by Rita Herron
He liked animals, but nine cats and kittens on the way seemed a little obsessive.
“And I think Winnie may need therapy.”
“Excuse me?”
“A psychologist,” Betty said. “She’s terrified of the dark. Totally freaks out and pulls out her fur if I turn the light off at night.”
“So you sleep with a light on?”
“Well, I can’t very well upset her,” Betty said a little defensively.
“No, I guess not.” Zeke polished off his tea and decided to bring the meal to an end. “Well, lunch was nice, Ms. Eaton—”
“Call me Betty, Zeke.”
“Betty, but I have to pick up the girls.”
She smiled and dabbed at her freshly painted lips, blotting hot pink lipstick all over the white linen napkin. “Sure. Maybe I can cook you dinner one evening.”
Maybe not. Zeke nodded and headed toward his car, feeling a hundred years old. He finally remembered what had prompted him to try marriage with Renee in the first place. Other than the fact Renee had been pregnant, he’d hated dating—all the small talk, pretense, and put-ons. He’d genuinely wanted to find someone who liked home and hearth.
Only he’d made the wrong choice in Renee. And now he’d found a woman he genuinely liked. Who liked his daughters. Was good with kids. But she didn’t want a family or him. And he’d better remember it and not dwell on pursuing her, or she’d break his heart, much worse than Renee had.
He climbed in his minivan, his decision made. He would avoid his next-door neighbor. Even if it drove him crazy.
PAIGE WAS GOING crazy. She couldn’t get Zeke out of her mind. Every time Amelia tried on a wedding dress, she imagined herself wearing the bridal gown. Only last night she’d dreamt about little Joey—she’d seen his small body dart in the street in front of that car. But in her dream, the car hadn’t been able to stop. It was so horrible. And it had all been her fault. Then instantly the little boy had become two little girls, Summer and August. She’d woken up in a cold sweat and started shaking every time she thought about it.
“I like the neck on this dress, the bodice on that satin gown, and the train on that antique ivory dress,” Amelia said, pointing to the three final gowns they’d selected. Paige quickly drew sketches of the pieces, etching in the details of the neckline, trim, beads, headpieces and trains. “Okay, I’ll draw a final sketch tonight. Why don’t you drop by work tomorrow and look at it. If you approve, I’ll buy the material and get busy.”
“It’s coming up so fast!” Amelia squealed. “I can’t believe it. I’m really going to have my dream wedding!”
Paige hugged her. “I’m so happy for you.”
Amelia grabbed her arm. “Come on, my feet are killing me. We’re meeting Derrick for drinks.” She led Paige around the mall toward the Mexican restaurant.
“Amelia, I think I’ll head home.”
“Oh, no you don’t.” Amelia pushed Paige in front of her into the restaurant. Paige froze when she saw Derrick sitting with another guy at a table.
“Amelia, you set me up again.”
“Yep.” Amelia grinned wryly, then whispered, “He’s perfect. Tall, dark, handsome, adventuresome, lots of money, and free! Exactly like the man you ordered.”
Paige could have kicked herself. She’d never imagined Amelia would find someone with all those qualities. After all, she’d been thinking of Zeke when she’d made them up. Except for the last characteristic…
“Come on,” Amelia said. “And flirt.”
Flirt? She didn’t even remember how. So Paige stood idly by, hiding her embarrassment as Derrick and Amelia kissed in a flurry of arms and heated noises.
The other man sipped his scotch and winked mischievously at Paige, ushering her into a seat beside him in a small booth. “Hi, I’m Ben.”
Heat crept up her cheeks as she introduced herself. Derrick and Amelia finally loosened their lip-lock and pulled apart. Paige twisted her hands together as she surveyed the small restaurant. Southwestern paintings decorated the adobe walls and soft cushions in muted tones provided comfortable seating. A simple carnation served as the centerpiece and ferns were scattered throughout the airy room, yet the seating was tight.
“Ben learned to fly when he was in college.” Amelia kicked her under the table to bring her out of her reverie. “He’s been traveling all over the world since.”
