She had to try hard not to laugh at his twisted but all-too-typical logic. “No, it suggests that I want to work and contribute to my own family’s well-being.”
Walter was clearly exasperated by her reply. “Then why not teach? Isn’t that what you were always claiming you wanted while we were married? Day in and day out, I heard about how you were wasting your college degree.”
“In case you haven’t checked a calendar, it’s almost the end of the school year,” she said, clinging to her patience by a thread. “I’ve put in an application for next year, but it’s too soon to know if there will be a position open.”
“Well, you could wait until you hear before taking a job like this.”
Sarah shook her head at his demeaning tone. “Do you happen to remember what I was doing when you and I met at college?”
“Waiting tables,” he admitted grudgingly. “But we were kids then.”
“And it’s still a perfectly respectable job,” she said. “You weren’t such a snob back then, Walter. In fact, you seemed happy enough when I could give you a free burger and fries. Has living in the shadow of your family turned you into the kind of man who can’t appreciate hard work, no matter what it is?”
She already knew the answer. Working for his father and living close to his family had changed him from the independent, fun-loving man she’d fallen for into someone she no longer even recognized. Every time he opened his mouth to criticize her, the words she heard were an echo of something either his mother or father had said about her. And nothing they’d ever said had been good.
He winced at her accusation, but for once he didn’t bother trying to defend himself. “Okay, okay, I just hate to see you wearing yourself out when you don’t need to. You couldn’t keep up with the kids when you were home all the time. Now they’re probably running wild because you’re too exhausted to chase after them.”
She doubted this had anything to do with consideration for her, but she pretended he was sincere. “Thanks for worrying, but I’m managing just fine.”
“Well, you look like hell.”
“Thanks so much,” she said wryly, then forced a smile. She refused to rise to the bait of one dig after another. She’d finally learned it wasn’t worth arguing with Walter, especially in front of the kids. She turned her attention to Tommy. “So, what do you have planned with your dad for today?”
“Daddy and me are gonna play catch,” Tommy said eagerly. “Right, Daddy?”
“Right,” Walter said, his eyes lighting up as he looked at his son. There was no mistaking his love for the little boy who looked just like him, with the same blue eyes and sun-streaked brown hair.
Their crooked smiles were exactly alike, too. Every time Sarah saw that smile on her Tommy’s face, she thought about the man she’d fallen in love with, the one it seemed no longer existed.
“And Libby?” Sarah prodded.
“Play, too,” Libby insisted, her adoring gaze on her daddy, who plainly was less than thrilled with the idea.
“That’ll be fun,” Sarah enthused.
“Yeah, it’ll be a barrel of laughs,” Walter said.
Sarah regarded him with dismay, and he had the grace to look sheepish. He ruffled Libby’s golden curls. “Who knows, you could turn out to be the first girl to play in the majors.”
Over my dead body, Sarah thought, but kept the thought to herself. If the outrageous idea gave Walter a rare moment of rapport with his daughter, who was she to ruin it?
Just as Grace brought the pancakes for the kids, a few of the Saturday regulars started straggling in.
“I have to get back to work,” Sarah said, leaving Walter looking flustered as he tried to deal with Libby’s pancake and her demands for more syrup.
“Sure, abandon me in my time of need,” he grumbled as she rose, but for once there was a spark of his old sense of humor in his eyes.
That glint made Sarah’s heart catch. Walter Price had been handsome, no question about it. He still was, for that matter. But it was his sense of humor that had captivated her. When that had died, driven out by his demanding father and exasperating mother, she’d lost all hope for their marriage. That didn’t mean she couldn’t hope that one of these days he’d find himself again.
When Travis walked into Wharton’s for lunch on Saturday, he noticed that Sarah seemed to be operating on autopilot. She never once met his gaze while taking his order. Nor did she respond when he told her she was looking mighty fine today.
He watched her as she went through the motions of handing out meals, writing tickets and making change, barely exchanging a word with any of the customers. She looked as if she were a million miles away. Wherever she was, it seemed to be an unhappy place.
Travis liked a puzzle as well as the next person, but he’d always figured the quickest way to figure one out was to ask what you wanted to know. When Sarah brought him a tuna sandwich instead of the chicken salad special he’d ordered, he snagged her hand.
“Hold on, sugar. I ordered the special.”
Jerking her hand away, she looked down at the plate on the table as if seeing it for the first time, then blushed furiously. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know where my head is.”
“You’ve been looking distracted ever since I came in,” he said, choosing his words carefully. Something told him she was one harsh word away from coming unglued. “Is there a problem?”
“Not really. I just made a mistake, that’s all.”
“Never seen you make one before.”
“If you only knew,” she said with an edge in her voice. “I’ll get your chicken salad and be right back.”
Travis decided to let her go. When she returned with his meal, he tried again.
“You know what I’ve been thinking?” he said, then went right on before she could walk away. “I’ve been sitting here thinking about how much I miss that smile of yours.”
She regarded him skeptically.
Travis nodded. “That’s the gospel truth,” he assured her. “I count on that sunny smile. It makes people feel real welcome.”
She frowned at his comment. “Sorry. It’s not on the menu today.”
“Any particular reason?”
Her frown deepened. “Why are you making such a big deal about this? Everyone has a bad day from time to time.”
“Because it always bothers me when I see a woman looking so unhappy.”
“So, what? You think you have to rush in and play Sir Galahad?”
He grinned. “Something like that. It’s a curse, but that’s just the way I am.”
Her lips twitched slightly, as if she were fighting a smile. “Eat your lunch, Sir Galahad. I’m busy.”
“Really?” he said with an exaggerated look around. He was the only customer left.
She blinked as she realized the same thing. “Oh.”
“I hope everyone didn’t slip out without paying,” he said with feigned worry.
She did smile then, albeit with obvious reluctance. “You going to pick up their tabs, if they did? In the interest of putting a smile on my face?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “Or you could just sit down here and talk about your troubles.”
“With you? A total stranger?”