to make up before anyone could go to sleep tonight.
Angie hoped she hadn’t blown it by throwing the impromptu cinema party in his backyard.
Toby nodded to the old projector. “Where in the world did you get that thing? Wait, don’t tell me. Does it have something to do with an old job?”
His grin and a glimmer in his eye teased her in a way that didn’t make her feel quite so bad about her history of random employment. But she sidestepped his question and asked one of her own. “You look tired. Would you rather we do this another night?”
“And disappoint the kids?” Toby’s grin blossomed into a smile, easing her mind. “No way. Let me get out of these clothes and put on something more comfortable.”
Angie had been so busy reading into Toby’s expression, which hadn’t matched the upbeat tone of his voice when he’d called her earlier, that she’d failed to notice that he wasn’t wearing his trademark jeans, T-shirt and cowboy boots.
He was dressed in black slacks, a button-down shirt and expensive dress boots. He looked sharp—and ready for a night on the town without the kids.
She wondered what it might be like to actually go out on a date with him—if they had a sitter.
That was, if he’d actually ask her to be his date.
As Toby headed into the house, Brian and Kylie followed Justin’s lead, rushing outside in their pajamas and choosing their own spots to spread out on the blankets.
But Angie’s thoughts were on Toby.
“I’ll get the popcorn,” she told the kids. “Showtime is in five minutes.”
She made her way into the house slowly. She didn’t want Toby to think that she was following him.
But what if he’d wanted her to?
Oh, get a grip. She was so sleep-deprived, she was becoming delusional.
She was about to carry the first load of refreshments outside when Toby stepped into the kitchen.
“Thanks,” he said, his eyes contradicting the simplicity of his single word as they bored deeply into her own.
She tried to downplay the intensity in his gaze, as well as her efforts to provide a fun evening for the kids. “It was no big deal.”
“Actually, it’s a big deal to me. You have no idea how much I need this right now.”
She thought Toby was going to pull her in for a hug, and she would have willingly gone—if he’d made the first move. But as her heartbeats pounded off the seconds and he didn’t make the attempt, she realized it was probably more likely that one of the kids would come flying in the door to ask what was holding them up.
So she handed him the bowl of popcorn and grabbed the five ice-cream-filled mugs by their handles and led the way out the back door.
“So what are we watching?” Toby asked as he settled into the only spot the kids had left open, which happened to be right beside Angie.
“Star Wars I,” Justin said.
“No, dude, this is Star Wars IV,” Brian said snarkily, as if Justin was an idiot.
“How can it be number IV when this is the first Star Wars they ever made?” Justin challenged back.
Angie quickly explained the nuances of the Star Wars episodes before the boys came to blows across the blankets.
“So you’re both right,” she said.
The boys conceded, going back to their ice cream.
“Is that my bedsheet?” Toby asked as he studied the improvised movie screen nailed to the side of his barn.
“Well, the boys’ sheets are dark blue, and Kylie’s has a My Little Pony print,” Angie defended.
“Why is there a big brown spot on it?” Toby asked, glossing over the fact that the boys had put nail holes into his sheet.
“Justin dropped his end in some manure while I was on the ladder trying to nail it in place,” Brian explained.
“I’m sorry,” Angie said. “I didn’t know they were going to use real nails. And I didn’t realize they’d dropped it in cow... Well, in...you know. I just thought you had stained sheets.”
Toby looked at her as if she’d been the one to drop the manure outside the barn in the first place.
“Did you try the popcorn yet?” she asked, trying to get the conversation heading in a different direction. “I put extra butter on it for you.”
Toby reached into the bowl. “That stain on the sheet makes it look like Luke Skywalker has melanoma on his face.”
“What’s ‘melanoma’?” Brian asked.
“It’s a kind of skin cancer,” Angie answered.
The pillows looked so comfortable. Maybe she could just put her head down for a second and rest her eyes, maybe even doze off for a moment or two.
“My mommy died of cancer,” Justin said.
“Is Luke Skywalker gonna die of cancer, too?” Kylie asked.
Oh, no. Angie hadn’t meant to mention the C-word.
“Nobody is going to die tonight,” Toby said, trying to save the day.
But that didn’t make Angie feel much better. If her brain hadn’t been so sleep-deprived, she might have thought before opening her mouth.
Here she was, trying to do something fun and nice for the family, but then she’d screwed everything up by reminding them of their dead mother.
No matter what she tried to do, it seemed that she only made things worse. Maybe Toby and the kids would be better if she ran for the hills and stayed out of their lives forever.
They’d be better off. But as she scanned the yard, taking in the sweet kids and the handsome cowboy who’d taken them in and given them a home, she wondered how she’d ever just walk away from them without looking back.
Or did she dare risk it all and stick around until she finally got things right?
The kids settled back on the blankets to watch the movie. Toby and Angie did, too, stretching out next to each other.
By the time Han Solo was telling Leia that he was in it for the money, Toby leaned over and whispered to Angie, “Is there any more popcorn?”
He hadn’t eaten lunch, so he’d pretty much wolfed down the spaghetti Angie had set out for him, but it really hadn’t quite filled him up.
“I’ll run in and
