Sugar Springs

by Kim Law

  They put several feet between themselves and the grown-ups, clearly hoping no additional embarrassment would befall them, and Lee Ann finally felt bad for everyone. She picked up her bag and eyed Cody. “You stay here. I’ll handle this.”

  “But that’s a store for adult women, Lee Ann.” His whisper wasn’t nearly quiet enough. “Not kids.”

  Nearby laughter turned the girls two deeper shades of red, and guilt ate at Lee Ann for letting her pettiness with Cody cause them embarrassment in the first place. How he’d missed what store they’d been in all this time, she had no idea. Maybe because he’d been too busy trying to make time with her.

  She shot him a harsh look. “Take the packages and we’ll meet you back at the car.”

  He opened his mouth as if to argue, but she shut him up with a look.

  “At. The. Car.” She marched off to take care of her girls. Without Cody. As it should be.

  They didn’t need anyone else. Only they did. And she feared it was all of them who did.

  Twelve-year-olds could pack away some food.

  That was the theory Cody had come up with as he’d watched his daughters put down pizza that night. Following the mostly successful day they’d had at the mall the day before, he’d talked Lee Ann into letting him hang with them after the clinic had closed today. With a low fire now burning in the patio fireplace, they all lingered in the rapidly growing dusk. November or not, when it hit almost eighty during the day you took advantage of the heat.

  He’d offered to pick up dinner, and from the looks of the single, remaining piece of pizza, he’d chosen well.

  “Mom, did Dad tell you about the procedure he let me watch at the clinic this morning?” Kendra had moved to sit on the back steps with her grandmother, and the two of them were playing a card game. Reba had shown up when the pizza did and had yet to leave. Cody suspected she was there as much to pick up something juicy to share with her friends as to simply hang with her family.

  Boss had settled down on the other side of Kendra. The kids had chased him all over the yard as they’d waited for dinner, and now the dog seemed perfectly content with the occasional pat Kendra tossed his way. If Cody wasn’t careful, his dog would want to stay there when it was time to go.

  “He did,” Lee Ann said, answering her daughter’s question.

  Cody cut his eyes over to Candy, who’d picked up her basketball and stood several feet away, dribbling. Occasionally she tried a move through her legs, but given her height, her main skill was shooting. Still, she wasn’t bad.

  As Kendra proceeded to tell her grandmother about the procedure he’d done that morning, he headed over to Candy. He scouted out the area, then pointed to a level spot in the corner of the yard. “How about I put up a basketball goal there?”

  Dark eyes glowed up at him for a second before Candy frowned and scrunched up her nose. She shook her head. “It’s in the yard. Mom wouldn’t like it.”

  “What?” He looked around to ask why not, but Lee Ann hadn’t heard the comment. She was busy picking up paper plates, empty cups, and the three beer bottles the adults had drained. She dumped everything in the proper receptacles as he turned back to his daughter. “Why wouldn’t she like it?”

  “It’ll kill the grass if we play in one spot like that.”

  “So?” That was the most ridiculous thing he’d heard. Kids needed a place to play. “Then we find another spot. Or we pour concrete on top of the grass and take away that argument.”

  Candy grinned at him then, giving him one of the few honest smiles she’d turned his way since learning who he was, and he went a little weak at the knees. She was a tougher nut to crack than her sister, but he hoped to eventually win her over. The thought of one of his daughters not liking him was not pleasant.

  He nudged his chin toward the ball. “Pass that over. Let’s see if I still remember how to dribble.”

  Not that he’d ever played on a team; he’d rarely gone to the same school for more than a year. But he had played in enough pickup games over the years to know his way around a ball.

  She bounced it to him, and they proceeded to get into a heated battle of keep-away. She was quite good.

  “So tell me more about the birthday party coming up.” He’d wanted to bring the subject up for the last couple of days, the thought of dancing with each of them on their big day meaning more to him than he’d ever imagined, but fear had made him keep his mouth shut. What if Candy refused to let him attend? He’d said he wouldn’t go unless both of them wanted him there.

