Baby Lessons

There wasn’t a fireman in the world who preferred scrubbing toilets and shower stalls to cleaning the rig, particularly on a sunny summer morning when a cool breeze was blowing in from Green Mountain. The flag above the firehouse flapped in the wind, and bubbles rose from the big bucket of suds next to the ladder truck, floating down Main Street in an iridescent parade.
It was an especially lovely morning in Lovestruck, in stark contrast to the less than lovely thoughts spinning round Jack’s mind. And no, he most decidedly did not want to talk about it.
But Wade being Wade wasn’t about to let it go. “I saw your letter in the paper this morning. I’m guessing this means you haven’t told Madison that you’re her secret nemesis?”
“Correct.” Jack scrubbed hard at an invisible spot on the wheel hub. Couldn’t Wade see he was busy? “Nor do I intend to. I told you—she’s not taking care of the girls anymore. She’s got her sights set on a big important job in Manhattan. There’s no longer any point in setting the record straight. That letter was closure, my friend.”
“Closure. Got it.” Wade dunked a second sponge into the bucket and got to work scrubbing beside Jack. “It’s kind of crazy that she turned out to be Queen Bee, though. All this time you’ve been writing letters to your night nanny. What are the odds?”
Jack sighed. He couldn’t wait for the day when Wade found someone he was seriously interested in. And that day would surely come, even though for the time being, Wade seemed intent on dating every available woman in Lovestruck. Jack knew Wade, though. Deep down, he was a teddy bear. When he eventually fell for a woman, he’d fall harder and deeper than anyone Jack had ever met. Jack planned on hounding him night and day about it, turnabout being fair play and all. He knew his friend was only trying to help, but couldn’t they discuss sports for once? He’d bite the bullet and join a summer fantasy football league if it would stop the Madison interrogations.
“It’s an awful strange coincidence. That’s all I’m saying.” Wade covered his eyes with his hand and squinted at him in the sunlight. “Some might even call it fate.”
Jack arched a brow. “You already did—just the other day at the library, remember?”
“That’s right, I did. And that was before I even knew she was Queen Bee.” Wade shook his head. “Damn, I’m good.”
Jack couldn’t help but laugh, despite the complete lack of humor in the situation. “Forget it, man. I meant what I said in the letter. It’s over.”
His heart was having a little trouble catching up with his head; that was all. He’d started dreaming about her again—the way she’d risen up on her tiptoes just to be closer to him, the way her soft, innocent eyes turned to liquid fire when she was angry or aroused, that perfectly impertinent little mouth of hers. Madison was a challenge—a puzzle he couldn’t quite figure out—and God help him, it was one of the things he loved best about her.
The dream had seemed so real that he’d woken up, climbed out of bed and expected to find her down the hall in the twins’ room, rocking his daughters to sleep. Then he spotted the empty rocking chair, and he remembered that the only thing waiting up for him in the dead of night now was a crushing sense of regret. Even worse, he’d finally opened the shopping bags that Madison had left behind and they’d both been filled with gifts for Emma and Ella from her trip to New York. She’d shopped for his girls while she’d been away, and he hadn’t even been able to tell her the simple truth about who he really was.
He’d done the right thing, though. It was better to end things now, before they really started, than to wait until her bags were packed for good.
“She’s planning on leaving,” he said quietly and focused all his attention on the soapy swirls his sponge made on the fire engine’s surface.
He didn’t want to see the look on Wade’s face. Wade was the one person in his life who would understand just how the idea of Madison moving away would make him feel. It was a light switch flipping off. He’d barely even begun to allow himself to want something more with her.
And now?
Now he’d found out she was Queen Bee and that she’d never intended on staying in Lovestruck, both on the same day. It was too much.
Except if he was really being honest with himself, the light she’d somehow managed to rekindle in him hadn’t switched off. Not really. It still burned bright, and despite his years of experience fighting fires, he had no idea how to extinguish it.
Wade grew still. Out of the corner of Jack’s eye, he could see his friend’s hand, motionless, as soapy water dripped down from the sponge in his hand and pooled onto the ground in a dingy gray puddle.
“What do you mean she’s planning on leaving?” he finally said.
“She’s only here temporarily. She never intended to stay. She had a big job writing for a fashion magazine in New York, and now she’s just biding her time in Lovestruck until she can go back.” Honestly, it explained so much, particularly some of her more questionable columns. Not to mention her shoes. He really should have seen it coming—of all the people in the world, Jack should have known.
“But there’s no specific end date?”
“No,” Jack said. He wished there were. The sooner, the better, so he could get his life back on safe, solid track.
Wade shrugged. “It sounds to me like you’re getting all worked up about something that hasn’t even happened yet just so you can avoid the real problem.”
Jack didn’t have to ask him what that real problem might be. He knew. The sight of his stack of handwritten letters splashed across his television screen was impossible to