by Ann Roth
“Lookin’ for you. Can I buy you a beer?”
Dani glanced at Sly. “Rain check on that burger?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really. Hey, why don’t you come to Big Mama’s for lunch on Saturday, my treat.” She stood on her toes and kissed Sly’s cheek.
“You won the game. I’m supposed to treat you.”
“But I’m standing you up for Paul. Leave me a big tip on Saturday and we’ll call it even.”
“If that’s how you want it.” Sly resisted the urge to tug on her ponytail again. “You want me to wait around and give you a ride home?”
“I’ll drive her home,” Paul said, giving Dani a winning smile.
“I’d appreciate that.” She took his arm and winked over her shoulder at Sly. “I’ll see you Saturday.”
Chapter Four
Saturday morning, Lana and Sophie sat at a booth by the window in Big Mama’s Café. Locals and tourists loved the busy restaurant, which served great food and was always packed on weekends.
Big Mama’s Sinfully Satisfying Frittata, a favorite of Lana’s created by Big Mama herself, sat on the table in front of her, slowly growing cold. Having been up since dawn without eating a thing, she should have been famished. Instead, her stomach felt queasy. Nerves, and they showed. Usually she had no problem meeting new people and making decent conversation, but sitting here with Sophie, she couldn’t come up with a single thing to say.
If only she were as calm as the girl, who was devouring her cheese-and-bacon omelet as if she hadn’t eaten in days. She looked just like her profile picture, and was on the thin side, with a lean, boyish shape...until you saw her rounded belly. A snug black Mumford & Sons Live! T-shirt hugged her torso and emphasized her condition. At four months along, she definitely looked pregnant.
She stopped eating to shoot Lana a quizzical glance. “What are you smiling at?”
“When my sister was pregnant, she ate like you—as if she had hollow legs.”
“I’ve always eaten a lot, only I wasn’t fat before.”
“You’re not fat now—you’re pregnant.”
“Well, I feel fat.” Sophie slathered a cinnamon roll with butter. “Why aren’t you eating your food?”
Though Lana had never been less hungry in her life, she forced herself to take a bite of the frittata. “It’s delicious.”
After that, the conversation died.
“You’re not at all like your photos,” Sophie said after a moment.
“Is that good or bad?”
“It’s just different. In the pictures you wore pants and a shirt. Now you’re wearing a dress with little blue-and-white hearts all over it.”
Wanting to make a positive impression, Lana had spent almost half an hour deciding what to wear. She’d chosen the dress because it was fairly new and she felt pretty in it. Now she wondered if she’d gone too formal. “A dress is bad?”
“Well, no, but why wear one when you don’t have to?” Sophie wrinkled her nose, causing her tiny silver nose ring to stick out.
“Normally I wear jeans on weekends. In fact, I was wearing my favorites earlier. But I cleaned house this morning, which I do every Saturday,” Lana explained, wanting Sophie to know she kept a tidy home. “Since this is our first meeting, I wanted to wear something a little nicer.”
Sophie gave a slow nod and polished off the cinnamon roll. “I clean the apartment where my mom I and live on Saturdays, too. She works fifty hours a week for us, and it’s only right that I do my part. That’s what she says anyway.”
Lana nodded. “That seems fair.”
“I guess.”
Lana racked her brain for something else to say. “Do you have an after-school job?”
“Not every day. I work part-time at the movie theater near the apartment. I take tickets and collect trash from under the seats. My shift is five to ten on Thursdays and Fridays, and one to ten on Saturdays. That’s how I met Jason. He works in the concession area.”
“I’m guessing Jason is the baby’s father?” Lana asked.
Sophie nodded. “He doesn’t want to be a father, just like I don’t want to be a mom. We’re too young. Now that I’m pregnant, he makes me go straight home after work to get my rest.” She eyed Lana’s frittata. “Are you going to eat the rest of that?”
“It’s all yours. Jason sounds like a sweet guy.”
“Sometimes. Last night he gave his two-week notice. He just got a new job at the candy store at the mall.”
The girl’s carefully blank face made Lana wonder. “Is everything okay with you two?”
“We sort of broke up last night,” Sophie said to her empty plate.
She was obviously hurting. Lana felt bad for her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Breaking up is never fun.”
Sophie picked at her nail. “I was getting tired of him anyway.” She gave Lana a sideways look. “Did you and your boyfriend break up, too?”
“At the moment, I don’t have a boyfriend and I’m not dating anyone, but I used to be married.”
“Did he cheat on you? That’s what my mom’s last boyfriend did.”
There was no reason to sugarcoat the truth. “As a matter of fact, he did,” Lana said. “He wanted a baby, and when we found out that I couldn’t give him one, he found a woman who could.”
“That’s really jacked up. Is that why you want to adopt—because you can’t have a baby of your own?”
Lana nodded. “I love children, and I’m so ready to be a mother. I know I’ll make a really great one.” Another long silence. “Tell me what you want to be someday.”
“I’m not sure. Maybe a cosmetologist like my mom. She makes decent money.”
“That’s a great career.”
