Leaving Bluestone (18 page)

“Right. Got it. I’m going into Quinn’s now. Maybe he’s in there and just can’t hear—” She shoved open the door and discovered how likely that was. The place was overflowing, voices filling the room, bouncing off the bare wood walls. Beth maneuvered through the crowd with her tray held high. Quinn busted ass behind the bar, and there was Leo, helping him. Shoving her way through the crowd with murmured apologies, she pressed through to the bar, to the protests of some waiting customers.

“Leo! Leo!” She had to shout his name a couple of times to get his attention. When he looked up, she shoved her phone at him, display first.

He paled, snatched it, and pressed his other palm to his ear so he could hear. He was moving from behind the bar before Trinity could finish talking.

“Hey!” Quinn shouted. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“My wife’s having a baby!” Leo retorted, waving Lily’s phone over his head.

A cheer erupted from the crowd, and Leo bowed before heading out the door.

Lily started after him to wish him luck and retrieve her phone, but Quinn yelled at her.

“Get back here! I need you to replace him.”

“I can’t. I have the festival.”

“Then get me another body here. The reverend, Dale, John, anybody. I’m swamped.”

She nodded and darted through the crowd after Leo. She caught him just as he was getting into his truck.

“What is it, Lily?” he asked, exasperated as he stopped in the middle of trying to close his door.

“I need my phone.”

He looked at the device in his hand for a moment as if he’d never seen it before, then nodded and handed it over. Impulsively, she leaned in and hugged him. She wished she could be going with him to the hospital in Beaudin, to wait while her best friend gave birth, but it just wasn’t possible.

“Good luck,” she said, and backed away to watch him pull out of the parking lot.

Then she called Dale.

***

“Any word?” Quinn asked Lily when she collapsed on a barstool. The crowd had died down at long last, and he hoped he had enough supplies to last through tomorrow. He’d had no idea the festival would be so successful. The last hour of business had been Bluestone folks marveling at how busy they had been today waiting on out-of-towners.

“About Trinity? No. I’d love to drive over to Beaudin and be there tonight, but I’d kill myself when I fell asleep at the wheel.”

“It’s not really our place to be there now,” he said, sliding a glass of Coke in front of her. “This is their family time. We’ll go tomorrow night.”

He was right, of course.

“Did you eat?”

“I had a corn dog, I think, around noon.”

He looked pointedly at the neon beer clock above his head. It was closing in on midnight. “I’ll get you something.”

“Just a sandwich,” she said. “I don’t think I can stay awake long enough for you to cook anything.”

“Lily.” He covered her hand with his. “You have to slow down and delegate. There are plenty of people in town who are willing to help, now that they know what a success this can be.”

“I’m not good at delegating.”

“Because you like to be in control.”

“It works out better that way.”

“Not for you.”

“I don’t want to fight, Quinn.” She rested her head on the bar and closed her eyes.

“Right. I’ll get that sandwich.”

When he brought it out, she forced herself to raise her head and barely managed to eat it.

“Okay, bar’s closed, everyone out,” Quinn called.

The stragglers looked up in surprise, so he repeated the announcement. With grumbling and scraping of chairs, the last of them left. He rounded the bar and scooped Lily into his arms.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, her eyes popping open.

“Getting you into bed. I’ll clean this up in the morning.” Which meant he had to get up really early or skip church. The place was in bad shape.

“I’ll help you,” she murmured, resting her head against his shoulder.

“Shut up.” He carried her down the stairs and across the gravel parking lot to his house.

“I can walk,” she said when his steps slowed.

“I’ve got you.”

“You’ve got me,” she repeated sleepily, nestling her head against his neck. “I want to take a shower. I can’t sleep if I don’t shower first.”

“Fine. But I’m going in with you. Can’t have you falling face-first. God knows Bluestone couldn’t survive without you.”

She lifted her head to frown at him as he shoved open the door and edged her in, not setting her down until he was outside the bathroom.

“You want me to get your clothes off?”

“You used to be really good at that.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” he said with a grunt, unbuttoning her flannel shirt, then peeling off her thermal one, revealing a bra he hadn’t seen before, plain cotton. Okay, maybe it had been that long.

