Handle with Care (Saddler Cove)

by Nina Croft

  “What?” he asked when she didn’t move.

  “Just—holy shit,” she muttered. “What have you done to yourself?”

  He swallowed. “Do I look like an idiot?”

  “No. You just don’t look like Tanner O’Connor.”

  “That was the point of the exercise,” he said drily.

  “Emily likes the way you looked.”

  Did she? Well, she had told him that she’d spent a lot of time fantasizing about him. But that was just fantasies and not real life. In real life, she no doubt found him an embarrassment. “Did Emily ask you to come get me?” Did he sound pathetically hopeful?

  “No. But she wants you there.”

  “Then why didn’t she ask me?”

  “Duh? Because you’ve been refusing to talk to her.”

  Good point. She was still staring at him, a frown between her eyes. “So are we going?” he asked.

  She seemed to give herself a little shake. “I suppose so. It’s too late for you to go back and change now.”

  What did she mean by that? She wanted him to change back? After all that effort he’d put in.

  She pulled out onto the road before he could ask. The streets were quiet, and she put her foot down on the accelerator, and they shot forward. “Hey, just don’t crash or get caught speeding—they’d definitely blame me.”

  She didn’t slow, but she flashed him a grin. “The police are all at the meeting. The whole town is at the meeting.”

  Shit. His stomach churned. He was going to have to stand up in front of them all and pretend to be something he wasn’t. And they’d probably laugh at him, and Emily would lose her job anyway, and she’d hate him and…

  “Stop chewing your nails,” Mimi said.

  He stopped. “So you don’t like the way I look?”

  She sniffed. “I just don’t like you giving in to those sanctimonious do-gooders who think they’re better than anyone else just because they go to church on Sunday.”

  “I didn’t do it for them.” He scowled. “I did it for Emily. So she can keep the job she loves.”

  Her hands tightened on the wheel. “She’ll keep it.”

  “So why am I here?”

  “Because you should be at that meeting. And Emily has been trying to talk to you for two weeks, and you’ve ignored her.”

  “I thought it was for the best.”

  She cast him a sideways glance. “Well, you were wrong.”

  “I know. I was on my way. I came to my senses and realized if I let Emily go without a fight, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I love her. I know she doesn’t feel the same, but maybe one day…”

  “You’d be surprised what Emily feels.”

  A little twist of hope fluttered to life inside his chest. He shoved it down. He had to get through this meeting, then he could hope.

  “Sawyer came to see us,” Mimi said. “Tonight.”

  “Shit, what did he say? He didn’t—”

  “No. He didn’t. Don’t worry, your secret is safe. But everyone who matters knew anyway.”

  What did she mean by that?

  “We’ve all seen the way Sawyer has behaved,” she said, as though he’d asked the question out loud. “If that hasn’t been a clear sign of a guilty conscience, I’ve never seen one. And the way he disappeared after the accident. It didn’t take much to put it together.” She pulled up with a squeal of brakes outside the school. “And Jed would have as well, if he hadn’t been blinded by grief and anger.” She switched off the engine. “Let’s go.”

  He climbed out slowly and found she was already heading into the building and had to run to catch up. She opened the door to the auditorium, and they slipped inside. The place was packed, but Mimi elbowed her way through to the side, where they could see the podium clearly. The meeting was obviously already in progress. Jed Forrester was just sitting down, having no doubt said his piece. And there was Emily. She’d been facing the long table where the board members were seated, but now she turned to face the audience, looking so beautiful and perfect and good. Her lower lip was caught in her teeth, and she was shifting from foot to foot. It didn’t appear like things had gone well for her. He willed her to look at him, but she was staring straight ahead. He made to move closer, but Mimi stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Let her speak.”

  She cleared her throat. “Good evening, everyone. I know it’s not normal procedure for me to address you like this, but I’m sure the board have already made up their minds, so I’ll talk to you instead, because there are some things I need to say.”

