“Oh.” Hearing the hurt in his voice, understanding rose in Missy, but it didn’t salve the emptiness, the letdown she felt from realizing he didn’t even want to consider loving her. It seemed in her life there’d been nobody who’d ever really loved her. At home, her dad wasn’t ever sober enough to have a real emotion. Her mom stayed too busy keeping up appearances that if she kissed her or hugged her, Missy always knew it was for show, not for real. Her sister locked herself away. Like Wyatt, she’d studied. The first chance she’d gotten, she’d left.
In going along, living the lie, Missy had been alone.
Alone.
Confused.
Not wanted.
He sighed. “I just don’t believe relationships last, and I don’t want either one of us to get hurt.”
“Sure.” She understood. She really did. No one wanted to be taken for granted, and hurt as he’d been by his ex. It could be years before he would trust again.
Which was why she stepped back. “I get it.”
He sighed with relief. “Good.”
But when he reached for her, she moved farther away. Put a distance between them that was as much emotional as physical.
“I can’t have a fling.” At his puzzled look, she added, “The things you didn’t factor into your fling are my kids.”
He frowned. “Your kids?”
“I can’t leave them to be with you and you can’t…well, sleep over.”
His frown deepened. “I can’t?”
“No. They’re kids. Sweet. Impressionable. I don’t want to confuse them.”
“So you won’t have a fling because of your kids?”
“I don’t want them confused.” Tears welled behind her eyes and she struggled to contain them. She hadn’t ever quite realized how alone she was until a real relationship, a real connection, seemed to be at her fingertips, only to disappear in a puff. “I don’t want them involved. And until they’re old enough, I’m…well, I’m just not going to…” She reddened to the roots of her hair. “You know.”
“Sleep with anybody.” He shook his head. “You’re not going to sleep with anybody until your kids are teenagers.”
“I hadn’t really thought it through, but I guess that’s what I’m saying.” Determined to be mature about this, she held out her hand to shake his. “No hard feelings?”
He took it. Squeezed once. “Lots of regret, but no hard feelings.”
She nodded, but when he released her hand, disappointment rattled through her.
She liked him. But he didn’t want to like her.
SUNDAY MORNING, Wyatt wanted nothing more than to stay in bed. He looked at the clock, saw it was only seven, and pulled the covers over his head. Then a car door slammed and he realized he’d woken because he’d heard a vehicle pull into the drive. He bounced out of bed, confused about who’d be coming to his Gram’s house at seven o’clock on a Sunday morning. But when he walked to the kitchen window and peered out, he realized the caller had parked in Missy’s driveway.
Who would visit Missy at seven o’clock on a Sunday?
With a sigh he told himself not to care about her. Ever. For Pete’s sake. She’d rebuffed him twice, and the night before out-and-out told him she didn’t want anything to do with him. She even made him shake on it.
Did he have no pride?
He ambled to the counter, put on a pot of coffee and opened the back door to let the stale night air out and the cool morning air in.
Leaning against the counter, he waited for his jolt of caffeine. When the coffeemaker gurgled its final release, he poured himself a cup.
Turning to walk to the table, he almost tripped over Owen.
Still wearing his cowboy pajamas, the little boy grinned. “Hey.”
“Hey.” He stooped down to Owen’s height. “What are you doing here?”
“There’s a man talking to my mom.”
Even as Owen spoke, dark-haired Lainie opened Wyatt’s screen door and stepped inside. Dressed in a pink nightgown, she said, “Hi,” as if it were an everyday occurrence for her to walk into his house in sleepwear.
“Hi.”
Before he could say anything else, Claire walked in. Also in a pink nightgown, she smiled sheepishly.
Still crouched in front of Owen, Wyatt caught the little boy’s gaze. “So your mom’s talking to somebody and I’m guessing she didn’t see you leave.”
“She told us to go to our woom.”
At Wyatt’s left shoulder, Lainie caught his chin and turned him to face her. “He means room.”
“Your mom sent you to your room?”
Owen nodded. “While she talks to the man.”
Wyatt’s blood boiled. For a woman who didn’t want to get involved with him, she was engrossed enough in today’s male guest that she hadn’t even seen her kids leave.
Maybe he’d just take her kids back and break up her little party?
Telling himself that was childish, he nonetheless set his coffee cup on the counter and herded the three munchkins to the door. Missy would go nuts with worry if she realized they were gone. Albeit for better reasons than to catch her in the act, he had to take her kids back.
“Let’s go. Your mom will be worried if she finds you gone.”
Owen dug in his heels. “But she’s talking to the man. She doesn’t want us to sturb her.”
His eyebrows rose in question and he glanced at Helaina, the interpreter.
Who looked at him as if he was crazy not to understand. “Yeah. She doesn’t want us to sturb her.”
“Sturb?”
“Dee-sturb.” Claire piped in.
“Oh, disturb.”
Lainie nodded happily.
Well. Well. Little Miss I-Don’t-Want-A-Fling didn’t want to be disturbed. Maybe his first guess hadn’t been so far off the mark, after all? She might not want a relationship with him, but she was with somebody.
Wyatt corralled the kids and directed them to the porch.
When they were on the sidewalk at the bottom of the steps, Helaina caught his hand. “We stay together when we walk.”
Claire shyly caught his other hand.
Warmth sputtered through him. He seriously wasn’t the kind of guy to hang out with kids, but not only was he playing in dirt and organizing Wiffle ball games, now he was holding hands.
Owen proudly led the way. He skipped to the hedge and pulled it aside.
Lainie stooped and dipped through. Claire stooped and dipped through. Owen grinned at him.
Wyatt took one look at the opening provided and knew that wasn’t going to work. “You go first. I need to hold it up higher for myself.”
Owen nodded and ducked down to slip through.
Wyatt pushed the hedge aside and stepped into Missy’s backyard, where all three kids