Baby Lessons

segment.”
“Maybe we should hire a private investigator to try and find him,” Nancy suggested. “No offense, Brett.”
“None taken,” Brett said, clearly offended.
“We can’t out him against his will. We just can’t.” Madison wasn’t entirely sure why she was trying to protect a person who’d made her professional life in Lovestruck miserable, but it just didn’t seem fair.
“I agree.” Mr. Grant nodded. “But if we found him, maybe we could try and talk him into coming forward on his own.”
Madison frowned down at her notepad, trying to come up with an argument against this latest idea, but before she could, an ambulance flew past the window with sirens blaring. A few beats later it was followed by a firetruck from Jack’s station. Her heart instantly went into overdrive at the thought of him speeding toward some kind of imminent danger—yet another reason why he’d done her a favor when he’d all but refused to kiss her. She couldn’t handle being in love with a firefighter. It was far too stressful.
Since when do you think you might be in love with him?
She rolled her eyes at herself. Since never. It was only a crush. Hadn’t she already admitted as much to herself? Once she had an offer for a real job in a real city, she could leave everything and everyone in Lovestruck behind and she’d forget all about Jack and his adorable daughters.
That was the plan, anyway. She just couldn’t seem to get fired up about implementing it. Plus, she was having a hard time imagining her morning routine without sipping coffee at Alice’s kitchen table watching her aunt knit dog sweaters while Toby curled into a contented ball in Madison’s lap. She already missed Jack, Ella and Emma like crazy, and she hadn’t even left yet. Even the thought of never seeing Mr. Grant again left her inexplicably wistful.
She glanced at his rolled-up sleeves and furrowed brow. There was just something so endearing about the fact that he tried to run the newsroom at the Bee like it was The Washington Post during the Nixon era.
He threw his hands in the air. “Is someone going to check the scanner in case those emergency vehicles are headed toward a newsworthy situation?”
Every head in the room swiveled in Brett’s direction.
“Oh, right. Yes!” He stood, red-faced, and nodded. “I’m on it!”
Madison bit back a smile.
This isn’t so bad, she thought. Until she could go back to New York, she had a life here in Lovestruck, and it was filled with quirky characters and a homespun charm she’d never known she was missing until those things had become a fixture in her everyday life. Maybe Vermont didn’t hate her, after all. And maybe, just maybe, the feeling was mutual.
So long as she was stuck here, she just needed to try and remember that Jack Cole was not her problem, nor was she in love with him, despite the flutter that coursed through her veins every time she thought about him. It was wholly annoying, and she was ready for it to stop.
So, so ready.
“Mr. Grant, you were right!” Brett ran back to the conference table, practically hurtling over the office chairs and stacks of newspapers in his way. “According to the scanner, there’s been some kind of accident, and one of the firefighters from Engine Co. 24 is en route to the hospital in Burlington.”
“What?” someone shouted, and then Madison realized it had been her.
She flew to her feet, but had to sit back down because she felt faint and dizzy all of a sudden. She couldn’t breathe, and her heart was pounding so hard that she thought it might beat right out of her chest.
What if Jack was hurt?
Don’t think it. She inhaled a shaky breath. Don’t even go there.
“Any idea who it is?” her boss asked.
Brett looked down at something scrawled on the top page of his notepad. “A Lieutenant Jack Cole, but we can’t release the name until the family’s been notified of his injuries.”
No. It couldn’t be. Just...
No.
“Of course.” Mr. Grant nodded. “We should probably send someone up to the hospital in Burlington to cover it, though. Are you up for it, Brett?”
Brett sprinted back to his desk to get his things together as Madison squeezed her eyes shut tight in an attempt to keep herself from crying. Everyone knew weeping at the office was unacceptable. It was just about the most unprofessional thing a person could do. She’d never even come close to crying at Vogue, but panicked tears were already streaming down her face—wet, sloppy, mortifying tears.
You’re not in love with him, she reminded herself, but it didn’t matter. Not now.
She stood on shaky legs. “Take me with you.”
Jack’s head hurt like hell, but nothing hurt quite as bad as his pride did.
“Is this really necessary?” He sat up in the hospital bed and gestured toward his flimsy gown, the sheets and the general surroundings of his private room. “I have twins. I need to get home.”
“Lieutenant, you have a concussion with a small nonarterial bleed. You’re not going anywhere.” The nurse patted his pillow and then loomed over him until he relented and rested his head on it.
Ouch.
Lying down hurt. The soft, downy pillow hurt. Everything hurt, but wasn’t a mild concussion really just a glorified headache?
He closed his eyes against the glare of the overhead light. “When can I go home? The girls need me.”
“No, they really don’t.” The nurse’s soft-soled shoes made squishy noises as she padded from one side of his bed to the other. “Your captain spoke to your mother, and she and your dad are staying with the girls. No need to worry.”
Cap had called his mother? Marvelous. That was exactly the sort of drama he’d hoped to avoid.
“Can I call her?” he muttered. At least that was what he meant to say, but his words garbled together into one long slur. “She’sgoingtoworrrrrry.”
“I think it’s best you wait until morning. You’re a little too groggy to convince your mom that you’re