Daddy's Girls (52)

“Till the end of the month.” He patted her arm, and followed his men, got in the cab of the biggest fire truck and they took off a minute later. He waved as they drove by.

“Was that Tom McAvoy?” Kate asked her and she nodded, still looking surprised. “He hasn’t changed since high school.”

“He’s divorced, and he’s got three kids in college, one who just graduated from high school and is about to get married. Shit, that makes me feel old.”

“They get a head start in the Valley,” Kate said, echoing her sister’s thoughts. “He came out with Dickie Jackson for Dad,” she said, which Caroline vaguely remembered Kate telling her. “It’s funny how a lot of the people we knew are still here. Like me,” she said, and laughed, but she had gone away to college. Thad came and joined them then, and a little while later, a hearty breakfast was served by the staff for everyone in the barn, as they all stood around and talked about the fire. Everyone was on deck, all thirty-five ranch hands, and all the office employees had showed up and pitched in. Billy was enjoying the excitement and talking to the men, and Morgan was helping serve breakfast. Gemma came and stood with her sisters, and had seen three or four men she had gone to school with too. “Did everyone we went to school with end up in the fire department?” she commented.

    “Or working on ranches,” Kate answered.

“They all said their wives watch my show.”

“We should have set up a table to have you sign autographs,” Kate teased her, and a little while later they all went back to their houses. It was almost eleven by then, and they could still see smoke in the distance.

Kate went upstairs to take a shower, and a little while later, Thad came in and joined her, and they wound up making love. It was Sunday and no one was going to work. They’d spend the day cleaning up and trying to calm the horses, who had had a rough night. The men were still on an adrenaline rush, and Kate and Thad went out to the barn, to make sure none of the horses had gotten hurt while unloading them from the trailers. Everything went smoothly as they got the horses back in their stalls.

It was a long day and everyone was tired when they went home at six o’clock. Thad came back to Kate’s place, and stretched out his legs, sitting on the couch, while she organized something for them to eat.

“It’s a good thing you smelled the fire last night. I didn’t smell anything till we got outside,” she said, sitting down next to him, and handing him a plate. All she’d been able to rustle up for him was a turkey, cheese, and tomato sandwich, but it was all they wanted.



* * *



—

    By the next day, the ranch was back to normal, and the fire department still had a detail of men watching the embers and hosing them down in the back pasture, and Caroline was surprised when Tom McAvoy called her. He left a message for her at the main office of the ranch, and she called him back that night.

“It was nice seeing you last night, Caro,” he said easily. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

“I wish that were true.” She smiled, thinking about him when they were in high school. He hadn’t changed much except he had less hair, but he was still attractive. He was a big, burly guy.

“Do you want to have dinner tomorrow night?” he asked her.

“Sure, I’d love that.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

She told Gemma about it the next day, and she teased her about it.

“Going back to old boyfriends, are we?”

“I’m married and he has a million kids,” Caroline said with a quelling look at her sister. The truth was that she had no idea how married she was at the moment. She and Peter had spoken on the phone now, but their conversations had been awkward and didn’t touch on the significant issues. But at least he’d called, and it seemed wiser not to broach the big issues until she got back to the city and saw him. She’d know more when she could see his face, and read what she saw in his eyes. She realized that there was a strong possibility that they were headed for divorce. She wasn’t sure if she had done the right thing kicking him out of the house. She had the feeling that she had thrown him right into Veronica Ashton’s arms. But letting him stay with her wouldn’t have changed that, if that was the case.

    When Tom showed up that night at seven, he was driving his captain’s car. He said he had just come from work, but she had the feeling he was trying to impress her. It was fun getting in with him, and he showed her how the siren worked. He let her put on the flashing lights on the way to dinner. And they went to the same diner they used to go to as kids. It was still there, and so were two of the old waitresses, who recognized her. It was like a time warp. And Tom said he still ate there regularly.

“So what have you been up to for the past twenty years?” he asked her. She’d run into him once but hadn’t really talked to him. He’d been carrying the twins, his wife had a toddler by the hand and she was pregnant. Caroline had felt sorry for her. It was exactly the life she had wanted to escape when she left for San Francisco.

“Not much, being married, two kids.” She answered his question, and she told him about her young adult books, which he said sounded interesting. He asked what her husband did and she said he was in venture capital.