Running Scared

by Shirlee McCoy

  “What kind of support are you thinking I need?”

  “More manpower.”

  “You mean more weapon power.”

  “That, too.”

  “I’m good for now. I’ll let you know if things change. Now, you’d better get back to searching for Nikolai.”

  “Take care, boss.” Jackson hung up before Kane could tell him to knock off the boss thing.

  He shoved the phone back in his pocket as he pulled up in front of Edith’s house.

  Maggie was standing on the porch, her ponytail falling over her shoulder in a silky gold rope. She looked nervous and uneasy, her shoulders tense, and Kane wondered what it was about him that made her so uneasy.

  Was it the fact that he was a private investigator and she had secrets?

  Was it the fact that there was obvious chemistry between them?

  Or was it simply that Kane was a man, and Maggie had been abused or disappointed or both one too many times in her life?

  “Ready to eat?” She smiled brightly as Eli bounded up the stairs, but her nervousness was impossible to hide.

  “What are we going to have?”

  “How about pizza? That’s easy to make and I have all the ingredients.”

  “We can make pizza?”

  “Sure. I’ll show you how, and then we can play a game while it cooks.”

  “What kind of game?”

  “We’ll think of something,” Maggie said, unlocking the door and hurrying inside.

  She hadn’t offered Kane more than a brief glance.

  Maybe she wished he’d change his mind and go to the hospital. He wouldn’t.

  There was too much at stake. Eli’s safety. Maggie’s.

  Until Kane knew for sure that Maggie’s ex wasn’t coming after her, he’d make no assumptions and take nothing for granted.

  He scanned the empty street, searching for danger but finding nothing. The day was peaceful and silent. Of course, things could change in an instant. He’d learned that the day Eli disappeared, and it wasn’t something he’d ever forget.

  Help me keep Eli and Maggie safe, Lord, he prayed silently as he followed Maggie and Eli up the stairs and into her apartment.

  ELEVEN

  Maggie held the bowl of mozzarella cheese as Eli finished sprinkling the contents over their pizza.

  “Now what?” he asked as he took the bowl and dumped the last few crumbs onto the pie.

  “It’s ready to bake. Fifteen minutes and we’ll be eating.”

  “That’s not very long.” Eli stood back while Maggie opened the oven and slid the pizza in.

  “No, it’s not.”

  “But it’s enough time to play a game, right?”

  “Sure, but we’ll have to go downstairs and borrow one from Ms. Edith.” Maggie washed her hands, gestured for Eli to do the same, and then stepped out of the kitchen, bracing herself for what she knew she’d see—Kane sitting at the small dining room table, his laptop in front of him as he worked. He’d retrieved it from his SUV when she’d said that her galley kitchen was too small to accommodate more than one helper.

  She’d avoided having him under her feet and succeeded in creating the kind of wholesome domestic scene that could have come from any 1950s-era television show. Which was exactly the kind of life she’d wanted when she was Eli’s age. She could still remember lying in bed, listening to her mother’s hard-partying friends and imagining that she lived in another home with another family. One that cared. She’d been young then and naive enough to think she really could make a better life than the one her mother and grandmother had created.

  And she had, eventually.

  She wasn’t going to mess that up by allowing a man into it.

  Kane looked up as she walked into the room, offering a half smile, his green eyes as warm and inviting as the sun after a winter storm.

  “You guys finished?” he asked.

  “Yes. The pizza will be ready in fifteen minutes. Eli and I are going to go down and borrow a game from Edith.”

  “I’ll come with you. I need to stretch anyway.” He stood, and Maggie couldn’t help noticing the way his shirt hugged well-built shoulders and muscular biceps, couldn’t stop from thinking that having him around brought renewed energy into her tired little apartment.

  “I’m ready. Can we go get the game now?” Eli walked out of the kitchen, and Maggie turned away from Kane, glad for the distraction and determined to ignore the man as much as possible for the next few hours. If she didn’t, she might find herself sinking way deeper into a relationship with him than she wanted to.

