Firefighter Daddy (14 page)

“He was cleaning the gutters on his house and his ladder slipped.”

“Ouch. Poor guy.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Nicola said. “I feel terrible for him, but I wish he could have waited till after the wedding. There’s no way he can get his tux over the cast, and I
so
don’t want a man on crutches in my wedding photos.”

That did make her laugh. “Sweetie, I’m pretty sure he didn’t do this on purpose.”

Nic laughed, too. “I know I’m obsessing about everything, and you’ve been
so
patient with me. I just want my day to be perfect. And I wasn’t really calling to complain about Greg’s broken leg because I’ve already found a solution.”

No surprise there. Nicola was a natural-born problem-solver. Rory just didn’t understand why she had to be filled in on every minute detail.

“That’s good.”

“We’re asking Mitch to fill in.”

Had she heard that correctly? “What?”

“Jonathan knows him, and Jess said the two of you kind of have a thing going on and that you and his family have hit it off, so it seemed like the obvious thing to do.”

Jess, you are going to pay for this.
“She shouldn’t have told you about that.”

“Why not?”

“That was a private conversation, and it’s not like it sounds. Mitch and I do
not
have a ‘thing.’”

Nicola’s laugh bubbled through the phone. “Don’t get all defensive with me. We’re all friends so there shouldn’t be any secrets. He and Jonathan are friends, and you didn’t have a date for the wedding, so it was the perfect solution to everyone’s problem.”

Who said I had a problem?
“I don’t know, Nic. What if he thinks I put you up to this?”

“He won’t think that. Besides, Jon has already asked him and he said he’d do it. I’m just calling to let you know it’s all set. I have to run. I still have a million things to do, but I’ll see you at my shower on Sunday.”

Rory snapped her phone shut and tossed it onto the coffee table. In spite of her misgivings, she still felt a little sizzle of anticipation. She and Mitch would get to spend the whole day together, dance together and she wouldn’t have to find another occasion to dazzle him with the shoes.

Chapter Ten

After fighting a house fire most of the night, Mitch had come home exhausted and slept for a good part of the day. He was thankful that his mother had taken Miranda to school and brought her home. Before he went downstairs, he checked the street from his bedroom window. Rory’s van was parked in its usual spot in front of the house.

He had given up telling himself it was none of his business, especially after getting a phone call from one of the guys on his basketball team. Jon was marrying a friend of Rory’s and he needed a last-minute stand-in for a grooms-man who had fallen off a ladder and broken his leg. Thanks to that guy’s rotten luck, Mitch would get to spend an entire evening with Rory. He hadn’t been looking for a reason to do that, but he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.

The kitchen smelled great. His mother was taking a meat loaf out of the oven and Miranda was setting the table.

“How was school today?”

“Me and Ashley played hopscotch at recess and I won, and today was Matthew’s birthday and his mom brought cupcakes, and Miss Sunshine read us a book about weather and I learned how to spell evaporate.
E-v-a-p-o-r-a-t-e,
evaporate.”

“You had a busy day!” He picked her up and hugged her, finding as he always did an overwhelming sense of love and obligation as he felt those warm, trusting little arms wrap around his neck.

“Yesterday after school I went shopping with Miss Sunshine.”

“Did you?” He gave his mother a questioning look.

“I had someone come to look at the kiln. He was still here when school was dismissed, so I asked Rory to bring her home.”

“Miss Sunshine went shopping for stuff for her friend’s wedding, so I went with her and she gave me a new jacket. It’s yellow.”

Mitch set her down. Why would Rory give clothing to his daughter?

His mother’s explanation alleviated his concern. “Miranda left her jacket at school and Rory had one that she’d bought as a gift for someone.”

“Then we should give it back.”

That earned him a warning look from his mother.

“She said I can keep it,” Miranda said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Grams, which side does the fork go on?”

“Left side.” His mother drained a pot of potatoes. “Would you like to help me mash these?”

“Yup. I’ll get the milk.”

As far as these two were concerned, the discussion about the jacket was over. Not for him. After dinner he’d go up to Rory’s and pay her for it.

A
FTER DINNER
M
ITCH
helped his mother clean up the kitchen while Miranda went upstairs to brush her teeth and pick out a bedtime story. Last Friday night he’d played basketball with his friends, but tonight he decided to stay home. He’d tuck his daughter in for the night, and then he’d deal with the matter of Rory’s unexpected gift.

“That was a good dinner,” he said to his mother. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. We haven’t had meat loaf in a while and it was always one of your favorites,” she said as she wiped the table. “I’m sorry about asking Rory to look after Miranda again, but I haven’t been able to get the timer on the kiln to work properly and I know she doesn’t mind.”

