Sex and the Single Fireman: A Bachelor Firemen Novel (29 page)

“Aw, son.” Roman put a hand on his son’s shoulder. All his worries, and his son’s problem was an overactive need to protect. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. “You could have done worse. You both came back safe. But next time, come to me first. That’s what I’m here for.”

“No, but . . . Carly doesn’t know you the way I do. She didn’t want me to say anything to you. She’s actually kind of scared of you. Or she was.”

“Well, I am terrifying. Especially when I’m telling you no Internet, Wii, or any video games for two weeks. That includes the time we’re in New York.”

“Two
weeks
?”

“After the two weeks, we’ll talk about lightening up on some of the rules.”

“Really?” The eager look on Luke’s face made Roman cringe. Had he been that strict?

“Yes. But you have to talk to me, not go off and do crazy things like this.”

Luke nodded. Even his freckles looked serious. “I will.”

“And before we leave for Christmas, you have to clean up your room. That gives you two days.”

“Clean up my
room
? What does my room have to do with anything?”

“It has to do with the fact that Sabina nearly ate it with her crutches when we checked your computer.”

Luke gulped. “Sabina came into my room?” Roman could practically see the wheels spinning, Luke trying to remember all the potentially embarrassing things he’d left strewn about the room.

“Got a problem with that?”

“No,” he said in a small voice. “Can we go inside now?”

“Sure. I love you, son.”

“Yeah. I better get to work. It’s gonna take me the entire two days to clean my room.”

Luke dug out his keys and trudged inside the house. Roman headed to the Jeep to grab his bag. Truth to tell, he was proud of his son. Luke had gone about it wrong, but his intentions were good. He’d been trying to protect Carly. He was a Roman through and through.

No, scratch that. He was fifty percent an O’Keefe, which meant double the trouble. Maureen had possessed the gene too, the one that compelled you to throw yourself in front of a moving car to save a pedestrian, or into a dying building to save the panicked office workers inside. Maureen would be proud of Luke too. He was a good kid.

Our son thinks I’m a hero, Maureen
, he thought.
Even though I couldn’t save you
.

In his mind’s eye, he imagined Maureen laughing.
I held my own, big guy, all the way to the end. You worry about saving your own ass.

Saving his own ass? What did she mean by that?

Chapter Thirty-One

T
o Sabina’s surprise, Annabelle didn’t mind the new living arrangements. She drew Carly into her orbit, treating her like some combination of personal assistant and makeover project. No one had ever coddled Carly before, bought her lip gloss and cute bras. Carly tolerated it, though she drew the line at mascara.

“I’m an athlete,” she informed Annabelle. “Pitchers don’t wear mascara.”

“They do if they’re on the Olympic softball team and doing a spread for
Sports Illustrated
.”

“Semi good point,” Carly conceded. She allowed one swipe of mascara, no more.

Sabina wondered if Carly was better off with her binge-drinking mother, but on the other hand, it was fun to see her scoff while Annabelle pored over
People
magazine and told her embarrassing secrets about all the stars.

It gave Sabina time to think about everything Roman had said to her.

For a while she felt nothing but fury. Roman had no business meddling in her life. Acting as if she’d done her mother wrong. Annabelle was the one with something to answer for, not her. And yet he talked as if Sabina was heartlessly pushing her mother away.

As if she pushed everyone away. She didn’t do any such thing, did she?

On Christmas Eve she got a phone message from Roman. “Luke and I are headed to New York for Christmas. I hope you . . . well, season’s greetings.”

Season’s greetings?
What kind of thing was that to say after he’d declared his love both with words and physical demonstrations of the most unforgettable sort?

It’s more than you said to him
, her conscience whispered.

Christmas passed in a blur. In San Gabriel the holiday always had a goofy, surreal quality. The next-door neighbor put up a plastic snowman surfing on the green lawn. Reindeer pranced across a roof with no hint of a chimney—wearing hot-pink boas around their necks.

Sabina got gift certificates for everyone. Annabelle ordered a decadent spread from her favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. Sabina could barely enjoy the chestnut-stuffed pork medallions and chocolate terrine, though Carly’s suspicious prodding of the unfamiliar dishes offered some entertainment.

What if Roman’s right? Would it kill you to give Annabelle a chance?
But after so many years of putting everyone at arm’s length, anything else felt nearly impossible.

You shove people away and keep them there.

No, I don’t. Do I?

She went to bed early, while Annabelle and Carly played a late-night game of Monopoly.
Don’t let Carly become a distraction
, Roman had said. But what did he know? What gave him the right to lecture her?

