by Sherry Lewis
She studied his face closely, decided she didn’t see any hidden agenda in his eyes and tried again to relax. “I’ll bet you can all figure out which movie I’d rather see.”
Gabe let out a groan and fell back to the floor. “Not another chick flick. Am I going to lose every vote we ever take?”
“Not every one,” Sharon reminded him. “I voted with you for Chinese food.”
Christa made a face. “And I ate it, even if I don’t like whatever that stuff was you ordered.”
Gabe got to his feet and started across the living room toward Sharon. “It was lo mein.”
“It was soggy noodles,” Christa teased. “I like the crisp ones.”
Gabe mussed her hair affectionately. “Well, you’re going to have to learn to like the soggy ones, aren’t you?”
Sharon’s heart stuttered as it always did when he hinted at a future together. Did she even want that?
Yes, she had to admit that she did. When she could put aside her fears, she knew that losing Gabe would hurt worse than anything she could imagine.
Christa’s broad grin and the teasing face Emilee made at him told her the girls wanted that future, too. Sharon had run from it long enough.
He dropped onto the couch and draped an arm loosely around her shoulders. “All right. I’ll give in this time. But next time, I get to choose the movie.” He hugged her close to him.
Emilee crawled across the floor and leaned against Sharon’s legs. She sighed with contentment and beamed up at them. “This is perfect, isn’t it?”
Gabe smiled into Sharon’s eyes. “Yes, it is.”
Sharon couldn’t disagree. She didn’t even try. She lost herself in the movie, and the slow lazy pattern Gabe traced along her shoulder with his thumb. She didn’t even realize the doorbell rang until Emilee started to answer it.
She started to her feet, but when she saw a boy about Christa’s age on the front porch, she relaxed against Gabe again. The boy motioned a man of about forty to stand beside him and peered over Emilee’s shoulder into the house. “Hey, Emilee. Is that your mom?”
Gabe stiffened. Christa shot to her feet and raced to the door. Emilee tried to block the boy’s line of vision.
Sharon’s relaxed mood evaporated. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” Emilee said quickly. Too quickly.
Sharon glanced at Gabe. A muscle in his jaw jumped and he drew his arm away slowly.
The boy stood on tiptoe to see inside. “I’m Nathan Hawkes, and this is my mom’s cousin, Pete.”
Confused, Sharon acknowledged the introduction. Cousin Pete smiled, but he didn’t say a word. Gabe made an odd noise in his throat.
Embarrassed by Emilee and Christa’s bizarre behavior, Sharon stood quickly. “Please, come in. Are you a friend of Emilee’s?”
Nathan flushed a deep red. “Not really.”
“Oh, then you’re Christa’s friend.”
“No.” He sent a longing glance at Emilee that spoke volumes. “But we do go to the same school.”
Emilee let out a sharp laugh and sent a meaningful look at her sister. “Why don’t we talk outside, Christa?”
Christa started toward the door.
Nathan’s face fell. “But we came to see your mom.”
“Me?” Sharon tried to take a step closer, but Gabe took her arm and held her back.
“We need to talk.”
His reaction confused her as much as Emilee and Christa’s behavior did. “Not now.”
“Yes.” He held her gaze steadily. “Now. And I think the girls should join us.”
Convinced that everyone had taken leave of their senses, Sharon looked from one to the other. Emilee was almost frantic, Christa strangely subdued and Gabe upset. “What’s going on here?”
“We’ll explain everything,” Gabe assured her. “In the kitchen. If you gentlemen will excuse us for a minute…”
“But, we’re here for the contest,” Nathan protested.
“Contest?” Sharon looked at her daughters. “What contest?”
Neither of them said a word. But Nathan supplied the answer eagerly.
“You know. The one to find you a boyfriend.”
Sharon stared at Gabe and her daughters in dismay. Emilee let out a cry of distress. Christa groaned. Gabe looked as if he wished he were somewhere else.
“What is he talking about?” Sharon asked.
“There isn’t any contest,” Emilee assured her.
Nathan’s eager smile faltered. “But I heard—”
“Well, you heard wrong,” Christa said quickly.
Gabe tried once more to pull Sharon from the room. “It’s not as bad as you think. Come with me. We’ll get this straightened out.”
Sharon pulled her arm away. “What contest?”
“Everybody’s talking about it,” Nathan told her. “The guy who finds you a boyfriend gets a date with Emilee or Christa to the Spring Fling.”
Christa clamped her hand over her mouth. Emilee dropped her head and groaned. And Gabe’s shoulders slumped in defeat, but not before Sharon caught a hint of a smile.
“You’ve been trying to find me a boyfriend?” Sharon asked.
“Well, yes, but there wasn’t ever a contest,” Christa said sheepishly.
“Then why does Nathan think there is?”
“Because…” Emilee let out a heavy sigh. “Because we told some kids at school about it—we didn’t want you to be alone for Valentine’s Day—and they…well, they blew it all out of proportion.”
“I see.” Sharon turned to Gabe. “And you knew about this?”
Christa took a step toward her. “Don’t blame him. It was all Emilee and me.”
