Currant Creek Valley(43)
“Even better! A spherical object will be easier to throw.”
“That was my theory, too.”
His son and the woman he was fiercely attracted to smiled at each other in perfect accord and Ethan headed off, the dog at his heels, to find a tennis ball.
Alexandra turned back to him and her smile dropped away like that spherical object falling out of the sky. “A son. You are a man of mystery.”
He shrugged. “I like to keep a woman guessing.”
“I can see maybe keeping your favorite color a secret but this seems like pretty important information to withhold. You didn’t say a word.”
“I’m a little cautious about mentioning Ethan to people when I first meet them,” he admitted. “It probably comes from being in the military but I tend to be overprotective about sharing my personal life, especially about my family.”
“An understatement.”
He felt guilty, for reasons he couldn’t have explained. He hadn’t done anything wrong but the way she was looking between him and Ethan made him feel otherwise.
“I guess I should have mentioned him but I didn’t quite know how. I’ll admit I’m a little rusty about this. I haven’t dated since my wife died, in part because Ethan tends to get...attached very easily.”
A trait he and his son apparently shared. He had a feeling he was becoming very attached indeed to this woman with the blond curls and big green eyes.
“Nothing wrong with a little caution. Since we both decided we’re not really dating, it shouldn’t be an issue with us.”
“There is that.” He didn’t want to think about that so he quickly changed the subject. “I like your house. I’ll admit, it’s not quite what I would have imagined for you.”
“Why not?”
They both watched the boy and the dog play in the yard but he noticed she kept a safe distance from him, almost as if she didn’t trust herself to come too close.
“I don’t know. I guess I would have imagined you in some kind of modern apartment somewhere. This is homey.”
“I like it. I bought it for the kitchen.”
“You must enjoy living by the creek.”
“I’m not here that often, but yeah.”
“What you need is a big comfortable chair right there on the back patio so you can unwind out here with the sound of the water. While your dog plays in the grass, of course.”
She snorted and wiped the back of her hand against a smudge on her cheek, which only served to leave more dirt trailing there. “I don’t have a dog, only a temporary houseguest. And I’m opening a restaurant in a few weeks, in case you forgot, so I don’t plan to do much unwinding for a while.”
“All the more reason why you need a sanctuary.”
* * *
“THE KITCHEN is my sanctuary.”
Alex could barely string together a coherent thought but she managed to answer honestly enough.
She called him a man of mystery. Ha. He was a ghost, a shadow, an enigma. They had spent several hours together, at least, and had engaged in two very passionate, very intimate embraces.
Not once, in all that time, had he happened to mention two important facts about himself—that he had a son and that he and said son were contemplating a permanent move to Hope’s Crossing.
And not just any neighborhood. Her neighborhood—her freaking sanctuary—with his son, for heaven’s sake.
Obviously, he hadn’t considered her someone important enough that he was willing to share those vital details of himself. That shouldn’t hurt. She knew it shouldn’t but she still couldn’t seem to help the little spasm under her breastbone.
Why should he tell her? They had spent a few pleasurable hours together and kissed exactly twice. He was building her kitchen. That was the sum total of their relationship.
None of this would be an issue if she hadn’t been shortsighted enough to invite him to play pool that first night. If she had just looked at him as a really gorgeous guy who was doing good work on her restaurant kitchen and left it at that, she wouldn’t be standing here in her backyard feeling stunned and stupid and, yes, hurt.
What a disaster.
She was still mulling how she could handle this major wrinkle when Jill Sellers peered over her back fence.
“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere. I knew you couldn’t have left because your truck was still parked out front but I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out where you’d gone until I heard voices over here.”
Jill blinked big blue eyes at her. “Oh, hello, Alex. I didn’t notice you there.”
Nothing new there. Alex was used to being invisible to Jill and her tight circle of friends. Most people moved past their high school cliques once they picked up their diploma from the principal at graduation but Jill and a few of her friends still seemed to delight in thinking they ran the town.