He was tempted to say
he
minded, but that would sound petty and wasn’t entirely true. What he minded was the ease with which she seemed to be fitting into their lives, and the amount of time he spent thinking about her. Should he mention the wedding?

His mother crossed the kitchen to the sink and rinsed the dishcloth. “The two of you seem to be hitting it off.”

She hadn’t said anything about walking in on them last Friday night, but he knew better than to think the subject was forgotten. He decided to hold off on telling her about the wedding. “What you saw the other night wasn’t what it looked like.”

The look she gave him was one he hadn’t seen since he was a teenager. There was no fooling her, so why even bother trying? He wasn’t a kid, he didn’t need to explain himself, and when he stumbled upon a woman sleeping on his sofa, he shouldn’t feel guilty about kissing her.

“Are we done here?” he asked. “I should run up and check on Miranda.”

“Off you go. I can manage.”

He took the stairs two at a time. Half an hour later his daughter was tucked in and he was standing in the foyer staring up the staircase that led to Rory’s apartment. He hadn’t been up there since he’d helped her move in.

After a couple of light taps on the door, he heard her get up and walk across the apartment. He let out his breath, realizing he’d been holding it.

Rory opened the door and her eyes widened in surprise. She was dressed much the way she’d been on Friday night, in black stretch pants and a loose-fitting top. This one was a slightly deeper shade of blue than her eyes and it had better coverage.

“Hi,” she said. “I thought you might be Betsy.”

“No, I’m me.” Duh. That must have sounded brilliant.

“Well, come on in, you.” She opened the door a little wider and tossed her hair over one shoulder.

That reminded him of how easily those soft blond strands had become tangled in his watch strap. He hadn’t realized until she invited him in that he’d been hoping she would. To his surprise, though, the small space looked like a head-on collision between a craft store and a flea market.

“I just made a pot of coffee,” she said. “Decaf. Would you like some?”

Coffee and a little conversation would beat going downstairs and spending the rest of the evening lost in his own thoughts. “Sounds good. Thanks.”

“Grab a spot in the living room. I’ll bring it in.”

The “living room” was separated from the kitchen by the sofa. The cat was curled up and asleep on the only chair, so Mitch pushed aside a blanket and sat at one end of the sofa. The coffee table was strewn with colored construction paper, scissors, markers and glue. There were several things under the table, including a pair of pink feathery shoes. If there was ever a pair of shoes not meant to be worn outside a bedroom, this was it.

“Cream and sugar?” she asked.

“Black is good.”

“Sorry about the mess.” She handed him a mug and shoved most of the paper into a pile so she could set her own on the coffee table. “I’m working on a couple of school projects and lesson plans.” She sat at the other end of the sofa with her back against the arm, pulled her feet up and wrapped her arms around her knees.

He wanted to ask about the shoes, and he tried not to look at her feet, he really did, but the nails had been painted with grape-colored polish and her delicately formed toes had his fingers itching to touch them. She wriggled them a little and he dragged his gaze away. When he looked up, he realized she’d been watching him.

“My friend Nicola called yesterday to tell me you’re in the wedding party.”

Did she think that was why he was here? “Yeah. I was kind of surprised, but I don’t mind pinch-hitting. Jonathan’s a nice guy.”

“I didn’t ask them to ask you, I swear. I didn’t know anything about it till just now.”

He believed her. Now for the million-dollar question. “Are you going with someone?” As soon as he asked, he wished he hadn’t. That was not why he was here. And what if she said yes?

“Are you asking if I have a date?”

He swallowed hard. “I guess I am.”

Her smile took the edge off his nerves. “No, I don’t. What about you?”

Him? A date? He shook his head.

“We could go together. It doesn’t have to be a date unless you want it to be.”

“Sure.” Not much of an answer, but he couldn’t bring himself to say yes, though he
did
want it to be.

“More coffee?”

He hadn’t realized his cup was empty. “Sure.”

She got up, refilled it and curled up on the sofa again. “There was a report about a fire on the news. Was that your station?”

“It was.”

“I thought so. Was everyone okay? Nicola called and I missed the end of the story.”

“As far as I know, everyone’s fine. The house was gutted, though. I sure hope they had insurance because I’d say they lost pretty much everything.”

She hugged her knees a little tighter. “So sad. It was great that the dog was rescued, though. They showed that on the news.”

Of course they did. They probably spent more time talking about the dog than the woman who saved the lives of her two children. “We always get extra media coverage when a pet is rescued. Reporters love that sort of thing.”

Rory laughed. “It’s heroic. Everyone expects you to rescue people, but when someone goes the extra mile for an animal, that really tugs at the heartstrings.”

