style="font-size:15px;"> “Are you okay?” Pauline gazed at Lily through the open passenger window. “Did you see…?”
“I’m fine!” Lily snapped, irritation and embarrassment sharpening her tone. It wasn’t her sister’s fault that she had acted like an idiot.
The driver in front of her changed his mind about the parking spot, giving her an escape. With a sheepish smile and a quick wave, Lily drove away with a sigh of relief. If she was lucky, Pauline would have forgotten about the incident by the time she got home.
Too bad Lily couldn’t do the same. Feeling like the same coward she had been at eighteen, she went to pick up the boy who made everything she had gone through worthwhile—and the reason she owed Steve an explanation.
Good God Almighty! When Steve had noticed the attractive blonde and seen her shocked expression, the jolt of recognition nearly spun his head around. Two blocks down Harbor Avenue he turned abruptly into a parking lot, scaring two pedestrians who were about to step in front of his truck. Before he could hit the log barrier that prevented vehicles from driving into the bay, he braked hard and killed the engine.
A brief glimpse hadn’t been enough to indicate how much thirteen years had changed Lily. Had time tarnished her beauty, stamping her face with the same coldness that had chilled her uncaring heart? Furious with himself for giving two hoots, he slapped the steering wheel with the flat of his hand and swore again, earning himself a startled glance from an approaching fisherman. The man veered away as he walked by Steve, making him feel even more stupid.
He glanced at the cell phone next to him on the seat, tempted to call Wade, but he wasn’t going to let one little Lily sighting turn him into a hysterical wimp. He’d do the manly thing, suck it up and go straight to the Crab Pot, a local tavern. After he’d downed a few brewskies to take off the edge, he would ask Wade to drive him home.
The only hitch in his plan was that it was too damned early to execute it. When he’d spotted Lily, he’d been on his way to the builders’ supply store. Resigned to postponing his meltdown, he fired up the truck and swung around so he could pull back out onto the street. As he did so, a redhead in a yellow convertible honked and waved. Her smile was a welcome reminder that the world was full of friendly women. There was no point in wasting time—or beer—over one old fish who had gotten away.
Just as he reached his destination with his equilibrium restored, he got a call from Carlos at the job site.
Now what? Steve thought as he answered his cell. “Yeah,” he replied brusquely.
“Hey, boss, can you bring us some burgers from the Shack?” Carlos asked. “We’re starving out here.”
Steve climbed out of his truck, phone at his ear. “Depends,” he drawled, nodding at a guy coming out the front door. “You got the kitchen framed in yet?”
Lily drove slowly through the old part of town on the bluff above the waterfront, listening to her son’s chatter as she headed to the family home on Cedar Street where they had been staying with Pauline.
“Cory’s got an Xbox,” Jordan exclaimed. He’d hardly taken a breath since Lily had picked him up at the house of one of his new friends. “We played his new skateboarding game.”
Their move to Crescent Cove had been dicey at first because he’d been homesick for L.A. and he was still grieving for their longtime friend and Lily’s guardian angel, Francis Yost. After growing up on Francis’s spacious estate, Jordan had made it clear to Lily that he wanted nothing to do with Crescent Cove.
Lucky for her, Pauline’s fiancé had stepped in to help, spending time with Jordan until he met a few boys his own age. Wade’s friendship with Lily had initially given Pauline the wrong impression when she’d walked in on him with Lily in his arms, comforting her after an argument with her son. Fortunately that had been resolved and they had all moved on.
“So you had a good time?” she asked Jordan now. “You remembered to thank Cory’s mother for putting up with you?”
He lifted his ball cap to run one hand through his thick blond hair. It needed a trim, she noted silently.
“Aw, Mom,” he drawled on a long-suffering sigh, “I always remember that stuff. You’ve drilled it into me since I was born.” He repositioned the cap and tugged down the bill. “I bet you even used to tell me when I was growing in your belly.”
She turned onto Cedar, a narrow, tree-lined street of historical Victorian homes in various stages of disrepair. “It’s my mission in life to tame you and turn you into a cultured individual,” she teased.
Instead of making a comeback, he turned to look at her intently. “Is it true that my real dad lives around here?” he asked. “And that I look just like him?”
The question shouldn’t have come as so much of a surprise. Did she think kids didn’t overhear things?
“Where did you hear that?” she asked, shamelessly stalling for time as she turned into their driveway and drove past the house that had been named Mayfield Manor by one of her ancestors. Braking in front of the detached garage, she was startled to see that her hand was shaking when she reached for the gearshift.
She glanced at Jordan to see if he had noticed.
“Ryan MacPherson was teasing me when he came over to Cory’s, but then Cory’s mom sent him home.”
“Good for Michelle,” Lily replied fervently. Back in the day, Lily had been chosen over Ryan’s mother for the lead in a high school play. The former Heather Rolfe had probably never forgiven Lily. It sounded as though Heather was still a witch.
Lily’s first impulse was to go over and confront the other mother for gossiping in front of Ryan, but she couldn’t very well blame Heather for saying aloud what half the town was at least thinking.
“Is it true?” Jordan persisted. “Does my dad live here in this stupid town?”
Lily was saved from answering by the sight of Wade approaching her car.
“We’ll have to talk later,” she told Jordan as Wade leaned down and grinned at them through the open passenger window.
“Okay with you if I kidnap your kid for a couple of hours?” he asked Lily. “Hey, sport! Want to go shoot some hoops?”
Lord, yes, she thought gratefully. “He’s got to eat first,” she replied.
“I ate at Cory’s.” Jordan got out of the car and returned Wade’s high five. “Can I go? Please, Mom?”
Obviously he didn’t mind postponing the subject of his paternity. Silently, Lily vowed to deal with it soon, just as soon as she figured out how much to tell him before she went and talked to Steve.
What a mess.
She emerged behind the wheel, realizing that both males were still waiting for her to say something. “Sure, you can go. Take some water with you and don’t forget to actually drink it.”
Wade rested a paternal hand on Jordan’s bony shoulder, winking at her over the boy’s head. “I’ll take good care of him, ma’am.”
“I know you will,” she replied,
