The Matchmaking Twins Read online

  Officer Carmen Delgado, in her full gear and uniform, was calmly sitting beside an obviously distressed Caden, eating something that looked an awful lot like a chocolate pudding cup.

  Luke’s first instinct was to yell, but he didn’t want to startle anyone when their balance looked precarious enough as it was. He saw a curly blond head sitting at a table with Scooter and Jonesy, the two old coots who ran the volunteer fire department. An aluminum ladder was propped up beside them, but instead of being on it, or actively trying to rescue his son, they were all sitting below it, eating pudding cups, as well.

  What the hell was this? Some sort of pudding party?

  “Aiden,” Luke said when he made his way over to the trio. Make that a foursome, since his view of Nurse Dunn had been blocked by Scooter. “How’d your brother get up there?”

  “I think he climbed up.” Aiden pointed to where some folding chairs had been stacked up high on a table. “But I didn’t see him on account of our teacher made us sit separate from each other during the morning assembly because we were trying to teach some of the girls in our class how to make armpit fart sounds. But the girls aren’t very good at it. Officer Carmen is, though. She can do a real good armpit fart when she isn’t wearing her bulletproof vest.”

  Luke didn’t exactly know what to do with that little bit of knowledge. “Aiden, do you know why Caden is up there?”

  “I’m not sure, but I think he’s pretty upset about something. He’s been crying for a while and when the principal and teacher told him to come down, he wouldn’t budge. I tried to go up and get him, but Nurse Dunn wouldn’t let me.”

  The former Ski Potato Queen smiled at him, a dab of chocolate stuck to the corner of her purplish painted lips, and gave him a thumbs-up while keeping a tight grip on her plastic spoon.

  “Anyway,” Aiden continued, “they threatened to call you and the police but instead of making him scared, he seemed to relax a little bit and said he’d just wait up there for you and Officer Carmen to get here. All the other kids had to go back to class, but they let me stay and watch because Caden hollered real bad when they tried to make me leave.”

  “Okay.” Luke ruffled his son’s hair, thankful one of his children was safe and somewhat sane at this moment. “You stay down here. I’m going up.”

  Scooter stood to hold the ladder steady and Jonesy handed him a pudding cup. “You might want to take one of these with you.”

  Luke waved it off. “I’m not rewarding my son for this little stunt.”

  “Nah, that’s for you,” the man said, shifting a wad of pudding—or possibly tobacco—to his other cheek. “You might be up there for a while.”

  Great. Luke tucked the plastic container into the front pocket of his uniform and began climbing. When he got to the top, Caden turned his teary eyes toward Luke. “Hi, Dad.”

  “Hey, monkey,” Luke said as he threw a leg over and straddled the beam. Just a few inches from Carmen’s holstered gun. This wasn’t exactly the way he’d imagined their next intimate meeting would take place. And ever since she’d stared at him so intensely in her bedroom, he’d been envisioning those a lot more frequently. “Care to explain to me why we’re all hoisting ourselves up the rigging and there’s no sail in sight?”

  His son simply shook his curly head and stared straight ahead. Carmen looked at him and shrugged her shoulders, as though to tell him she had no idea what any of them were doing up here, either.

  Her voice was soft and steady as she debriefed him. “We got the call and I offered to respond. I’ve been sitting up here with him for the past thirty minutes or so, but he hasn’t said a word so far.”

  At least she was calm. Or giving one hell of a performance.

  Maybe the guys below were right and they would be here for a while. He cracked open his pudding cup, then realized he’d forgotten his spoon. Carmen handed hers to him and he had to remind himself that this was about the least appropriate time to be thinking about the fact that the utensil had just been in her mouth, pressed against her tongue.

  Hell. Luke rolled his ankles in circles—he hadn’t been this high off the ground since the accident that had ended his SEAL career. He was officially horrible at this fatherhood gig. He could easily rescue a prisoner of war from a terrorist holding cell, and he could disarm almost any improvised explosive device, as well as manufacture and set one himself. Underwater. But he couldn’t get his son to tell him what had upset him so much and he couldn’t keep from having impure thoughts about the female cop trying to assist them both.

