But any other time, she didn’t have some wacko after her for an imaginary crime. She could have withstood this, she thought, if only the stalker hadn’t involved her son.
Then she thought of Mac Riordan with his quiet sense of purpose, and her doubts silenced. Ed and Mac wouldn’t let anything happen to Ryan, and she needed to let go of her guilt and enjoy her time with her friends.
This resolved, she mentally reviewed the meager contents of her closet. It had been so long since they’d had a girls’ night out that she could hardly think about what to wear. One aspect to this was the way she’d need to go about preparing.
A night out on the town in tiny Anniversary, Texas, was quite a bit different than a night out in Manhattan, New York. Here in Anniversary, cowboy boots and jeans were the perfect going-out attire. She really liked the fact that she didn’t have to wear stilettos and a short dress. She also loved that she didn’t have to be “on,” worrying about a stray photographer or a flash going off in her face. Being married to one of New York’s most notorious men had made her a minor celebrity there. Here, she was just plain old Emily Gilley, a single mom who worked in the vet’s office.
And, she thought to herself with a smile, she had two of the best friends a woman could ever want.
With the simple acceptance of childhood, Ryan was unsurprised to see her early for the second day in a row.
“Everything all right, Mommy?” he asked, climbing into the car.
“Yep,” she answered, chucking him under the chin. “How’d you like to go play with Eva and Charlie tonight while Mommy and Jayne go out?”
“For dinner?” He frowned, apparently not sold on the idea.
When she nodded, his frown deepened. “Will I get to eat first?”
“I think Ed is ordering pizza.”
Just like that, his little face cleared. “Oh, okay. As long as Ed makes Eva share with me and Charlie.”
That settled, she waited until Ryan had finished buckling himself in and drove home to plot what to wear. Despite Jayne’s and Mac’s reassurances, she vacillated between wanting to call off the entire night and being excited at the idea of taking a few hours to catch up with friends.
In the end, she decided to go through with her plans. Both she and Ryan could use a diversion.
A couple hours later, she pulled up to Jayne’s small ranch house with a hyperactive Ryan bouncing in the car seat. He’d gotten more and more excited the longer he considered the prospect of a night playing with his friend Charlie. She almost pitied Ed and Mac having to deal with him.
With Mac’s patrol car parked in front of the brick house and Ed’s in the driveway, the place looked well guarded. Her heart lightened a few more degrees, and she began to think she might be able to enjoy herself after all.
As soon as she turned the engine off, Ryan unbuckled himself, yanked the door open and took off running for the front door. Following behind at a more sedate pace, Emily couldn’t help but grin. So much for worrying that her son would miss her.
Jayne met her at the door, giving her a big hug as Ryan tore past. “You didn’t tell me Mr. Tall and Delicious was coming over,” Jayne whispered.
Concerned that maybe she should have asked her friend’s permission, Emily grimaced. “Sorry. I’m pretty sure he said he was going to clear it with Ed.”
“He did.” Jayne hugged her. “I was just teasing.”
Aware of her red face, Emily shrugged. At Jayne’s knowing look, she shook her head. “He’s helping protect Ryan. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Oh, yeah? Then why are you blushing?”
To her consternation, Emily felt her face grow hotter. It was for no good reason, either—that is, if she didn’t count the persistent smoldering attraction that always seemed to be simmering between them. “Are you ready?” she asked, pretending to ignore Jayne’s expectant expression. “I’m starving.”
“Sure.” Jayne shrugged. “Let’s go say goodbye to the rug rats, and then we’ll go pick up Tina. I’m glad she didn’t have to work tonight.”
As they walked into the living room, Emily saw Mac and Ed sitting side by side on the sofa, while Ryan had joined Charlie in front of the big-screen TV, already engrossed in a video game. Eva, a few years older, sprawled on the armchair, reading a book.
Mac’s gaze swept over her, and he grinned. Giving her a thumbs-up, he winked.
Emily felt her blush deepen. Next to her, Jayne laughed. “If you two can quit making googly eyes at each other, we wanted to say bye. We’ve got to go pick up Tina, and then we’re heading out.”
