The Fireman's Christmas
As her children started after the animal, Tessa ordered, “Hold it right there, you two! What were you doing in Mrs. Sherbourne’s house? And what was that crash?”
“I wanted to see the kitty,” Josie said. “He was sitting in the window.”
“I saw Josie go in and went after her. That’s when the cat saw the door and made a beeline for outside,” Eric explained.
“And the crash?”
“I bumped this big jar by the door and it fell over,” Josie confessed with a worried look.
“Oh boy,” Tessa breathed. Mrs. Sherbourne is going to freak. Tessa glanced around. “Eric, where is that cat now?”
Eric pointed at the shrubbery. “He went that way.”
“You’d better find that animal before it wanders into traffic or something worse.”
Eric plunged off the terrace into the green bushes, with his sister about to follow. Tessa stopped her. “Oh no, you don’t, young lady. Josie, when we get home, you won’t be allowed to do anything but go straight to your room.”
“Why?” Josie wailed.
“You know why. Didn’t I tell both of you to stay out of Mrs. Sherbourne’s house? You made a huge mistake going inside when I distinctly told you not to.”
Josie opened her mouth to speak just as Eric burst through the wall of clematis and climbing roses that separated the yard from the driveway.
Startled, Tessa lurched around, completely disturbing the plants she had just positioned. “What? Eric, what are you—”
“Grab him, Mom!” Eric pointed to a white blur leaping through the lavender bed.
Before she could move, Eric had followed the errant feline into the flower bed, his feet wreaking havoc as they flattened the delicate lavender blossoms.
“Eric, stop chasing that animal this minute,” Tessa yelled, closing her eyes as they both narrowly missed a collision with a flowering pink azalea.
“You told me to find him,” her son replied, looking wildly around for the cat as he skidded to a stop on the flagstone path.
“Eeeewww! He’s got a poor little mouse.” Josie scurried to head off the cat, which was making for a patch of yellow mums.
Tessa leaped up to run interference, but her move only caused the cat to swerve through the flower bed she had just planted, with Eric and Josie close behind, destruction in their wake. “My flowers!”
“We’ve got him now!” Eric shouted triumphantly…though too soon.
The cat raced for the fishpond. Tessa watched helplessly as her children stopped in time, but the cat misjudged the distance, slipped across the ledge of the pond and plopped into the water. Eric snatched up the furious feline, complete with a wet mouse dangling by the tail from the cat’s mouth.
Tessa glanced at the wet Persian cat, who finally dropped the mouse but now was in a snit, spitting, growling and lashing his tail. “Eric, be careful. He might bite.”
Inspecting the cat, Eric said, “He doesn’t look too happy.”
Tessa propped her hands on her hips. “That’s an understatement. What did you think you were doing, Eric Doherty, chasing that cat around through my flowers?”
“You told me to find him, Mom. Besides, I couldn’t let him eat the mouse.”
“Cats are supposed to eat mice. That’s their job.”
Josie tilted her head. “Did you want the little mouse to die, Mommy?”
“No, of course not, honey. But some laws of nature aren’t meant to be broken. Especially not on someone else’s property, and certainly not when that someone is paying me to landscape her garden.” Tessa studied the cat. “That animal is an absolute mess.”
Eric looked at the bedraggled white cat, his fur now streaked with mud and sopping wet, his tail twitching with temper. “He wouldn’t win any show prizes, would he?”
“Josie, run inside, find a bathroom and grab a towel so we can dry the cat.”
“You told me not to go into the house,” Josie complained.
Tessa exhaled, trying to keep her temper. “Now you can go into the house.”
Josie shook her head as she trudged toward the French doors. “Parents!” A few minutes later Josie emerged with a towel, but she wasn’t alone. Mrs. Sherbourne was right behind her.
When the woman reached the terrace she stopped as if she’d been shot. Her eyes darted right, then left before focusing on the squirming cat in Eric’s arms. “Prince Puff Puff,” she cried, “what have they done to you?” Mrs. Sherbourne rushed to snatch her cat from Eric’s arms. “Oh, my poor poor little man, you look like an alley cat.” She started to hug the animal but then stopped and held him out away from her while Josie threw the towel over her arm. Mrs. Sherbourne wrapped her precious pussycat in the yellow terry cloth before casting her stern eyes on Tessa.
