mind went to the silent drive home she and Christopher had shared—a quiet boy fiddling with a paper plane in the back of the car, his usual noisy exuberance dampened. She wasn’t about to make that Matt’s problem, though. “He’ll be all right.”
“Okay. Good.” Matt cleared his throat, and his gaze softened. “It was nice to meet you. Both of you.”
Inside the house, the phone rang, and Louise picked it up with a singsong “Hello?” Rachel angled her head toward the door and stepped outside. Matt followed. One side of the porch was overgrown with a lilac bush, the clustered blossoms breathing out fragrance, and the other side basked in the shade of a mature oak tree. She let her gaze wander over the yard, a little overgrown and in need of mowing, and then back to her tall guest. Matt’s uniform shirt was wrinkled up the back, and his chin glistened with stubble in the late-afternoon sunlight.
“I should apologize, too,” she confessed. “I didn’t mean to come on so strongly back at the firehouse. I get something into my head, and I just go full steam ahead. I guess I’d hoped—” She brushed some errant wisps of hair away from her forehead. “I don’t even know what I hoped. I’m sorry about that.”
“No, it’s okay. It sounds pretty complicated, actually.”
“It is.” She pushed her fingers into her snug jeans pockets. “But that isn’t your problem. I’ll take care of it.”
“Yeah, of course.” He nodded curtly and took a step back, his eyes moving over the wooden porch, paint flaking away from the sagging boards. “Did you know that I knew your grandmother? I don’t know why you and I never met.”
“Did you? I didn’t realize that. I used to come to visit in the summers for a couple of weeks, but never for terribly long.”
“That would explain why I don’t remember you.” He shot her a boyish grin, and for a moment she thought he might be flirting, but then he looked away. “Your grandmother was a nice lady. She used to bring us homemade cookies at the firehouse.”
“That sounds like Grandma.” Rachel chuckled. “She fed absolutely everyone.”
She also had a soft spot for firefighters, something that Ed had always appreciated.
“No complaints here.” Matt crossed his muscular arms over his chest. “She made the best macaroons in town. That included my own grandmother’s macaroons.”
“That’s some high praise, then.” Rachel smiled. “This seems like a great place for a kid to grow up.”
“The best.” Something flickered deep in his eyes at those words, but before she could think more of it, a window scraped open on the second floor over their heads, and Christopher’s voice hollered down, “Mom!”
Rachel trotted down the steps to look up at her son’s smiling face.
“Are you exploring up there?” Rachel asked with a laugh.
“Yeah, I found old hats.”
“That’s fun.”
“And a really big spider.”
Rachel shuddered. “Don’t touch it.”
“I can’t reach it,” Chris replied, which meant that he’d have caught it already if it had been lower to the floor. She could be thankful for small mercies.
“Mr. Bailey came by to say hello,” she said, and Matt ambled up next to her, his warm arm emanating heat against her slender shoulder.
“Hi.” Chris’s tone turned shyer.
“I was hoping I could take you and Chris out for dinner tonight,” Matt said, his gaze moving from Rachel to Chris and back again. “If you aren’t busy, that is.”
“Actually Aunt Louise is cooking for us,” she replied. “It would have been nice, though.”
“How about tomorrow evening?” he asked.
Rachel nodded with a smile. “That would work. Thanks. I’m sure Chris would like the chance to talk to you a bit more.”
“I don’t know what to say to Chris, but I’ll do my best,” he confessed, his tone dropping low enough for her ears alone.
Rachel shrugged. “Don’t worry too much. You’re already a hero in his eyes.”
A smile slid across his rugged features and he looked up at the boy in the open window. “See you later, Chris. I’m glad I got to meet you.”
Chris wordlessly raised his hand in a wave, and Matt turned back to Rachel.
“What time should I pick you up tomorrow?”
Rachel paused, uncertainty flickering deep inside her. This felt too familiar already, too intimate, and dating was the furthest from her intentions. She had a little boy who needed some stability right now, and this handsome firefighter didn’t exactly fit into her plans for some peace and quiet. Besides, she’d been married to a firefighter once already, and loving him as she had, she’d promised herself that she’d never marry another one. She didn’t think she could handle losing another man she loved to the perils of the job.
“Why don’t we meet you at the restaurant?” she countered.
He nodded. “Sure. Does Chris like pizza?”
“Yes!” Chris hollered from the window above, and Rachel chuckled.
“You have your answer there.”
“Great. Alphonzo’s Pizza is on the corner of Main Street, right across from the drugstore. Do you know the place I mean?”
Rachel held up her phone. “I’ll find it with my GPS. How does six o’clock sound?”
“Perfect. See you then.” He shot her a grin, then ambled back toward his truck. With his hand on the door handle, he turned back and called up to the second-story window, “Chris, they’ve got ice cream, too. Just saying.”
Rachel smothered a laugh and watched as Matt hopped up into the cab of the white pickup, a red fire-department seal emblazoned across the side. The vehicle roared to life and he pulled away from the curb. As she turned back toward the house, Rachel stopped short when she saw her aunt standing in the doorway.
“You startled me.” She chuckled. “I didn’t know you were there.”
“I know.” Louise raised an eyebrow teasingly and turned back into the house. “Handsome young fellow, isn’t he?”
“He’s a firefighter, Auntie. It’s not going to happen.”
“I always liked firefighters... So did Grandma,” Louise pointed out with exaggerated casualness.
Rachel rolled her eyes and followed her aunt indoors.
“I know, I know...”
And so it starts, she thought wryly. If there was one thing she was sure of, it