  Drew was the psychologist and knew how to talk to people. His brother was the rational twin—the thinker. Luke was all about action. Act first and talk later.

  “Caden, your daddy and I both want to help you,” Carmen said. “But we can’t do that until you tell us what’s wrong.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” The boy sniffed.

  “Okay, so why don’t we talk about the assembly this morning, instead.” Was this some sort of interview tactic? Because Luke didn’t want to spend the rest of the day sitting on this rafter and shooting the breeze about routine school happenings. But he let the cop do her job. “Did you guys say the Pledge of Allegiance?”

  “Yes,” the boy mumbled.

  “What about awards? Did the teachers give out any awards?”

  “Not today. They just made a bunch of dumb, stupid announcements that nobody cares about anyway because they’re so boring and lame and nobody will want to go anyway and you guys can’t make me go.”

  Luke saw Carmen close her eyes and nod. Okay, so she was getting somewhere. Maybe.

  “What kind of boring stuff will nobody want to go to?”

  “That stupid dance. It’s the worstest idea this school has ever had.”

  “But, Aiden,” Luke started, “you love to dance. Remember when you took that hip-hop class at Mia’s dance studio? She said you were a natural.”

  “But that’s a different kind of dancing. One that we don’t have to bring our moms to.”

  The realization cut through Luke’s heart. He’d passed a flier on the office bulletin board but hadn’t thought much about it. He should’ve been better prepared for something like this to happen.

  “I’m not trying to add any pressure, Captain Gregson,” the school principal called out, interrupting them just as they’d made some progress in figuring out what had the boy so upset. “But it’s almost lunchtime and pretty soon we’re going to have a bunch of hungry students headed in this direction.”

  “I’m not coming down until you cancel that stupid Mother-Son Dance,” Caden yelled. Luke held up his index finger, trying to silently ask the principal to give them another minute.

  “Aw, sweetheart,” Carmen said, her soothing voice calm and understanding. “Now we get it.”

  “How are me and Aiden supposed to go when we don’t even have a mother? We’ll look stupid and everyone will make fun of us.”

  A tear floated on the tip of Luke’s eyelid and he looked up, trying to command it back into place. Even though they’d only been three when it happened, he’d known that Samantha’s passing would leave his children with a huge void that he couldn’t fill, and he was still learning how to be there for them as a dad. He had no idea how to be a mother to them, as well.

  “You know, Caden, when I was a little girl, my school had a father-daughter chess tournament one year. But it was during the day and my dad couldn’t take the time off work. So my mom made my oldest brother, Hector, take me.”

  “My dad used to not be able to take time off work, either,” Caden said, adding to Luke’s cup of guilt, which was in danger of overflowing. “But now he’s around all the time and we get to be with him every single day. See? He’s even here right now when he’s probably supposed to be at work.”

  His son almost seemed proud of that f
act, and since Nana had always taught him to focus on the positive rather than dwell on every mistake he’d ever made, Luke held on to that one tiny point in his favor.

  “You’re right, kiddo.” Carmen nodded. “He is here right now. And he’s doing such a great job of taking care of you and your brother, even though your mom’s not here to help him.”

  “So you’re saying I should have my dad take me to the Mother-Son Dance?”

  That’s not what she was saying at all. At least Luke hoped not, knowing full well he’d do whatever it took to make things easier on his children. Even if it meant dancing in a room full of boys and their moms. “Actually, I think Officer Delgado means you could ask one of your female relatives to take you. Like Aunt Kylie.”

  “Oh, yeah. Aunt Kylie’d probably go, right, Dad? She likes to dance.”

  “I bet she’d be honored if you asked her, monkey.”

  “Your dad will even let you use his cell phone to call her.” Carmen’s pointed tone was clearly not just a suggestion. “Let’s climb down, so that you can do that.”

