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Chapter 19.2
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LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 20
The dance officially ended at midnight, but it took another hour foreveryone to clear out. Shannon was content to sit back and watch Nick maneuver the stragglers out the door as quickly as possible without offending any of them. He was good at it. Very good. The kids respected him, that much was plain. But they also liked him.What did it say about a man, she wondered, that kids liked him,contemporaries sought his advice, women—at least this woman—found him irresistibly attractive, and his true calling was walking into burning buildings?To her, it said one thing: Hero.For now, she would keep that thought to herself.The man in question came strolling back to her, his limp barely noticeable, even after all the dancing. But she wouldn’t mention it. Not until she got him alone. And when she got him alone, she didn’t want to talk. She wanted to hold him close and never let go.The look on her face nearly took Nick’s breath away. She wanted him.Him, Nick Carlucci. And she cared. Maybe
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 20.1
“Why stunned? You have to know I’ve fallen in love with you.”“You have to know you’re not alone there, right? I’ve fallen just as far for you.”She trailed her fingers lightly over his cheek. “Well, then? Shouldn’t we do something about that?”“I can’t go back to New York.” “Will you tell me why?”He pulled back and eyed her critically. “Are you going to put this in your book?”“Not if you don’t want me to.”He thought about it a minute, then gave a single nod. “It’s hard to admit.Where I come from a guy does not talk about his feelings. A real man doesn’t have feelings.”Shannon nodded sadly. “I know exactly what you mean. I’m just luckier, because girls are expected to have feelings and it’s perfectly acceptable to let them out whenever and wherever. Usually.”“Not us. We were big, macho men. Firefighters, all three of us. It wasn’t just what we did, it was who we were. We were the job. Like you. You’re not a writer only when you’re actually writing, or sitting at your desk. You a
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 20.2
And so Nick hashed it all out again, this time for the tape. All his rotten experiences since waking up in the hospital and being told he would never walk again. Being told he was a hero.She took him through it all, the hospital, the therapy, the euphoria over getting his legs back, the devastation in learning he couldn’t do the jobanymore. The refusal to believe it. The grief for the department, his father and brother, the loss of his career. The drinking and the blur of months that passed in an alcoholic haze.Nick gave her everything she asked, up to and including his satisfaction in pushing a broom all day.“You really like it?” she asked.“I do. I mean, I’d rather be with FDNY, but this will do.”“Custodian. Janitor. You know some people look down on a job like that,” she stated.“Some snobs, maybe. Even I did at first, but it’s a big job with an incredible responsibility, being in charge of the entire physical aspect of the school, from maintenance to appearance to security. I
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 21
In a heartbeat, Shannon was around the tiny table and in Nick’s lap. They held on to each other like the last two people to make it onto the life raft before the ship sank. And they cried.Never in a million years would Nick have thought to find himself weeping in a woman’s arms. It wasn’t manly. It wasn’t macho Italiano, as his father would have said. Only a sissy would cry.Well, this sissy cried his eyes out—after all, he’d been holding it in for five years—and in the process, he felt a new lightening inside himself.Now that his tears were dried, he noticed that Shannon was quieting in his arms. He stood and carried her to the bed and lay down beside her.“You will never know,” she said, her voice unsteady, “what this means to me. What it will mean to my mother after all these years.” With her arms around his neck, she squeezed him tight.“His face still haunts my dreams.” He was rambling, but couldn’t seem to help it. “I wanted more than anything to be able to find someone, to he
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 21.1
He grabbed an old pair of jeans that didn’t smell too bad from the floor of his closet, put on socks and walking shoes, and a sweatshirt. It had been dipping down toward forty degrees when he’d come home.He tiptoed through the house so as not to wake Bev, then struck out through his neighborhood, setting every dog in the area to barking. Can’t pull anything over on these guys. Now, if he’d been a burglar, they wouldn’t have made a sound, he was sure.As much as he loved New York, Nick had come to love this small Texas town, and he’d come to love the quiet peacefulness of night. He would like it even better, he thought, if it weren’t for the faint whiff of smoke on the breeze. The remains of the bonfire were still in the air.At the end of his neighborhood he turned toward Main, intending tocross and amble over toward the school. Might as well do a walk-by while he was out.Sure enough, the smell of smoke grew stronger the closer he got to the school and the field behind it where the
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 21.2
It was the county 911 dispatcher, thank God. He told her their situation and asked that someone contact the fire chief at the scene and have him direct his spray toward the back corner. The woman tried to keep him on the phone, but he had to make preparations in case the fire decided to come in through that broken window before the crew could knock it down. Hewould have to make a stand in the bathroom.He tried to carry Shannon that far, but she was too limp and his leg was too weak. He ended up half dragging her to the tub, thanking God for slow renovations. The tub was an old cast-iron job that, if nothing else, wouldn’t melt and fuse with their skin. Of course, there was every possibility that they could end up beyond caring, but not as long as Nick had so much as one breath left in his body.He left Shannon on the floor next to the tub, then crawled back and pulled the sheets and blanket from the bed. They would make good wet wraps and help filter the air for breathing. He was ab
LOVE IN TEXAS CHAPTER 22
When Nick woke the next morning, Shannon was gone.No note, no message. Just…gone.He knew without checking that she hadn’t gone to another motel. She was on her way home. It was time; she had no more reason to stay.He wanted to pull the covers over his head and tell the world to goaway, but he had promised to talk to Lon about the fire, let the man ask his questions.He crawled out of bed, stepped into a pair of jeans that didn’t smell like smoke, and followed the aroma of coffee to the kitchen.Bev stood there, leaning against the counter, arms folded over her chest, waiting for him. She didn’t look particularly welcoming. “So you let her go, did you?”He grunted and headed for the nearest empty coffee mug so he could fill it. “Good morning to you, too.”“Go ahead, get yourself a cup. You look like you need it.”“Th—” His voice croaked. Damn smoke. He swallowed and tried again. “Thanks.”When he filled his mug and took a seat at the breakfast table, she joined him.“Nick, I’ve nev
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 23
And then she went to bed and dreamed of Nick. The next morning, the ache of missing him was so strong she almost convinced herself to stay home and wallow in her misery.But she did go to work. Whatever had brought on the good mood of the night before had deserted her, but with grim determination, she kept her misery to herself. She would be fine, dammit. She would be terrific.No more putting off that chapter in her manuscript. That night when she got home, she changed into her sweats and settled down on the sofa, with all her writing materials spread out around her. And she sat there and stared.It was one thing to say she was going to write about Nick, but it wasanother actually to do it. Writing about him would be like bringing him into her home with her. Wouldn’t he then haunt her every day and night after that?Someone knocked on her door. They must have played the keeppressing buttons until someone lets you in game because she hadn’t buzzed anyone up. Frowning, she went to th
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