Forever Together (26 page)

“I could show you.” Kaylee smiled at the fire
station Toby had built.

Toby added his building to Kaylee’s hospital
table. “I’m going to be a firefighter when I’m big. Just like my
dad.”

“That sounds like a great job,” Dan said as
he started another building.

“I’m going to be a beautician. Just like
Kate.” Kaylee leaned back on her pillows and smiled. “Kate’s going
to show me how to make people look pretty. When my hair gets
long,
she’s going to show me how
to do a fishtail braid.”

“Mermaids have fishtails,” Toby said from the
floor.

“So do girls. Mom showed me a video.”

Toby looked up at Dan and grinned. “I’m going
to build the biggest pool in the world. Then Kaylee can go swimming
in it with her fishtail.”

A light tap on the glass wall distracted Dan
from the mermaid conversation. Anna stood outside with her face
mask on and a pile of books in her hands.

“It’s time for me to go, guys.” He leaned
across the bed and kissed Kaylee’s forehead. “I’ll see you
tomorrow.” Toby stuck his hand in the air and Dan high fived him on
the way out of the room.

Anna took her mask off and gave him a hug.
“It looks as though I might need to buy more Lego bricks.”

“I’ll pick some up from the toy store on my
way home. I helped Tom this morning. He said Bozeman High School is
raising money at their Senior Prom for Kaylee.”

Anna nodded. “They’re good kids. We’ve all
been invited.”

Dan dropped his face mask in the trash. “Do
they still do ballroom dancing?” Dan remembered tripping over his
feet at his Senior Prom. They’d had six weeks of lessons and he
still hadn’t been able to tell his left foot from his right.

“Only if you want to. Are you coming?”

“I don’t know yet. I’m supposed to be
working, but I’ll see if I can swap shifts with someone.”

Anna looked through the glass at Kaylee. “Has
Logan said anything more about the article he’s writing?”

Dan shook his head. “I haven’t heard from
him, but he’s been asking questions about Kate. Loretta and Emily
called me this morning.”

“What is that man’s problem?”

“I don’t know, but it won’t be a problem
soon.”

“What do you mean?”

Dan glanced at his sister. “I’m working on
something with Kate.” His body tightened. He’d worked on lots of
things with Kate yesterday. Things that showed her exactly what he
thought about her. Things that showed him what she had in mind.

Anna waved to Kaylee. “Molly emailed me
copies of the photos she took yesterday afternoon. They’re
lovely.”

Dan pulled his mind away from Kate’s body and
back to the conversation with his sister. He hadn’t been sure about
Molly taking photos of Kaylee in the hospital. But as soon as she’d
breezed into the room, Kaylee couldn’t stop smiling. Between the
lip
gloss
Kate had brought and the
pixie dust Molly had in her bag, they’d created magical images that
everyone would treasure.

He thought about the photos, the memories
they’d captured. “She’s a great photographer. Emily spoke with
another reporter from the Chronicle and gave them copies of some of
the photos. It’ll be interesting to see if they publish a
story.”

Anna frowned. “I don’t know what good can
come of Logan making up things that aren’t true.” She took a deep
breath and rearranged the books in her hands. “I need to go and see
Kaylee before I start getting really annoyed. Are you having dinner
with us tonight?”

“I’ve got dessert defrosting on the kitchen
counter.”

“Sounds delicious.” Anna grinned at the eye
roll he sent her. “Bring Kate. You can tell us what you’re working
on.”

Dan felt heat rush to his face. Anna pulled
her mask back on, too distracted to notice that he hadn’t replied.
Which was a good
thing.
Having
another heart-to-heart discussion with his sister wasn’t going to
happen.

Kate only knew half of what he was working
on. If she figured out the rest he was worried she’d run scared,
and he wasn’t going to let that happen again.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Kate opened the door to Emily’s
boutique
. Just like the first time she’d come
inside, she was blown away by the beautiful interior Emily and Alex
had created. It was feminine without being frilly. Sophisticated
without being cold.

