“What would you like to help with?” she asked cautiously.
“I make great hot chocolate, with milk and an instant mix. Is that what you were planning on doing?”
“Actually, it was.” When she smiled at him, she felt that heart-twirling sensation again.
Trying to chill, trying to ignore tingles running through the body she no longer knew, she motioned to a lower cupboard. “Saucepan is down there. Hot chocolate mix is in that jar.” She pointed to a mason jar on the counter next to a row of ceramic canisters.
When she reached above her to get a thermos from the upper cupboard, she had to stand on her tiptoes. But the thermos was pushed back on the shelf, just out of her reach.
“Here, let me.” He was behind her then, and she could feel the strength of him…the heat of him…smell his limy scent as he reached above her.
“I’m too short,” she mumbled. “Megan can reach up there. She must have put it there.”
“Megan?”
“She’s my sister. She lives in the apartment above the garage. She usually helps me with the kids, but she’s away on business now. My neighbor across the street has been helping out.”
When he lowered the thermos, he set it on the counter, and they were very close, his elbow brushing hers.
She had to get a grip. She was going to be in the presence of this man the whole afternoon, and she couldn’t act like an idiot.
“I noticed Anthony’s name is different from yours.”
Making the decision to take back her maiden name hadn’t been easy, because she hadn’t wanted to affect the kids, who had of course kept Jerome’s surname of Buffington. But she’d needed that piece of paper reiterating her independence in that way, too. “I took back my maiden name after my divorce.”
“Bitter divorce?”
“It could have been more amicable, I guess, but we tried to put the kids first.”
“But now your ex-husband isn’t putting the kids first?”
This man was a stranger, yet he deserved to understand the situation so he could relate to Anthony. “Jerome isn’t the most dependable man on earth. He’s missed his last two dates with the kids. Anthony, especially, has reacted to that. I’m afraid he thinks his dad doesn’t love him. I’ve called Jerome and left messages but he doesn’t call back. The truth is—I think he sees my number on his caller ID and ignores us.”
“And this is why you called the community center?”
“We had an incident earlier in the week. Anthony locked himself in his room. A neighbor suggested the Big Brother program. I’m willing to try anything. I don’t want him to turn into a defiant teenager.”
Nodding solemnly, David moved a few steps away to retrieve the packets of hot chocolate.
Angela felt as if she could breathe again.
Now that he knew something about her, she wanted to know more than statistics about him. “Is your family around here?”
After a moment’s hesitation, he explained, “My dad lives about an hour north and I have a sister another half hour from there. I don’t see them as much as I should.”
“I know what you mean. Life gets too busy. Since Megan got engaged, I don’t see as much of her as I used to.”
“That happened recently?”
“July. She and Greg are getting married on New Year’s Eve.” Angela sighed. “I’m going to miss her when she moves out.”
“Is she moving far away?”
“No, they’ll be staying in Rosewood. But…it won’t be the same. She was a great support after my divorce. She’s my best friend.”
He was listening to her, looking at her as if he understood every word she said. When had a man ever listened to her? Really listened?
He’s younger than you, a scolding voice in her head warned her. And you have three kids, it added, as if the age difference weren’t enough.
However, David was looking at her as if they were the only two people on earth. Her fingers practically itched to sift through his brown blond hair that fell rakishly over his brow. The scent of his aftershave drew her closer, as did the gold sparks in his hazel eyes.
He lifted his arm…
Was he going to touch her cheek? Was he going to bend his head and kiss her?
The zip of sexual attraction bounced between them as she waited breathlessly.
Chapter Two
David knew he had to deep-six any desire he felt for this woman. Escaping from whatever had come over him, he straightened and took a healthy step away from her. “I’d better get the milk going.”
She blinked those very blue eyes at him. What was it about Angela Schumacher that got to him?
“Sure.” A look of self-protective pride spread over her face, mixing with another emotion. Disappointment maybe?
They weren’t going to talk about what almost happened. That would make it more real. At this point, he could turn off his attraction to her and set himself on the right course. He was here because of her son.
End of story.
She busied herself wrapping cookies in tin foil. “Sledding will be a real treat for the kids today. Last year we only went twice. Did you go often as a kid?”
The questions about his background shouldn’t have thrown him, but they did. He didn’t know how much he wanted to reveal. It wasn’t as if he had anything to hide—his life was an open book, if anybody wanted to look. But his life hadn’t ended up where he thought it would, and there had been disappointments along the way for him, as well as his family.
“We lived on a farm, so there were a lot of places to go sledding.”
“What kind of farm?” She looked genuinely interested.
“A dairy farm. Dad still keeps it all running, but I don’t know how much longer he can do that.”
“What about your mom?”
“She died when I was in my teens—of ovarian cancer.”
“I’m so sorry. Losing a parent is rough. My parents were divorced, and I didn’t see my dad much after that. It’s not nearly the same thing, but it’s why I know how Anthony feels,” she said.
“We’ll see if we can’t do something about that, starting today.”
The smile she gave him tightened his gut and made other physical reactions start happening, too. He wondered if she knew what a powerful punch she packed as a woman.
He
