Harlequin Heartwarming May 2016 Box Set (83 page)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

J
ACK
ARRIVED
AT
his favorite pizza joint in Little Italy to find his longtime friend Paul Woodward already seated, stirring cream into a cup of coffee. He stood as Jack approached the table, grinning. They greeted one another with a handshake that quickly morphed into a one-armed hug and shoulder slap.

“Good to see you,” Paul said.

“Likewise. It's been too long.”

“Since Eric's funeral. Has it been two months already?”

“Yeah, it has been.” Because that was exactly how pregnant Emily was.

The server stopped at their table. “Something to drink for you?”

“Coffee, please.”

“Sure thing. You fellows ready to order?” he asked.

Jack and his friend exchanged glances. Paul raised an eyebrow. “What do you say? The usual?”

Jack laughed. “Works for me. An extra-large pepperoni, ham and salami.”

“With extra cheese,” Paul added.

“You got it,” the waiter said. “I'll be right back with the coffee.”

“Thanks. So, what have you been up to?” Jack asked after the server walked away.

“The clinic's been busy. One of our doctors retired, and we haven't found a replacement yet, so we're all working extra hours until we do.”

It was true Paul had gone to medical school because his father had practically demanded it. However, the guy had turned out to be a top-notch family doctor. Instead of joining his father's practice in Riverton, Paul had opted for a busy practice in Chicago. He wasn't the type of person to toot his own horn, but he'd been instrumental in setting up a community program for single mothers who lived below the poverty line and struggled to raise healthy kids.

“How's your dad these days?” Jack asked.

“I talk to him every Sunday morning. My father is as dedicated to his patients as always, and as high-handed with me as he's ever been.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

Paul shrugged. “I'm starting to worry about him. I called him on Sunday morning, and he told me the same story twice, practically word for word, with only a minute or two in between. Something about the chief of police resigning because his wife is having health problems.”

“Could be a normal part of aging, couldn't it?” Jack asked, avoiding the subject of Gord Fenwick's retirement. He wasn't surprised that word was out, but he didn't want to let on he had all but been offered the job. No point, since he wasn't going to take it. Or was he? And why did he keep asking himself that when he had no intention of accepting the offer?

“Forgetfulness is normal,” Paul agreed. “Up to a point. I'm getting concerned, though, so I guess it means I'll need to schedule another trip to Riverton so I can see firsthand how he's doing. In your text message you mentioned you were just there yourself.”

“I was.” Jack waited, knowing what his friend's next question would be.

Paul hesitated before he asked it. “Did you get out to the farm to see Annie?”

“I did. She asked about you.”

“Hmm. Did she?”

Jack knew it had practically gutted Paul to watch Annie fall in love with Eric, marry him, have his child. Jack had always thought she and Paul were better suited. Annie had constantly taken a backseat to Eric's love of the limelight. Paul would have placed her on a pedestal. But as Jack's sister, Faith, was fond of saying, “The heart wants what the heart wants.” Jack was lousy at figuring out what his heart wanted. Did he really want Emily Finnegan or did he simply want to do the right thing? She had accused him of the latter, but couldn't it be both?

“Annie always asks about you,” he told Paul. “You should call her. Better yet, go out to see her when you're in town.”

Paul stared into his coffee mug. “I will. I figured I'd give her some time. So,” he said, glancing up and looking more composed. “What took you back so soon?”

“A case I'm working on.”

Paul nodded. “Is that still the South Side Slayer I've been reading about in the papers?”

“That's the one.”

“Thought you already had that guy behind bars.”

“We do, but we'd been trying to track down a witness.”

“And there's a Riverton connection?”

Jack shrugged, keeping it vague. “Could be. The person we've been trying to track down is the daughter of one of the murder victims—the homeless woman—and that's where she turned up.”

“Strange.”

“And it gets stranger.”

“How so?”

“The girl is staying at Annie's B & B.”

“Huh. You're right, that is strange.”