She smiled at the pretty ornaments someone
had strung up the banister either side of the central staircase.
Baubles in bright pink, purple, and green made the sweeping
staircase look
festive,
as if
Christmas was only around the corner instead of half a year away.
But it was the chandelier that made her pause, made her feel as
though the boutique was more than a clothes store. It was something
special, a chance to change how you saw the world, and how the
world saw you.

Emily smiled from beside a tall wall of
bookcases. Scarves in a rainbow of colors had been placed along
some of the shelves. Sitting beside them were pieces of the most
exquisite jewelry Kate had seen. Where there were no scarves, there
were books and magazines, something for everyone with an interest
in fashion.

“Just the person I was looking for. Can you
have a look at this?” Emily walked across the room and Kate
followed.

“What do you think about this display?” Emily
frowned at a mannequin dressed in a deep red evening dress. The
skirt fell softly to the floor in a circle of fine pleats. Gold
brocade thread wove through the bodice, swirling in overlapping
circles and ending in a ribbon of gold at the waist.

Emily picked up a black shawl and draped it
over the shoulders of the dress. “I don’t know whether I like the
black shawl or the gold
cape
with
the dress. What do you think?”

Kate walked toward the mannequin and held the
edge of the black shawl in her hand. It was almost sheer, edged in
a lace
so soft that it felt like
silk. “Try the gold one.”

Emily lifted the black shawl off the dress
and opened the gold cape. It shimmered in the light coming through
the front window. “I bought the silk from a supplier in Italy.”

The cape didn’t have any fancy threads or
stitching making it into something it wasn’t. The fabric shone with
its own beauty and looked stunning against the deep red dress. “Go
with the cape. It looks beautiful.”

Emily sighed. “I love Prom season. All the
excitement reminds me of my Senior Prom. I was so nervous that I
hardly enjoyed myself. But the anticipation was worth every
minute.”

Kate looked more closely around the boutique.
Since she’d last been here, Emily had changed all of the displays.
Silk, satin, and organza dresses had been placed around the
boutique, sitting beside displays of shoes and evening bags. She
imagined groups of excited teenage girls, trying on dresses and
shoes, picturing themselves dancing in the arms of their teenage
crush.

Before her sister had died, Kate had dreamed
the same dreams. She’d planned what her dress would look like, how
her hair would look, and designed the perfect earrings to bring
everything together. But Lily had died and so had a part of
Kate.

Emily tweaked the edge of the gold cape and
smiled. “Perfect. Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“No, I…” Kate swallowed. “Dan invited me to
the Bozeman High Senior Prom.” There, she’d said it. She felt
foolish and silly and so excited that she’d hardly been able to say
the words.

“The Prom? How did he…Oh my God. It’s
working, isn’t it? Our plan. Dan’s doing the happy family thing.
Logan’s not going to be impressed when he finds out.”

Kate felt her bubble of happiness shrink to
the size of an egg. Maybe she was reading too much into Dan’s
invitation. Maybe he’d only invited her for appearances, or someone
to dance with.

“What does your dress look like?”

Kate focused on Emily and ignored the doubt
building inside her. “That’s why I’m here. The prom is two days
away and I don’t have a dress.”

“Ohh, I love it. This is fairy godmother
stuff. I have so many beautiful gowns that you won’t be able to
choose which one to wear. Do you have any color or design
preferences?”

Kate shook her head. She shopped at
end
of season sales, not in
boutiques. Color choices and design options were based on what was
left over from everyone else. But this time she was going to buy
something new. Something that wasn’t
out
of season
or damaged.

With the money she’d saved from working at
Loretta’s and not having to pay rent in San Diego, she’d have
enough to buy her first prom dress.

Emily disappeared upstairs while Kate looked
through the racks of clothes downstairs. She tried not to look at
the price tags, she really did. But everything she saw was more
than she could afford. And that didn’t include the cost of shoes,
stockings and who knew what else she might need.

She heard Emily’s shoes click against the
wooden stairs and looked up in time to see an armful of dresses
pass in front of her nose.

“Come with me.” Emily marched across to a
dressing room and hung the dresses on the hooks on the wall. “These
are my latest designs. They haven’t even been photographed for our
catalog yet.”

