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"Sounds perfect. Does she have any openings?"
The woman moved to her computer. "Let's see. When would you want to take the lesson?"
"What is the first available?"
"Tomorrow afternoon at four o'clock. It's an hour slot."
"I'll take it."
"Name?"
He paused, wondering if Ria would check the schedule. He decided to play it safe. Since she'd used a fake name, he would, too. "Tim Roberts," he said, adding his own cell number to the reservation.
"Great. Tory will meet you at the dock," the woman said with a smile. "Have fun."
"I intend to." He couldn't wait to see Ria's face when he showed up for his lesson.
Chapter Six
She'd handled Drew all wrong, Ria thought, as she got off the bus and walked down the street to her apartment building. She'd been so shocked to see him, she'd veered from the script she'd so carefully composed and instead lied like an amateur. He'd immediately seen through her, and she wasn't surprised. His intelligence and quick brain had been one of the things that had drawn him to her, not to mention his sexy smile and strong, masculine body.
She drew in a deep breath in an attempt to calm her racing heart. But the adrenaline rushing through her veins was overwhelming and her instinct to flee was taking over. Leaving San Francisco today was her best option, but there was no way Megan would leave before the prom. It was one week away, and it would break her heart to miss it. Megan had already had too much heartbreak, and the last thing Ria wanted to do was make her niece unhappy again.
So she would wait, at least until after the prom. Then she would reevaluate and have a long heart-to-heart talk with Megan, because she was coming to realize that the shy, terrified fifteen-year-old who'd come to live with her a year and a half ago was not the increasingly more confident sixteen-year-old who seemed to have locked her past away along with her old name. Megan wanted to be normal. And she was doing everything she could to forget that her life was anything but routine.
Ria knew it was probably a coping mechanism and a part of her wished she could compartmentalize so well, but she couldn't. Megan might be able to put away the fear, but she couldn't, because it was her job to protect Megan. She had to stay vigilant and get rid of any threats to their safety, which meant she had to get rid of Drew.
A little sigh escaped her lips at that thought. In any other time, any other place, she would have loved to see him again. She'd never forgotten their night together, and today she'd been reminded in glorious detail just how attractive he really was. His brown hair was longer now, and he'd lost the painful shadows in his eyes that had been so prevalent the night they'd met. He'd been getting out of the Navy then, leaving friends and memories behind to move forward. Apparently, that step forward had been a good one for him. Standing on the docks, he'd looked vibrant, alive, sexy as hell.
It had physically hurt to look at him, to lie to him, and then tell him to go. But she'd done what she had to do, and apparently she would have to do it again tomorrow. She could skip the meeting, but she wanted her necklace back, and he already knew where she worked. Her jacket had been a dead giveaway.
So her new plan was to meet him, get her necklace, try not to act so wary or scared, and hope that he would just accept that there was nothing wrong. She knew her story had triggered his protective instincts, and as much as she would like a protector, she couldn't do that to Drew. She would protect him by keeping him as far away as possible.
With that resolve, she walked up the steps to her apartment building and inserted her key in the lock. As usual, she glanced over her shoulder before making her way inside the building. There was no one else out on the quiet street, no one sitting in a car, no one who appeared to be watching her.
She paused in the lobby to open her mailbox. There were only a few pieces of junk mail, all addressed to previous tenants. She tossed them into a recycle bin. As she turned toward the elevator, the front door opened, and Amelia Barrows walked in. An attractive brunette in her mid thirties, Amelia was her next-door neighbor and was a widow with a twelve-year-old daughter named Beth. Beth suffered from chronic asthma and respiratory infections, and Amelia worked two jobs to pay for all the medical bills.