“And that's not the strangest part. This girl's mother's name was Scarlett Daniels. When I had dinner with Emily the other night, she mentioned her mother—the one who ran out on them all those years ago—is also named Scarlett.”

Paul let out a long, low whistle. “And you think this dead woman, Scarlett Daniels, might be the Finnegan sisters' mother?”

The waitress returned with Jack's coffee. “Thanks. I haven't connected all the dots yet, but, yeah, I'd say there's a pretty good chance.”

“Did you tell Annie about it?”

“No. I figured I'd hold off until I see what I can dig up on these two Scarletts, then take it from there.”

“Interesting. What about Emily?”

“Didn't mention it to her, either.”

“But you took her out to dinner.”

“I did.” It was Jack's turn to stare into his mug as though it might be a crystal ball. He sure could use one.

“I didn't know you knew her that well. Interesting.”

Jack shot him a look. “You have no idea.”

Paul leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “The doctor is in.”

Jack gulped some coffee. So far he hadn't breathed a word about any of this to anyone, but he needed some perspective. Who better to help him get there than a lifelong friend? “I stuck around the church for a bit after Eric's funeral, but it was all too much, you know?”

Paul nodded. “It was a shock, for sure.”

“He was our age. His kid is still just a little kid. It didn't make any sense, still doesn't. Anyway, I'd had enough and decided I needed to get out of there. I ran into Emily leaving the church—she was feeling pretty blindsided, too—so we both left.”

“Together?”

“Yeah, we decided to go for coffee, and then that turned into dinner, and then I took her home. She has an apartment in town.”

“I know where she lives. When you say you took her home...”

Jack stabbed the fingers of one hand through his hair. “I spent the night.”

“Ah, got it.” Paul smiled. “And now the two of you had ‘dinner' again this week,” he said, using air quotes to turn the word
dinner
into a double entendre. “I had no idea the two of you had a thing going on.”

“For the record, it really was just dinner this week. And until last time happened, there was nothing going on.”

Paul raised his eyebrows.

“It was one of those things,” Jack said. “With the funeral and everything, we were both in a bad way that night, and it sort of just...”

“Happened?”

“I've always liked her. She's supersmart and she's—”

“Hot.”

Jack smiled at that. “Smokin'. Those sisters are really something, as you know yourself,” he said. “And to be honest, I've had a thing for her since Eric and Annie's wedding, but I never acted on it. We're totally different people. I live here, and she lives there.”

“And now that your relationship has changed?” Paul asked.

“I was planning to keep in touch, see her when I could, but now there's a little more to it.”

Paul narrowed his eyes. “And that would be...?”

Jack lowered his head, rubbed the fingers of one hand hand back and forth across his forehead, glanced up again. “She's pregnant.”

“Dude.” Paul reverted to the lingo they had used as fifteen-year-old dorks who thought they were too cool for school. “I... Wow...I don't know what to say.”

“I experienced a loss of words myself.” He might feel like less of an idiot right now if Paul wasn't sporting an ear-to-ear grin. “And when I found them again, I apparently said the wrong thing.”

The waiter's untimely appearance interrupted them, and they put their conversation on pause while the guy dealt out plates and set a huge pizza in the center of the table. “Anything else for you gentlemen?” he asked.

“Looks good,” Jack said. They each took a thick wedge of the pie, snapping off the long, stretchy bands of cheese, savoring the first bites.

“So, let me guess,” Paul said after swallowing several large mouthfuls. “When she told you, you asked, ‘Are you sure?' Or did you go with the old tried and true ‘How did this happen?'”

“Sounds as though you have some experience with this sort of thing.”

“Not personally, but doctors hear freaked-out guys ask their girlfriends and wives those questions all the time.”

Jack sighed. “For the record, I didn't ask either of those things. All I said was we would get married right away.”

“Whoa. So it's
that
serious.”

“No, it's not. At least, it wasn't. Not yet, anyway. But a baby's a game-changer.”

“Without a doubt,” Paul said. “But a wedding? That's kind of a game-changer, too.”

