Becca swiveled and offered Nick an apologetic smile. “He’s the nice man who stopped to help me with the flat tire.”
“Where’s our car?” the boy asked, his forehead creased in a worried frown.
The whimper of a baby caused Nick to look up to see Raylene Stevens holding an infant. “Nick brought you home?” she asked Becca, but didn’t take her eyes off him. “It’s good to see you, Nick.”
“You, too, Raylene.” He hadn’t seen Becca’s best friend since he’d left town ten years ago. The night was turning into a walk down memory lane, and he didn’t want to go there. He sure hoped her strange smile didn’t mean she thought he’d taken some kind of advantage of Becca.
“I found her out on one of the back roads with a flat and a spare that matched it,” he explained in defense, adding a shrug. “I’ll have Tony take care of it in the morning. He can drop her car off at her place after he fixes the tire.”
Becca unwrapped the two kids still clinging to her and held her arms out for the baby. After planting a kiss on the baby’s forehead, she turned to Nick. “Thank you for the ride and…everything. But don’t bother Tony about the car. It really isn’t necessary.”
“I will and it is,” he said, his gaze on the infant she cuddled. “Is this Daisy?”
“Yes, and I’d better get her inside and out of the cold before she gets worse.”
He lifted his hand to run a finger down the soft skin of the baby’s cheek. He had always had a soft spot for kids. “Get better, Daisy,” he whispered. Ready to put an end to the bizarre night, he ruffled the boy’s hair and handed the box to Raylene. “I’ll tell Tony to get right on the tire, first thing,” he told Becca. “Nice seeing both of you again.” He turned, hurrying down the steps.
“Crazy,” he muttered to himself as he backed his truck out of the driveway. Having Tony go after her car was nothing. He would’ve done it for anybody. Of course, he would make sure his brother sent her husband the bill.
His frown deepened. And where was Becca’s husband? Why wasn’t he out looking for his wife, when his children were obviously worried about her? Some guys just didn’t know when they had it good.
But Becca’s husband wasn’t his worry. As soon as he knew her car was taken care of, he could go about his own business. Becca Malone was a thing of the past. And she would stay that way.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT was Nick Morelli who found you,” Raylene said. “Of all people to run into.”
Becca started to shush her, but with the kids settled in the Stevenses’ family room, she didn’t have to worry about little ears. She had a few choice words of her own about her run of bad luck—seeing Nick again topped the list—but she didn’t share them. Instead, she checked to make sure Daisy’s fever hadn’t gotten any worse. She couldn’t bear to see her baby hurting and sick. If only Daisy’s father felt the same way.
“Becca?”
She turned to attempt a smile for her best friend. “I’m just glad somebody found me. I don’t know how I would’ve gotten home if Nick hadn’t stopped.”
“So what do you think?”
“About what?” Becca gathered Daisy’s blanket and stuffed it into the diaper bag, making a mental note that she couldn’t put off doing laundry another day. If she had to hang clothes on the line in freezing weather because the house didn’t include a dryer, that’s all there was to it.
“About Nick being home, of course,” Raylene chattered as she followed Becca out of the room.
Becca could have done without this little interrogation, but she and Raylene had been best friends since grade school. Raylene had been through it all with her, especially during the time she and Nick had dated, knowing every detail and lending support. Of course her friend was curious, and she deserved at least a simple answer.
“It was a surprise.”
“A surprise?” Raylene stepped around Becca and faced her, bringing her to a halt. “A surprise? Is that all it was?”
“I had to take the back roads because of the road construction on the highway. Then the tire went flat. To be honest, I was surprised that anybody stopped or was even in the vicinity. So to answer your question, yes.”
“But isn’t ‘surprised’ putting it kind of mildly?”
Becca couldn’t stop the wry grin. “Yes, I suppose it is. Shocked would be more like it.”
Raylene laughed and flopped to the sofa. “‘Shock’ is a good word.”
“What’s he doing here?” Becca hoped her curiosity sounded normal.
“Whatever he wants, I suppose,” her best friend said with a shrug. “And his wife isn’t with him.”
Becca’s heart stopped beating for a brief moment. Chastising herself for being cheered by the news, she forced herself to breathe. “Maybe she’s coming later.”
“Could be. He’s staying at his parents’ house. That’s all I know.” She slid a sly look at Becca. “But I could find out.”
Becca shook her head. “No, there’s no reason to do that. Nick Morelli isn’t interested in me. I blew that ten years ago.”
“Your dad blew that for you ten years ago,” Raylene reminded her. “If you’d had your way—”
“What’s done is done. That was the past and this is the here and now.”
“But don’t you ever wonder what might have happened?”
Becca didn’t bother to answer her. What good would wondering do? As far as Nick Morelli was concerned, their roles had switched. She had once been the daughter of one of the most influential men in town and was expected to marry well. Nick had been the son of a garage owner. A guy who pumped gas to earn his way through college. Not that it had made a difference to her, but it had to her father.
She had done what was expected of her. She had married the man her father had chosen for her, instead of going to college. But that hadn’t turned out so well. Not after seven years of marriage and two children, with the third born barely a month before the divorce was final.
And Nick? From what she had heard, he had done wonderfully well. College graduate, owner of his own company and married to a Denver debutante.
Yes, she had wondered what might have happened had she not done as her father had wanted her to do or if things had been different. She and Nick had dated for almost six months and had fallen in love. But it all changed a week before her high school graduation, when her father decided to put a stop to it. She hadn’t given that part of her past a lot of thought, especially during the last few years. She had only had time to deal with what life dealt her and survive.
Right now, she didn’t want to talk about Nick. In fact, she didn’t want to think about him. “Where did you put Daisy’s bottle?” she asked.
“It’s in the kitchen,” Raylene said, getting to her feet. “And I have an extra can of formula you can take home with you.”
“Raylene, I can’t—”
“No big deal,” Raylene answered with a wave of her hand as she disappeared into the kitchen.
But it was a big deal. To Becca. Maybe she could convince Raylene to count it as a present. With Christmas a little more than three weeks away and less than a hundred dollars left to last until then, she couldn’t turn down the offer. She was still trying to figure out how to buy groceries, pay bills and have enough to buy a few small gifts for Danny and April. And the rent was going to be late, if, as had happened too many times, the child support money didn’t arrive.
Fighting the panic at the thought