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Ruby rushed off, and Hope’s gaze collided with Gabe’s. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of some of the things she’d love to have him do to her and it satisfied her deeply to see his eyes heat in the way she was now luckily becoming more and more familiar with. The way that mirrored hers.
This wanting without even really knowing each other was the oddest sensation. In hindsight, it would have been prudent to put a few more guards up, but she hadn’t anticipated this… this connection between them.
Not that any of it mattered, because they had agreed there would be no more talk of kissing. And for her that had to include putting an end to her near-constant lusting and daydreaming.
“She likes you,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and drawing her attention to the flex of his biceps.
“You were right about her energy,” she said with a laugh, striving to ignore the thrum of awareness that somehow took over her entire body the moment she saw him. “I think I am going to find her eagerness very entertaining.”
Gabe snorted. “More like very exhausting. Trust me. By the end of an evening chasing after her, you’ll be ready to collapse into a dead sleep.”
He collected a sheet of paper from the small table by the door and handed it to her. “I wrote out a loose schedule. You know, dinner, homework, bedtime routine.” He moved toward the kitchen, and she followed. “There’s left-over spaghetti from last night that you can heat for dinner.” He opened the fridge and gestured to a large Tupperware. Then he closed the fridge door and crossed to a wall of cupboards. “Or you can root through these to see if there’s anything you prefer.” When he turned abruptly to face her, Hope realized she’d been following him too closely.
She collided with the solid wall of his chest. He reached out to steady her, his hand lingering on her arms. His fingers were warm against her bare skin, and her heart quickened in her chest at his nearness. After a moment, he released her and took a small step back, clearing his throat.
“While you’re here, I want you to make yourself at home. Feel free to use or eat whatever you like. Ruby knows where most everything is, but if anything comes up, you can call me.” He pointed to a number on the paper he’d handed her. “That’s my cell. Put it in yours and use it whenever you need.” He bent a little to stare directly into her eyes. “If you need anything, Hope, I’m right downstairs. Don’t hesitate, okay? I can be up here in thirty seconds.”
She nodded, but he continued to watch her intently. “I’ll call if I need you,” she promised.
He was trusting her with the most important thing in his life, and she was going to make sure she warranted that trust by not doing anything stupid, like not calling him when she knew he’d want her to.
Apparently satisfied by her answer, he straightened and moved off toward the hallway. “I have to get ready. I promised Carter I’d be down in the bar by four. But I’ll return and check on you both before Ruby’s bedtime.”
He pointed down the hall in the opposite direction of where he was headed. “She’s in her room at that end, probably painting on the walls.”
Hope grinned. “Perfect, that’s my favorite activity.”
Gabe grimaced, and she laughed.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let her paint on the walls. I brought special paper for that.”
“Hope,” he said, more seriously, his eyes softening as he leveled her with a grateful and relieved look. “Thank you.”
And then he was gone.
* * *
Hope’s evening with Ruby flew by in a flurry of activity, energy, and color. Donning sparkly pink tutus and feathery purple hair pieces, they played dance class (Hope was the student, Ruby the instructor). Then they moved on to painting and Hope made Ruby’s day when she opened her Mary Poppins bag and gave Ruby the tubes of rainbow watercolors to use instead of her standard set of primary shades. Ruby had fun squeezing drops of turquoise, canary yellow and magenta onto a tray, also from Hope’s magic bag of wonders, and mixing them into a vivid kaleidoscope that ran the gamut on the color wheel.
After dinner, Ruby wanted to go swimming, but since that wasn’t in the cards for the night, Hope whipped out a puzzle with puppies on it, which did the trick of occupying the little girl until bath time.
At 7 p.m. sharp, Ruby was out of the tub but still wrestling herself into her pajamas when the sound of a key turning the lock made both of their gazes snap to the direction of the front door.
Ruby spun to Hope, her eyes wide, her mouth shaped in a tiny O of excitement. Then she squealed, “Daddy!” and sprinted down the hall with one arm in her pajama top and one arm out.
Hope was halfway down the hall when Gabe pushed open the door and caught Ruby, who had taken a flying leap up into his arms.
He grinned as she locked her arms and legs around him like a monkey. “Hey, sweet pea. I came to say good night. Did you have a good evening?” he asked his daughter, but his eyes sought out Hope, and when they locked on her, they filled with humor. “Keeping Hope busy, I see.”
With great effort, Hope kept her eyes level with his and refused to give in to her compulsion to smooth her rumbled skirt or tame her hair, which nobody had to tell her looked like a rat’s nest by this point of the evening. She was very aware that she had water splotches all over her shirt—and probably a spaghetti stain or two. But the truth was, despite her appearance, she’d had the time of her life with Ruby, and she opened her mouth to tell Gabe exactly that.
Ruby beat her to it, though. “Daddy, we had thebestnight ever! We played dance, and I cooked dinner, and then Hope let me use her special paints, and I made you a picture!” She wriggled out of his grasp and ran to the dining area to carefully pull a still damp paper off the table. She walked like she was on a balance beam back to Gabe and showed him the image she made of him and her in a garden of flowers.
He crouched to her level to view her artwork.
“See. Hope even let me use sparkles, and now the flowers look glittery, like they are in Mommy’s garden in heaven.”
Wait, what?Shock punched through her, knocking the wind out of her.Had she heard right? Ruby’s mother was dead?
