He got up. “Excuse me if I’ve been an imposition—”
“No, you weren’t,” she said, an unexpected rush of compassion making her want to overcome her fears to reach out. For his daughter, if not for him. “I wish I could help.”
She tipped up her chin. Read the look in his eyes.
He didn’t have to say it. She already knew. She could help, if she really wanted to.
Be generous, she thought. The good karma might come back to you.
Danny’s face flashed in her mind’s eye. Was it possible to develop the motherly instincts she lacked?
She blinked. “All right. Okay. I’ll give it a shot. One time, to see how it goes. But don’t expect me to know what I’m doing.” She rubbed her palms on her jeans, sweating with nervousness at the mere prospect. “Let’s not even call it a lesson. That sounds as if I’d have to come with a plan. Lucy and I can just get together—”
“Thank you.” Impulsively, Evan started to reach out to hug her, but he stopped with his large hands hanging in midair. After a moment of hesitation, he thrust one toward her. “I appreciate this.”
She swallowed thickly and shook his hand, pumping vigorously to show him again that she wasn’t a complete coward. “I make no promises.”
“I do.” Evan looked at her with more confidence and belief than she’d accumulated in her entire lifetime. “I promise you won’t regret this.”
Rose had to turn away from such a bright, bold faith. It left her feeling so empty. “Yeah, well, let’s hope—” She choked off her words. Let’s hope you don’t, either.
“Hope for the best,” Evan said.
Rose nodded.
CHAPTER FOUR
“CAN I BORROW your phone, Mom?”
“Sure.” Maxine sat at the dining table, laying out a hand of solitaire. When Rose had wiped down the table minutes before, she’d seen her mother surreptitiously stick an ashtray and book of matches on the seat of one of the chairs, hidden by the vinyl tablecloth. “Who you calling?”
“Just a friend.” Rose had put the last dish away, squeezed out the sponge, stowed the leftovers. She couldn’t stall any longer. It had been several days, and Evan was expecting her to set up a date for the drawing lesson.
“What kind of friend?”
“That’s my business.”
“My phone.” Maxine’s lips curled into a smug so-there.
Rose might have pointed out that she’d just cooked dinner and cleaned up, in addition to the rest of her daily chores. But she didn’t. She swallowed her tongue the way her mother had been forced to when Black Jack was in one of his moods.
Get me out of here, she thought, taking the cordless phone outside to the dusky backyard, as far as the range allowed. Behind her, the window near the dining table opened with a screech of the sash. Her mother must have had a burst of strength to go along with her nosiness.
Rose’s exhale was visible in the cold air. Frost tonight. She wrapped her sweater tighter and punched out Evan’s number—memorized. He’d written it on the back of a scrap of paper from his wallet and asked her to call as soon as she was certain of her work schedule. She hadn’t told him that she was in charge at the Buck Stop and could arrange any hours she liked as long as the time was covered by the store’s only other employee, a grumpy retiree aptly named Cross who worked to pick up extra income to supplement his social security.
The phone was ringing. “Hullo,” Evan said, harried but cheerful. “Grant residence.”
A match flared inside the house. Rose realized she should have called from work, but all she’d been thinking was to get it over with already.
“Hello?”
It was strange, hearing Evan’s voice on the phone. Familiar, but not. Slightly thrilling.
“Anyone there?”
“Hello,” she finally said. She cleared her throat. “It’s Rose. Robbin. Rose Robbin.”
“Rose. Good to hear from you. Lucy’s been asking about the lesson every day—she’s very excited.”
“I, uh, the store’s been busy lately.”
“I hope you’re not backing out.”
“No. I can be free any afternoon the rest of this week.”
“Well, let’s see. Lucy gets out of school at three and usually goes to her baby-sitter’s house while I have basketball practice. I could probably take time off to run her out to your place—”
“Not my place.” Rose thought frantically, struck by the notion that if she worked it right, she might be able to catch sight of a few minutes of the basketball practice. “I could come to the school, and stay with Lucy while you ran the practice. That way you won’t need the baby-sitter at all.”
The grade school and the high school were separate buildings on the same property, linked by covered walkways that led to a common structure that served both schools. The gymnasium was part of the central building, and surely that’s where they’d meet. Rose held her breath, pressing the phone so tightly to her ear that it hurt.
“I suppose I might ask for a favor and have the art room opened,” Evan said.
“Oh, don’t bother. I’d rather take Lucy outdoors. If that’s all right with you.”
“Nature sketching?”
“Yes.”
“If the weather’s bad—”
“We’ll figure something out.”
“That works for me. I’ll be sure that Lucy dresses warmly.”
“Great. Tomorrow okay?”
“Sure. You’re more eager than I expected.”
Rose felt guilty. She swallowed that, too. “Uh, yeah. I guess maybe it’ll be okay.”
Evan laughed. “There’s the Rose I know.”
He thought he knew her? He’d barely scratched the surface.
“Okay, then,” she said. “Bye.”
His startled “Bye,” came as she was pressing the Off button.
Rose stuck the phone in the pocket of her cardigan and absently rubbed her stinging ear. She supposed she’d been too abrupt. Talking on the phone with “boys” was another social skill she’d never developed properly. None of her boyfriends—if they could be called that—had ever called for her at home. She hadn’t had real dates, either. Just met them at the bridge