“Mrs. Doherty, what is going on here? Not only is my cat dripping wet, my flower beds a mess, which I did not pay to have happen, I might add, but—” she paused dramatically “—but my Lalique vase is in pieces on the floor. Didn’t I tell you my house is off-limits, especially to children? If you are going to insist on bringing children with you, then I have no choice but—”
Tessa rushed to speak. “No, oh no. It’s just been the past few days until I can make other arrangements.”
Mrs. Sherbourne looked down her nose at her, something Tessa thought was impossible, but the haughty woman had perfected the technique. “See that you do, please, or I’ll have to look for another designer.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Sherbourne, I’ll repair the garden. If you tell me the price of the vase I can arrange payments or perhaps free services if that would work?”
Mrs. Sherbourne gave Tessa and her children a frosty glance. “It was a family heirloom given to me by my mother-in-law.”
Tessa felt her heart sink at the news. “Oh…oh, my God, I’m so sorry.”
Mrs. Sherbourne unbent enough to give her a chilly smile. “It’s your good fortune that I have always considered that vase hideous. As for the payment, we’ll discuss it later.”
Tessa stepped forward. “I can give your cat a bath if you’d like.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll call my groomer.” Mrs. Sherbourne headed for the house, but looked back over her shoulder. “You’ll have the repairs complete by the end of the day, I trust?”
Tessa nodded. “Absolutely.”
With a wintry smile Mrs. Sherbourne inclined her head and then disappeared inside the house, leaving Tessa to deal with her children.
“Wow, Mom,” Eric breathed. “I thought you were getting fired for a minute there.”
Tessa glared at him and then Josie. “No thanks to you two. Take your sister and go to the van. Get some towels and dry off. I’ll be right there.”
“Mom—” Eric began.
“Right now. And not through the clematis. Go around.” Tessa watched her children trudge through a gap in the hedge, then turned to survey the damage in the garden.
It looked as if a tornado had passed through. Uprooted plants lay drying in the sun beside gouges in the freshly turned topsoil. A whole pile of mulch was scattered over the flagstone walk, and the brick edging she had laid so carefully that afternoon was half out of the ground. Tessa passed a hand over her face, wondering how many of the expensive, imported fish were now floating belly-up. No wonder Mrs. Sherbourne was shocked. She’d been expecting her spacious backyard to be turned into a peaceful santuary, not a war zone.
Tessa glanced at her watch. Noon. If she skipped lunch maybe she could—On cue, her stomach rumbled, followed by an impatient honk from the van out front. Tessa sighed. She couldn’t get any more work done until she took care of her children. And she might as well grab a bite while she was at it. Hopefully, her best friend Rhonda would be free to watch the kids for the rest of the afternoon.
Just as Tessa stepped around the front of her dilapidated van, Eric pressed on the horn one more time. She jumped, then smiled ruefully, shaking her head at the two grinning children waiting for her. She knew they were good kids, really. It was just that kids and work didn’t mix.
To further prove the point, Eric and Josie seemed relieved when she suggested taking them to Rhonda’s, making Tessa wonder if they truly enjoyed going to work with her as much as they claimed they did. Had they been trying only to make things easier for her? Josie was too young to understand all the ramifications of the divorce, but certainly at twelve, Eric was aware that their financial situation had changed to a more modest lifestyle.
The van coughed and sputtered as she turned the key in the ignition and eased her foot down on the gas pedal. Sometimes it started right up, sometimes not. Tessa had planned to use the money she made on this Sherbourne job to have the van serviced. Who knew what would happen to her fees now and to her hopes of referrals.
As Tessa ground the van into first gear, a siren wailed in the distance, followed by the commanding blast of an air horn. Even though she couldn’t see the fire truck, Tessa pictured the huge red engine barreling to the rescue. Right now she almost wished someone would come to her rescue.
And take away your hard-won independence? Who are you kidding, girl?
Tessa halted the van at an intersection, releasing her shoulder-length hair from its ponytail and running her fingers through the damp strands. Since when had her conscience started sounding like Rhonda? She felt a tapping on her shoulder, and craned her neck to see Josie straining forward against the seat belt.
“I’ll help you fix the flowers tomorrow, Mommy.”
“Me, too, Mom.” Eric nodded with masculine certainty, though his voice broke with a change in pitch. “No more video games at work, no chasing in the garden even if a grizzly bear is chowing down on Josie.”
