Nicky tried to dart away, but his pretty captor held him tight. “And he’s the mischievous one, right?”
Sam plucked Nicky up with his free arm. “Right,” he said, impressed by her kid-corralling skills. “Rosie here bosses, and he causes trouble.”
“You’ve got your hands full, then,” she said with a quirk of her lips, putting her hands into the front pockets of her well-fitting jeans.
He hiked Nicky up farther as the little boy squirmed. “You could say that. Twins are very challenging.” Understatement. Never mind that he never felt he had a very good handle on the single-dad thing.
Big blue eyes regarded him for a long moment, and again that sense of familiarity misted through Sam. Where had he seen her before? Unease had him shifting from foot to foot.
Rosie pointed at Sam’s rescuer and piped in with, “I want to see that necklace.” The woman gave Rosie an indulgent smile and squatted until she was at Rosie’s level. “See?” she said, holding out the chunky gold chain around her neck.
Rosie fingered it. “It’s pretty!”
“Thank you,” the woman said. Then after a few moments, she looked up and said, “You don’t recognize me, do you, Sam?”
His face heated. Yeah. She obviously recognized him, but he had no idea who she was. Awkward. “Um...no, I don’t,” he answered honestly. “But you do look familiar.”
She lifted the necklace over her head and handed it to Rosie.
Rosie crowed in delight.
The gal rose and stepped forward. “I’m Allison True, your sister Lori’s best friend from growing up?” She held out her hand. “Long time, no see, Sammy.”
Sammy? He blinked as shock rolled through him, and he froze for a second, staring at her. Suddenly, everything meshed and recognition clicked into place. “Oh, wow!” He took her small hand in his. Little sparks skidded along his arm as soon as they touched.
“Surprise!” Allison smiled, exposing straight white teeth devoid of the braces she’d worn in high school. “It’s me.”
He cleared his throat and reclaimed his hand. “I knew I knew you from somewhere, but I couldn’t place you.” He roamed his gaze over her face, noting her smooth, creamy complexion, with just a hint of freckles across her nose. She had a delicate jawline and cornflower-blue eyes, which he now recalled were called the True-blue eyes because everybody in the True family had them. “But, man, have you changed.” Another understatement. He remembered her mostly as a nerdy bookworm who wore glasses and her hair in braids, though she had blossomed in high school and he’d actually wanted to ask her out.
She rolled her eyes playfully. “Good thing. I would hate to look like the gangly teenager I was the last time I saw you.” She made a face. “Ugh.”
He nodded. “Nope, you’re definitely not a gangly teenager anymore.” Far, far from it. In fact, she’d grown into a beautiful woman. Not that he was really noticing.... All right, he was, but only in a very observational kind of way. As in, hey, she’d changed a lot.
“Glad to hear it,” she said with an impish smile that he found very appealing.
Nicky kicked his legs. “Put me down, Daddy!”
“Let’s stay up here, dude,” Sam replied. “We need to leave the bookstore standing.”
“Nooo!” Nicky cried. “I want down!”
Allison stepped forward. “Hey, Nicky. What’s your favorite thing in the whole world?”
“Cars,” Nicky replied, pushing at Sam’s shoulders. It was hard to contain this busy little boy for long. On the other hand, Rosie had plopped herself down on the floor to play with the necklace Allison had given her to look at. How could two siblings be so different?
“Cars?” Allison cocked her head to the side. “Well, I know where we can find some books about cars.”
Nicky stilled and turned to Allison. “You do?”
“Sure,” Allison said. “Would you like to see?”
“Yes!” Nicky replied.
“What’s the special word?” Sam automatically asked as he put Nicky down.
“Please?” Nicky responded.
Sam looked at Allison. “You sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course not. This is a bookstore, a place to look at books.” She held out a hand to Nicky. “Right, Nicky?”
He took her hand. “Right!” he said, jumping in place.
“Well, right this way,” Allison said with a tug on Nicky’s hand.
“Can I come, too?” Rosie said.
Allison held out her other hand. “Of course. What kind of books do you like?”
Rosie took her hand. “Princess books,” she replied with a jump of her own.
“Okay, we have those,” Allison said with an indulgent smile.
Sam shook his head. Boy, she really had a way with them.
Allison led them to a kid-size table and chairs set in the corner. “Why don’t you two sit down here at the table and I’ll get you the books you want, all right?”
Both three-year-olds immediately sat down. “’Kay,” they said in unison.
“We’ll stay here,” Rosie said.
“Yeah, right here,” Nicky added, patting the table with his chubby little hands.
Sam’s jaw fell. He could never get the twins to do much of anything at the same time, much less sit still. One of the many challenges of parenting twins. It didn’t help that his former wife, Teresa, was always criticizing everything he did. “Wow, you’ve really got the touch,” he said to Allison.
She smiled and waggled her eyebrows, then gestured at the shelves surrounding them. “No, I’ve just got the books.”
“Well, whatever you’ve got, it’s working.” Sam rubbed his jaw. “Maybe I need some pointers.”
“Ask away,” Allison said as she went to a shelf on the left side. She pulled down a large book. “I’m somewhat of an expert on kids.”
He drew his eyebrows together. “Do you have kids?” He forced himself not to look at her left ring finger.
“No, I’m not married, so no kids. But, if you remember, I took care of my younger sisters all the time when we were growing up, so I’ve got some experience.” She set the book on the table in front of Nicky.
“That’s right. You had, what, three younger siblings?”
“Just two,” she said, holding up two fingers as she went to a different shelf. “Amanda and Amy.”
“I remember now. You were the oldest, and Lori often went to your house because you had to babysit all the time.” More details came back to him. “Your parents owned the wheat spread on the outskirts of town, right?”
She pulled another book from the shelf. “Yup, and they still do.” She shrugged stiffly. “Although I don’t babysit for them anymore.”
He noticed her rigid shoulders and wondered what they signified but didn’t want to pry. Instead, he said, “Your sisters are still in high school, right?” He’d seen them around the school, but he hadn’t had either of them in class yet.
“Right. Amanda works at Sweet Dreams Bakery.”
More details materialized. “I seem to remember Lori telling me you moved away some time ago, correct?”