Jimmy nodded.
“I think I know just the person who can help with that,” she said.
“Ethan?” Boone suggested, overhearing her.
Cora Jane nodded. “Exactly.”
Jimmy’s eyes lit up. “You think Dr. Cole might be able to help him find a way to do that rehab?”
“There’s not a doubt in my mind,” Cora Jane said. “I’ll speak to him first thing Monday morning.” She patted Jimmy’s hand. “And don’t you worry. He’ll make it so your dad can pay what he can afford when he’s able to pay it. The important thing is to get him well enough to work again.”
Wade regarded her with astonishment. “Are you some kind of an angel, Cora Jane?”
She laughed at that. “Not likely.”
“You sure about that? It seems to me you’ve come up with a couple of miracles today.” He glanced toward Gabi and her sisters, who’d joined their father at the table and were all talking at once about wedding plans. Sam Castle looked surprisingly content despite the likely expense of their lavish ideas.
“Sometimes the best way to get the things you want in life is simply to ask,” Cora Jane said, following the direction of his gaze. “Maybe it’s time you started asking for a few things you’d like to have.”
Wade shook his head. Gabi was nowhere near ready to hear what he wanted. First she needed to figure out who she was without her work to define her. He had no idea how long it would take for that to happen, but once it did, he’d be around if she had room for a man in her life.
In the meantime, he might have an idea or two about ways to prod the process along.
* * *
“Can you believe how well today went?” Gabi asked. Happily exhausted, she was stretched out across her bed with Samantha in a chair nearby. “It was like something out of a dream. Dad here and being all dadlike. Jimmy getting a real chance at the future he wants. Emily getting her fantasy wedding.”
“And you with Wade looking at you as if he’d never seen anyone so beautiful,” Samantha chimed in. “Quite the ego boost, if you ask me.”
“Stop that. Wade’s being a good friend. That’s all.”
Samantha laughed. “That line is getting very old, especially when all evidence points to something else going on. I saw the look on your face when he kissed you.”
Gabi frowned. “Wade never kissed me, not that way.”
“You mean he didn’t plunder your lips like a man who’s thoroughly besotted?” Samantha teased. “Is that what you want him to do?”
“No. And all he did was kiss me hello, on the cheek. It was hardly passionate.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Samantha agreed. “But you looked as if your knees were about to give way, just the same.”
“I did not,” Gabi protested, though she could feel the heat climbing into her cheeks at the blatant lie.
“It happened again when he left,” Samantha taunted. “I watched.”
“Have you turned into some kind of sick voyeur?” Gabi snapped irritably.
“Nope, just an interested third party,” Samantha responded, clearly not offended by the insult.
“You need a life,” Gabi told her.
“So I hear, almost daily, from Grandmother, as a matter of fact.”
Gabi sat up. “Seriously? Grandmother’s starting to get pushy about your lack of a love life?”
“Unfortunately, yes. To be honest, I thought I was safe for a while or I wouldn’t have shown my face here right now. I thought it would take a lot longer before she was satisfied that both your life and Emily’s are under control.” She grinned. “Apparently, though, she thinks she can take her foot off the gas where you’re concerned and turn her attention to me.”
Gabi was intrigued. “Any thoughts about who she intends to push in your direction?” She glanced at the football jersey her sister was wearing and chuckled. “Or do I even need to ask? She has ideas about you and Ethan Cole, doesn’t she?”
“I doubt it’s any coincidence his name came up today,” Samantha conceded. “It’s not the first time she’s mentioned Ethan, then waited for me to react.”
“And do you? React, I mean? I know you had a huge crush on him years ago, but it’s been eons since you’ve crossed paths.”
“He didn’t even know I was alive back then,” Samantha said. “I doubt it would be any different now. I’m sure he has women flocking all around him, now that he’s a war hero and a hotshot doctor to boot.”
Gabi wasn’t so sure about that. “Is that what Emily says?” she asked skeptically. “Boone and Ethan are close. She probably knows the full scoop on his love life.”
“I am not asking Emily about Ethan,” Samantha said. “It’s too pathetic.”
“What’s pathetic about trying to find out if the man is available?”
“It was a high school crush,” Samantha reminded her. “Shouldn’t I be long over it by now? Shouldn’t I have some other serious relationship in my life, instead of a string of not terribly fulfilling affairs?”
“But you don’t,” Gabi reminded her. “And if you won’t even see Ethan, how will you know if the crush died a natural death years ago, or if there’s something to be rekindled?”
“You can’t rekindle something that never was,” Samantha said.
Gabi noted that she was arguing semantics, rather than facing the real issue of her feelings. That told Gabi quite a lot.
“He was older,” Samantha continued, clearly determined to make her point. “He didn’t know I existed. Could we drop this, please? It’s not even worth discussing.”
“I can drop it,” Gabi agreed readily. “Grandmother? Not so likely. If she’s got this particular bit in her mouth, you, my dear sister, are in serious trouble. Take it from me. She has good instincts and the persistence of a pit bull.”
Samantha grinned at last.
