When the tea was ready, she put everything on a tray, including a glass of milk for Adam and headed back to the living room. Adam was laughing out loud, a sound she had rarely heard in the past few weeks. Clearly her son was very happy with the attention Nate was giving him. Delighted to be part of this new development, she put the tray on the coffee table in front of Adam.
“I thought we could enjoy a cup of tea and Adam’s favorite cookies while we talk,” Gayle said, being careful not to spill anything as she poured tea for Nate and herself. She was proud to see that Adam had waited until she’d served Nate before taking his usual four cookies and the glass of milk.
Nate and Adam continued their discussion of which mowers worked best, how Adam had managed to fix his machine the last time it broke down. Gayle was pleased to see a look of accomplishment on her son’s face, and hoped this was the beginning of a return to sharing their daily lives.
When the plate of cookies was empty, Adam finished the last of his milk and stood up. “If no one minds, I’m meeting a friend to go skateboarding.”
Forcing her shoulders down, Gayle drew in a deep breath to ease her instant anxiety. “When will you be back?”
“A bunch of us are heading over to the skateboard park. I’ll be back for dinner.”
Gayle followed him out to the back door. Once out of earshot of Nate, she asked, “What did you think of Mr. Garrison?”
“He’s okay, Mom.” He patted her shoulder the way he often did. “Stop worrying. You heard him. He said we’d hang out once a week, and that’s fine.” Scooping his skateboard off the bench, he skipped down the steps, following the cobbled path to the front of the house before disappearing from sight.
Gayle went back into the house, expecting to find Nate where she’d left him in the living room. Instead, he was standing in the kitchen, the tray on the marble counter. “Was the move from Anaheim relatively easy?”
“Yes. I was ready for a change. When I learned that my aunt had left this house to me, I couldn’t wait to move here. I’d never been to the East Coast before. It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve made friends with several people at work, and I love my job.” Hoping that would end his questions, she started to put the dishes in the dishwasher.
“Most people don’t pick up and move that easily. Leaving friends and relatives behind is usually difficult. Why didn’t you sell this house and just stay in Anaheim?”
Gayle glanced around the sunny kitchen with its cream walls and blue/green accents, all of which she’d done herself. “Because I had never owned a home before, and I loved the photos my aunt’s executor sent me.”
“What was your life in Anaheim like? Did you work in a medical clinic there?”
Was this how it worked? He would gain background information on her before he began working with Adam? “I did. It was okay, but not nearly as friendly as the Eagle Mountain Medical Center.”
“That’s good to hear.” He paused. They exchanged half smiles. “You and Sherri have become close friends.”
“She’s the best friend I’ve ever had.” She’d never admit to him that Sherri was her first real friend. Growing up, she couldn’t take anyone to the shabby home she shared with her parents for fear of what state they’d be in, which had left her feeling isolated from her classmates.
She wanted Adam to have friends, and a place he was proud to bring them to. He had done that until about a month ago. She probably should tell Nate about that, but it might be better to wait and see how he made out with Adam before volunteering any information.
“Do you miss your friends in Anaheim?”
“With a child to raise, and very little money, I didn’t have many friends.”
“Had you moved there from somewhere else?”
“I lived in Riverside for a short time, but Anaheim mostly.”
A frown line formed between his eyes. “I can understand that you’d be busy with a child and a career, but why was it easier to make friends here in Eden Harbor than in Anaheim?”
He was asking questions she couldn’t answer without exposing the truth she’d vowed to keep to herself. She’d moved out of the neighborhood she’d been living in with Harry as soon as she could. With the grudging help of her parents, she’d taken a medical receptionist course, after which she’d moved to another part of town. There she’d intentionally avoided making friends who might connect her to the sensational coverage of Harry’s trial. Having Adam in her life was everything she’d ever wanted, and the one good thing to come out of her past. “I...I’m not sure.”
“What about Adam’s father?”
Gayle nearly dropped the plate she was placing in the dishwasher. “His father died in a fishing trawler accident off Alaska just a few months after Adam was born.”
“I’m sorry. It must have made your life very difficult. Did you have family to support you while you raised Adam?”
“My parents passed away a few years ago.” In Anaheim, her mother and father hadn’t bothered to stay in touch with her, and she didn’t mind because they were always expecting her to do things for them—from housework to grocery shopping. She guessed that making demands on her was their version of being involved in her life.
She finished cleaning up the kitchen while Nate watched, as if assessing her. She was exhausted from the past hour, and needed to get this man to leave before he asked any more questions. He would do what he could to help get Adam’s life back on track, of that much she was certain. Once that was done, and it would be, she’d concentrate on the future, her work and her friends.
The man standing just a few feet from her would not play any role in her life after that for a couple of very good reasons. She couldn’t trust herself not to be drawn to him, or worse, to end up wanting him. If she allowed him into her life beyond his involvement with Adam, he would certainly learn things about her he wouldn’t like, thus putting an end to any further relationship.
She wanted Nate to leave, but from the way he’d positioned himself along the edge of her counter, he didn’t intend to do that any time soon. To stop his deluge of questions, she decided to learn what she could about his relationship with Anna. She and Gayle had had coffee several times, but Anna had never really talked about her brother.
* * *
NATE FOUND IT hard to take his eyes off this woman, while she seemed to be totally unaware of him. Gayle Sawyer was gorgeous, worried and hiding something.
All Nate’s police training told him, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the woman before him was protecting a secret so big that she would do anything to keep it from him. Given that his sole purpose in being here was to mentor her son, that secret almost certainly involved Adam. As he stood there watching her, he wondered what would make a mother hide the truth if her son’s happiness stood to suffer.
Furthermore, if he was completely honest himself, he wanted to know more about this woman out of a personal interest. He’d liked her from the first moment they’d exchanged glances.
Not that he wanted to date her. He didn’t. She wasn’t his type. He’d made it a practice to choose women who wouldn’t make any emotional demands on him, who were out to enjoy life. Such relationships suited his lifestyle.
He’d once had a different outlook, and was drawn to a different type of woman... Until that disastrous day after he’d been shot when he’d learned that the woman he’d planned to spend the rest of his life with wasn’t into a man with a disability.
That moment of truth had nearly been his undoing. Never again would he kid himself into thinking that a woman would want him just as he was, disability and all. Maybe in the short-term, but not the long. Because of that, he would never again allow a woman to get close enough to hurt him.
From