“Hey,” Josie protested.
Is this what I want? What good is independence if my kids suffer for it? Tessa turned a troubled frown back to the traffic as the light changed. She hated to see Eric and Josie looking so unhappy, just when it seemed they’d all gotten through the worst after Colin had left. On the other hand, she’d worked too hard to give up yet.
She’d just have to think of something. “Thanks for the offer, guys.” Tessa spoke over her shoulder as she moved the van back into traffic. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything without sacrificing Josie to a grizzly bear.” Brave words, she thought as Josie giggled.
All Tessa needed was a miracle.
Chapter Two
Tessa glanced at her watch for the third time, then tipped her head for a better look at the door of the restaurant. Eight-fifteen, and still no Rhonda. Her friend wasn’t usually late, but then the vague message about dinner tonight she’d left pinned to Tessa’s front door wasn’t Rhonda’s usual chatty style, either. Thank goodness Tessa’s elderly neighbor had been able to watch the kids for a few hours.
Come to think of it, this charming, out-of-the-way restaurant wasn’t Rhonda’s style, either. Tessa let her gaze wander. Rhonda preferred crowds and places that were ultra hip for their rare dinners together without kids. Mama Gia’s was quite the opposite. Worn paneling and intimate nooks lined the empty restaurant while small, cozy tables covered with red-checked cloths were arranged throughout the room. The heavenly aromas of oregano and garlic wafted from the kitchen behind her.
Tessa’s stomach growled. If Rhonda didn’t show up soon, she might have to nibble on the candle dripping down the empty wine bottle in the middle of her table. Why had Rhonda been in such an all-fired hurry to get together, only to show up late?
Tessa glanced once more at the wrinkled note. “‘An answer to your problem,’” she read aloud.
That told Tessa absolutely nothing. The number of problems in her life seemed to be multiplying like horny rabbits. But right now her biggest problem was the growing ache in her stomach. Even so, she couldn’t help wondering which of her other problems Rhonda had been talking about. Maybe Rhonda had discovered a way to uncover Colin’s hidden financial assets so Tessa could get the settlement she deserved after thirteen years of marriage without costing a fortune in lawyer’s fees. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Her stomach growled again. Maybe she should start on a salad without Rhonda. Or better yet, some of those mouthwatering buttered bread sticks she’d seen on a table as she’d come in. Tessa leaned forward, lifting her arm to summon the young waiter standing near the menu rack.
At that moment the door swung open and a man walked in. A good-looking man, she noted. He looked around quickly, his head turning her way at the very instant her hand shot up in the air. Tessa froze, forgetting to exhale when his gaze pinned hers.
She almost forgot her hand was stuck up in the air, until she saw his dark eyes widen, then crinkle at the corners. Tessa snatched her hand to her lap, tucking her chin down, but it was too late. He was already weaving his way toward her.
From the corner of her eye she watched his progress through the restaurant with mounting embarrassment and a touch of curiosity. He had dark hair—a bit too long—and smooth olive skin with just a suggestion of five-o’clock shadow. His well-muscled body skirted tables and dodged chairs with graceful ease. An athlete, Tessa thought, keeping her head low. Or just one of those lucky hunks with all the right equipment in all the right places. A shade over six feet tall, he displayed a compact strength beneath a blue knit golf shirt and well-worn jeans.
Next thing she knew, his jeans were so close she could have reached out to stroke them. But as incredibly tempting as that thought was, courtesy demanded she look up instead.
“I’m sorry,” she said, offering a tiny shrug. “I wasn’t really waving at you. I was trying to order a salad.”
A wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. “You mean you’re not Tessa Doherty? You sure look like you’re supposed to be.”
Her mouth dropped open, partly in surprise and partly at the thrill of hearing her name spoken in the sexiest baritone she’d ever heard. “Huh?”
“Never mind.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked sheepish. “It’s my turn to apologize. I thought you were someone I was supposed to meet. I’ll get a waiter for you.”
“No. I mean…don’t do that.”
“You don’t want a salad?”
“No…yes…I do want a salad, but don’t call the waiter just yet.” Tessa sighed. She was beginning to smell a rat. “You may as well sit down.”
