“And I have the best room ever, wanna see it?” Davey asked as he jumped down from the stool and ran down the hall.
“I’ve got this,” David indicated with a nod toward the stove where scents of garlic and onions were pouring out of the pot. “Would you like a glass of red wine?”
“That would be great. I’ll be right back,” she said as she followed the sound of footsteps to Davey’s room.
The room was large with a window that overlooked a small manicured yard. With the exception of college she had never lived on a piece of land this small. She’d grown up with open pasture surrounding a large farmhouse and wasn’t sure that she’d ever be able to get used to having neighbors so close that you could hang out the window and shake hands with them.
“Look what Daddy brought me back from that trip you went on,” Davey said as he picked the toy steer off the ground where he had built a fence from plastic building blocks. “He said that I could go with you next time and see those steers with the big horns at the yards where they keep them.”
Sarah felt a slight panic when she realized that she was being included in their family plans. She’d taken a big step agreeing to a date, she wasn’t ready to start planning family vacations, if ever.
“We’ll have to see if Sarah can come when we plan to go to the stockyards. She could have other plans,” David said from the doorway where he held out a glass of wine to her. “Davey, go wash your hands.”
“I love the big window,” Sarah said as she took the glass of wine.
“His room is usually more of a mess, but he decided to clean it up before you got here. I’m sure if you look you’ll find a thousand of those plastic blocks under his bed.”
“Wow, flowers?” Sarah asked as they made their way back downstairs and into the kitchen where she now noticed a small table for four sat in a corner.
“Davey insisted that we had to have flowers on the table. Fortunately there were still a few azalea blooms left in the backyard.”
“How did the surgery go?” she asked as she took a seat at the island and watched David toss the pasta with some olive oil.
“Good. The infection wasn’t that deep, but he did have more blood loss than we expected,” David said as Davey ran in the room and held his hands out for inspection. An alarm went off on David’s watch and he looked over at his son with some unspoken message in the look.
“Okay,” Davey said as the boy moved to a drawer in one of the cabinets and pulled out a medicine dispenser.
“Davey’s been learning how to make sure his medications are on time,” David said to Sarah. She could see that this wasn’t the best part of the day for Davey, but she had to give it to David for sharing some of the responsibility with his son.
“That is great, Davey. Did you know that sometimes we have to give pills to the horses?” They ate while Sarah shared some of her best tricks to get the horses to take their medicine and Davey asked questions about how Pepper and Humphrey were doing since he hadn’t been to see them the week before, something that he pointed out to David with emphasis. They’d just started to clear the table when another alarm sounded from David’s watch.
“More medications?” she asked looking over at Davey.
“No, it’s the hospital asking me to call urgently,” David answered as he moved into the hall to make the call. By the time he returned she and Davey had loaded the dishwasher.
“What’s up?” she asked as she dried her hands on the dishcloth.
“It’s Bailey. He’s bleeding and needs to go back to surgery. Dr. Benton’s daughter is in labor so he’s signed off to Dr. Sherwood who is asking for me to come in to assist since I assisted with the surgery today,” David said. “Dr. Benton knows about Davey so it’s not been a problem...”
“It’s not a problem now. Go. Davey and I will be fine,” she said. She could see his hesitation and understood that he was torn between his responsibility to help Bailey and his responsibilities with Davey. “It’s okay. I’ll take good care of him.”
“Okay,” David said before he rushed off down the hall, then returned seconds later. “He’s already had his medicine and he took a shower before supper.
“His bedtime is in—” David looked down at his watch “—thirty minutes, though he’ll try to stretch it for as long as you let him.”
“Can’t I stay up a little later tonight since we have company?” Davey pleaded with eyes so like his father’s that she knew she would never have been able to deny his request.
“No. Bedtime is nonnegotiable tonight,” David said before leaning down and giving his son a hug. “Be good for Sarah and this weekend instead of one movie I’ll make it two. Deal?”
“Deal,” Davey said with a smile.
“Thanks,” David said to Sarah as she walked him to the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Just take care of Bailey. Davey and I will be fine,” Sarah said before she shut the door.
“Now, Davey. What do you want to do for the next thirty minutes?”
“Can you help me with the book Daddy bought me about horses?”
“Sure, I can. Go get into your pajamas and bring back the book,” Sarah said as she headed for what looked like a comfortable spot in the family room.
Half an hour later, Sarah had answered every one of Davey’s questions concerning how to tack a horse and the different names for each part of the saddle and bridle, watched him brush his teeth and given him a drink of water. She’d missed this ritual of putting a child to bed. She’d spent hours of her life reading bedtime stories to Cody and hearing him plead for “just one more” before she turned out the light. How she regretted all the times she’d told him, “No more stories tonight.”
Closing her eyes she let her mind wander to her memories of her little boy all dressed up in his dinosaur pajamas that had been his favorite as he begged for just one more story.
