“I got to see him,” he said.
“You did?”
He nodded. “You were right, Emmaline,” he said, his voice low. “I haven’t been...myself. I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of everything.”
“It’s okay. It’s fine.”
He looked at her a long minute, his eyes the same color as the bright March sky.
She wanted to ask him how it was, seeing Josh. What had changed Mrs. Deiner’s mind. If it had been awful. If he was sleeping at all. If he was back with Hadley, and if he was with Hadley, she hoped the other woman was taking good care of him, because Jack...Jack was one of a kind.
Her radio blipped. “I have to go,” she said, and her voice was husky. “Traffic duty.” She paused. “It was good to see you.”
“You, too.”
And then, because she didn’t want him to see her cry, when other people had much better reason to be sad today than she did, she got into the cruiser and did her job.
* * *
A WEEK AFTER Josh’s funeral, Emmaline was sitting in the police station, trying to show Everett how to correctly upload a report. It was the perfect time to teach Everett some basic computer skills. Mindless work. Levi had taken the day off, so it was just Emmaline, Ev and Carol, and no crime to keep them busy. Manningsport had been somber since Josh died—no speeders, no crime, no DUIs.
Em hadn’t seen Jack. The other night, Angela asked if she wanted to go to O’Rourke’s and Em said no, just in case Jack was there. She was glad he’d had some closure with Josh, glad he was doing better. But it didn’t change the fact that she was in love with him, and he didn’t feel the same way. You’re right, he’d said. We should be done. I wasn’t really looking for a relationship and neither were you.
Right.
“So what now?” Everett asked, dragging her back to the present.
“Just click Upload. Right there. No, not Escape! Great. Now you have to enter it again.”
“How come you know more about this than I do?” Everett asked. “I’ve been working here longer.”
“Because you have the IQ of a chicken,” Carol said.
“Now, Carol,” Em said. “Everett has many qualities.”
The phone rang, and Carol pounced. “Manningsport Police Department, is this an emergency?...Oh, hi, Levi!...Really? Finally! I thought she’d never—okay, fine, don’t yell at me. She’s right here.” Carol gave Em a long-suffering look. “Faith’s in labor and Levi wants a police escort.”
Em picked up the phone. “Faith’s in labor and I want a police escort,” Levi ordered. “Get your ass here now.”
“On my way.” She ran out to the parking lot and got into the cruiser. Lights and sirens, and it was exactly as much fun as it sounded. She sped into town, blipped at intersections and turned onto Levi and Faith’s street. Their cute little bungalow was a few blocks off the green.
But apparently, word had gotten out, because the street was mobbed. John Holland’s dilapidated red truck, Prudence’s equally abused blue truck, Honor’s white Prius, Jack’s gray pickup. Furthermore, Colleen was standing on the lawn with the Barretts, who lived next door, as well as Faith’s grandparents and nephew and Levi’s sister. “So Sarah, we should go out sometime,” Ned was saying.
“My brother will make sure your body is never found,” Sarah Cooper answered. “But if you’re willing to risk it, so am I.”
“Need some crowd control?” Emmaline asked.
“Actually, yes,” Colleen said. “There are a dozen people in there.”
Just then, the front door banged open, and Levi appeared, Faith in his arms.
“Now that’s hot,” Colleen murmured. “I want Lucas to do that for me when my time comes.”
Various and sundry Hollands streamed after them—Abby, Pru, Honor, Mrs. Johnson, Faith’s dad.
Jack.
He was smiling, and Em felt it like she’d just stepped into a patch of sunlight.
Well. He wasn’t smiling at her. She wrenched her eyes off him. She was on duty, after all. She was needed.
It didn’t stop her stomach from tightening. She tried to ignore it. “You doing okay, Faith?” she asked, trotting next to Levi as he strode to the car.
“He’s overreacting,” Faith said. “But I do kind of want to push.”
“Don’t push!” Levi barked. “Do not push, honey. Please. No pushing. We have fifteen minutes to the hospital. You can make it.”
“Have we thought about an ambulance?” Em asked.
“Gerard Chartier is not seeing my girl parts,” Faith said firmly. “I can hold it in. Oh! Wow! This hurts! Hurry up, babe. Not you, baby. You, babe.”
Jack opened the backseat of Faith’s car, and Levi lowered her in. “I’m driving,” Jack said. “Stay in the back with your wife.” He looked at Emmaline. “You ready?”
“All set.”
She got into the cruiser and let the siren rip. Glanced back from time to time to make sure Jack was behind her and slowed for intersections, making sure all was clear.
She wouldn’t think about Jack. Not that way, not now.
But it did dawn on her that Hadley hadn’t seemed to be among the crowd.
The trick was to go fast but not too fast, and basically to just clear the runway, so to speak. Jack had his hazards on, and it looked like a colorful presidential entourage, with all the Holland vehicles following him.
They made it to the hospital in twelve minutes instead of fifteen, and Em ran in to get a gurney. Crowded day, of course. Full moon. Shelayne was on duty, surveying the waiting room with a frown.
“Baby coming,” Emmaline called. “Faith and Levi’s.”
“About time!” Shelayne said. Small towns. No secrets.