The waitress, a friendly woman named Dani, stopped at the table with a coffeepot. “Ready for your coffee now?”
Lana considered asking for the check instead and putting an end to the uncomfortable meeting. But she wanted a chance to end on a more upbeat note. She smiled. “That depends on Sophie. Do you want something else to drink?”
The girl cast a wistful gaze at the coffeepot. “Coffee, but now that I’m pregnant, I’m not supposed to.”
“How about cocoa?” Dani asked. “We make ours homemade and it’s excellent.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I’ll have that, too,” Lana said.
“Two cocoas it is.” For the first time, Dani really looked at Lana. “You’re the woman in the paper. Lana Carpenter.”
“That’s right.”
“It’s very nice to meet you.”
When Dani left, Sophie was grinning. “You’re kind of a celebrity.”
“Am I?” Lana laughed. “I never thought of myself that way.”
“You are. Because of your picture with that story, people know you.” Sophie fiddled with her napkin, then squinted slightly at Lana. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Do you ever wish you had a boyfriend?”
Lana’s mind flashed to Sly. Now, there was a terrible choice for a boyfriend—as Amy and Sheila had pointed out. Lana hadn’t heard from him since he’d stopped by the day care several days ago. He wasn’t boyfriend material. Even worse, he was suing her cousin. At the very thought, she felt cold and sick at heart. Angry, too. Cousin Tim wasn’t the nicest person, but killing Sly’s cattle? No way would he do that.
“Occasionally I get lonely,” she admitted. “But most of the time I’m fine by myself. Between the day care and home projects, I keep pretty busy. Now I want to ask you something.” She cupped her hands around her water glass and waited for Sophie’s nod. “How do you feel about a single woman raising your baby?”
“It’s no big deal.” The girl shrugged. “That’s how my
mom raised me.”
And here she was, a junior in high school and pregnant. Lana silently vowed to closely supervise her child throughout his or her teen years—provided she got the chance to be a mother.
“Do you ever see your dad?” Lana asked.
The girl shook her head. “My mom isn’t even sure who he is.”
Sophie seemed okay with that, but Lana was sad for her. She couldn’t imagine not knowing her own father. And what about my baby’s father? Lana was counting on her dad to help make up for that. Her parents weren’t supporting her decision right now, but she wasn’t going to lose hope. Once she had the baby, surely they’d rally. After all, she was family, and her baby would be, too.
“You should know that I’m planning to bring my child to work with me every day, and when he or she is old enough—let’s call the baby a she for now—I’ll enroll her in my day care. Then when she starts kindergarten, I’ll cut back my hours so I can be with her after school.”
“But if you do that, you’ll make less money. My mom has always worked ten hours a day.”
Lana nodded. “Money is important, but to me, being there for my child is even more important. I have savings that will allow me to work a little less.”
The girl appeared thoughtful. “I would have liked for my mom to be around when I got home from school. I could tell you’d make a good mom when I read the article. It’s why I picked you and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson as my top two choices.”
“I’m not the only person you’re considering?” Lana said, her voice squeaking.
She should have guessed as much, had cautioned herself to not make any assumptions. But she’d been so excited, so sure that today’s meeting would be perfect and that Sophie would like her, that the idea of other potential parents had never entered her mind.
Dani returned with the cocoas. Unaware of the utter chaos her announcement had caused inside Lana, Sophie glugged down a great deal of her drink before replying, “My social worker said I should talk to more than one person so that I can make the best choice. I’m having lunch with the Andersons tomorrow, at Baker’s.”
An upscale restaurant with fancy food that cost twice what it did at Big Mama’s, Baker’s was sure to impress the girl. “That’s um, nice,” Lana said.
“I’ve never eaten there before, have you?”
“Once or twice, for special occasions.”
“Is it okay for me to wear jeans and a T-shirt?”
“I wouldn’t.”
Another uncomfortable silence followed.
As Lana sipped her cocoa, she had the strangest sense that someone was staring at her. She glanced out the window. Someone was. Sly was standing on the sidewalk right in front of her.
Sophie followed her gaze. “Wow, he’s cute—for an old guy. You said you didn’t have a boyfriend.”
“I don’t.”
“He’s sure looking at you the way a boyfriend would. And he’s coming into the restaurant.”
* * *
SLY COULDN’T BELIEVE that Lana was sitting in a booth at Big Mama’s Café. Not the fact that she was eating there—everyone did—but because she was here now, on the day Dani expected him for lunch.
As usual, the place was packed with the Saturday crowd. There were no empty tables, and no sign of Big Mama. But then, she often took weekends off, handing the reins to Dani.
Naomi, the weekend hostess, smiled and tossed her head seductively. “Hey, Sly,” she drawled with a sexy smile. She was a flirt, but it was all harmless fun. “Dani said you’d be coming in. I just freshened my makeup, and I sure am glad I did.”
He gave her a grin. “With or without makeup, you’re beautiful to me, Naomi. Add my name to the list for a table in Dani’s area, will you?”
“You know it, sugar, but it could be a while.”
“No problem. I’m in no hurry.”
