He was such an animated kid, and he was the only guy she needed in her life. That answered her question too. Even if a smidge of interest might have been piqued-or more than a smidge-she wouldn't have kept gossipmongers from Noah just because she was interested in him.
"Which pepperoni did you decide on?"
He skipped two doors down. "I can get it! I can reach yours too!"
"Hang on." She wasn't that predictable. Sometimes she tossed it up and had thin crust or veggie.
He threw open the door and nabbed his pepperoni then correctly guessed she wanted the extra cheese – stuffed crust.
"Good choices." Her cell buzzed from the bottomless depths of her purse. If the thing wasn't loud enough to hear, she'd forget she had it, unlike Hildie, who always had hers in her hand. Teagan silenced the notification calling for attention but spotted Noah's name.
The muscles near her collarbones tensed automatically, and Teagan flushed.
NOAH: I'm in need of recommendations.
"I bet." She laughed as Will tossed the pizzas into her grocery basket.
TEAGAN: I might have some of those. What's up?
NOAH: Healthy. Fast. Delivery or takeout.
TEAGAN: For dinner?
NOAH: That wasn't obvious? Sorry. Yeah, for dinner.
NOAH: I had dinner plans. Two different plans actually. But things didn't work out the way I'd hoped.
TEAGAN: … I heard. ;)
NOAH: Really?
TEAGAN: Some version of what might have happened. Yeah.
NOAH: Man. Nothing changes in Eagle's Ridge, does it? Word still travels fast.
"Mom? Are we leaving now?" Will bounced on his toes.
Teagan pulled herself away from the cell phone.
"Why are you smiling?"
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Oh, well. I don't know, then," she stammered as heat crawled up her neck. "Let's go."
They were headed toward checkout when another text popped up.
NOAH: Finally got everyone out of the house and about to go get takeout. Any suggestions? I'd rather sit somewhere, but I'm sure everyone at No Man's Land has heard by now.
"Do we need anything else?" Will sidestepped across the front of the store. "Can we leave?"
"We are leaving." She quickly texted back.
TEAGAN: So what?
NOAH: Hildie's coffee crew will stare and judge so they can take notes.
Her cheeks flamed. He had no idea how dead on he was and how busted she was too. Eagle's Ridge wanted to wrap everyone in its arms but not before the town had a good gander.
"You're walking slow," Will said.
She wanted to tell him not to nag, but she was walking slowly. Texting Noah was a distraction, but every now and then, she had to use her phone. It wasn't an everyday thing.
But texting Noah wasn't work or something she had to do …
They moved into a short line, and she dropped the basket on the conveyor belt and her phone in her purse. "Give your mom a break every now and then, okay, big guy?"
Will leaned against her, and Teagan stroked his hair. Still, her mind wasn't one hundred percent focused. She could have invited Noah and Bella to have pizza with them tonight. Bella ate with her and Will several days a week. Maybe making that offer would be like penance for trading in gossip on what was Noah's first day on a new job. Karma was going to kick her butt if she didn't do something good-and quickly.
But her nerves jittered, and that was because she smiled at her phone when Noah's name popped up.
"Did you have library today?" she asked Will, changing the subject to one she was certain about. Kids and school.
"Yeah. We read a book where this kid was new and he sat alone at lunch and ate different foods than everyone else and no one gave him a chance and … "
Teagan's eyes shut. Was it her imagination, or did every conversation find a way to point toward Noah in some way?
"Then the other boy went over and made a friend. And they liked the food in the other lunch box. And found out new was okay and that the old kid was new to the new kid too. And … "
Teagan pulled out her cell phone, less jittery and forgetting that she thought Noah was attractive and that she'd judged him earlier.
TEAGAN: I'm cooking pizzas if you're interested. I promise not to burn my kitchen down. You and Bella are free to come over.
Then she held her breath. No response. The jitters resurfaced. Did she have a crush on Bella's uncle? No, that would be silly and way too quick.
"Mom?" Will inched closer to the checkout.