Pushing himself up off the sofa, Ed crossed the room and gave his wife a quick kiss on the lips. Glancing at Emily, he smiled. “Don’t you worry any, hon. Ryan’s in good hands.”
Face still flaming, she smiled back. “Thanks.”
“Are you ready?” Practically bouncing on her feet, Jayne was clearly eager to go.
“Just a second. Bye, Ryan,” Emily said. Her son didn’t even turn and look at her. Instead, he lifted his hand in a backward wave without taking his eyes off the video game.
As she and Jayne left the room, Emily sighed. “I suppose it’s good that he’s not going to miss me at all, right?”
Her friend gave her a curious look. Then apparently realizing Emily was serious, she smiled and gave her a shoulder bump. “Why should he? Ryan and Charlie are friends. They’ll have a blast tonight. Poor Eva. It’s going to be guys’ night at my house—video games, pizza and cards. Though as long as they leave her alone and let her read in peace, she’ll be fine.”
Emily nodded, saying nothing.
Apparently, her nervousness showed. After they got in the car, Jayne reached over and gave Emily a quick hug. “And you’ll be all right, too. I promise. Now relax and let yourself have fun.”
“I’ll try,” Emily said, meaning it.
* * *
Taking his cue from Ed, Mac kept his demeanor relaxed and easygoing, though his insides were churning with emotion. He tried not to focus too much on Ryan, though he couldn’t help but be hyperconscious of the boy who was his son. He’d trashed the idea of buying a gift, realizing such a gesture might be viewed with suspicion.
While Charlie and Ryan battled it out in their video game and Eva read, Ed got out a deck of cards and a couple of beers. The house had an open layout, and the kitchen table had a clear view of the living area. The two men played a few games of poker, using chips instead of money. They talked shop, though since Ryan was present, they didn’t touch on the Emily Gilley stalker case. Mac found the complexity of the other cases interesting, amazed such crimes occurred in a small town like Anniversary.
When the pizza arrived, Ed made the boys turn off the TV and Eva put her book down and join them at the table. They had three large pizzas, probably too much, but Ed said he’d rather have extra food than not enough.
To Mac’s surprise, Ryan climbed into the seat next to him.
“Hi,” Ryan said, reaching for a slice of cheese pizza.
“Hi, yourself.” Mimicking the boy’s motions, Mac chose a piece of the same pie.
Taking a big bite, Ryan chewed, studying Mac all the while with a string of cheese hanging from his mouth. “Are you my mommy’s boyfriend?” he asked.
Mac nearly choked. He glanced at Ed, saw from the other man’s grin that he’d get no help there and managed to swallow. “No,” he said, hoping he sounded more nonchalant than he felt. “I’m trying to help your mom catch the bad guys who broke into your house.”
Snagging another huge bite, the boy nodded. “I think it’s the same people who were after my dad.”
Hearing another man referred to as Ryan’s dad didn’t hurt as much as he’d expected. Again, Mac exchanged a glance with Ed. “You remember people being after your father?”
With a shrug, Ryan helped himself to another slice. At the same time, Charlie went for the exact same one. Even though there were several other identical pieces to choose from, a minor scuffle ensued, mostly c
onsisting of shoving and elbowing and Charlie yelling.
“Enough.” Ed didn’t shout, but he didn’t have to. The authority in his voice was sufficient to instantly quiet the boys. Mac viewed his coworker with admiration as Ed admonished the children to be nice and share.
Then, with both boys quietly munching on their pizza and Eva still ignoring them all, immersed in her food, they happily continued the meal. Ed glanced at Mac, then at Ryan and did a double take.
“That’s so weird,” he said, chuckling. “You and Ryan look enough alike that you two could be related.”
Mac froze. With an effort, he pasted what he hoped was a surprised look on his face and turned, pretending to study the boy. Ryan gazed back at him, a surprisingly serious look in his nearly identical blue eyes.
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Mac shrugged, as if the issue was of no importance, as if his heart wasn’t pounding.
