Vinnie was so sweet. I was both relieved and pleased he had come as quickly as he had, and grateful that he’d stuck around. The morning would have been much harder without his comforting presence.

I would have called him myself, but I had lost my phone in the chaos and they wouldn’t let me back into the diner to search for it. One of the firemen overheard my protests and offered to call for me. Of course, I hadn’t realized at the time that the handsome fireman who had led us to safety was Vinnie’s brother.

“As wonderful as that sounds, I’d really like to go to the hospital first and see how Cal is doing.”

He nodded. “Of course. I’ll give you a ride. My car’s over here.”

I really did like having him around. I was feeling pretty raw and having a big, strong policeman by my side helped. Especially since that big, strong policeman was Vinnie. Besides, the hospital was on the other side of town, and now that I had effectively lost both my jobs, grabbing an Uber was an extra expense I didn’t need.

On the other hand, I didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said, giving him an out. “If you have something else you have to do—”

“I don’t,” he assured me firmly.

“Then thanks. I appreciate it.”

His large hand felt good against my lower back, strong and warm, as he led the way to his car. It was a welcome reminder that I wasn’t alone and exactly what I needed.

Vinnie’s car was a dark sedan. Simple, classic, and masculine. Just like him. In a gentlemanly gesture, he opened the passenger door for me before sliding into the driver’s seat.

Visions of Cal lying so still on the floor, blood seeping from his mouth and nose, made me shudder. It had been a brave thing he did—shoving me and Wanda into the kitchen while he confronted those hooligans.

I seemed to be surrounded by brave men lately. That was new for me. Outside of the old-time movies I was addicted to, there hadn’t been a lot of stand-up guys in my life, certainly not the father who had abandoned not just one wife and child but two.

As we wound our way around the firetrucks and back toward the hospital, I suddenly asked, “So, are all the men in your family heroes or something?”

He glanced sideways at me. “Sorry?”

“Well, you’re a cop. Your brother back there—sorry, I don’t know his name—”

“Dom.”

“Dom is a fireman. Any cowboys or astronauts in the bunch?”

He chuckled, which was what I had intended. My reasons were at least only semi-selfish. He had looked so concerned from the moment he’d arrived on the scene, and I wanted to see him smile.

“Well, my brother Nick was in the Marines for a while. My other brother, Paulie, is a lawyer downtown, specializing in family services. My sister Sofia is an ER doc, and my baby sister Gina does graphic design.”

“That’s a lot of brothers and sisters. You have a big family, huh?”

“Pretty big,” he agreed. “How about you?”

“Just me and Joel.” I didn’t go into more detail. I would much rather hear about his family than mine, especially since they seemed so ... traditionally normal.

Thankfully, he seemed to pick up on that and didn’t ask any more questions. We drove the rest of the way in silence, but it was a nice, comfortable silence, not an awkward one.

“Haven! Thank God! Are you okay?” Wanda jumped up from one of the chairs in the waiting room the moment she spotted us. Like me, she still wore her waitress uniform, smudged and dirty from the ordeal. Looking at her, I realized I didn’t look any better.

“Yeah, I’m fine. How’s Cal?”

She cast a quick, assessing glance at Vinnie, then turned back to me. “I don’t know. They won’t tell me anything because I’m not family.”

“Wait here. I’ll see what I can find out.”

Vinnie walked right up to the reception desk and leaned forward to speak to the woman there. I didn’t miss the way her eyes lit up. I imagined mine looked just like that whenever Vinnie focused his attention on me, too.

A sudden wave of jealousy rose up, but I forced it back down.

“So,” Wanda said, breaking through the green haze. “You called him, huh?”

“Yeah. Or rather, his brother did. His brother was the fireman who pulled us out.”

Wanda’s eyes widened. “Damn. Are all the men in that family hunkalicious or what?”

I managed a small, tired laugh. “That’s what I asked him.”

“You did not.”

“I did. Well, I said hero instead of hunkalicious, but you know, tomayto, tomahto.”

We were prevented from continuing along that vein when Vinnie returned with information.

“They’ve taken Cal upstairs to get some CAT scans. My sister was on-call last night, and we lucked out, because she’s on break. Come on. If I know Sofe, she’s carb-loading in the cafeteria. We can grab some coffee and get you ladies something to eat while we’re there.”

He grabbed my hand, not giving me the chance to voice my concern over my appearance.

The gesture wasn’t lost on Wanda. She raised her eyebrows, smirked, and tagged along.

“Hey, Vin.” A beautiful young woman dressed in scrubs gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey, Sofe. These are my friends, Haven and Wanda. They were hoping for information on a man who came in this morning—Cal Lindelman.”

Sofia didn’t seem surprised by the request. She looked at Wanda, recognition dawning in her tired eyes. “You came in with him, didn’t you?”

Wanda nodded. “Yes. They won’t tell me anything, though.”

Sofia nodded. “That’s protocol. Patient privacy and all that. But I can tell you he’s stable. We’re running a few tests and will probably keep him overnight for observation. He’ll be sore for a while, but he’s pretty tough, and I expect him to make a full recovery.”

“Thank you.”

I felt my eyes growing moist again. I knew I was running on empty when a simple kindness like that was enough to bring me to tears.

Her phone started beeping. She pulled it out of her pocket and frowned. “I’ve got to run. It was nice meeting you, Haven, Wanda. See you at Ma’s on Sunday, Vin!”

Sofia hurried off to do her thing.

Vinnie ignored our weak protests and insisted that we sit down, then proceeded to get us something to eat.

“Hm. Officer Hot Pants serving me breakfast? I could get used to this,” Wanda teased when Vinnie went back up to get something for himself.

“Don’t,” I warned. “He’s got a couple of brothers, though. Feel free to go after them.”

She laughed. “Territorial much?”

She had no idea. Actually, I had no idea. I had never been in a situation where I felt quite so possessive, especially not over a guy I barely knew. That wasn’t exactly true, I realized. Vinnie and I might not have officially gone out, but in a way, we had been seeing each other for a while. We’d had plenty of conversations over the past couple months, enough for me to feel like I did know him pretty well.

After breakfast, Vinnie took Wanda home first, then me.

“Some first date, huh?” I joked softly as Vinnie walked me to my door.

He grinned. “Not exactly what I had in mind.”

Me either. “I’m sorry. Thanks for coming, though. I ... didn’t know who else to call.”

“Hey.” He curled his index finger under my chin and lifted my face until I looked him in the eye. “You can call me anytime, got it?”

Warmth rolled through me, either from his touch or his words or the way he looked at me. Maybe all three.

“Got it.”

“Get some rest.”

“I will.”

Vinnie waited until I locked the door, then I heard his footsteps fade away.

I was watching him from the window when Joel emerged from his room.

“Are you just getting home?”

I turned and watched his expression darken as he took in my appearance.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“The diner was robbed last night,” I said wearily. “They attacked Cal then set the place on fire.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, just shaken up. Wanda and I were in the kitchen during most of it.”

I yawned. The excitement of this morning’s events was finally catching up to me and I felt drained.

“I’m going to get a shower and go to bed. We can talk more later, okay?”

I left Joel scowling and went into my room. I knew he had more questions, and I would answer them, but not right then. At that moment, I just wanted to wash off the smell of smoke and forget about how the universe seemed to be conspiring against me for a little while.