She leaned against the wall and tried to help him with her jeans, and he had to crouch to unlace her boots. He was surprised to see, when he stripped off her socks, that her toenails were painted.

“Christ, you’re adorable,” he said, straightening and turning her into the bathroom. He reached past her to turn on the water, then straightened and stripped off his own clothes, and guided her under the spray.

She hummed in appreciation and turned to burrow her head under his chin, her hands curled against his chest.

“Is this going to do it for you, or do you have to wash your hair and stuff?” he asked, doing everything he could to keep his body under control. The last thing she needed was a horny man.

“Just a minute. Then I’ll wash my hair.”

She eased back and turned away from him, angling her head under the spray. He watched her wet her hair, lather it with his shampoo—nothing turned him on more than smelling his shampoo in her hair—then rinse. He handed her a washcloth and let himself enjoy watching her bathe, never mind that standing out of the spray was a bit chilly. It still didn’t have an effect on his body’s reaction, especially when she lowered her gaze to let him know she knew.

“I’m not shaving my legs tonight,” she said, straightening wearily. “Okay with you?”

“I’ll keep my distance,” he said, reaching past her to shut off the water.

She looked at him a moment as if she couldn’t figure out if he was joking or not. He passed her a towel and she wrapped it around her hair, then he passed her another. His laundry had been smaller lately and now he realized why. She needed two towels every shower.

“I’ll get my sweats for you to sleep in,” he said, needing the chill to snap some sense into his body.

“Flannel sheets?” she asked hopefully.

“Yep.” It hadn’t been that long since she’d slept over.

She was dry when he returned with his smallest pair of sweats, and amended his earliest thought. The sexiest thing was seeing her in his clothes. In his bed. She tied her hair back and shuffled sleepily toward the bed, and curled up on what he’d come to think of as her side. She blinked up at him.

“Getting dressed?”

He crossed to get a pair of flannel pants out of his drawer and a thermal shirt, dressed and slid in beside her. He stroked her hair back from her face, watched her eyes drift closed, then reached over and turned off the lights.

***

The day had been terribly long, one problem on top of another, and she’d been going since six. But now all the crafters had dismantled their booths and were tucked away. She’d helped Quinn clean up the bar, though he’d protested, then gone back out to the festival. She’d gotten in a call to Leo to make sure everything had gone well with Trinity, and he’d been over-the-moon proud of his baby boy. As tired as Lily was, she wanted to go meet him.

“Ready to go?” Quinn asked when she walked into the bar.

“Go?”

“To see Trinity’s baby. You want to go, right?”

That he knew her so well should make her happy, but it only made her sad. She didn’t want to reason out why. Maybe it was just that she was tired.

“Yes. I’d like to go.” She was hungry, though.

“I’ll get you some food in Beaudin. More choices there anyway.”

“You’re scary with the mind-reading tonight, Quinn.”

He grinned, said something to Beth and guided Lily out to his car.

***

“He’s perfect,” Lily said as she looked at the bundle in Trinity’s arms. She’d watched her friend’s face when she came in, looking for any sign of sorrow, but she saw nothing more than tiredness and joy.

Their son Kaden had Leo’s dark hair and long lashes, but his mother’s nose and chin, and his little lips moved in a sucking motion, though his eyes were closed.

“Want to hold him?” Trinity asked, though clearly she didn’t want to give him up.

“I would love to, just for a moment.” Lily moved closer to the bed and gingerly took the baby into her arms. She was surprised by how little he weighed, and turned to smile over her shoulder at Quinn, who watched her with a strange expression, like he’d been pole-axed. “You want to hold him, Quinn?” Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to see him holding the baby. Holding their baby. What would he think if he could really read her mind?

His gaze met hers, and for a moment she thought maybe he did know what she was thinking. “I’ll wait until he’s bigger. They scare me when they’re that little.”

“No shit,” Leo said with a heartfelt sigh. “I’d forgotten how little they are.”

“What does Max think of his new brother?” Lily asked, stroking a finger over the soft skin of Kaden’s hand.

