Ben laughed, feeling his good spirits being restored with every passing minute. First Laney, and now Butch, coming to get him in the tow truck. “That’s good news. I didn’t have much hope of finding a ride in a hurry on a Tuesday evening. How’s the victim’s husband?”
“He’s a wreck, but they were up here with some friends. They didn’t ride with them today, but they can drive him to Boston so he’s on his way.”
“Good. She’ll definitely want him there if she pulls through. If you hear anything else, let me know, okay?”
“Will do. And good work out there.”
He wasn’t sure he felt the same, but he said his thanks before he hung up. He supposed the fact she’d been alive when she was put in the helicopter meant he’d done a good job, but he always wished he could do more.
After letting Laney know Butch was going to give him a ride home and promising to give her an update when he had a better idea of what time he’d be home, Ben went in search of something to drink. The slight headache let him know he was dehydrated and it would only get worse if he ignored it.
Ten minutes later, he was still wandering around when he ran into one of the guys who’d met the ambulance in the emergency bay. “Where the hell are they hiding the damn vending machines?”
“From here, it’s faster to run into the gift shop. They have basically the same kinds of snacks and drinks, but it’s easier to get to and you don’t need change.”
After getting directions, he hurried to the gift shop because Butch would probably be there any minute and he didn’t want to keep the man waiting when he was doing him a huge favor. He wasn’t sure yet if it was a favor that would be paid for by the fire department or some other town fund, but that wasn’t Ben’s problem.
As he grabbed a bottle of water and a soda from the cooler on the back wall of the small gift shop, movement in the window caught his eye. Lined up on a shelf across the bottom of the glass were a bunch of plastic toys that appeared to be dancing. And right in the front was a silly pink flamingo that made him smile.
“What are those?” he asked the cashier.
“They’re solar powered and they wave or dance or whatever. They cheer people up, I guess.”
The flamingo flapped its wings up and down, so he wasn’t sure if it was dancing or pretending to fly, but it looked ridiculous.
Laney would love it.
“I’ll take the flamingo.”
* * *
Laney heard the low rumble of Butch’s tow truck pulling up outside and closed the book she’d been reading on her phone. The pizza had come out of the oven five minutes before and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. All she had to do was cut it and they could eat.
It had been weird, emotionally, sitting in his apartment and waiting for him. She’d almost decided to head home, but May had suggested she go ahead upstairs and wait for him since Ben never locked his door. And she’d been looking forward to seeing him all day, so the temptation was too strong to resist.
It wasn’t long before he’d sent her a text message, and she told him she’d cook the dinner he’d prepared for them. Now she was listening for his footsteps on the stairs, and it was a glimpse into what a normal day could look like if their relationship lasted beyond the summer. Waiting with dinner warming on the stove was something she was familiar with, since she’d done it for her entire marriage.
The delicious sense of anticipation simmering under the strangely conflicted feelings was new, though. Even though he must have had a hard day if he’d ridden to the hospital with the patient and she had her own misgivings about getting too comfortable in their relationship, Laney wanted to see him.
When his footsteps finally reached the top step and the door opened, Laney was in the process of cutting the pizza into slices. He smiled when he saw her, and she could almost see some of his exhaustion fade away as their gazes locked.
Hi honey, how was your day?She killed the impulse to ask the question out of habit and held up the pizza cutter. “Perfect timing.”
“I’m starving.” He kicked off his shoes and dropped his wallet and keys, along with a small paper bag, on the coffee table before crossing the room to pull her into his arms. “But first I want a kiss.”
She dropped the pizza cutter on the counter so she could wrap her arms around his neck. He smelled like sweat and the inside of a twenty-plus-year-old tow truck, but his mouth tasted like mint and she would have smiled against his lips, but his tongue slid over hers as he deepened the kiss. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her hard against his body before he sighed against her mouth. After breaking off the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers for a moment.
“I needed that,” he said, giving her another smile.
“Bad day?”
“It was a rough one,” he said, and she knew that was all he’d say about the call that had kept him out late. “I need a shower, but the pizza’s ready, so let’s eat first.”
He didn’t wait for her to serve him, but instead grabbed a couple of plates and put a slice on each. While they ate, he told her some of the funny stories Butch had shared with him during the long ride back from the hospital. He didn’t pay a lot of attention to the gossip Fran shared with him, but when Butch did decide to tell a story, he did it with good old Yankee flair. By the time they’d eaten their fill of pizza, all traces of his day had seeped from Ben’s face except for some tiredness around his eyes.
“Before I jump in the shower, I got you something today.” Laney watched him grab the paper bag off the coffee table. He gave her a sheepish grin as he handed it to her. “It’s kind of silly, but I saw it in the hospital gift shop when I was buying a drink and it made me think of you.”
Intrigued, she opened the bag and pulled out a little pink flamingo. Its tiny wings were moving and she noticed the little solar panel right away. Given enough sun, the bird would keep flapping its wings like it was flying, and she smiled at the thought of it dancing in front of a window in her camper.
