“Are you his sister?” When Sophie nodded, Megan finally replied, “Yes, your brother saved us. He’s Summer’s hero for life.” She added softly, “Mine, too.” Smiling, she told Sophie, “She baked him muffins this morning and I believe she’s just about to convince him to let her drive that antique fire truck around the block.”
Megan worked to keep her voice light. God forbid Sophie ever realized how ridiculously attracted she was to her brother. Talk about awkward.
“You should see all those buttons and knobs!” Summer ran over at full speed across the cement floor. Gabe was nowhere to be seen for the time being. “It’s so awesome! I love firefighting! Thanks for finally letting me come here!”
Megan caught her daughter’s hand as she gestured excitedly and chattered about the wonders of the fire truck. “Honey, this is a friend of mine from college. Her name is Sophie.”
Sophie bent down to Summer’s level and said, “Oh my gosh, you’re gorgeous!”
Summer beamed her biggest smile at Sophie. “You’re pretty, too.”
Sophie laughed. “What kind of stories do you like?”
The little girl thought about it a minute. “All of them.”
Sophie shot Megan a delighted look. “Perfect.” She quickly explained, “I’m a librarian at the branch just around the corner. I’d love for you two to come in and see me. Especially since I’m always looking for good readers to help with story time for the little ones.”
Her daughter raised her hand. “I can do that. I’m a really good reader.”
“I’ll bet you are, with a mom as smart as yours.”
Just then, tingles moved up Megan’s spine. She looked up and saw Gabe heading toward them.
Megan wished she weren’t quite so aware of him...and that he wasn’t so darn attractive, period. It was a good thing Sophie and Summer were talking about their favorite picture books and didn’t require much participation from her, because Gabe’s nearness always seemed to suck her brain cells dry.
She was surprised to find he didn’t look pleased to see Sophie. Which was confirmed when he said, “Hey Soph, what are you doing here?” in a curt voice.
His sister simply grinned at him, clearly not at all put off by his gruff greeting. “I thought I’d bring you something healthy for breakfast.” She lifted a bag and opened it up so he could see inside. “Whole wheat morning buns. No added sugar or preservatives.”
He grimaced. “I’ve already got some really great muffins waiting for me, but thanks anyway.”
Shrugging, she closed the bag and said, “Can you believe that Megan and I know each other from college? Amazing, isn’t it?”
He looked between the two of them, even less pleased than he had been just moments before. “Amazing.” His voice was flat. And distinctly irritated.
Megan was glad her daughter had been pulled away by the rest of the members of the fire crew, who were telling her she was the best muffin maker who ever lived. Otherwise even Summer couldn’t have missed Gabe’s abrupt shift in demeanor.
This time around Megan wasn’t at all hurt by his hard mask. Not when she’d sailed right past hurt straight to mad. Whatever his problem was, he didn’t know the first thing about her, and she didn’t deserve to be the recipient of his bad attitude.
Yes, she owed him her thanks—forever—for what he’d done for her and Summer. But she could be thankful away from him, privately in her thoughts, when he wasn’t busy staring her down as if she had a contagious disease.
“Thank you for showing Summer the engine,” she said to him in her most polite, distant voice, before turning to his sister with a warm, genuine smile. “I’m so glad we ran into you, Sophie.”
“I know. I can’t believe I didn’t know you were living so close by.”
Megan shook her head. “I’m afraid I didn’t do a good job of keeping in touch with anyone after David and I got married and moved to San Diego.”
“How is David?”
Realizing there was no way Sophie would know about what had happened, she said, “He died.”
“Oh no.” Sophie looked horrified. “I’m so sorry, Megan.”
Wanting to reassure her friend, but not wanting to say too much with Gabe still standing there taking in every word, a glower still on his too-handsome face, she said, “It was a few years ago.”
Sophie looked toward where Summer was still the center of Station 5’s attention. “You’ve raised her all by yourself?” Before Megan could reply, she added, “Or did you remarry?”
“Nope. Just me and Summer.” She forced a smile that she hoped looked somewhat real. “We’ve been doing great.”
“And then that fire burned down your apartment. It just doesn’t seem fair.”
“Honestly, we’re doing just fine,” she said again, as much for Gabe’s benefit as Sophie’s.
Sophie put her hand on her arm. “I just wish things could have been different for you.”
“Soph,” Gabe bit out in a frustrated voice, “how many more times does she have to tell you she’s fine?”
He was clearly trying to warn his sister to back off a bit, and while Megan would have appreciated it another time, she knew Sophie was just expressing her feelings and emotions the way she always had. Straight from her heart.