A flash of protectiveness rushed through Teagan. Noah wasn’t fresh meat for the single ladies in town to pounce on. He had much bigger things to worry about, like learning to raise a highly intelligent young girl who’d had more than her fair share of traumatic events in a short lifetime. “Yes. I’m aware he didn’t re-up his contract as a Navy SEAL.”
“Navy SEAL. It has a nice ring to it.”
Teagan’s chest pounded. “We have to go, but Hildie…”
The busybody’s cell phone buzzed, and she perked up as if Prince Harry might be calling. “I have to take this.”
“Sure, but hey, Hildie. Before that.” Teagan stepped forward, resting her hand on the other woman’s forearm. “Give him more than a day to get his bearings before you throw him to the wolves.”
Hildie’s smile wavered but remained strong. “You know”—she declined the call on her phone—“I forgot to pick up a new bag of chocolate chips. Can’t forget that, now can I?”
Then Hildie dropped her phone into her bag, and with as much flourish as she’d arrived into the aisle, she departed.
“No problem. I have to feed Will.” But Hildie was already gone, phone pressed to her ear as she hunched over, telling the latest caller of the Eagle’s Ridge Fire Department run.
Teagan thought quietly about how Noah must have felt. Maybe homesick. Maybe he missed his team. The last thing he wanted was to be the center of gossip. Either way, she had come at him all wrong earlier, and he didn’t need to get another round of muckraking from the rest of Eagle’s Ridge.
Teagan bit her lip. Nor did she want a crew of the single and interested showing up at his door. But that wasn’t why she’d said something to Hildie. Was it?
She walked over to Will as he dropped his head back and groaned. “I’m so hungry. I don’t think I’m going to make it.”
“Oh no. That sounds horrible.” She put her pointer finger to her chin and tilted her head, humming. “Maybe we should rush home and have leftovers?”
Will snapped to like a soldier with his arms at his sides and his head facing forward. “Just kidding. I’m fine. Can we still have pizza? Please.”
He was such an animated kid, and he was the only guy she needed in her life. That answered her question too. Even if a smidge of interest might have been piqued—or more than a smidge—she wouldn’t have kept gossipmongers from Noah just because she was interested in him.
“Which pepperoni did you decide on?”
He skipped two doors down. “I can get it! I can reach yours too!”
“Hang on.” She wasn’t that predictable. Sometimes she tossed it up and had thin crust or veggie.
He threw open the door and nabbed his pepperoni then correctly guessed she wanted the extra cheese–stuffed crust.
“Good choices.” Her cell buzzed from the bottomless depths of her purse. If the thing wasn’t loud enough to hear, she’d forget she had it, unlike Hildie, who always had hers in her hand. Teagan silenced the notification calling for attention but spotted Noah’s name.
The muscles near her collarbones tensed automatically, and Teagan flushed.
NOAH: I’m in need of recommendations.
“I bet.” She laughed as Will tossed the pizzas into her grocery basket.
TEAGAN: I might have some of those. What’s up?
NOAH: Healthy. Fast. Delivery or takeout.
TEAGAN: For dinner?
NOAH: That wasn’t obvious? Sorry. Yeah, for dinner.
NOAH: I had dinner plans. Two different plans actually. But things didn’t work out the way I’d hoped.
TEAGAN: …I heard. ;)
NOAH: Really?
TEAGAN: Some version of what might have happened. Yeah.
NOAH: Man. Nothing changes in Eagle’s Ridge, does it? Word still travels fast.
“Mom? Are we leaving now?” Will bounced on his toes.
Teagan pulled herself away from the cell phone.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Oh, well. I don’t know, then,” she stammered as heat crawled up her neck. “Let’s go.”
They were headed toward checkout when another text popped up.
NOAH: Finally got everyone out of the house and about to go get takeout. Any suggestions? I’d rather sit somewhere, but I’m sure everyone at No Man’s Land has heard by now.
“Do we need anything else?” Will sidestepped across the front of the store. “Can we leave?”
“We are leaving.” She quickly texted back.
TEAGAN: So what?
NOAH: Hildie’s coffee crew will stare and judge so they can take notes.
Her cheeks flamed. He had no idea how dead on he was and how busted she was too. Eagle’s Ridge wanted to wrap everyone in its arms but not before the town had a good gander.
“You’re walking slow,” Will said.
She wanted to tell him not to nag, but she was walking slowly. Texting Noah was a distraction, but every now and then, she had to use her phone. It wasn’t an everyday thing.
But texting Noah wasn’t work or something she had to do…
They moved into a short line, and she dropped the basket on the conveyor belt and her phone in her purse. “Give your mom a break every now and then, okay, big guy?”
Will leaned against her, and Teagan stroked his hair. Still, her mind wasn’t one hundred percent focused. She could have invited Noah and Bella to have pizza with them tonight. Bella ate with her and Will several days a week. Maybe making that offer would be like penance for trading in gossip on what was Noah’s first day on a new job. Karma was going to kick her butt if she didn’t do something good—and quickly.
But her nerves jittered, and that was because she smiled at her phone when Noah’s name popped up.
“Did you have library today?” she asked Will, changing the subject to one she was certain about. Kids and school.