  The murmurings of the crowd ceased. She blinked a couple of times, then moved a little closer to the microphone. Christ, he hated the bastards for putting her through this.

  “You’ve already heard what the Board of Education has to say. They want you to believe that I am in breach of the morality clause in my contract. That I am an unfit person to teach your children. Most of you have known me all my life, and I truly hope that you don’t see me that way.”

  The crowd had gone quiet.

  “Go Emily!” Someone shouted from the back. So she had some supporters. They hadn’t all been turned against her.

  “It’s true, I am pregnant. And I am unwed. But I hope to change that in the very near future. I wouldn’t have chosen to bring a child into the world this way, but now it’s happened, I’m happy and will do the best for my baby. Including marrying her father.”

  He was breaking up inside. She still wanted to marry him—after all his fuck-ups, she was still willing to give them a chance.

  “And there we have the crux of the matter,” Emily continued. “Certain people in this town do not want to see me married to my baby’s father. They tell me he isn’t a suitable husband for a teacher. That I’ll be morally corrupted just by spending time with him.”

  Pausing, she glared over her shoulder at the board. What was coming next? He held his breath.

  She turned back. “Well, you know what I say to that? I say bullshit.”

  Shocked laughter ran through the crowd.

  Behind her, Jed Forrester rose to his feet, but the woman beside him tugged him back down and spoke to him. Tanner couldn’t hear the words, but he sat, albeit with a scowl on his face.

  Tanner couldn’t move. What was she doing? She was supposed to be getting her job back. He’d come here ready to grovel, and she was going to mess everything up before he even had a chance. He tried to tug free of Mimi’s grip, but she held him tight, and he really didn’t want to get into a fight—he was supposed to be proving he was a changed man—and certainly not with Emily’s grandmother, who’d probably beat the crap out of him.

  “She’s doing a great job,” Mimi whispered. “Let her finish.”

  “I’m going to marry Tanner O’Connor. And if you had a brain cell between you, then you’d realize what sort of man he is. He’s a good man. A man who didn’t have the advantages of some of us, a man who’s suffered tragedy, a man who despite all that has made a success of his life. He works hard, runs a thriving business, brings money into this town.”

  Christ, she was going to break him. He felt like his insides were all knotted up and his heart ached and—

  “You,” she said, pointing at a man in the front row. “Mr. McBride. Do you know who pays for your daughter Lucy’s piano lessons? And you, Mrs. Daily. Are you aware of who keeps the bus going that takes your grandmother out on her weekly trips? Martin Lopez—who fixed your grandma’s boiler while you and your family were on holiday in Orlando, and then visited every day to make sure she was okay? Tanner O’Connor. That’s who. And much more. You’d all know that, except, unlike most of the do-gooders in this town, Tanner doesn’t go shouting about the things he does. He doesn’t need your thanks, or your pats on the backs, or a mention in church every Sunday.”

  How the hell did she know this stuff? He was sure he’d covered his tracks.

  “Yes, he’s made mistakes—who hasn’t—but he’s also paid for them. What happene
d eight years ago was a tragic accident. It could have happened to anyone, no matter who was driving.” She took a deep breath, and he worried she’d say more. But all she did was turn briefly to look at Jed Forrester, and the man’s shoulders suddenly slumped, as though facing a weight he was tired of carrying. “But that’s all it was,” she said, turning back. “And it’s time for us all to move on.”

  “Yay!” That was Sawyer. He should keep his mouth shut.

  “Maybe Tanner doesn’t look all smart and nice and tidy. And he has tattoos. And maybe he could smile more. So what? It doesn’t make him bad. Just take a look behind all that and see what I see.”

  She licked her lips. “The truth is, I’m not marrying Tanner O’Connor because I’m going to have his baby, I’m marrying him because he’s the best man I know, and I love him.”

  Holy hell.

  She loved him? She really loved him? She wouldn’t say it in front of the whole town if she didn’t mean it. He blew out his breath. His legs were weak.

