I lean against the window frame and re-read her text a few times, glad to hear that Evie sees a difference in Emma. This past week has been everything I’ve hoped for. We introduced our kids to each other. Leo is enamored with Evie, and she fell right into the role of big sister. Every day I haven’t worked, Emma and I have been together. She even came over yesterday afternoon when Jay was here, working on the Mustang. It’s like we’ve been trying to make up for lost time or something. Maybe we’re both thinking about how, when she goes back to work, our time will be limited.
I love that Evie and I have fallen into this easy friendship that was only made stronger by our trip to Germany. While we haven’t had many late-night conversations lately—mostly because I no longer sneak out of Emma’s room—we do text frequently.
Me: I don’t want anything to ruin it either.
Evie: Can your sister hook me up with concert tickets? And when can I meet her? I’ve never met anyone famous before.
I laugh at the notion, but then it strikes me that Bria is about to become famous. I doubt she’ll be a household name or anything, but she may get recognized. Suddenly, I feel protective of my little sister. I make a note to talk to her about safety and responsibility.
Me: She’d be happy to meet you anytime. I’ll set up a dinner next week. But I’m not sure your mom would approve of you going to a concert. It’s White Poison. They aren’t exactly a kid band.
Evie: Mom lets me listen to whatever music I like. So they have cuss words in their songs. Who doesn’t? She’d let me go. OMG, can Bria get us backstage passes?
Me: The tour doesn’t start for months, and they don’t play here in the city until the very end. I’ll talk to your mom about it, okay?
Evie: Okay.
Me: Is your mom nervous about tonight? Being a bridesmaid and all?
Evie: I don’t think so. Wait until you see her dress. She’s beautiful.
Me: Of course she is. I’d better get ready. I’ll talk to you later.
Evie: TTYL
She waves to me from her window.
Leo tugs on my leg, and I pick him up, pointing across the street. “Can you wave to Evie?”
I’m not sure he sees her, but he waves frantically, and she waves back, blowing him a kiss before she disappears.
“You like Evie, don’t you?” I put him down and get on my knees. “Leo, do you like Emma?”
He runs to the table and brings back the donkey. I think that’s his way of telling me he does, or at least he likes the gift she brought him.
“I really want you to like Emma. Daddy loves her, you know. She doesn’t know it yet. I’m not sure if I’m afraid to tell her or if I’m afraid she won’t say it back.”
While Emma and I have had a great week together, I can tell she’s holding back emotionally. Then again, we’ve only officially been a couple for seven days—maybe that’s just too soon to be throwing around words like love and commitment.
“She does love you, Brett,” Bonnie says, entering the room. “I can tell by the way she looks at you.”
“I hope so. I think this is the real deal.” I stand up and look at Leo. “Do you think he will be okay with it?”
She sits on the couch, and he climbs up next to her and pages through a picture book. “I think he’d love it. He deserves to have a real family. So do you.”
She looks sad, and I guess what must be going through her head. “You’re his family, too. I want you to know you’ll always have a place with us. No matter what.”
She waves my comment off and wipes her eyes. “I’m not a fool. I know things will change one day, and that’s okay.”
“We’ll still need you. Leo is still so young, and who knows? There may be more.”
“More?” Her face lights up.
“Sure. Why not? I think Leo would make a great big brother someday.”
“That he would,” she says, placing a kiss on his head.
“I have to go get ready for this thing.”
“Ah, the wedding.” She smiles. “Watching two people declare their love for each other sometimes brings out our own feelings.”
“We’ve only been together a week, Bonnie.”
“Yeah, but when you know, you know,” she says.
I cock my head thinking how those are the exact words I said to Emma.
~ ~ ~
Emma looks incredible in her light green bridesmaid’s dress, despite running around the church, making sure everything gets done.
“I’m sorry,” she says as she races past, then comes back and stops. “I don’t mean to ignore you, but no one has a safety pin. Can you believe that? I have to find one.”
“Go. You don’t have to babysit me. I’ll see you after.”
She kisses my cheek. “Thank you for not being mad.”
She jogs down the hall in bare feet. She took off the five-inch heels she was wearing when I picked her up an hour ago. I’m glad she did. She’d break a leg otherwise.
A man comes over and offers me his hand. “You must be Emma’s plus-one.”
“What gave it away?” I shake. “Brett Cash.”
“Brian Kaling. Lisa, my wife, is also in the wedding party. She works with Emma and Becca.”
“Right. I think I met her at a Mexican restaurant a while back.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “You’re the firefighter from the school hostage thing?”
“That’s me.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” he says. “And you went to Germany with Emma and her daughter?”
“Yup.”
“Lisa and I traveled overseas quite a bit this summer.”
“What do you do, Brian?”
“I’m in banking.”
Banking. It makes me think of Tony or Monty or whoever it was that Emma dated last month. Emma liked that he was a banker. She thought it was safe. I wonder if Brian was the one who introduced him to Emma.
Brian laughs. “I know banking isn’t as exciting as firefighting, but I didn’t mean to bore you into silence.”
“Sorry,” I say. “Hearing you say that made me think of a guy Emma went out with before.”
