Jake was sitting at his desk trying to focus on his cases and not the empty hole in his heart and life, when Mark rushed in.
“Come here. The news is on in the lunchroom. You’re not going to believe it.”
Jake burrowed back in his chair. “I’d rather not.”
He’d stopped watching the news when they started reading letters from possible replacements for Macy. One woman had written how she wanted to
lick him like a Popsicle
. He only wanted one woman messing with his Popsicle, and he wasn’t sure how or when he should make his move to approach her.
“Hey, Preacher Boy,” Mark said. “Get off your ass and come here! This is good. I promise you. It’ll put a smile on that ugly face of yours.”
Jake followed his friend into the lunchroom. A crowd circled the TV, which flickered with images of the billboard signs. Good Lord, when the truth came out, everyone at work—no, everyone in
Houston
—would be privy to the sad state of his love life. He fought a wave of grumpiness, because he knew if it won him Macy back, it’d be worth it. If it won Macy back, he’d let the story go national.
The screen flashed and the blonde reporter appeared. “We’re at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, where we finally located Mr. Brown of Brown Billboard Company. He’s the man responsible for the Pizza Girl signs. Mr. Brown, can you tell us the identity of man behind the signs, and what he did that needs forgiving?”
“Of course I can’t.” Mr. Brown looked offended.
“How long does he plan to do this?” the reporter asked.
“If I was a betting man, I’d say he’ll do it until his woman forgives him. When a man loves a woman that much, he’ll do just about anything. And if she’d take my advice, she’d take that boy back. This isn’t an ordinary guy. He’s what you women would call a keeper.”
“We’re told that you’ve taken about a dozen other orders for signs like these now.”
“It’s communication,” Brown said. “I have to be careful of regulations, but nothing is better advertising than billboards.”
“Is that why you advertised about your daughter’s cancer fund?”
“Yes, it is,” Mr. Brown continued, and told his daughter’s story. Before it was over, they showed the man’s daughter. “She’s a fighter,” the man said, and his voice shook.
The reporter looked into the camera, her tears evident. “Another love story,” she said. “If anyone would like to donate to this fund, contact…”
Mark elbowed Jake. “Talk about something good coming out of all of this!”
“Yeah.” And maybe it was time his story was put to bed and Mr. Brown got all the media attention. Jake just hoped both love stories had happy endings.
Billy had called Andy and asked him to come over. While he’d never told the police about the teenager who’d helped him, he’d told his mom and grandma. Andy seemed happy to visit, and they spent several hours just talking, Nan and his mom included.
When Andy left, Nan called Billy and his mom to the kitchen/boardroom. Any serious talks were held at the kitchen table. Billy, secretly smiling, knew exactly what this talk would be about.
“The boy needs a home,” Nan said. “He can’t continue to live on his own like that.”
Billy feigned innocence. “Maybe he could hang out here.”
Nan cocked her head to the side. “Well, it depends on how much of a pain in the ass you plan on being. I sure as heck wouldn’t want two hell-raisers living here.”
Billy grinned. “If I actually get out of this mess. I’m going back to school. And getting a job. My hell-raising days are over. And Andy doesn’t come off as much of a hell-raiser.”
“We’d have to do it legal-like,” Nan said. “Things like this can get messy if you don’t.”
Billy’s mom piped up. “Hal’s daughter works for the Children’s Advocacy. I’ll bet she’d help us. She likes me better now that I got rid of the belly ring.” She shot her own mother a smile.
Nan gave Billy a questioning look. “Do you think Andy would go for it?”
“Yeah.” Billy sipped his tea. “He’s hungry to have someone in his life. He took to me. What does that tell you?”
“It tells me he’s smart,” Nan said as a knock sounded on the front screen door. “Coming!” She popped up and went to answer it.
“Faye?” Nan called out a moment later. “Can you come here?” Billy’s mom got up and left him alone.
Billy rose slowly. It still hurt if he moved too fast. Leaning against the kitchen counter, he put his glass in the sink. His back was to the door when he heard footsteps behind him. “Who was at the door?” he asked, turning around.
His breath caught.
Ellie.