Confusion clouded his expression for an instant, then he smiled. Tessa almost bit her lip at the sight. Perfect, dazzling teeth nearly blinded her, even in the restaurant’s dim light. And was that a dimple? A small one, to be sure, but a dimple nonetheless. She had to hand it to Rhonda. She sure could pick ’em.
The gorgeous specimen pulled a chair out and sat down. “You are Tessa Doherty, aren’t you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “How ever did you guess?”
His grin widened as he reached across the table to take her hand. Apparently sarcasm was lost on him.
“Hi, I’m Danny Santori. Rhonda gave me a pretty good description, but you had me going for a minute there. Didn’t she tell you I managed to work things out so we could meet tonight?”
His hand was warm and calloused. His eyes twinkled with suppressed humor. A tingling awareness raced up Tessa’s arm, halting only when it reached the pit of her stomach. Good Lord, he was attractive! With that wavy dark hair and perfect tan, all he needed was an eye patch and cutlass and he’d be right at home on the set of a classic swashbuckling pirate movie.
“Rhonda didn’t tell me a thing.” Tessa withdrew her hand, shaking her head reluctantly. “She knows better.”
Her cryptic comment didn’t seem to faze him at all. He nodded and grinned. “She didn’t actually tell me much more than the bare bones of your situation. Only that you’re just about as desperate as me.”
Desperate? Tessa tried not to let her hackles rise. She was perfectly content with singledom. Only her interfering friends thought otherwise. “Look, Mr. Santini—”
“Santori, but I prefer Danny. I thought Rhonda was supposed to meet us here, but I guess she figured we’d work out the details on our own.”
“And what details might those be?”
He tipped his head sideways. One black lock fell over his brow. Tessa had the unsettling urge to push it back. For a moment she wondered if she might be a little hasty to let this one go.
His grin widened. “You know…details like when and where, your house or mine. I’ve definitely got more bedrooms, but if you’re not comfortable with that, we can always try your place.”
At that, Tessa’s mouth dropped open again. “What—what…” she spluttered. She stopped and pulled herself together. “Mr. Santori…”
“Danny.”
“Danny, I’m afraid Rhonda may have given you the wrong idea. I’m not really looking for anyone now.”
“You’re not?”
“Definitely not. And I have to tell you, I find this conversation moving a bit too fast for me.” She grabbed her water and took a quick gulp.
“I have a time crunch. I thought you did, too. I thought we could get business over with and then…”
At his statement, Tessa choked on her water. She started coughing.
“Hey, take it easy. You okay?”
Tessa waved him away. His face clouded over, though instead of diminishing his appeal, it gave him the dark, brooding look of a hero straight off the cover of a novel. Tessa wondered how any man so gorgeous could be desperate enough to agree to a blind date. Probably because his arrogant assumptions turned off every woman he met.
“Just dandy,” she gurgled around another cough.
His smile returned, not quite as bright as before but just as lethal. “So it isn’t a total waste, at least we can have some dinner and talk. The manicotti here is excellent.” He raised a finger to beckon a waiter. He winked at Tessa. “Who knows, maybe I’ll change your mind.”
Mindful of the other patrons, Tessa placed both palms on the red-checked tablecloth and leaned forward, saying in her most determined yet whispering voice, “Look here, pal, perhaps you didn’t hear me. I have enough to handle with two kids and a business. I don’t have time for a relationship or…whatever other kind of business you think we’re going to do.”
His eyebrows almost disappeared into the curls on his forehead. “A relationship?”
“That’s right.”
“Who the hell said anything about a relationship?”
“You just propositioned me.”
“The hell I did.”
Tessa wasn’t buying it. She crossed her arms and gave him her big bad mom stare. “Then what was all that bedroom stuff?”
Danny clenched his jaw, flushing to the roots of his hair, but whether it was embarrassment or anger, Tessa couldn’t tell. “I don’t need to proposition strangers to get them into bed. I need a babysitter.”
“Then why did you…What did you say?”
Danny overenunciated his words. “I…need…a…baby…sitter. Clear enough?”
Tessa’s chin almost hit the table for the third time before she recovered enough to snap her jaw shut. She wrinkled her nose in confusion. “I need a babysitter, too.”
“I know. That’s what Rhonda told me.”
“She did?”
“Yeah, isn’t that what she told you?”
Tessa shook her head. “Rhonda didn’t tell me anything except that she had the answer to my problem. She’s always trying to fix me up, so I thought she meant—”
“A date? With you?”
