Anna sensed Kelly kneeling down to Mikey’s level, but tears still blinded her as she tried to get ahold of herself.
“She seems hungry,” Kelly’s baritone rumbled.
“Yeah, Gina and I were supposed to feed her and that’s when I saw the gate was open. We musta forgot to close it last night after we put our bikes up.”
Anna was surprised by Mikey’s chatter. He was usually more reserved with people he didn’t know well.
“Well, next time you’ll know to check the gate, won’t you? Do you think you should go feed Molly now?”
“Yeah! C’mon Molly. You too, Gina.”
Anna heard them scamper off into the house. They’d be distracted by feeding Molly for at least a few minutes. Now if she could just escape Kelly without making a total fool of herself…
She heard his clothes rustle as he stood from his crouched position. “Is there anything I can help with?”
She shook her head, sniffled. “No. I’m fine.” It might have sounded more believable if her voice hadn’t shaken with emotion.
“Anna.” He said her name and her heart gave another one of those funny lurches.
“I just…” She couldn’t tell him everything that was wrong—no birthday gift from her parents, no sister to babysit, no Ted to make a big deal out of her day… It would sound like whining. “Could you just watch the kids for a few minutes? I might take a short walk.”
His hand closed over her elbow briefly. “Take as long as you need.”
She meant to only go partway down the block and come back, just a few moments to calm herself, but by the time she felt composed, it had been more like a half hour and she’d walked all the way around the block to the neighborhood park.
The house was quiet when she came in. Not a good sign. And what was that smell? “Gina? Mikey?” she called out. “Kelly?”
A soft woof from somewhere in the house reassured her.
“Hello?” she tried again. Noisy feet scrambled around somewhere above her head.
“We’re upstairs,” Kelly’s voice answered.
Curiosity piqued, Anna climbed the stairs. She stopped close to the top, when she came face-to-face with two grinning kids and a carpenter with a movie star smile.
“Surprise!” Gina and Mikey shouted, jumping up and down and rattling the… plastic they stood on?
That’s when she noticed the walls. Bare of pictures. Brightly white. With no birthday wishes scrawled on them. No orange paint.
“What happened?” she asked faintly.
Gina came forward and pushed a folded piece of construction paper into Anna’s hands. “Happy birthday, Mommy!”
Anna unfolded the handmade card to see “Happy birthday, Anna” written inside in a heavy, masculine scrawl. Beneath the words, both Mikey and Gina had printed their names. Beneath that was a kids’ drawing of a house with several stick figures and a stick puppy. One of the figures held balloons.
“We fixed the wall,” Mikey said proudly, bringing her attention back up to the pristine white hallway. “Mr. Kelly let me help put together the paint roller and lay out the plastic.”
“And I made the card!” Gina chirped.
“But…” she looked closely at the wall and couldn’t even see the orange paint through the new white layer. “I wasn’t gone that long.”
Kelly stepped forward, his blue eyes serious behind his smile. “It’s a fast-drying paint plus primer. I had an extra half-gallon left over from the neighbor’s place…” He jerked his thumb toward the house next door as if she didn’t know where all the noise had been coming from for the last few weeks. “All your pictures are laid out on the floor in your bedroom. I marked the spots where they all went…”
Kelly pointed to several small, dark marks on the wall, showing where the family pictures needed to be re-hung. He’d thought of everything.
Anna couldn’t speak past the lump that had returned to her throat—this time from gratitude. She’d pretty much blown Kelly off yesterday when he’d tried to apologize and today he’d done this wonderful thing for her.
“I hope it’s okay… I didn’t overstep, did I?”
Kelly’s real concern was echoed by Mikey’s soft, “Mom, don’t you like it?” and pleading brown eyes.
“It’s wonderful,” she said, pulling Gina and Mikey into a brief hug. “Thank you.”
Gina looked up, chin still pressed into Anna’s stomach. “Can I have a snack? I’m hungry…”
“Me too!”
No wonder, since both children hadn’t eaten a good breakfast after fighting at the table. “Sure, thing.”
They ran down the stairs, sounding like a herd of elephants. Whooping, hollering elephants.
“Your pup is in the laundry room. Thought it might get us in more trouble if she got paint footprints all over the house,” Kelly said as he joined Anna on the staircase.
“Good thinking.”
She wished she wasn’t so aware of him as their shoulders brushed on the way down. She slowed so that he moved in front of her as he stepped of the last stair and into the entryway.
“Thank you,” she said. “For more than just painting the hallway.”
His eyes were still serious even though he smiled when he turned back to her. “I’ve learned it’s okay to need help sometimes. I’m glad I could be here.”
Embarrassment heated her cheeks. “I’m not usually… I don’t do that. Break down.”
Kelly shrugged. “It’s understandable. Having a birthday has to be one of those occasions that you really miss someone you’ve lost.” He glanced at the large, framed picture of Anna and Ted with the kids, laughing in the park. It had been taken a few months before the accident—Gina was just two months old in the picture—and hung prominently in the foyer. Was it Anna’s imagination, or did Kelly’s jaw tighten as he considered the family portrait?
“Your kids are really something. Ted would’ve been proud.”