She stood at the door of Nan’s kitchen wearing a green scrubs-like nurse’s uniform top and not a stitch of makeup. She appeared more than a little uneasy. He let himself just look at her. God, she was beautiful.
She fidgeted with the hem of her uniform top. Finally, she raised her gaze. “I’ll leave if you want me to.”
He didn’t know what to say. Ever since he’d heard her brother was killed, he figured she’d hate him. No, he hadn’t done the killing, but it was because of him, because she’d gotten involved with him, that her brother was dead.
She looked away. “I guess I shouldn’t have come. I just wanted to see you, to make sure you were okay. But I’ll go. I’m sorry.” She turned to leave.
“Wait.”
She swung back around. Her soft green eyes met his and his chest grew tight.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to see you. I—I thought you’d blame me for your brother.”
Her eyes washed with tears. “At first, I blamed
myself
for getting involved with you, but then I got to thinking about how he was. He was always getting himself into trouble. He wasn’t a bad person, but he was always making bad decisions.”
“Sort of like me,” Billy said.
She shook her head. “We all make mistakes. Maybe you made some bad decisions in your past. But you saved two people’s lives, Billy. You were willing to die to save that cop.”
He hated hearing all that crap, and he blurted out what he hadn’t been able to say to anyone else. “It’s not like I thought about it or even meant to do it. I just reacted!”
Her eyes widened. “Yeah, but not everyone would have reacted like that.” She stepped closer. “That’s what I saw in you. Even in the beginning, in your letters, you were kind and good. You owned up to what you’d done. You’re not a bad person. And sometimes I got the feeling you felt like you were. People make mistakes, but it’s not so much our mistakes that make us good or bad, but how we clean up the messes and what we learn from them.”
His chest filled with a lightness he hadn’t felt since he’d left her at the beach house. Not even learning that he might not have to go back to prison felt this good. “My lawyer says…she really thinks I won’t have to go back to prison.” He moved away from the counter and pressed his palms on the back of a chair. “I want to go to school. I’ve got a lot of plans.”
She looked at him. “That’s good.”
“I need to get my life together. It could take some time.”
“I understand.” She started backing out of the kitchen, hurt in her eyes, and Billy realized Ellie didn’t understand. Her next backward shuffle took her farther away from him. Leaving. She was leaving.
“Would you help me?” His words came out fast.
She bumped into the side of the door frame. Her gaze shot up. “You want me to?”
“More than anything in this world.”
They met in the middle of the kitchen. And when he stood directly in front of her, he thought he’d die if he didn’t touch her. So he reached out and placed his hands around her waist. Pleasure that bordered on pain flowed from the touch and filled his heart.
She leaned in and placed a hand on his chest. Her soft mouth came so close that what came next was as natural as breathing. He kissed her. Drank the sweet taste of her lips and swore to himself that he’d become the man Ellie thought he was.
“You kids, don’t get too carried away in there!” Nan called.
Billy laughed and pulled back. Then he brushed the soft blonde strands of hair from her cheek. “Have I told you I love you?”
Later that afternoon, Jake got the courage to just do it. He checked to make sure Macy wasn’t working, then called Nan to make sure she was at home.
“She’s home. Just talked to her.” Nan paused. “You’re gutsy. What do you have up your sleeve now?”
“Just watch the news.” Jake guessed that Nan was smart enough to have figured he was responsible for the signs.
“Will do. By the way, you owe me and my daughter.”
“For what?” He liked this woman and hoped he could call her part of his family soon.
“Do you know how many love letters we wrote to the news station saying we’d marry your sorry ass? We figured it might help if Macy thought somebody else wanted you.”
Jake laughed. “Which one of you wanted to lick me like a Popsicle?”
Nan giggled. “Got that out of a romance novel.”
“Okay,” Jake said. “I owe you. Name your price.”
“How about making my granddaughter happy?”
“I’m hoping I get the opportunity.”
An hour later, Jake pulled up at Macy’s house. He waited until the two news vans pulled in behind him to go to the door.
He knocked.
Macy’s voice sounded through the door. “Who is it?”
“It’s Jake. Let me in, please.” His request met silence. His heart ached and he sent out another prayer. “Please, I’ve got all sorts of media right behind me. I’d rather say what I have to say to you in private. Unless you want it on tonight’s news.”
