“So you see?” she said. “Those two had to be total opposites. I don’t have a type. Maybe this guy’s exactly what I need to get my mind off my worries.”
She swiveled to check out her admirer, dropping her scrutiny from his hat to his chest to his running shoes. Although she made a show of peering beyond him then, squinting at the clock near the bar’s television, the message had been sent.
She’d looked. Briefly, but directly.
“It’s getting late,” she said to Gabe in an obvious tone. “Guess we should finish this game and quit.”
That was when the guy approached.
Of course. Only a complete moron would have missed Josie’s invitation.
Gabe frowned at the pool table as he listened to her get-acquainted conversation with the other man. This was no big deal. Josie flirted all the time.
But tonight was a work night, and Gabe had only come out with Josie to pull her out of a blue mood. They really should be leaving soon.
After fumbling his shot, Gabe waited for a lull in the conversation so he could tell Josie it was her turn.
“I’m a student,” Wisconsin was saying. “I go to Butler County Juco over in El Dorado. I was on my way home and saw this place, so…” He shrugged.
Josie had nodded through the guy’s explanation. Apparently, she was still interested, even though the kid had just told her he was Juco-student age. Presumably, too young.
“Home…to Wisconsin?” Josie approached the pool table, sank her shot and then peered at the lettering on the other guy’s chest.
“Nah, I bought the shirt on vacation,” Wisconsin said. “I live in Wichita—Willowbend North.”
The subdivision he’d named was filled with pricey homes, and no student-type rentals that Gabe could picture.
Josie let out a soft whistle. “You own a house in Willowbend?”
That grin got even more stupid. “Well, okay. I live with my parents,” Wisconsin said. “But only because they’re paying for my classes. As soon as I get a job that covers both rent and tuition, I’m outta there.”
At least Josie was scowling now. “You don’t work?”
“Sure I do. I make donuts. But my, er, responsibility eats most of my check.”
Josie pocketed her last striped ball. “A responsibility besides financing your own housing?”
“A little boy,” Wisconsin said. “A son. Guess he’d be about two now.”
Josie gaped at the younger man. “You don’t keep track of his age?”
“I don’t see him all that much.”
Ha! Wisconsin was starting to fidget.
“But I pay for his food and diapers. A man has to step up to the plate. I really believe that.”
Gabe hid a smirk behind his beer bottle, feeling as if he’d just won some big, dopey prize at the fair. He waited while Josie missed sinking the eight ball by a mile, then stepped forward, feeling wickedly victorious as he focused again on the game.
He knew what was coming.
Wisconsin had broken Josie’s biggest dating rule—and she might not acknowledge this, but she had plenty. She didn’t date single dads. Under any circumstances. Ever.
“Well, good luck to you, then,” Josie said as Gabe pocketed his sixth and seventh balls. “My boyfriend and I will finish this game, then get out of your way. You waiting to play, are you?”
“Your boyfriend?” Now Wisconsin gawked at Gabe. “Someone said you two were just buddies.”
“You didn’t ask us,” Gabe said. As he had dozens of times before, he looped an arm around Josie’s waist and pulled her close.
The poor guy stared, blinking a couple of times as if he was replaying Josie’s earlier interest in his head. Then he met Gabe’s eyes.
Gabe nodded.
“Oh, okay. Ah. I have to work in the morning. The donuts…Early.” He hesitated for a second, eyeing Josie, then headed toward the exit.
“Thanks,” Josie said, watching as Gabe sent the eight ball into the far corner pocket, ending their game just after she’d ended hers.
“No problem. I could tell you didn’t like him all that much.”
She started pulling balls from the pockets and returning them to the table. “I liked him fine until I heard about the baby he never sees.”
“Nah. I don’t think so.” Gabe replaced the cue sticks on the wall rack. “You didn’t even get his name.”
Josie snorted. “Who needs a name?”
“Even you need that much, Josie. Seriously.” He held her gaze.
A couple of regulars approached the table and set their beers on its edge, claiming it for the next game, so Gabe walked Josie to the parking lot.
“Sorry if I acted jerky in there,” Gabe said, hoping a simple apology would work in lieu of an explanation.
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” she said. “That big-brother protectiveness has gotten me out of a few jams.”
She always returned their status to platonic, didn’t she? Except for her brothers-in-law, Gabe was the only guy Josie had been around for longer than a few months. She didn’t want the complications. She said that often enough.
So Gabe would ignore the desire. Pray it abated. Maybe find a new girlfriend to distract him.
“We still on for Halloween night, then?” he asked as they approached Josie’s truck.
“You bet.” After opening her driver’s side door, Josie reached inside the cab to grab her favorite sweater and slide into it. Then she leaned against the door frame, facing him. “I’m hunting for costume pieces this weekend. Want to come?”
“Nah. The twins helped with mine. I’m all set.”
She knuckled his shoulder. “Show-off.”
“Hey! I can’t handle artsy on my own.”
“I’ll catch up with you on Halloween night then. Call me if anything changes.” Her tone was affectionate, her expression soft. She’d forgiven his foolish comments.
But Josie didn’t crawl into her truck. She kept leaning against it, staring past Gabe’s head.
Uh-oh. Gabe recognized that expression. And he did know Josie. The explanation for her recent funk should spill out about…
“I think I’m going to contact my father soon.”
…now.
Whoa, this one was a doozy. Josie had never met her dad. He’d left before she was born and she’d never had a clue about why or where he’d gone. The jerk had never even sent a birthday card, and he hadn’t contacted the Blume sisters when their mother died.
The pain of that rejection must be the reason Josie chose the minor-league partners she did.
“Did something happen since last time you girls talked about finding him?” Gabe asked. “Wasn’t that just a week ago?”
She peered at him, her eyes narrowed menacingly. “No. I haven’t told them yet, so don’t you go blabbing.”
Gabe shot a stern look right back at her.
She sighed heavily. “Callie might believe that finding our father won’t make Lilly better, but maybe if we had more information…”
The Lilly Josie was speaking about was her oldest sister Callie’s