“Oh, yes,” Lori Lee called out as the mothers and daughters bundled up. “Don’t forget to stop by next door and pick up your costumes. Aunt Birdie said that they arrived this morning and she’s already sorted them and has them ready.”
Deanie Webber escorted her six-year-old to the door. “Katie, you go on over and get your costumes. Visit with Miss Birdie a bit. Ask her to give you a cola while you’re waiting for me. I’m going to stay and talk to Lori Lee for a few minutes.”
Obeying her mother’s instructions, Katie rushed outside behind the other girls. Deanie closed the door, blocking out the cold January wind, then turned quickly and hurried back to Lori Lee’s side.
“Want me to stick around until he comes up from the basement?” Deanie asked, a coy little grin on her broad face.
“I think I’m perfectly safe with Mr. Warrick.” Lori Lee walked over to her desk, opened a bottom drawer and pulled out her beige leather purse.
“I wasn’t concerned about your safety. I was worried about whether or not you’d be able to keep your hands off him.” Deanie giggled, her cheeks flushed.
Lori Lee unzipped her purse, removed her checkbook and laid it on the desk. “Give it a rest, will you, Deanie? You and Aunt Birdie are the only two people on earth who know about that stupid crush I had on Rick when I was a teenager.”
“Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you’d given in to your basic urges and slept with him?” Deanie flopped down on the lounge area sofa.
“For heaven’s sake, I never even had a date with the guy. The only thing that ever happened between us was that one kiss.” Lori Lee sat down in the swivel chair behind her desk.
“Yeah, and you’ve never forgotten that kiss, have you? I’ll bet Tory McBain’s kisses never turned you on that much.”
“I do not want to discuss my ex-husband,” Lori Lee said. “And I certainly have no intention of comparing Tory to Rick.”
Deanie leaned back on the sofa, burrowing into the cushions until she found a comfortable position. “I’ve been keeping tabs on him ever since he moved back to town last July.”
“And what does Phil think about your taking so much interest in another man?”
Deanie laughed, the sound loud and robust. “My Phil knows he’s the only man on earth for me. I’ve been keeping an eye on Rick for you.”
“Well, you’ve wasted your time.” Lori Lee rummaged in her purse, dragging out a pair of beige leather gloves, a pale blue woolen scarf and a gold key chain dripping with an assortment of keys. “When you first told me about Rick being back in town, I made it perfectly clear that I have absolutely no interest in the man.”
“I realize you have more men after you than you can handle, but none of them seem to be getting past first base.” Deanie eyed the coffeemaker in the makeshift minikitchen separated from the rest of the downstairs studio by a pink folding screen. “Fix us some coffee and I’ll tell you everything you’re dying to know about our Mr. Warrick.”
“I do not want to discuss Rick, but I’ll fix some coffee. I could use a caffeine boost about now.” Lori Lee scooted back her chair, stood and went behind the screen. She filled the coffee machine with water and spooned a chocolate raspberry gourmet blend into the paper filter. “For your information, Powell Goodman and I are seeing quite a lot of each other, and I’ve dated Jimmy Davison several times since his divorce.”
“Two upstanding citizens if there ever were any.” Deanie slipped behind the screen, picked up a box of cookies and opened them. “Powell is the biggest stuffed shirt I know, and Jimmy is more in love with himself than he’ll ever be with a woman.”
“And what is Rick Warrick?” Lori Lee asked. “A sullen, brooding bad boy with no education. A blue-collar worker who lives in his sister’s garage apartment.”
“Well, well, well. You know a bit more about Rick than you’ve let on.”
“I overhear gossip from time to time.”
Deanie dug out a couple of Pecan Sandies from the cookie box. “I hate to tell you this, friend of mine, but you sounded a lot like a snob just then. Aunt Birdie would be appalled that you think you’re too good for Rick.”
“I don’t think I’m... It’s just that the last thing I need in my life right now is to get involved with a redneck tough guy. I run a business where I teach young girls. It’s important for me to have a good reputation.”
