Shirley Jump - The Firefighter's Family Secret

Rachel choked on her water. Colton choked back a laugh then cleared his throat.

“Then maybe you should take me up on my lunch invitation,” Colton said to Rachel. “So you can eliminate one more single man from the list.”

“He asked you to lunch?” Melissa said. She leaned across the table. “And you said no? Why on earth did you say no?”

“I’m busy and—” Rachel threw up her hands. “I am not having this discussion. I’m ordering some food.” She signaled to the waitress. A young blonde came bouncing over to the table, readying a pad of paper.

“What can I get you?” the girl said. She chewed a stick of gum while she talked, which added a snap to each syllable.

“I’d like the fish tacos,” Rachel said. “And a glass of chardonnay. Melissa?”

But Melissa wasn’t paying attention. She was staring at Colton as if he was the last man on earth and she was going to wrap him up and deliver him to Rachel for Christmas. “Did you say Barlow? As in related to Mac, Jack and Luke?”

He nodded. “They’re my half brothers.”

“Well, then, that’s a whole other vote in your favor. Everybody loves the Barlows.” Melissa leaned in toward Colton and lowered her voice. “Rachel is a bit...stubborn, and she is busier than anyone I’ve ever met, but believe me, she is worth whatever hell she puts you through to date her.”

“Melissa!”

“What? I’m just making a case for you.” Melissa grinned. She turned to the waitress, who was standing there, tapping her pen on her pad. “Bring me the seafood salad. Those darn kids have left me on a perpetual diet. And for the gentleman—”

“Who isn’t staying,” Rachel cut in.

“See what I said? Stubborn.” Melissa grinned at Colton. “But don’t let that... Oh, look. It’s Bobby and Della.”

Colton turned and saw his father, standing by the hostess station with another couple, and Della, his wife—and the mother of the other Barlow boys. At the same time, Bobby noticed Colton, and he stiffened. He whispered something to Della, and she turned toward Colton. She worked up a smile and gave Colton a little wave.

Colton stared toward Bobby, but a pained look filled his father’s face. The other couple, unaware of the tension filling the restaurant, started chatting with Bobby. He gave Colton a half nod then turned his attention back to the people he was with. A second later the hostess gathered up a pile of menus and started waving toward a table on the far end of the room.

A deep ache started in Colton’s chest. The father he’d always wanted, the father he had finally found, and despite the auspicious beginning they’d had at Jack’s wedding, Colton could tell Bobby still looked uncomfortable with the idea of welcoming his illegitimate son into the family fold.

It was a small town, after all, and that meant they would inevitably run into each other. Colton told himself he hadn’t expected a warm, familial welcome, but—

He had. He’d hoped for some Hollywood reunion, with his father trotting him around town with pride, telling everyone that Colton was his son.

A son who let two of his best friends die in a fire? Did you really think he’d want to spread that news?

Colton shook off the thoughts. If he let the guilt in, he knew it would take over every thought, and he’d be stuck in that limbo he’d barely climbed out of. He needed to move forward, make a new start. Not dwell on the past and choices he couldn’t undo.

“I’ll let you ladies enjoy your dinner,” Colton said, then got to his feet. He crossed over to Bobby and Della as they made their way through the room, thinking maybe he had misread the look on Bobby’s face. But no, the closer Colton drew, the more Bobby’s face pinched, and the deeper the dread sank in Colton’s gut.

“Hi, Colton,” Della said. She was a warm and welcoming woman with dark copper hair and a wide smile. Colton had liked her on the spot. If there was one word he associated with Della Barlow, it was grace. Despite finding out her husband had had an affair, and that the relationship had produced a child, Della had treated him as one of the family. For that, Colton was grateful.

“Yeah, uh, hi,” Bobby said. The five of them had stopped in the center of the restaurant, twenty feet from the empty table. “Nice to see you again, Colton.”

A tall, thin man with glasses as round as salad bowls looked over at Colton with a mixture of familiarity and confusion. “Come on and join us, son.” The man squinted. “Wait. Are you Mac?”

“No. I’m Colton.”

“Colton?” The man looked at Bobby. “Who’s Colton? One of the cousins?”

“Yeah, uh, look, why don’t you go grab the table, Jerry? Della and I will be right there.”

“Sure, sure.” Jerry and his wife took a seat at the table and accepted menus from the hostess. They sent over one more confused glance in Bobby’s direction.

“How...how are you?” Bobby said.

“Good. Pretty much the same as yesterday.”

“That’s good.” Bobby shifted his weight. “Uh, you’re staying in town?”

“For a few days, yeah.”

He waited for his father to invite him over, to ask him to join them for dinner. Instead, Bobby glanced over at his friends then back at his son. “Uh, Colton, we need to...” Bobby waved toward the table across the room with that pinched look in his face again.

One of the cousins, that’s what his father had agreed Colton was. If anything told Colton where he ranked in his father’s life, that did it. Why was he still here? Why was he still hoping for a miracle that wasn’t going to come?

“Well, good to see you. Enjoy your dinner.” Colton turned away then fished a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket, tossed it on the bar and walked out of the Sea Shanty. He’d been a fool for coming to this town and thinking he could manufacture a father-son relationship out of thin air. And an even bigger fool for thinking if he stayed any longer he might find all the things he’d been looking for.

* * *

Rachel watched Colton exit the restaurant and told herself she was relieved. She didn’t have time, after all, for a relationship. And especially not one with a man who wasn’t going to be here for more than a few days.

“That was one delicious hunk of man,” Melissa said. “Tell me again how you met him?”

“He came into my father’s store. Bought a fishing pole.” She shrugged.

“Well, I think that’s an auspicious start already.”

Rachel laughed. “Auspicious start? I wasn’t aware anything was started.”

“Then you didn’t see the look the two of you exchanged.” Melissa arched a brow. “Definitely something started. And he’s interested in fishing—”

“He bought one pole. A couple of things for tackle. Said he hadn’t fished in a long time.”

“Close enough to interested.” Melissa leaned forward. “Did you give him all the ins and outs of pole handling?”

Rachel laughed. “Did you really just say that? ‘The ins and outs of pole handling’?”

Melissa grinned. “What? I’m stuck at home with kids all day. When I do get out, it’s like I got a free pass from the warden. I get in all kinds of trouble.”

Rachel laughed. “Is that what we’re doing tonight? Getting into all kinds of trouble?”

“Well, my trouble can only last till nine o’clock. Then this pumpkin has to haul her butt home because the baby will be up at the crack of too early.” Melissa let out a long sigh. “Anyway, enough about my pre-ball Cinderella life. How are you doing?”

“I’m good.”

Melissa arched a brow. “This is me you’re talking to, remember? You’ve had a lot on your shoulders lately, and I worry about you putting everyone else first and yourself at the bottom of a very long list.”