Butler, Vermont Series Boxed Set, Books 1-3

by Marie Force

  “In school at the moment, and then hanging out with my dad for the weekend.”

  “We’ve got the whole weekend?” Grayson asked, feeling better by the minute to know she was here for a few days.

  “We sure do.”

  “My own private-duty nurse,” he said with a teasing smile, loving the way her face lit up with embarrassment.

  “Not in front of your mother,” she said sternly.

  “Yes, Grayson,” Hannah said with unusual amusement. “Not in front of your mother.”

  Eager to be alone with her, he gave Emma’s hand a squeeze and said to the nurse, “When can I get out of here?”

  They released him at five o’clock with orders to stay local until his follow-up appointment Tuesday morning, when he would hopefully be cleared to resume normal activities. Emma drove him to his aunt and uncle’s lakeside home, where they would spend the weekend taking it easy as directed.

  Since he was in good hands with Emma, his mother had gone home to Butler with promises to check in later. Emma was glad to have him all to herself for a few days. She was due to fly home Sunday night, but that was forty-eight hours from now, and she planned to enjoy every second of the time they had together.

  “Is it wishful thinking or have you and my mom had some sort of breakthrough?” he asked on the short ride to the house.

  “We had a good talk in the waiting room. I think we’re on the same page now.”

  “And what page is that?”

  “The we-love-Grayson-and-want-the-best-for-him page.”

  “You told her you love me?”

  She glanced over at him. “I figured it couldn’t hurt my case for her to know that.”

  A smile lit up his handsome face. “Well played, my love. You handled her just right.”

  “I hoped so. I think it meant a lot to her that I came up to be with you.”

  “It means a lot to both of us.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her palm.

  She tugged at her hand, but he didn’t let go. “Don’t do that while I’m driving. I hardly ever drive, and I don’t need any distractions.”

  “I should’ve asked if you had a license before I let you drive my car.”

  “I have one, but it rarely gets used in the city.”

  He directed her to the Abbotts’ home, which was off a dirt road that led right to the shore of the vast lake.

  “This is beautiful,” Emma said when she brought the car to a stop in the driveway.

  “Isn’t it? I love it here. It was a foreclosure sale years ago, and my aunt and uncle jumped on it. Lots of good times at the lake since then. This is where Hannah and Nolan got married last summer.”

  Emma got out of the car and went around to the passenger side to help him out. As the day had gone on, he’d had some pain in his lower back.

  With her arm around him, he walked slowly toward the door and landed on the sofa in the living room, grimacing as his back made contact with the cushion.

  “I’ll get you a pain pill,” she said, heading for the kitchen to get him some water.

  He gratefully took the pill from her and washed it down, closing his eyes against the gnawing ache in his back. It was exactly what he’d been told to expect and wasn’t so bad that he couldn't handle it, but bad enough that he wasn’t about to say no to taking the edge off.

  “What else can I do for you?” Emma asked.

  He held out his arms to her. “Come lie with me.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You’ll hurt me more if you don’t.”

  What could she say to that? She curled up to him on the sofa, putting her arm across his waist as he wrapped both of his around her.

  “This day turned out way better than expected. I thought I’d have to spend a long boring weekend here by myself.”

  “Good surprise?”

  “The best. But I have to remember you’ve got this sneaky side to you. I talked to you this morning, and you never told me you were on your way.”

  She laughed. “I was already at LaGuardia when I talked to you.”

  “Very sneaky.”

  “You’ll discover that’s about the extent of my sneakiness.”

  “It means so much to me that you came, that you took time off work, that you had to arrange coverage for Simone, that—”

  Emma kissed him. “I couldn’t stay away.”

  He cupped her face and kissed her back. “Love you, sweetheart.”

  “Love you, too. I’m so glad this is over and done with for you.”

  “So am I.”

  “Close your eyes and get some rest.”

  “Only if you stay right here with me.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  He released a deep breath and tightened his hold on her before dozing off.

  Emma didn’t expect to sleep, but the late nights on the phone with him and the early morning trek to the airport had her closing her eyes.

  His ringing cell phone interrupted their nap.

  He woke with a groan and released Emma so she could retrieve the phone from his coat pocket.

  She handed it to him.

  “I don’t recognize the number. Probably the hospital checking on me.” He took the call and then went totally still. “Yes, it’s me.”

  Emma sat next to him, wondering who was on the phone.

  He took hold of her hand and mouthed the words my father to her. “It was no big deal,” he said. “I hope it helps.”

  Emma could barely breathe as she held his hand.

  He tipped the phone so she could hear both sides of the conversation.

  She heard his father say “more than I deserve.” On that they agreed.

  “I just wanted to say thank you, Grayson,” his father said. “Thank you very much.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m going to go. Take care.”

  “You, too, son.”

  Grayson put the phone on the coffee table. “That’s the first time I’ve talked to him in nearly twenty years.”

  Emma leaned her head on his shoulder, wishing there was something she could say or do to provide comfort.

