by Lori Ryan
“Hey,” Cade said, handing Justin a mug and filling it with the pitcher of beer that sat on the table. “She’s not here.”
He wondered if he could deny any knowledge of who Cade was talking about, but Cade’s brother, Shane, came up on the other side of him and leaned in.
“She’s on a date.”
Justin raised his mug and forced himself to swallow. Apparently, it wasn’t worth trying to deny who he was looking for.
He found the entire group looking at him. In addition to Laura and her second husband, Cade, there was Cade’s brother, Shane, and his girlfriend, Phoebe. Ashley—Cora’s older sister—and her husband, Garret, were also there.
Justin scowled. “What do we know about the guy she’s out with? How did she meet this guy?”
Ashley snorted. “Subtle. But, yeah, the guy’s probably safe. He’s a teacher three towns over. She met him online.”
Justin felt his jaw drop. “So he says. People can say anything online.”
Laura laughed at him, too. “They’re meeting in public. I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Besides,” Ashley said, “She’s checking in by text with us every hour. If she misses a check-in, we’ll go SWAT on her and breach the restaurant.”
“Really?” Justin asked, looking around. “You have her checking in every hour?” He could get on board with a plan like that.
“No, dumbass,” Cade said, shaking his head. “She’s on a date. She’s fine.”
Cora’s voice came from behind him. “No, she’s not.”
The group turned to stare at her, but Justin was probably the only one who felt the kick to the gut at the sight of her. She was wearing a short purple skirt that had him thinking up too many damned ways to get it off and a white shirt that showed the outline of a purple lacy tank top underneath it.
Then her words registered. “You’re not on a date or you’re not okay?” he asked. If her date had done something to her, Justin would have to hunt the man down.
Cora waved a dismissive hand. “I’m fine. Just not on a date.”
She looked ready to be on a date. The guy was missing out.
“What happened?” Ashley came forward, putting her arm around her sister’s waist and drawing her over to the table where Shane offered her a beer. She shook her head, no, to the drink and stole her sister’s water glass.
“Lice,” Cora said, making a face. “It’s going around his school. He started itching just as we sat down at the restaurant.”
Ashley took a large step away from Cora and made her own face.
Cora swatted at her sister. “I don’t have it. I use coconut shampoo and conditioner.”
“Huh?” Ashley said.
Cora sighed. “Lice hate coconut. You use coconut shampoo and conditioner to prevent them from wanting to set up shop on your head. It’s not foolproof, but it helps.”
“And your date from hell didn’t know this?” Shane asked.
Cora scowled. “He wasn’t a date from hell. He seemed…” she paused a little longer than she should have, “nice.”
“Absent the bugs on his head,” Shane teased.
Phoebe squeezed Shane’s arm. “Leave her alone. It can happen to anyone.”
Cora didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t answer.
Justin only half listened as the rest of the group began talking about work weeks and plans for the rest of the weekend. He moved around to where Cora stood and nodded toward the dart boards.
“Darts?”
She looked to the boards, then to him. “You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
She leaned a little closer. “I’ve been banned.”
“Excuse me?” He looked around. “By who?”
Were there dart police he didn’t know about?
She gestured with her mug to the rest of the group and Ashley must have heard the conversation because she cut in. “She hit me with a dart in the back. Broke the skin. She’s not allowed to play anymore.”
“I was tipsy,” Cora argued, but she gave Justin a smile that said she knew the argument was weak. Cora was horrible at darts, regardless of the effects of alcohol.
He grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the board. Their group had already gotten the darts from the bartender. “I can handle the risk.”
Cora shrugged. “It’s your body. If you don’t mind turning it into a sieve, I don’t mind playing.” Her grin was infectious as she lifted the first dart and made a show of lining up her shot.
He enjoyed the show. To most people, Cora Walker was the sweet girl who was always ready to help anyone who needed her. She was the one you could count on to volunteer for any fundraiser, to organize meal chains when someone was sick or had a baby, and to pick you up on the side of the road if you had a flat.
To him, she was the sweet girl with the hot body he’d never have the right to put his hands on. Not that he didn’t also love the fact she was always there for anyone who needed her. He did. But, still, he had a feeling he appreciated her body a lot more than the women on the church’s community volunteer league did.
He knew she felt the same attraction he did. When he first moved to town, she hadn’t tried to cover her feelings. Cora was like that. She wore her heart on her sleeve.
But when he’d gently steered them toward friendship instead of anything more, she’d started to try to cover her feelings. She sucked at it.
And judging by the way his friends had made clear they knew what he felt for her, so did he. Luckily, he was better at making sure they never acted on those feelings. That was the one thing he needed to be sure he never let slip.
She tossed her dart, giving a little cheer when she hit the double ring on the outer edge of the board. She threw the other two darts with as much preparation, but neither hit the board. It really was remarkable how bad she was given the fact most of the group spent at least one or two nights a week here. She should really be better at this.
