by Pamela Bauer
“It’s no trouble. I enjoy cooking, and to tell you the truth, I really don’t feel much like going home to an empty house tonight.”
“You have no plans for this evening?”
“Oh, heavens, no. I told you. Anytime you need me to sit with your father, all you have to do is ask. Would you like me to stay the night?”
It was an offer too great to resist. “Actually, I’d like to go back to Duluth if you’re sure it wouldn’t be an inconvenience for you.”
“Of course it’s no inconvenience. You go to the city.” She gave him a gentle shove. “Heavens, there’s more for a young man to do in Duluth than there is up here in the woods, right?” She gave him a wink.
Joe smiled. “Thanks, Letty. You’re a peach. I think I’ll pack a bag in case it gets too late to drive back tonight.”
FRANNIE SPENT MOST of the afternoon at Canal Park feeding the seagulls and watching the ships sail under the aerial lift bridge. Within walking distance from their hotel, the park had much to offer tourists, including a paved walkway skirting the shore of Lake Superior and a marine museum.
After eating burgers at a fast-food restaurant, the four of them went back to the hotel. Emma and Alex never tired of swimming, but Luke, already exhausted from being outside most of the afternoon, fell asleep shortly after they returned. Not even the lure of the kiddie pool and its splashing fountain could keep him awake.
With a poolside suite, Frannie could sit on the patio right outside their room, keep an eye on the sleeping Luke, yet still watch the twins as they swam in the pool. She sat with a towel wrapped around her waist, her one-piece suit still wet from her brief venture into the water with Luke.
“Mom, watch!” Alex called out, climbing out of the pool to run and jump back in, creating a huge splash. “I didn’t hold my nose that time,” he boasted when his head surfaced.
“Good for you,” she called out, waving her approval.
Both kids called to her often as they played in the water. That’s why when she heard Alex call out again, “Mom, look!” she expected to see him trying some daring stunt.
He wasn’t. He was pointing toward the courtyard leading into the pool area. Frannie leaned forward to see what had captured his attention. What she saw was Joe Smith walking across the cobblestone floor.
Dressed in a pair of dark slacks and a light blue shirt, he looked out of place among the swimsuitclad bodies lounging around the pool. Out of place, but definitely not uncomfortable. He walked with a quiet confidence that was very different from Dennis’s cocky swagger.
She wondered why he was here. It was obvious he was looking for someone by the way his eyes surveyed the area. When his gaze settled on her, she realized she was that someone.
“Joe, hi!” she said, feeling extremely selfconscious at her lack of clothing.
Alex had climbed out of the pool and come over to the patio, water dripping from his wet suit. “What are you doing here?” he demanded of Joe.
“Alex, remember your manners,” Frannie reprimanded gently.
Joe looked at Alex. “I have to take care of some business.”
“What kind of business?” Alex stood with his arms crossed over his chest and his wet head held high, looking very much like a king defending his throne.
“Alex!” Frannie glared at her son, wishing he would go back into the pool. “I said remember your manners.”
“Come on, Alex! We need you to make the teams even,” Emma called out, as several kids lined up on opposite ends of the pool to play water volleyball. Frannie could see that Emma didn’t find Joe’s return as interesting as Alex did.
Joe nodded toward the pool. “Looks like they’re waiting for you.”
Alex glanced over his shoulder to the kids in the water. “I’ll be right there,” he called out to them, then he turned to Joe and asked, “Are you here to confess?”
“No, Alex. I have nothing to confess.”
From the look on her son’s face, Frannie could see he didn’t believe Joe.
Then Joe said, “Think about it, Alex. Would I have taken the blood test if I knew it would turn out positive?”
Alex frowned. “Until I see it with my own two eyes, I’m not going to believe it,” he said. “You might be able to fool Mom, but you can’t fool me.” Then he ran and jumped back into the pool.
Joe turned to Frannie. “I guess you were right. It doesn’t matter what I say.”
She shook her head. “He needs the proof.”
“What about you, Frannie?” Joe asked, his eyes fixed on hers.
“You already know the answer to that one,” she told him. “I’m surprised you’re here.”
“So am I,” he admitted, looking out over the enclosed area. “I shouldn’t be. I try to live an uncomplicated life.”
“Then, why did you come?”
He turned back to her. “Because I couldn’t stay away.”
Her heart reacted immediately to his words, beating erratically. “You mean because of all this stuff with Alex,” she said weakly.
“No, I mean because of you.” The look in his eyes meant she could no longer pretend he was simply here because she was Alex’s mother. “I got all the way back to Grand Marais and I said to myself, ‘What am I doing here when I’d rather be someplace else?”’
“I don’t know what to say, Joe.”
He hooked a patio chair with his foot and pulled it toward him. Then he sat down, straddling it so that his arms rested across the back, and faced her. “Frannie, I’m thirty-three years old. I don’t know what your experience has been, but mine is that there are very few times in life when you meet someone and feel a strong connection. I felt that when I met you.”
“It would be hard not to after what my son has put you through,” she reminded him.
“If that were the case, I’d be annoyed with you, not attracted to you.”