* * *
David knelt down beside the large recliner that sat in his family room. He felt a bit like the bear that came home to find Goldilocks asleep in his bed, except his version of Goldilocks had dark brown waves instead of golden curls.
Leaning down he brushed a strand of hair back from Sarah’s face. Sighing, she turned her face into his hand then opened her eyes. Dark chocolate eyes blinked open then closed again. He had a couple choices here. He could let her sleep where she was or he could carry her off to his bed, which would be his first choice except for the fact that his son was asleep in the room next to his.
“Give me a couple minutes,” Sarah said as those beautiful eyes blinked open again. He watched as she performed a full-body stretch that had him wanting to crawl into his recliner with her.
“How is Bailey?” Sarah asked, yawning then sitting up in the chair.
“He’s stabilized. They’d already had him in the OR by the time I got there,” he said. “I appreciate you taking care of Davey. Did he give you any trouble?”
“No. He wasn’t any trouble at all. I had no idea how bright he was. He showed me the book you got him on horses and he had a lot of good questions,” she said as she tried to climb out of the deep chair. David pulled her up from the chair and steadied her. “Thanks. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“And I didn’t mean to be so late,” he said as Sarah moved into his arms. The warmth of her body against his had him pulling her closer until their bodies aligned perfectly. The feel of her breast brushing against him had him wishing he had gone with his first choice of action when he’d first found her sleeping. They would have been snuggled in his bed together by now.
“Look, I owe you an apology. I checked on Lindsey before I left the hospital and you were right, Hannah was there with her. I spoke with the night nurses and they said she has been there every night since her daughter went on ECMO,” David said as he let Sarah pull back from him.
“I’m sorry too
. I certainly don’t have the right to tell you that you need to move on from what you went through with your wife. If anyone should understand how hard that is then it should be me. I’ve spent the last three years trying to work through my own issues,” Sarah said. “We both have some baggage and I shouldn’t have told you that your time for working through it was up.”
He pushed the hair back from her face. Did she realize that in some ways she did have the right? Or at least the power? He’d taken what she had said and given himself a long hard look and realized that she was right. That it was time to get rid of the bitterness that he had carried around with him for the last six years. When he’d stepped in to check on Lindsey and saw Hannah at her bedside he knew that he had let his bitterness toward another woman influence his opinion of a young mom he didn’t even know.
“I’m glad you did. I do have some issues. Lisa leaving like she did was rough. I suddenly had a sick young son to take care of and I’m sure that there were people who didn’t think I was going to be able to make it on my own with Davey. I should have given Hannah the same benefit of the doubt that I needed with Davey.”
“Thank you for that,” Sarah said as she leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek.
“And thank you for staying with Davey,” he said as they moved to the front door.
“It was my pleasure,” she said as she stepped outside the door then hesitated. “You don’t have to do everything alone. It’s okay to let others help you. It’s not a sign of weakness as much as an act of sharing.”
He stood there watching her as she walked to her car and he let her words sink in. There were times when he felt that Sarah could see through him into his soul. It was that connection again. That wonderful connection that had him wanting more with Sarah then he’d ever wanted from another woman. A connection that if broken he didn’t know if he would survive it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“BUT WHY CAN’T I go too?” Davey asked for what had to be the fifteenth time since they had left the house. His son had been clingy all day. David had been afraid that Davey could be getting sick so he’d taken his temperature, but it had been normal. He was wondering if he should have just canceled the night he had planned with Sarah. Jack had certainly proved that he could handle his son, but Davey in the mood he was in right then was a different matter.
“Sarah said that Jack was really looking forward to spending some time with you. You wouldn’t want to let him down, would you?” he asked as he parked the car in front of Sarah’s house.
“No,” Davey said with an impudence that he had never heard from his son.
“Davey, if you can’t be polite we’ll go home,” said David. Turning around he saw the tears and Davey’s quivering chin. He should have cancelled.
“I’m sorry. I’ll be good. I promise,” Davey said.
* * *
To David’s relief, his son was back in his normal high spirits by the time he got him settled with Jack and Sarah had brought the horses up to the house.
“I packed some food. There’s a nice spot just off the trail that’s perfect for watching the sunset,” Sarah said as she threw some type of bag across the back of her horse.
Why hadn’t he thought of bringing some food? When he’d overheard one of the nurses talking about a sunset trail ride she’d taken with her family on the ranch, he’d thought that it would be a great idea. When he’d asked Sarah about taking the trail ride with him she’d made him clarify that he was asking her as a date, not as her student, which made him wonder what she had planned for the night.
He eyed Fancy, who was pretending to ignore him until he started to climb onto her back. From the haughty look she gave him, he knew that she was no more impressed by his mounting form now than she had been the first time he’d climbed on her.
“Ready?” Sarah asked him as she turned Sugar toward the end of the road that led past the house.
They took the orange clay dirt road for a few minutes then Sarah took a trail that led into a thick covering of trees.