“You’re not drinking?” he asked, as she came back, then made the mistake of taking a sip of his own beer before she answered.
“It’s not that time of the month.”
The beer that had been in his mouth went down the wrong way, making him choke.
She pounded on his back.
He knew Cora only drank once a month. It was part of her effort to control the pieces of her world that her birth mother hadn’t. Her birth mother had been an alcoholic. The alcohol had controlled her mother. Cora was determined never to let it get that kind of hold on her.
Still, hearing her flippantly refer to it as “that time of the month” had thrown him off. Then again, Cora often threw him off.
She was grinning at him like she knew exactly what she’d done.
He turned away, choosing to focus on the dart boards instead of flirting back. He didn’t know why they did this to themselves. He took a second to line up his shot, feeling the weight of the dart balanced between his fingers before letting it fly. Bullseye.
When he turned, he found Cora standing close behind him, studying his dart where it sat in the green circle of the outer bullseye. She was mimicking the move he’d made when he felt the balance of the dart.
She squinted one eye in concentration for a minute, but then seemed to realize he was watching and she stepped back with a start.
He turned back to the board and fired off the next two shots. Triple ring for both. Great, her bad skill at darts was wearing off on him.
Hell, he thought. It had nothing to do with skill. She was getting to him, distracting him. She always had.
They played in silence for a few more minutes, but his thoughts went to her reasons for drinking once a month.
He knew about her history. The whole town knew each of the Walker siblings had a dark past.
Sam and Emma had been the first to be adopted by the Walkers. They had survived a car accident that took their parents’ lives. When the Walkers, who were old friends of their parents, found out about the accident, they got
the kids out of foster care and, eventually, adopted them.
Ashley’s birth mother had never really been fit to parent. She was left to a foster system that had let her down in a big way, until the Walkers adopted her at fourteen.
Cora’s birth mother was an alcoholic who left her in a park when she was little. She never came back.
The story still made him boil with anger. He focused on his breathing for a few seconds, making sure the anger wasn’t able to boil to the surface. He’d spent time studying with a Zen priest in the Himalayas when he was twenty-six. It had paid off.
Justin passed the darts to Cora, ignoring the brush of her fingers against his hand.
She took the darts then shook out her arms and bent her head from side to side.
He couldn’t help but smirk as she did it. She looked like she was prepping for an Olympic competition.
The first dart flew. It flew straight to the board of the people playing next to them. Cora simply raised a hand in apology and collected her dart when they paused their game for her. Apparently, no one in town expected her to stick to her own board.
When she turned to smile at him as she came back to their side of the lane, he raised a hand, waving to welcome her back. She shrugged and broadened her smile, a glint of mischief and humor lighting her gaze. She was flirting with him.
As he watched her throw the next dart and miss the board again, every inch of him itched to walk up behind her and press his body to hers. To wrap his arms around her and take hold of her hands. It would be so easy to guide her hands as she lined up the dart. He knew if he did that, her ass would press into him, he’d be able to feel every shift her body made as he helped her aim. Every breath she took as they lined up.
Hell, he wouldn’t even need all of that. A single touch would be enough. Just resting his hand on her hip as he guided her. That would be heaven. Heaven and hell all at once.
Christ. He stood off the stool he’d been sitting on and tugged on his jeans, hoping no one noticed he was half hard.
The thunk of the dart hitting the board let him know she’d thrown her last dart while he’d been busy fantasizing about her.
“What’s the score?” he asked as she turned and brought the darts to him for her turn.
“I think I’m winning,” she offered as she slid onto her bar stool, playfully taunting him. “Don’t worry, you’ve got time for a comeback.”
He laughed. “Yeah? I’ll have to work on that.”
He tossed his darts easily, one after the other, earning two more bullseyes and a sixty-point hit.
“No need to show off about it,” she grumbled, as she came forward to take the darts from his hand.
He noticed the couples in their group had split off to play pool or dance on the almost nonexistent dance floor of the bar.
He and Cora often ended up paired off like this when they were out with the group. For a long time, he’d told himself that was why people seemed to want to push them together. Now, he knew it was more than that. No one could miss the chemistry between them.
It didn’t mean he was going to do anything about it. Justin had realized the men in his family were poison. His father had abused his mother and his brother had abused Laura. Justin had been oblivious to all of it, sticking his head in the sand as he partied on the family’s dime in every location around the globe other than his home. He had no business putting any woman at risk by getting involved with them. Least of all a woman with a heart like Cora’s.
She threw her next few darts and returned to him.
When she offered the darts to him, he took her wrist instead, then pulled the darts from them with his other hand.
“You’re breaking for summer soon, right?”
She blinked at him, as though surprised by the topic. “Yes.”
“Do you have plans for the summer yet?” He knew she’d worked at a local summer camp the last few years, but he thought Ashley mentioned Cora didn’t plan to do that this summer.
