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“Hello, Captain. This is Mrs. Dunn, the nurse over here at Sugar Falls Elementary.”
Thank God, it was the nurse this time, and not the principal. Wow, that was a really bad thought. “Are my sons okay?” he asked.
“Yes, everyone is fine. Now. Caden had a little incident on the tetherball court and Aiden tried to help him get untangled and, well, the rope got caught. Anyway, I think it’s just a bad sprain, but you should probably get some X-rays just in case.”
“Which one?”
“The left one.”
“I mean, which of my children got injured.”
“Aiden has the actual sprain, but from the way Caden is carrying on, you’d think he was the one hurt.”
It was a twin thing. Luke and Drew had experienced the similar phenomenon growing up. And even as adults.
“I’m coming right now. Is his arm in a sling?”
“Uh, no. Why would it be?”
Luke only had basic medic training to assist in emergencies until a corpsmen got to the scene, but it would seem to him like the nurse would at least want to take pressure off the injured body part. “I just thought that maybe it would help stabilize his arm.”
“Oh, sorry, Captain Gregson. I should’ve been clearer. The sprain is to Aiden’s ankle.”
“How in the world did he sprain his ankle with a tetherball rope?”
“That’s a great question, Captain. And as soon as he gets his brother to relax, maybe Aiden can tell us. I had to snatch some pudding cups out of the school cafeteria to help in the calming-down process.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Luke disconnected the call, got into his nana’s brown Oldsmobile and drove less than a mile from downtown to the school. He’d grown up in Boise, but his parents owned a cabin here and he had spent most of his summers in Sugar Falls before joining the Navy. While the town setting was familiar, he was still getting used to the slower pace of life.
He would’ve preferred to drive around in the yellow Jeep his family kept at the cabin, but when his brother, Drew, had stepped in to care for the boys last summer during Luke’s last deployment, his overly cautious and analytical brother had insisted that the thirty-year-old sedan was safer for shuttling children than the fun and masculine four-by-four.
At least the Oldsmobile was in good shape. Before she’d passed away ten years ago, his grandmother had only driven the thing three times a week—to the grocery store, to the beauty shop and to the casino out on the reservation—so it had low mileage and only some minor dings in the right front fender. Nana never could make the tight turn into her carport at the mobile home park.
He kept meaning to buy a more functional and fuel-efficient car, especially since he was making the hour-long commute into Boise four times a week. But, contrary to what Drew and their sister, Hannah, thought, he’d always been Nana’s favorite grandkid and he missed the old gal.
Growing up, Luke had been the naughty twin—the proverbial pastor’s son who drove his mother to distraction. Nana would come pick him up to give his mom a break, calling him her wild child and having him light her menthol cigarettes for her so she could keep both hands on the steering wheel.
He took a deep breath, still able to smell the Benson & Hedges along with the lingering scent of her Shalimar perfume. His parents were fair and loved him, but Nana had been his island—his place to escape. Driving this brown beast made him feel closer to her.
When he pulled into the school lot, he gunned the eight-cylinder engine, just like she used to do, before pulling into a parking spot. He also overestimated his turn radius and the right bumper knocked into the custom sign that read Principal Parking Only.
Yep, just like Nana.
He walked inside and waved at the school secretary, who, after the third week of school, had programmed Luke’s cell number into her phone’s speed dial.
He let out a little sigh of relief when he turned left to go to the nurse’s office instead of heading straight down the hall toward the principal’s. He’d spent plenty of time sitting outside doors just like that one when he was growing up. And, since history seemed to be repeating itself, his children had a tendency to do the same.
Karma was definitely on the upswing with his genetics. Luke’s parents often referred to it as God’s sense of humor.
When he entered the room, he saw Aiden, the injured twin, sitting behind Mrs. Dunn’s desk and showing her how to play a computer game. Caden, the uninjured one, was propped on the cot and eating a chocolate pudding cup. His left foot was elevated on several pillows with an ice pack balanced precariously on top.
Even Luke’s brother, Drew, a well-respected Navy psychologist, couldn’t explain twin telepathy. But both he and Luke had experienced it firsthand and he didn’t doubt for a second that Caden could legitimately feel his brother’s pain.
Although, from the way Aiden was swinging around in the nurse’s chair and yelling commands at the woman on how to fight the Creepers on her computer, it seemed nobody was really the worse for wear.
“Dad? Oh, good. You’re finally here,” Caden said as he sat up and reached for his backpack. “We need to get Aiden to the hospital for some X-rays. Let me see your phone.”