“Ouch. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Want to give me his name so I can ruin his credit?”
I narrow my eyes.
“I’m kidding.” He motions to the sanctuary. “They are letting people in now. You want to sit together since we’re both going solo?”
“Lead the way.”
We get seated six rows back from the altar. Brian and I talk about our summer trips overseas as the organist plays softly. After about ten minutes, the music gets louder, signaling the ceremony is about to start.
Everyone stops talking when the preacher, groom, and groomsmen come in through a doorway in the front. The family of the bride and groom are escorted to their seats, then all heads turn to watch the flower girl and ring bearer traipse down the aisle.
The ring bearer can’t be more than four years old. He gets distracted a few times before making it all the way to the front of the church. He earns a few laughs when he takes a bow.
Brian’s face lights up when his wife appears. I’m sure my expression mimics his when I see Emma. She spots me and smiles. I give her a wink and then watch her make her way to the altar.
We all rise as the bride appears with her father. Everyone looks at Becca, but I look at Emma. The happiness radiating from her as her friend walks down the aisle is almost palpable. She takes my breath away.
I glance at Jordan, the groom, wondering if I’ll ever be lucky enough to be standing at the altar like he is, waiting for the woman I love.
Amanda and I didn’t have a big wedding. We barely had a wedding at all. We each brought a friend with us and got hitched in a municipal building in the city. We didn’t have much money, and she wanted a big honeymoon rather than a big wedding. Judging by the look on Emma’s face, she would want the wedding.
When Jordan and Becca recite their vows to one another, Emma and I lock eyes. We st
are at each other as the bride and groom pledge their love to one another. It’s almost as if we are pledging our love as well. I don’t think either of us does so much as blink. It’s the most intense conversation I’ve ever had, yet no words are spoken.
The preacher pronounces them husband and wife, and that’s when the spell is broken. Emma goes back to being a bridesmaid, and me, a spectator.
Brian stares at me curiously. “Just how long have you and Emma been dating?”
“Officially? About a week.”
He laughs. “Shit, man, you’re toast. I saw the way she was looking at you. She wants this. She wants it bad.”
I can’t help my smile, because I want this. I want this, too. Bonnie was right. All the mushy love stuff makes me want to tell Emma how I feel.
As soon as I make my way out to the vestibule, I find Emma and pull her off to the side. I don’t say anything, I just look at her.
She puts a finger to my lips to keep me from speaking. “Can we wait?”
I kiss her finger and then push it aside. “Wait for what?”
“To say what I think we’re about to say.”
I shake my head. “I’m not sure I can.”
“Please, Brett? Because I’m pretty sure I know what you’re going to say. I want to say it, too. I really do. But this isn’t the time.”
I lean back against the wall. “I suppose we can wait, as long as you promise to dance with me.”
She smiles. “Oh, I’ll dance with you alright.” She leans her body into me and gives it a shimmy. “And if you play your cards right, I might even go home with you.”
I push her hair behind her ear and blow a hot breath across her neck. I whisper, “You want to go for the record, Miss Lockhart?”
Her breath hitches and she inhales deeply. She takes my hand and puts it on her hip, running it up and down. My dick starts to swell when I realize what she’s doing. She’s showing me she doesn’t have any panties on. Then she turns her head and faces me so our lips are only inches apart. “Game on, Lieutenant. Game on.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Emma
“Your daughter is gorgeous,” I say to Ivy. I’m looking at a picture on her phone. Then I look at Sara’s phone. “Joey is super cute, too.”
I pull out my phone so they can see a picture of Evelyn. Sara looks at the picture and then back at me. “Emma, she could be your sister.”
I laugh. “I was a teenager when I had her.”
I look across the table and catch Brett’s eye. He winks at me before going back to his conversation with Denver and Bass.
Brett wanted me to meet his friends. Technically I met them at the firehouse, but this is different. We’re out to dinner with them and their wives. We all have kids so there is no shortage of conversation.
“Brett tells me your family owns a chain of flower shops, Ivy. That sounds heavenly.”
“My parents have three shops. My sister Holly and I run the one here in Brooklyn.”
“Is that how you and Bass met?” I ask. “Did he go into your shop to buy flowers?”
She shakes her head. “We met in Hawaii.”
“You met in Hawaii and you both live in Brooklyn?”
“Nice little coincidence, huh?”
Almost as odd as Brett and I living across the street from each other for years before meeting.
“Have you been to Hawaii?” Ivy asks. “It’s amazing.”
“No. I don’t fly. Well, I didn’t until very recently.”
“How come you didn’t fly?” Sara asks.
“I was afraid to. I lost my dad on 9/11.”
“I’m so sorry,” they both say.
“He was a firefighter. A lieutenant like Brett.”
Ivy and Sara take a moment to absorb that. It makes me wonder if they’ve ever really thought about what Bass and Denver do on a daily basis. Do they know that one day they could run into a building and never come out? My heart begins the descent into my stomach.
Sara puts a hand on mine. “It takes time to get used to it. You never really get over that feeling when they leave for work, but it does get easier.”