“Not yet. I’m running a robotics club for some of the students. I’d like to do more for them over the summer, but I need to make some money. I might just offer tutoring and see if I can pick up some hours at the book store.”
He studied her. “Have you ever thought of applying for grants to teach summer sessions for your students?”
She took the darts out of his hand. “You forfeit your turn. You’re taking too long.”
Her dart hit the wall three feet to the right of the board. Two more inches and it would have gone around the corner to where the dance floor sat.
“Grants?” She turned to him, not in the least bit concerned that she could have taken out Norma Vance’s shaking booty on the dance floor.
Justin crossed his arms. “It’s too late for this summer, but I bet we could find something to apply for next year. It could be for your robotics group so you’re actually paid a fair wage for teaching it, or for something else. I’m sure there’s money out there somewhere for that sort of thing.”
Justin didn’t know when the idea had formed in his head, but he liked the sound of it more and more. He could help her look for the grants, then write up the applications.
She didn’t bother to pull the darts out of the wall. “Do you have time for that?”
“I can make time.” He grinned. “Just say yes. It’ll be easier on us both for you to give in now.”
She scowled. “Maybe.”
“Laura,” he said over his shoulder. “Tell Cora she should let me help her write grant proposals for summer programming for her students.”
“Absolutely!” Laura called out, as she waited her turn at the pool table.
“See?” He said.
Cora tilted her head. “She isn’t even paying attention to anything other than the way her husband’s ass looks bent over the pool table and you know it.”
“Uh-huh. She has faith that whatever I ask deserves an ‘absolutely’ for an answer.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You can help me find money for my students.”
He stuck out his hand, shaking it when she slipped her soft hand into his. “Deal.”
He waited until she went to collect the darts again. “So, lice, huh?”
She glared over her shoulder. “It happens.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Shut up and play. I have a title to defend.”
Justin tossed his darts, not much caring where they landed. They hit the board. “It can be a little dangerous, meeting a guy you don’t know, don’t you think?”
She didn’t answer him.
Justin ran a hand through his hair and looked at her. He cared a lot about Cora. Her safety mattered to him. A lot.
“Look, I’m just saying it can be dangerous. When is your next date?”
He was getting into dangerous territory. If he didn’t know it himself already, the look on her face would have told him.
“That’s a little personal, don’t you think?” She slammed her hands on her hips and he guessed the darts game was forgotten now.
Justin looked over her shoulder to see that none of their friends had noticed them arguing. Good. The last thing he needed was more people seeing what an ass he was, but he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to be sure she understood the risks of going out to meet someone she didn’t know, even if she did stick to public locations.
With the kind of drugs men could get their hands on nowadays, it would be all too easy for someone to slip something in her drink and walk her out of a restaurant or bar as though she’d simply had one too many drinks.
“Maybe I care.” It was the wrong thing to say. He knew that, but it didn’t mean he could stop himself.
Her eyes flashed with the anger that seemed to make her body rigid as she came toe-to-toe with him. Her words were softly spoken, but far from gentle. In fact, they seemed to come flying at him through gritted teeth, and he almost wondered how she got them out.
Worse, though, was the look of hurt that accompanied the anger.
“If you cared so much, Justin, you should have done something about it months ago.”
He sighed. “Yeah.”
He got that.
The anger seemed to go out of her and only the deflated hurt was left. “Yeah,” she echoed.
She took the darts from his hand and turned back to the board. Too forgiving of him, as always.
Cora began to stew again on the way home, but by the time she unlocked her front door, she had gone from stewing to feeling deflated. She hated the fact that she still wanted Justin, even when he was butting into her love life. And she hated the fact that her date had gone so badly.
When she’d seen her date waiting for her at the restaurant, she’d known she wasn’t going to feel much for him, even before the lice incident. He seemed like a nice guy and he was good looking, but he didn’t make her skin feel all tingly or her stomach get all jittery the way Justin did.
She sat on her couch and texted her friend, Julia. She and Julia had started teaching the same year at Evers Elementary. Julia taught pre-k and Cora taught first grade, but their classrooms were across the hall from each other.
Cora: Dating sucks.
Julia: Oh no! What happened? The Get Over My Man Plan isn’t working?
Cora had come up with the brilliant idea to use online dating to get over her crush on Justin. They’d dubbed it the Get Over My Man Plan. She let her head fall back on the couch. What had she been thinking, saying she’d work with him on grants? It was sabotage, that’s what it was. She was sabotaging herself.
No, she thought to herself. She wasn’t stupid. It was the effect of her mother’s abandonment on her. It meant that Cora would always have issues with saying goodbye to people and walking away when she should.
Some part of her would always be the six-year-old swinging her legs on a park swing, trying to convince herself that her mom would be back.
She felt like she did that a lot in her life. Waited for love.
That had been evident tonight. As soon as she saw Justin in the bar, she’d slipped right back into flirting with him.