Luke patted his pocket, ensuring his cell was far out of reach from his dramatic and impulsive son. “Who were you planning to call?”
“Officer Carmen. I’m gonna tell her we need a police escort with lights and sirens and the works.”
Luke raised his blond eyebrow at Aiden, who had just high-fived Mrs. Dunn for reaching the next level on his favorite game. “I think your brother will be fine on the way there. We can forgo the Code Three routine.”
Besides, he was pretty sure Carmen was off duty by now. Wait. How had he known that? Had she mentioned her schedule to him when he’d seen her at the cookie shop earlier?
Considering she hadn’t said more than two words to him, he doubted it. So why did he know what her shift was? Because today was Wednesday. And she always worked the afternoon shift on Sundays and Mondays, then the morning shifts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
He tapped his toe against the linoleum. Yep, the ground was still solid. So then maybe he could stomp out some of this useless information he was carrying around about a woman who would just as soon do fifty pull-ups than say hello to him.
Of course he would know her schedule because Tuesdays were the days she always picked up the boys after school, right after putting in a ten-hour day. He had to give the woman credit for that. She was an absolute sweetheart with the twins and had the patience of Job. Aiden and Caden couldn’t stop talking about her or singing her praises, which was probably why she kept popping up in Luke’s head so often—just like his renewed knowledge of Star Wars sequels, now that he’d shown the DVDs to the boys.
“Sorry to have to bother you at work, Captain,” Mrs. Dunn, the fiftysomething-year-old former Ski Potato Queen, said. He knew she had been on the homecoming court and had earned her crown at the annual ski festival the same decade his grandmother had bought her Oldsmobile because the woman kept the framed pictures and newspaper articles displayed on a shelf right above the bandages and antiseptic wipes.
“Actually, we had a presentation at one of the high schools this morning so I was off early today.”
“Being a recruiter must be so exciting. Helping all those young people find their careers.” When the nurse smiled at him, he noticed some of her coral lipstick had smeared onto her front two teeth, but he didn’t have the heart to point it out to the former beauty queen. When it came to those holding any sort of authority position over his children, he found it best to keep them locked in as allies.
“That’s sweet of you to say. It really makes me appreciate all you school employees do to help shape the minds of our next generation.” Which was true. Luke loved his own boys, but he didn’t think he could deal with so many students and their high-energy personalities on a daily basis. He gave the woman his best get-out-of-trouble smile.
Her mascara-clumped eyelashes fluttered as best they could and he knew he’d hit his mark. She smiled back and said, “I bet the high schoolers just adore having a hotshot hero like you come speak to them.”
In Luke’s mind, being a SEAL wasn’t such a big deal. He had just been doing what he loved. Still, maybe he could ask Nurse Dunn to share her flattering insight with Officer Delgado. Not that he cared what the female cop thought of him.
“Dad?” Aiden tapped him with a one of the crutches he must have borrowed from the school nurse. “You ready?”
“Oh. Um, yeah.” After hearing the nurse explain to Caden that she only had one set of crutches, Luke carried Aiden’s backpack and watched as his injured eight-year-old hobbled in front of him on one foot. His other son trailed behind with only a slight limp.
Anytime he had a slow day at the recruiting office and thought he missed the excitement of Spec Ops, all he had to do was drive home to his children. No amount of skilled warfare training could have prepared him for the adventure that was fatherhood.
Of course, it was times like these when he wished he’d pursued sniper school. Maybe then he’d be better equipped to work without a teammate. Without a partner. Sure, he had his family for backup, but sometimes he felt so alone.
The kids climbed into the back of Nana’s Oldsmobile and then immediately turned the crutches into dueling lightsabers.
It was going to be a very long night.
Chapter Three (#u58b49f45-b840-5b21-80a0-ca67f21e05fc)
“Hey, Officer Carmen, you wanna sign my cast?” Luke heard Aiden say to the long-legged curly-haired brunette wearing tight jeans and high-heeled boots. Caden rushed inside Patrelli’s Italian Restaurant to join his brother before Luke could stop them.
Crap. It was bad enough that the boys talked about their cop friend all the time, but now they were so eager to see her, they were mistaking her for random ladies in town. Albeit, a very curvaceous and sexy random lady. Luke let go of the heavy oak door and hurried over to the hostess stand to prevent his son from creating an embarrassing situation.
“Monkey, that’s not... Oh.” Luke stopped when the woman turned around.
