Only at the sounds of applause and wolf whistles did Mick pull back slightly, feeling dazed. Rachel stared back at him with wide eyes and a big smile. The girls had gathered on both sides of them, turning the whole thing into a group hug for four.
“Maybe he won’t be such a grouch now,” Scott called out from the kitchen.
“Hey, what’s all this PDA nonsense in the station?”
At the familiar voice, Mick turned to find Riley standing in the kitchen, clapping along with the others.
“This is where I come in,” Riley said. “How about the crew takes the twins on a tour of the station while those two head outside for a minute? Looks like they could use it to cool off.”
“Another tour?” Carly said, her shoulders curving forward.
“Fair point. How about someone lets you sit in Engine 1?”
With squeals, they headed off in the direction of the apparatus bay, with Peter and Riley trailing behind them.
Someone pressed Mick’s coat into his hands, Rachel slipped into hers, and soon they were standing outside in the parking lot next to his truck.
He leaned his back against the tailgate. “Now you’re sure you can do this? Us?”
She gave him an incredulous look. “I did just ask you out in front of the whole crewandmy daughters. Especially my daughters.”
He nodded. She would never do anything to hurt them. “But you said—”
“I said a lot of things that day. Most of them wrong.”
“Where’d you mess up the worst?”
“When I thought I could walk away from you and not leave a part of my heart behind.” Though she’d been staring at the ground, she looked up and met his gaze. “I love you. I trust you, too. No escape hatches.”
“That’s good, since I fell in love with you the day I found you napping on my couch.”
“It was really comfortable,” she said with a grin.
He leaned in to press his lips to hers again, his touch gentle but purposeful.
But when she pulled back, she squinted at him. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather just walk away from the Hoffmans entirely? There are still so many questions about our father. About Bilton. Riley and I have decided not to turn the records over to the police yet. We will, eventually. Just not quite yet.”
“I get it. A mystery that’s been buried for forty years can stay that way a little longer.”
“And I probably won’t be able to let it go entirely.”
He smiled at her admission. “Never thought for a minute that you would.”
“We still don’t know about the whole threatening quotes thing.”
“Cameron Phillips told police all about that idea. He did it to scare Riley and then you. Says he’s big into quotation websites. Your brother’s email wasn’t hard to find. Neither was your cell phone number.”
“And the thing at the school?”
“Yeah, that one took some creativity,” Mick said. “The police investigator told me that Phillips was really proud of that one. Loved that he terrorized all those people at the same time.”
Mick still believed there was more to that story, but since the police were accepting it, they would have to for now, as well.
Rachel shook her head, pursing her lips. “But there weretwodifferent cars. Did he say he drove both of them?”
“Says he dumped the white SUV after we saw him in it.”
She held her hands wide. “The kid’s going to take credit for everything that happened, whether it was his plan or not. And he’s not going to turn on anyone who was instructing him, either.”