“I don’t know that I could have found that trail if you hadn’t shown it to me,” he said as they wound themselves through the thick woods.
“It’s one of the more hidden trails,” she said as she stopped at a spot where two trails shot off from the one they had taken. “We’ll take this one on the left and it will take us back down the one on the right.”
They rode silently, neither wanting to talk. The only sound was the horses’ hooves on the trail. Sarah pointed occasionally to a squirrel in the underbrush searching for a nut that had survived the winter. The woods demanded a reverence that David would have compared to that of an old library. They saw several birds, cardinals and gray doves that were getting ready to roost in the trees and he knew that at some point he would have to bring Davey on the trail. The thought of his son had him worrying if he had done the right thing leaving him with Jack. He hoped that he was behaving for Sarah’s father-in-law.
The path took a turn and he started to notice the trees thinning out. A few minutes later they stopped atop a hill overlooking a bright green valley of new grass. With the covering of trees he’d not been able to see the sky at all except for small patches where the tree tops had thinned out, but from this spot they had a clear view of the sun as it started its path below the skyline. Pinks and oranges blended with blues and violets.
“This is amazing,” David said as he dismounted from Fancy. Sarah took the reins from him and walked back into the trees where he watched her tie the reins to a low hanging limb.
“Come on,” she said, as she led him farther up the hill, stopping where the view was even better.
“Let me help,” he said as she started to unpack the bag she had brought with her. He took the small blanket and laid it out, and then took a couple bottles of water from her. Sitting down on the blanket, he exchanged a bottle of water for the sandwich she handed him. They ate in silence as the sun slowly sank and the colors of the sky darkened.
“Look over there,” Sarah said as she pointed to the dark sky behind her where the stars were starting to come out and a big full moon had begun to rise.
“It’s beautiful,” he said, then turned to her. “Almost as beautiful as you.”
When Sarah turned back to him there was laughter in her eyes and he had no doubt that she wasn’t taking his compliment seriously. He watched as she lay back on the blanket and looked at the sky.
Lying beside her, David reached for Sarah’s hand as they stared at the darkening sky. He had never been to a more peaceful place. The falling night had brought a cool breeze that brushed over the two of them.
Letting go of Sarah’s hand he rolled toward her. He fingered a lock of dark brown hair that had fanned out from Sarah’s head, then bent to touch his lips to hers with the same reverence he had felt for the woods they’d traveled through. “Thank you for sharing this with me,” he said.
* * *
Sarah looked up into David’s face and tried to will him to kiss her again. He’d made her feel as precious and fragile as a newborn foal, but she wanted more. She released the breath she hadn’t known she was holding then sucked in another one with a gasp as David’s lips grazed her cheek then traveled behind her ear then down her neck as he rolled over her. Her hands reached for him as his mouth found the peak of her nipple through the thin denim shirt she wore.
“I’ve missed you,” David said when he pulled away from her.
“You’ve seen me every day at work,” she said, then let out a frustrated moan as he pulled away from her.
“I’ve seen my friend Sarah and my co-worker Sarah. I’ve missed my lover, Sarah,” he said as he began unbuttoning her shirt and removing her bra. His hands were cool as they touched her warm breast and then he replaced his hand with his mouth and she wanted to scream to the sky with the pleasure. But she wanted more. Squirming against him, she reached between them for
the zipper of his jeans. Her breath caught as his hand skimmed inside her jeans and panties. He circled her most sensitive spot then dipped inside her with long, deep strokes that sent her hurdling into a climax that caught her off guard, but it wasn’t enough—she wanted more. She needed more.
“You have on too many clothes,” she said as she tried again to undo the pants that were keeping her hands from him. She wanted to feel the hard length of him so she could guide him deep inside her. She wanted him to fill that empty place that ached for him. She wanted to feel him come deep inside her while her body squeezed every bit of pleasure from him. But she’d never get what she wanted, needed, if she couldn’t get the clothes that were between them off.
David rolled away from her then wrestled off his boots then stood to take off his pants. For one second she caught sight of his heart-stopping naked form against the darkened sky as he covered himself with a condom. Then he was kneeling down in front of her as he worked her boots off and then her pants. She’d never felt so needy in her life. When he finally came back to her she lifted her hips up to meet him, her body unable to wait any longer.
As Sarah felt her body reach for their climax she understood what her body had known before she had herself. She’d needed David to fill not only her body but also her heart. It had been empty for so long. As they rode out their climax together she let go of all the pain inside her. She opened herself up to David and let him see the woman who had held back so much of herself for the last three years.
Her scream of triumph swept through the trees and seemed to echo over the valley. Tears filled her eyes but she didn’t bother to brush them away. Whatever it was that the two of them shared right there in that moment was more than sex, more than intercourse. For the first time since the day she’d lost her family, she felt whole again.
* * *
Sarah and the Single Dad Page 11