  His son now seemed eager to return to solid ground. Thank God.

  “I’ll go first,” Luke said, since his foot was closest to the ladder rungs. “Then Officer Carmen can hand you to me.”

  “You don’t want to just go down the way I came up?” Caden asked.

  “No!” Luke’s and Carmen’s voices were in unison.

  He motioned to Scooter and Jonesy and then waited for the older men to steady the ladder before holding out his arms for his son. Carmen easily picked the boy up and passed him over. Man, the woman was sexy and strong and a great voice of reason.

  Luke squinted, catching a quick glimpse of the pattern between the top of her boots and the hem of her pants. Were those purple hearts dotting her socks? Yep, the woman definitely tried to keep her feminine side hidden when she was on the job. He held Caden in one arm and made his way down, trying not to look up and stare at her polyester-covered rear end above him.

  Just then, several students entered through the doors, forming a line at the lunch counter.

  “What’s going on with your brother?” a kid asked Aiden. Luke recognized the boy as the twins’ friend, Choogie Nguyen.

  “He was mad that we don’t have a mom to take us to the Mother-Son Dance,” Aiden explained, relishing in his role as information provider.

  “Wait!” Caden, who was now standing on the linoleum floor, yelled loud enough to make everyone in the cafeteria freeze. “But that just solves my problem. What about Aiden? He doesn’t have a mom to take him, either. We can’t just share Aunt Kylie. We each need our own.”

  “I have two moms,” Choogie said. “You can borrow one of mine.”

  “But your moms aren’t my relatives.” Caden shook his head. “I think we need someone who is a mom and a relative.”

  “You don’t need a relative,” Scooter said, throwing away the empty pudding cups as his partner Jonesy lowered the ladder. “Any gal will do.”

  “But what about a mom?” Aiden asked Choogie and the volunteer firefighters. “Does it have to be a mom?”

  “Hey, Officer Carmen,” Caden yelled, even though she was right beside him. “Are you a mom?”

  “No,” came her quiet reply. Luke could barely hear the woman, probably because his guilt was still pounding in his ears.

  “Why not?” Choogie asked, like it was any of his—or anyone else’s—business.

  Her face paled and she looked at Luke before her eyes darted around, probably looking for an answer. But he was just as curious as the rest of the third-graders staring at them. She adjusted her leather duty belt. “Because I’m not married.”

  “Our dad’s not married and he’s still a dad.”

  “Listen, kiddos,” Carmen finally said. “I think the bottom line is that you can take any woman to the Mother-Son Dance. She doesn’t need to be a relative and she doesn’t need to be a mom.”

  “Oh, cool.” Aiden pumped his fist in the air. “I call dibs on taking Officer Carmen to the dance, then.”

  * * *

  By the time Carmen steered her patrol car into the parking lot near the Little League fields on Saturday afternoon, the baseball game was half over. But she was covering the afternoon shift for Officer Washington and she’d gotten a call to help a stranded motorist who, along with three college buddies, had attempted to do some off-roading in his Honda Civic. Luke Gregson was no longer the only man she’d rescued this month, but he was definitely the only one who’d made her nerve endings feel like someone had put a Taser to them.

  It had been over a week since she’d been called to the school to help talk Caden down from the cafeteria rafters and almost three weeks since she’d pulled him and the boys out of the river. In the meantime, Kylie had tried to squelch the shower rumors, but Sugar Falls was a small town and just the hint of a potential scandal could turn her reputation and her relationship with the twins into a shredded paper target at the gun range.

  Which was why she had no business getting any romantic ideas about Luke Gregson. Or promising Aiden and Caden that she’d come to their baseball game if they behaved and didn’t get their names written on the whiteboard at school all week.

  Really, after the cafeteria stunt, she’d thought winning that bet had been a sure thing. She’d never been more wrong.