Paige rubbed her foot. Ben did have nice hazel eyes, a slim build, and stylishly cut black hair. He probably stood a little under six feet. Short, compared to Zeke.
Darn, she couldn’t compare every man she met to Zeke.
They ordered margaritas and appetizers and Derrick and Ben reminisced about college days.
“After I finished my law degree, I spent the summer backpacking all over Europe,” Ben said. “Climbed mountains, toured France and Italy. Have you traveled much, Paige?”
Paige shook her head, wondering if she and Ben had anything in common. “I worked for a while after high school, so I’m just now finishing my degree.”
“You’d love Madrid. And there’s nothing like hiking through the mountains in Switzerland.”
They had nothing in common, Paige surmised awhile later. Nothing at all. His family owned houses in five different countries. He had visited the former Soviet Union, seen the famous Berlin Wall, and ridden an elephant in Africa. She’d been camping in the North Georgia mountains, walked through Rock City, and gone horseback riding once when she was eleven on her uncle’s chicken farm.
“Wow, what an exciting life.” Especially compared to her small-town girl experiences.
“Paige is studying design,” Amelia interjected. “She’s designing my wedding dress.”
Derrick nuzzled Amelia’s neck. “I can’t wait to see it.”
“Impressive.” Ben shot her a sincere smile. “You should study in Paris. It’s the fashion capital of the world.”
“Yes, I’ve heard,” Paige said. But going to Paris takes money I don’t have. She started to explain, but Ben wouldn’t understand. Apparently, money hadn’t been an issue with him.
“Look at those adorable twins.” Amelia pointed to the door.
Paige glanced over the row of potted plants and saw Summer and August with their grandmother. Mrs. Blalock juggled an armful of shopping bags as she ushered the girls toward a booth. Summer and August spotted her and waved frantically, then dashed around tables and wooden chairs and practically threw themselves in her lap.
“Hi, girls. Having fun?”
“Yep,” August said. “Grammy’s buying us lots of stuff.”
“And we had ice cream,” Summer added.
“I bet I can guess the flavor.” Paige laughed as she wiped a chunk of chocolate from Summer’s chin.
“Who’s that?” August patted Ben’s arm. His mouth curled in distaste when he noticed sticky brown finger-prints on his white shirt. He dabbed his napkin in his water glass and instantly brushed at the stains.
Paige introduced the children, but Mrs. Blalock hurried over. “Come on, girls. We need to eat so we can make it home before dark.” She offered Paige a token hello and scurried away with the twins.
“Cute kids,” Amelia said. “Derrick and I want a baby.”
Derrick threaded his fingers through Amelia’s fingers and grinned. “Or two.”
So do I, Paige thought, surprising herself at the revelation. But later, much later. After I’ve achieved my goals.
“Not me.” Ben grimaced. “I have too much to see in the world to tie myself down with a bunch of rugrats.”
Paige nibbled on the chips and salsa while Ben entertained them with a story about one of his train rides through Yugoslavia. He certainly had seen the world. But he didn’t want a family. And while she didn’t want a ready-made one, she was warming to the idea of children. Someday she wanted a sweet baby to hold, maybe one with dark hair, dark brown eyes. A little boy like Zeke.
Shaking herself suddenly in horror, she stared at her drink and decided s
he should stick to water. She was losing her ever-loving mind!
“Are you busy Saturday night?” Ben asked.
Paige jerked her gaze back to Ben. “Uh, yeah, I have plans,” she lied. Amelia and Derrick were getting ready to leave and she wanted to scoot out with them.
Ben squeezed her hand gently. “I’m skydiving next weekend if you want to come.”
“Um, I don’t think so,” Paige hedged. Derrick waved and he and Amelia slipped down the aisle.
Ben caught her hand. “How about bungee jumping?”
“That’s not really my thing.”
“Scuba diving?”
“I’m a little claustrophobic.”
“We could play tennis.”
“I’ve always had weak arm muscles.”
Ben studied his drink, swirling the liquid around. “We could see a movie.” He quirked an eyebrow. “That is, unless you’re afraid of dark theaters and crowds? Or are you allergic to popcorn?”