“Yeah. We read a book where this kid was new and he sat alone at lunch and ate different foods than everyone else and no one gave him a chance and…”
Teagan’s eyes shut. Was it her imagination, or did every conversation find a way to point toward Noah in some way?
“Then the other boy went over and made a friend. And they liked the food in the other lunch box. And found out new was okay and that the old kid was new to the new kid too. And…”
Teagan pulled out her cell phone, less jittery and forgetting that she thought Noah was attractive and that she’d judged him earlier.
TEAGAN: I’m cooking pizzas if you’re interested. I promise not to burn my kitchen down. You and Bella are free to come over.
Then she held her breath. No response. The jitters resurfaced. Did she have a crush on Bella’s uncle? No, that would be silly and way too quick.
“Mom?” Will inched closer to the checkout.
Why didn’t Noah text back? This was ridiculous. She couldn’t have a crush on someone she’d just met. But she could think he was cute. Still, Teagan gave one last hopeful stare at her phone and willed a yes reply to appear.
Nothing.
A hollow knot of disappointment burrowed itself into her stomach. That hadn’t been there in a long time. She placed the two pizzas on a conveyor belt and tucked the basket underneath as they waited on the woman in front of them.
There could be many reasons he didn’t write back. Maybe he was driving to eat already. Or perhaps she’d been too judgmental when they first met, and he didn’t want to have dinner with her and Will.
Ping.
The text message notification brought a barrel of anticipation that Teagan wanted to ignore. There were too many parents and friends who might send a text, but there was no reasoning with the swarm of fluttering butterflies racing through her veins.
Teagan swiped her phone’s screen and saw his name then two words.
NOAH: Sounds good.
She rocked back on her heels, biting down a smile. “Hey, Will? Run and get two more pizzas.”
He didn’t have to be told twice to run free in the grocery store. The kid blasted to the frozen food aisle almost as quickly as her heart raced now that Noah and Bella were joining them for dinner.
Another text popped up.
NOAH: If it’s not a problem. No pity meals for us.
A pity meal? Who was he kidding? Of all the reactions she might have had since Hildie had dropped the kitchen firebomb, pity wasn’t on the list.
TEAGAN: We’ll be home in 20. Pizza will be on the table in 45 minutes.
She pinged her home address to him as Will came back with two more pizzas and tossed them onto the conveyor belt. Teagan pulled out her store coupon for frozen pizza and chewed on the inside of her cheek as they were rung up and she paid.
NOAH: Pizza, huh? I have a funny story to tell you.
Since they hadn’t walked the short distance from their home to the grocery store, they didn’t need a bag for their pizzas. She and Will carried two boxes each to her Subaru as he hopped along the edge of the sidewalk and she wondered how pizza might be funny.
CHAPTER SIX
“Do you ever stop bouncing?” Noah made overexaggerated head motions that followed Bella’s jumps as he held her hand.
“Not really.” It was as though she had springs on the bottom of her shoes, bounding with every step. “Mommy wanted to bottle me up.”
He squeezed Bella’s hand as she hopped toward Teagan’s front door. “She’d have made a killing.”
Bella stopped abruptly. “Mom didn’t kill anyone. She said you did sometimes. But they were bad guys. But she died and wasn’t killed. That’s different than a homicide, did you know that?”
Noah’s lips parted, and he was unsure where to start. Suddenly he felt more out of place than he had thirty seconds ago, and he hadn’t known that was possible. He didn’t have a clue how to talk to Bella, much less raise her. If this was the kind of situation they’d find themselves in on her best friend’s front sidewalk, what would happen when life really got tough?
Noah cleared his throat. “Make a killing, er. It’s like an expression. It means to do well.”
“Oh,” Bella perked up. “Like an idiom.”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” More like he was an idiot. Idiom? Was there a Google Translate option for “smart kid”?
“Like a penny for your thoughts?”
“I think so.” He didn’t know what constituted an idiom.
“People I don’t know say that to me when I don’t want to talk to them.”
Noah crouched down. “I get that. A lot. It comes with being in the military. Sometimes there are things that I saw or thought that I had to process on my own or with someone who saw the same things as me, and when others ask me to talk about it? They’d never be able to relate.” He shrugged. “I never knew what to say.”
“Are you sad my mom is gone?” she asked quietly.
He nodded then scooped her into his arms before walking on his knees to the first step on Teagan’s porch. “Yup, ladybug.”
“Does it hurt your insides?”
He kept nodding but this time made the motion bigger. “Sure does.” Then he kissed the top of her head. “What about you?”
“People I don’t know cry in front of me, and it makes me feel uncomfortable.”
Hmm. “Why?”
“They act like they want to make me feel better. But they want the consolation.”
“Consolation, huh?” he asked quietly. “Big word with big meaning.”
She leaned against him. “But it’s true.” Bella perked up, excited. “It adds insult to injury.”
He had to laugh, despite the topic. “Worked in an idiom there, huh?”
“Yeah.” She nodded quickly. “That was one, right?”
“I think so. But we’d probably have to ask your English teacher if it’s an idiom or a, I don’t know, cliché, or a phrase—”
“I don’t have an English teacher,” she said.
