Free Where There's Smoke by M. J. Fredrick Page A

she just noticed? Right now he stood behind her with the groomsmen, and she felt his restlessness. If it came from the same source remained to be seen.
    "Can't we get stand-in mannequins?” Seth asked as the photographer physically positioned them. “Those at least are poseable."
    "Aw, come on, Seth, be a sport. He's just trying to find your good side,” Lauren teased.
    "Yeah, well, if he touches me like that one more time, he better buy me dinner."
    Lauren laughed, glancing back, just as the shutter clicked. The photographer straightened in outrage at the ruined shot and the wedding party groaned.
    "Leave it to Lauren and Seth,” Crystal complained, and Lauren grinned. Some reputations were good to have.
    Lauren drew attention at the reception. She knew many of the firefighters in attendance and found herself in the center of a group of men who'd always looked at her like a sister. The attention empowered her and she actually flirted back. Seth apparently didn't get the empowerment part and edged in to slide his arm about her waist, leveling a look at his friends that dared them to challenge him.
    Mitch was the only one Seth didn't challenge. When he saw Mitch, he snatched his hand away and plastered an innocent look on his face. As if he hadn't just made her knees turn to water.
    "You looked beautiful up there,” Mitch said, taking both her hands and kissing her cheek. “Almost made me want to see you standing there in white.” He slid a warning look to Seth. “Almost."
    Seth folded his hands behind his back and gave his captain a curt nod. “Yes, sir.” But his eyes twinkled.
    "I told you, I'm in no hurry to get married,” she said, searching her father's face for clues of how he held up, finding only sadness. Of course. How could he watch one marriage start when his was over? “Are you doing okay?"
    "Great, just great.” He passed a hand over his hair, not quite touching the neat style, his signal he wanted a cigarette. “Work keeps me busy."
    "Captain Stokes is working double shifts,” Seth said, concern in his voice. His revelation earned him a sharp look from Mitch.
    Then Mitch looked at Lauren and shrugged with a half-hearted smile. “Where else am I going to go?"
    She put her hand on his arm, but he pulled away. His withdrawal stabbed her. Was she so like her mother he couldn't stand her touch? “Dad, you know you could stay with me."
    "No.” He cut her off. “No, you're not going to get in the middle. I'm perfectly happy at the station. Don't worry about me, okay?” He kissed her cheek. “I'm, ah ... I'm going to go. You two have fun."
    Lauren stared as he walked off. Her father had never looked so old, so beaten. No one could tell her he'd seen this split coming. She started after him but Seth caught her hand.
    "He wants to be alone."
    "He's hurting.” How could her mother have done this? How could she inflict so much pain and just walk away? Maybe she didn't know what she'd done. Maybe she'd thought if it was over for herself, it was over for Mitch, too. Had she been that blind, or that selfish?
    "He will be for awhile. You can't stop it.” Seth stepped in front of her. “He's right not to put you between your mom and him. But this is a party and they'd both want you to have fun."
    He linked his fingers through hers and guided her to the table where the bridal party sat in their finery, snagging a flute of champagne along the way. Everyone shifted so the two could sit together, but Lauren couldn't join in their lighthearted teasing of the bridal couple. Her thoughts were with her father and his loneliness.
    Had he and her mother ever been as happy as Crystal and Enrique, leaning toward each other, touching with their eyes when they were out of reach? Certainly they had, or they never would have gotten married. Was it the newness of the relationship that had Crystal and Enrique so ecstatic? Or was it real?
    Was that, the excitement, the change, what was affecting her feelings toward