“Wow. Comfortable!” he said, pleased as he could be.
Danny caught up with Dot over by new releases.
“Well. Mission accomplished. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“We make a good team.”
“We do.” He winked at Dot, and she rewarded him with a joyful smile.
Then they sat down on the new sofa, put their feet up on the long ottoman, and basked in the afterglow of accomplishment and the feeling of new beginnings.
AT THE FRONTof the store, Mary sipped her champagne and checked her phone. There were three texts from her mother and several from her brothers.
“Call me, sweetheart. It’s your grandmother.” Mary kept scrolling through the messages trying to get a read of what was happening.
Oh, no, not Nonna.
Jake saw her face fall. “What’s wrong?” he asked, gently touching her shoulder.
“It’s my Nonna. She’s in the hospital. She may have had a stroke.” Mary scrolled through the messages from her mother. “I need to go home. My mom says there’s an eight-fifty flight tonight.”
“Let’s go get you packed. I’ll take you to the airport. We can get you to New York tonight.”
“I don’t think we’ll make it in time.”
He looked at her like she didn’t realize who he was and who he worked for.
“We will.”
And so, she let him drive her to their house in his police cruiser so that they could push the speed limit. At home, she threw a few things in her carry-on and then they sped off to the airport.
JAKE AND MARYarrived at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport with half an hour to spare. He got out of the car and grabbed her suitcase from the trunk, pulling out the handle so she could roll it easily into the terminal.
“Thank you.” She stood on her tiptoes and lifted her face up to Jake. Her lips found his and she felt a pull of longing to stay and a dread to go home in case Nonna didn’t make it.
“Go on now, New York.”
“I’m not sure when I’ll be back,” she said.
“I’ll be here. Whenever that is.”
And she knew she could trust him. And she realized thattrustin a man was a different feeling for her. She turned to go into the terminal then stopped to look back.
He was waiting until she was safely past security.
He nodded.
She nodded.
“See you soon,” Mary whispered and waved.
Chapter 42
Two weeks flew by before Mary returned to Wisconsin. Her grandmother had recovered relatively quickly from what proved to be a minor stroke and miraculously hadn’t lost any movement or language.
“We were lucky,” Mary’s mom said as they gathered around the makeshift sofa bed in their living room. “You have to slow down and rest, Ma.” She smoothed her mother’s hair back from her forehead.
Nonna blew that off. “You won’t be rid of me for a while yet,” she said. “Besides, I’m going to be around for Mary’s wedding. And to hold the grandbabies she’s going to give me.”