She swallowed the lump that remained in her throat and whispered, “Thanks. They usually are. Today they’ve been a little challenging.”
He chuckled. “I’d better get back to work.”
WEDNESDAY EVENING
Anna had just sat the kids down with mac and cheese and hot dogs when the doorbell sounded. Gina started rise, but Anna motioned her back into her seat. “I’ll get it.”
Misty grinned and waved through the front window.
“What are you doing here?” Anna asked as she pulled open the door. “I thought you had a date tonight?”
“Your birthday only comes once a year. I felt bad about having to back out of watching the kids this morning, so I cancelled. You can still sneak out of the house for a couple hours. Oh, and I forgot! Mom asked me to give you this.”
Misty put a small package in Anna’s hands. Ripping open the paper revealed the novel Anna had been expecting, plus a special surprise tucked in the front jacket—a gift card for a one hour massage at a place she’d wanted to try out for awhile.
Her parents—probably her mom—had known just what she needed for her birthday.
“Get out of here. The kids and I will be fine.”
A glance out the window showed Kelly hauling something from his truck to the neighbor’s house. Anna remembered the poignant, longing look on his face as he’d glanced at the family portrait earlier. She suddenly knew what she wanted to do with her now-free evening.
After running upstairs to put on some lip gloss and grab her purse, she stepped outside. She was halfway across the neighbor’s lawn when Kelly emerged from the house carrying a load of used lumber.
“Something wrong?” he called out when he saw her. “Dog out again?”
He carried to the wood to the curb and deposited it on the ground with a loud clatter.
“No,” she replied, suddenly nervous. Her tongue cleaved to the top of her mouth and she had to clear her throat before more words would emerge. “Do you want to—my sister came over to babysit.” Anna motioned over her shoulder to Misty�
��s car in the drive. “I thought I would go have a bite out to celebrate. You know, birthday dinner and all. Do you want to—would you like to go with me?”
His look of surprise was quickly followed by a tentative smile.
“I’m not really dressed…” He glanced down at his jeans and sweat-dampened t-shirt. “I could run over to my apartment and change. It’s not far.”
“I wasn’t planning to spring for The Steakhouse or anything,” Anna replied with an ornery smile. “I’ve still got two kids to feed, you know. I was thinking more along the lines of Mel’s Place.” The café was much more casual than the fancy steak restaurant she’d named, but they served the best milkshakes in town. And Mel’s would make this seem less like a date. It wasn’t a date. Just dinner between two people who used to be friends.
“That’s right. You’ve probably forgotten what it’s like to eat at a four star restaurant with those two little tykes around.”
“At least Mel’s doesn’t have a climbing gym inside,” she joked.
He laughed, a deep, hearty sound that vibrated all the way to her bones. Their gazes clashed and for a moment it was like being back in college again, before everything had changed between them.
Kelly broke the connection first, turning toward his truck. “I’ve at least got a clean shirt in the truck. I’ll just run inside and put it on.”
Anna nodded, face heating. You’re not in college anymore, she reminded herself sternly. But it was hard not to be attracted to a man as handsome as Kelly was.
He returned after locking up the house, dry shirt safely covering those muscled shoulders. He acted as if nothing had passed between them, boosting her into the truck and talking animatedly about the remodeling project he was working on for her neighbors.
She gave him a hard time about his noisy power tools. He ribbed her about almost losing Molly.
It was like old times. But she was completely aware that Kelly was a different person. His confidence seemed deeper… quieter, somehow. He didn’t radiate the kind of nervous energy he had in the past—there was no constant tapping of his fingers on the wheel or jiggling of his knee. Behind his jovial demeanor, he seemed more settled.
He asked a lot of questions about Ted and the kids while she sipped her milkshake and they waited on their food.
Over the meal, she asked about his parents.
“They split up when I was in high school,” he told her, stealing an onion ring from her plate.
She snitched a French fry from his. “I didn’t know that. Why didn’t I know that?”
Kelly looked away briefly but then visibly forced himself to meet her gaze. “I never talked about it in college. Not to anyone. It’s taken me a lot of time to work through my issues with my parents.
“For a long time, I felt responsible. I guess a lot of kids feel that way. And then, too, when I was growing up, everyone always told me I was just like my father. After he left, my mom was so closed off… I thought, if she didn’t love him anymore, how could she love me?”
“Oh, Kelly…” She couldn’t help herself. She reached across the table and touched his hand.
“It also didn’t help that I was a selfish jerk, too worried about what people thought—what you thought about me—to be straight with you about my personal life.”
“Well, you’re certainly more open now.”
He grimaced self-consciously. “Yeah, well, I’ve learned you can hide all you want, but the ugliness lives inside you.”
But when she looked at him, she didn’t see anything ugly. God had changed Kelly through the recovery program.
“I’m really proud of you.”
“Thanks. Other than from my mentor, I don’t get a chance to hear that very often.”
Their serious conversation was interrupted when a crew of waiters arrived with a candle-lit cake to sing a birthday song for Anna. She rolled her eyes and mock-glared at Kelly, but was secretly pleased by the attention.
