America's Bravest (13 page)

“Let’s go,” Mark said.

She put her foot in the first steel rung,
which jutted out from the wall for the climb up. Then, she grabbed
onto the handhold. Carefully, but steadily, she ascended the steep
incline. Mark lagged behind, probably letting her get ahead of him.
He always did nice things like that.

The memory came out of nowhere.

You should let me win!
she’d told
Brody jokingly when they were getting in shape for his baseball and
her softball season by racing around the high school track.

Oh, yeah, like you let me win at
Scrabble. Get moving, beautiful.

Her hand slipped.
No,
she told
herself. Not here. Not now. No more. One of the reasons she’d
hesitated to come tonight was because Brody lived and worked in
Hidden Cove—and he’d frequent this kind of place, probably with his
brother and two cool blondes. And she’d made a decision, hadn’t
she, when she threw out the flowers in the garbage before she even
brought them into the house?

Fiercely concentrating on her climb, she beat
Mark to the top. Sweaty and out of breath, she made her way back to
the ground. The exercise felt good.

“Hey, Emma,” her colleague Sara said. She
dated a high school teacher, too. “Want to go play the skee ball
machines?”

“Go ahead,” Mark told her when he hit the
ground. “I’ve been challenged to a pinball game with a kid who
really needs my attention.”

So she and Sara headed to the skee ball area.
“It’s fun to see you having a good time,” Sara commented.

Emma scowled. “I always have a good
time.”

“Nah, you’ve been down lately, though you
think you hide it. But I’ve known you too long. Is everything okay
with Mark?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? He’s perfect.”

Sara scowled. “You say that as if it were a
crime.”

Emma stopped short. “Oh, no, of course not.
He’s wonderful. I’m a lucky woman.”

They reached the crowded skee ball room.
People were rolling the balls up a miniature lane with an incline,
trying to get them into one of the concentric circles, each having
a different point value. Sounds of wood hitting wood and shouts of
joy came from some lanes, groans from others. Rock music was piped
in the background. They found free alleys next to each other, and
as Emma picked up a ball, she glanced to the side.

About five rows down, dressed in jeans and a
Yankees T-shirt revealing sculpted muscles, Brody O’Malley pitched
a ball down the lane, and a perky blonde stood next to him,
cheering him on.

oOo

Carrie was all over him when he caught sight
of Emma on the bowling machines. Wearing simple jeans, sneakers and
a T-shirt that read
Camden Cove High School
—he’d seen
several at Play Station tonight—she looked like a teenager herself.
Which, of course, catapulted him back to their time together. She’d
noticed him and gave a brief smile, and he limply waved back. Hell.
This was all he needed. Her, too. She didn’t want to see him
again.

Extricating himself from his date, Brody
turned back to the lane and spent five minutes racking up points.
When he finally looked again, Emma was gone. Well, good. Fine. They
both needed the distance.

Which didn’t explain why he said, “You play
for a while, Carrie. Some people I know are here and I want to talk
to one of them.”

“Don’t be gone long.” She smiled and gave him
a kiss on the lips.

He found Emma in the batting cage. He’d
headed there because in high school she played softball and he
played baseball and they used to frequent batting cages. It was one
of her favorite activities, other than sex with him. Well, once he
learned how to make it good for her. He grinned, remembering their
bumbling attempts all those years ago. He knew a lot more now and
could… Damn it!!!

For a while, he stood out of view and watched
her beat the hell out of balls, which came at her fast from the
automatic pitching machine. When the thing stopped, she was
red-faced and sweating. He opened the door to the cage, stepped
inside and leaned against the chain link. “You still got it,
Emmy.”

She looked back. “I do,” she told him, and
reset the machine. Another ball flew at her; she focused and
slammed that one into never-never land. He waited while she tore
the covers off several more balls, until the machine shut down
again.

“Want to go another round?” he asked her.

“No, I’m tired. I’ve got to find Mark.”

Brody couldn’t let her go. He just couldn’t.
So when she started toward the door, he blocked her way. “I wanted
to say hi.”

He liked that she didn’t avert her gaze, but
stared right into his eyes.

“Did you get the flowers?”