  She slammed her car door shut as if she’d just put all of her emotions under arrest and loaded them into the backseat to transport them to a faraway jail—out of her life and out of her mind. As she made her way toward the bleachers, she recognized the boy wearing the green jersey walking up to the plate, his blond curls peeking out from beneath his batting helmet.

  “Hey, Officer Carmen,” Aiden yelled out, making everyone in the stands turn to watch her approach. “Watch this.”

  She gave the boy a thumbs-up and stood near the bleachers instead of taking a seat among the moms and dads who actually belonged there. She told herself she didn’t want to cause a distraction to the players or to the parents who were there to watch their children play ball. But, really, she didn’t want to draw any more attention to herself. Or to the fact that she was on duty and taking her lunch break at the ball field because she’d been conned into it by a couple of precocious twin boys.

  Last week, worried about their upset over the Mother-Son Dance, she’d shown up at their game after the first inning started and then hastily made a beeline for her car as soon as the teams began chanting their two-four-six-eight cheer signaling the end of the game. But it’d been easier to blend in last Saturday because she’d been off that day and didn’t stand out like a sore thumb in her blue polyester uniform.

  And at least she hadn’t had Luke Gregson staring at her like he was now. She shoved her sunglasses into place, not wanting to make eye contact with the man.

  Shouldn’t he be watching his son? Aiden already had two strikes and Carmen was sure he’d get a third, but then he stepped into the pitch and swung with all his might.

  Crack.

  The ball flew toward center field. The kid on the opposing team was positioned under the fly ball, but ended up dropping the catch, causing Caden, the runner on second base, to make a mad dash toward third. Carmen glanced at Luke, who was acting as the third-base coach, and she had a brief flashback to that moment in her bedroom when he was holding his arm up and she was reading the inscription of the tattoo across his rib cage.

  But this time, Luke’s hands were waving in an attempt to convince Caden to stop running and remain on base.

  Yet, Caden continued running and Carmen’s heart froze when she saw the catcher, a sturdy girl who probably outweighed him by twenty pounds, holding the ball at home plate.

  His brother had made it safely to second and was hollering out words of encouragement to Caden. Carmen’s knees locked when she realized what th
e little daredevil was going to do. “No,” she heard herself yelling.

  Caden paused, and took a couple steps back. Thank God, he wasn’t going to risk it. Then she caught the tilt of his small pink lips and as soon as the catcher threw the ball to third, the boy made a break for home plate. He slid in before the baseman could throw the ball back.

  Which caused a domino effect as Aiden, who had been perfectly content on second came rounding his way to third. Coaches from the red team began shouting instructions and kids from the green team began cheering while Aiden took advantage of the confusion and sprinted toward home, his slide not quite as graceful as his brother’s.

  “Safe!” the umpire, who looked suspiciously like Kylie’s brother, Kane Chatterson, beneath that headgear and mask, called out.

  Carmen let out the breath she’d been holding, relieved that both kids were uninjured. When the Comets won, the twins ran straight out of the dugout and toward her before they could even shake hands with the opposing team. Maybe it was unsportsmanlike conduct, but she couldn’t help but be flattered.

  “Did you see us, Officer Carmen?” Caden asked as he hurled his dirt-stained body at her. She caught him up in her arms and barely had time to brace herself before Aiden followed suit.

  “Did you see us?” he questioned, as well.

  “I did. You guys almost gave me a heart attack with that play.” She set Caden down so she could give Aiden his hug. Then she said, “I think your coaches are waiting for you back in the dugout, though.”

  “Promise you won’t leave,” Caden said, and Carmen’s heart felt like it had just slid into home, as well. But when she saw Luke motioning the boys over, she had to wonder if her heart was as overworked and tattered as the twin’s white baseball pants.

  “Well, I’m on duty and might get called out,” she said.

  “Then just don’t leave without telling us goodbye.” She fixed the crooked brim of Aiden’s hat, knowing that the kid was busting her for sneaking away after last week’s game.