He’d managed to make her feel special today. From painting her hallway and interacting with the kids this afternoon, to his open, engaging dinner conversation… she’d completely changed her mind about having Kelly back in her life.
It was that decision that led to her ask, “Could we do this again sometime?” when they were almost back to her house. The intimacy of the darkened cab of his truck began to feel oppressive as he didn’t answer, and didn’t answer…
He pulled into her drive and Anna was ready to jump from the truck, her face flaming with embarrassment. Obviously, he didn’t feel the same way she did, the same connection.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Anna.” His soft words held her captive, though she kept one hand on the door, ready to escape.
His hands flexed on the steering wheel. “I’m…” He took a deep breath, his exhale loud in the silence between them. “This is really hard. After tonight I’m… falling in love with you again. If we see each other, I’m afraid it might get worse.”
She gulped and gathered her courage enough to warble, “Again?”
He still didn’t look at her. “I thought you might’ve guessed back in college. I pretty much fell for you that first day in Freshman Comp. I was so nervous that night we went out…”
“I couldn’t tell.”
“Really? Not even when I kept going back for more and more beer? I thought having a couple would take the edge off, and then I saw you getting uncomfortable and I knew I was ruining everything but I still couldn’t stop…”
She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him, but he still hadn’t looked her way.
“When you wouldn’t go out with me again, I knew why, but… I kept telling myself that I could clean up and have another chance. Then you started dating Ted and I saw you slipping away… Inside, I knew it was my own fault for the doing the things I was doing, but I blamed anything and everyone else. I just kept thinking I could change, but then you were married…”
Her face was still hot, but now for a different reason. She’d had no idea he’d cared so much.
“I messed up back then,” he said, starting at his hands gripping the wheel. “I was so jealous of Ted… I’m still jealous. I know he was a good guy, know you must’ve loved him a lot, and I can’t live up to that. I know you have the kids to watch out for and I just… if we see each other again, if we start a relationship, I’m afraid of messing up again. And the last thing I’d want to do is hurt you.”
Now he turned to face her, eyes vulnerable. He was leaving it all out on the table—and all up to her. If she decided she didn’t want to see him again, she knew he would keep his distance.
In the dim light from the dash, she watched the tiny lines around his eyes tighten as she gave serious consideration to his declaration—after all, she had to think about Mikey and Gina.
But she also had to think about herself. She couldn’t ignore the sparks that had reignited between Kelly and herself tonight. She felt valued, her heart felt alive for the first time since Ted’s death… Her heart reached out for his and she reached out and linked their fingers together.
“Technically, you still owe me a kiss, to make up for the one you botched before.”
She saw the teasing words register, saw that he knew exactly what she was talking about. And the hope blooming in his eyes matched her own. She wasn’t afraid of living any more.
“But I don’t kiss on the first date,” she warned with a grin. “So I guess you’ll have to take me out again.”
He reached for her and when she went into his arms, tucked her head beneath his chin. They clung to each other, and she realized he was shaking.
“Are you—are you sure?” he asked gruffly.
“Yes.”
And she was.
THE END
HARVEST MOON
By LACY WILLIAMS
PART ONE
Jesse Parker held tightly to his son Josh’s hand as they navigated the crowded country drive. He tried not to step on any goblins, fairies, superher
oes or sports stars and was glad his son had chosen a Halloween costume without a mask, just in case they got separated in the crush of families.
Someone bumped Jesse’s shoulder and he juggled the Jack-o-lantern cradled in his other arm.
“Don’t drop it, daddy!” Josh chided, as serious as a five-year-old could be. “I want to win the contest!”
“I won’t, buddy. And remember what I said the other night. You might win the carving contest or you might not.”
“I know.” Josh’s exuberant grin lightened Jesse’s heart, but nothing could budge the rock settled deep on his lungs. It was guilt, plain and simple. For something he’d done a year ago, words spoken in the heat of anger. Words he now wished he could take back.
“There she is!” Josh exclaimed, pointing across the crowd. “There’s Miss Olive.”
“I see her.” And he did. Once Jesse spotted the blonde head bent over a makeshift table, all his senses narrowed to a pinpoint, focused on Olive Thomason.
Same way they had ever since high school.
He’d thought the six years she’d been away from the small farming town of Peaceful, Oklahoma, would be enough to curtail his silly reactions to her, but her arrival last year after her grandma’s stroke had quickly disabused him of that notion.
He hadn’t thought she’d stick around. And therein lay the rub. She had.
“Miss Olive!” Josh burst through the last of the costumed munchkins and ran up to Olive, Jesse following.
Shaking her short hair out of her eyes, the petite blonde looked up and beamed at his son. Jesse’s heart pounded and she hadn’t even looked at him yet.
“Hiya, Josh.”
Jesse straightened his shoulders when her blue-eyed gaze skipped up to him.
“And Jesse.”
He cleared his throat. Touched Josh’s shoulder. The boy quivered with excitement under his superhero cape.
“Olive. How are you? I guess you know my son from his kindergarten class.” And it was Jesse’s sincere prayer that she wouldn’t hold blame for his behavior against his son.
Happily Ever Afters Guaranteed Page 2