Wow. He’d never seen Carmen wear anything besides her police uniform—something that clearly hadn’t been tailored with such a womanly form in mind—or track pants and long-sleeved T-shirts when he’d caught glimpses of her out running.
“It’s just a stupid ACE bandage,” he heard Caden say, yet the pending argument barely registered in Luke’s ears.
Double wow. The woman really had some nice legs.
“Yeah, but I’m pretending it’s a cast,” Aiden said. “Casts are cooler and way tougher.”
“I would love to sign your pretend cast.” Carmen reached for a pen off the hostess stand and bent down to write.
Luke had once been skilled at utilizing all five of his senses in any given situation, but try as he might, his eyes were the only thing functioning at that moment. And they were shamelessly staring at Carmen’s, ah, assets. She had on some type of loose, flowing, purple top, and from this angle, he could see down to where the rounded curves of her breasts met the V-shaped neckline.
He almost grabbed one of Aiden’s crutches to steady himself as a sudden wave of lust nearly knocked him sideways. Where had that come from?
When Carmen finally straightened up, Caden asked, “How can you drive your police car with those girl shoes on?”
“I promise, the next children I sire are going to have better manners,” Luke joked as he forced his eyes up to meet her face. But she must have been purposely ignoring him, because she wasn’t looking his way at all. Instead, she was completely focused on his children and smiling. Was she wearing lip gloss? And where in the world had she been hiding all those inky black curls?
“I’m not working tonight. I’m having dinner with some fr—some ladies...with some lady friends.” She waved at Maxine Cooper and Mia, who were already seated at one of the red vinyl booths. “What about you boys? I thought tonight was poker night?”
Had she remembered the invitation he’d awkwardly delivered yesterday? Probably not, since she still wasn’t making eye contact with him. Maybe she was one of those females who related better to kids.
“It is. But it’s Dad’s turn to bring the food. Hey, you should come with us. It’ll be more fun than sitting here and talking about lame girl stuff.”
See. He wasn’t the only one who’d just assumed she’d be more comfortable hanging out with the guys. But before he could say as much, his sister-in-law breezed into the restaurant.
“Aunt Kylie,” both of the boys squealed before throwing their arms around her.
“Oh, you guys are getting so big!” Kylie said. “I’ve missed you two.”
Luke felt a twinge of remorse. The boys had lived with her and Drew for several weeks and often stayed with them when Luke had to go out of town for trainings and recruitment seminars. But now that the couple had two newborns, Luke had tried to keep the boys away so they wouldn’t become too much of a burden.
“Hey, Officer Carmen, in those boots, you’re almost as tall as Aunt Kylie.”
Luke had never really noticed the cop’s height before, but in heels, she came to his chin. At least he guessed she would, if she ever got close enough to him to allow for an accurate measurement.
“My dad and Uncle Drew are both six foot four,” Aiden volunteered. “But we might not grow as big as them because Grammie said our mom was only—how tall was Mom, again?”
It took a second to realize his son was asking him a question. Then it took another second to figure out what that question was. But after half a minute, Luke realized that he didn’t have an answer.
How tall had Samantha been? She was on the shorter side, but he couldn’t recall an exact height. He could remember the way she’d cried and threatened to leave the day he’d gotten his orders to go on a three-month overseas mission. He could even remember the defeated look in her eyes when she’d gone off that night to “have a few drinks with the girls.” But lately it was getting more and more difficult to focus on the rest. No wonder Samantha used to accuse him of being emotionally unavailable.
Think, Gregson! Five foot four maybe? She was definitely shorter than the beautiful woman in front of him. He shook his head. What kind of man compared his dead wife to another woman? And what kind of father couldn’t keep his thoughts in check when his children asked him such a simple fact about their mother?
“She was five foot four,” he finally said while silently appealing for forgiveness in the event he was wrong. As well as forgiveness for the way he’d been too focused on Carmen’s long legs.
His career and dangerous deployments had not only taken its toll on his family, it had also driven a wedge so deeply between him and Samantha that she’d turned to a bottle of vodka to ease her burdens. Just because he hadn’t been the one behind the wheel on the night she’d died didn’t mean he wasn’t to blame.
Yet here he was, staring at Carmen, shamelessly taking in every glorious detail about her. The boys barely remembered their mother, and it was up to him to keep her memory alive for them—not get all hot and bothered about some incredible-looking female cop who had a soft spot for his kids. A flood of shame weighed him down, making him feel like he was closer to two feet tall.
