Nick Of Time (Blue Ridge Romance 2) (23 page)

“That mother—”

“Momma!” Luca ran up to her, interrupting her expletive about his father.

“Hey, baby! How was your day? Did you go in the potty?” she hoped.

“No.” He laughed, as if her expectations were entertaining.

“You know you can’t stay in diapers forever, Luc. One day you’re going to want a girlfriend, and she’s not going to be interested in a guy who goes in his pants.”

Luca laughed again as his grandmother came out.

“What is his problem?”

“They do it when they want to. Kind of like everything else.” Anita chuckled. “Evan was three and a half before he started.”

Riley twitched at the sound of Evan’s name. She was still full of rage.

“Uh-oh.” Anita winced. “Did something happen?”

“Go clean up the toys,” she said to Luca, who ran off obediently. Anita had asked, so she decided to share. “Evan asked me to stop the wage garnishments. He said he would pay on his own. He just doesn’t like it coming out of his paycheck.”

“It would be coming out of his paycheck anyway,” Anita commented.

“Do you think I’m being unreasonable?” She watched her son picking up blocks in the other room. “Please tell me if I am. He left me with a baby after I put him through college. Now I don’t have a degree to get some high-paying job. I can’t support Luca on my own. Shouldn’t he have to help? Isn’t he responsible?” Riley hated crying more than almost anything, besides feeling sorry for herself. The fact she was doing both in front of her mother-in-law really pissed her off.

“You’re not being unreasonable, sweetie. He has a responsibility to you and Luca. It’s his own fault he also has a responsibility to Celia and their daughter. He doesn’t get to pick which of his children he supports. He needs to take care of both of them.” She stepped away and came back with a handful of coupons. “Here, I clipped these for you. There are two good ones for diapers.”

Mrs. Fisher was retired and living off the pension her husband had from the Department of Transportation. She helped where she could, but money was tight for her, too.

“Thank you; these will come in handy.” Riley put the coupons in her bag and gave the woman a hug. As she gathered Luca’s things to go home, the anger and frustration she’d felt all afternoon faded away.

She might not be rich, but as she drove home listening to Luca tell her about the kitty next door, she felt lucky.

Whatever struggles she was faced with, she had the love of the little boy in the back seat. She would make it through anything for him.

 

Sam stepped into the small jewelry shop late the next morning. There were two women behind the counter. A cute blonde was smiling at him in greeting, while the other woman was older, with a sour expression.

He silently hoped for the blonde.

“I’ll go check the back stock. You have things out here?” the older woman asked. The short girl nodded and turned back to Sam. It was going to be a good day.

“Can I help you?” she asked, sounding friendly enough. He wasn’t sure what to expect after Lexi’s vague comment.

“I’m looking for Riley.” He was surprised to see her shoulders fall as she closed her eyes and let her head fall forward. With a sigh, she tilted her head to look up at him.

“Are you serving me papers or something?” She eyed the box in his hand nervously.

“No. I actually need a special piece of jewelry made. My friend’s wife said maybe you could help.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry. Okay.” The smile was back. “What is it you were looking for? Something for your wife?” Her gaze brushed up and down his body, and he grinned as he did the same thing to her. Although his trip was somewhat shorter because she was probably only five feet tall.

“No. My niece. She’s graduating from high school and I want to give her something special. At least until her mother will let me help her with a car.”

“Rich uncle. Why couldn’t I have one of those?” she joked.

“Not rich.” It was best not to make things sound too appealing.

“So what’s in the box?” She rubbed her palms together excitedly.

“Mementos.” He opened the lid and watched her frown. “Okay, maybe it’s more like trash. They’re things I picked up for her when I was overseas.”

“Military?”

“Yes. Marines.”

“And what were you thinking you wanted to do with them?” She tilted her head, and a single blond curl fell against her cheek. He fought the urge to push it back as an excuse to touch her face. Her skin looked soft.

Why was he thinking about her skin? He’d never even considered the softness of a girl’s skin before. Other than the size of their rack and how well they filled out their jeans, he didn’t normally care about the rest.

She had plenty of other nice features besides soft skin. Her chest was nicely proportioned, and from what he’d seen of her ass it was cute.
Soft skin?
What was wrong with him? Maybe it was the estrogen from the all the jewelry.

“Uh. I’m not quite sure. Maybe you could find something in here that would make a nice necklace?” He shrugged as he held up the piece of broken china. “Or maybe not.”

“Can I borrow the whole box?” she asked, still studying the contents.

“Sure.”

“You don’t seem to have any expectations, so is it safe to say you’d be happy with whatever I came up with?”

“It would be safe to say that, yes.” He nodded with a smile. She gave him a form to fill out his contact information.

“Give me a few days and I’ll give you a call when I’m done.”

“All right. Thanks.” He stepped back. “I have complete faith in you.”

She laughed as she picked up a stick from the box.

“It’s not like I could make this stuff look worse.” She smiled, and he couldn’t help but notice she had a dimple in her left cheek. He’d never seen what women saw in his dimples, but now he had a clue.

 

Riley didn’t know why she wanted to do a great job for Sam. He was cute, yes. But he wasn’t the kind of guy who went for a short girl with a two-year-old.

Regardless, there was something sweet about a big tough guy wanting to do something special for his niece for her graduation.

She’d taken the box home to work on in the evenings after Luca went to sleep. As she worked, she wondered where the things in the box came from, what he must have felt being in a strange place, carrying a gun and hoping he would make it home someday.