“Yes, and the message that you were going to
leave me alone.”

“I know.” He gestured around to place. “It’s
kismet that we met here.”

“Dismal luck, you mean.”

“Why?”

She threw down the bat and it clattered to
the cement floor. “You know damn well why. Since the reunion and
seeing you at the firehouse, I can’t stop thinking about you,
dreaming about you. The last thing I need to see is you here, on my
turf, with your pretty babe.”

For some reason, her tirade pissed him off.
“It’s my turf, Emma.”

“Which is why I almost didn’t come.” When he
saw tears in her eyes, he grasped her arm. “Hey, I didn’t mean to
upset you.”

“You always upset me. You always did.”

Against his better judgment, he moved in
closer. Something drove him that he couldn’t control. “I did more
than that with you. I want to again.”

A tear escaped. “Please, Brody, don’t do this
to me. I have a good life and I can’t let you into it. Go
away.”

She said
can’t
, not
won’t
.
Hmm.

“Look, could we meet and—”

“Em? Are you okay?”

Brody pivoted. Mark Adams stood behind the
chain-link fence.

Emma immediately stepped back from Brody.
“Yeah, Mark, I’m great. But I’m finished.”

The guy bristled, probably at the sight of
her tear-stained face, and came inside the cage. “Brody, what are
you doing here?” His tone of voice was definitely colder than at
the reunion.

“Came for a night of games, like you all
did.”

Mark glanced at Emma. “Why are you
upset?”

“She missed a lot of pitches is all. She’s
still competitive.”

“Not so much anymore.” He gave Brody a
once-over and took Emma by the hand. “But I am. Come on, honey. The
bus is leaving soon. Brody, I don’t much like you upsetting my
girl.”

Brody didn’t respond. The
honey
and
my girl
said enough.

oOo

“Can I come in?” In the dim light from the
outdoor lamp she’d left on, Mark stood with Emma on her front
porch. He expected to stay over, like he often did.

Emma felt as if weights were crushing her
shoulders. “Would you mind if you didn’t? I have a headache.”

Reaching out, he rubbed his hand along her
temple. “Isn’t that the oldest line in the book? If you don’t feel
like making love, you can tell me.”

“What did I do to deserve you?” Her lips
trembled. “You’re so sweet, so kind. I care so much about you,
Mark.”

“But something’s happening. You haven’t been
the same since seeing O’Malley at the reunion. It’s been over a
decade, and I never thought…”

She leaned into him. He ran his hand down her
hair. “All right, he’s…bothering me, I guess.”

“What does he want from you?”

The crickets sounded loudly in the lawn
around her. Finally she said, “He wants to see me alone. He’s been
flirting.…”

“You’ve had contact with him other than
tonight?”

She explained about the visit to the
firehouse.

“Damn him.” His gaze zeroed in on her. “Why
didn’t you tell me about all this?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I think you do. It’s all right if he upsets
you, but don’t even consider seeing him alone.” He moved in close
and kissed her soundly. “I’m not letting him take you away from me,
Emma.”

For some reason, that made her feel better.
“Okay.”

Cupping her jaw, he kissed her nose. “This is
a little bump in the road, honey, from seeing him for the first
time in years. We’ll get through it. Now, go in and get some
sleep.” He smiled. “And dream of me.”

Emma watched Mark go, her heart breaking. If
only she
would
dream about him and not the man who’d
broken her heart and wanted a chance to do it again.

Usually, Brody loved Halloween. He dressed up
and went to parties or threw one at his place; often, he decorated
the outside of his house and met kids at the door in an uber-scary
costume. But this year, he was in a vile mood and instead of
celebrating the day, he offered to work for Zach Malvaso as a medic
on Midi 7 so Zach could go trick-or-treating with his kids.

Brody’s friend Grady O’Connor walked into the
common room after answering yet another kiddy visit and found Brody
sitting at a table-and-chair grouping, putting together a puzzle.
“You look like you lost your best friend,” Grady said, not to
needle him, but with concern. Grady was a hell of a good guy.
“Women problems?”

“What would you know about those? You’ve been
married three years and are still on your honeymoon.”