“I’ll have to trust you on that one,” I say. “I can’t imagine ever getting used to it. Not when I’ve experienced firsthand what can happen.”
“I know this doesn’t help much, considering what happened to your dad, but statistically, you have more of a chance of getting into a car accident than he has of getting seriously injured in the line of duty,” Sara says.
“Believe her,” Ivy says. “She knows.”
“You were in an accident, Sara?”
She bows her head and parts her hair, revealing a long scar on her scalp. “It’s how Denver and I met. He saved me.”
I look at Brett. He lifts his chin and gives me a smile. He seems to sense every time I look at him. It’s like he’s having a conversation with his friends but at the same time, he’s making sure I’m okay.
“Brett saved me,” I say. “In fact, he saved me and the four other people I was with.”
“We know,” Ivy says. “Our husbands told us. How scary that must have been for you, being held hostage.”
“It was, but I’m not mad it happened, because if it hadn’t, I’d never have met him.” I remember Carter. “I’m not sure if you know this, but in a few weeks, there is going to be a benefit for the kid Brett saved. They’re raising money for Carter’s prosthetic leg. Evelyn and I will be selling baked goods there.”
“We’ll be there,” Sara says. “I’ve been working on a collection of paintings, and Ivy’s family is donating a ton of floral arrangements.”
“I hope it raises a lot of money. Carter is so young. He deserves every chance he can get. Brett says if they get enough, Carter might even be able to get several prosthetics, like one for everyday wear and another for playing sports.”
“I’m sure they’ll raise enough,” Ivy says. “You’d be amazed how generous the people in the fire department are. If the benefit doesn’t cover all of Carter’s expenses, I’m sure they’ll pass the boot.”
I have a flashback to when I was little. My dad kept a small, ceramic firemen’s boot in the kitchen. He asked my mom to put her change in it every day. Occasionally, I’d see him open his wallet and put in a few dollars. I thought he was saving for our summer vacation or something, but one day he emptied the boot into a bag and took it with him. Right after, I overheard Mom talking to someone on the phone about a fireman who was sick or hurt. I put two and two together and figured out the boot wasn’t for us at all. The money was used to help people in need. That was when I set up my lemonade stand. I remember being so happy when I put twelve dollars and change into the boot. But the best part of that day was when Dad came home from work and tucked me into bed. He said he heard what I’d done, and he’d never been prouder.
“We should exchange phone numbers,” Sara says. “Maybe we could all get together and go to lunch. Or have a girls’ night.”
“I’d like that.”
We spend the rest of dinner getting to know each other better, and by the time we leave, I feel I’ve made two new friends.
Brett pulls me close in the cab on the way home. “It looked like you enjoyed yourself.”
“I did. Ivy and Sara are really nice, and I like that they have kids. A lot of my friends at school don’t yet.”
He squeezes my hand. “How are you feeling about going back next week?”
“I’m good,” I say. “I took some supplies to my classroom yesterday.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “You did? You didn’t tell me that.”
“Because it wasn’t a big deal.”
“It’s a huge deal, Emma. How was it?”
I think about all the six-year-olds I’ll get to mold this year. “It was pretty great, actually. I’m excited to meet my new students.”
“You’ve conquered all your fears,” Brett says with a look of pride. “You even took the elevator like a real pro tonight.” He kisses my cheek.
“My girlfriend is made of steel. Nothing scares her. Maybe we’ll just call you Superwoman.”
I smile even though he’s wrong. There is one thing that still scares me. It scares me to death.
~ ~ ~
Becca walks into my classroom, dragging her cart behind her. I drop what I’m doing and give her a hug. “How was the honeymoon?”
“Tiring, and I don’t mean from all the snorkeling.” She glances over her shoulder to make sure nobody is listening. “I have a raging UTI from all the sex we had.”
I laugh. “Sounds like a good time.”
“You have no idea,” she says, smiling.
“Being married looks good on you, Mrs. Kincaid.”
“I think so too. I never thought I could be so happy. You look pretty radiant yourself. We’re two lucky ladies, aren’t we?”
“We are.”
She looks around my classroom. “So, you’re okay being back here?”
“I’m more than okay. I can’t wait for the kids to show up next week.”
“I swear you are the only teacher I know who’d rather be teaching than summering.”
“What can I say? I love it here.”
“I’m glad that bastard didn’t ruin it for you.”
A few more familiar faces appear.
“Hey, guys,” Lisa says, with Kelly and Rachel not far behind her. “You want to go to lunch?”
Becca looks at the time. “But I just got here.”
Rachel laughs. “We can’t help it if that husband of yours keeps you up so late that you don’t make it here until noon. Go drop your stuff in your classroom. You can start organizing after lunch.”
“Better yet,” I say. “Leave it here and get it after. Come on. It’s been three weeks since we’ve all been together for Taco Tuesday.”
“But it’s Thursday,” Becca says.
“Whatever. We can hit the Mexican place across the street.”
Lisa looks down the hallway. “Is your husband here?” Then she laughs. “I think it’s going to take me a while to get used to calling Jordan that.”
Engulfing Emma (The Men on Fire Series) Page 24