  “He sounds exactly the same. The doctors told me he’s going through an intensive round of chemo ahead of the transplant next week.” He gazed down at her. “I’m really glad you’re here. If he’d called me when I was alone, that might’ve taken me back to a time and place I never want to visit again.”

  “You did the right thing today, and now you should put it all behind you and look forward, not back.”

  “I like the view in front of me,” he said, smiling at her. “I like it very much.”

  Chapter 29

  True love stories never have endings.

  —Richard Bach

  After a relaxing two days tending to his every need—except the sexual ones, which she’d refused to tend to until after he saw the doctor on Tuesday—Emma flew home to New York on Sunday night, more in love with him than she’d been before, if that was possible.

  They’d done nothing but lie around, cook the food he’d bought before the surgery, watch movies, sleep, make out a little and talk. Like they had from the beginning, they talked about big things, little things and everything in between. He promised to catch the first flight he could get out of Burlington on Tuesday after his appointment.

  Emma arrived to snow falling at LaGuardia and indulged in a rare splurge on a cab ride home, pulling up to her building just after seven o’clock. She ran up the stairs, eager to see Simone after two days apart. They’d FaceTimed on Saturday, and Grayson had answered her many questions about the operation he’d had and how his donation could save his father’s life. Simone had found the entire thing fascinating, and he’d been endlessly patient in explaining it all to her.

  The smell of garlic met Emma in the hallway, making her mouth water for whatever her dad and daughter had made for dinner. She used her key in the door and stepped into her cozy apartment.

  “Mom! You’re back!” />
  “Get over here and hug me.”

  Simone came running across the small room and into her mother’s outstretched arms. “How’s the elbow?” The orthopedic doctor had taken a look at it earlier in the week and determined it was healing well.

  “Hardly hurts anymore.” Simone bent her arm a few times to demonstrate and then tugged on Emma’s hand to drag her toward the kitchen. “Come see what Pop and I made for dinner.”

  “Whatever it is smells amazing.”

  “It’s homemade pasta with our own meatballs and sauce. We made it all from scratch. And bread from the new bread maker.”

  “Wow, I’m impressed, and I’m starving.” She gave her dad a kiss on the cheek. “Hi there.”

  “Welcome home, sweetheart.”

  “Thanks, and thank you for making it possible for me to go.”

  “We had a great time. How’s the patient?”

  “Sore and achy, and yesterday he had a bad headache that’s one of the possible side effects. But he was better today.”

  “That’s good. Quite a thing he did for his father.”

  “Yes, it was, especially under the circumstances.”

  “I know. I talked to his mother last night. She’s having a real hard time with her ex-husband asking the kids to be tested in the first place, not to mention what Grayson did.”

  Emma was still stuck on the words I talked to his mother last night.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Ray said, flushing with exasperation. “We exchanged numbers after we talked on Christmas. We’re just friends. It’s no big deal.”

  Emma couldn’t wait to talk to Grayson later to tell him this news. “If you say so.” She’d never known her father to call any woman since her mother died, so it was, in fact, a big deal to hear he’d called Hannah Coleman.

  They ate the delicious dinner and worked together to clean up the kitchen before Emma sent Simone off to shower and get ready for bed.

  “How about a beer for the road?” Emma asked her dad.

  “I won’t say no to that.”

  She opened two bottles and handed one to him. “Thank you for all the time you give Simone. She loves every second you spend together.”

  “So do I. She’s a natural in the kitchen. Pays attention to the details. I like that.”

  “Did you hear her quizzing Gray about the transplant yesterday? He says she’s a sponge when it comes to learning new things.”

  “That’s a very good word for it.” Her dad sat on the sofa and patted the seat next to him. “I got a very strange call earlier today from Linc Abbott.”

  “What did he want?” she asked, wondering if he’d called Ray to plead her case.

  “He told me about the job he offered you.”

  “Oh,” Emma said on a long exhale.

  “He said he realized you’d never take the offer if it meant leaving me here by my lonesome, so he offered me a job, too.”

  “He did what?”

  “He asked if I might be interested in serving as the general contractor on the construction of their new warehouse.”

  Emma was so shocked, she could barely breathe, let alone speak. “But… You… You’re retired!”

  “And bored out of my mind most of the time.”

  “Wait… You’re actually interested in the job?”

  “Only if you’re interested in the one he offered you.”

  And then, like puzzle pieces slipping into place, the picture became clear to Emma, and she began to laugh. She laughed so hard that tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “Are you going to tell me what the heck is so funny?”

  After she laughed some more at the priceless expression on his face, she said, “Lincoln Abbott is funny.”

  “Because he offered us jobs?”

  “Because he and his father-in-law are master matchmakers.” Emma told him about the lengths Linc and Elmer had gone to pair Will with Cameron, Colton with Lucy, Nolan with Hannah, Charley with Tyler, Hunter with Megan and Gavin with Ella, although Ella had done most of the heavy lifting in their case. “He wants me with Grayson and has thought of every possible detail that could stand in the way of me accepting the job offer and moving to Vermont to be with him.”

  “Huh, wow. Are you saying we’re being played?”