“From what I’ve heard, Rick is working real hard at overcoming his old reputation.” Deanie munched on the cookie. “Although rumor has it that he’s been seen at the Watering Hole a few times, and he’s never been alone.”
“I’m sure his taste in women hasn’t changed.” Reaching on the lower shelf, Lori Lee lifted the sweetener and creamer and placed them beside the coffee machine. “If I remember correctly, he always liked wild girls. The wilder the better.”
“Yeah.” Deanie sighed. “Wonder what his wife was like? Do you suppose she was a wild woman?”
“I can’t imagine Rick married to anyone. He was always too much of a free spirit.” Lori Lee poured two cups of coffee, adding sweetener and creamer to both, then handed Deanie a mug decorated with a bright, smiling sun.
“Well, you know his sister, Eve, goes to church with us, and she’s been bringing Rick’s little girl to every service with her.” Deanie sipped her coffee. “She’s a gorgeous child. Looks a lot like Rick, except she’s fair where he’s dark. His wife must have been a blue-eyed blonde.”
Rick shoved the basement door wide open. Deanie gasped. Lori Lee’s hands trembled.
“Did you find the problem?” Lori Lee asked. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He’d removed his coat, leaving his tight navy sweater to accent every hard line in his upper torso. His faded jeans clung to his hips and cupped him snugly. Lori Lee swallowed.
“Yeah, and it’s not good.” Rick placed his toolbox on the floor and dropped his coat on top of it. “I’m afraid your unit is a dinosaur. I could make some repairs to keep it going and charge you four or five hundred bucks, but I couldn’t guarantee it would last a month.”
“I was afraid of that.” Lori Lee grimaced, thinking about telling Aunt Birdie that Rick Warrick would be replacing the old heating and cooling system for the studio. Her aunt owned both the building that housed the Dixie Twirlers and Lori Lee’s Sparkle and Shine costume shop next door. And her aunt was one of the two people who knew she’d once had a major crush on Rick.
“I can work up an estimate tonight and drop it by sometime tomorrow,” Rick said.
“Look, I’ve got to run.” Deanie waved goodbye. “Y’all don’t need me. I’ll call you. later, Lori Lee. Bye now.” Deanie kept waving all the way to the front door, then she giggled like an idiot as she slammed the door shut.
“I wish I could remember her,” Rick said. “She seems real nice. Are you two friends?”
“Best friends since we were kids. I’m her daughter Katie’s godmother.”
“She was your best friend in school? The skinny little giggling redhead who was always with you?”
“Then you do remember her. She keeps an auburn rinse on her hair now and she’s put on a few pounds, but she’s still the same giggling girl. She married Phil Webber. He was senior class president the year I graduated.”
“She told me her daughter is one of your students.” Rick shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Are you taking any new students right now? I mean, I know it’s in the middle of the year and all.”
“I take new students all the time,” Lori Lee told him. “I have classes for ages three to fourteen, and I give private lessons to older girls and to students who excel, or those who need a little extra help.”
Rick glanced at the hot-pink mug she held in her hand. “Don’t let me keep you from drinking your coffee. It’ll get cold.”
“Oh.” She had forgotten all about the mug until he reminded her. “Would you care for some coffee? I just made a fresh pot.”
“It’d be too much trouble.”
“Don’t be silly. Sit down. I’ll get you some.”
Why had she invited him to stay? Why was she pouring him a cup of coffee? Had she lost her mind? A guy like this wouldn’t need much encouragement before he moved in and took over. She’d had sense enough at seventeen to steer clear of him. Why wasn’t she that smart now?
“How do you take your coffee, Mr. Warrick?”
“Black. And call me Rick.”
She handed him a mug, being careful not to touch him. “Please do sit down.”
When he sat on the sofa, she perched on the edge of the chair across from him. As they sipped their coffee, they stole quick glances at each other.
“How much do you charge for lessons?” he asked.
“I charge by the month. Two classes a week. The basic fee is thirty-five dollars, but that doesn’t include extras like costumes and—”
“I’d like to enroll my daughter.” He took several gulps of the hot black liquid, then placed his mug on the metal-and-glass coffee table in front of him. “She’s six, in the first grade at Southside. I’d like for her to make friends with the kind of little girls I saw here today.”
