The Cottage on the Corner (24 page)

“I'm not feeling sorry for myself.”

“Okay, then, you're putting on an act, so we'll leave you out here and you can make your escape.”

“I am not going to make an escape,” Daisy sputtered, her face mottled red as they walked into the emergency room lobby.

Cade was already there, sitting in a vinyl chair nursing a cup of coffee. He stood as they approached. “Tough time getting here, huh?”

“My tires—”

“Are bald. Max mentioned that three times. He doesn't want you driving home in this. One of the guys from the station is putting chains on Max's Vette and bringing it over here, so you guys will have a safe ride home.”

“How's Zuzu?”

“The doctor already popped her shoulder back into place and had an MRI of her head done. She's in triage for now. Max asked me to take you back there when you arrived. You”—he pointed at Daisy, and her face lost every bit of color—“stay right here. We have a few things to discuss.”

He took Charlotte's arm and walked her through a doorway and into a wide hall. Rooms opened up to either side, the sounds of televisions and conversation drifting out from a few of them. Soft music played through a centralized PA system. A Christmas carol, but Charlotte was too nervous, her stomach too tied up in knots to really listen.

When they reached the end of the corridor, Cade stopped at a closed door. “This is it. I'm going to let you go in alone.”

“So you can deal with Daisy?”

“And so you can deal with Max.”

“You heard what happened?”

“Not all of it. Max just told me that you'd decided against the picnic, and that he'd taken you home before Zuzu fell. He probably wouldn't have mentioned it, but Jethro showed up a couple minutes after the ambulance arrived. We were talking, and he mentioned that Max had been up at the church by himself when he heard the news about Zuzu.”

“I'm an idiot.”

“No.” He shook his head, gave her a quick hug.

“You're cautious. There's nothing wrong with that.”

“There is if I miss out on something great because of it.”

“I'm tempted to say that Max won't be a great thing.”

“You don't think he will be?”

Cade studied her for a moment, his gaze intent but open. He knew her as well as anyone, and she'd always been able to count on him for honest advice. “Truth?”

“Of course,” she managed to say past the tightness in her throat and the sudden dryness in her mouth.

“Max is a good guy. I can't say he'll never hurt you, but I can say that if he loves you, he'll do whatever it takes to make things work. He'll move heaven and earth to make you happy, and he won't ever purposely let you down.” He scowled. “And just so you know, it hurt like hell to say all those nice things. If you tell him I did, I'll deny it. Now I really do have to go. Daisy needs to be dealt with.”

“You were right about her, Cade. She admitted she's been breaking into my house looking for my cupcake recipe.”

“You and those cupcakes, Charlotte,” he said with a smile. “I might have to ask the town council to ban any mention of them.”

“And trample the right to free speech?”

“If it prevents people like Daisy from going nuts, it might just be worth it.” He grinned. “I'll check back in later. Tell Max to give me a call if he needs anything before then.”

“I will.”

He walked away, and
she
took a deep breath, bracing herself for the moment when she walked into the room, saw Max and Zuzu, felt her heart jump in acknowledgment. She'd made a lot of mistakes in her life. She'd
paid
for a lot of mistakes.

This wouldn't be one of them.

She knocked softly.

The door opened immediately, and she looked into Max's eyes. They were hollow and old, his gaze raw with anxiety.

“Hey,” he said softly. “I thought I heard you out here.”

“I was talking to Cade.” She tiptoed over to the bed. Zuzu lay sound asleep, the lump on her head slightly smaller and much more colorful than it had seemed before, an IV line attached to her hand. “How's she doing?”

“She'll be in a sling for a few days, but the shoulder should heal fine. The doctor said the head injury looks superficial.”

“
That's
superficial? It's the size of a small ostrich egg,” she protested.

“That's what
I
told
him
.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me that when I got a Ph.D, I'd probably be better able to know the difference between serious and not.”

“Nice bedside manners.”

“We're old hunting buddies. Last year I came home with an eight point buck, and he got nothing. I think he's still a little upset about that.” He slid an arm around Charlotte's waist, tugged her into his side.

