| |
NATE WATCHED HIS FRIENDS as they drove away. He could never express to them what their help meant to him. Whatever debt Rae and Brady had felt they owed him had been paid back with loan-shark-sized interest in the last week. And Sam... She'd never owed him a thing.
He could never repay what they'd done for him and Marisa and Ana. But he'd gladly spend the rest of his life trying. He'd known a lot of people in his life, had sources and coworkers and acquaintances in the city, but none could be considered friends compared to the three who'd just left.
Marisa's voice came from behind him. "Why don't you sit back down? I'm afraid you're going to collapse."
He turned and smiled at her. "I'm fine."
"You're wobbly."
He laughed, and the movement sent a shard of pain through his side. He worked to hide it, but Marisa's narrowed eyes told him he'd failed.
"Fine. I'll sit."
She walked with him to the sofa and sat beside him.
"Ana's still asleep?"
She looked at the clock on the stove in the kitchen. "If she sleeps until noon, I'll wake her. She has an appointment with the pediatrician at one."
"Good idea."
"Sam is sweet to let me stay here for a few days. I can't imagine trying to go to Leslie's house right now, trying to make ourselves at home there."
"It's your house, technically."
"Doesn't feel like it, though. I'm more comfortable here."
Nate knew exactly how she felt. This place felt like home to him, too. Or maybe that was only because Marisa was here.
He shifted to face her and took her hand. "What's your plan?"
"After the doctor's appointment, I thought we'd—"
"Not today. Long term. What are you going to do?"
She looked down at their joined hands, placed her other hand over his, and looked up. "I'm not sure."
"Are you going back to Mexico?"
She stared beyond him. "I find myself in America with this little girl who's mine in every way except legally. I don't know how the adoption will work if I'm here, but if I go back, then anything could happen. I'm afraid if I go back, there'll be trouble for taking her out of the country. What will it take to clear all that up? And anyway, I don't want to go back."
"Good. I don't like the heat that much."
She blinked twice, and a smile he hadn't seen since Acapulco lit up her face.
"My dad's an attorney," he said. "I'm sure he can help you with the adoption."
"Seriously? That'd be great."
"But what about your stuff. You want me to go back and pack up for you?"
She was shaking her head before he finished the sentence. "Maybe I could have Carlita box up the canvases and send them to me. The rest of the stuff, I'll just let the people there keep. I have all my valuables. I don't need the rest."
"And your job?"
"I'll miss the kids, but I need to do what's right for Ana, for her future. A couple of the older students are nearly fluent in English. Maybe Carlita will hire one of them for my job."
Nate would never have guessed less than two weeks before that his life could turn this abruptly, this perfectly. "Maybe you could stay here, in New Hampshire. Find a place to live. Maybe..."
Her smile widened. "Maybe what?"
"I have an idea."
"What's that?"
"Well, we've spent more than a week together now. We've stayed under the same roofs, traveled together, run together, cried together." Slept together. "In the eight years since we met, we've brought down a crime ring, put guys in prison, and rescued a beautiful little girl. Just this week, we caught a murderer and a kidnapper. The truth is, Marisa, you and I have done a lot together."
Her smile became a lighthearted chuckle, then an all-out laugh. A beautiful sound he could listen to for the rest of his life.
A few days before, he'd thought that tears were the world's only unlimited resource. How very wrong he'd been. Because laughter fueled a lot more action than tears. And love... Love was the greatest resource of all.
"How do we top all of that?" Marisa asked.
"I'm not sure I want to try, honestly. You know what I want?"
Her cheeks turned pink, and he thought maybe she knew exactly what he wanted. "What's that?"
"I want to go on a date with you. Maybe get some Greek food. The best Greek restaurants outside of Greece are in New Hampshire, you know."
"Is that so?" Her laugh said she didn't believe it, but he knew better.
"Lots of Greeks around here. After dinner, I'd like to see a movie with you. Not an action film, though. Maybe one of those long foreign films. We can share popcorn and hold hands and kiss during the boring parts."
"Those foreign films are almost all boring parts."
He winked at her. "I know."
She laughed again. Oh, that her laughter could be the soundtrack of his life. Then he could die a happy man.
"And after the movie?"
"After that normal, boring date, we could have another one and another one and another one. A bunch of normal days, all strung together." He wrapped his arm around her, drew her close. He looked into those dark chocolate eyes, searched for hesitation, but found none. He lowered his lips to hers, tasted tears and joy and forever.
A shift in the air had him pulling away.
He turned and saw Ana standing in the doorway. She padded across the room in her bare feet and blue pajamas and climbed on her mother's lap.
Nate waited for Ana to push him away, but she just smiled up at him. "Hi, Uncle Nate."
"Hey, pretty girl. How'd you sleep?"
"You were kissing Mama."
"I was. Is that okay with you?"
She shrugged and nestled deeper in her mother's lap.
Marisa met his eyes. "I hope you don't mind if we have company on all those dates."
"I love Disney movies," he said.
"And after that?"
"I don't know. I have nothing to offer you. I'm just an out-of-work reporter, but maybe—"
"You're a hero, Nate Boyle." She reached across Ana, traced the line of his hair to his chin, and rested her palm on his cheek. "Wherever you are, that's where I want to be."