Because he cares
, that annoying voice in her head pointed out. She pulled a pillow over her head with a hopeless groan. Pillows were no use at all, since they reminded her of Roman. Roman, propping her foot on a pillow . . . Roman, nestling her into a pile of them at the Bannon Motel 6 . . . Roman, smiling into her eyes from the next pillow over in his heavenly king-size bed.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s passed with the jerky dissonance of a very long hangover. Sabina knew she had to do something. Things couldn’t go on as they were. But a sort of paralysis gripped her, as if she was still trapped under that pile of marble inside a burning house.

On New Year’s Day, Channel Six aired a
You and Me
marathon. Annabelle popped the cork off a bottle of champagne and settled into the armchair, curling her legs under her. Carly’s teammates had called an impromptu practice in the park. She’d ridden off on Sabina’s mountain bike, her glove stashed in her backpack. For the first time since the big prison adventure, Annabelle and Sabina were alone together.

Well, Annabelle, Sabina, Taffy, and Peg.

From her usual position on the couch, Sabina took a sip of champagne and squinted at the TV. The familiar opening credits played across the screen, the theme song giving her nostalgic little palpitations. “This may require a drinking game of some sort. Take a drink every time Peg says, ‘Why Taffy Bannister McGee, what were you thinking’?”

“I said that about six times an episode.”

“Sounds about right to me. Or maybe a drink every time Taffy slams the door. Remember how that picture kept falling off? It fell on my toe once.”

“I believe it was helped along by the art director.”

“
What?
”

“You drove him crazy. He had to keep coming up with new paintings.” Annabelle reached for a truffle from a box spread open on the coffee table.

“I
had
to slam the door. It was in the script.”

“But that hard?”

“Yes. It was the only fun I ever had on that set.” Although she’d started that statement lightheartedly, by the end it had taken on a woebegone wobble. Quickly she hid behind her champagne flute.

Annabelle rolled her eyes as she bit into her truffle. “Always with the exaggerating.”

Sabina gulped a mouthful of champagne, the bubbles prickling her throat. Let it be. What was the point of getting into another fight after all these years? But maybe . . . well, what the hell? Annabelle was here, and what if she never got another chance? “I’m not exaggerating. Being on that show was incredibly boring for me. We kept having to do the same things over and over again.”

“But that’s how it’s done. We shot on film, not live.”

“I know. That doesn’t it make it fun.”

“But—” Annabelle scraped a polished fingernail along her champagne flute. “It
is
fun. I can’t imagine anything more fun. All those people, everyone coming together to create something, everyone looking at you, listening to you. Applauding when it’s a wrap.”

“That was definitely my favorite part. It’s a wrap.”

Annabelle set her champagne flute on the coffee table with a sharp click. She gazed at the TV, where Taffy was climbing up a ladder to the roof. “You always looked like you were having fun,” she said wistfully. “I suppose you’re a good actress. You should consider—”

“No.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m not going to consider anything having to do with acting. I don’t like it. I never want to do it again.”

Annabelle shot her a dry look. “I’ve picked up on that by now.”

Sabina swallowed another overlarge gulp of champagne. Maybe it was the alcohol, but she was starting to feel a little like a passenger on a listing cruise ship. “I’m never going to do that reunion show.”

“I know. That’s what I told Max.”

“But . . . I thought you wanted to do it. Desperately. That’s why you came here. You destroyed my privacy with all those ridiculous interviews. Ruined my life.”

“For goodness’ sakes, Sabina, you’re blowing it all out of proportion! I didn’t ruin anything. You were hiding out like a . . . a criminal on the run.”

“Well . . . maybe I was. But that’s how I wanted it! My choice. My life.”

“You want to live your life all alone with no one knowing who you are?”

The ship was seriously tilting now. Sabina held on to the cushions of the couch as though she might slide off. Was her mother actually making some good points? “This isn’t about me. It’s about you and how ruthless you are. Are you denying you came to San Gabriel to get me to do the show?”

“Well, of course not. At first, anyway. But after all that media attention, people started sending me scripts. Decent ones. A good script means a lot more to me than money.” She poured herself more champagne and toasted the TV screen. “Rest in peace, Peg McGee.”

Sabina wanted to slap the champagne flute from her mother’s hands. “So that’s it? As long as you’re getting good scripts, everything’s cool? I was just a means to an end for you, wasn’t I? When I left the show, you had no more use for me. See ya!” She mimed a wave. “Wouldn’t want to be ya!”

Annabelle went white. “How dare you?”

Sabina got up from the couch, grabbing her crutches for support. “You never once tried to reach me after I left.”

“Max told me not to. He said you wanted all communication to go through him.”

“
What?
”

“Besides, I was furious with you. The tabloids ate me alive. ‘TV mom’s daughter files for emancipation.’ Do you have any idea what I went through?”

Sabina winced. She’d managed to block that part out—she’d had to, in order to keep going. Still . . . “Why is it always about you, Annabelle?” Her voice rose; she couldn’t help it. “What about me, stuck at the stupid show for my entire fucking childhood? I was just a prop to you. A royalty machine.”