God, he felt good. All hard muscles and warmth. At some point he'd changed into running gear, the fabric of his shirt soft against her cheek. “You've been running.”

“I needed to clear my head.”

“Of me?”

“That,” he responded, shifting so that they were face-to-face, “would not be possible. Even if I wanted it to be.”

“I'm sorry.”

“For what? Digging yourself so deeply into my brain that I can't get you out of it no matter how hard I try?”

“For being a coward.” She touched his cheek, her hand slipping to the curve of his jaw and resting there. “I wanted that picnic so badly, Max. It scared me.”

“Are you still scared?” He pressed her palm to his stubbled skin, his callused hand familiar and wonderful, and she had this feeling way deep in the depth of her soul that he could be everything she'd ever wanted if she had the courage to let him.

“I have never been more terrified in my life,” she whispered, her heart beating so fast she thought it would fly right out of her chest.

“Don't be,” he responded. “I would never hurt you. Not intentionally.”

“Funny, that's exactly what Cade just said to me.”

“Did he?” he murmured. “Because, about twenty minutes ago, he told me that he'd knock my head off if I so much as thought about breaking your heart.”

“Nice.” She laughed, and Zuzu shifted, the bedsheets rustling.

“Charl-lott!” she called weakly, lifting her right hand beseechingly. “I needs you to hold me.”

“I don't know—”

“It'll be okay,” Max said. “Just sit in the bed with her.”

She climbed in, leaning against the headboard as Zuzu crawled into her lap. She smelled like antiseptic and little girl.

“Better?” Charlotte asked, patting her back.

“Yes.” She dropped her head onto Charlotte's shoulder. “Where's Mommy?”

“On her way,” Max responded.

Charlotte met his eyes. “You finally reached her?”

“She called me back while we were in the ambulance.”

“Was she upset?”

“She's worried about the head injury, but she said Zuzu has loose joints and that this isn't the first time her shoulder has popped out. I told her that would have been nice information to have.”

“And?”

“She said something I can't repeat in front of the kid. Then she told me that she's going to get a flight out as soon as she can. Hopefully she'll be here by morning, but with the snow—”

“Snow!?” Zuzu squealed. “I wants to see!” She bounded up, nearly slamming her head into Charlotte's chin.

“So much for being weak and injured,” Max muttered, snagging her by the waist before she could jump off the bed and rip out her IV line. “Slow down, kid. You're going to hurt yourself.”

“I already did that. Now I needs to see the snow,” Zuzu responded with such a serious look on her face, Charlotte laughed.

“Knock-knock!” a tall red-haired doctor called from the open doorway. Dr. Eli Winters had grown up in Apple Valley. After attending medical school in Maryland, he'd returned. Charlotte didn't know much more about him. Except that he had a weakness for gingerbread and pumpkin muffins. “Looks like our patient is feeling a little better. That matches what we're seeing on the MRI.” He glanced at a clipboard as he walked into the room. “Shoulder looks good, too. Since Zuzu isn't vomiting or showing any signs of a concussion, I think it's safe to send her home. A nurse is on the way in to take out that IV. She'll bring the aftercare instructions with her.”

“Thanks, Eli.” Max grabbed the footy pajamas Zuzu had been wearing from a chair. “I really appreciate you moving so quickly on this.”

“Thank me by not getting in my way when we go hunting next year,” the doctor replied. “I'm having a hard time living down the fact that a city slicker brought in a bigger buck than I did.”

“You didn't bring in any.”

“Thanks for the reminder, Max. I'd forgotten that little detail.” Eli smiled and ruffled Zuzu's hair. “Are you ready to go home, Zuzu?”

“I'm not going home. I'm going to see a snow,” Zuzu informed him.

“Have you ever seen snow before?”

Zuzu shook her head, her eyes big in her pale face.

“Then you're in for a treat.”

“A cookie treat?” she asked, her whole face lighting up. “I love cookies.”

