Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The treatment session for Inez wrapped up just prior to noon, after which Vince and Lace hung out with her until her ride arrived. When the social worker did finally show up, a half hour late to retrieve her, the woman seemed cold, harried and overworked.
Vincent commiserated. But when she shut him down as he tried to make conversation—although his questions were completely innocuous—and instead hustled Inez out of there, he wasn’t pleased.
He aired his frustration to Lace.
“I know the agency is understaffed, but that woman didn’t have to be a bitch,” he grumbled as they made their way down the hall a few minutes later.
She laid a hand on his arm. “She wasn’t so much being a bitch, as she was overburdened,” Lace comforted. Then her mouth twisted into a smirk. “Maybe you’re just butt-hurt because she didn’t fall for your Sothard charm.”
Vincent’s mood automatically improved.
Lace thought he had charm.
He grinned and led her out through the hospital’s revolving doors. “The only woman I want to charm, is you, Lace.”
She didn’t hesitate.
“Consider it already done. Although if you want to lay it on a little thicker, I won’t hate you for it,” she teased.
“You’re good at handling minutia, like… Have you, in your ultimate impress-Lace-mode, decided what we’ll do with my rare afternoon off today?
Zip lining? Rock climbing?” she teased, tongue-in-cheek.
“Ah,” he responded.
How did she already understand him so well, that she knew he’d formed a plan?
He laid it out. “I have come up with a tentative agenda. First, we grab something to eat at a place of your choice,” he enumerated.
“Then, if it’s okay with you, we’ll go to my mother’s house because she’s ticked I haven’t brought you over yet.
Plus, she has some visitors she wants us to meet.
Then, we’ll end up at Diver Downeast, where I’ll impress you with my diving knowledge. ”
Lace smiled delightedly. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be impressed,” she laughed. “But I’m really going to love seeing your mom again,” she admitted. “It’s been way too long. And who are her guests?”
“Friends of a family friend,” Vince informed her, knowing Lace wouldn’t be familiar with the Sothard’s buddy, Tex. “Their names are Obi-Wan and Zita.”
“Obi-Wan?” Lace asked, cutely scrunching up her nose.
“Obadiah,” Vince explained. “Obi-Wan is his military call sign. He’s a Night Stalker; a helicopter pilot.”
“Wow. That’s pretty cool. Is it like you being a Navy SEAL?” she asked. “A special operations thing?”
“Absolutely.” Vince should have known she’d understand the many layers of the military. “I can’t wait to meet him,” Vince admitted, allowing a little of his hero worship to bleed through. “His wife kicks ass, too,’ he said as an afterthought.
“Is she also a pilot?” Lace questioned.
“Nope. Or…maybe. I wasn’t given that information. What I do know, is that she’s a paramedic.”
“That job is thankless, and takes a lot of dedication,” Lace responded. “I like her already.”
They headed across the lot toward his truck.
“Hey?” she questioned, pausing for a moment before opening her door. “Do you have a call sign?”
“Yeah. Although I’ve retired it completely.”
Right. After his last mission, that name no longer applied, yet it remained a happy reminder of the wild, semi-irresponsible man he’d once been.
“Can I ask what it was?” she implored.
“Sure,” Vince huffed. “It was Maine-iac. Like a play on the word, Maine.”
Lace giggled, which brought more redemption to the put-to-pasture handle.
“I can see why you’d want to shed yourself of that,” she agreed. “You’re much too regimented and careful these days for it to be a fit.”
“Regimented? Me?” he scoffed, albeit a bit artificially, because down deep, he knew he wasn’t the devil-may-care person he’d once been. He reminded her… “Uh, who’s wearing the clown suit, here?”
She eyed him, far too knowingly.
“Who has his eyes everywhere, all the time?” she argued.
“Who saw the situation with Inez and within days had put in an application for foster parenting? Who finagled their way into my home, quite adeptly, I might add,” she put in cheekily.
“And just to ask. Where are you in the class hours you’re supposed to complete? ”
Vince ducked his head. “Okay. You got me. I actually got it all done over the last few nights.”
“Thirty hours’ worth of studies,” she stated, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yeah. But… Wait. How did you know it was thirty hours?” he queried.
Now Lace looked smug as she got into the truck and closed the door behind her.
Vince hustled around to his side, and entered adroitly.
“So?” he asked.
She shot him a self-satisfied look.
“Well, I might have put in my application just after we talked about co-fostering,” she preened.
“And I was actually approved this morning,” she ended with a little squeal.