  “Sure. Ms. Edith has dozens. She says they’re for her grandkids, but I think she likes to play, too.”

  “I hope she has Monopoly.”

  “You like playing Monopoly? That’s always been one of my favorites,” Kane said as he followed them out into the hall.

  Did he feel like a third wheel, an outsider trying his best to become one of the gang?

  The thought made Maggie rethink her plan to ignore him. Doing so wasn’t fair to Kane, it wasn’t fair to Eli and it probably wasn’t even fair to Maggie. She was, after all, a grown woman. Completely capable of having a man in her home, in her life without falling for him. She hoped.

  “I was always more of a trivia nut, but I’m game for a round of Monopoly if you guys are,” she said, hoping Kane couldn’t hear the uneasiness in her voice.

  “Did I hear someone mention Monopoly?” Edith asked, peeking her head out of her living room.

  “We were going to borrow the game from you, Ms. Edith,” Eli responded. “Me and Ms. Tennyson made pizza, and we’re going to start the game while we wait for it to cook.”

  “Pizza and Monopoly. Now that does sound like a load of fun. I don’t suppose you all have room for one more?”

  Maggie nearly jumped with relief at the thought of Edith joining the game. At least with another adult around, things wouldn’t feel quite so comfortably domestic.

  “That sounds good to me. What do you think, Eli? Kane?”

  “Works for me,” Kane responded, and Eli nodded a slightly less enthusiastic agreement.

  “We can set the game up on my kitchen table and eat in the dining room,” Edith said. “Your table is just a little too small for a family meal. You may have to rethink that when you move out to the country.” Edith offered a sly smile as she bustled down the hall and into her kitchen.

  Beautifully modernized, it was a large room with plenty of space for the antique walnut table that sat against one wall, two mismatched chairs on either side of it. “You three get settled. I’ll get the game.”

  “Would you like me to set the dining room table while you do that?” Maggie asked, glad for any task that would get her out of the same room as Kane.

  “Sure. You know where the plates are. Nothing fancy today since it’s just pizza with friends, but do use the tablecloth. It always makes things seem festive. It’s in the china cabinet. You boys can set up the game when I get back.” Boys?

  Maggie glanced at Kane, barely hiding her amused smile.

  He grinned, flashing straight white teeth.

  Not a boy. A man.

  And that was a fact Maggie couldn’t seem to ignore no matter how much she might want to.

  She opened a cupboard and pulled out a handful of plates, her heart beating just a little too hard and fast. She opened another cupboard, pulled out a stack of plastic cups, then started to carry them across the room.

  “Looks like you might need some help.” Kane took the entire stack from her hands, his fingers brushing hers, the spicy scent of his aftershave drifting around them.

  “Really, I’m fine. You and Eli should just stay here so you can set up the game—”

  But Kane was already gone, out the door, probably in the dining room setting the table while Maggie stood in the kitchen trying to protest.

  “Don’t worry, Ms. Tennyson, I’ll set up the game,” Eli offered solemnly.

  “Thanks, Eli.”
>
  By the time Maggie walked into the dining room, Kane had already set the cups and plates in a stack on the table.

  “This table is big enough for an army,” he commented, and Maggie nodded.

  “Edith has a large family. You only saw about half of them the other night. If you can just lift the plates and cups for a minute, I’ll look for the tablecloth.”

  “Lots of kids, huh?” He stepped aside while she rummaged through the china cabinet, found the tablecloth and spread it out on the table.

  “Just three, but each of them gave her a truckload of grandkids. I think she was up to fifteen at last count. Plus three great-grandkids.”

  “Wow!”

  “Yeah, things can get pretty loud here at Christmas. There. All set.” She smoothed the tablecloth, then gestured for Kane to put the plates and cups down. “You can just put those anywhere, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

  “In other words, you want me to leave.”

  “I just figured you’d want to go help Eli with the game.”

