The Cowboy's Unexpected Baby, page 9
Tension trembled through her before she relaxed, her lips curving under his, her eyes drifting closed. He banded one arm around her waist, sliding the other hand into the hair at the nape of her neck.
Her lips were soft and warm and, as she melted into him, his only thought was: Why had he waited so long to kiss her?
She pulled back, blinked a few times and raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t have to kiss me to make me feel better.”
Her subtle humor slayed him. She could easily have chosen to smack him instead. “You really have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?”
“What? No.” She stepped back. “Stop that, Garrett. You’re about to make things weird again.”
He leaned back against the island and crossed his arms to keep from pulling her back into his embrace. “Probably. But I like you and I feel good when I’m with you, like things are going to be okay. It was unfortunate phrasing the other day, but I can’t say I haven’t been thinking what it would be like between us if we were more than just friends.”
“Really? I haven’t done this—” She made a vague motion toward the two of them. “I don’t do this. When I didn’t hear from you, I don’t know... I guess I thought I’d been mistaken about what I was feeling.” She shoved a hand into her hair. “Ugh, this is so awkward.”
He was an idiot and he needed to fix this. “Abby, I like you. I don’t know what this is either, but I’d like to follow through and see. If that’s okay with you.”
“It’s okay.” A hint of a smile deepened the dimple at the corner of her mouth and he wanted to kiss her again. Somehow, though, that seemed like it would be crossing a line that he didn’t know how to get back from. He’d already done the two-step on that line as it was.
“I should’ve called you. After you left, I decided that if I’m going to survive this, Charlotte needs to be on a schedule.”
“Did it work?” Her eyes were twinkling now.
“Ah, yes and no. She’s eating on a schedule. Sleeping, not so much.”
“I should go and let you get back to your work while she’s napping. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
Garrett walked with her to the door and picked up her umbrella to hand it to her. “Go to the Winter Festival with us on Saturday? There’s music and the food is amazing. It’ll be fun if the rain holds off.”
She nodded. “I’d love that. See you Saturday.”
He closed the door gently behind her and let his forehead drop against it. What had he been thinking? Neither one of them was the type for casual kissing. Abby seemed tough, but she’d been through a lot. The last thing he wanted to do was add to her pain.
His watch buzzed on his wrist, the reminder to make Charlotte’s bottle for the upcoming feeding. In the kitchen, he pulled the formula can down from the cabinet and scooped the chalky powder into the bottle.
Garrett sighed. He did like her a lot, but her assignment here was temporary. And suddenly, he wasn’t worried so much about breaking her heart.
Maybe he needed to keep an eye on his own.
Chapter Nine
Garrett walked alongside the stroller as Abby pushed Charlotte. There was a throng of people around them but he was hyperaware of Abby’s presence, his mind reliving the moment in his kitchen when they kissed.
She, at least, seemed to be enjoying the Winter Carnival. She’d already bought goat’s milk soap that smelled like lavender and vanilla, a print of the main street in Red Hill Springs and a piece of pound cake, and they’d only been here an hour.
Garrett squinted up at the sky. Its heavy gray color looked a little ominous, but so far the rain was holding off.
The band was playing country music covers and Abby sang along as they walked. He scowled, half-convinced she was driving him crazy on purpose. He followed her toward the next booth, where Lacey and Devin had set up a tiny version of their farm stand. They’d brought a variety of root vegetables, the first of the lettuce and asparagus and buckets of the wildflowers they’d grown in the field at the farm.
“Looks like y’all have had a lot of customers today.” Garrett held up a hand to high-five his brother.
“We’re about to close up shop, I think. We sold out of Lacey’s cookies in the first few hours. Have you seen the weather report lately?” Devin turned his phone around to show Garrett. “Two hours from now, this place is gonna be a swamp. I also heard on the news this morning there was a strong possibility of some flooding along the river north of here.”
Garrett frowned. “I knew it had been raining a lot, but I didn’t know that.”
Someone handed Devin a five and pointed to the flowers. Devin handed over a bouquet. “Thanks, man. Enjoy.”
“What’s Tanner think? Is he worried?” Tanner was the oldest by seven years. Garrett and Devin both depended on his quiet leadership when it came to the farm.
Devin glanced at Lacey, who was engrossed in conversation with her order pad out, and back to Garrett. “Yeah. He is. We’ve gotten a lot of rain, but from here to Nashville, they’ve had nonstop downpours for days. All that water’s gotta go somewhere.”
“Tanner’s worried that the farm will flood?” Abby asked.
Devin shrugged. “It hasn’t happened in our lifetime, but yeah, I think he’s worried.”
Garrett squinted at the heavy clouds, which suddenly seemed a lot more than a little ominous. He put his hand over Abby’s on the stroller handle. “Want something to eat?”
“Sure. See you guys.”
Before Garrett moved to join her, he leaned in to speak quietly to Devin. “Keep me posted. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
Devin nodded. “You got it.”
Garrett caught up with Abby. “How about some shrimp tacos? You ever had them?”
“I’ve seen them on menus, does that count?”