Officer Delgado had her hands shoved into her jeans pockets and appeared to be reading the specials on the menu board several feet away. She obviously couldn’t even bring herself to look at him. His toes flexed inside of his hiking boots and he clenched his jaw in disgrace.
“Well, you boys have fun at poker night,” Kylie said, probably trying to lessen the awkwardness. “I figure I have about sixty-three minutes to get a bit of sustenance before Drew is gonna need me to head back over and feed the girls. So if I don’t get some garlic knots and fettuccine Alfredo in me before then, there will be three very unhappy Gregson ladies.”
Just then, a waitress walked up balancing four large pizza boxes and a couple of white paper sacks filled with Italian subs, and Luke had never been so glad for an excuse to get away. Even though he didn’t think he’d be able to stomach a single bite.
“C’mon, monkeys,” he said, peeling some bills out of his wallet and putting them on the hostess stand before taking the food from the server.
He maneuvered himself and the boxes out the door while the twins said their goodbyes and gave Kylie her usual three hugs, a ritual they’d started when she and Drew had been looking after the boys last year. The cool air felt great on his overheated face, so he decided they would walk the few short blocks to Maxine and Cooper’s apartment above the Sugar Falls Cookie Company.
He liked his cabin out in the woods, but Luke couldn’t deny that the Victorian buildings lining downtown held their own appeal. If the boys didn’t need so much space to run around, he’d gladly move in to one and try his hand at renovation. It might also shorten his commute. But then he’d have to interact more with the townspeople.
And, as he’d just displayed, he sometimes ended up looking like a complete ass when he did.
His life certainly hadn’t turned out the way he’d expected. His training had conditioned him to always be ready to adapt and overcome—to put the mission goal first. However, just because he was ready to move on didn’t mean he knew the direction in which he was headed. Maybe he should focus on figuring out a new mission instead of standing there like a tongue-tied fool who had no business lusting after his children’s volunteer mentor.
They climbed the stairs and Cooper let them inside before grabbing the pizza boxes, carrying them to the white kitchen and opening them up on the counter. “Okay, kids, grab a slice and head on back to Hunter’s room.” Their host handed them each a paper plate then pointed to his stepson’s bedroom down the hall.
Setting the rest of the food down, Luke said hello to Drew, who was pushing his sleeping daughters’ double stroller back and forth, and to Alex Russell.
Luke was still somewhat new to the group, but Drew and Cooper had been stationed in Afghanistan together, and Alex coached both Hunter’s baseball team, as well as Aiden and Caden’s.
A knock sounded, and Coop grabbed a slice for himself as he walked to the door to let in the newcomer. Garrett McCormick had been Cooper’s knee surgeon at the nearby Shadowview Military Hospital before opening up an orthopedic clinic in Sugar Falls after his discharge. Garrett had married Mia a few months ago—or had it been longer than that? Hell, Luke could barely manage to remember details from his own marriage, let alone all these dudes in Sugar Falls who seemed to be drinking from the same Kool-Aid cup.
“Sorry I’m late,” the doctor said. “I had to drop off Mia’s coat at Patrelli’s. Her hormones are all kind of whacked out and she’s been forgetting everything.”
Alex, the only other single male present, covered his ears. “This is an estrogen-free zone, gentlemen. I do not want to talk about anything but baseball, beer and Clint Eastwood movies.”
“Speaking of Clint Eastwood movies,” Drew said as he piled food high on his plate. “Kylie and I were watching Bridges of Madison County the other day on TV and...”
A collective round of “No” and “C’mon” and “Yuck” went around the room. Someone threw a plastic pouch of red peppers at Luke’s twin, who made the catch and then sprinkled some on his pizza.
“Actually, speaking of estrogen...” Garrett paused when he saw several packets of parmesan cheese aimed his way. “Wait, let me rephrase that. I was gonna say that when I stopped by Patrelli’s, I saw Officer Delgado sitting with the ladies, and I hardly recognized her out of her uniform.”
Luke’s ears buzzed as the rest of the guys settled back into their seats. This was his chance to find out more about her without bringing too much attention to himself.
“Hey, Coop.” Alex took a swig of beer. “I was meaning to ask what her deal was.”
If anyone knew Carmen, it would be Chief Cooper, who was the woman’s boss and had previously worked with her before as an MP when they were both stationed stateside. Luke held every muscle still, not wanting to miss the scoop and not wanting to grab the coach by the shoulder and tell him to back off.
There was that weird jealousy feeling again. What was up with that?
“What do you mean?” The police chief arched a brow. Yeah, what exactly did Alex mean? Was he interested in the female cop?