Tell me about it, Jack thought. “Lately, especially since Eric's funeral, I've been feeling like something's missing, that I'm ready for a change.”

“I know what you mean. I've been thinking along those lines myself.”

“Annie.”

Paul gave a single nod, his mouth forming a grim line. “Always Annie.”

In spite of having his own life suddenly turned upside down, Jack acknowledged his friend's turmoil. “Give her some time, man. You never know.”

“Did you set a date for the wedding?”

“No. She turned me down.”

Paul leaned back in his seat. “Okay, now
that
, my friend, is the game-changer.”

“No kidding.”

“But are you sure getting married right away is the best option?”

As far as Jack was concerned, it was the only option. “Can you imagine the buzz around town when people hear about this?”

“Apparently, Emily's not too concerned. Otherwise, she'd have said yes.”

“She's as freaked out as I am, so she's not being rational.”

Paul chuckled. “I sure hope you didn't tell her that.”

“Even I'm not that dense. I simply told her we'd get married, she could move here and I'd take care of everything.”

“Very romantic. Sounds like you really pulled out all the stops.”

Jack ran his hand through his hair. “The situation calls for action, not romance.”

Paul was outright laughing now. “Way to sweep a woman off her feet, Evans.”

“You sound like Emily. She's refusing to leave Riverton, and she won't even consider getting married until we—” his turn to employ the air quotes “—get to know each other better.”

“What now?” Paul asked.

“So now I go to Riverton every chance I get and take her out to dinner, maybe a movie.”

“The hardship.”

This was getting him nowhere. “I thought you'd be more sympathetic. It doesn't make sense to do this long-distance, and it doesn't make sense for her to stay in Riverton.”

Paul picked up his coffee cup, touched it to Jack's. “You're in a relationship with one of the Finnegan sisters, she's going to have your baby and she wants to spend time with you. Do you have any idea how many times I've wished I were in that situation?”

Countless times, no doubt. “Sorry, man. I didn't mean to sound like a jerk.”

“Hey, no need to apologize. You're having a completely normal reaction to being blindsided by impending fatherhood. Can I offer you one piece of advice?”

“I've been hoping you would.”

“Next time you decide to play the marriage card, make her an offer she can't refuse.”

“Meaning?”

His friend's head shake hinted he was being clueless. Fair enough. Jack would be the first to agree.

“Do you remember Emily's maid-of-honor speech at Eric and Annie's wedding?”

“Vaguely.” To be honest, at that point, he'd been paying more attention to her physical attributes than her elocution.

“She described the way Eric proposed to her sister, how he staged the Finnegans' gazebo on the riverbank with candles, rose petals and her favorite song playing on his iPod speaker. She talked about how surprised and happy her sister was, how that marriage proposal was every woman's dream, and of course Annie had said yes.”

The gazebo. Of course. He remembered Eric planning that night, picking out the ring, and now he remembered Emily's speech, as well. He also knew it wasn't easy for Paul to talk about Eric and Annie. “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”

Paul nodded. “Happy to help. One more thing, and you probably won't want to hear this.”

“What's that?”

“If you really expect her to marry you, you might have to be the one to make the biggest compromise.”

“Such as?”

“Those sisters are not going to leave their home, and they're never going to leave their father. If you really want to be with Emily, it'll have to be in Riverton.”

Somewhere deep in his subconscious, Jack already knew this, but Paul was right. He just wasn't ready or willing to accept it. Still, he decided against mentioning the possibility of the chief of police position with the Riverton PD. For the life of him, he had a hard time seeing himself giving up the career he'd worked so hard to achieve here in Chicago. And he did not feel ready to take on the responsibility of running an entire police department, even a small one. He knew what Paul would say, though. Paul would tell him that if he had a chance with one of the Finnegan sisters, he'd be a fool not to go for it. He also knew that Paul would give up his lucrative Chicago practice and return to Riverton in a heartbeat if it meant having Annie Finnegan in his life.