He rolled his eyes. “Absolutely not. Come with me.”
Abby’s face was skeptical as he ordered them for her, complete with cabbage slaw and spicy mango salsa, but he saw that expression change when she took her first bite. “Well?”
She made him wait while she finished the first taco and delicately wiped her mouth, before she said, “I still think they’re more like a shrimp salad in a tortilla than an actual taco...”
“Oh, come on.” He laughed. “Your eyes were rolling back in your head, it was so good.”
“You’re not wrong.” With a chuckle, Abby picked up her second taco and took a bite. Her next words were muffled. “It’s so good.”
Charlotte started to squirm and fuss in the stroller, so Garrett pulled a bottle out of the bag and set it on the table. He unbuckled the baby, tucked her into position and started to feed her before he noticed Abby’s eyes on him. “What?”
“You’ve come a long way since the first day with Charlotte. Now you barely have to think about it.”
He raised his eyebrows. That first day, he’d seriously wondered if he was up for the challenge. “I guess getting thrown into the deep end will do that for you.”
She giggled. “You had your shirt buttoned wrong.”
He deadpanned her. “It wasn’t funny.”
She laughed harder. “And your hair was sticking straight up like Albert Einstein.”
“It was not.” A twitch started at the corner of his mouth because he knew it had been.
“Did you even have socks on with your dress shoes?”
“No,” he admitted, and he started to laugh, too. “I couldn’t find any. I picked up the first tie I saw on the chair by my bed and draped it around my neck. I have no idea if it matched or not.”
“It didn’t.” She tried to stop, wiping tears from under her eyes, but giggles were still escaping. “I’m sorry. It’s funny now thinking back. I bet you were scared out of your mind.”
“That’s the understatement of the year.” Garrett looked down at Charlotte. He may be an unexpected daddy, but he tried to be a good one. He loved her and that had to count for something.
“I think I might have found something that could help you with your search for Charlotte’s mom.” Abby rubbed a spot of salsa off her cheek with a napkin and pulled her phone out. “I’ve been reading through Brooklyn’s Facebook posts.”
“She hasn’t posted since she left town.” Garrett looked down at the bottle, tipping it so he could see how many ounces were left.
“No, she hasn’t. It doesn’t look like she’s been in contact with her friends either if this post on her page is any indication.” Abby tapped on the screen, scrolled for a second and then turned her phone so Garrett could see it.
He leaned forward to read the post she pointed to. “‘Girl, answer your phone. Where you been? We need ta party.’ Charming.”
“Yeah, well, you knew she wasn’t hanging out with the best crowd. But when you read further down, like way down, there are some posts about how she wants to go to cosmetology school. I’m wondering if Brooklyn decided to actually do something about it.”
“Maybe, but why leave Charlotte? Couldn’t she go to cosmetology school here?”
Abby shrugged. “Maybe not if she wanted to steer clear of friends who were trying to get her to party instead.”
“That makes the most sense of anything I’ve heard so far. Unfortunately, we still have to find her. There have to be hundreds of those schools around.” Garrett sighed, put the bottle on the table and lifted Charlotte to his shoulder.
“Yeah. I’ll keep looking. Maybe there’s a clue buried in the comments somewhere.”
“Remind me on Monday and I’ll take another look at my files. Maybe she said something about her dream place to live in one of my interviews with her. Sometimes I write stuff like that down.”
A fat raindrop hit Abby in the forehead. She squinted up at the sky. “I think it’s time for us to go.”
Garrett nodded. “Yeah, it looks like the bottom’s about to fall out.”
As they started packing up, the band was doing the same and a few minutes later, Mayor Wynn took the stage.
She cleared her throat. “Hey everyone, as most of you know, I’m Wynn Grant, the mayor here in Red Hill Springs. I’m sorry to say that we’re going to close up early this year, for everyone’s safety. Thanks so much for coming and y’all be safe going home.”
Wynn’s brother Joe, the police chief, bounded up the stairs. He said something to Wynn that Abby couldn’t hear and then took the mic. “I’m Joe Sheehan, the police chief here in Red Hill Springs. Everyone listen up for an announcement: the bridge over Red Hill Creek is washed out on Highway 43. There are multiple reports of flooding in Triple Creek. If you’re headed north, please be careful. Do not drive through water that’s covering the road, even if you think it isn’t deep.”
Abby turned to Garrett, eyes dark with concern. “Triple Creek? That’s just north of your farm, right?”
His face was serious. “Pretty close. I need to call Tanner.”
As Garrett reached for his phone, it buzzed. Around him, he saw his friends reaching for their phones and kissing their wives. He knew what that meant. And it wasn’t good.
Garrett checked his message and stood. “I’ve got to go. I’m on the volunteer fire department and they’re calling me in.”
Abby didn’t hesitate, just held her arms out for the baby. “Take my car. I’ll take yours with the car seat and you can pick Charlotte up later.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” Abby paused in the middle of buckling Charlotte back into the infant seat.
From across the park, he heard someone yell his name and he took a step in that direction. “Be careful, okay? It’s going to be dark soon and no one knows how fast the water will rise.”
