he’d only been out a handful of times since his wife’s death—the first being only about six months ago.
“A few first dates and not a single second date.”
He shrugged. “I haven’t met anyone that I wanted to go out with more than once.”
Even as Andrew said the words, a carousel of images played through his mind—and all of them were Rachel. Behind the counter of the flower shop, a small smile on her face as she wrapped a bouquet; in the kitchen at Valentino’s, a hint of sadness clouding her gorgeous blue eyes when she mentioned her dating hiatus; at the bowling alley, a brilliant smile illuminating her face after she’d knocked down her first pins; outside her apartment building at the end of the night, her eyes soft and warm, as her lips touched his cheek.
“What about Bridget?”
He pushed the memories of Rachel to the back of his mind. “Bridget was serious stalker material.”
“What did she do—call you the day after your date?”
“She called. She texted. She emailed. And then she showed up at the house—and I never told her where I lived.”
“Okay, that’s a little obsessive,” Nathan allowed.
“And when I made the mistake of inviting her to come inside for a drink—because I didn’t know how else to respond to her presence on my doorstep—she immediately started making decorating suggestions.”
“Well, she is an interior designer.”
“Who walked through the house until she found my bedroom and then told me the feng shui wasn’t conducive to getting naked and sweaty.”
Nate winced. “Okay—forget Bridget. Tell me about this girl you went bowling with last night—how did you meet her?”
“She works at a flower shop downtown.”
“Please don’t tell me you were in there buying flowers to take to the cemetery.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you.”
Nathan groaned. “That’s pathetic.”
“Why does it matter where I met her? We’re just...friends,” he decided, because acquaintances seemed overly vague a description for a woman who had played a starring role in the sexual dreams that plagued his sleep the previous evening. Of course, he wasn’t going to share that with his brother.
“Is she coyote ugly?”
He choked on his beer. “Jeez, Nate. No. She’s not ugly at all.”
“Then what does she look like?”
He could picture her clearly: the silky brown hair that she kept tied back when she was working but had brushed out so that it hung loose to her shoulders last night; the deep blue eyes that reminded him of clear summer skies; the light dusting of freckles over the bridge of her pert nose; the tiny mole at the corner of her temptingly shaped mouth; the graceful slope of her shoulders; the unmistakably feminine curves.
But he couldn’t mention any one of those things, because he knew that if he did, his brother would somehow sense everything that he wasn’t saying. Most notably that Rachel Ellis was the first woman who had stuck in his mind—and stirred his body—in a very long time.
“She’s...attractive,” he finally said. “In a girl-next-door kind of way.”
Nathan’s brows lifted. “So if you’re really not interested, maybe you’ll introduce her to me.”
“No.” His response was immediate and unequivocal.
“Why not?”
“Because she’s...sweet.”
“I like sweet.”
“Said the wolf to Red Riding Hood,” Andrew noted drily.
His brother grinned.
“Besides, I thought you were dating some flight attendant.”
“Yeah, but since she picked up the San Francisco to Tokyo route, I hardly see her,” he admitted.
“I guess that would explain why you were alone on Valentine’s Day.”
“And most other days that end with a y,” Nate grumbled.
Before Andrew could respond to that, his brother’s pocket started ringing. Nate pulled out his cell phone and smiled when he saw the name on the display. Andrew started to clear up his tools while his brother answered the call.
“That was Mallory,” he said, tucking his phone away again. “She’s got four days off and is just about to get on a plane headed home.”
“I guess you’re not going to be alone tonight,” he noted.
His brother grinned. “Do you know where I can pick up some flowers?”
* * *
Maura didn’t understand why they had to go outside for recess. Mrs. Patterson, her first grade teacher, insisted that fresh air was good for them. But by the time they all got their boots and hats and coats on, recess was half-over.
Sometimes they played grounders on the climber, but today she was just hanging out on the swings with her best friend, Kristy. Not even swinging, just sitting on the cold plastic seats and waiting for the bell to ring again so they could go back inside.
“I saw Simon put a Valentine in your box on Friday.”
“He gave Valentines to everyone,” Maura said. “It’s like a rule.”
“But he gave you the biggest one,” Kristy said. “I think he likes you.”
Maura just shrugged. Kristy thought it was a big deal to know which boys liked which girls, but she didn’t really care.
“Boys give you things when they like you—especially on Valentine’s Day,” Kristy told her. “My mom’s boyfriend gave her a ring and now they’re going to get married and Greg’s going to be my new dad.”
“But you already have a dad.”
“Yeah, but my mom says he’s a deadbeat and Greg will be a better one.”
Maura frowned. It didn’t seem fair that Kristy was getting another dad when she already had one. Not that Maura wanted another dad—she already had the best dad in the world. But she thought it would be kinda cool if she could get a new mom, ’cuz the one she’d had died when Maura was little.
“And I get to be a flower girl in the wedding,” Kristy said. “But Tiffany gets to be a bridesmaid, ’cuz she’s older and ’cuz she got to be a flower girl at our mom’s last wedding. We’re gonna have matching dresses, though. Probably pink.”
Maura thought it would be fun to be in a wedding. Before Christmas, her dad had taken her out of school for a couple of days so they could go to Uncle Jack’s