  She took the ball away from him and went into a protective dribble. “It’s just a party.”

  “You said before that it was a dance.”

  “Yeah, a boy-girl dance. Not like Sadie’s party.”

  Apparently Sadie’s party had been a big deal. But theirs was better. He grinned with the thought. Lee Ann was sweet and polite and took care of whoever needed it, but she was also subtle, and she liked to win. Throwing the girls a party that would be better than their friend’s bash had made him realize that it really was the Lee Ann he’d once known who was still driving matters these days. He’d thought she’d changed a lot, but the more he got to know her again, the more he saw he’d been wrong. She was still the strong, independent yet attractively vulnerable woman he’d once fallen in love with. She’d merely adapted to changed circumstances.

  He and Candy played through a few more minutes of silence before he got up the courage to ask, “Would you let me come to the party? I’d really like to.”

  Candy stopped bouncing the basketball and looked at him. He felt like an insect trapped under a microscope. She studied him as thoroughly as he’d ever seen Lee Ann do. She may have been another woman’s biological child, but Lee Ann ran through her with clarity.

  Finally, she lowered her gaze and nodded. She went back to dribbling. “You can come.”

  Relief washed over him, and he took a step toward her, wanting to hug her. He stopped before allowing himself the luxury. No need scaring her off when he’d just taken a giant step forward.

  “Thank you,” he said, sincerity filling his voice. “I’m very much looking forward to it. I’d love to dance with you, too, if you’d like that.”

  She nodded but didn’t say anything else, only dribbled some more.

  They played a few more minutes, and then he yelled over for her sister. He wanted both his girls around him. “Want to join us? Your sister is kicking my butt over here.”

  Kendra looked up from her game but then glanced down at her watch. “Uh...actually, I have some homework to do.”

  “Oh,” Candy said, then stood straight and shot a look at her mother. “Yeah. Homework.”

  Within minutes, she and Kendra had disappeared inside with Boss, Reba had made her way across the yard to her own house, and he found himself alone on the patio with the woman he hadn’t managed to stop thinking about since seeing her again.

  It wasn’t that he minded being alone with Lee Ann in the growing darkness—hell, he loved it, especially given the conversation they’d started at the mall the day before, before he’d freaked about the girls buying something at Victoria’s Secret. He shook his head at the thought, still uncertain why he was the one wrong over the whole matter. He couldn’t help feeling like right now he’d done something else to send them scurrying.

  He straddled the bench Lee Ann had settled down on and faced her, pleased when she didn’t get up and move to the other side. Fresh beers appeared from out of nowhere and she passed one over to him. Grateful, he opened it and touched the neck to hers.

  “Thanks,” he murmured. “When did you sneak these out?”

  She smiled. “I grabbed them when I took the extra slice of pizza into the house.”

  The sounds of the night started up around them, adding to the ambience of the candles in the middle of the stained wood table and the lazy evening, and he couldn’t help but want more out of the night than what he suspected she was willing to offer.

 
“What exactly just happened here?” He motioned with his bottle to the emptiness around them. “One minute everyone was content, hanging out, and then as if a bell rang, they all scattered. And you can’t convince me they’re really going in to do homework on a Saturday night.”

  Soft laughter made its way out of Lee Ann, and he leaned in closer to hear it better. He loved making her laugh. He feared there had been too few moments of laughter during the last thirteen years. He would make that up to her if she’d let him.

  The thought gave him pause, but he realized it was the truth. He wanted to make her laugh on a regular basis. That meant he wanted to be around her the same.

  She tilted up her beer instead of answering. After taking several long pulls, she remained silent.

  “Did I do something else wrong?” he asked. “Just tell me and I’ll try to fix it. I swear, girls should come with owner’s manuals.”

  One more long drink and she turned to him, her face mere inches away. “They think we want some alone time,” she stated blandly.

  Oh. He had smart kids. “They might be right.”