Paige laughed at his teasing tone. “A movie might be nice. Just give me a call.” Then she grabbed her purse, said goodbye, and hurried out the door.
By the time she arrived home, the sun had faded to a distant sliver of orange and she’d convinced herself her dreams of marriage and a baby had only been a momentary lapse in sanity. She sat on her porch and worked on sketches of Amelia’s wedding dress, then began designs for her final project. Derrick had said he’d be by at seven, and wanted her to help him check out another house.
The sound of an engine broke the peaceful quiet and Zeke pulled into his driveway. When he climbed from his van, he didn’t even glance in her direction. A few minutes later, his mother drove up and the girls ran toward the house. Zeke met them in the front yard, tossing them both in the air with a hug. She heard them chattering and talking and laughing, then one of the girls called her name, and a wave of loneliness settled deep inside her. Her stomach tightened into a knot and she had the strongest urge to join them, to be a part of their little family.
But Zeke shook his head at the girls and steered them into the house. He’d obviously gotten the message that she only wanted to be friends. He was going to leave her alone and keep the girls away, too. She should have been happy. Instead, her heart cracked a notch. Even though she’d been fighting the attraction, she realized she’d already partially fallen for Zeke. Darn it.
Why couldn’t she have learned from the disaster with Eric?
ZEKE TOSSED AND turned all night and woke up feeling cranky and irritable the next morning. His mood had nothing to do with seeing Derrick pull into Paige’s driveway the night before, he told himself. But he knew he was lying to himself. Today he had to face her. They were having another meeting to discuss the neighborhood watch program. For the first time in his life, he actually prayed for a medical emergency so he’d have a good excuse not to attend. The telephone rang and he lunged for it. He was shocked to hear his ex-wife’s voice on the other end.
“Zeke, this is Renee.”
“Yeah?”
She paused. “I won’t be able to make it to the States next week after all.”
He muttered a curse. “Renee, look, you know the girls are looking forward to your visit. They need to see you.”
“I realize that, but I simply can’t come now. I have a chance to go to southern Italy for a month.”
“A month? So you won’t be coming at all in June?”
“That’s right. It just can’t be helped,” Renee said as if she expected him to understand. “I know the girls will be disappointed, but I’ll send them a gift or something.”
“They don’t want your gifts, Renee, they want to see you.”
“They’ll love whatever I send them,” Renee said nonchalantly.
Zeke cursed silently, but the girls picked up the phone and he bit his tongue. Renee smoothed over the news about her delayed visit, but the twins’ small voices wavered with disappointment. His ex was so utterly selfish it made his blood boil. And in spite of how his girls tried to hide their disappointment from their mother, he knew he’d have to deal with the fallout after Renee hung up.
He climbed from bed, then took great pains to make homemade pancakes, hoping to ease the tension over the phone call with a special breakfast. But the girls barely ate.
“Daddy, don’t you want Mommy to come back?” August asked.
Zeke paused, a flapjack in his hand. “Well, sure I do.”
“You sounded mad,” Summer said, her eyes wide.
They’d obviously overheard more than he thought.
“’Cause we want her to come and stay foreber,” August said.
Zeke’s heart clenched. He sat down and scooped them into this lap. “I know you do, and so do I.”
“Then you’ll be nice to Mommy when she calls so she won’t leabe again?”
How could he resist those pleading sweet eyes? He raised his hand and mimicked a Boy Scouts’ pledge. “I can’t promise she won’t leave. But I’ll do whatever I can to convince her to stay.”
Both girls hugged his neck and he squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he could make their dreams all come true.
They finally released him, but their chatter quickly turned to Paige. When they mentioned seeing her at the mall with two guys, his mood drastically declined. One of them definitely fit Derrick’s description.
If Paige could date someone else, he should do the same. Let her have her career. He would find another woman. As the old saying went, there were lots of fish in the sea. And he’d find one who would love his daughters and him. Even if she didn’t make his heart pound and the blood spin through his veins with excitement the way Paige did.