“Has she ever taken dance or baton lessons before?”
“Nope. But I bought her a baton for Christmas a couple of years ago and she plays with it all the time.”
“She would have to start out in the beginners’ class with our three-to-six-year-olds. When she begins to show progress, I’ll move her up into Twinkle Toes.”
“She’s sort of shy, and I’m afraid she’ll turn out to be a loner like her old man. I don’t want that,” Rick said. “I’d like for her to fit in and be accepted.”
The way I never was. He didn’t say the words, but Lori Lee knew what he meant. She hadn’t known much about Rick, except that he’d been shuffled from one foster home to another, and that his younger sister, Eve, had been adopted by a good family who hadn’t wanted Rick. No one had wanted the hellion he’d been back then.
“What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Darcie.”
“Well, bring Darcie by the studio tomorrow afternoon so she can meet the other girls in the beginners’ class, and we’ll show her what twirling is all about.”
“I don’t know if I can take time off from work tomorrow, but I’ll see what I can manage. If I can’t bring her, I’ll get my sister to.”
“You’re going to drop by with the estimate for the new heat and air system by tomorrow, aren’t you?” Lori Lee asked.
“Yeah.”
“Bring the estimate by at the same time you bring Darcie, that way you won’t be taking time away from your job,” Lori Lee suggested. “Since my Aunt Birdie owns the building, I’ll have her come over and talk to you while I show Darcie around the studio and introduce her to the other girls.”
“Yeah. Sure. Thanks.” Rick stood, walked over and picked up his coat. He slipped into it and lifted his toolbox. “See you tomorrow.”
“Yes, see you tomorrow. You and Darcie.”
She followed him, pausing when he opened the front door and turned to face her. “Look, Lori Lee, I know when I left this town, people were glad to see me go. I’d earned myself a pretty bad reputation.”
“That was a long time ago.” She could smell his sweat, not an offensive odor, just a rough, masculine scent that blended with the clean smell of his clothes and hair.
“I haven’t been a saint these past fifteen years, but I’m doing my best to settle down and provide a home for my daughter.” He stared into Lori Lee’s big blue eyes and felt himself drowning. If he’d known she had moved back to Tuscumbia, would he have come home? “Darcie is my main concern. Everything I do, I do for her.”
“I understand,” Lori Lee said.
He nodded, then turned and walked out the door and down the sidewalk to his parked minivan, Bobo Lewis Heating And Air-Conditioning printed on the side in bold black lettering. She stood in the doorway and watched him until he drove down Main Street and the van disappeared around the corner on Fifth.
She’d told him she understood his devotion to his child, and she did. If she had a little girl, she would make her daughter the center of her universe. But she could never have the one thing she wanted most—a child of her own. Regret knotted her stomach. Sorrow clogged her throat with unshed tears.
Lori Lee went back inside the studio, sat on the edge of her desk and flipped through her Rolodex, then made her first telephone call to cancel her private lessons for the day.
Lori Lee chopped up the pack of lunch meat into tiny pieces and dumped it into Tyke’s doggie bowl. The brindled Boston terrier jumped up and down, gazing at Lori Lee with huge brown eyes.
She set the bowl on the floor and petted Tyke on the head. “Here you go, baby. Eat up while I fix my supper.”
While Tyke gobbled up his meal, Lori Lee removed a single-serving casserole from the refrigerator and popped it into the microwave. As she waited for her dinner to warm, she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the round table that was dressed in lace and floral fabric matching the kitchen wallpaper.
Leaning back in the cane-bottom oak chair, she sighed. It had been a long day. She was tired, hungry and unnerved. She’d decided to wait until morning to tell Aunt Birdie the bad news about the central heat and air at the studio. She wasn’t overly concerned about the expense for her aunt, who probably had enough money to buy and sell the whole town. Birdie’s fifth husband had left her millions, and she’d been far from poor before Hubert Pierpont’s death. No, what Lori Lee dreaded was telling her aunt that Rick Warrick would be installing the new heating equipment and that he planned to enroll his daughter in the twirlers.
