She was stuck. Stuck between not wanting her son to do something as innocuous as walking down the street, and the cop looking at her as if she was a few rods short of a perm. “I…I suppose it’s okay.”
“I appreciate it.” Nick handed Austin a ten dollar bill. “A hundred of them should be less than five dollars, so why don’t you keep the other five?”
Faith stiffened and edged around so that she stood between him and Austin. “That’s not nec—”
“I insist.” Nick’s eyes on hers were steady, his expression innocent. “He’s doing me a favor and he should be compensated for it.”
Austin tugged on her arm. “Can I, Mom? Please?”
Why did he have to look so excited? So…hopeful?
Worse, why did she have to feel so guilty? She got no enjoyment out of denying her child something as small as a comic book, especially after she’d grown up going without so many things.
“Did you eat your breakfast?” she asked.
Austin nodded vigorously. “I even ate a banana.”
She forced a smile, surprised her face didn’t crack. “Well, then, I guess it’s okay.”
“Really?” Austin asked breathlessly. “So, can I get the comic book?”
“It’s your money. You can buy it if you want to.”
“When you get to the store,” Nick said, “tell Marsha I sent you. She’ll have my order ready.”
“Okay.” Austin shoved the money into his pocket but didn’t miss the way Faith raised an eyebrow at him. “I mean, yes, sir.”
“I’ll call her and let her know to expect you.” He took his phone out and walked over to the washing machine as he dialed.
“Be careful crossing the street,” Faith told Austin.
He squirmed in embarrassment. “Mo-om.”
“Yes, I’m lame and overprotective and I’ve said all of this before. Humor me. Don’t stop in any other stores besides the hardware store and bookstore and—”
“Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t get into the car with a stranger.” He lowered his voice. “I’m not a baby.”
“Maybe not, but you’re still my baby.” She supposed it was natural for a boy his age to be disgusted by someone calling him a baby. But that didn’t mean she had to like his expression. “I just want you to be careful.”
“I will be.”
“I’ll expect you back within thirty minutes,” Faith said. “Got it?”
“Got it.” He flicked a glance over his shoulder and, seeing Nick’s back was turned, puckered his lips and accepted a quick peck from her.
“Don’t run through the—”
Austin raced off. She prayed he wouldn’t crash into anything in the salon. Such as a customer.
She dug through her purse and, as soon as Nick hung up his phone, stalked over to him. “Here.”
Frowning at the five-dollar bill she held out, he stuck his phone in his front pocket. “What’s this?”
“It’s the money you paid my son to run an errand you didn’t even need done.”
His eyes were hooded, his expression blank. And to think at one time she used to be an expert on reading men. Either she’d lost her touch or he excelled at the whole stoic thing.
Probably the latter. After all, weren’t all cops emotionless robots? The ones she’d dealt with were.
“I don’t want your money, Faith.”
Yeah? Well, she didn’t want to give it to him, but more than that, she didn’t want him to worm his way into her son’s life with money. “Take it. Please,” she insisted.
He held it as if it were a live rattlesnake before tossing it on top of the washing machine. “I’m not sure what the problem is.”
“You stuck your nose into my personal business,” she said before she could censor herself. “I’d prefer you didn’t involve yourself in something that’s between me and my son.”
“I wasn’t involving myself in anything,” he said casually, as if he hadn’t stepped over a line. “I needed some screws, he needed some cash.”
She clasped her hands behind her back. “You’re changing the hoses.” Keeping her tone unfailingly polite just about killed her. “All you have to do is shut off the water, disconnect the hoses and connect the new ones.”
“You moonlight as a plumber?”
She gritted her teeth. “It’s not rocket science. Austin could do it. But he wouldn’t need any pan head screws, that’s for sure.”
Nick unhooked one hose from the wall. “I need the screws for something I’m doing later.”
“No. You don’t. You overheard me tell Austin he couldn’t have something he wanted, and you thought you’d swoop in and save the day like you do with everyone else.”
He shot her an irritated glance. “You have no idea what I do with everyone else.” He let the end of the cold water hose fall on the tile floor. Water dripped out and made a small puddle. “We’ve seen each other at least once a week for the past few months and this is the longest conversation we’ve ever had.”
True. And she couldn’t wait for it to end.
“Every time I so much as say hello, you act wicked nervous,” he continued. “If I did something to—”
“You didn’t.”
He grinned. “Good. Because seeing as how we’re probably going to run into each other quite often—and considering that you’re working for my sister—why don’t we try to at least be friends?”
She narrowed her eyes. Did he really think he could charm her into believing he was the type of guy who did nice things for people out of the goodness of his heart? She didn’t care if he was considered around town to be a prince among men. She didn’t trust him.
And even if she did, they couldn’t be friends. She didn’t have any friends.
So what if she got lonely? Or that there were times when she wondered if she could do it all alone. Raise Austin. Keep him safe. Keep their secret. But the decision she’d made when she’d left New York meant she didn’t have a choice now.
“We can’t be friends,” she blurted.
For some reason, that only seemed to amuse him. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t like you.”
NICK’S SMILE DISAPPEARED. Didn’t like him? What the hell? Everyone liked him. Just ask around.
“Maybe if you weren’t in such a hurry to get away from me,” he claimed irritably, “you’d learn to like me.”
“I don’t like you getting your hero worship fix from my son.”
“Hero worship?” He clenched the wrench he still held, and gave it a backhanded toss into his toolbox. Faith jumped when it hit the handle with a loud clang. “Funny how we’ve barely spoken, and yet you have no trouble coming up with a shitty opinion of me.”
“You had no right to involve yourself in my personal life—”
“I wasn’t trying to stick my nose into your business.” He hated losing control, even for a moment. “Austin seemed upset…”
“Sad to say, life is full of disappointments. And while I don’t relish the idea, Austin is going to have