She was probably right. “Actually, the reason I came up here…Miranda told me about the jacket.”

Something that resembled guilt flickered across her face, and then just as quickly she was smiling. Had he misinterpreted what he saw? “I’m sorry. I should have asked you first but she didn’t have her jacket when we went to pick up supplies for Nicola’s bridal shower and I happened to have that one with me, so I gave it to her.”

“No problem.” He took out his wallet. “I want to pay you for it, though. How much was it?”

She shook her head strenuously. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, I already had it.”

“She said it was a gift for someone. Don’t you have to buy another one?”

The guilty look was back, no mistake about it. “I can’t take any money for it.”

“Why not?”

She looked up at him, very serious, and for a few seconds—quite a few—she didn’t say anything. “It wasn’t a gift,” she said finally. “Well, it was, but not for someone else. I bought it for Miranda.”

It took him a moment to respond. “Um…why?”

She let out a long sigh. “Her blue jacket is too small. While I was shopping with a friend last Saturday, I saw the yellow one and bought it. After I brought it home I realized it wasn’t my place to interfere and I was going to take it back, but she didn’t have a jacket when we were out yesterday and it was cold so…” She gave an expansive shrug. “I’m sorry.”

Now it was his turn to feel guilty. He admired her honesty, and she was right about the old jacket being too small. “Don’t apologize. She’s growing like a weed and she does need new clothes. Shopping isn’t really my thing.” Even as he said it, it sounded lame.

“I’m sure Betsy would help if you asked.”

“She would, but she has her own life and she already does so much for us that I hate to ask.” He drained his mug and set it on the table. “Thanks for the coffee,” he said. “I think I should go.” He took another look at the pink shoes and considered changing his mind. She was easy to talk to, she genuinely seemed to care about Miranda and aside from that, who was he kidding? She was gorgeous, and he wanted to kiss her now just as much as he had last Friday.

They both stood and she walked with him to the door.

“Thanks for coming up.” She stepped closer and lightly ran her hand along his upper arm.

He brushed her hair back off her shoulders. “I’m still not sure this is a good idea.”

“Neither am I, but at least your mother won’t walk in on us up here.”

Good point, and yet neither of them moved. He wanted to move, desperately wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t and he didn’t know why. Instead he backed away, closed the door and was halfway down the stairs before he realized he hadn’t paid for the jacket. He wasn’t going back, no matter how much he wanted to, and God knew he wanted to.

R
ORY RESTED HER FOREHEAD
against the door and listened to the sound of footsteps fading down the stairs.

What on earth are you doing?
Making a date to go to a wedding with a family man who hasn’t been on the market in…what? A decade?

Her father’s words echoed in her mind.
He’s a good man, Rory. A good father.

There was no question about that, but she wasn’t looking for a man, not even a good one. Or was she? After almost being kissed by him, she wasn’t so sure.

And then there were Jess’s bull’s-eye observations and sage advice.
Your dad’s right. You’ve got it bad.

No, she didn’t.

Are you sure that being a stand-in mom is the best way to go about this?

Jess was crazy. Rory wasn’t a stand-in anything, and she wasn’t using Miranda to get to Mitch. She enjoyed spending time with Miranda and felt sorry for the little girl who’d lost her mother. She felt sorry for Mitch, too, but she wasn’t a stand-in. She
was
letting her emotions get the best of her, though.

She sat on the sofa and took a sip of her coffee. Ugh. It was cold. She grabbed Mitch’s mug and carried both to the kitchen counter. After she rinsed hers and set it in the sink, she curled her fingers around his, remembering how he’d held it, and how she had admired the shape and strength of his hands.

Had he gone out with another woman since his wife’s accident?

Instinct told her the answer was no, and yet he had readily agreed to go the wedding with her. Did that mean he was interested? Without a doubt, she knew the answer to that question was yes.

If you play with fire, you’ll eventually get burned.

She had no idea who had said that, but it was probably the best advice so far.

“I
WANT TO PUSH THE
garage-door button,” Miranda said the next morning when they backed out onto the street.

Mitch stopped, unclipped the remote from the visor and passed it back to her. He took a quick look up the street while she watched the door roll shut, and there was Rory kneeling on the sidewalk.

What was that in front of her? A toolbox?

She took out a wrench, studied it and put it back, and took out another. Car trouble?

He backed out onto the street and pulled into a parking space. “It looks like Ro…Miss Sunshine is having trouble with her van. Can you sit tight for a few minutes, princess? I’ll see if she needs some help.”

“’Kay.”

He got out and walked up the sidewalk.

The van’s side doors were open and Rory was standing behind the vehicle, wrench in hand, talking to someone. “What is your
problem?
I have to get downtown!”