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"Positive. You're a great mom and you work too hard. Promise me you'll just relax and not start working on something else."
"I promise. Call me if you need me. Story time is in half an hour."
"We'll see you then."
Chloe felt more turned on than she had in years, and it wasn't just because Decker was charming her with his sexy smile or hot body, but also because he'd told her she was a wonderful mom, and she deserved a break. She could have kissed him for that.
Luckily, Leo had been right there, or she might have given into the temptation once more. But their chaperone had stopped her from making another impulsive mistake. She couldn't keep kissing Decker and pretending nothing was going on.
Sitting down on the couch, she realized that she also couldn't deny something was going on just because they weren't kissing each other. She just didn't know what to do about it. Decker was a good guy, but he wasn't her guy.
As if on cue, her phone rang, and Joel's name flashed across the screen. Guilt ran through her. They'd never talked about being exclusive, but Decker was Joel's friend, and she knew they'd crossed a line they shouldn't have crossed.
"Hello?" she said.
"Chloe, how are you?" he asked, his voice weary.
"I'm good. How are you? When are you coming back?"
"I wish I could say tomorrow, but it's probably going to be Sunday or Monday."
"That's too bad. What's happening?"
"A lot of business stuff. I don't need to bore you with all that. I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you."
Now, she felt even more guilty. She hadn't been thinking about him at all. "I appreciate that. How's New York?"
"It's…the same," he said, an odd note in his voice.
"What does that mean?" she asked curiously.
"I don't know. I'm tired. I've been in meetings all day. It's good to hear your voice. You remind me of Whisper Lake, where everything is so calm and peaceful."
She frowned, not thinking that was the best compliment she'd ever heard. But then the background noise on the phone got louder. "Where are you now? It sounds like you're in the street?"
"I'm outside a club. I'm going to meet an old friend for a drink."
"Well, I'm glad your trip isn't all business."
"I wasn't going to meet up, but I could use a drink."
"You sound…different," she said, not able to read all the emotions in his voice.
"What?" he asked. "I didn't hear you."
"You don't sound like yourself," she said, trying again.
"Sorry. I missed that."
As a siren blared, she said, "Don't worry about it. We'll talk later. Have fun with your friend."
Joel's answer was garbled, and then the connection broke. As she put down the phone, she felt unsettled, which was odd because Joel had called to tell her he missed her. And that should have made her happy. But it hadn't. And it occurred to her that she was falling into an old bad habit, telling herself a story that didn't match reality.
How many months, make that years, had she made excuses for why she and Kevin were out of sync? Too many. She wasn't going to do that again. She wasn't going to pretend things were good when they weren't. Maybe it would get better when Joel came back to town, or maybe it would be like it had been the past few weeks, work distractions, dates now and then, professions of mutual liking, but not a lot of heat, not a driving, urgent passion to be together.
She'd told herself that she wasn't looking for all that. She was more interested in a man who could be her partner, be steady, hold the course. Joel had appeared to be all that when she first met him, but that had changed, or maybe she'd just realized that what she really wanted was a man who made her heart skip a beat, who turned her palms sweaty, who made her tingle with just a smile.
She wanted a man who could be a father to Leo. And Joel had barely shown any interest in her son. That had been fine at first. She'd wanted to take it slow. But watching Decker interact with Leo was so much different than watching Joel, who never really knew what to say or how to act around her kid. He wasn't mean; he just wasn't present.
