When he offered her his arm, covered by the red down jacket, she took hold of it, noticing how strong it was. At five-four and 105 pounds, she felt fragile as she stepped down and stood before him.
“I didn’t get a call from the community center saying you didn’t want me to come. You checked the references?”
“Yes. Everybody gave you glowing recommendations.”
“I enjoy being with the kids and I hope they enjoy being with me. That’s what matters.”
Whatever David Moore had been or was now, his ego didn’t seem to be as big as her house.
David took the hammer from her hand and went up the first step of the ladder. “Clips?” he asked.
Taking a few from her pocket, she handed them to him. In less time than it would have taken her, he had the lights fastened along the edge of the porch roof.
Facing her again, he asked, “Is Anthony around?”
“He’s up in his room, sulking. I told him you might come by. He wants no part of a Big Brother. So he says.”
Whenever she looked into David Moore’s eyes, she felt…stunned in some way. From the stat sheet he’d given her, she had seen he was twenty-eight, three years younger than she was. She’d never entertained the idea of being attracted to a younger man. Even before Jerome, she’d seemed to be attracted to men older than she was. But there was something about David that was so…breath catching.
“Since he’s not in favor of this idea, maybe we should go at it sideways,” David suggested.
“Sideways?”
“Kids are taking advantage of the first snow and tubing down the hill near there servoir. I saw them when I drove in.”
She understood what he meant. “Anthony has a sled.”
“The social worker who works with the community center said Anthony has a sister who’s seven and a brother who’s five. Do you think they’d like to go, too? If we made this a group outing, maybe Anthony would get used to me.”
“You want me to go along?”
“Wouldn’t you feel better about me spending time with Anthony if you were around?”
This man was perceptive. “Actually, I would. I didn’t like the idea of you just taking him away somewhere. Not yet, anyway.”
“Then sledding it is. Hopefully I can ease into a friendship without a lot of pressure on him to accept me.”
“I could make cocoa to take along, and I baked a batch of cookies when I got home. We can take those, too.” She didn’t have the reputation of being Super mom for nothing.
“A woman who actually bakes!” he commented with a grin. “You’re a lost breed.”
She laughed, a bit self-consciously. “I like to cook and experiment with recipes. Especially desserts.”
His gaze slid over her fitted green wool jacket and black leggings. “You mustn’t eat them.”
She blushed, feeling foolish. “I eat my share. I’m just so busy running from one job to another and taking care of the kids, I must burn it off.” She began to fold the ladder.
“I can get that. Does it go in the garage?”
She nodded. “You can come into the house and go through the breezeway off the kitchen. I’ll round up the kids and tell them to get ready.”
Olivia and Michael, who were watching TV, looked interested when Angela introduced David. After she explained they were going to go sledding, they gave a “whoop” and ran to their rooms to dress warmly.
Standing in the foyer, she called up the stairs. “Anthony. Come here a minute, will you? Mr. Moore is here.”
Anthony came to the top of the stairs and gazed down at her and David.
“Come on down,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t be rude. She’d been firmer with him since the day he’d locked himself in his room, and he wasn’t happy about it.
When he reached the bottom step, David extended his hand to him. “Hi, I’m David Moore.”
“I don’t need anyone to take me to the movies or treat me like a kid,” Anthony said defensively.
“I guess you don’t. And you’re old enough to know what you want to do. But I thought all of us could try out this snow. I put tubes in the back of my SUV and I’ve got a toboggan, too. Or, you can take your own sled. I thought we’d all go.”
Anthony looked at his mother. “You’re going to go sledding?”
“I just might. I’m not over the hill yet.” She didn’t know why she’d said that.
“You could break something,” Anthony mumbled.
David laughed. “Maybe you and I will just have to make sure she doesn’t.”
It was obvious that Anthony was fighting a battle within. He didn’t want to go along with David, but he liked the idea of sledding. Or tubing. Or tobogganing. “Olivia and Michael are going, too?”
“Sure. We can all use the fresh air,” Angela remarked, as if it weren’t a big thing to go on a family outing. They rarely did that anymore. Since Jerome left, outings emphasized his absence. Not that he’d been great at family activities. When they were married, he’d worked late and had always done his own thing on weekends.
It had taken Angela too long to catch on to what her husband’s own thing was. But she had caught on and had confronted him with a woman’s bracelet she’d found in the pocket of his suit jacket. Then her next-door neighbor, Judith Martin, had told her she’d seen Jerome and a redhead having a late dinner at Entrée, a trendy restaurant in town that another one of her neighbor’s owned. Jerome had insisted it was a business dinner, but she’d figured otherwise. He’d taken the woman to that particular restaurant so it would get back to her. He’d wanted out. She’d suggested counseling, but he’d just laughed, hurting her big-time when he admitted he wasn’t meant to be monogamous—it simply wasn’t in his nature.
When he’d left that evening, he’d seemed happy about changing his life. She’d cried herself to sleep every night for about two weeks. Then, after a heart-to-heart with her sister, she’d known she was better off without him. He’d chipped off a piece of her heart, though, and although it had been three years, the wound hadn’t completely healed.
“Do you know where my boots are?” Anthony asked, being practical.
“I think they’re in the basement. While you change, I’ll get them. Tell Olivia and Michael to put sweaters on under their parkas.”
Anthony made a face, then ran up the stairs.
By the time Angela found the kids’ boots and her own, David was back in the kitchen, shedding his coat. “If I help you, we’ll get out of here sooner—before Anthony changes his mind.”
The
