Page 78 of Look on the Bright Side

“Oh, daily, of course,” he said, grinning at her with that Firefighter Wink. “We deal with a lot of car accidents, medical calls and automatic alarms, too. But Boston has a lot of fires. Last month we pulled eleven people out of a burning building. Five kids in the mix. Two dogs, too.”

“Oh, my gosh, yes! I saw that on NECN. I knew I recognized you. They played that story for days.” Massachusetts worshiped their firefighters.

“It was a good call. No one got hurt.”

“Okay, answer me this,” Lark said as they inched across the Sagamore Bridge. “How did you avoid a Cape accent? Even a Boston accent. All four of you sound like you’re from Connecticut or something.”

“How dare you,” he said, tossing her another million-dollar grin that made her bones melt a little. It also made her realize how seldom Lorenzo smiled. “Mom’s mom, my other grandma, is British. She beat it out of us. Every time we dropped an R, out came the cane.”

“Well, that explains it,” Lark said.

“The British part is true, anyway. I can sound like a Southie when I need to.”

“Prove it,” she said. Her face flushed. This might be flirting. She was fairly sure it was.

A car cut them off at the rotary. “Nice fuckin’ move, ya moron!” Dante yelled, smiling as he leaned on the horn. “Stop gropin’ your cousin and keep your hands on the wheel!” He looked over at her. “How was that?”

“Wow,” she laughed. “I take it back. For a second there, it was like I was at Whitey’s.”

“You’ve been to Whitey’s? Best dive bar in the world. You really are perfect.”

Don’t read into that, she told herself, reading into it. (He thought she was perfect!) “I went to BU, then Tufts. Of course I went to Whitey’s. How about you? When did you move to Boston?”

“Right after high school. I wasn’t really the college type. Worked in construction for three years before I got hired.”

“And how is it you’re still single, Dante?” she asked. “I mean, a cute firefighter, saving dogs and children, a nice family, the name Dante…”

Yes. She was flirting.

He tilted his head a little. “Don’t know how much of this you already know, between Lorenzo and my sisters. And my mother. She’s been trying to marry me off ever since I was seventeen.”

“Did you ever come close? To getting married, I mean?”

“Yep.”

Nothing more. Just yep.

“Does this involve the girl you mentioned last night?”

He didn’t look at her this time. “It does.”

Her phone buzzed. It was Rena, the ER unit secretary. Scheduling error. No need to come in tonight. See you tomorrow.

“Oh. I just got canceled. Shoot, Dante, I’m sorry. You didn’t have to drive me after all.”

“Want to go back so we can take care of your car?”

“No, that’s fine. We’re in Barnstable already, and look at the traffic going off-Cape.” It was bumper to bumper.

“You got it,” he said. “Wellfleet it is.”

“You can stay for lunch, if you want. My landlady will adore you, and her house is amazing.”

He didn’t answer for a second. “Sure. Thanks. I haven’t been out that way in a long time.”

“So back to your almost marriage,” she prompted. “Actually, we don’t have to talk about that. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s fine. She was the model.”

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