  “In the best possible way. They may be shameless, but their hearts are in the right place.”

  “Do you want the job that Linc offered you?”

  “I think I do,” Emma said, free to admit as much to herself as well as him now that she knew he had options. “It’s a really great offer—more money, full health coverage for me and Simone, cheaper cost of living and a new challenge in a town Simone and I both love. Lucy is there more often than not these days, and…”

  “Grayson is there.”

  Emma’s face felt hot as she said, “Grayson is there.”

  “And you love him.”

  “I really do. But the only way we’re moving is if you come with us.”

  “I made a big mistake when Lucy first fell for Colton. I let her think I disapproved of her moving away from me, and that hurt her. I like to think I’ve learned my lesson. I want to be wherever my girls are. If my ladies want to be in Vermont, I’ll move to Vermont.”

  Emma smiled at him, filled with euphoria that what had seemed so impossible only that morning might not be impossible after all. “I can’t imagine you anywhere but Queens.”

  “It’ll be an adjustment for all of us, but what matters is that we’ll be together, not where we are.”

  “Troy is going to kill me.”

  “He’ll get over it. He loves you, and he wants you to be happy. He might have his nose out of joint over it at first, but after he has time to get used to it, he’ll be fine. Maybe we can fix him up with one of Gray’s sisters, and he’ll find his own way to the Green Mountain State.”

  “I’ll suggest that to Linc and Elmer, the experts.”

  “Are we really going to do this?”

  “I suppose we ought to ask Simone what she thinks.”

  “About what?” Simone asked as she came into the room wearing pajamas, her hair wet from the shower.

  Emma held out her arms to bring her daughter onto her lap, even though she was getting too big for Emma’s lap. “What would you think about possibly moving to Vermont?” While she waited for Simone to reply, Emma held her breath.

  “Like forever?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Simone thought about that for a minute. “Would we live with Grayson?”

  “Umm…”

  Ray smirked at Emma. “Yes, Emma, I’d like to know that, too.”

  “Probably?” Emma’s voice was a high squeak that made her dad laugh.

  “That’d be okay,” Simone said.

  “You’d have to change schools and leave your friends.” Emma wanted there to be no ambiguity about what Simone would be agreeing to.

  “Could we come back and visit sometime?”

  “Of course.”

  “And could I text them and FaceTime?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “What about Pop? We can’t leave him here by himself.”

  “I’d go with you,” Ray said.

  Simone’s eyes got very big. “You would move to Vermont, too?”

  “That’s right. I want to be wherever you, your mommy and Auntie Lu are.”

  “Then I guess it would be okay. I like it there. It’s fun. There’s always stuff to do, and Auntie Lu is there, and I want to ski some more. When would we go?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to figure that out, but it’d probably be soon.”

  “Can I bring all my toys?”

  “Only the ones you still play with. The rest we could donate to kids who aren’t as lucky as you are.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay what?” Emma asked.

  “We can move.”

  “Are you sure? Our whole lives would change, and you need to be all right with that.”


  “Would Grayson be my dad when we move?”

  Emma glanced at Ray, who looked away when his eyes filled. “I’m sure he’d love that. He already adores you.”

  “I like him, too, and he makes you smile a lot.”

  “Yes, he does.” Emma hugged her daughter as tightly as she had in years. “Love you, Pooh.”

  “Love you, too.”

  “Give your Pop a kiss and get in bed.”

  Simone hugged and kissed Ray. “Thanks for a fun time this weekend.”

  “I had a blast, sweetheart. Thank you.”

  Simone scampered off to her room.

  Emma looked at her dad. “So…”

  “So… What d’you say we move to Vermont?”

  Emma felt like she was on the precipice of jumping off the high dive for the first time in her life. “I say let’s do it.”

  By the time Grayson called at nine, Emma was about to spontaneously combust from excitement. Before he could even say hello, she said, “You aren’t going to believe it! Your uncle offered my dad a job helping to build the warehouse, and he’s actually interested. We talked to Simone, and she’s all for it, and… I think we’re going to do it.”

  “Are you saying what I think you are?”

  “We’re going to move, Gray. We’re all going to move! And Simone… She asked if you would be her dad if we lived with you, and I hope it’s okay that I told her you’d probably like that.”

  “God, Emma, of course I would. Am I having some sort of post-bone-marrow-donation dream or something?”

  “No,” she said, laughing. “Your matchmaking uncle has made us offers we can’t possibly refuse.”

  “I love him so much. Almost as much as I love you.”

  “It’s not the job that’s taking me to Vermont, Gray,” she said softly. “You know that, don’t you?”

  “It’s not? What else could it be?”

  She smiled. “There’s this guy, you see. He’s wonderful to my daughter and sweet and sexy, and I can talk to him about anything, and when he touches me…”

  “What happens when he touches you?” he asked gruffly.

  “Everything happens. I love him so much. I had no idea this kind of love even existed in the real world.”

  “He didn’t know either, baby. It’s the best thing to ever happen to him. And to know he gets to have forever with you…”