“He’s in love, oddly enough for a ten-year-old. My folks had to drag him out of here with all kinds of bribes.”

“And you get to go home tomorrow?” Lily asked Trinity.

Trinity nodded, her gaze on Kaden as if she feared he would disappear.

“If you need anything, let me know. I won’t make a pest of myself, I promise,” she added when she saw Quinn open his mouth.

“That’s not what I was going to say. I was going to say you need to get some rest after this weekend.”

Lily passed Kaden back to his mother, whose face instantly relaxed. “Quinn. This weekend was nothing compared to giving birth.”

He grunted.

“Sure you don’t want to hold him, Quinn?” Trinity asked sweetly.

“Ask me in a couple of months.” He straightened and reached a hand to Lily. “We should let them get some rest, and you need to eat.”

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but of course he was right.

“I want to hear about the fair,” Trinity protested. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to help.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m going to hold that against you,” Lily said, bending over to hug her friend quickly. “I’ll come by the house. I’ll text first so I don’t wake anyone up, okay?”

Leo nodded, his shoulders loosening as he rose to shake Quinn’s hand. “That would be good. Be careful going home.”

To Lily’s surprise, Quinn crossed over, kissed the top of Trinity’s head, curved a hand over Kaden’s, then turned to escort Lily out.

Once they were in the hall, she gripped his shoulders and pressed a hard kiss on his mouth.

“What was that for?” he demanded, his hands resting on her waist belying his tone.

“For bringing me. For caring about Trinity.”

“She’s going to be fine. And why wouldn’t I? She’s my best friend’s wife, and your best friend.”

“Leo’s your best friend?”

“Next to you.”

Her breath tangled in her throat and she stared at him through suddenly blurry eyes. “You’re going to be fine, too.” She stepped back, grabbed his hand and led him down the hall. “Now feed me.”

***

“What the hell am I going to get Lily for Christmas?” Quinn muttered to Leo the following week when Leo came into the bar. Lily was at Trinity’s so he felt safe enough with the topic.

“I got Trinity a diamond necklace.”

“Yeah, well, she’s your wife and she just gave birth to your son. I haven’t even told Lily I love her.”

“Well, there’s your present right there.”

“Sure. That’s what she wants. A few words. That would cement me as the cheapest man in the world.”

“Do you love her?”

“Yeah, I do,” he said without hesitation.

“And your guilt over the whole Gerry thing?”

“Getting past it, as far as she’s concerned, anyway. And I’m getting better about this place, too.”

“So you’re staying.”

Quinn shook his head. “Right now I just want to get through Christmas and do the right thing.”

“Well, what about a romantic weekend? Take her some place nice—maybe some place warm, where you can get her in a bathing suit—and say it there.”

Quinn could picture it, Lily in a two-piece that would accent her curves, walking out of the waves, coming toward him, maybe drinking a drink with a little umbrella in it. He’d seen her in a bathing suit this summer, when she’d gone water skiing with her folks, and had berated himself for being turned on by something so innocent.

He shook his head. “I couldn’t get that woman out of this town with a shoehorn, not with the carnival coming up.”

“Just for a weekend?”

“You’ve met Lily, right? She’d be stressed all weekend over the things she wasn’t getting done.”

“Then plan it the weekend afterwards. God, Quinn, do I have to do all your thinking for you?”

Quinn scowled. “Don’t you have a baby to get home to?”

“If I go home, I’m kicking your girlfriend out.”

“I got no problem with that.”

“All right. Good night. Think about what I said.”

Now that he had that picture in his head, he couldn’t think of anything else.

A few minutes later Lily came in, and when she kissed him, she smelled like baby Kaden. He wasn’t too creepy to be turned on by that, was he? It was just biological, the need to see her round with his child.

If he followed Leo’s advice, he would have to wait two months to tell her he loved her.

Unless he told her now and waited until their vacation to ask her to marry him.

The thought rocked him back on his heels and he stared at her for a long moment. Marry him. Jesus, he hadn’t even told her he loved her. That was a huge leap. He’d never even thought about marriage, really, about the permanence of it.