He had admitted it. He was attracted to her. Not that she hadn’t recognized the silent messages his body language had conveyed.
“Joe, the way we met…” She tried to explain, but didn’t quite know what to say.
“Was pretty unusual. I know,” he finished.
“It isn’t just that.”
“Am I wasting my time being here?”
This was her chance to put a stop to any thoughts he might have that something could develop between the two of them. She thought about saying yes, but every instinct she had persuaded her not to be practical. “No.”
“Good. I didn’t want to think that I was getting so rusty at this that I didn’t recognize the signs.” He gave her a crooked smile that sent a wave of heat through her body. Excitement made her feel all tingly, as if she were a teenager flirting with the cutest boy in school.
She wasn’t a teenager. She was a single mom and she couldn’t quite ignore reason. “Joe, I’m really glad you’re here but…” She struggled to find the words to tell him it wasn’t going to work between them.
“My being here complicates things. We’ve already established that.” He glanced toward the pool. “I know Alex has a weird mix of feelings toward me, but that will all be resolved in a week.”
Which meant he intended to start something with her. She was both excited and nervous. “Joe, I have three kids.”
“I can count. So what? Are you saying men aren’t interested in you because you have kids?”
“Yes, and if you were a single mom you’d know what I’m talking about.”
“I’m not afraid of your kids, Frannie.”
“You have every right to be after everything that’s happened. Most men would—” he cut her off.
“I’m not most men.”
No, he definitely wasn’t. There weren’t many single men who would have had the patience Joe had shown Alex.
“Okay, we’ve determined your kids aren’t a problem,” he said. “What about your ex?”
“What about him?”
“Does it bother you that I look like him?”
He watc
hed her steadily as he waited for her answer, and Frannie wondered how she ever could have mistaken him for Dennis. Maybe at first when she’d seen him she’d thought about her ex-husband, but now she only saw a very attractive, intriguing man.
“You don’t look like him. I mean you do on the outside, but you’re so different from him on the inside that you don’t remind me of him at all,” she admitted candidly.
“Different in a good way, I hope,” he said with another half smile.
“Yes. In a good way,” she replied, her answering smile equally flirtatious. “I really am glad you decided to come back, Joe.”
“I am, too.” He glanced through the patio door into the hotel suite. “So where’s Luke?”
“Asleep.”
“How long before the other two are?” He glanced toward the pool. “The way they’re jumping around out there, I can’t imagine they’ll be up very late. The pool closes at ten and the hotel restaurant is open until eleven. We could get something to eat or have a drink in the bar.”
She shook her head. “I can’t leave them alone in the hotel room.”
“I could arrange for room service out here on the patio.”
“You don’t know how my kids can prolong going to bed,” she warned. “It could be late before they’ve settled down.”
“I don’t mind waiting. The question is, do you?” He fixed her with another of his penetrating stares, which sent tiny shivers of expectation up and down her arms.
“A glass of wine might be a nice way to end the day, but no dinner,” she finally said.
“Not even a few appetizers?”
“Maybe a few,” she agreed.
He got up from the chair. “You take care of your kids, and I’ll take care of the food and wine. Will ten o’clock be okay for you?”
“Maybe we should make it ten-thirty,” Frannie suggested, hoping she could get Alex to sleep before Joe returned. What she didn’t need was for her son to be the third party at her date.
Date. Was that what this was? Joe Smith was attracted to her—there was no mistaking that. To her surprise it wasn’t scary, but exciting. For the first time in years there was a good-looking man expressing an interest in her—not as a photographer, not as a mother, but as a woman.
“Ten-thirty it is,” he told her, giving her a wink that told Frannie it definitely would be a date.
THE FIRST THING Joe did after leaving Frannie was to check into his own suite at the hotel. Then he called Letty to let her know that he’d decided to spend the night in Duluth. Next he called room service and ordered a bottle of wine, two glasses, several appetizers and an assortment of chocolate truffles.
As he waited for time to pass, he sat in the barrel-shaped chair in his room and listed all the reasons why he shouldn’t meet Frannie. At the top was the simple fact that he couldn’t be completely honest with her. Not a good way to start a relationship, yet under the circumstances he had no choice but to keep his identity a secret.
For the past two years he’d avoided getting involved with any woman. Now he found himself taking risks he had no business taking because of his attraction to Frannie.
Although, it didn’t have to be risky if he didn’t see her again after tonight. Tomorrow he’d go back to Grand Marais and she’d return to Minneapolis. The lab tests would prove that he was not Alex’s father, and thus they’d have no reason to see each other again.
They had no reason to see each other now, he reminded himself. So what was he doing here in Duluth? He thought about ringing her room and telling her something had come up so he wouldn’t be able to see her. But as the clock ticked closer to ten-thirty, he knew he wouldn’t. He wanted to be with her, to catch a whiff of that floral scent she wore, to see that smile that could make him forget about everything but being with her, to hear the husky voice that reminded him of moonlight on the beach.
When he crossed the swimming pool courtyard and saw her waiting for him on the patio outside her room, he knew he’d made the right decision. The only light came from the pool, which shone like an emerald in the darkened atrium. As he drew closer to her, he saw she wore a long denim skirt and a pink knit top that had a tiny zipper instead of buttons down the front.