  “Really? Because I was thinking I make you uncomfortable.”

  “You don’t.” Much.

  “Then why do you keep trying to avoid being in the same room as me?”

  “What makes you think I’m doing that?”

  “The fact that every time I enter a room, you leave it.”

  “I haven’t done that.”

  “But you’d like to.”

  “Look, Kane.” She turned from the plates she was setting out and faced him, her heart leaping as she looked into his emerald eyes.

  “What?”

  Good question. What had she planned to say?

  “You’re Eli’s father, a man I barely know, and suddenly we’re having pizza and playing games on Sunday afternoon. I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…just because.” She turned back around, placed the last of the plates and set the cups down with a little more force than necessary. She expected Kane to leave. Was waiting for him to leave. He didn’t.

  “I’m sure Edith has found the game. Shouldn’t you go help set it up?”

  “I will, but I want you to know something before I do.” Kane’s hands cupped her shoulders, and he urged her around to face him. “I didn’t mean to barge into your life, but I have, and I’m not going to back out of it now.”

  “I don’t expect you to. I know that Eli feels comfortable with me, and I know that he needs someone familiar in his life. I’m happy to give him that.” She eased away from his touch, but the warmth of his hands lingered.

  “I’m not just doing this for Eli. I think you know that.”

  “Dad! Ms. Edith sent me to get you. She says we need to get the game ready, and she said the pizza is probably burnt.” Eli skidded into the room, cutting off further conversation.

  “I’d better go check on it,” Maggie said, nearly running from the room and from Kane, from whatever it was he might have said if his son hadn’t interrupted.

  I’m not just doing this for Eli.

  Then who was he doing it for? Himself?

  Maggie?

  Did she even want to know?

  She shoved open the door to her apartment and considered slamming it closed and locking it, but Eli would be disappointed if she didn’t bring down the pizza and play the game. Edith would be worried, and she’d come looking for Maggie.

  Or worse, she’d send Kane.

  Maggie hurried into the kitchen and took the pizza out of the oven. The cheese was bubbly and brown, the crust golden. It was perfect, and Maggie knew she couldn’t put off the inevitable. She had to carry the pizza down into the dining room, sit with Kane and Eli and Edith and eat with them.

  “It’s not like it’s a big deal,” she said to herself as she made her way back through the apartment. The phone rang, but she ignored it. The sooner she got the afternoon over with, the better.

  Edith was waiting for her as she walked into the dining room, her eyes shining with curiosity. “I sent the boys down to the basement to grab a few bottles of soda. I figured if you were providing the food, I could provide the drink.”

  “Thanks, I’ll go get ice.” Maggie set the pizza on the table and scooped up the cups.

  “Hold on a minute, Maggie. You really think I don’t have soda in the fridge? I sent them down so I could ask you something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What in the world is going on?”

  “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

  “I’m talking about you and Eli and that good-looking father of his. Sitting at church together. Then playing games and having pizza together.”

  “Eli’s having a tough time. I’m trying to help him ease into his new life.”

  “You expect me to believe that’s all there is to it?”

  “Yes, because that is all there is to it,” Maggie hissed as the sound of Eli and Kane returning echoed down the hall.

  “Smells good in here.” Kane entered the room with a bottle of grape soda in his hand, and Edith frowned.

  “Grape?”

  “Eli thought we’d all enjoy it.”

  “In that case, it looks wonderful. Maggie is going to get ice, and then we’ll pray and eat. And then…” She paused for dramatic effect. “I’m going to trounce every one of you at Monopoly.”

  “No way! I’m going to win,” Eli said, laughing, and Maggie smiled as she went to get the ice.

  At least someone was having a good day, and that was what the idea of lunch and ice cream had been about. Giving Eli a good time, helping him relax with his father, bringing the two of them a little closer.

  “Edith told me you needed help carrying the glasses back.” Kane’s voice was so surprising, Maggie nearly dropped the cup she’d just filled with ice.