“I’ll take care of her, I promise. But Garrett?”
With her keys in his hand, he stopped. “Yeah?”
“Promise me you’ll take care of you.”
* * *
Abby threw a blanket over the stroller and ran for Garrett’s SUV—as fast as she could with a crowd of people also hurrying to get out of the park. When she finally made it, she popped the infant seat off the stroller and locked it into place on its base.
“Hey, Abs, got a second?”
Abby peered through the rain and saw Wynn jogging toward her. She thunked the stroller into the back of Garrett’s SUV. “If you get in while we talk.”
She slammed the rear door shut and slid into the driver’s seat, squeezing the rainwater out of her hair. Ugh. The clouds that had been threatening all day hadn’t been bluffing.
A second later, Wynn slid into the passenger seat and pushed the hood of her raincoat away from her face.
“Hey, you really know how to throw a party.” Abby started the car and pressed the defrost button as the windows started to fog.
“You know it.” Wynn groaned, shaking her head. “We’ll be trying to regrow the grass for the next four months.”
“So, what’s up?”
“Tomorrow morning, we’ll start sending out teams to check houses. If we need it, the church will open up as a shelter for evacuees from the storm. If that happens, it’s going to be all hands on deck. I know you didn’t sign up for this, but we’ll need you—and Elvis, too.”
“Tell me where you need me to go and I’ll be there.” If people were in need, she couldn’t turn away. She looked out at the dark stew of clouds. “Garrett’s out there in this.”
“I know.” Wynn put her hand over Abby’s. “But our volunteer fire department is well trained. And he’s been doing this a long time. He’ll be okay.”
“He also goes to extremes if he thinks he can help.”
Wynn smiled. “He does. A lot like someone else I know. I’ve got to run. Be safe. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Abby took a second for a deep breath and a whispered prayer for the first responders’ safety. Traffic eased so she put the car in Reverse, slamming the brakes when a knock at the window startled her. She rolled the window down to find Wynn standing there. “What’s going on?”
“I just got word there’s a child trapped by the floodwaters and the firefighters can’t get her to budge. Are you up to getting Elvis and heading out with the next group?”
“Of course, but I have Charlotte.”
“I forgot about that.” Wynn squeezed her eyes shut, thinking. “Okay, this could work. I’ll call Jules and see if she can meet you at your house. You’d have to pick Elvis up, anyway.”
“Sounds good.”
“Yes? Good. I’ll send you more information as I get it.” Wynn drew her finger in a circle in the air and behind Abby, flashing blue lights came on. Apparently, Abby was getting a police escort. She sucked in a breath, nerves skittering in her stomach.
It wouldn’t be her first trip out with first responders—she’d participated in rescues before—but with unpredictable floodwaters, it would certainly be the most dangerous.
It didn’t matter.
There was a little girl out there who was scared and alone with the water rising around her.
* * *
Garrett shielded his face against the pelting rain. He and his partner had gotten a call that there was a child stuck on the roof of a mobile home. In rising water like this there were no landmarks, no visible street signs. That they found the mobile home at all was their first break.
That the child was still on the roof? That was a gift from God.
His partner Jackson Andrews steered their small inflatable raft closer to a large oak tree and Garrett tossed a line over one of the larger branches. Anything to give them a little more stability to maintain their position in the fast-moving water.
Another crew was on the other side of the mobile home. At this point, whichever team had the leverage would get the child off the roof.
His boat bumped the side of the mobile home and from a gaping hole in the roof, another small head poked out. There were two?
Jackson apparently realized the same thing because he shouted, “There are two of them!”
The child tried to climb on the roof, wobbled and tumbled backward into the hole. On the other side of the roof, the other child was being helped into a life jacket.
Garrett wasn’t sure the roof was going to hold him, but it didn’t look like he had much choice. He yelled to Jackson, “Get as close as you can. I’m going over.”
In response, Jackson steered the boat closer. He fought against the current to stay as close to the home as possible. Garrett waited for the firefighters on the other side to help the older girl into the boat. Then he took a deep breath and leaped across the water, landing on the roof.
The mobile home rocked with the force of his weight and from inside he heard a weak scream of fear. Unwilling to rock the unsteady trailer any more, he lay down on his stomach and belly crawled over to the jagged opening. Down below, he saw a little boy, around five or six, standing on a kitchen cabinet. Water lapped at the cabinets, at least twelve inches deep and rising.
“I’m Garrett. I’m a firefighter. What’s your name?” Garrett looked around the mobile home, checking for any hidden dangers.
“Toby.”
“Okay, Toby, I’m gonna get you out of there.” The little boy’s lips were blue with cold, his skin like marble. Garrett pulled straps off of his utility belt and made a loop that he could drop through the ragged opening. “How old are you, Toby?”
“F-f-five.”
“You’re a very brave five-year-old.” Garrett hung as far into the space as he could without falling in and draped the strap around Toby. The little boy was quick, grabbing on to it with each hand.
“Her is free.”
Garrett stopped midmotion. “Your sister is free? The one who got in the boat?”
Toby shook his head vehemently. “No. Her.”