“We have the same color eyes,” Ryan said. “Blue.” Sounding proud, he looked from Mac to Ed and back again. “My mom’s eyes are brown.”
“So you know your colors,” Charlie scoffed. “Big deal. I learned those in preschool.”
“So did I.” Ryan punched his arm, no doubt meaning to emphasize his point.
“No more of that.” Ed’s stern voice stopped Charlie from sure retaliation. “If you want to play some more of that video game, you two need to eat your pizza peacefully.”
“Fine,” Charlie huffed, again reaching for another slice at the same time as Ryan. But as it looked like another mini-battle would break out, a sharp look from Ed had each boy taking separate pieces and eating them in silence.
“I have to admire your parenting skills,” Mac said after the children had finished eating. The boys had resumed playing their game, and Eva had retreated to her room with her book.
“Thanks.” Ed grinned. “It comes with the territory.”
“I don’t know.” For the first time since he’d seen a resolution to his obsessive quest to regain his son, he questioned whether or not he’d be able to be a good father.
“You just do what your dad did with you, that’s all.” Stretching, Ed gathered up the empty pizza boxes. “As long as it worked, that is.”
“I didn’t have a dad.” Though Mac didn’t usually talk about his past, he needed answers or reassurance and thought Ed would be the man to help him. “My mom raised me alone. She died of ovarian cancer right after I got married when I was twenty-five.”
“Wow. I’m sorry to hear that.”
Mac shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”
“You never even had a stepdad?”
“Nope.” He smiled to show Ed it really wasn’t a big deal.
“Okay.” Jamming the pizza boxes in the large trash can, Ed wiped the table off with a paper towel. “I guess it doesn’t matter since you and your wife never had kids, right?”
Rather than commenting, Mac began to shuffle the cards. “Let’s play.”
* * *
“So...” Tina took a sip of her mango margarita before leaning forward to peer at Emily. “What’s going on with you and Mac Riordan?”
Emily blinked, ignoring how her heart leapt into her throat at the mention of his name. “Going on? Nothing. He’s working for the sheriff’s office and trying to find out who’s stalking me.”
Tina and Jayne exchanged a meaningful look while Emily felt her face grow hot—again. What the heck was wrong with her?
“I think it might be a bit more than that,” Jayne pointed out gently. “After all, he’s at my house right now with Ed, helping watch Ryan.”
“He is?” Clearly intrigued, Tina’s eyes widened. “Do tell.”
Both women eyed Emily expectantly.
“There’s nothing to tell. Seriously.” Grabbing a chip from the basket in the middle of the table, she plunged it into the bowl of warm queso and ate it slowly before reaching for another.
“Emily.” Placing her hand on Emily’s arm, Tina leaned close. “He’s hot, he’s single and obviously he has eyes for you. Why not give him a chance?”
Looking down, Emily tried not to react. She’d have to be a fool to get involved with another man after what Carlos had done to her. But they didn’t know that. After all, Jayne and Tina meant well. These women were her friends.
“I’m not in the market,” she said lightly. “Look what happened when I agreed to go out with Tim Keeslar.”
Tina groaned. “Okay, so that was a mistake. I’m sorry for setting you up with him.”
“I know Mac was trying to locate him,” Jayne put in. “He wanted to ask him some questions and make sure he doesn’t turn out to be your stalker.”
“He’s not my stalker.” Emily knew she sounded weary, but she couldn’t help it.
“How do you know?”
“I don’t, but I think he just really liked me and I wasn’t ready to be in any sort of a relationship. And I’m still not,” she said pointedly.
“Ah, but this is totally different.” Tina grinned. “Tim Keeslar is no Mac Riordan. I can’t believe you don’t find him attractive.”
Ignoring the way her face heated, Emily grabbed another chip. “I didn’t say that. He’s a very handsome man. I’m just not in the market. I already told you to go for it, Tina, if you think he’s so hot.”
Laughing, Tina had the grace to look abashed. “He’s not interested in me. I already tried flirting with him, and he had about as much interest in me as I have in Wendell Wayne Barnes.”