Her front door opened. She stared out in horror at the reporters approaching her front lawn.
“Crappers!” She motioned him inside, then slammed and locked the door.
Once he was in, she glared at him. “I don’t know why I rescued you. You did this to yourself.”
“Guilty as charged.” He half smiled, hoping to put her in a good mood. God, it felt good to see her.
She rolled her eyes. “Why would you do something so…”
“Public?” he finished for her. He took a step closer and ached to touch her.
“Yeah, public.” She took a step back.
That little step hurt. He fought to hang on to hope. “I thought you’d figured that out by now.”
“Well, I guess I’m not as smart as you think.”
He heard the reporters nearing the front door. “I did it to show you that my pride isn’t as important as you are.
Nothing
…is as important as you are.”
She took another step; then, swinging around, she walked into the living room. At least she hadn’t told him to leave.
He followed and watched her drop on the sofa. Elvis scurried over and did figure eights around his ankles. Kneeling, he petted the feline. “Your cat’s happy to see me.”
“And his rations will be docked for it, too.” She glared at Elvis.
Jake rose, then moved to the sofa and sat beside her, careful not to touch her too soon. This might be his last chance. That thought had all kinds of emotions racing around his heart.
“Macy—”
“Don’t.” She pressed a finger to his lips, then jerked away. “I can’t do this, Jake.”
The weight of her words burrowed into the pit of his gut. “Do what? Forgive me? Do you really think I don’t love you? I was so angry for so long at my brother, I wasn’t thinking straight. Do you really think I meant what I said?”
“It’s not just that.”
She closed her eyes. Her dark, thick lashes rested against the tender skin beneath. The bluish circles told him she hadn’t slept well. He liked thinking she’d missed him, but knowing she’d been hurting, that he’d been the one to cause that pain, only deepened his guilt.
“Then what is it?” he asked.
She opened her eyes and looked right at him. The vulnerability and fear he saw pooling there had his mind reeling. And just like that, everything made sense.
“This isn’t about what happened at my mom’s, is it? This is about your dad, and you not trusting men in general.” When she didn’t answer, he knew he was right.
He stood up and paced across the room. “What do I have to do to prove to you that I’m not your dad, Macy? I’m not going to walk out on you. I’m not Billy, who took you for granted. And I sure as hell am not like that asshole of an ex who had a slice of heaven and didn’t know it.”
She blinked, and her baby blues filled with tears. “You’re still like my grandpa. You could get killed. You put your life on the line every day. You get shot at. You shoot at bad guys. On the day Billy was shot, I thought you were dead. They said there was a casualty. I thought it was you. I can’t take that. I can’t take losing someone else.”
He watched one of her tears slip down her cheek. “Well, I wasn’t killed. I’m right here. I’m alive.”
“But you
could have been
killed.”
He gritted his teeth. “What are you saying, Macy? You want me to give up my job? Is that what you’re saying?” The thought sent a bulldozer through his life plans. He’d never wanted to be anything but a cop. But if it meant—
“No. I wouldn’t…I don’t…”
“Then, what?” He dropped down on his knees in front of her. “I love you, Macy. I love you so much that I can’t imagine my life without you.”
She blinked, and a couple more tears fell from her eyes. “I’m scared. I’m scared you’ll get killed. I’m scared you’ll start cheating on me. I’m scared that I’ll fall so deeply in love that I couldn’t handle losing you. Then you’ll leave me and I’ll be…I’ll become my mom.”
He took her hands in his. “I’ll never willingly leave you. Never cheat on you. Damn it, Macy, you can’t go through life not trusting anyone because they might die.” Right then Elvis skittered past. “You love the cat right? But you damn well know it’s going to die before you. It doesn’t stop you from loving it.”
Macy blinked, and it appeared as if he was actually getting through to her. But just in case, he kept going. “Besides, even your mom has dealt with this, and she’s letting herself give love a shot. And to be honest, I’m scared, too! I think that’s part of the reason why I didn’t tell you about Lisa and Harry. I thought if you knew one person had dumped me, you’d think twice about wanting me. I felt as if you had one eye on the door at all times, waiting for me to make a mistake.”