Hard to Resist

chapter TEN



ETHAN’S DVD LIBRARY was heavy on action movies, but that was fine. Anything more “serious” would have required too much emotional involvement. They found a Nicolas Cage movie, curled up on the sofa and watched in contented silence.

“I think this is the first time I’ve actually relaxed since the fire,” Kat said. “Thanks.”

After a while, Ethan leaned over and played with Kat’s hair.

“You know what?” she asked.

“What?” he said warily.

“I love watching movies with you.”

He grinned. “You can come over anytime you want.”

* * *

TWO WEEKS LATER, on a starry, still, hot night, Kat found herself lounging in a spectacular ski boat on Lake Ray Hubbard with Ethan, Sam, and several other people she’d just met and whose names she couldn’t keep straight. It was the fire department’s annual Brats, Bait and Boat party. They’d water-skied and fished, stuffed themselves with charbroiled sausages, floated on rafts at the swimming beach. Now, as was the tradition, all the boats were tied together in the middle of the lake and everyone was telling stories.

Some of the stories were about fires, and Kat watched Samantha carefully to see if any of the talk bothered her. But she seemed content, and she actually nodded off before long.

Kat wouldn’t have believed she could feel so relaxed and happy, herself, this soon after her devastating fire. But after the night she and Ethan had watched movies, things seemed to normalize.

Something tight she’d been holding inside her had loosened and floated away, and she started to believe things would be okay. Donations were up at StrongGirls, thanks to Deb’s tireless publicity and fund-raising efforts. The new group already had nine members, and both of Kat’s new counselors were working out well.

She had her own little car back, good as new.

Samantha hadn’t had any more serious asthma attacks. Chuck’s mother was watching Sam a couple of days a week, an arrangement that pleased everyone and saved Kat day-care money. In fact, her finances were looking a lot better. She wasn’t out of the woods, yet, but barring any more disasters, she would be free of debt by the end of the summer.

And then there was Ethan.

She really did help him study, quizzing him, and sometimes Priscilla, too. She knew very little about anatomy or biology or chemistry, but she used their study guides. She devised mnemonics to help them with long memorization lists, a trick she’d relied on when she was in school.

When Ethan wasn’t studying, they worked on the yard together, planting flowers and making plans for a dog run for Winnie. They took Samantha to a baseball game one night, and they went for a drive in the country.

Kat had wanted to take things slow in their relationship, but once she’d cracked open the door, slowing down was impossible. They used some restraint when Samantha was around, but when she stayed with her father or her grandmother, or when she spent the night at Jasmine’s or with her other best friend, Krista, Kat couldn’t stop kissing Ethan or holding his hand.

Why should they slow down, when it felt so good and wasn’t harming anyone?

It was all idyllic, and Kat tried not to question her good fortune too closely. Her life had never felt so normal.

Ethan still did a lot of things for her without being asked, such as changing the oil in her car, rotating her tires, replacing burned-out lightbulbs. He bought her presents, too. She was constantly discovering things she needed, things she’d lost in the fire but hadn’t immediately realized were missing.

They were just little things, and he seemed to get so much pleasure from surprising her. He was an unstoppable force, and she got tired of being the immovable object. So she stopped fighting his generosity. Virginia had counseled her to pick her battles, and that was exactly what she was doing.

She knew she wasn’t quite living by the StrongGirl tenets she’d developed, and she felt a little uneasy about it. Most of the girls in her program didn’t have people in their lives to take care of things for them. She was coming to depend on Ethan; she was finding it easier these days to let him do things for her.

And anytime she felt tempted to change the status quo, she quickly found herself thinking about how hurt he would be if he thought she didn’t fully appreciate the way he had bulldozed into her life and her heart. And she chickened out.

“You asleep?” Ethan whispered.

“No. Just very, very relaxed.”

He kissed the top of her head. “That’s the way it should be.”

It was late when the party broke up. Samantha woke briefly when she was transferred from the boat to the dock, but once she was in Ethan’s car, she fell asleep again. Kat had a hard time holding her own eyes open.

Ethan insisted on carrying Samantha up the stairs to the apartment, and Kat let him. Sam was really too big for Kat to tote around, but for Ethan it was nothing. The little girl didn’t stir as Ethan carried her into the bedroom and laid her down on the twin bed.

“It’s hot in here,” he said. “Why don’t you try out the air conditioner? Have you even turned it on yet?”