Birdie Guy Jackson Lovvorn Hill McWilliams Pierpont was a woman who loved men and simply couldn’t understand how her favorite niece had gone nearly six years without a significant other. As far as Aunt Birdie was concerned, dating didn’t count. A woman needed to be in love, and if she were in love, she should either be living with the object of her affection or married to him. Lori Lee fell short on all counts.
Aunt Birdie had been Lori Lee’s confidante as long as she could remember. She’d told her aunt things she’d never even told Deanie. And since her parents had moved to Naples, Florida, three years ago, after her younger brother Ronnie’s death, Lori Lee had become even closer to Birdie. Maybe it was her aunt’s big, warm heart or her zest for life that had always assured Lori Lee that Birdie would not only understand but sympathize.
If she had listened to her crazy Aunt Birdie’s advice when she was seventeen, Lori Lee would have acted on her feelings for Rick Warrick and ridden off with him on his motorcycle in the middle of the night. But Rick had frightened her, and she’d kept her distance, seldom even speaking to him. But in her dreams, awake or asleep, she had fantasized about being his woman.
She wasn’t a teenage girl anymore. She was an adult who had just turned thirty-two on her last birthday. She was old enough to know better than to allow her hormones to dictate her actions. And her hormones had certainly gone into overdrive this afternoon when Rick Warrick reentered her world
It wasn’t as if there weren’t men in her life. Actually there were more men chasing her than she knew what to do with, but not one of them made her stomach do flipflops or her blood sizzle with excitement. Ever since her divorce from Tory had become final and she’d moved back to Tuscumbia, there had been a steady stream of eligible, and a few not so eligible, men beating a path to her door. Several of those men had offered her marriage, but she had declined.
She’d been madly in love with Tory McBain, the big, handsome star quarterback for the University of Alabama, whom she’d married at twenty-two and divorced four years later. Their marriage had ended badly, leaving both her heart and spirit broken. But Lori Lee knew one thing for certain, she would never marry again until she could love someone else with that same kind of wondrous passion.
She supposed what upset her the most about being exposed to Rick’s rough and rugged
brand of male sensuality was that she was still as scared of him as she’d ever been. The effect he had on her frightened her because it was stronger than anything she’d ever felt. Not even her love for Tory had been as powerful.
But she didn’t love Rick. How could she? She barely knew him. No, she didn’t love the man. She just wanted him—wanted him in a desperate, almost savage way she had never wanted anyone else.
Two
Rick set two bowls of vegetable soup beside the plastic spoons and paper napkins on the card table. He wasn’t much of a cook, but he made sure Darcie got three decent meals a day. A couple of times a week, they ate supper at his sister’s, but he tried not to impose on Eve more than he had to. She already did too much for them, and Rick accepted her help only for Darcie’s sake. In the two years since his ex-wife’s death, he had discovered just how difficult it was for a single man to raise a child alone. Especially a tiny, shy, insecure little girl who was just now beginning to trust him enough to believe he wouldn’t leave her.
When April had been killed in a car crash, along with her drunken boyfriend, Rick had had no choice but to take Darcie on the road with him. He’d been a construction worker most of his adult life, ever since he’d done his stint in the army. Seven years ago, he had wound up in Mercy Falls, South Dakota, where he’d met a barfly named April Denton. April had been a looker. Big blue eyes. Long blond hair. And a body to die for. The first time he saw her, he’d thought of Lori Lee Guy. There’d been a striking resemblance between the two, but where Lori Lee was a class act—a Southern belle with a pedigree as long as his arm—April had been cheap and flashy. They’d burned themselves out after a few weeks of passion, and Rick had moved on to another town and another woman. Then April had called him and told him she was pregnant. He hadn’t wanted to marry her, but in the end he had. He’d done it for the child, even though he hadn’t been sure, at the time, the baby was really his. No kid deserved to come into this world unloved and unwanted, as he’d been.
A Child of Her Own Page 2
