hid her frustration behind a smile as she stuck out her hand. “Nice to see you again, Sawyer.”
The shimmer of understanding that flashed in his eyes put Leslie at ease. He sympathized. Of course he sympathized. They were in the same boat, being thrust together by a community of meddlesome, though well-meaning, people.
“It’s nice to see you, as well,” he said.
So, he had a really nice voice. And strong, yet soft hands. He wasn’t bad on the eyes, either. His smooth dark skin was practically flawless, and those obsidian eyes practically dared you to look away from him.
But a pretty face had never been a selling point for her.
“I was sorry to hear about Braylon,” he said. “All of Gauthier was proud of him when he joined the military. He served our country well.”
Leslie nodded and smiled. The old nod and smile had become her rote response whenever talk veered in the vicinity of her deceased husband.
“I really enjoyed your singing this morning,” Sawyer added, his tone lighter. “It’s been a long time since I stepped foot in a church. Your voice was a lovely homecoming.”
He had that charm thing down pat. She was a sucker for a charmer, but still, no cigar.
“Thank you,” Leslie said with another polite smile.
He shifted from one foot to the other. So did she. The awkwardness was so tangible that Reverend Allan would demand it add money to the collection plate if it hung around much longer.
Of course, it was hard not to notice the palpable awkwardness when the conversations around them had all but ceased, making it painfully obvious that she and Sawyer were the focus of every eye in the church hall.
Where in the heck were her daughters? She needed rescuing from this charming, handsome man before the dozens of people watching them—all of them failing miserably at being covert—got the wrong impression. Leslie knew that if even one person thought there was a spark between her and Sawyer, the sweet, well-intentioned matriarchs of Gauthier would wage an all-out campaign to get the two of them together.
Why couldn’t the people in this town mind their own damn business?
It was as if a green light had been turned on the day after the first anniversary of Braylon’s death. Once the acceptable grieving period had passed, all of Gauthier had been on a quest to find her a man, as if she was on the verge of collapsing from loneliness if she wasn’t paired with someone soon.
Because, of course, she had all the time in the world to be lonely.
She was a single working mother with two daughters determined to take part in every extracurricular activity they could sign up for, and a full-time job that demanded more from her than she had to give. She barely had time to breathe.
But that didn’t stop the fine people of Gauthier from foisting their single friends and relatives on her.
Sawyer Robertson was just one in a passel of men who had been paraded before her, all of them the perfect man to help her raise her poor little fatherless daughters. But Sawyer had proved to be more dangerous than any of the other men thus far. She had been introduced to her share of visiting nephews or friends of a friend of a friend, but the full-court press she’d faced since Sawyer’s return was unprecedented.
And unlike the visiting nephews, Sawyer wasn’t just passing through town. He was in Gauthier to stay. In a house just a few blocks from hers. All of Gauthier was determined to see this love connection happen.
This town! These nosy, prying people! She needed a break from it all.
“Mommy!” Kristi, her youngest, who had just turned five and was no longer her little baby, came running up to Leslie, the front of her white dress stained with purple Popsicle juice. “Mommy, are we still putting the swinging bed in the backyard after church?”
“Yes, we are!” And Kristi would get extra dessert for rescuing her from this painful situation. “Why don’t you get your sister so we can leave?” Leslie turned to Sawyer and explained, “It’s a hammock. I promised the girls we would finally hang it today.”
“Sounds like a lovely way to spend a lazy afternoon.”
Yeah, that smile was really nice. There was no way to deny it.
“Do you need any help hanging the hammock?” he asked.
“Oh, no,” Leslie said quickly. “The instructions are pretty straightforward. My girls and I can handle it.”
A perfectly shaped brow arched before he asked, “Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind coming over to help.”
Leslie heard an excited gasp come from somewhere just over her shoulder. Lord, she needed to leave. Now.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she said.
More silence. More awkwardness. More reasons to get the heck out of here.
She pointed to the double doors of the church hall. “I should probably go.”
Sawyer nodded and stepped aside so she could pass. As she skirted around him, he called, “Uh, Leslie?”
Her eyes darted to him and she held her breath.
Please don’t ask me out. Please don’t ask me out.
Sawyer stuck both hands into his pockets and quickly glanced to the side where Eloise, Clementine and Claudette were staring openly. He lifted one shoulder in an indelicate shrug and said, “I was wondering if maybe you’d like to grab dinner sometime?”
Oh, good God. He asked me out.
The effort to keep the pained expression from taking over her face was a valiant one, but it was impossible to stop it. She mentally cursed every interfering busybody in this town. Sawyer was a perfectly nice man. He didn’t deserve this.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” Leslie said. “I’m so busy with work and my girls, and I’m also president of the PTO at the school this year. I just can’t spare the time. Thank you for the invitation, though.”
He did a fantastic job of hiding his disappointment, but Leslie still caught a glimpse of it in the way his mouth pinched at the corners.
She hated this. She hated being this perpetual stick-in-the-mud who constantly shot down advances from genuinely nice men. But finding a man was the very last thing on her agenda. She didn’t care that the people in this town thought it was time for her to jump into the dating pool again. She was not putting herself out there until she was good and ready.
“Maybe some other time,” Sawyer said.
Leslie didn’t give him an answer, only another of those half smiles before she quickly made her way toward the door. She caught sight of Clementine, Claudette and Eloise standing off to the right. All three looked shocked and agitated, as if she’d messed up their well-laid plans.
That was too bad. She didn’t need a matchmaker.
Unfortunately, she was living in a
