What if she told him about their baby and it threw him into a tailspin again?
She turned and watched his truck as it roared down the road. Billy sat in the passenger’s side, his elbow out the open window. Cain sat in the driver’s side, his elbow out the open window. They could be friends. Older and younger brother.
The truck turned right and disappeared down the street. Liz watched after it. He couldn’t fake what he felt for Billy. The boy was just a tad too inquisitive for an impatient man like Cain to fake patience. He was the happiest she’d ever seen him. And her secret could ruin that.
The next morning Cain arrived at the house with Billy in tow and another picnic basket stuffed with food. Eager for lunch, Billy went straight to work. He’d become so good at painting and had such a steady hand that Cain suggested he paint the line bordering the ceiling and around the windows and trim.
Proud of himself, Billy continued to blossom under the praise.
But Liz found herself watching Cain, watching his patience with Billy, watching his commitment to doing a good job for A Friend Indeed, watching the way he treated her. Not as an ex-wife, not as a woman he was pursuing, but as a coworker.
In a lot of ways that was weird.
“Get the lead out, Harper. If you keep repainting the same wall, we’ll be here again next weekend.”
“Got it. Sorry.”
“If you’re tired, take a break.”
She faced him. “A break? What’s a break? Billy, do you know what a break is?”
“Not hardly.”
She laughed and went back to painting, but Cain sighed. “All right. We’ll all take ten minutes then we have to get back to it.”
Liz didn’t need to be told twice. After using the bathroom, she jogged down the stairs and into the garage, where Cain had stored a cooler with bottled water and soft drinks. She took a can of diet cola, snapped open the lid and drank.
“Sorry about that.”
Lowering the can from her mouth, she turned and saw Cain walking into the garage. “You don’t have to go overboard with being nice.”
“I’m not.”
“Sure you are. I’ll bet you wouldn’t apologize to your workers if you got so wrapped up in a job you forgot to give them a break.”
“Probably not.”
“So why treat me and Billy any differently?”
“Maybe because I’m having trouble finding a happy medium.”
“Billy’s a good kid who needs to be in the real world. And that might include a boss who forgets to give him a break.”
“I’m not having trouble figuring out how to deal with Billy.”
Right. She got it. She was the problem. Their feelings around each other had gone up and down, back and forth and sideways. Plus they had a past. Even as objective as she tried to be, sometimes that past snuck up on her.
“Maybe that’s because we shouldn’t be working together.”
Just when she thought he’d admit he’d made a mistake in asking for her help, he surprised her. “We both like Billy. We both recognize that if somebody doesn’t grab hold of him right now God only knows what he’ll get into.” He caught her gaze. “We can do this, Liz. We can help him. Save him. Don’t you even want to try?”
She swallowed. “Actually, I do.” And for the first time since she’d seen him standing in only a towel in his kitchen, she wanted to tell him she was proud of him. She wanted to say it so much that she suddenly understood what he’d been going through every time he’d seen one of the changes she’d made since their marriage.
The feeling was nearly overwhelming.
“You know I’ll help Billy. I’ll do everything I can.”
He smiled at her, a smile so warm and open, she could only stare at him. The spark was back in his dark brown eyes. His hair fell boyishly to his forehead. But that smile. Oh, that smile. She would have done anything to see that smile three years ago. It seemed to say that he was different. Happy. Easy to be around. If they didn’t have a past, if she didn’t have a secret, Cain would be the man she would actually consider giving her heart to.
But they did have a past. And she did have a secret.
She chugged her soda and headed into the house just as Billy came out.
“Hey! I didn’t even get a drink.”
“Go ahead and get one. I’m ready to get back to work, so I’m going in. You and Cain take all the time you need.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
CAIN JUMPED INTO HIS Porsche and punched the address on the invitation in his hand into his GPS unit. He’d been invited to a party being hosted by one of the women who’d been helped by A Friend Indeed. In a few minutes, he found himself driving down the street of the middle-class, blue-collar neighborhood.
He hadn’t wanted to attend this party. But it had been a real stretch for him to volunteer to help with the Friend Indeed houses and an even bigger stretch to have taken Billy under his wing and those things had worked out amazingly well. So attending an event for the families involved with the charity was simply another level of change for him. Especially since it would involve chitchat. No bankers or businessmen to schmooze. No business talk tonight. Somehow or other he’d have to be…well, normal.
But he’d decided to once again push beyond his own inadequacies to attend tonight because he couldn’t stop thinking about something Liz had told him. When he’d first arrived at Amanda’s, Liz had instructed him to accept anything any client offered because this might be the first time in a long time they’d had something to offer. He’d finally wrapped his head around just how demoralized and demeaned these women had been and then his thoughts had segued to the fact that Liz and her family had been abused.
Liz had been a child in a family just like this one. Alone. Scared. Usually hungry. He couldn’t bear the thought.
But that also meant he couldn’t refuse an invitation to anything connected to Liz. He didn’t want her to feel rejected by him, or that somehow she and her friends weren’t good enough. They were. He was the socially awkward one. So to protect her, here he was, driving in an unfamiliar section of the city, about to attend a gathering with people he didn’t know.
He parked on the street and headed up the sidewalk to Joni Custer’s house. As he climbed the stairs to the front door, he held back a wince of pain. He’d been so busy proving himself to Liz and enjoying doing the work he loved—the work that had nudged him in the direction of success and riches—that he’d forgotten he wasn’t eighteen anymore. Billy was probably stronger. And maybe he should be the one hefting boxes of hardwood, while Cain stuck to measuring and fitting.
He found the bell and within two seconds, the bright red front door opened. Liz stood on the other side. Dressed in shorts and a halter top, she looked amazing. Comfortable. Confident. Relaxed.
Their gazes caught and she smiled sheepishly. His heart did a cartwheel. She was smiling at him now, like a real person, not a person she was forced to socialize with, not a person she had to pretend to like. Her smile was genuine.
“Come on. Everybody’s outside on the patio.” She took a look at his attire and winced. “Somebody should have told you dress was informal.”
Cain immediately reached for his tie. Walking into the foyer, he yanked it off