  “And that’s all I have to say on the matter,” Emily said. “If you’re expecting me to beg for my job, then you’re all going to be disappointed. And if that means I lose my job, then so be it, you’d not be the sort of people I want to work for anyway. And I feel sorry for your children, growing up within such a narrow-minded, mean-spirited attitude.” She looked around the room. “But one last thing. If I do keep my job, no more morality clause. Because if what I’ve been doing with Tanner is immoral, then I’ll be in breach of that clause every single day. Hopefully more than once. And I don’t want to take up all of your time with more of these meetings. Tanner and I will have better things to do.”

  She fell silent, no doubt worried as she waited for some sort of reaction. But the crowd seemed numbed. Mimi whispered to him. “You can move now.” She sort of pushed him forward, and he took a step toward the podium. Emily must have sensed him, because she turned slightly. She blinked a couple of times, as though she didn’t recognize him. Then her eyes widened, and she burst into tears. Mimi patted his arm. “Don’t worry. It’s the hormones.”

  He didn’t care. She loved him. And she couldn’t take it back because he had hundreds of witnesses. She could cry as much as she liked. He’d be there to hug her better. But one thing was for sure. She wasn’t losing her goddamn job.

  He walked to the podium and came to a halt in front of her. He ignored everyone else, though he could almost sense Jed Forrester’s glare.

  “You’ve cut your hair,” Emily said softly.

  He smiled. “For you. I’ll do anything for you, don’t you know that yet?”

  She sniffed, then reached up, rubbed his clean jaw. “And your beard. I liked your beard.”

  She seemed really upset. Shit. She was starting to cry harder, and he just wanted to calm her down. He wiped the tears from her soft cheek. “It’ll grow back, baby.”

  He stared into her warm eyes until the tears stopped falling, and then he cleared his throat, pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket. He stared at it but couldn’t make the words make sense. They’d sounded okay in his head earlier. Now after Emily’s heartfelt speech, the words seemed stilted and lifeless. He crumpled the paper and dropped it on the floor, then realized that he should have put it back in his pocket—they’d probably arrest him for littering. Too late now.

  God, she did this much better than him.

  He ran a hand through his hair, then realized he’d messed up his “style” too late. The goddamn tie was strangling him. He pulled it off and shoved it in his pocket. Someone in the crowd wolf-whistled.

  He looked across the faces all staring up at him. He recognized all of them. Had known them all his life. Reese was there, and Aiden. Sawyer and his wife. Ryan Forrester. The woman who ran the café across the street from the garage. She smiled at him.

  “I grew up in this town,” he said. “I’ve known most of you all my life. And to be honest, most of you I’ve always considered complete assholes.”

  “Way to go, bro,” Aiden shouted. “Tell it like it is.”

  “I always believed you all looked down on me. And all this time, I’ve blamed you for that, when I should have blamed myself. So this is a one-time thing, and it will likely never happen again.” He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’ve been an asshole as well.” A ripple of laughter ran through the crowd. Maybe he could do this. “But this is about Emily. And I don’t think anyone would disagree that Emily is one of the best people in Saddler Cove. Actually, not one of…she is the best.”

  A few people cheered at that.

  “She’s a truly good person, the best teacher ever—or so my niece tells me—she’s sweet and kind and would never hurt anyone. And yet there are people here who would call her immoral.” He took a step closer to the microphone. “Anyone want to come up here and say that to my face?” He waited for a minute, scanning the audience. Nobody moved. “Good. Because I don’t want to mess up my brother’s best suit showing you to the door.”

  Another ripple of laughter ran through the crowd.

  “Anyway, what I wanted to say was Emily shouldn’t be punished because I’m an asshole who can’t keep his hands in his pockets and apparently carries a three-year-old condom in his wallet.”

  Another ripple of laughter.

  “My speech”—he waved a hand at the crumpled paper on the floor—“gave a list of things I planned to do better. It went into a whole load of detail about how I was gonna try and be less of an asshole. I’m not going to go into that now. Instead, I’ll just say that if Emily takes me on, then I’ll do my goddamn best to be worthy of her.” He looked down at her, a smile splitting her face open wide, and his heart cracked open wider.