Had he been scared when he picked up this rock? Had it been sunset when he scooped up this sand? Looking through the scattered collection of his life in the military gave her an intimate connection with the stranger with the cute smile.

It only took two days to finish. When the project was done, she called and left a message to tell him it was ready.

Sam came in the next day. He smiled his dimpled smile and rubbed his palms together.

“I’m kind of excited to see which one you picked,” he said as he came closer to the counter.

“Actually,” she said as she opened the box and pushed it over to him, “I used a lot of them.”

He picked up the charm bracelet from its box and studied it with a smile.

“Wow. This is perfect.”

She was pretty proud of it herself. She’d filled glass beads with the different specimens of sand. The broken piece of china was polished and hanging from a link. She’d wound gold wire around a stone to hold it in place, turning it into a charm. She’d even added a few colored beads to give it some splash.

“Do you think she’ll wear it?” Riley asked, hoping he was pleased.

“Hell yes. She’s going to love it. Thank you so much.”

He didn’t even ask how much it cost, he simply held out his credit card.

“The total is forty-eight sixty-four,” she said, and he pulled the card back before she had a chance to take it. Was it too much?

“That can’t be right. It has to be more.” He pointed at the bracelet. “This is amazing.”

She smiled, happy he didn’t think he was being ripped off.

“No, that’s it. Just some wire, a link bracelet, and a few beads.”

“What about your time?”

“It didn’t take much time.” She didn’t want to admit she’d taken it home. It seemed too personal.

His shoulders relaxed, and with a frown he held the card out again.

“Are you sure? I would pay more.”

“It’s fine. Maybe you’ll stop in again for a gift for your wife.”

“I don’t have a wife.” He looked around the store nervously.

“Really?” She smiled at him, not even trying to hide the fact that she had done that intentionally. Why was she fishing? She couldn’t act on it. She had responsibilities.

“If you won’t let me pay you for your time, would you consider letting me take you out to dinner on Saturday night?” He cocked his head to the side and flashed those dimples.

How could she say no to that face? It didn’t matter that she couldn’t come up with an answer, because she didn’t want to say no.

Luca was spending the weekend with his dad. She had the weekend off from the hotel and was going out with the girls on Friday night. But Saturday was wide open.

She’d planned to take a relaxing bath, but maybe Sam would be up for something more relaxing. She shivered at the uninvited thoughts that inspired. What had gotten into her?

“I’d like that,” she said before she had a chance to chicken out.

“Great.” He was holding out his phone so she could enter her number and address on it when a garbage truck lost its grip on a Dumpster across the street. It fell to the pavement with a loud clang.

Before she knew what was happening, she was on the floor behind the counter with Sam’s weight crushing her. His caramel skin was almost pasty white as he used his own body to protect her from . . . a loud sound.

Okay, it might have been more heroic if there was actual danger involved, but she was still impressed. She had visions of Evan cowering behind her.

“Customers aren’t allowed back here,” she managed to squeak out with the last of her breath.

“I’m sorry. I guess old habits run deep.” He jumped up and held out his hand to assist her to her feet.

“Reacting to loud noises or jumping on women when they least expect it?”

“You’ll have to wait to see,” he said as he brushed her off. “Sorry.”

She noticed how bad his hand was shaking when he held out his phone again. It was pretty obvious the noise had startled him, and now he seemed embarrassed by his reaction.

“I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve had a guy lying on top of me behind the counter. Pauline frowns on it.” She waved her hand, as if it was no big deal.

To be perfectly honest, it was the most action she’d seen in a very long time. Dating had been problematic with a baby, not to mention her unrelenting hatred of all males. It had taken a while to get over Evan’s betrayal.

Sam’s body was hard and warm. She kind of wished there had been danger, so he would have stayed on top of her a little longer. Again a shiver ran up her spine at the idea.

She’d thought these urges had died a horrific death years ago, but here they were, taunting her in front of the sexy soldier guy.

“I can gift wrap it for you,” she offered as a way to get him to stay a bit longer.

He shook his head.

“No thanks.”

“It’s really no trouble, and it comes with the purchase.”

“Thanks, but I want to look at it some more before I give it to her.”

“Maybe I should have made one for you, too.”

“Maybe.” He winked at her.

She gave back his phone and handed him the box of leftover items.

“So, Saturday. I’ll pick you up at seven,” he confirmed with a nod.

“Seven. I’ll be ready.” She almost said she was ready right then but kept it contained. She needed to rein things in before she scared him away.

 

After packing every toy Luca owned and giving Evan strict instructions, she watched her ex-husband load her child in his sports car and drive off with him.

Every time Evan had visitation, Riley spent the first half hour crying and worrying that her baby might never come back. She’d heard horror stories where the father took the kid to another country and the mother had no way to get the child back.

Of course to pull off something like that, Evan would need intelligence and motivation. Two things he lacked immensely.

She took a breath and went to get ready for her night out with the girls. It had been months since she’d gone out alone with adults.

“I have a date tomorrow night,” Riley said as soon as she sat down. It was possible Lexi, Roz, or Nichole had more exciting news, but Riley didn’t give them the chance to share.

“That’s awesome. Congratulations,” her sister said. “Is he nice? He’d better be nice.”

“You thought Evan was nice,” Riley pointed out.

“Okay, but he’d better be nice for real.”

“It’s too soon to tell. He was a marine. He did do a fine job of protecting me with his body from a loud noise yesterday.”

“Ooh. Romantic,” Nichole said with a laugh. They were all happily married and thought Riley should be, too.

A few minutes later, they were talking about kids, morning sickness, and laundry, but Riley had a happy heart and a date with a sexy soldier.