Why didn't Noah text back? This was ridiculous. She couldn't have a crush on someone she'd just met. But she could think he was cute. Still, Teagan gave one last hopeful stare at her phone and willed a yes reply to appear.
Nothing.
A hollow knot of disappointment burrowed itself into her stomach. That hadn't been there in a long time. She placed the two pizzas on a conveyor belt and tucked the basket underneath as they waited on the woman in front of them.
There could be many reasons he didn't write back. Maybe he was driving to eat already. Or perhaps she'd been too judgmental when they first met, and he didn't want to have dinner with her and Will.
Ping.
The text message notification brought a barrel of anticipation that Teagan wanted to ignore. There were too many parents and friends who might send a text, but there was no reasoning with the swarm of fluttering butterflies racing through her veins.
Teagan swiped her phone's screen and saw his name then two words.
NOAH: Sounds good.
She rocked back on her heels, biting down a smile. "Hey, Will? Run and get two more pizzas."
He didn't have to be told twice to run free in the grocery store. The kid blasted to the frozen food aisle almost as quickly as her heart raced now that Noah and Bella were joining them for dinner.
Another text popped up.
NOAH: If it's not a problem. No pity meals for us.
A pity meal? Who was he kidding? Of all the reactions she might have had since Hildie had dropped the kitchen firebomb, pity wasn't on the list.
TEAGAN: We'll be home in 20. Pizza will be on the table in 45 minutes.
She pinged her home address to him as Will came back with two more pizzas and tossed them onto the conveyor belt. Teagan pulled out her store coupon for frozen pizza and chewed on the inside of her cheek as they were rung up and she paid.
NOAH: Pizza, huh? I have a funny story to tell you.
Since they hadn't walked the short distance from their home to the grocery store, they didn't need a bag for their pizzas. She and Will carried two boxes each to her Subaru as he hopped along the edge of the sidewalk and she wondered how pizza might be funny.
CHAPTER SIX
"Do you ever stop bouncing?" Noah made overexaggerated head motions that followed Bella's jumps as he held her hand.
"Not really." It was as though she had springs on the bottom of her shoes, bounding with every step. "Mommy wanted to bottle me up."
He squeezed Bella's hand as she hopped toward Teagan's front door. "She'd have made a killing."
Bella stopped abruptly. "Mom didn't kill anyone. She said you did sometimes. But they were bad guys. But she died and wasn't killed. That's different than a homicide, did you know that?"
Noah's lips parted, and he was unsure where to start. Suddenly he felt more out of place than he had thirty seconds ago, and he hadn't known that was possible. He didn't have a clue how to talk to Bella, much less raise her. If this was the kind of situation they'd find themselves in on her best friend's front sidewalk, what would happen when life really got tough?
Noah cleared his throat. "Make a killing, er. It's like an expression. It means to do well."
"Oh," Bella perked up. "Like an idiom."
"Uh, yeah. Sure." More like he was an idiot. Idiom? Was there a Google Translate option for "smart kid"?
"Like a penny for your thoughts?"
"I think so." He didn't know what constituted an idiom.
"People I don't know say that to me when I don't want to talk to them."
Noah crouched down. "I get that. A lot. It comes with being in the military. Sometimes there are things that I saw or thought that I had to process on my own or with someone who saw the same things as me, and when others ask me to talk about it? They'd never be able to relate." He shrugged. "I never knew what to say."
"Are you sad my mom is gone?" she asked quietly.
He nodded then scooped her into his arms before walking on his knees to the first step on Teagan's porch. "Yup, ladybug."
"Does it hurt your insides?"
He kept nodding but this time made the motion bigger. "Sure does." Then he kissed the top of her head. "What about you?"
"People I don't know cry in front of me, and it makes me feel uncomfortable."
Hmm. "Why?"
"They act like they want to make me feel better. But they want the consolation."
"Consolation, huh?" he asked quietly. "Big word with big meaning."
She leaned against him. "But it's true." Bella perked up, excited. "It adds insult to injury."