Surprised, Katherine said, “Your boss hired you when you were seven months pregnant?”
Natalie grinned. “He told me later he must have been out of his mind. He likes to think he’s a tough guy.”
“I know the type.” Katherine chuckled. “My first boss was that way. He grumbled and scowled…and gave me a month off with pay when my mother was dying.”
“Sam did the same thing for me when my sons were born. And I’d only worked for him for two months!” Five years later that still amazed her. Pulling out her order pad, she smiled. “So…have you decided what you’d like to eat?”
They both ordered the fish, and Natalie only took time to find out what dressing they wanted on their salad before she once again left them alone. She was hardly out of earshot before Katherine leaned across the table and said softly, “She’s not wearing a ring. Has she mentioned a husband?”
“Dammit, Katherine, I told you—”
“Oh, hush,” she scolded. “I’m just teasing you. So…is she married?”
He shouldn’t have answered her, but he could tell from the glint in her eye that she wasn’t going to let it go. “She’s divorced. Okay? All I know is her husband left her a long time ago. Obviously, he was a jackass.”
“See! You are interested! I knew it!” He started to object, but she held up her hand, stopping him. “You would be interested if she wasn’t one of your students,” she corrected, biting back a smile. “I suppose I should admire your scruples, but…”
“Don’t say it!” he warned.
“I just don’t think you should let that stop you. She’s not a kid, and neither are you. What if she’s your soul mate? What are you going to do? Just let her walk away? That’s crazy!”
Staring at her in amazement, he said, “You’re something else, you know it? You’re an editor—you work with words. How many times do I have to say I’m not interested?”
“You can say it until the cows come home, but it’s not going to mean a damn thing as long as you can’t take your eyes off her,” she retorted. “Admit it. You’re fascinated with her.”
When he just looked at her and didn’t say a word, she chuckled. “C’mon, Max, don’t be mad. I’m a sucker for romance—you know that. Indulge me.”
When he rolled his eyes, she laughed and reached across the table to pat his hand. “Trust me, this is just what you need to shake you out of the slump you’re in with your writing.”
“There is no this,” he insisted. When her eyes just twinkled in understanding, he had to laugh. “I think I need a new editor.”
As she waited on Max and Katherine for the rest of their meal, making sure they had everything they needed and that the food lived up to their expectations, Natalie couldn’t help but envy Katherine. Max was teasing and attentive and made no effort to hide the fact that he thoroughly enjoyed Katherine’s company. And for the first time since Derek had walked out on her, Natalie wished she had a man in her life.
Shocked by the thought, she told herself that it had been a long day and she was just tired and feeling sorry for herself. But later, as she watched Max and Katherine walk out of the restaurant with eyes only for each other, the emotions tugging at her heart had nothing to do with tiredness.
And things didn’t get any better over the course of the next week. She was lonely and more than a little restless. As she watched the young eighteen-year-old girls in her archeology class flirt outrageously with Max in an effort to get his attention, she felt all alone…and far older than her years. She found herself examining her life, the choices she had made, and she realized that nothing had turned out the way she’d expected. She’d always wanted a home and family and a husband she could go through life with. She had two out of the three, and most of the time, that was enough. She adored her sons and thanked God for them every day. And even though her home was a cottage and not a grand showplace, it was nice and, most important, all hers. Derek had signed it over to her in the divorce. It was the only decent thing he’d done to provide for his children.
She tried to convince herself she was content, but she couldn’t count the nights when she lay awake in the dark, aching to have someone beside her. She was an independent woman, but she didn’t thrive on her single status. In spite of the way her marriage had ended, she’d loved being in love, loved being married. Nothing had ever felt so natural. Yet she was alone. And she had a sinking feeling she always would be.
By Saturday the walls were closing in on her and she couldn’t stand the thought of staying home to study. She had to work the dinner shift at the restaurant, but she had hours to kill before then, and the boys were just as anxious as she to get out of the house. Thumbing through the newspaper in search of a movie to take them to, she arched a brow at the headlines of the sports page. Eagles Take On Bobcats.
You’ve waited a long time to go to college. It should be about more than studying, don’t you think?
Max’s words echoed through her head, tempting her. Why not? she thought, smiling for the first time in what seemed like days. Going in search of the boys, she found them in the backyard, playing with Bongo. “Hey, guys, how would you like to go to a football game?”
They’d never been to a real football game before, and neither, for that matter, had she. As the three of them approached the football stadium with a steady stream of other fans, she had to admit that she was as excited as the boys. The game was scheduled to start in ten minutes, and the stadium seemed, from the outside, at least, to be already packed.
Quickly paying for their tickets, Natalie hurried them through the entrance gate just as the Rocky Mountain University marching band began playing the school fight song. A roar of approval went up from the crowd, and suddenly the old stadium that had been standing in that same spot since the 1920s was rocking.
Holding her sons’ hands in each of hers, Natalie looked down at the boys and grinned when she saw their wide-eyed expressions. “Pretty cool, huh, guys?” she said with a grin. “C’mon. Let’s find our seats.”
She didn’t have to tell them twice. Tugging her after them, they sprinted for the stairs.
Their tickets were for general admission, so they could sit anywhere that wasn’t reserved. With the stadium nearly full, however, there just weren’t that many available places to sit. Searching through the crowd, Natalie was beginning to think they might have to stand for the entire game when she suddenly spied a few seats in the sea of humanity to her right. “I think we just got lucky, boys. Hurry. There’re some places right in front of the man in the yellow shirt.”
There were people coming up the steps behind them, also looking for seats. Lightning quick, she pulled the boys after her into the crowd. “Excuse me. Excuse us, please. Thank you. I’m so sorry—”
Long seconds later they burst through the crowd to their seats just as the opposing team lined up across the width of the field for the kickoff. Their kicker ran toward the ball at a steady lope, then kicked it with all his might, sending it sailing toward the opposite end of the field. With a deafening roar of encouragement, the crowd surged to its feet and the fun began.
Grinning down at her sons, who couldn’t see a thing except the adults standing in front of them, Natalie teased, “What are you guys doing down there? C’mon, stand up here next to me and tell me what you think.”
Quickly they jumped up onto the metal bleachers that served as seats and stood on either side of her, broad grins of excitement splitting their identical faces. “Wow, this is cool! Look how little they look!”
“Can we go down on the field, Mom? We want to play. We can catch the ball like that!”
She laughed. “Your time’s coming,” she