His to Protect: A Fireside Novel (21 page)

The statement was barely past his lips and he was still formulating his next when the little girl held up her drawing.

“Mommy, look at Eric!”

Mommy?
Her gaze swung to the little girl at the end of the counter and so did his. Same creamy skin, same mouth, same blond, blond hair.

He was still staring as she lifted the girl, her
daughter,
from the stool and held out his change. “Here you go.”

Seconds ticked by with neither of them moving and he had the sinking feeling something was slipping away. Talking to someone over a plate of lasagna was one thing, starting anything with a woman with a child was something else entirely. Especially for him. There were some things you didn’t get a second chance at. Or shouldn’t.

She was still holding out his change while he stood there like an ass. “No, keep it,” he finally said.

She glanced at the large tip in her hand, then back at him, her expression unreadable. “Okay. Thank you.” The she turned and headed for the swinging door behind the counter.

Casey smiled and waved at him over her mom’s shoulder, and he waved back, and that’s when he saw it. Propped on Paige’s hip, her purple skirt spread out and over her knees. But her left leg hadn’t been tucked under her. It ended a few inches below her knee.

Just like his.

“Stupid,” Paige muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes at herself. She pushed through the swinging door and into the back of the restaurant. To the right was the kitchen, to the left a good-sized space that served as the employee break room.

Casey leaned back to see her face. “What’s stupid, Mommy?”

“Nothing, sweet pea.” Just that, for a second, she thought he was about to ask her out. And even more stupid that, for a second, she’d wanted him to.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Casey said.

“Okay.” Paige lifted her most precious baby a little higher on her hip and kissed her neck, making her laugh. They got to the bathroom just as her cousin was coming out.

“Hey, Casey Bell,” Jenny said.

“Hey, Jenny Penny.”

Paige helped Casey get situated in the bathroom, then stepped just outside the door to wait out her daughter’s newly asserted independence. She wasn’t wearing her prosthesis today, nothing new. Though with kindergarten approaching, it was becoming a new worry.

“That was one hot man sitting in your section. Again,” Jenny added with an eyebrow waggle. “Two, actually, though I only got a glimpse of the other one before he left.”

Paige turned her face to hide any remnant of disappointment that might be lingering. “He doesn’t know my section.”

She peeked through the crack at Casey.

“I need privacy, please,” Casey said.

Paige smiled and walked a few steps away to join Jenny at the skinny floor-length mirror leaning against a wall.

Jenny slid out the wand to reapply her mascara, bringing even more attention to her big doe eyes. “Mmm. Just lucky I guess. But even you have to admit he was hot. And don’t act like you didn’t notice.”

Of course she’d noticed. She’d only been here a few weeks, but it was impossible not to. He’d never said more than a few words to her, always polite, always quiet, but his brown eyes and easy smile were hard to ignore.

“So hot.” Jenny sighed dramatically and leaned in, whispering, “The extremely gorgeous, rock my body, please let me touch you kind of hot.”

“Mmm. I wouldn’t know.”

“A travesty.” Jenny stretched her face out to the mirror and raised the mascara to her other eye. “You know he’s been coming here for weeks and not once have I seen him talking to anyone. Until now. Until Casey.”

“Casey could coax a rock into talking.”

“What are you going to do when he asks you out?”

“Do you really think I have time for a man? I barely have time to pee.” It was true. She didn’t have time for a man in between her daughter, two jobs, and school. But if he
had
been about to ask her out, and then hadn’t because she was a mom…She’d always be a mom. Or had it been Casey’s leg? She hated to think that.

There were generally two reactions to her four-year-old daughter’s amputated leg. People either stared, seeing the missing part before they saw her and all her perfection, which hurt, or they pretended not to see her at all. That hurt too.

Paige tightened the hair band around her thin ponytail while her cousin fought with her long, wavy mass. Jenny with her thick, dark hair, olive skin, and voluptuous breasts. A direct contrast to her own small breasts and hair as pale as her skin. She was like the anti-California girl. Plain. Unnoticeable. Overall unexceptional.

Her second cousin, twice, maybe three times removed, was a flirt, a bottle of sunshine and great with Casey, if a little flighty. She was the fun girl. The kind of girl a man would ask out without hesitation.

Had she ever been that girl? Even before Casey?

“Can you still watch Case tonight?”

“Sure, Miss College Girl.”

“Thank you. I couldn’t do this without you.” She gave Jenny a quick side hug as she passed.

“Yeah, yeah. Just be careful you don’t burn out.”

“I won’t.” If anything, she needed to work harder. “As soon as Casey starts kindergarten, things will slow down. I’ll be able to take a couple of classes during the day. You know, you could go too,” Paige said, watching Jenny continue with her hair. “Just take a few classes. See what happens.”

Jenny smiled. “No thanks. That’s your dream.”

True, it had always been her dream. And now they were here. Operation New Life was taking off.

“I’m done,” Casey called.

“Okay, baby.” When she lifted Casey to the sink, she smiled at her daughter’s sweet face in the mirror. She wouldn’t have those tiny baby teeth much longer. Paige gave her a tight squeeze, holding on an extra second until she wiggled free.

“I put your leg beside the blue beanbag, okay?”

“Okay.”

Casey could put her prosthesis on by herself. She could also take it off, which is what she preferred lately. She’d never pushed the issue of wearing it. Now she wondered if maybe that had been a mistake.

She got Casey settled in her hangout and put in a children’s DVD. Big Mac had converted the large storage closet for his granddaughter years ago. Complete with beanbags, a small table, paper, crayons, and puzzles, Casey loved it. It was just for a few hours while she and Jenny’s shifts crossed paths. It wasn’t a perfect situation, by any means, but it was the best one she had. Soon Casey would be in kindergarten and knowing her daughter was having fun at school while she worked would relieve a load of guilt.

“Okay, I have to go back to work now. It’s just for another hour, then Jenny will take you home. All set?”

“Yep.”

“Hey, Mommy?”

Paige paused at the doorway. “What, baby?”

“I’ve been thinking and I decided something.”

This ought to be good,
she thought, smiling down at her angelic face. “What have you decided?”

“I’ve decided not to go to kindergarten.”

Love stories you’ll never forget

By authors you’ll always remember

eOriginal Romance from Random House

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