  She whirled around, her pulse racing. “Edith is good at bossing people around.”

  “I’m learning that.”

  “Here you go.” Maggie handed Kane two glasses.

  “Thanks, and thanks for today. It’s good to hear my son laugh again.”

  “You can thank Edith for that one.”

  “You brought the two of them together.”

  “Eli is a special kid, Kane, and I want to help him in any way I can.”

  “You’re a good person.”

  “No. I’m not. I’m just someone doing the best I can.” She offered a smile and headed back to the dining room, her pulse still racing.

  Would Kane think she was a good person if he knew everything about the kind of life she’d lived in Miami? Would he think it if he knew that she’d worked as an exotic dancer at night and spent her days pursuing one thrill after another?

  No. Maggie wasn’t good.

  She was simply forgiven.

  “Are we ready to eat? I’m starved,” Eli said as she set an ice-filled cup in front of him.

  “We sure are,” she replied, settling into a chair next to Edith.

  “Shall we ask the Lord’s blessing on the meal?” Edith held out her hands, and Maggie clasped one. Eli hesitated, then clasped the other.

  And that’s when Maggie realized that to complete the circle, she would have to hold Kane’s hand.

  She could be childish and refuse to take it, or she could act like the mature adult she sometimes was and do what needed to be done.

  She placed her hand in his and felt warmth shoot up her arm, felt his fingers tighten fractionally.

  “Kane, would you mind asking the blessing for us?”

  “Not at all.” He bowed his head, and Maggie did the same, her heart thumping too fast and too hard. She should not be having this kind of reaction to Kane.

  She should not be having any reaction to him.

  As soon as the prayer was over, she tugged her hand away, grabbed the pizza cutter Edith had set on the table and began slicing the pie, studiously avoiding Kane’s eyes while she did so.

  She’d eat the pizza and play the game, but she would not l
et herself relax around Kane. She would not allow herself to think of him as a friend.

  Or something more.

  That was the plan, but as she set a slice of pizza on Kane’s plate, caught his easy grin as he watched his son sipping grape soda, Maggie started to relax. Started to enjoy the easy conversation around the table.

  By the time the meal was finished and the Monopoly game ended, she could barely remember what she’d been so worried about. Kane was charming, but he had paid no more attention to Maggie than he had to Edith. Obviously fatigue and fear had made her overreact to what she’d felt when Kane had held her hand. Obviously, it had made her overthink his words and his gestures. He was a nice guy, doing his best to create a loving home for his son. To think he’d have any time or energy left to devote to a relationship with a woman was ridiculous.

  “How about that ice cream?” Edith asked as Eli carefully put away the game pieces.

  “Maybe we could have pie, too,” the nine-year-old responded hopefully.

  “Eli, it’s not polite to ask for food when you’re at someone else’s house.” Kane pulled his cell phone from his pocket, glanced at it and frowned.

  “Do you think they’re finished running the tests on your sister?” Maggie asked.

  “My parents would have called me if they were. At this point, I’m hoping that no news is good news.”

  “Is your sister ill?” Edith asked.

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “I’m so sorry. I’ll have my Bible study group pray for her. Can you write her name down for me? My memory just isn’t what it should be.”

  “Sure.” Kane accepted the paper and pen Edith held out, and scribbled his sister’s name.

  “Thank you. Now, about that pie. I’ve got so much left over, I’ll be eating it for weeks. I’m more than happy to share it with my favorite young redhead. As for ice cream, all I have is vanilla, but I have plenty of that, too.” She smiled at Eli, and he beamed back.

  “I’ve got chocolate ice cream upstairs. Do you want any, Eli?”

  “Eli? What about me? I’m a regular chocolate fanatic, Maggie, so you just go right on ahead and get it.” Edith rose from the table and crossed the room.

  Maggie followed, jogging up the stairs and into her apartment, more lighthearted than she’d been in days. Spending time laughing and enjoying herself was exactly what she’d needed.