“You don’t?” His forehead bunched. “Right. Because you’re in kindergarten.”
“I have reading workshop,” Bella added.
As if they were discussing semantics in kindergarten. Or maybe they were. He had no clue. “Look, back to your mom. I’m always here, and I’m always going to get you.”
“Because you love her.”
“Yup.”
“She was like my twin, like your grandma and my dad. Lainey and I did everything together.”
“Like me and Will.”
“Maybe so.” He gave her a squeeze. “Anything else we should touch on before we go inside?”
Bella leaned back, deep in thought. “Yes.”
“What’s that?”
“You should know that there’s a spot under the staircase. That’s the best hiding place. And Will’s room is cooler than mine. His pillows have arms that sit up by themselves. He can beat me eating more peanut butter crackers. But I can outdrink him in a water contest.”
For all the words and idioms, she was just a little kid. “I’ll teach you a couple tricks. You can take him in peanut butter crackers in a month. Easy.”
“You sound like my mom.” She wrapped her tiny arms around him. “Love you.”
Then Bella popped up and rushed through the front door as he pushed off the stairs.
He rubbed his sternum, his mind heavy with the past as much as the present, as he followed Bella’s path up the front porch stairs.
But it wasn’t just discussing Lainey that had his chest knotted. Anxiety had unfurled the moment he turned his dually over and backed the truck out of the garage. About what, though? Teagan?
“We’re—” He stepped into the warm hallway as Will whooshed past Noah, grabbing Bella in his wake. “Here.”
When Noah looked over from the tailspin that was two quick kids, he was face-to-face with one beautiful and very in-the-know Teagan. And if her face wasn’t trying to hide that she’d heard the gossipy details of a fire that had to have been blown out of proportion, Noah might’ve gaped a little longer at the sexy slide of her oversize sweater, draping off one shoulder. Hell, his mind would’ve wandered more than it was. For as modestly as she was dressed, her curves weren’t well hidden, and his palms itched to learn how soft her sweater was. How quickly it would slide up off her torso and over her head.
Standing alone in the hall with a single mother who’d just saved his butt, he took a deep breath. He only half admitted to himself that she looked hotter in fuzzy socks and skinny jeans than the women he saw the last time he went on leave, chasing high heels and a short skirt.
Teagan had both hands wrapped around a mug, and she took a sip from it before she nodded him inside. “Careful, or they might plow you over.”
“I can take it.”
She led the way toward the kitchen, past a staircase where he eyed the best hiding spot ever and heard her laugh. “No comment.”
He chuckled as well, breathing in the mouthwatering smell of melting cheese and baking dough. “I can only imagine what you heard.”
She put the mug on the counter. “I can only imagine the entire back side of the house is gone.”
He coughed out a laugh. Even that was a bit much for town gossip. “Man, that story grew legs. The town chatterboxes don’t play around.”
“Hildie at her best.”
He snorted softly. “I know Hildie.”
Teagan stepped to the side, waving him in. “A handsome guy like you? Of course you know who she is, because she knows who you are.”
Handsome. He smiled. Again. As though he was the kid who left Eagle’s Ridge fresh out of high school and hadn’t had years of seasoning to cool his reaction to the pretty girl smiling at him.
Teagan’s house was almost as Bella had described it. Based on how much fun she’d said she had there, Noah half expected to see slides coming through the walls and tic-tac-toe boards painted on the floors. It was decidedly Northwest and fresh. Natural wood and windows and the green from the outdoors met his gaze in every d
irection. “Nice place. I had visions of a carousel.”
She checked the oven’s timer. “Why’s that?”
“This is her favorite place ever.”
Teagan grinned. “Will would say the same about your place. Please don’t burn the rest down.”
“You’ve got jokes.” He took a seat on a barstool at the counter that divided the kitchen and dining area. “It feels off to call Lainey’s place mine.”
She picked up her mug, but instead of sipping from it, Teagan held it toward him.
“Are you offering me your drink?”
“Nope.” She laughed.
His eyes dropped to the mug. Giant tacos with a range of emotional faces decorated the face of it, and in the middle was scrawled WANNA TACO BOUT IT? He raised his chin. “Really?”
“If this mug doesn’t get you talking, I can find a new one.” She cocked an eyebrow and turned to a cupboard. “Speaking of which, do you want tea? It’s decaf.”
“I’m good, thanks.”
Teagan placed an empty mug in front of him. “Then you can just keep it by you for now.”
He picked up a mug showing a Lego man lying on a Lego bed, talking to a Lego shrink with a thought bubble. I keep having this dream that my feet are stuck. I can’t move. Nothing around me changes. “If this is a psychological test or trick to get me to open up about my feelings, I rebuke you.”
She laughed. “Just calling it like I see it. Stubborn.”
“I just had an intense moment on your front porch. I’m emo’ed out for the moment.”
Teagan paused. “Bella’s okay?”
“I remind her of Lainey, apparently.” Noah cracked a smile. “That and she schooled me in grammar, SAT words, and idioms between the time we left my front door and walked through yours. I had to do something to assert my… relevance?” He winked.
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