“No ‘perhaps’ about it,” Mary Karen teased. “The hickey on your neck is a dead giveaway.”
“Hickey?” July gasped and leaned toward the mirror, scanning her neck and upper chest region for a red blotch. After several seconds she straightened. “I do not—”
She turned to find Mary Karen chuckling.
“You may not have one,” Mary Karen said. “But that response tells me you very easily could have had one.”
July opened her mouth to deny it, but instead just smiled. “David asked me to come over to his house tonight…after he takes Rachel home.”
Mary Karen’s eyes widened for a second then her gaze turned assessing. “What did you say?”
“I have Adam.”
“I can get up with the baby.” Mary Karen’s blue eyes—so like her brother’s—fixed on July. “If that’s your concern.”
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Who are we talking about?” Mary Karen asked. “You? Him?”
July expelled a heavy sigh. “Both.”
“Because he doesn’t want a relationship and you do? Or because you don’t want a relationship and he does?”
“It’s nothing that heavy.” July couldn’t hide her surprise. “We’re just trying to be…friends. That’s all.”
Mary Karen didn’t even blink. “Then what’s the issue?”
July’s heart skipped a beat. “You’re right. You sure you don’t mind watching Adam?”
Mary Karen smiled. “It’s the least I can do for your friendship with my brother.”
Chapter Fourteen
David was surprised when Mary Karen and July said they wanted to stay for the dance. But the big shocker came when Rachel made no mention of leaving when the band took the stage. Apparently she was up for dancing, too.
Two hours later, after he’d paid for his silent auction items and danced numerous times with not only Rachel, but July and Mary Karen, as well, the women were finally ready to head home.
“I’m glad I stayed.” Rachel leaned her head back against the seat of his Suburban.
“It was fun.” David smiled, realizing he meant it. “I hadn’t heard some of those songs since high school.”
“Your sister seemed to be having a good time.” Rachel slanted a sideways glance. “She and Dr. Fisher make a nice couple.”
“They’re not a couple,” David said, though he had to agree the two looked as if they belonged together out on the dance floor.
“I realize they’re not dating.” Rachel’s lips curved into a slight smile. “But that doesn’t negate the chemistry between them. They definitely have it. You and July have it, too.”
“July and I—”
“You don’t need to deny it.” Rachel reached over and touched his arm. “You were the perfect escort tonight and I had a wonderful evening. But when you look at July—and when she looks at you—well, it reminds me of when my husband was alive. I’m happy for you.”
“July and I aren’t dating.” Even as he protested, David thought of all the time they’d spent together recently. If that wasn’t dating, he didn’t know what you’d call it.#p#分页标题#e#
“It’s okay to take a chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m saying someone special doesn’t come around very often in life,” Rachel said. “When they do, it’s worth taking a chance.”
July barely had time to throw a few essentials into an oversize purse and change into something more comfortable when David called to say he’d dropped off Rachel.
“I’ll meet you at your place,” she said, her voice surprisingly composed. “Mary Karen offered to watch Adam.”
“I’ll come get you,” he said. “And I can take you home tomorrow. I don’t go in until three.”
“It’s no problem for me to drive. I—”
“Let me pick you up,” he said in a deep voice that sent sparks of excitement shooting up her spine. “Please.”
At that moment she found it difficult to deny him anything. “I’ll be waiting on the porch.”
Less than five minutes later his Suburban pulled into the driveway. Hitching her now heavy bag over her shoulder, July strolled to the truck, anticipation waging a war with fear. Was four weeks post-baby too soon to be intimate? Had the passion in Chicago been a fluke?
But when David rounded the truck and grabbed her bag, then took her hand to help her into the truck, the jolt of electricity she experienced at the simple touch told her she had nothing to worry about.