Emmaline ran out with the gurney and Levi put his wife on it. She was clinging to his hand, doing that hee-hee-hoo-hoo thing that couldn’t possibly work. Probably just to distract the woman from the fact that she was in labor.
Jack fell into step next to her, one hand on the gurney. Em could smell his good Jack smell—grapes and laundry detergent and sun. He smoothed some hair off Faith’s forehead, and the gesture made Em’s throat tighten.
He was such a good guy.
They went through the automatic doors of the hospital, Levi murmuring to his wife. Behind them, the Holland clan followed, chattering like magpies.A couple of kids were waiting to be seen, one of them running around with a paper airplane, the other holding gauze on his chin as he wiggled his front tooth. Crazy Matthias Pembry was talking animatedly to himself—time for a medication adjustment, no doubt. An old lady in a wheelchair was glaring at the runner, and a man clutched a bloody dishcloth to his ear.
“Are you a nurse?” he asked. “I seem to have torn off part of my ear.” He held something up. Ah. The ear. A small trail of blood ran down his neck.
“That’s nasty,” Faith said.
“Step away from my wife,” Levi said, not nicely. So cute, men!
“Oh, another contraction. God, I’m amazing. Look at me, talking through these. I rock.”
“No ego problems here,” Jack murmured.
“I really want to push,” Faith said, a little breathlessly. “Can I push? Technically, we’re at the hospital.”
“Don’t push yet,” Emmaline said. “Shelayne? You want this baby born here, or shall we get moving?”
“Everyone’s a critic,” Shelayne said, coming over. “Hi, Faith. About time. You ready to meet the baby?”
“Good luck, guys,” Em said. Suddenly, she was choked up. She punched Levi on the shoulder, and off they went, a chorus of “Good luck, Faithie!” and “We love you!” floating behind them.
“I still think I should be her birthing coach,” Prudence said, flopping into a chair. “I’ve done this twice. Ned slid out like he was greased, all bloody and cute—”
“Mother. Cease,” Ned said.
“I’m hungry,” the grandfather said. “Who brought food?”
“Fred Norbertson?” a nurse called.
The man with the ear wound started forward, but his, um, fragment fell to the ground. He didn’t notice.
“You forgot your ear,” Em said. Abby dry heaved.
“Oh! Thanks.” He picked it up and smiled at Emmaline, giving her a quick up-and-down scan.
The entrance doors opened, and Colleen came in, sliding her phone into her bag. “The vigil begins! Connor’s sending over sandwiches. Are we waiting here, or are we going upstairs to Maternity? How many of us are there?”
Time for Emmaline to go. She was the outsider here. “Good luck, Team Holland,” she said with a self-conscious wave.
A chorus of goodbyes and thanks rose up from the ranks.
Her eyes stopped on Jack. “Bye,” she said.
“Thank you, Emmaline,” he said. He smiled. And that was it. For a second, she thought he was going to say something more.
He didn’t.
The drive back to the station seemed long and lonely.
It was after five, so technically, she was off duty. Carol and Everett were gone, though Ev was on call tonight.
She tidied up the department kitchen and sat down at her desk. As she filled out a few reports, her mind kept going back to the hospital. She hoped everything would go okay. Nice, that whole mob there, waiting for news of the baby. Hard to imagine, being a part of that, when her own family was so small.
Speaking of her family, maybe Ange wanted to do something tonight. Go for a run with Sarge, maybe get some nachos at O’Rourke’s afterward. She picked up the phone.
Then the station door opened, and Jack came in. Em stood up fast. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
“Did the baby come already?”
“I don’t think so.”
Em took a quick breath. “Then what are you doing here? You should be at the hospital.”
“Would you want your brother there?” he asked. “I can go over later. When everyone’s clean and not bloody.” He put his hands in his pockets. “I came to see you.”
“Oh.” She sank back into her seat. “Um...hi.”
“Hi.” He smiled, just a little, his eyes crinkling before his mouth moved.
“How are you?” She swallowed.
“I’m fine. How are you?”
“I’m... That’s...yeah... Good, I mean.” So smooth.
Jack came closer. As in, right next to her desk. “I took Hadley back to Savannah. She won’t be back. In case you didn’t hear.”
“I didn’t. That’s...that’s great. I mean, it’s great if you say it’s great.”
He looked at her hands, then back up at her. “Emmaline, I’m so sorry for what I said about you being a bully. You’re not. You couldn’t be if you tried.”
“Right.” Her voice was a whisper now. “Thank you.”
“Also, I’m in love with you.”
“Is that right. Wait. What did you say?” She felt her face flush, and her heart, God, it was hummingbird fast.
He smiled, a full-on, 100 percent smile, a smile so good she felt it in every molecule. “I love you, Em.”
“But...I thought you weren’t, uh, looking for a relationship.” Her eyes seemed to be filling up.
“I wasn’t. I seem to have found one anyway.”
“Oh. I...that’s...that’s good.”
“Glad you think so.” He reached into his pocket. “I brought you a present.”
He handed it to her, and she had to laugh, because it was a bag of Skittles. “Got any chocolate cake to go with that?” she asked.