Yet again, she gave silent thanks that Gabe hadn’t come after her. A clean slate was exactly what she needed with her job and her love life.
Not, of course, that love had anything to do with what had happened between them. It had just been hot sex, she reminded herself sternly.
“I was wondering about Daddy.”
Megan’s careening thoughts all centered back down on her daughter again. She smiled and pulled her little girl onto her lap on the bed.
“What do you want to know?” When Summer didn’t answer right away, Megan said, “He loved to blow kisses right here on your tummy.”
She grabbed Summer and kissed her before she could squirm away, laughing.
“I know that,” Summer said, “but was he big and strong?”
Megan stopped and blinked at her. “You know what he looked like. Yes, he was big and strong.” They often went through old photo albums together, so this wasn’t news.
“Do you think he’d have taught me to snowboard like Gabe did?”
Megan had to work like crazy to keep her expression normal. She wasn’t the only one comparing Gabe to David.
“Of course he would have. And he would have been just as proud of how quickly you picked it up as we were.” She caught her slip too late, realized she shouldn’t have said we, that she should simply have said how proud she was of Summer.
She watched her daughter chew on that information for a few seconds. “Do you think Grams and Gramps will let me ride the Tower of Terror this year?”
Megan should have been used to the way seven-year-old brains jumped from one subject to another, but it took her a beat longer than it should have to respond. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to convince them.” She got up off her daughter’s bed and murmured, “I’m going to go make sure their plane is on time.” Megan needed a little alone time to process the strength of the relationship that had already formed between her daughter and the firefighter she’d shoved all the way out of their lives just a few days earlier.
Before she’d even left the room, Summer was back in her small closet, pulling out clothes and shoving them into her already overstuffed suitcase.
* * *
They met her parents at San Francisco International Airport an hour later and as she hugged her mother and father, she suddenly wished she had decided to chuck in her work for a few more days so that she could lose herself in the magic of Disney with her family.
But, yet again, she was too busy being smart to let herself have any fun, wasn’t she?
“You look lovely, honey.” Her mother held her at arm’s length and studied her carefully before they started to walk over to the onsite Italian restaurant where they had planned to have lunch before the three of them got on their plane to Los Angeles. “Have you met someone?”
She could read the hope in her mother’s eyes, knew that while she hadn’t been happy about how young she’d married, she’d also thought Megan was far too young to be living alone. Her mother wanted another husband for her, a father for Summer, and more grandchildren. Preferably back in their Minneapolis suburb, where she could watch over them all.
“No.”
She felt her mother’s eyes on her, too shrewd, and braced herself for more questions, but Summer jumped in first.
“Did Mommy tell you we learned to snowboard last weekend? It was awesome!”
Megan forced herself to smile. “Well, it was awesome for Summer, at least. I’m going to be sticking with skis from here on out.”
“Gabe said you just needed to practice some more,” Summer said, before dragging her grandfather off to show him a stuffed animal she coveted in one of the airport stores.
Her mother raised an eyebrow. “Who’s Gabe?”
Megan answered the question as directly as she could. “He’s the firefighter who got me and Summer out of the building.”
Her mother’s other eyebrow moved up to join the first and then she grabbed Megan’s hands and closed her eyes for a moment as if she were reliving the terror of finding out she’d almost lost them both. When her mother opened them again, they were glassy with unshed tears. “I love that firefighter. With all my heart.”
“Mom! You don’t even know him.”
At her outburst, a dozen strangers turned to look at them.
“I know everything that matters. He saved my babies.”
God, this was just what he’d been talking about, the way people only saw him as a firefighter...and not as the man he was outside of his job.
Wonderful. Charming. Caring. Funny. Not to mention the best lover who ever lived.
Her mother knocked into her musings with, “So you went skiing with him?”
“No.” She looked at the ceiling and admitted, “Yes, but it was an accident.” Summer’s laughter had her looking over at her daughter. “Summer did a little bit of scheming to make it happen.”
Megan was surprised to see her mother smile. “That’s my smart little granddaughter.”
“I’m not—” She paused, changed it to, “We’re not seeing him anymore.”
That eyebrow went back up. “Why not? Is he unattractive?”
Megan could feel herself flushing. “No.”
“Mean?”
She frowned. “No. Of course not.”
“Ah, so he doesn’t like children?”
“Are you kidding? He loves them.” She only realized what she’d said after the words were already out. “Look,” she said to her mother, “it’s complicated. We’re just not right for each other.”
Her mother studied her carefully, again. “Honey, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything, but can I just give you one piece of advice?”
Megan tried not to groan. “Go ahead.”
“I know it was hard to lose David, especially so suddenly, but you were more than strong enough to deal with that. Strong enough to repeatedly ignore my urgings to come back home.”
Megan was about to open her mouth to tell her—yet again—that San Francisco was her home.
“I know, honey. You are home.” Her mother gave her a sad smile that said while she wasn’t happy about that fact, she’d at least finally accepted it. “I’ve never seen you look like this. Not even when you were with David.”
Guilt washed through Megan and her mother must have seen it because she grabbed her arm.
“Summer’s father was a nice man, but he wasn’t the only nice man out there. He’s gone, Megan. Don’t you think it’s time to move on? Don’t you think it’s time to let yourself risk falling in love again?”