“Thank you for showing Summer the engine,” she said to him in her most polite, distant voice, before turning to his sister with a warm, genuine smile. “I’m so glad we ran into you, Sophie.”
“I know. I can’t believe I didn’t know you were living so close by.”
Megan shook her head. “I’m afraid I didn’t do a good job of keeping in touch with anyone after David and I got married and moved to San Diego.”
“How is David?”
Realizing there was no way Sophie would know about what had happened, she said, “He died.”
“Oh no.” Sophie looked horrified. “I’m so sorry, Megan.”
Wanting to reassure her friend, but not wanting to say too much with Gabe still standing there taking in every word, a glower still on his too-handsome face, she said, “It was a few years ago.”
Sophie looked toward where Summer was still the center of Station 5’s attention. “You’ve raised her all by yourself?” Before Megan could reply, she added, “Or did you remarry?”
“Nope. Just me and Summer.” She forced a smile that she hoped looked somewhat real. “We’ve been doing great.”
“And then that fire burned down your apartment. It just doesn’t seem fair.”
“Honestly, we’re doing just fine,” she said again, as much for Gabe’s benefit as Sophie’s.
Sophie put her hand on her arm. “I just wish things could have been different for you.”
“Soph,” Gabe bit out in a frustrated voice, “how many more times does she have to tell you she’s fine?”
He was clearly trying to warn his sister to back off a bit, and while Megan would have appreciated it another time, she knew Sophie was just expressing her feelings and emotions the way she always had. Straight from her heart.
Sophie simply scrunched up her nose at her brother before turning back to Megan. “You know what? Our mother is having her big annual holiday party this week near our old stomping grounds in Palo Alto. Please tell me you and Summer will come to meet everyone!” Before Megan could reply, Sophie added, “Don’t you think everyone would just love them both, Gabe?”
He was looking past them as he said, “Sure,” with shockingly little interest, just as he had in the hospital when Summer had asked him if he wanted to hear Megan’s frog impersonation.
Well, it was pretty damn clear to all of them what Gabe thought about this plan, wasn’t it? She could feel Sophie’s eyes moving between them, clearly trying to figure out what the deal was...and why he clearly couldn’t stand the sight of her.
In the awkward silence, Sophie finally said, “Actually, a couple of my brothers really love kids.”
Oh God. Sophie wasn’t trying to play matchmaker, was she? More than a little horrified at the thought of more than one man like Gabe in a family, she asked, “How many brothers do you have?”
“Six! But Chase and Marcus are taken and their girlfriends—well, fiancée in Chase’s case—are fantastic. So that leaves Zach and Ryan and Smith. They’re all free. At least as far as I know.”
Another light bulb went off. Smith Sullivan, the movie star, was Sophie’s brother. And so was Ryan Sullivan, the pro baseball player. Clearly, the Sullivan family was way too potent for its own good. Especially since watching Smith up on a big screen in a dark movie theatre and Ryan on the mound had never made her all tingly the way Gabe’s dark gaze was doing right this second as he frowned at her for daring to breathe in his presence.
Sophie continued talking while Megan processed...and worked to keep taking one slow breath after another.
“They’ll all adore you. I have no doubt my brothers will end up fighting over you. Don’t you agree, Gabe?”
“You’re actually trying to set your friend up with Zach and Ryan, two of the biggest players on the planet?” He shook his head. “Smith is even worse. God knows what would happen to a kid in his messed-up movie star world.”
Sophie waved away his concerns with a hand in the air. “I think all of you are awesome. And they’re only players because they haven’t met the right woman yet.”
Megan noticed Sophie said nothing about whether Gabe was a player or not. She hadn’t offered him up as potential boyfriend material, either. Probably because he had a girlfriend.
A girlfriend that Megan was absolutely sure she would hate.
Just because.
“Please tell me you’ll come, Megan? You and Summer would be such a welcome addition to the party.”
Truthfully, Megan didn’t want to have to spend any more time around Gabe than she already had, but the devil that very rarely sat on her shoulder sudden popped up and had her saying, “We’d love to come.” She got way too much enjoyment from the way Gabe’s stance tightened even further beside them. “What can we bring? I’m sure Summer would love to bake something really special for your mother’s holiday party.”
After Megan and Sophie exchanged phone numbers and email addresses, Sophie promised to send her all the information for the party.
With the deed done—and knowing she’d need every single second until Saturday night to make sure she was ready to completely lock down her foolish longings and hormones around Gabe at the party—she said, “Well, I think Summer and I should go and let everyone get back to work.”
She called out her daughter’s name and overrode her pleas to stay “just a little bit longer” because she was “having the best day ever” hanging out with the firefighters.
At long last, Summer finally took her mother’s hand and Megan was able to escape back out to the sidewalk, her heart beating even faster now than it had earlier that morning, even though they were going in the downhill direction.
All because this time she knew for sure that she was going to see Gabe Sullivan again.
* * *
“You’re not actually going to try to set her up with Zach or Ryan, are you?” The thought of either of his brothers touching even one single hair on Megan’s head had Gabe seeing red.
His sister shrugged. “I don’t see why not. She’s very sweet and smart, don’t you think?”
He wasn’t going to answer that. Because he sure as hell wasn’t going to let his sister know that he thought Megan was just about the prettiest thing he’d ever set eyes on.
“They’ll chew her up and spit her out.”