1022 Evergreen Place - Debbie Macomber [87]
Twenty-Four
On the Fourth of July, Mack and Mary Jo gathered down at the Cedar Cove waterfront with dozens of other families for the fireworks display. It was almost dark, and there was a buzz of anticipation in the crowd.
Linc and Lori sat on lawn chairs beside them. Noelle was already asleep, limp in Mack’s arms, unaware of what was about to take place. Mary Jo doubted she’d stay asleep once the fireworks began.
Mack had been on duty four days straight, but had the holiday itself free. The fire station was on high alert this week, due to the hazards caused by fireworks.
Being able to spend the entire day with Mack and her brother made this Fourth of July special. Because Mary Jo’s relationship with Linc had changed—more than changed, improved—since her brother’s marriage, she’d discovered that he was a good friend. Lori was fast becoming one, too. The more she got to know Linc’s wife, the more Mary Jo liked her. Lori was a gifted seamstress who’d recently made an adorable summer outfit for Noelle.
Earlier in the day, the two couples had taken a picnic lunch to Point Defiance Zoo. While Noelle might be too young to appreciate the experience, she’d loved seeing the animals. Even Linc seemed to have fun. Her brother had always been so serious; seeing him relaxed and enjoying himself revealed a side of him she barely remembered.
“Isn’t it time?” Lori asked impatiently. “I thought the paper said ten o’clock.”
That was when they heard the whine of fireworks being set off. “There they go,” Linc said, just as the rocket burst into a cluster, spraying red, white and blue sparks across the clear night sky.
At the explosion, Noelle woke with a start and began crying. Mack held the infant against his shoulder, gently rubbing her back. Noelle was content until the next explosion. She let out another startled cry.
“Oh, dear,” Mary Jo said. “This is scaring her.”
“Should we take her home?” Mack asked, his face marked with concern.
“I don’t know,” Mary Jo said uncertainly. She didn’t want the evening to end, but Noelle’s comfort came first.
Noelle began to whimper. “Look,” Mack told her, and pointed up at the sky.
Mary Jo wanted to tell him he couldn’t reason with a six-month-old infant.
But somehow, Mack was able to calm her and eventually Noelle returned to sleep, despite the noise and excitement. When Mary Jo glanced over at her sleeping daughter, she noticed Linc and Lori holding hands. Lori’s head rested on Linc’s shoulder.
She looked at Mack again and saw him watching Noelle, his expression vigilant. He must have felt her scrutiny because he turned to smile at her. She smiled back and reached for his hand.
Mack held it for a few minutes before releasing it in order to shift Noelle in his arms.
By the time they arrived at the duplex, it was almost midnight. While she put Noelle in her crib, Mack brought in the blanket, the diaper bag and the remains of their picnic. She’d made potato salad, which he’d raved about. She resisted telling him that the recipe had actually come from his mother.
In fact, Mary Jo had talked to Corrie McAfee twice in the past week. She liked Mack’s mother; his father, too, although Roy was more difficult to know. Maybe because he was a detective and ex-cop and therefore used to keeping his reactions to himself.
When she came into the kitchen Mack was standing there, hands in his back pockets. He didn’t say anything, as if gauging how best to broach whatever subject he had in mind.
Mary Jo waited for him to speak. “What’s up?” she finally asked.
“Something’s bothering you,” he said bluntly.
Her feelings, her dissatisfaction, were still vague and unformed, and she was surprised by his perceptiveness. She tried to put her unease into words but that was harder than she’d realized. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing.
After another minute or so, Mack exhaled. “You’d better tell me what it is.”
Mary Jo felt awkward. “Tonight, with…Noelle.”
“Yes?” he urged.
They stood and faced each other, and both seemed tentative,