Since everyone in Anniversary knew Wendell Wayne believed himself madly in love with Tina, despite the fact that he was thirty years older and looked like he never bathed, this cracked Jayne up. Emily even had to laugh, glad she’d rerouted the conversation away from her love life—or lack thereof.
The waiter chose this moment to bring their sizzling fajitas: chicken for Emily, beef for Jayne and shrimp for Tina.
“Corn and flour tortillas,” he announced. “Do you need anything else, ladies?”
In unison, they shook their heads. Both Jayne and Tina had to wipe their eyes; they’d been laughing so hard.
Silence fell for a moment while the women dug in.
But Tina wasn’t done. She’d barely loaded her tortilla with meat, cheese, guacamole and sour cream and taken a bite when she looked at Emily. “Now you are aware that Mac Riordan is about the hottest man in town, right?”
“She’s right,” Jayne chimed in. “Except for my husband, that is. What she’s trying to say, honey, is if you’re holding out for something better, you’re wasting your time. Mac’s it.”
“Can we change the subject, please?” Emily kept her voice friendly but firm. “I need this night out to forget about my problems, not rehash them.”
Jayne raised one perfectly arched brow. “Are you saying Mac is a problem?”
“No. Yes. Oh, stop.” Swatting her friend, Emily grabbed a second corn tortilla and began loading it up with chicken, refried beans, rice and shredded cheese. She bit in, rolling her eyes. “This is heaven.”
They finished their meal and a second margarita each, except for Jayne since she was driving.
“One order of sopaipillas, please,” Tina told the waiter. “And three forks.”
With a nod, he hurried off to get their dessert. As they watched him go, Jayne looked beyond him and frowned.
“Check out that woman over there, near the tortilla-making machine,” she said, lowering her voice. “Do you think she’s a hooker?”
Both Emily and Tina turned to look. The instant Emily saw the heavily made-up bleach-blonde in the skin-tight dress, her heart sank. Desiree was sitting in a corner booth with Franco, enjoying giant margaritas and laughing, heads close together.
Closing her eyes, Emily drew on every ounce of inner strength she possessed to keep herself from reacting—at least physically.
Though her heart raced, she managed to chuckle while Tina and Jayne thoroughly trashed Desiree. But when they switched to speculating about the hunky man with her, Emily
felt sick.
Still, she had no choice but to remain in place, pretending to have a good time. At least with her back to the other woman, there was still a chance Desiree wouldn’t notice her—not so if Emily got up to leave, though.
Cursing under her breath, Emily tried to steer the conversation to something else, bringing up Mac out of sheer desperation. To her relief, her friends eagerly latched on to that topic, until Desiree and Franco got up to leave.
“Look at those shoes,” Tina breathed. “How can she even walk in them?”
Counting to three so the other couple would be well on their way to the door, Emily finally turned to look. She caught the back of them, noting that Franco had gotten rid of his fake wheelchair.
Once they’d left the restaurant, despite her roiling stomach, Emily struggled to at least pretend to enjoy the rest of the night. Neither Jayne nor Tina appeared to notice anything was wrong, which meant her acting abilities must have improved.
Still waiting on the sopaipillas, Jayne’s cell phone rang. She answered and listened before muttering something unintelligible and ending the call.
“Is there a problem?” Emily asked, immediately concerned about Ryan.
“I’m not sure,” Jayne said slowly. “That was Ed. He got a phone call from someone who claims to be Ryan’s parent. He said he couldn’t tell if the caller was a man or a woman. Do you know who the people are who gave him up for adoption?”
Dumbfounded, Emily stared. “No. But this is exactly what’s been going on...the letters, the break-in. And I got several hang-ups at work, the day I was out after the break-in.”
“Are you all right?” Both women viewed her, concern written all over their faces.
“No.” With her throat closed up, Emily found it difficult to speak.
“Oh.” Obviously troubled, Jayne looked down at her plate before raising her eyes to meet Emily’s. “I think we’d better skip dessert and head home.”
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