Sly greeted a couple of ranchers he was friendly with, then, hardly aware of what he was doing, wandered over to Lana’s booth. She was sitting with a skinny girl with rock-band hair. Sly pegged her to be about fifteen or sixteen.
“Hey,” he said.
Lana glanced up at him. In a dress sprinkled with little hearts and feminine lace on the cuffs of her short sleeves, she looked innocent and sweet. Also confused. “Hello, Sly. What are you doing here?”
“This is where my sister works. I came to see her and grab lunch.”
Dani bustled right over. “Hi, big brother.” She tugged him down and kissed his cheek. “We’re a little short on tables right now. But hey, if Lana doesn’t mind, maybe you can join her and her friend.”
Lana’s expression turned puzzled. “What makes you think your brother and I know each other?”
“The way you look at each other. But also because the last time I saw him, he mentioned you.”
Sly was going to kill his sister.
A telltale flush crept up Lana’s face. “You didn’t say anything earlier, Dani.”
“I wasn’t sure I should. In case my brother forgot to mention it, he enjoyed his evening with you.”
“You said you weren’t dating anyone.” The teenage girl widened her eyes dramatically at Lana. “I don’t mind if he sits down with us. There’s plenty of room next to Lana.”
Lana gave the girl a what-are-you-up-to look before she sighed. “Okay, until a table opens up.” She scooted toward the far end of the bench, leaving a good foot and a half of space for him.
“You want coffee while you’re waiting for your burger, Sly? I just made a fresh pot.”
“Sounds good.”
“Be right back.” Dani hurried off.
A frown tugged Lana’s mouth.
“I only told her that you and I danced,” Sly explained.
The teenage girl was staring at him. “You and Lana danced? I wish I could have seen that.” She said it as if she couldn’t believe people their age did that kind of thing.
“I don’t believe we’ve met.” He extended his hand. “I’m Sly.”
“Cool name. I’m Sophie.”
“Nice to meet you. Are you Lana’s little sister?”
The girl looked at him like he was crazy. “No,” she said with a smirk. “Lana and I just met today.”
Interesting. “Then you must be interviewing for a job at her day care.”
“Not that, either.” Sophie smoothed her T-shirt over her rounded belly. “I’m pregnant and I’m thinking I might pick Lana to adopt my baby.”
Lana seemed to catch her breath.
She wanted to adopt a baby? Sly realized his mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it. “Is that right.”
The girl wore a speculative expression. “I changed my mind about leaving,” she said. “I might stay a while longer. But I need to use the restroom. Excuse me.” She slid out of the booth and hurried away.
“This is awkward,” he said in the silence that fell between him and Lana.
“The part about me wanting to adopt, or about me not hearing from you since you stopped at the day care?” Her eyes flashed with anger. “Or do you mean because you’re suing my cousin?”
So she and Tim Carpenter were related. Sly muttered a choice oath and put his head in his hands. With a look of alarm, Dani approached, quickly filled his cup and left.
“First of all, until this minute I wasn’t aware you and Tim Carpenter were related,” he said. “I didn’t even know your last name until I read it in the paper.”
“That’s understandable, but you’re still suing my cousin.”
Her stony expression made him hurry to explain. “Trust me, it wasn’t my first choice. Tim didn’t leave me any other option.” Wanting to get to other things before Sophie returned to the table, Sly added, “I’ll tell you about that later. FYI, I wanted to ask for your number before
I left you in our hotel room. But we agreed that we wouldn’t contact each other again.”
“Then why did you come to my day care?”
“I wanted to see you.”
“For exactly one reason.” Lana glanced around and lowered her voice. “You wanted a repeat of what happened that night.”
“True,” Sly admitted, “but it wasn’t just about sex. I’m not interested in getting serious or anything, but I would like to get to know you.”
“Oh, really? Then why didn’t you ask me for my number, or at least act like you were interested in me as a person? You never asked me a single question about myself.”
Sly fiddled with his cup. “You didn’t ask me any questions, either.”
“I was letting you take the lead!”
People were starting to stare.
Lana lowered her voice. “Forget it.”
“Uh, can I have your number now?” Talk about sounding lame.
“It’s a little late for that, Sly. Besides, you haven’t explained why you filed a lawsuit against my cousin.”
“There’s a simple—”
“I have to leave after all,” Sophie said as she returned to the booth. “While I was in the bathroom, my mom called. She wants me to get home and finish my chores before I leave for work.”
Lana nodded and then nudged Sly out of the booth and stood up. “I enjoyed meeting you, Sophie. I hope we’ll get together again soon.”
“Can I let you know?”
“Sure. I’ll walk you out.”
“You stay here with Sly.” The girl’s smile was meant for the two of them.
Sly squelched the urge to roll his eyes. “Nice meeting you.” He sat down in Sophie’s place so that he would be across from Lana.
“You, too, Sly. Hey, next time Lana and I get together, you should join us.”
Sly glanced at Lana, but her attention stayed on the teen. It was obvious how badly she wanted things to work out between them.
“If I’m not too busy at the ranch,” he said.