PAIGE NOTICED Zeke the moment he stepped into Mrs. Spivy’s house. Their eyes locked momentarily, but he nodded briefly and glanced away, taking a chair beside Dannika. Great, the piranha of all women, Paige thought, feeling slighted that Zeke hadn’t sought out her company.
Then again, why should he? She had written him off.
But Dannika definitely wasn’t the motherly type; she’d have no idea how to take care of Summer and August. Not that Paige did, but heck, she would be better than the sex goddess. The mere idea of the leggy brunette all over Zeke disgusted her.
“We’re growing more and more concerned about these break-ins,” Mrs. Spivy said, pulling her from her troubled thoughts. “Someone in the community has to have seen or heard something.”
“We don’t want to point fingers,” Mr. Spivy said. “But we are concerned about someone else getting hurt.”
“The kids didn’t make you fall, did they?” Bessie Rivers asked in horror.
Mr. Spivy shook his head. “No, but the house was so dark I tripped over the books they scattered on the floor.”
“The intruders might be someone who lives outside the neighborhood,” Paige suggested.
“But it’s most likely someone we know,” Dannika interjected. “How else would the vandals know when people are home?”
“Good point,” Mr. Spivy added. “I realize a lot of the mothers in the neighborhood work. The kids are latchkey kids. They have a lot of time in the afternoon to peruse the neighborhood, to get into trouble when they’re unsupervised.”
Paige’s temper rose. Cynthia, a divorcée, spoke across the room. “I have to work to support my kids. That doesn’t mean they’re juvenile delinquents.”
“That’s right,” Paige said in her defense. “I grew up with a working mom myself. I didn’t go around breaking into people’s homes. Someone else could be casing the houses.”
“But latchkey kids get into trouble more often than others,” Dannika said. “Don’t you watch the news?”
“Teens are usually rebellious no matter what kind of home they come from,” Paige added, wondering if Dannika even liked children. Surely, Zeke would see through her flirtatious act and realize she wasn’t kid-friendly.
A heated discussion followed. Finally Paige spoke up again. “It won’t do any good for us to question one another. Let’s all calm d
own.”
Zeke stood, his powerful masculinity radiating through the room as he took charge. “I agree. The important thing here is to discover who’s behind the break-ins and teach safety awareness.” He and Paige worked to restore calm among the neighbors. Finally Paige excused herself and left the house, unsettled by the way Zeke kept watching her. And even more unsettled to see Dannika worming her way into Zeke’s graces, and Zeke allowing her to cozy up to him.
The comments about working mothers had struck a nerve, only reinforcing her realization that she and Zeke were wrong for each other. Zeke was worried about his daughters’ motherless state, a characteristic that was unbelievably charming and unsettling at the same time. Even if she could forget the horrible night with Joey and be a good mother, Zeke wanted a stay-at-home mom. And she couldn’t fall into the same trap as her mother. They’d only wind up resenting one another, just the way her family had.
TWO WEEKS LATER, Zeke grimaced as he left the clinic. Friday night loomed ahead and he’d been forcing himself to date, but he quickly discovered the process grew old after a while. Compliments of his meddling mother, he had a date with Vicky Preston, a divorcée from church who’d generously offered to prepare dinner for him and the girls. She insisted on bringing her twelve-year-old son, suggesting that if the kids meshed, next time her son could baby-sit while they dined out. He’d rather go to the dentist and have teeth pulled than make small talk with a stranger tonight.
For the past weeks, he’d concentrated on the twins. He’d taken them to movies, to McDonald’s restaurants, and back to the clinic at night to play with the animals—anything to avoid going home. When they asked about Paige, he explained she was busy with school and her career. They didn’t like it, but they accepted it, mainly because he’d bribed them so much. Bribery—what a pathetic excuse for fathering.
To his horror, several more women had responded to his daughters’ advertisements for a mother. One of his clients, Cynthia Duncan, had brought him a gourmet lunch on Monday. He’d honestly tried to find her attractive, but her high-pitched voice reminded him of a yippy terrier. In fact, all the women he met reminded him of some breed of dog. Dana Hudson made him think of a pit bull. Janet Hanley, a poodle.