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Then, beneath the bridge lights, he spied the Ford—first in line to get across. He leaned back in his seat with a sigh. Perhaps the gods were favoring him after all.
Liane and Janelleordered their banana splits, but both skipped the nuts. The girls had a serious discussion about loose baby teeth and a concern that a tooth would come out, get swallowed, and they’d miss an opportunity to collect from the Tooth Fairy.
Stormy stood behind the girls and smiled at the counterman’s reaction. Both girls were costumed in outfits they’d found in the attic. They trailed about in long dresses complemented with ancient moth-eaten fox-fur wraps, cloches, beaded purses, and silver shoes, all circa 1940. Looted from trunks once belonging to her mother and grandmother. They topped the look with Maybelline makeup.
After being assured they’d get extra whipped cream in lieu of nuts, they click-clacked across the tile floor to a booth like a pair of prissy matrons out for Sunday tea.
Stormy rounded out the order with a third banana split.
“Make that four,” Tyler said, leaning past Stormy’s shoulder.
She pivoted and drew a deep breath. His face was only inches from hers. His eyes looked strained and weary as if his usual guardedness had lost its sentry, allowing her a glimpse of something vulnerable and restless.
“When are you going to stop following me?” she whispered.
“Oh, sometime in the next millennium,” he whispered back, then brushed against her to toss money onto the counter. “I’ll pay for the lot.”
Gooseflesh erupted down her arms at his touch. She could not avoid noticing the way his shirt was partially unbuttoned, revealing sculpted muscles and well-groomed dark hair, darker than his headful of sun-bronzed brown. He oozed sensual energy and knew it. She could feel herself succumbing, sense the secret spring inside her, leaping at his masculinity. She moved down the counter to await her order, away from him. She had to.
Tyler followed—of course.
“Do you really think it’s necessary to follow me when I have the children with me?”
“Since when does having a kid in tow make somebody honest?”
She winced at his casual proximity to the very truth she was trying to conceal. “You’re not only mean and hard-hearted, but you’re also small-spirited.”
“Not me. I count myself among that honorable group of men who believe in God, love dogs, and tolerate mothers-in-law.” He started down at her, judgment in his gaze. “You twisted poor Hadley Wilson into knots, didn’t you? He probably didn’t know which end was up.”
Stormy gaped at him, open-mouthed, and her reply, when she could finally manage one, was coated with astonishment. “You’re a pathological idiot. You ever consider being a living brain donor?”
“Ooh. Woman, you are so good at snark. You mean he resisted your charms?”
The look she gave him would have crippled a lesser man.
“I didn’t offer him my charms.” She had been close, but Tyler didn’t need to know that. Anyway, she had been terrified of allowing the wrong kind of man into her daughter’s life.
Tyler drank in that tidbit, then suddenly looked exhilarated.
The banana splits were ready, pushed toward Stormy on a tray. She grabbed one off, shoved it at Tyler, took the tray, and hurried to join the girls.
Tyler tookhis dessert and wandered into the dining area, looking for a place to sit. He eyed Stormy, who was acting wholly preoccupied with the little girls. Total pretense, he surmised, then sat in the booth behind them. If she felt him staring at the back of her head, she gave no sign.
He watched Liane, the way she tilted her head toward her friend, and giggled. He smiled at the cloche, its bell-shaped crown drooping down to her neck, the rouge and lipstick so unartfully applied to round baby cheeks and lips. Priscilla had loved to play dress-up. He remembered once when she had—
Tyler felt a sudden ache behind his breastbone so pronounced that he couldn’t make it go away. He closed his eyes and sat utterly still, suspended in time and memories. He thought for an instant he was about to weep, abruptly abandoning any idea of further observation of Stormy for the evening. She had her hands full with those two and would hardly be up to anything illegal in spite of his jibes to the contrary. He left his banana split uneaten and left the restaurant.
Liane pointed him out to Janelle as Tyler passed their table. “That’s the man who wants us to help him solve a puzzle.”
Stormy waved the girls to look at their dessert. “Eat up, girls. It’s already past your bedtime.”
As he slipped into his SUV, he saw her peer through the glass, obviously trying to see into the dark parking lot. Probably making sure that he was actually leaving. The odd thing was… He was sure he saw a wave of disappointment wash over her.
6
The following morning, Nina and Tully were cranky and argumentative.
Their raised voices roused Stormy from the sofa in the living room. To keep Liane and Janelle and herself from being the target of stray barbs, Stormy fixed toast and milk and coffee and made a game of serving the little girls breakfast in bed.