  She shook her head, the movement a bit off, and he realized it didn’t take much to make her tipsy. “No, they aren’t right. You’re here only for them.” She took another drink. “In fact, since they’ve gone in, you should probably go, too.”

  “And what if I don’t want to go?” he asked. He lifted a hand and touched the backs of his fingers to the soft underside of her chin. Her face tilted up. “What if I want more than to be here only for them?”

  God, he wanted to kiss her. He’d wanted to since the moment he’d seen her glaring at him from behind the diner’s grill. The desire was only getting worse. He just wasn’t sure if he would be able to stop with a kiss.

  Her head shook back and forth with the slightest movement. “You’ve got to stop the full-court press, Cody. It’s not going anywhere.”

  A ringing phone broke through the night, but it stopped almost as suddenly as it had started. All he could think as he sat there looking at her was that he could not make it through another night if he didn’t get his lips on her in some fashion.

  He tilted his head and leaned in closer, within striking distance of the curve of her neck. “If our daughters are playing matchmaker now, you know that means I’m not the only one who sees it. There’s something burning here, Lee. Something strong.”

  Whatever it was, it sucked him in like a magnet every time he got near her. And she was probably right. Maybe it shouldn’t go anywhere. They had the kids to think about after all. But how was he supposed to not poke at it and see what it was? This was Lee Ann after all.

  She shook her head again, but didn’t pull away.

  “You do realize,” she started, then waved one hand out toward her mother’s house, “that my mother is probably watching us right now, and if that wasn’t her calling back over to report that you’re out here trying to put the moves on me, then it was likely someone else she’s already called now calling here to try to find out what’s going on.”

  The words stood a very good chance of being fact. And though the gossiping should have bothered him, it didn’t nearly as much as it once would have. Most likely because he was a mere breath away from finally touching her.

  “You’re trying to scare me away.” He pressed forward another inch before he could change his mind, and his lips grazed her neck. She trembled, and he was pretty sure she moaned, but the sound from his own throat overshadowed it. That brief touch had done more for him than any touch had in years.

  “Cody.” The word barely made it out into the night.

  It was time to head higher. As he inched his way nearer her ear, never fully landing in any one spot, she groaned and leaned toward him.

  With his last sane thought being that this could only go so far with kids in the house, he nipped just below her ear, as he gripped one thigh and pulled her closer into the vee of his legs.

  “Mom!” The back door slammed open.

  He jumped away, embarrassment heating his face. He only hoped that in the low light no one could tell. He was supposed to be there to see the girls, and they’d just caught him in a near crawl into their mother’s lap.

  Lee Ann snatched up the beer she’d set down at some point and turned her back to him. “Yes?”

  Candy gaped, her eyes shifting from Cody back to Lee Ann. “Never mind,” she mumbled and edged toward the door.

  Kendra remained where she stood, wearing a wide grin. “Were you two kissing?”

  “No!” Lee Ann gasped. “Of course not. Now, what did you want?”

  Kendra eyed them both for another few seconds before finally answering, “I forgot to tell you that Sadie asked if we could spend the night.” She held up the cordless phone. “Her mom is on her way to pick us up.”

  “Right now?”

  “You always let us spend the night on the weekends,” Candy replied. “We thought it would be okay.”

  Lee Ann sat there and blinked at them as if not fully registering the question yet. Cody would have given an answer himself but suspected that wouldn’t be wise when he’d already overstepped what he suspected she would deem “his bounds.” It probably hadn’t been right to take advantage of her relaxed state and push for more, but he couldn’t regret what he’d done. A few seconds longer and he would have made it to her mouth.

  “So is it okay?”

  Kendra’s repeated question reminded him that Lee Ann hadn’t answered. He glanced at her and saw the worry in her eyes and suspected it wasn’t worry over the girls spending the night with their friend. It was over the fact that the two of them would be alone together after they left.

  Lee Ann’s throat moved with her gulp, and she plastered on a fake smile. “Of course.”

