could go on a stupid date she never should’ve said yes to in the first place. It was a horrible interruption, but now she was thankful for it. The call had given her a moment to gather herself and realize she was about to make a huge mistake with Xander. This was the man who’d left Cornwall and forgotten she’d ever existed. Eleven years and one charming smile later and she was on the verge of sleeping with him. What was wrong with her? Had she no self-respect?
“Yes, go. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can. Tell him I’m on my way.” Rose turned off her phone. “I’ve got to go.”
Xander nodded, his fists shoved deep into his pockets. “I gathered that much. Is everything okay?”
“No. I have to go to the hospital to meet Craig.” Her hands were shaking as she attempted to slip her phone into her purse and ended up dropping it onto the pavement.
Xander dipped down to pick it up and hand it to her. “Let me drive you. It’s a long trip to the nearest hospital and you’re too shaken up to drive yourself.”
“I’m fine, really. I just need you to take me back to my car.”
“No. You’re upset. I don’t want you getting in a wreck.” His eyes were dark in the dim light of the parking lot, but their plea was unmistakable.
Then she remembered. His parents had died in a head-on collision when a teenage girl had swerved into their lane. She had survived and told the cops she’d been crying at the wheel because her boyfriend had dumped her. Of course he’d be concerned that she was too emotionally compromised to drive. “Okay. Thank you,” she said without thinking through what she would do when they got to the hospital.
Xander helped her into the SUV and they immediately pulled out onto the highway. They were several miles down the road before either of them spoke again.
“May I ask what happened? Is there anything I can do?”
Rose clutched her purse tightly against her and softly shook her head. “Thank you, but there’s not much to be done unless you’re an orthopedist. It seems he broke his arm on the trampoline.”
“Who? Craig?”
Rose took a deep breath. She could feel the threads of her deception start to unravel. Perhaps she could take a page from the politician’s handbook and lie by omission. Tell what she had to but not all of it.
“No,” she said. “My son.”
There was a long, uncomfortable silence after Rose spoke. She kept waiting for Xander to say something, but he didn’t. The car just kept steady and even, heading for the hospital. She supposed that she should say something, but she didn’t want to lie to Xander. She’d only ever wanted to protect him from himself. He would’ve done the right thing, which would’ve been the wrong thing for him.
“His name is Joey. He’s part of the reason I ended up dropping out of college.”
She waited for him to push. To ask the big question, but he didn’t. When she turned to look at him, his eyes were laser-focused on the road.
“Is he okay?”
Rose let the air she’d been holding out of her lungs. “My brother says he broke his arm. I won’t know for sure until after he sees the doctor. Hopefully, it won’t require surgery. As it is, he’s going to end up missing the Little League regional championship. He’s going to be crushed.”
“I saw on the news that one of the local teams was doing well.”
“Yes. They won for our county, which made them eligible to play in the regional tournament in a few weeks. It probably won’t be long enough for him to play. I feel so bad for him. He loves baseball.”
“I played in Little League for several years, although we never came close to winning any tournaments. The summers of my childhood were always filled with night games and popcorn from the concession stands. I quit the league when my parents died. Playing in high school was never quite the same.”
“I liked watching you play. And I like watching Joey play, too, when I can go. A lot of times, Craig has to take him because I’m working.”
“That must be hard, missing out on things.”
Rose shrugged away his concerns. Lots of things in life were hard, but you did what you had to do. “Someone has to pay for Little League. It’s not cheap. Neither is clothing a boy that seems like he grows an inch a month. He’s not even a teenager yet.”
“You won’t be able to keep enough food in the house,” Xander said teasingly. “I remember when all the boys hit their midteen growth spurts. Molly was having fits trying to keep us fed. It was impossible.”
“Craig was like that. I think that was half the reason he ended up getting a job at a fast-food place. He ate most of his salary.”
Rose could see the lights of the hospital in the distance. Xander slowed down and pulled into the parking lot near the emergency-room entrance. He found a spot and turned off the engine. She was anxious to get inside to Joey, but she could sense a hesitation in Xander. She waited a moment and at last he spoke.
“Rose, why didn’t you mention that you had a son before? We’ve been talking for hours. I would think that would come up in the conversation.”
Panic seized her, tightening her chest like a vise clamped on to her lungs. Her mind raced for an answer. “Honestly, tonight was about being back in high school again.” These words were true, if not entirely so. “You were attracted to me, just like the old days. I didn’t want to ruin the fantasy of our reunion by mentioning I was a single mother.”
“Why would that ruin it?”
Rose shrugged. “Because then I’m not the sexy girl from high school. I’m the single mother you used to date, complete with her own set of baggage.”
“Everyone has baggage.”
Boy, didn’t she know it. Joey wasn’t even the half of it. “I’m sorry not to bring him up. I’d better get inside. Thank you for driving me.”
Rose reached for the handle of the door but realized as she climbed out that Xander was getting out, too. Was he coming in with her? Why would he do that? Damn it. He was too thoughtful.
She rounded the hood of the car and stepped into his path. “You don’t need to go in with me.”
“I know that.” He ignored her protests and took her elbow, guiding her toward the building. “You’re upset. I’m going to walk you inside.”
With every step closer to the door, Rose could feel the noose tightening around her neck. There was no way that Xander would be able to look at her son and not realize the truth. Until he was about four, Joey had been a towhead and looked more like her sister than anyone. That and distance from Cornwall had bought her time from questions. But now Joey was so much the image of his father that sometimes it was painful for Rose to look at him. They had the same light brown hair, the same wide golden-hazel eyes. Joey had her nose and lighter complexion, but everything else was his father, especially as he got older. In a few years, he’d develop the same