Quick as a spitting cat, Annabelle jumped to her feet. Her red hair crackled around her head like firecrackers going off. She stood toe to toe with Sabina. “Well, excuse me for giving you the chance to become a star. You could be rich and famous by now. A millionaire.”

“Sure, if I hadn’t given you all my money!”

“What are you talking about?”

“The money I gave you! From the show!”

“You never gave me any money! I had to sell the Brentwood house after the show ended. I lived off residuals and voiceover work.”

Sabina shook her head, utterly bewildered. “Annabelle, I signed all my earnings over to you. Every single cent. I sold those diamond earrings you gave me and lived off them until I did
Zombie Nights
. I wanted you to be okay financially after the show ended. Max said he’d take care of it.”

“Oh my God.”

They stared at each other, realization dawning. Sabina slammed her crutch against the couch. “That weaselly little rat bastard.”

Into the stunned silence filtered dialogue from
You and Me
, voices from mother and daughter, circa a lifetime ago.

I told you not to touch that stove!

But I wanted to roast marshmallows and you said not to make a campfire.

Why, Taffy Bannister McGee, what were you thinking?

Annabelle grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. “When’s the last time you heard from Max?”

Sabina tried to focus her whirling brain. “It’s been a while. Not since the fire. Not since you took me home from the hospital.”

Annabelle snatched up her cell phone and began scrolling through her contacts. “I’m calling him. And a lawyer. And maybe a hit man.”

Sabina sank back onto the couch while her mother dialed. After a minute, Annabelle tossed the phone aside. It landed on the coffee table with a clatter. “His cell’s been disconnected.”

“He doesn’t have access to any of your money, does he?”

“I don’t think so. Good Lord.” Annabelle sank into the armchair with a lack of grace she’d never have allowed if she weren’t so upset. “This explains so much. When you left with no word, I thought you hated me.”

“I didn’t hate you. I hated my life.”

Annabelle rubbed her forehead, as if trying to chase away frown lines. “I know. I knew you hated it.”

“Then why did you make me—”

Impatient, Annabelle waved off the question, her rings sending sparkles through the room. “Obviously, I didn’t think I could do it without you. I thought my career would be over. I’d only gotten the tiniest roles before I brought you in for that audition.”

The familiar, sickening guilt slammed Sabina in the chest. “I’m sorry,” she said through dry lips. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Oh stop. I’m a grown-up.” A self-mocking smile quirked one corner of her mouth. “I admit it took me a while.” She smoothed down a stray lock of hair and drew a deep breath. “I don’t do this often, so savor it, kiddo. I should have listened to you. You were outgrowing the show in any case. I shouldn’t have fought it so hard. And I shouldn’t have outted you at the station, even though it was bound to happen sooner or later. But how do you think I got from nowhere land to TV star? I’m one stubborn bi—broad.”

Sabina blinked at her mother. Her image wavered, then came clear. Hardheaded, electrifying, driven Annabelle. A woman who would always surprise.

Annabelle gave her old snorty laugh, and it felt like a fist squeezing Sabina’s heart. “Here.” She stood up, picked up her glass of champagne, and toasted Sabina. “To my stubborn only daughter, who’s more like me than she would ever want to admit.”

Sabina took in those eyes, so much like hers, the color of the stormy Caribbean, and that full Merlot-tinted mouth. She raised her glass. “To my only mother, who’s pretty freaking amazing.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

They clinked glasses.

“And to making Max pay,” Sabina added.

“Oh hell.” Annabelle drained her champagne. “You can count on that. No one messes with my kiddo and gets away with it.”

Sabina’s throat went so tight, she couldn’t have said anything with a gun to her head.

Annabelle put down her champagne. “But maybe I ought to thank him. I got a real-life reunion with my daughter the firefighter.” She pulled Sabina into a hug, the first they’d shared in about a million years.

“No,” her mother said in Sabina’s ear. “I’ll make him pay first. Then maybe I’ll thank him.”

Maybe it took
a return to New York for Roman to finally figure things out. It felt like a trip back in time, as if he were a visitor from the future who couldn’t quite communicate with the people he knew. Even his parents could tell something was different.

“You did the right thing, moving to California,” his father said as they walked down the block toward the church on the corner. “It did you good. Same for Lucio.” He refused to call Luke the Americanized version of his name.

“The bagels in San Gabriel are a disgrace. And their idea of Italian cooking is spaghetti mixed with clam chowder. Olive oil’s not bad, though.”

“You teaching those West Coast boys how we fight fires in New York?”

“They know what they’re doing.”

“I heard they’re under a curse.”

“You watch too much TV.”

His father leaned in close, reaching a big-knuckled hand to cover his. “Son, it never pays to ignore a curse. Have you been having trouble in the love department?”

“
Babbo
, please.” He and his father never discussed such things.