tightened his hold on Rosalie and stared at the slender, pretty brunette holding Nicky’s hand. She stared back at him, her gorgeous blue eyes wide, her glossy pink lips slack. Something about her rang a distant bell, but...why?
Rosalie squawked and squirmed in his arms, yanking his thoughts away from the attractive young woman obviously trying to keep control of Nicky. “Daddy! Put me down!” Rosie commanded.
“I’ve got this one,” the blue-eyed gal said.
“Thanks.” Sam’s parenting persona clicked into action. “What’s the special word, Rosie?”
“Pleeeze?” Rosie squeaked, still squirming.
“All right, here you go,” he said, setting her on the floor, straightening the pink-and-white-striped top she wore. Pink was her favorite color, followed a close second by purple. Or poiple, as Rosie said.
Rosie ran over and held a finger up in front of her brother’s face. “No, no, Nicky!”
Nicky scowled. “Don’t boss me, Ro-ro!”
Sam shook his head, amused by the push-pull dynamic between the twins, though he was sure his amusement would fade by the time he wrestled them into bed tonight. He loved them more than anything, but they exhausted him. Being a single parent wasn’t easy, although his ex-wife had certainly seemed to sail through handling the twins when she’d had them. Of course, her new fiancé, Spense O’Laughlin, was there to help. That thought sent a dart of bitterness through Sam, which he did his best to ignore.
The brunette raised her brows. “Oh, she’s quite the bossy one, isn’t she?”
Sam stepped forward, noticing how the young woman’s pink sweater set off her blue eyes just right, and gently took a hold of Rosie’s rigid finger. “She was born bossy.”
Nicky tried to dart away, but his pretty captor held him tight. “And he’s the mischievous one, right?”
Sam plucked Nicky up with his free arm. “Right,” he said, impressed by her kid-corralling skills. “Rosie here bosses, and he causes trouble.”
“You’ve got your hands full, then,” she said with a quirk of her lips, putting her hands into the front pockets of her well-fitting jeans.
He hiked Nicky up farther as the little boy squirmed. “You could say that. Twins are very challenging.” Understatement. Never mind that he never felt he had a very good handle on the single-dad thing.
Big blue eyes regarded him for a long moment, and again that sense of familiarity misted through Sam. Where had he seen her before? Unease had him shifting from foot to foot.
Rosie pointed at Sam’s rescuer and piped in with, “I want to see that necklace.” The woman gave Rosie an indulgent smile and squatted until she was at Rosie’s level. “See?” she said, holding out the chunky gold chain around her neck.
Rosie fingered it. “It’s pretty!”
“Thank you,” the woman said. Then after a few moments, she looked up and said, “You don’t recognize me, do you, Sam?”
His face heated. Yeah. She obviously recognized him, but he had no idea who she was. Awkward. “Um...no, I don’t,” he answered honestly. “But you do look familiar.”
She lifted the necklace over her head and handed it to Rosie.
Rosie crowed in delight.
The gal rose and stepped forward. “I’m Allison True, your sister Lori’s best friend from growing up?” She held out her hand. “Long time, no see, Sammy.”
Sammy? He blinked as shock rolled through him, and he froze for a second, staring at her. Suddenly, everything meshed and recognition clicked into place. “Oh, wow!” He took her small hand in his. Little sparks skidded along his arm as soon as they touched.
“Surprise!” Allison smiled, exposing straight white teeth devoid of the braces she’d worn in high school. “It’s me.”
He cleared his throat and reclaimed his hand. “I knew I knew you from somewhere, but I couldn’t place you.” He roamed his gaze over her face, noting her smooth, creamy complexion, with just a hint of freckles across her nose. She had a delicate jawline and cornflower-blue eyes, which he now recalled were called the True-blue eyes because everybody in the True family had them. “But, man, have you changed.” Another understatement. He remembered her mostly as a nerdy bookworm who wore glasses and her hair in braids, though she had blossomed in high school and he’d actually wanted to ask her out.
She rolled her eyes playfully. “Good thing. I would hate to look like the gangly teenager I was the last time I saw you.” She made a face. “Ugh.”
He nodded. “Nope, you’re definitely not a gangly teenager anymore.” Far, far from it. In fact, she’d grown into a beautiful woman. Not that he was really noticing.... All right, he was, but only in a very observational kind of way. As in, hey, she’d changed a lot.
“Glad to hear it,” she said with an impish smile that he found very appealing.
Nicky kicked his legs. “Put me down, Daddy!”
“Let’s stay up here, dude,” Sam replied. “We need to leave the bookstore standing.”
“Nooo!” Nicky cried. “I want down!”
Allison stepped forward. “Hey, Nicky. What’s your favorite thing in the whole world?”
“Cars,” Nicky replied, pushing at Sam’s shoulders. It was hard to contain this busy little boy for long. On the other hand, Rosie had plopped herself down on the floor to play with the necklace Allison had given her to look at. How could two siblings be so different?
“Cars?” Allison cocked her head to the side. “Well, I know where we can find some books about cars.”
Nicky stilled and turned to Allison. “You do?”
“Sure,” Allison said. “Would you like to see?”
“Yes!” Nicky replied.
“What’s the special word?” Sam automatically asked as he put Nicky down.
“Please?” Nicky responded.
Sam looked at Allison. “You sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course not. This is a bookstore, a place to look at books.” She held out a hand to Nicky. “Right, Nicky?”
He took her hand. “Right!” he said, jumping in place.
“Well, right this way,” Allison said with a tug on Nicky’s hand.
“Can I come, too?” Rosie said.
Allison held out her other hand. “Of course. What kind of books do you like?”
Rosie took her hand. “Princess books,” she replied with a jump of her own.
“Okay, we have those,” Allison said with an indulgent smile.