“I don't see why you can't have a few cookies.” Eli laughed.

“That's because you're not going to have to deal with her at three in the morning when she's wired up from sugar,” Max growled, but Charlotte could see the amusement in his eyes.

“Payback sucks, man! You have my cell phone number if Zuzu has any trouble when she gets home. Call me if you need to.” He walked out of the room, and Max tugged Zuzu's pajama pants up her legs.

“We going?” she asked.

“As soon as the nurse takes that needle out of your hand.”

Zuzu's eyes widened, and her face went from happy to terrified.

“You shouldn't have—”
Mentioned that
, Charlotte was going to say, but Zuzu's high-pitched scream drowned out the words.

Three hours.

That's how long it had taken to get released from the hospital and make the drive—what should have been a twenty-minute drive—home. Max glanced in the rearview mirror. Charlotte had squeezed into the backseat, smashing herself in beside Zuzu and holding the little girl's hand.

They'd fallen asleep like that about a half hour into the ride, the slow soft silence of the winter snow and the easy snail pace of the drive lulling them both into dreams.

“We're home,” he said softly. Zuzu didn't budge. Neither did Charlotte. She looked dead to the world, her head bent toward Zuzu, her hair a wild mass of dark waves around her face.

He touched her shoulder, his hand moving along her nape and tangling in her hair.

“Charlotte?” he called quietly.

“Is this the part where a kiss wakes the sleeping maiden?” she murmured sleepily, a smile hovering at the corner of her lips.

“Yes,” he whispered, kissing her deeply, with every bit of the longing he felt.

“Wow!” She sighed. “That was . . . wow!”

“It seems to have woken you up, so I guess we're good.” He offered a hand, tugging her out of the car.

Snow fell on her dark hair and dusted her fair skin, wet flakes sticking to her lashes and her cheeks.

He brushed them away, his palm resting against cool silky flesh. “God, you're beautiful.”

“What I am”—she laughed lightly—“is freezing.”

“We'd better get inside, then. You want to open the door, and I'll get Zuzu?” He handed her the keys, watching for a moment as she walked away.

“I thought you were getting Zuzu,” she called over her shoulder.

“I'm good at multitasking,” he replied as he unbuckled Zuzu and lifted her from the car seat. She snuggled into his arms, her head under his chin, her right hand on his cheek. He could feel the little sling that the nurse had fitted her with.

He'd been scared out his mind when he'd gotten the call from Emma, but Zuzu didn't seem any worse for wear. According to Daisy, the kid had only tumbled down the last four or five steps. Max wasn't sure how accurate that information was, since Emma had been sitting on Daisy's back holding her for the police when Zuzu went down.

Still, if it were true, that explained why Zuzu hadn't been hurt worse. It also explained why Zuzu was bouncing off the walls about three minutes after she'd been unhooked from the IV, acting and playing just like she always did. She'd even spent the first twenty minutes of their ride home begging for cookies and asking if they could build a snowman in the morning. Max had said they could. He'd promised hot chocolate and snow angels and all sorts of things that he wanted to give her.

Everything was fine. Except that Morgan was on her way back to town to get her daughter, and Max wasn't quite sure how he was going to say good-bye.

He got Zuzu a drink of water and gave her some children's Tylenol, then tucked her into bed. He stood watching her while she drifted off to sleep, thinking about how empty the room was going to be soon, how quiet the apartment.

Being a father was hard work, but he finally understood why men did it and why the good ones never resented the time spent and the sacrifices made.

“Is she asleep?” Charlotte whispered from the doorway.

“Yes.”

“Come on, then. I made coffee, and you have all the ingredients for French toast. You look like you could use both.”

“That bad, huh?” He slung his arm over her shoulder as they walked down the hall, and she settled in at his side like she'd always been there and always would be.

That cupcake had done the trick.

Or her perfume . . . that luscious mix of sugar and vanilla that clung to Charlotte's skin and hair and lips.

Or . . . just Charlotte.

Even without the cupcake and perfume, she was addictive.