Kate stared at the pretty fabrics, the lace,
the satin, and the silk. She didn’t know where to begin.

“Try the blue satin dress first. The
cross-over bodice is really pretty.” She passed Kate a beautiful
dress, made of the deepest midnight blue fabric she’d ever seen.
“And don’t bother looking for price tags. You can have whatever
dress you want, as long as you agree to model it for my
catalog.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Kate stammered.
“I’ll pay for the dress.”

Emily smiled. “We’ll see. I’ll go and get
some shoes and jewelry.” She pulled the black velvet curtain closed
and disappeared into the boutique.

Kate looked at the clothes, felt their silky
softness under her hands. If Dan had invited her to the prom out of
a sense of duty, she’d still go with him. And if he was blown away
by the sexy beautician dancing in his arms, then all the
better.

***

Dan hadn’t seen Kate in two days and it felt
like an eternity. He’d gone to work, done what he needed to do,
driven home, and missed her like crazy.

That wasn’t the sign of a sane man. The kind
of man that didn’t need anyone else in his life. And when Colin had
shown him the newspaper article with the photo Molly had taken
at
the hospital, he’d felt his
heart squeeze tight in his chest.

Even though the reason for the photo was less
than honest, the emotion shining from their faces was as clear as
their need to breathe. Kaylee grinned directly at the camera,
laughing like any other
eight-year-old
. Dan and Kate were sitting either side of
her, their face masks on and eyes locked on each other.

Half a second later and Molly would have
missed the shot, but it was there, as simple or complicated as
anyone wanted to make it.

He parked outside Rachel and Kate’s
apartment, waiting for his nerves to calm down before he knocked on
their front door. He hadn’t been this strung out in so long that
the feeling startled him, left him feeling more off-center than he
should have been.

He picked up the corsage sitting on the seat
beside him. Tiny red rosebuds had been woven along a soft band of
green leaves. It was something you might give your high school
sweetheart or the woman you wanted to see more of.

When Tess and Emily found out Kate had never
been to a prom, they’d hatched a countdown plan that would have
impressed any Army strategist. For the last two
days,
they’d shooed him out of Kate’s life and
taken over her apartment as Prom Central. He didn’t know what was
waiting for him. And if he stayed in his truck for much longer he’d
never find out.

He glanced down the street, checking for
anything out of the ordinary before he realized what he was doing.
He wasn’t on duty, not until tomorrow night. Even if a riot broke
out in downtown
Bozeman,
he
wouldn’t be going. Tonight was special, in more ways than one.

With a final glance at his tux, he pushed the
doorbell and waited. Rachel McReedy opened the door, her blond hair
bouncing around her flushed face.

“Have I interrupted something?”

She shook her head and smiled. “We had a
stocking emergency. I had to rush into Walmart before they
closed.”

“Ssh,” Tess said from behind Rachel. “He
doesn’t need to know about that.”

Rachel grinned. “I’d say a basic knowledge
about stockings might come in handy for the Deputy Chief of
Police.”

Dan felt his face flame.

“Leave the poor guy alone. He’s doing us a
favor.” Tess yanked his arm, pulling him into the center of the
room and inspecting him from head to foot. “You look great. If you
weren’t going to the prom with
Kate,
I’d be tempted to run off with you myself.”

“As if that’s ever going to happen,” Rachel
scoffed. “You’re married to your business.”

“Make that happily married,” Tess said over
her shoulder as she disappeared out of the room.

“Kate’s nearly ready,” Rachel said. “She’s
just …”

“Pulling on her stockings?”

“Yeah. Did you find out if Logan’s going to
be there?”

Dan frowned. “How did you know about
Logan?”

“Are you kidding? It’s all I’ve heard about
for two days. I thought he might have published the story by
now.”

“Maybe he’s had a change of heart.”

“And pigs might fly.” Rachel picked up a
magazine that had been left on the floor and put it on a side
table.

He looked around the tidy room. Nothing was
new, but it wasn’t threadbare either. Colorful cushions filled each
sofa and a vase of flowers brightened an old wooden coffee table.
It was a living room to be enjoyed.