The weather had been unusually cool for May—until today. She flipped on the switch to the unit, set it at medium and waited. It started blowing cooler air almost immediately. Then she returned to the bedroom, where Ethan was pulling off Sam’s sneakers with one hand and scratching behind Bashira’s ears with the other. Her heart contracted as she watched how tender he was with Sam. A lot of men wouldn’t bother with a single mom or an orphan cat, but Ethan genuinely seemed to enjoy his time with Sam and Bashira.

She couldn’t help thinking about how fine it would be if he didn’t have to go back to his own house—if they all lived together, as a family. But then she stopped herself. It was way too soon to be thinking those thoughts. She would have to know Ethan a lot longer before she entertained any ideas of marriage.

“She’s definitely down for the count,” Ethan said, his words low as he came out of the bedroom. “Do you want to put her in pajamas or anything?”

“It’s okay. She can sleep in her shorts.”

They said their whispered good-nights at the door. Just as Ethan was about to leave, the whole apartment went dark.

“Uh-oh, looks like we’ve blown a fuse. Where’s your flashlight?”

Kat felt her way to the futon and reached under, finding the flashlight. She had one in every room, as part of her new home safety policy.

She went down to the garage with Ethan. It was probably a good idea to watch what he did so she could do it herself, if she had this problem again. He led her to an old-fashioned fuse box and opened it. With efficient movements he replaced the blown fuse, using one of the spares he kept on a shelf nearby.

She stepped outside and looked up. “Ta-dah! Let there be light.”

Then the lights went out again.

“However briefly.”

“Hmm.” Ethan scratched his chin. “Looks like the problem might be more serious than a fuse. And I’m on duty tomorrow. Why don’t you guys bunk with me until we can get the problem solved? I can work on it Monday first thing.”

“I don’t want to wake Samantha up,” she said. “We’ll be fine for a couple of nights. Soon as I open some windows and get a cross breeze going, we’ll be cool enough.”

Ethan was doubtful, but after Kat ran upstairs to turn off the air conditioner and Ethan replaced the fuse for a second time, she reassured him that she did not mind a little heat. She shooed him on his way. “Get some sleep. You might have to put out a fire tomorrow and you’ll need to be fully alert.”

He left, but only reluctantly.

As Kat got ready for bed, she noticed that her answering machine had a message. She pushed the button and listened as she undressed.

“Hi, Kathryn, this is Sandy Taylor at White Cliffs. A nice corner unit has come available. It’s ready immediately. So if you’re still interested, give me a call.” And she rattled off the number.

White Cliffs. The nice, new town houses over near Bishop Arts. She’d left her name and number when she’d first been apartment hunting. The units were spacious, modern and beautiful, and the rent was reasonable—and they accepted small pets. But there hadn’t been a vacancy.

Now there was.

And yet the thought of moving again had little appeal. Samantha was just getting settled here and Kat hated to uproot her. Though the garage apartment was tiny, they were managing—enjoying themselves, even. And with the minuscule rent Ethan was charging, she could get back on her feet quicker.

Kat thought about it for all of five more seconds, then erased the message.

* * *

WHEN ETHAN CAME HOME from his shift early Monday morning, he wanted nothing more than to dive into bed. He’d gotten almost no sleep the previous night, since he’d been on watch command and the alarms had come in one after another after another. But he wanted to take a closer look at Kat’s fuse box and the whole wiring situation. If it was what he suspected… Ouch.

Kat must have heard him rummaging around in the garage, because she showed up at the door a couple of minutes later wearing a pale green suit.

He couldn’t help smiling when he saw her, fresh and green as a new tomato on the vine. “You look so businesslike. But all girl.”

She beamed a smile at him. “Thanks. I’ve got an important meeting this morning, so I borrowed the suit from Deb. I haven’t really had time to replace my business wardrobe yet. I’m leaving now, but I wanted to say thank you for getting on this problem right away.”

He shrugged. “I’d be a crummy landlord if I let it slide. Where’s Samantha?”

“She’s at her dad’s. I have to confess, she bailed out on me. It was too hot. But Chuck’s been traveling a lot lately and hasn’t gotten to spend much time with her, so it’s fine.”

“Well, with luck your place will be cooler when you get home tonight.”

Thirty minutes later, he realized he’d been way too optimistic. He couldn’t believe he’d made such a tactical error.

The current fuse box wasn’t sufficient to support the power pull of an air conditioner—especially the large one he’d installed. He was going to have to put in an updated breaker box, and that wasn’t a short-term project. Plus, he was up to his ears in paramedic training. He wouldn’t have time to complete the rewiring for at least a week, not if he didn’t want to flunk out.

He could hire an electrician, but that would cost a fortune.

Then, a wonderful idea occurred to him. Instead of cursing his lack of foresight, he started to feel fortunate to have such a problem.