex dumped him for someone else.”
“When?” Harlee wanted to know.
“About seven months ago. But the ex just got married.”
Harlee appeared sympathetic at first but then shrugged. “Well, if you ask me, he seems pretty over it.”
“I’m sure it’s just an act. Men are good at not wearing their emotions on their sleeves.” Especially an alpha male like Aidan.
“Perhaps. But you’re providing quite a distraction for him from what I saw at the barbecue yesterday. He watched you constantly, followed you around like a puppy dog, and smiled at everything you said.”
Dana didn’t want to be a distraction to a man who was just longing for someone else. She’d been that enough times to know it ended up with her feeling used and broken.
“Everyone says you’re just sharing the house together, but I left the party wondering.” Harlee winged up her brows in question.
“We’re just roommates, that’s all.”
Sometimes Dana suspected Aidan showered her with attention because he felt sorry for her. She got the distinct impression that the man was a caretaker—probably the reason he became a firefighter—and worried that Dana lacked a social life. That was why he dragged her into his.
“You never know,” Harlee said. “That could change.”
Doubtful, Dana thought, but if she could keep her heart out of it she wouldn’t mind having a brief affair with him. It wasn’t every day that a single woman in the middle of nowhere had access to a single man like Aidan McBride. Just the thought of being with him gave her shivers. Her times with Griffin had been nice, but Aidan struck her as the kind of man who knew his way around a woman’s body. Dana’s problem was she’d never been able to separate her heart from sex.
“The dress is perfect.” Harlee made Dana turn around so she could view it from the back. “Add it to the pile.”
“You don’t think it’s too tight?”
“Are you crazy? I think it fits you like a glove. It’ll go from day to night with a little suit jacket and then some chunky jewelry for painting the town.”
As if Dana ever painted the town. But she did adore the dress and could wear Spanx to keep her stomach from pooching out too much, she thought as she examined herself in the
full-length mirror.
“You sure you want to give this up? It’s a really great dress.”
“I have one in blue that I like better. Plus, for working at the Trib the dress is too much. I don’t have clients like you do. Around here, I can get away with wearing jeans and boots for most of my interviews.” Harlee grabbed a jumper and a couple of maxi dresses off the rack. “Here, try these on.”
Dana went back inside the bathroom. “I don’t know about this.” The jumper was snug, too short, and cut her torso in an unflattering way.
“Let me see.” Harlee let herself inside the bathroom. “No good. I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought that. Maybe it would look cute on Lina. She’s tiny enough to pull it—” Harlee stopped talking, and an uneasy silence ensued. Dana didn’t know why, but she started laughing.
“Sorry,” Harlee said and chewed on her bottom lip. “Was that insensitive of me? I never knew whether Lina was the reason you and Griff stopped seeing each other.”
“It’s all right. I’m happy for Griffin and Lina.” Not exactly the truth, but Dana was getting there.
“Try on the dresses.” Harlee sat on the toilet with the cover down.
Dana, who’d originally felt self-conscious about changing in front of her, slipped off the romper and put on the yellow maxi.
“I’m not loving the color on you. Try the green one,” Harlee said, and Dana switched dresses. “Now, that one is adorable. Definitely a keeper.”
Dana stood on her tiptoes and backed up so she could see herself in the bathroom mirror. “I can’t believe you’re giving me all these beautiful outfits.”
She loved everything and, even more, loved having someone to tell her what looked good and what didn’t. Ordinarily, most of these clothes would’ve been too daring for her. But Harlee, whose taste Dana trusted, gave her courage to experiment with a new wardrobe.
“Yoo-hoo, anyone home?”
“We’re in here,” Harlee called.