“Well, you don’t have to say it like that,” Tessa said, looking around to see if anyone was staring.
“I never accept blind dates. Too risky.” A sharp shake of Danny’s head emphasized his point.
Tessa crossed her arms over her chest, trying to seem secure and well in command of the situation, but positive she’d just made a complete fool of herself. “I agree,” she snapped. Just then the waiter appeared carrying a tray laden with a bottle of Chianti, two glasses, an antipasto plate and a basket of bread sticks. With a flourish he placed them on the table, then leaned over to uncork the wine. “How ya doin’, Danny? Put out any fires lately?”
Danny took a deep breath as he slid Tessa a look from under his lashes. “More all the time, Jorgi. How’s school going?”
The young waiter rolled his eyes. “Okay, I guess. Already I’m working on Mama’s books. But me, I’d rather be a fireman like you, so I can be a hero and have dates with beautiful women.”
Danny’s deep, resonant chuckle curled Tessa’s toes. “Trust me, Jorgi. There are plenty of days when I wish I were an accountant. And this isn’t a date.”
Jorgi flashed a brilliant smile that showed exactly what he thought of that. “It should be, man. What’s the matter with you?”
Danny gave him a stare that had Jorgi hurriedly asking, “You want the usual?”
“Maybe we should ask what the lady wants so we don’t have any more confusion. Tessa?”
Trying to regain some dignity, Tessa reached for her purse on the chair next to her. “I’m not very hungry, thank you. I’m just going to—” She started to rise, but her stomach chose that moment to let out a roar worthy of the MGM lion.
Danny sat back in his chair and lifted a quizzical eyebrow. “Not hungry, huh?”
Tessa sat down, placed her purse on the table and busied herself with her napkin to hide her mortification. “Maybe a few bites of something.”
“A few bites?” The dimple in Danny’s cheek deepened as he smiled. “Bring the manicotti, Jorgi. We’d better feed the woman.” The young waiter all but saluted as he sped away. “I hope that’s okay with you, or should I call him back?”
Tessa tried to give him a relaxed smile. “Sounds delicious.”
“It is and it’s Mama’s specialty,” Danny said. “Look, Tessa, we got started wrong. Let’s try again. We can sort this all out while we’re waiting. In the meantime,” he continued, “have a bread stick.”
Tessa threw up her hands. “I have no idea what’s going on here, Mr. San…uh, Danny. I thought I was supposed to meet Rhonda for dinner, and instead you show up talking about how many bedrooms you have. Then you say this isn’t a fix-up, which is probably good since the only thing we seem to have in common so far is we both have kids—”
“And we both hate blind dates,” Danny added solemnly.
“So what are we doing here?” She grabbed a bread stick from the basket he held in front of her and sank her teeth into the perfectly crusted dough. After chewing ecstatically for a minute, she perked up. “God, this is good.”
He shoved the antipasto plate closer to her. “You eat and I’ll try to explain before you decide to call the cops on me.”
As he took a breath to begin, Danny watched her with growing interest. He remembered that Rhonda had mentioned how attractive her friend was, but he hadn’t paid attention at the time because it wasn’t all that important to him. He sure was paying attention now.
Even though she was sitting down he could tell that Tessa Doherty was tall for a woman, and slender. Her face was tanned a golden hue and the blond streaks in her light brown hair reminded him of the sun setting through the clouds. Her eyes were a warm, true hazel. The unique mixture of green and brown made him think of the earth and growing things.
Except he’d never heard of a wood nymph putting away bread sticks quite the way Tessa did. She was already on her second one.
Danny couldn’t believe how fanciful he was getting. He took a bread stick of his own before they were gone. He cleared his throat. “Like Jorgi said, I’m a firefighter. I work out of Firehouse 173. I’m hoping to be transferred to another position in the fall, which would mean a change to more normal hours. Right now I work a twenty-four-hour shift, then have two days off before I’m on again. That’s why I’m having so much trouble finding someone to watch my kids. Not many sitters want an erratic schedule or to spend the night, you know.”
Tessa gulped down an artichoke and nodded. “I can imagine. You’re divorced?”
His eyes shadowed. “Widower. Until recently my wife’s great-aunt helped out with the kids, but she’s seventy-two and needs hip surgery. She’s with them now, but those long hours during my shifts are too much for her to manage. I need to make some other arrangements.”