  A horn beeped, and the girls quickly hurried into the house to grab their bags. On their way back out, they gave Lee Ann a hug before turning to him and doing the same. His mouth dried with the action. He hugged them both, then waved as they hurried around the side of the house. He and Lee Ann followed, him holding Boss to his side even though the dog whined, wanting to go with his newest friends.

  As the car pulled away, Cody decided he would at least get Lee Ann to admit she still felt something for him before he left for the night. How could she refuse to after the moment they’d just had? He turned to head around to the back of the house without waiting for her, hoping to pick up where they’d left off, but she remained where she stood.

  “It’s time for you to go, too,” she said, immediately shutting down his fantasies of a lengthy good-night kiss. He rotated back in her direction.

  “I thought I’d stay a while.” He studied her unreadable eyes. “Discuss a couple things.”

  She shook her head and pointed up the road toward his apartment. She wore a too-polite smile. “The girls are gone, so there’s no reason for you to stick around any longer. And they’ll be at Sadie’s most of tomorrow. They go to church with her family when they spend the night. Why don’t we all take a day off tomorrow? Having a little break would be good for everyone. The girls need time to adjust to all these changes.”

  Anger unexpectedly tickled his vision with her prattled-off words. The girls, from what he could tell, were adjusting just fine, but she was tossing him out on his rear because she was afraid to admit that she still felt something for him.

  “We should talk about this, Lee.”

  She shook her head, her expression locked down tight. “Nothing to discuss. Thank you for dinner.”

  She turned away before he could say anything else, and frustration made him do the same. If she could continue pretending there was nothing there, he could go along with it, too. Who needed a woman so damn frustrating, anyway? He had the kids to get to know. He would do best to keep that goal in mind. It was the important one.

  With a low growl, he started off up the road, glancing at the red curtains in Reba’s windows as he went past.

  They were swinging again.

 
Great. The whole town would know within seconds that he’d struck out with Lee Ann, the woman who had “hard to get” down to an art form.

  Cody moved the gearshift into park, then slumped down in his seat, exhaustion filling him through and through. He looked over at Boss, who sat beside him, as worn out as he. They’d gotten up early that morning and driven into the mountains for their daily run. After leaving Lee Ann’s the night before, he’d been too wired, his mind going in too many directions of “What if?” to get a decent night’s sleep. Seemed like wearing himself out on the hills would be a good idea.

  Only...the arduous run had settled nothing. All it had accomplished had been to exhaust both him and his dog.

  He reached over and patted Boss on the head. “Hang on, bud. This won’t take long. Then we’ll get you home and you’ll be able to take your morning nap. A good long one today. I might even take one with you.”

  Seemed a good thing to do on a Sunday when you had nothing else going on. Which he apparently didn’t. He clenched his jaw at the memory of how the night before had ended. Didn’t do to dwell on things he couldn’t change, though.

  His stomach rumbled, and he rubbed a hand over his damp tee. He’d called in breakfast as he’d headed back to town, not in the mood for company, but definitely ready for a meal. But now, looking down at himself, sweaty and ripe, he wished he’d taken the time to run by the apartment and grab a quick shower before running in to grab his food.

  If he were to believe Ms. G, people were beginning to come around to the thought of him not being so bad. Apparently word had gotten around that he hadn’t been a brute at Lee Ann’s over Thanksgiving, and for some reason, it seemed to be a positive that he was the girls’ father. Whenever he ventured out, he now got words of encouragement and small talk about the kids, as opposed to the snide comments he’d gotten used to overhearing as people passed. It was...odd. Yet strangely comforting.

  He also found himself wondering what the Monroes would have thought about it all. Swiping a hand down his face, he pushed that thought from his mind. He would never know. He also would never be able to apologize to their faces for the way he’d left. That was tough to take, especially when he hadn’t realized he’d wanted to apologize until Sam had told him they were gone. Again, nothing he could do about that now. No need to dwell.