Emilee nodded eagerly. “That’s right. He didn’t do anything. Christa and I got the idea on New Year’s Eve.”
“You’ve been at this for over two months?” Sharon shook her head as if that might restore some order to her thoughts. When she realized that Nathan and cousin Pete were still waiting, she apologized and saw them to the door. When she’d closed it between them, she turned around with a disbelieving laugh. “You’ve been so worried about me that you’d go to those lengths to make sure I wasn’t alone?”
Christa gave her a hopeful smile. “Well…yeah.”
Gabe put his hands on her shoulders. “They really meant well.”
“I know they did,” Sharon said, turning to face him. “But they’re not the only ones who have some explaining to do. Tell me, how did you find out about it? You and the girls must be closer than I realized.”
“I overheard them planning it while I was measuring the basement on New Year’s Eve. They weren’t exactly pleased to find out I was down there.”
Emilee dropped onto the couch with a sigh. “We were worried because we heard what Adelle said.”
Sharon sat beside her. “What did Adelle say?”
Christa curled up on Sharon’s other side. “Don’t you remember? She said you were going to wind up alone forever.”
“We didn’t want that to happen,” Emilee said softly. “We want you to be happy.”
“I am happy,” Sharon assured them.
“Yeah,” Christa said. “You are now because of Gabe.”
Sharon glanced up at him. “Please tell me that’s not why you decided to get involved with me.”
“No.” He leaned down and traced a fingertip down her cheek. “Of course not. I got involved with you because you got under my skin.”
Emilee let out a heavy sigh and rested her chin on her hands. “We’re really sorry, Mom. We were only trying to help.”
“I know that, but I didn’t need help. I was doing just fine.” Sharon rubbed the back of her neck and tried not to think about the difference Gabe had made in her life. “Just fill me in on everything so I know. Who did you have in mind?”
“Well, we thought about Steve’s dad,” Christa admitted after a moment.
“And Mr. Taylor,” Emilee added sheepishly.
“The school nurse
?” Sharon laughed in amaze ment. “That’s why you faked the sprained ankle?”
Emilee nodded slowly. “And Matt’s dad. And Brett at the bookstore.”
“And Adam’s uncle,” Christa added.
“Ed the Egomaniac?” Sharon shook her head slowly. “You’ve certainly been busy, I’ll grant you that. Any others?”
“Not that we know of.”
Sharon lifted her eyebrows pointedly. “Not that you know of? What does that mean?”
“Well…” Christa glanced at Emilee, took a deep breath and spoke quickly. “Like we told you, the whole thing got out of hand. We told a few friends about it, but we couldn’t seem to find the right guy, so we told a few more…” She lowered her gaze to the carpet. “And now everybody knows about it.”
“We tried to stop it after you and Gabe got together,” Emilee explained. “But we couldn’t. Not without taking out an ad in the school paper.”
Sharon could feel her face growing warm. “So the entire student body has been playing matchmaker?” She could quite cheerfully kill her daughters—and Gabe.
Christa sent her a sidelong glance. “Are you mad?”
“I’m not sure how I feel,” Sharon said honestly.
“Just remember they were trying to do something nice,” Gabe said softly. “It’s a case of doing the wrong thing for the right reason.”
She didn’t need him to tell her that. She knew her daughters better than anyone. “Don’t think you’re off the hook,” she said to him. “I’m still wondering why you didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t even know you at the time,” he reminded her.
“Maybe not on New Year’s Eve, but what about later? You could have told me when we started becoming friends. Or when you kissed me for the first time. Or after that disastrous date with Ed. And you certainly could have told me when we were out for dinner the other night.”
He held up both hands to stop her. “I know. You’re absolutely right. I don’t have a good reason for not telling you, except that I’d promised the girls that I wouldn’t, and I didn’t want to break that promise.”
She couldn’t fault him for that, she supposed. In fact, she liked knowing he felt so strongly about keeping his word.
She turned toward her daughters again and fixed them with her sternest gaze. “I’m not angry,” she said, “but you need to find some way to stop it before it goes any further—short of taking out an ad in the school paper. Please…no more men.”
Her daughters both spoke at once, offering assurances, making promises, tendering one last set of apologies.
“Let’s forget about it and finish the movie,” Sharon said when they showed no signs of letting up. There hadn’t been any real harm done. And if it had happened to someone else, she might even find the situation humorous.
The girls vacated the couch eagerly and Gabe took his place beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She settled back into his embrace, relieved to finally understand why Christa and Emilee had behaved so strangely, and glad that Gabe was the one beside her and not one of the men her daughters had tried to set her up with.
Having Gabe here, a part of the family, felt right. And for this one night, Sharon wouldn’t let herself worry about what tomorrow would bring.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
HERE IT WAS, Gabe thought as he led Sharon and the girls downstairs, the moment of truth. He’d let them watch the basement take shape slowly until last week; then he’d banned them from coming downstairs until he could finish.
He was prouder of the work he’d done here than anything he’d ever done—probably because he’d long ago ceased to think of it as a job and looked at it instead as a labor of love. And now, in spite of the problems he’d run into working on this old house, his dad, Tracy and all his other commitments, he’d finally finished.
