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“Want to watch a movie?” He kicks me in the stomach, his bare toes doing no damage but warming me even more to the kid.
I lower him to the peeling laminate. “Maybe in a bit. I need to talk to your mom.”
“Oh.” His lower lip sticks out in a pout while he scuffs his toes against a crack. He shoots a look at Pam.
“Why don’t you start your movie, and I’ll join you in a bit?” I keep my eyes on him. I feel Pam’s attention divert from where she’s rummaging in a drawer. It comes over to me and rests like a weight on my chest.
Rex scampers off, skipping down the hall until he disappears into what must be his room.
Pam flutters her hands, and I’m overwhelmed with the need to comfort her.
I close the distance and take her hands in mine. “What happened?”
“Rex–”
I shake my head. “Not with Rex. Why are you looking for another job? If it was our kiss—if I offended you by kissing you, then I’m sorry that I misread the situation.” I barge ahead. I need to get everything out in the open before she kicks me out. No. I won’t leave without seeing Rex again. I promised. “What started out as a fake relationship quickly turned real. For me.”
Pam takes a quick breath and squeezes my hands. “It wasn’t that.”
“Then what?” I lead her toward the scratched and dented kitchen table and pull out a chair for her.
She settles into it and winces while looking around. “This.” A wave of her hand seems to be her way of explaining.
I arch a brow. “What about this?” I mimic her action. “I’m not a mind reader, Pam. I can handle the truth, but the last thing we need between us is more subtlety. I don’t want to guess at what you’re thinking.” I take her hand again and sit in the chair across from her.
She groans and lowers her head to the table. She taps her forehead on the worn wood twice, then lifts her eyes to mine. “Look at my house, Dalton. Look at how I live and think about how you live. We’re different in every way. Your mother sees that.”
“What does Mother have to do with this?” A cold knowing chills my blood. I’m doing my best not to assume, but there’s a look in Pam’s eyes that tells me I’m right.
Pam traces the veins that run across the back of my hand. Her touch is soft. Gentle. Just like her. Her voice is barely more than a whisper when she says, “I saw her on Nantucket. She told me . . .” Pam hesitates, takes a deep breath, then powers through. Her words come out in quick bursts. “She told me about the woman you were involved with. The single mom with a daughter. She told me how you fell for the daughter and then realized you didn’t love the mother. I can’t afford to lose my job when you figure out that you don’t love me.”
My thoughts screech to a halt. It’s a ten-car pileup in my brain. What? I hold up my free hand in a stop gesture.
Pam’s shoulders rise and fall in rapid breaths.
“My mother told you all that?” I close my eyes before Pam can answer. “Of course she did.” I clench my hand into a fist, then flex it to ease the tight feeling. “She told you a lie, Pam.”
“Really?” Pam’s voice is a mixture between disbelief and hope.
It tears me up inside to hear her so insecure about my feelings. Maybe I can express them in a way that will leave her without a doubt. “I have never loved anyone but you.” It’s so easy to say that I’m surprised I didn’t admit it sooner.
She blinks, and her jaw drops. “I live in a house that could fit inside your kitchen.” Pam protests.
“And yet when you try to leave your job when you have the opportunity to ‘take advantage’ of me.” I make air quotes and grin. “You’re down to earth. You’re smart and funny. Not snobbish at all. And you’re not after my money. What’s not to love about you?”
For the first time, I think Pam sees herself the same way I do. She nibbles on her lower lip and takes another look around the run-down house. It’s obvious I caught her unpacking. I recognize clothes she wore on Nantucket strewn across the back of a chair. Rex’s socks lay in a heap beside a pile of sand.
“You sure you don’t just love me because of Rex?”
“Absolutely positive.” I take her hands and tug her closer. “Your son is a little tyrant that I fell in love with completely separate from you.” I want to marry her and adopt Rex. I’m moving too fast, so I slam a lid on my thoughts and keep to the business at hand.
Her eyes sparkle as she laughs. “He’s a handful.”
“So’s his mother.” I inch closer. “And since we’re being all honest here, I’ll admit that I’m desperate to kiss you right now.”
She puts a hand on my chest. “Wait.”
This is it. She’s going to turn me down. I steel myself not to react. If she doesn’t feel the same way, I’ll walk away. But if there’s any hope whatsoever, I’m sticking around until I convince her to give me a chance.