  Get a grip and finish this.

  “I’m sure I’ll fail sometimes, because as my brothers will tell you, I can be a cantankerous bastard and hell to live with.”

  “Too right, bro.”

  He ignored the interruption. “I just hope my best will be good enough.” He turned so he faced Emily, then pulled the ring out of his pocket and held it out to her. “Please take it back. Say you’ll marry me.”

  She reached up and touched his hair, hooked it back behind his ears. “Do you promise to grow your hair?”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  “Lose the suit?”

  “Anything for you, baby.”

  Her eyes narrowed on him. “Get a tattoo with my name on it?”

  “Consider it done.”

  She swallowed, and he could see the nervous flutter of her lashes. “Do you love me, Tanner?”

  He thought for a second. “‘Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.’”

  Her lips curved into a slow smile. “The Princess Bride.” She sniffed. “I love that book.”

  “I love you.”

  “Then yes, Tanner O’Connor, I would be proud to marry you.”

  He slipped the ring on her finger as the crowd cheered. He didn’t know whether Emily would keep her job, but even if she didn’t, they would find a way through. She loved him, and that was all he’d ever wanted or needed. “I love you so much,” he murmured and lowered his head and kissed her.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she whispered.

  “Don’t you want to wait and hear what they decide?”

  “Hell no. We’re going to go somewhere and get a little grease beneath your nails. I don’t recognize you like this.” She backed away a little and spoke into the microphone. “We’re off now, to celebrate our engagement. But if anyone wants me, I’ll be getting down and dirty with the town saint. So I suggest you leave it until tomorrow.”

  She tugged his hand, and together they walked down the steps. The crowd parted, and they headed for the door. As they reached it, they turned and looked back.

  Jed was on his feet. He stared at Tanner for long moments, then gave a small nod. “The Board of Education finds that Emily Towson is not in breach of the terms of her contract, a
nd she will be reinstated as first-grade teacher in the coming school year.”

  They could still hear the cheers as they walked out of the school building.

  Chapter Thirty

  Mimi sat on the porch. She was tired but happy. Josh was beside her, and the lawn was scattered with friends.

  Emily and Tanner came toward them, hand in hand. The happy couple. And they did look happy. She’d never regret that trip into the O’Connor’s showroom, even if it had been a somewhat bumpy road.

  They came to a halt in front of her. Emily sniffed and wiped her eyes with a napkin snatched from one of the tables. “Sorry. Baby hormones. But I’m just so happy.” She sniffed again.

  “Maybe you’d better stop crying, or they’re all going to think you didn’t want to marry me,” Tanner said. “And it’s only been an hour.”

  “I know, but it was so beautiful.”

  Mimi had been in charge of organizing the ceremony. It was supposed to have been small, but somehow at least half the town had gotten in on the act. Josh had given Emily away. And Sawyer had been Tanner’s best man. He’d said it was because if he chose one of his brothers, then he’d never hear the end of it from the other. Sawyer was the logical choice.

  Mimi wasn’t sure she would have been so forgiving. But she was glad Tanner was finally putting the past behind him.

  The service had been beautiful. They’d been married under a canopy on the lawn in front of the ranch house.

  Tanner was wearing dark gray pants and a white shirt loose over the top, sleeves rolled up to show the tattoos on his forearms. If Mimi wasn’t mistaken, he hadn’t shaved since that night of the meeting, and he already had a half inch of golden beard on his face. Emily didn’t seem to mind. She couldn’t keep her hands off her bad boy husband.

  “I’m going to show Emily her wedding present,” Tanner said. “And then we’ll be off.”

  Tanner was taking her away for a week before school started.

  Mimi rose to her feet and kissed Emily on the cheek. And then Tanner. She sighed. He really was the most gorgeous bad boy she had ever seen. A sense of melancholy filled her. Lost opportunities. They shook hands with Josh, and then disappeared into the house.