“So now I’m starting my thirty hours, which I’ll do on my many boring trips out and back to Jeffrey’s Ledge on the Water Wrestler. ”
“That’s great news,” Vince congratulated her jubilantly. Lace was really something else.
He started the truck and backed out of the spot he’d been lucky enough to find in the busy lot.
He’d been wondering if and how Lace would proceed with her end of things. He hadn’t wanted to pressure her in case she’d changed her mind, but he should have figured she’d been all over it.
“That means we can get the rest of the ball rolling, sooner, rather than later,” he mulled excitedly.
“We sure can,” Lace responded. “I had a chance to look things over this morning, and I’m not seeing anything in the classwork that’s particularly difficult. It’s all common-sense stuff.”
“Exactly,” Vince said, tapping his painted temple. “And we’ve completely got that covered.”
“Says the clown-guy,” she quipped.
“Hey,” he mock-pouted. “I’ll have you know that clowns are very level-headed.”
“So you say, but…” She rolled her eyes and added a touch of sass to her tone. “Where are we headed right now?”
“Oh, shit. That’s a good question. You haven’t told me where you’d like to eat yet, have you.”
He’d been driving in a general direction without a clue as to where they’d end up.
So much for common sense.
Lace laughed and cut him some slack. “Well, now that we’ve established you’re human, and since we’re already headed toward town, how about the Bear’s Claw?” she asked. “Nate makes a mean panini.”
Off the hook.
“You know Nate?” Vincent chuckled.
“Doesn’t everybody? That kid is the best gossip in town. If you want to know anything about anybody’s business, he’s the one to see.”
With the Bear’s Claw being within walking distance of Diver Downeast, Vincent had met the twenty-something barista/food-server the first day he’d worked at the shop. Everyone who worked at DD took advantage of the stellar coffee, pastries, and home-made lunches that the establishment offered.
And since Nate did seem to know everybody in town, maybe a few questions at another time would uncover just what the story was with the captain of the Water Wrestler.
It was food for thought, since his cop brothers hadn’t discovered anything on their radar regarding the man.
“Bear’s Claw it is,” Vince agreed, before adding a caveat. “Although we risk running into my brothers and their wives there,” he warned, not sure how Lace would take meeting up with not only his mother today, but more of his meddlesome family.
“Hmm. Buck, maybe?” She fanned herself, theatrically. “I always look forward to seeing him.”
Vince gave an internal growl.
The minx knew he’d experienced a little jealousy over her comments about his brother during their last conversation about him, and even though Buck was very happily married to Bobbie, Lace was clearly pleased to poke that hornet’s nest.
“Yeah,” he sniped petulantly. “But I’m your boyfriend, right?” Vincent posed.
Sometimes a guy just needed to hear the words.
Lace reached over and patted his thigh. “You are indeed, my boyfriend,” she agreed, then got a sly look on her face, “That is, if you agree to call this a date.”
She had him there, and he wasn’t going to mess around.
“Fine. This is a date,” he gave in.
“Nice,” she gloated. “Now look at us,” she continued impudently. “All decked out in our finery. Although I’m not sure your clown outfit is exactly what you had in mind when you mentioned dressing up.”
Now Vincent gave a verbal grunt. The path down which he was being led, was pretty damned clear.
“You’re using my words against me, Lace.”
She wasn’t giving an inch. “Well, are we, or are we not dressed up?” she goaded.
He let his hot gaze move down over the sun-dress Lace had worn today.
Not that he hadn’t fully appreciated it when she’d come out of her bedroom this morning, but he hadn’t wanted to make a big deal of it then, since they needed to be on the road. If he’d succumbed to complimenting her, he would have kissed her, and then they never would have left the house.
Now, though, he wasn’t holding back.
“Yes,” he admitted, throwing a bit of lust into his voice. “We are. And that dress is downright sinful. Your bare arms, your endless legs, your…toes,” he choked.
She’d painted the damn things yellow with little blue daisies to match the colors of her clothes. And he was damned well going to kiss every one of them. Maybe sooner than he’d imagined, because there was only one place Lace was leading to with all this.
“So, let me get this straight.” She tapped her lips. “We’re going on a date, we’ve dressed up, and we’re meeting your family and a few family friends today,” she posited with glee.
“Uh, huh,” he grumbled.
She was really making a case, and although Vince’s inclination was to deny or rebut her assertions in some way, his dick was already stirring, telling his brain to shut-the-fuck-up.
“And,” she continued giddily, “we’ve already made out with our clothes on, in case you’ve forgotten.”
How the hell could that memory ever escape him?