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She took a deep breath. “I mentioned your need not to date as part of your sabbatical because I wondered if it bothered you to have people look at us and think we’re a couple. Other than at the daycares, of course, we both knew going in that would be a factor. But Kent at the rental office this morning, he obviously thought so. And people here, probably everywhere we go out to eat, in the hotels we stay at...”
“We get two-bedroom suites,” he reminded her. “Hardly what a couple would do.”
Right. At least, not a couple with him as one half.
Tabitha reached for her beer, visualizing the photograph in her purse. The smile on her two-year-old son’s face as he held a basket of plastic eggs. She wanted to rest her head on Johnny’s shoulder, feel his arms around her—but that wasn’t doing anything except making her weak.
Yeah, thinking of Jackson was hard. Emotions were pushing at her in a way they hadn’t done in months. Refusing to be pushed back. What if Mark caught wind that they’d found him and Jackson? What if she got this close and he ran again?
She couldn’t afford to make a mistake.
When her thoughts led right back to the point of panic, making the cold sweats and tremors start, she glanced over at Johnny. Saw him watching her.
She smiled at him. He smiled back.
And she wanted to be in his arms.
* * *
“So give me your plan for telling Mallory,” she said.
Johnny took a sip of beer before he answered Tabitha, ashamed that her son, her quest, had been the last thing on his mind as he’d been watching her.
Her pain, her beauty, his sudden need to be man to her woman—those thoughts had pretty much occupied his mind. Not necessarily in that order. She’d mentioned dating and his brain had slipped into his pants.
Taking with it all the thoughts and feelings, the scents and memories, of Tabitha Jones.
It occurred to him that she could be feeling it, too, this suddenly intense attraction. It was entirely possible, plausible even, that he felt so off-center because nuances in their relationship were changing.
Like the fact that she’d brought up the subject of dating.
Or worrying that he was going to back out on their life-quest bargain by not being willing to play the part of Chrissy’s dad, if necessary.
Asking if he’d mentioned her to his parents...
If he hadn’t
decided his food truck venture required celibacy while he honored his deceased wife, he might have considered asking Tabitha how she felt about adjusting their bargain to include some physical benefits.
And in doing that, he could ruin a great friendship. In truth, now that he’d had six months on the truck, he didn’t see how he could have fulfilled Angel’s dream without Tabitha there helping him.
He could always have hired someone, but would that person have also been able to give him the impetus to get the job done as well as Angel deserved? He’d work the truck with or without Tabitha, because that was who he was, but her presence and the promise he’d made her changed things.
She brought out something in him he hadn’t seen coming. But he could see it now. He got out of bed in the morning these days because he was eager for the day ahead, not just because the alarm went off.
He’d never answered her question about his plan concerning the daycare. She was people watching, as though she found the other diners fascinating.
“If we’re going to tell Mallory Harris the truth, I think we should do it in an appointment scheduled for that purpose, not as an afterthought to what she believes is a meeting regarding Chrissy,” he said.
“And we can’t do this over the phone,” Tabitha jumped in before he could take a breath “We’ll have a better chance of getting her to believe that Jason’s father kidnapped him if we speak face-to-face. I can show her the age-progressed photo. Plus his baby pictures and all the ones taken during his first year. We can show her the photo of Mark the police had, but as both Detective Bentley and Alistair told us, it’s a pretty clear bet that he’s altered his appearance. Still, I can tell her about little things Jackson did, like the way he used to do a closed-mouth spit whenever I tried to give him peas...”
Johnny listened because she enthralled him. But when she paused, he continued.
“We’ll get to all of that,” he said, not in the least surprised that her idea had real substance. She wouldn’t have proposed it otherwise. “To arrange that meeting, I suggest we tell her I’m a lawyer. That I’m helping you.”
He waited, and when she didn’t interject, continued. “We can ask her to meet with us to discuss the details of a situation that’s relevant to our earlier visit.”
“Chrissy?”