When he’d come across Sharon staring wistfully at an ad for ceiling fans, he’d purchased two with his own money. When he realized how much she loved to read, he installed the bookshelves at his own expense. Now, he couldn’t wait to see the look on her face.
He reached the basement landing and turned to face them. “Are you ready?”
Emilee and Christa clamored for a peek, but Sharon held back.
He reached out a hand toward her. “You first, Sharon.”
The teenagers made token noises of protest, but they stepped aside to let her pass. When she reached the bottom landing, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezed gently and led her into the family room. Her gasp of delight when she looked at the bookshelves and brass fans warmed him clear through.
Emilee let out a yelp of pleasure, moved into the center of the room and spun around to look at everything. Christa ran from window to fireplace to bookshelf, exclaiming with delight over everything.
Gabe kept his gaze riveted on Sharon’s face.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, and he thought he saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes.
“You like it?”
“I love it.”
“Wait until you see the bedroom.” He grabbed her hand and urged her down the short hallway. “I think you’ll like it even better.”
He leaned against the door frame, arms folded, and watched her circle the room. Contentment spread clear through him.
“Oh, Gabe, this is truly wonderful. This is nicer than my room.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. “Maybe you should move into this one, then. It would give you more privacy.”
Sharon turned to face him. “I’ve already put up with enough bickering over this room, I’m not going to start another round. Besides, this is Emilee’s room. It’ll be perfect for her when she starts college in the fall.”
Emilee froze with one hand on the closet door, the other on a shelf. “It’s an incredible room. Really. But I’ve been thinking maybe Christa should have it after all.”
Sharon laughed without humor. “Oh, no. No. We’re not going to start this all over again.”
“I’m serious, Mom.” Emilee shifted her weight nervously and glanced over her shoulder at Christa. “See, the thing is, I’ve been thinking about going away to college.”
Sharon tensed visibly. “When did you start thinking about that?”
Emilee shrugged casually. “A few weeks ago. I was thinking, you know, that since the University of Utah has such a great nursing school….” She let her voice trail away, no doubt hoping Sharon would dive right in with her approval.
She didn’t, of course. “I thought you’d decided against leaving home right away.”
“I had,” Emilee assured her. “But then, well, Gabe and I were talking about it and—” She shrugged again and sent him a silent plea for help.
The light in Sharon’s eyes died. She stared at him for what felt like forever while he tried to decide how to respond. “We had a conversation weeks ago—”
“You helped her make a decision like that without talking to me?”
“It wasn’t like that,” he explained. “She mentioned that she wanted to go away. I had no idea she’d actually listen to me.”
“I see.” Sharon turned slowly to face Emilee. “Don’t you think that’s a decision we should have made?”
Emilee’s face crumpled. “But I—but you—”
Gabe’s heart went out to her. He tried to smooth things over. “Look, Sharon, I’m sorry, but don’t be too hard on her. She’s just a kid.”
Sharon held up a hand to stop him. “Girls, would you go upstairs for a few minutes? I need to talk to Gabe alone.” When they didn’t leave immediately, she split a glance between them. “Please.”
Emilee hurried toward the door with Christa only a step behind.
“I’ll talk to you later,” Sharon called after her. When they were alone again, she put some distance between them and turned to face him. “You can’t do things like that, Gabe.”
“Like what? We had a harmless conversation.”
“Harmless? You’ve managed to work yo
ur way into their hearts. They’re totally taken with you.”
He didn’t even try to mask his confusion. “And you’re upset about that?”
“Exactly.”
“I thought you wanted me to get along with them.”
“Get along, yes. Take over their lives, no. Do you have any idea what you’re doing to them?”
The unfair accusation roused his anger. He tried to keep it under control. “You’re upset because she made a decision without talking to you. I can understand that—”
“I’m upset,” Sharon snapped, “because you’ve gone too far. You had no right to help her make a decision like that.”
“I had one conversation with her.”
“I don’t want Emilee and Christa growing so attached to you. And I don’t want them relying on you.”
His anger flared again. “I think you’re skirting the real issue.”
“Do you?” She rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. “Maybe I am. Gabe, this whole thing has been a mistake.”
His stomach knotted. “You can’t be serious.”
“Can’t I? What guarantee do those girls have that you’ll still be around in a month?”
“Is that what’s upsetting you? You’re afraid I’m going to bail out on you?”
“It’s not about me,” she argued. “Don’t you see what’s happening? You’re stepping into a father’s role with Emilee and Christa.”
He clenched his hands to keep from reaching out for her. He couldn’t fix this with his usual techniques. “Aren’t you happy that the girls have accepted me?” He took a tentative step toward her. “We have something pretty good. At least, I thought we did. I think you’re afraid I’m getting too close, and you’re using the girls as an excuse to pull away.”
She backed away. “You’re not listening to me. It’s not about us. I can’t risk the girls being disappointed when you decide you’ve had enough.”
Gabe studied her for a long time. His gaze flicked over her eyes, her lips. “If you’re that convinced I’m going to leave eventually, you don’t trust me. And if you don’t trust me, what kind of relationship do we have?”
“Can you honestly say you trust me?”
“Yes.”