“You were right,” she said. “The kids went right to sleep.”
“You look lovely,” he told her, wishing he could think of a more original greeting, but it had been a long time since he’d had to come up with one. And then there was that zipper on her shirt. It was lowered just far enough to reveal a tempting valley between her breasts.
When a knock at the door announced the arrival of room service, she excused herself. Seconds later, Joe watched as the waiter pushed a cart into the room and then out onto the patio. He draped a white linen tablecloth over the wrought-iron table, then transferred from the cart to the table two place settings of china and flatware, the food, the wine and two candles that he lit before leaving.
“Such elegance,” Frannie said, fingering the linen napkin. “I’m not used to this. Normally the kids and I stay in places where you’re lucky to get plastic cups and a clean towel.”
He liked the fact that she didn’t seem embarrassed by such a statement. He pulled a chair out for her and said, “I’ve seen my share of those places, too.”
“I’m sure as a pilot you’ve done more traveling than I have,” she said, before taking a sip of the wine the waiter had poured.
He realized he needed to be careful how much he told her about himself, and decided it would be better to change the subject. “Then, you don’t do much traveling for business?”
“No, with the kids, I haven’t been able to accept work out of town, at least not until now. We’re only staying in this nice hotel because I’m working.”
He smiled. “I know. Emma told me.”
“Then, you know I’m a photojournalist?”
“It was in one of the letters Alex sent.”
She shook her head. “Should I feel embarrassed over what he told you?”
He swirled the wine in his glass. “Not at all. You have good kids, Frannie.”
“Good kids who talk too much,” she said with a chuckle.
He put a spoonful of calamari on his plate. “I find what they have to say interesting.” He looked at her across the candlelight and said, “I find you interesting. Tell me about your work.”
“As my kids said, I take pictures that tell stories.”
“What’s the story you want to tell tomorrow?”
“It’s a personal interest piece, so I’ll try to capture the story of a man’s life. That’s the challenging part. Anyone can take a picture, but to capture emotion is another thing.”
“Were you always interested in photography?” She took a sip of wine, then said, “Actually, I wasn’t. I more or less stumbled into the field. After my divorce, I went to work for a newspaper as an office clerk, which meant I did an assortment of jobs—mostly those that no one else wanted to do.”
“One day a photographer needed an extra pair of hands. I supplied them. Before long, he was showing me how to work in the darkroom, and the rest is, as they say, history. I was lucky. Not many people get on-the-job training in photography.”
“So you didn’t go to college?”
“Not for photography. After high school my girlfriend and I went to Florida. We were going to be marine biologists.”
She chuckled, and he asked, “And what’s so funny about that?”
“I liked the thought of living in Florida and being around the ocean more than I liked science. I only lasted one semester at college. I met Dennis, dropped out of school and got married.” She shook her head in regret. “Not the smartest move I ever made.”
“Were you a teenager when you married?”
She nodded. “I was almost twenty.” She sighed wistfully. “It seems like a lifetime ago. If I knew then what I know now…”
“Hindsight’s twenty-twenty and all that,” he said with a knowing grin. “And be honest. Aren’t yo
u glad you’re doing the work you’re doing now rather than cutting open some diseased sea creature?”
She smiled. “Yes. Take this assignment I have tomorrow.” She went on to tell him about the man she was to photograph.
Joe liked listening to her talk about her work. She was passionate as she explained the business and how it was changing, her eyes sparkling as she described the challenges of working under deadline yet still capturing images with meaning.
“You find your work emotionally and intellectually stimulating. That’s good. Not everyone does,” he said, refilling her glass with wine.
“I do like it. And I’ve been rambling on about it. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said covering her hand with his. “I’m interested.”
“Tell me what it’s like to be a pilot.”
He shrugged, not wanting to talk about himself. “The hours are good,” he said with a grin. “And the scenery can be breathtaking at times. I work for a small flight service that provides both cargo and passenger service. Mainly they fly fishermen to lakes where there’s no other access.”
“You’re not from Minnesota originally, are you?”
“No, my family’s from out east, but being the son of a military man I don’t really call one place home. When I was growing up we moved often. I’ve lived on quite a few naval bases.”
“So how did you end up on the North Shore?” she asked.
“It’s scenic, it’s quiet, plenty of fishing…seemed like a good place for my dad,” he answered cautiously.
“He told me he didn’t choose to retire here,” she said.
“When did he tell you that?” he asked, wondering if there was anything else his father might have said to Frannie.
“That morning after the storm. I think he misses the military.”
Joe nodded. “It’s been a difficult adjustment for him.”
“What about for you?”
He shrugged. “Personally, I prefer civilian life. And this is a beautiful part of the country.”
Realizing it was necessary to steer the conversation away from himself, he changed the subject again. By the time the last of the wine had been poured, they’d covered a wide range of topics from favorite movies and books to current events and politics. He knew they would have gone on talking, but Luke staggered into the parlor. Joe saw him out of the corner of his eye.