Page 54

“Aren’t we a pathetic trio, swapping schedules so we could spend the day at work together?”

Cole snorted at Andrew’s observation. Thankfully, it had been a slow day at the firehall, and they were just hanging at the station. Earlier, they’d helped with a minor traffic accident, but otherwise, they’d not had a single call.

Cole worked on a crossword puzzle. Ben and Andrew were yet again saving a video game world from an alien takeover. Overall, the firehall was as quiet as the day had been.

Sometimes, Cole got antsy when there were no calls. He liked to be busy, to be working. When he reminded himself that a call coming in meant someone somewhere was having a bad, bad day, it pulled his wayward thoughts back in line. Quiet was good. Only, sometimes it wasn’t as it gave Cole too much time to think.

Thus, the puzzle book.

“You thought I swapped so I’d get to spend Thanksgiving Day with you two?” Looking up from his crossword, Cole shook his head. “You just keep on believing that, buddy.”

Andrew laughed. “More like you hoped it would be slow enough that we could go by my grandma’s for a plate.”

“There is that,” Cole agreed. This was Cole’s first Thanksgiving in Pine Hill, but he’d heard several of the guys mention how Andrew’s Grandma Ruby always made extra so the crew on duty could swing by and get a plate—or two. He’d been with Andrew and had gone by for Easter dinner and the Fourth of July cookout where he’d first set eyes on Sophie. Grandma Ruby’s cooking skills were worth working holidays, and tonight’s homecooked meal, complete with her famous potatoes, had exceeded expectations.

“That’s why I volunteered,” Ben assured, repeatedly zapping a grotesque-appearing being and high-fiving Andrew when the alien exploded. “It had nothing to do with your ugly mugs.”

“You volunteered because Susan wanted you to come to Thanksgiving dinner with her parents,” Andrew teased, gearing up for their next big battle as more aliens appeared on the television screen.

“You may be on to something,” Ben agreed. “I like her, but I’m not ready to meet her family, especially not at a holiday get-together.” He grimaced. “As much as I’d like her to be, I don’t think she’s the one.”

“What makes you think that?” Cole asked, curious as to what Ben meant. Susan had seemed nice enough. The few times Cole had been around them together, they’d seemed to enjoy each other’s company. And Ben made no secret of the fact that he hoped to marry and have kids, so this couldn’t be a question of not wanting a commitment.

“That she’s not the one I’m meant to spend the rest of my life with? Susan’s just not—and it doesn’t feel right to do things like go to her parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner. She’s a great person, though, and I don’t have the heart to end things right before Christmas.”

Cole started to remind Ben that he and the girl had only been going out a few weeks but held his tongue. If Ben didn’t want to end things until after the holidays, that was between him and Susan.

“Unfortunately for you, and us,” Andrew teased, rapidly pressing a button on his controller, “you’re with the ones you’re meant to spend your life with. May as well face it.”

Cole snorted, but thought to himself that he was okay with Andrew’s observation. Much as Cole had felt about his brothers in arms in the Marines, Andrew and Ben were family. For the most part, Cole was at peace with his lot in life. It was what it was and could be much worse.

“What about you, Cole?” Ben put him on the spot.

Cole looked up from his crossword puzzle again—just as well as he was stuck on a seven-letter word for “strips in geography.” “What about me?”

“You and Sophie.”

“There is no me and Sophie, unless you’re talking toy drive partners. Unlike you, I am not interested in meeting anyone, much less ‘the one’.”

Quite the opposite, he thought, as he mentally answered “isthmus” on his puzzle.

“So you keep saying, but we were there, remember? We saw you two together snow sledding and playing word games.”

They were never going to let him live that down. He’d known that even at the time, but the temptation of playing with Sophie in the snow had been irresistible. Much about her was irresistible.

Like thoughts of her. They kept slipping into his head, had even invaded some of his dreams, which beat the nightmares that occasionally haunted his sleep.

“Not to mention snowball fighting,” Andrew added. “All’s fair in love and snow.”

Glancing back down at the blank puzzle, mentally filling in that the second letter was an “r” on a seven-letter word meaning “caught”, Cole snorted. “Shows how much you two know, or don’t know. I haven’t seen Sophie since that night.”

That night that had been fun and almost carefree at times. He’d enjoyed sledding with Sophie, had enjoyed their snowball fight and then drinking hot chocolate with her while her Butterfly friends kept suggesting they wrap up in a shared quilt together for warmth. Yeah, right. Cole had shot that down real fast. But playing the board game hadn’t been so bad. She’d been so ecstatic that they’d beat the other team and, well, he’d enjoyed that, too.

None of which was good. Not when a darkness resided deep within him that could take hold at any time and pull him beneath its depths.

He needed to stay away from her for so many reasons. But when Sophie smiled at him, it wasn’t easy to remember that nothing more than pity motivated her kindness, especially when that light sparkled in her pretty eyes as it had when she’d tossed snowballs at him.

“Have you talked to her?”