“You couldn't look bad if you tried,” she responded, tugging him into the kitchen and pulling out a chair. “Sit.”

She set a cup of coffee in front of him, and he grabbed her hand. “I'm the one who owes you dinner, remember?”

“I think we can forget about that now. Morgan will be back tomorrow, and Zuzu will go home, and our lives will go back to what they were before she came.”

And saying those words was just so sad Charlotte had to turn away, busy herself at the fridge pulling out eggs and cream and a half loaf of bread.

Max's phone rang, and he answered.

He didn't say much. Just
yes
and
no
and
whatever helps you sleep better at night,
but there was a curtness to his voice, an edge to it that she'd never heard before.

She turned, met his eyes.

“Morgan,” he mouthed.

His ex must have said something he didn't like, because he frowned. “Look, Morgan. Even if she's mine, she's yours, too. She might not be in the hospital, but she's asking for you. Right. I'm sure she will. See you then.”

He slammed the phone into the receiver, raked a hand over his hair.

“What's going on?”

“No flights here because of the snow. Morgan is using that as an excuse to stay in Vegas. I guess once she got my message that Zuzu was being released from the hospital, she decided it wasn't an emergency and she wasn't needed. She says she'll lose her job if she misses the next two days of work. She has three days off at Christmas. She'll be here then to pick Zuzu up.”

“Are you going to let Zuzu go with her?”

“Assuming she comes, you mean?”

“You don't think she will?”

“I think that Morgan thinks she will. I think she even loves Zuzu, but I don't think Zuzu has ever been her priority. Her husband probably did all the childcare work, and that's probably the way she liked it.” He shrugged. “If Zuzu is mine, I'm going to petition for custody. I don't think Morgan will fight me. If Zuzu isn't mine . . .”

“What?”

“I'm going to treat her like she is. I'll still petition for custody. I'll still do everything I can to make sure she has the life she deserves. If I lose, at least Zuzu will know I gave it my best shot.”

“You're a good guy, Max.”

“Not really, but I'm going to do everything I can to be a good father.” He touched her cheek, smiled into her eyes. “There's something else I've been thinking about being ever since I ate that cupcake of yours, Charlotte.”

“What's that?” she asked, her mouth dry, her heart pounding wildly.

“Yours,” he murmured, his lips brushing hers once. Twice. The third time, she slid her hands through his hair, pulled him in for a deeper kiss, one that shook the world and made firecrackers explode behind her eyes. One that could have gone on forever and still not have lasted long enough.

Her body melted against his, her hands sliding to his shoulders, his back, his spine.

He groaned, pulling away and resting his forehead against hers.

“Keep kissing me like that, and I'll never get you home,” he muttered.

“I'm not sure I want you to,” she responded.

“Ida's standing by her phone, waiting for me to call and ask her to watch Zuzu while I deliver you to your place safe and sound, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.”

“Okay.”

She wasn't disappointed. Much.

“Of course, if we took a detour on our way there, who'd know but us and Ida? As long as we stick close to the apartment just in case Zuzu wakes up looking for us, there's no reason why we can't take a little side trip.”

“What kind of trip are you talking about?” Not that it mattered. She was pretty sure she'd be willing to go anywhere with him.

“The kind that involves a picnic basket and fur blankets and a little wine.”

“It's snowing,” she protested.

“And Ida's yard is lined with evergreens. We'll spread a fur under one, and sip a glass of wine, and watch the snow fall. Just for a little while, Charlotte. Just long enough to start figuring out what it means.”

“The snow?”

“No.” He smiled gently, his hands skimming down her arm, his fingers lacing with hers. “Belonging to each other. What do you say?” he whispered. “Are you up for it?”

There was nothing she could say but yes.

Nothing she could do but blush when Ida arrived and warned them about frostbite and staying warm during their mini-picnic.

Nothing that would ever compare to the fragrant scent of pine, the cold crisp air, the snow that fell all around, and the hope that filled her heart as she and Max walked across the yard, found an old, thick-boughed pine, and spread the fur beneath it.