The man’s grin was infectious. He’d fallen in
love with his best friend, Jenn, sister in the Malvaso clan. “We
are. And, damn, it’s great.”

“How come you’re here tonight?”

“Only one of us could get a sub. I let her
off the hook. She and Angel are trick-or-treating with Mitch’s
family.” Brody studied him. “How old are you, Brody?”

“Thirty-four. Though I’m feeling seventy
tonight.”

“Time to settle down then.”

“Maybe.”

“Never met a girl you cared enough
about?”

He pictured laughing blue eyes, messy auburn
hair and a toned body in jeans and a school shirt. “Yeah, once. I
blew it.” He rolled his eyes. He found it easier to talk to Grady
than to Ryan, who never thought Emma was a good idea. “I met up
with her a couple of times in the last two months. She makes me
grumpy.”

“No chance of rekindling old flames?”

“Not on her part. And I know I’m being a
jerk, that I should leave her alone. She had a tough time when I
dumped her after high school graduation. Now she has a boyfriend
who’s a great guy.”

“Ah, then it was puppy love.”

“You know, it wasn’t. She understood me,
accepted me. If I recall, we never had one fight the whole time we
were together.”

“That’s a real loss.”

“Not gonna tell me I should go after
her?”

Grady shook his head. “Nope. Sounds like she
made a good life after you ditched her. I’d say find somebody
else.”

“There aren’t a lot of Jenn Malvaso’s out
there.”

“Jenn O’Connor now.” Another shit-eating
grin. “And you’re right, she’s one of a kind.”

The buzzer sounded in the kitchen. “More
Halloweeners.” Grady stood. “I’ll go.”

Disgusted with himself, Brody picked up a
copy of
The
Heart of Hidden Cove
laying off to
the side, but its message was too upbeat, so he went back to his
puzzle. After a minute, Grady came back…with Mark Adams in tow.
Holy hell!

“You have a guest.” Discreetly, Grady left
them alone.

Leaning back from the table, Brody tried for
nonchalance. “Hi, Mark. Do I even have to ask why you’re here?”

Mark shook his head. “At least you’re
honest.” He took a seat, a gesture of civility instead of looming
over Brody. “You’re upsetting Emma. I want it to stop.”

“I’m sorry. That isn’t my intention.”

Easing back in the chair, the guy looked more
confident than Brody would have liked. “You always were the nicer
one.”

“What do you mean?”

“Of you and Ryan. There was a real
carelessness about your twin, an attitude that he didn’t have to be
nice because he was handsome, athletic, sought after. You were a
cocky son-of-a-bitch but I always thought you were considerate of
people.” His eyes narrowed. “And as far as women were concerned,
Ryan treated them like disposable plastic bags—use them and throw
them away.”

Though he didn’t like the guy dissing Ryan,
Brody didn’t want to start a fight. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Do you remember facing down the soccer team
when they went after our chess club? I think you singlehandedly
stopped their bullying.”

What Brody remembered was how proud Emma had
been of him. How they’d made love that night, and it had been the
most satisfying experience they’d ever had to that point. For him,
it had felt good not to be the bad boy.

“I’m asking you to find that guy now, Brody.
Somewhere inside you, he’s still there.”

“And leave her alone.”

“Yep. She was happy before you came along
again.”

“Was she?”

Reaching inside his pocket, Mark withdrew a
box. A ring box. Fuck! When he opened it, Brody saw a sparkling
diamond, set on a band encrusted with smaller ones. He had the
ludicrous thought that he wouldn’t have chosen something so
traditional for Emma. “I bought this last summer. I was waiting for
her birthday.”

“Tomorrow. All Saints’ Day. I used to tease
her she was one, too.”

“She is, in so many ways.” Mark stood. “I
wish you luck, Brody, and I hope you find someone as good as Emma
in the future. But you can’t have her. She’s mine. So back off.
Really, this time.” Mark didn’t wait for an answer and walked out
of the common room.

Suddenly, there was a movement on the couch,
the back of which faced him. Felicia White sat up. She was subbing
tonight, too, in the officer position. “I’m sorry, truly. I fell
asleep and woke up in the middle of the boyfriend’s visit.”

“That’s okay. My humbling is complete
now.”