Page 8 of I'll Be There
“He’s also on the volunteer fire department,” Mona said. “Trust me, that’s adventurous enough.”
Liza looked at her coffee.
Mona touched her arm. “It’s okay. And yes, Conner is...well, he certainly lives dangerously.”
“He jumps out of airplanes into fire for a living,” Liza said. “Andlikesit.”
Grace had carried the bags into the kitchen and now returned to the conversation, pulling out a cup of coffee from the tray. “Max gets in fights for a living.”
“He plays hockey,” Raina said.
“There’s a lot of fighting,” Grace said. “I hate it. I can’t watch when he throws down the gloves, even if it’s part of the game. Afterwards, he’s like a caged animal, pacing, the adrenaline radiating off of him. I send him to work out, get it out of his system.”
“That accounts for the shoulders.” Raina grinned.
“And the abs,” Grace said, meeting her smile. “I don’t hate it.”
“Conner used to call me after he came in from a fire, or sometimes when he was out there camping. He was always...tired. And stressed out. And yeah, he loves it, but it’s also dangerous and...” Liza took another bracing sip. “I guess I thought maybe he’d give that up once we...oh man, we aresonot ready.” She set her coffee down. “See, I told him we should wait, but he was just so excited, and...”
“And you’ll figure it out.” Mona took Liza by the shoulders. “Take a breath. Conner Young is crazy about you. And you’re crazy about him.”
“But what if that’s not enough? I can’t ask him to give up firefighting for me. He’s already lost so much. Firefighting has given him back himself. A team. A family.”
“You’re going to be his family, Liza,” Grace said softly. “Trust me. That changes everything.”
Maybe.
“Stop it,” Mona said.
Liza glanced at her.
“You’re panicking. And dreaming up a few lies.” She raised an eyebrow. “Again.”
Ho-kay.
“Conner is dying to marry you. Nothing is going to keep him from showing up at the altar on Monday.” She paused. “A Memorial Day wedding. You’re like royalty or something. The princess of Deep Haven.”
“Hardly,” Liza said but Mona took Liza’s hand, pulled her up.
“You’ll see. This weekend is going to be perfect, and you’re going to live happily ever after.”
CHAPTER TWO
Grief was lethal. It stayed tucked neatly away, pinned at the edges, until one random moment opened the sealed fissures, and suddenly it poured through the cracks, bleeding out in a flood that could take a man to his knees, leave him broken, wrecked.
Distraught.
Conner pressed his hand against the weeping windowpane of the Two Harbors McDonald’s, the cold rasping up his arm, a shot of bracing reality.
He needed to pull himself together, tuck away the fraying edges that left his entire body humming with unrequited adrenaline, and show up the healed, whole man that Liza expected. Needed.
Deserved.
“Should I take you to the dog-run area, maybe let you off your leash?” Jed came up beside him, holding his order ticket.
“No. Just get your food and let’s get back on the road.”
The finest rays of sun had wrestled through the layer of gray clouds, glinting off the puddles of the grimy pavement. A line of mud-coated cars trailed out from the drive-through, and the tiny waiting area swam with hungry tourists, whiny kids pulling on them, begging for chocolate shakes and Happy Meals.
