And if it could bloom for a sour old guy like Cratchett, could it bloom for her? What was Tim Richmond doing for dinner? Maybe she should invite him to stay.
“So, uh, I was in the neighborhood...”
Yes, she should. “Since you’re in the neighborhood, would you like to stay for dinner?”
“We’re having enchiladas,” Leo informed him.
“Enchiladas? Wow.”
“I guess that’s a yes?”
“For sure that’s a yes.”
She found herself feeling ridiculously pleased that he’d accepted her offer. It’s only dinner, she told herself.
Leo pulled on his arm. “Come on, Tim. I’ve got Legos.”
“Leo, it’s Mr. Richmond to you.”
“Naw, Tim’s fine.”
“And maybe our guest doesn’t want to play Legos.” Although when you dropped in on a woman with a son, you took your chances.
“Legos rock,” Tim said and let Leo tow him into the living room.
“Would you like some wine?” she called after him.
“Got any beer?”
She hated beer but she always kept some on hand for Tito when he came by. “Sure.”
“Can I have some beer?” Leo asked.
“You know you can’t.”
“Beer’s kind of nasty,” Tim told him.
“But you’re drinking it.”
“Good point. What do you think I should drink?”
“Chocolate milk,” Leo said, jumping up and down.
“Well, then chocolate milk,” he said.
“Me, too!”
“In the kitchen,” Sienna said to her son.
Now Leo looked torn. Chocolate milk in the kitchen or playing Legos?
“I tell you what,” Tim said to him. “Let’s play Legos right now and then we’ll have chocolate milk at dinner. How does that sound?”
Leo nodded eagerly. “Okay.”
Sienna left them to it and went back into the kitchen to put together a salad and heat some corn. This felt good. It was nice to have another adult in the house, nice for Leo to have someone kind to look up to.
It would be nice to have someone to help her get Leo ready for bed at night, to help tuck him in. To tuck her in, too. That big chest of Tim’s—her hands itched to touch it. Yes, it would be nice to have sex again. She missed sex. She missed intimacy.
Don’t get your hopes up, she cautioned herself as she got busy shredding lettuce. She’d been down this road before. Things didn’t work out with men. There was no reason to think they should with this man, either.
It didn’t stop her from hoping.
Dinner together felt so natural. Leo kept up a steady stream of chatter, talking about the Lego monster Tim had made for him. “It ate my foot,” he announced and took a large gulp of his chocolate milk. “I like chocolate milk. It’s better than beer. Aren’t you glad you’ve got chocolate milk, Tim?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s way better,” Tim agreed and took a drink of his milk.
“You are a sport,” Sienna told him.
He shrugged. “I like milk. It’s good for your bones, makes you strong. Right, Leo?”
“Right,” Leo said.
“These enchiladas are great, by the way,” Tim added.
“I like Mama’s enchiladas,” Leo informed him.
“Me, too,” Tim said and smiled at her.
His smile was like a hug for her heart.
“You can come for dinner tomorrow,” Leo told him, and Sienna felt herself blushing.
“Mr. Richmond has a family of his own,” she told Leo. Other obligations, so don’t get your hopes up.
“But they’re not with me all the time and I get lonely,” Tim said and scraped the last of his enchiladas off his plate.
“My daddy doesn’t live with us,” Leo said. He frowned at his plate. “He doesn’t like us.”
What to say to that? She could hardly contradict her son. They never heard from Señor Poop. If it weren’t for the obligatory child support payments she had to pry out of him by court order, she’d think Carlos were a figment of her imagination. Sadly, he was still real to Leo, and the fact that he made no effort to keep in contact hurt her son. It made her wish she’d kept a picture of him. That way she could have thrown darts at it.
Tim spoke before she could. “Well, your daddy is missing out. Legos, chocolate milk, a nice kid and a pretty mom—what’s not to like?”
Sienna felt her cheeks warming. She looked across the table at her son, who was beaming up at Tim. Don’t fall, she warned herself.
Too late. She wasn’t sure which of them was farther over the cliff and plummeting, her son or herself. “We’re fine on our own. Aren’t we, Leo?”
Leo shrugged and poked at his half-eaten enchiladas.
Awkwardness descended.
Tim cleared his throat. “I could manage some more of those enchiladas.”
“Of course,” Sienna said, eager to get past the unpleasant moment.
Not only did he manage more enchiladas, he also managed a second helping of flan. “Best meal I’ve had in a long time,” he told Sienna when he finally pushed away his bowl. “Thanks.”
“Mi gusto,” she replied, making him smile.
“It sure beats spending the evening with my uncle and listening to him gripe about everything and anything.”
She could only imagine. “It’s nice for us to have company.” Especially when that company was big and testosterone packed with a deep voice and a kind smile. Yep, plummeting.
“We like company,” put in Leo.
“I bet you like everyone,” Tim said to him.
“I don’t like Tommy Haskel,” Leo said with a frown. “He calls me names.”
“He does? Well, that’s not nice.”
“But we don’t let mean people ruin our day,” Sienna said lightly, conveniently overlooking the many times Cratchett had put her in a bad mood. “Now, let’s show Tim how great you are at clearing the table. Leo is a good helper,” she added.
“I’ll bet he is,” Tim said, and Leo’s smile reappeared.
Tim helped with clearing the table and loading the dishes. “I guess I should get going,” he said once they were finished.
“Don’t go, Tim,” Leo begged. “Come play Legos.”
“We need to work on your math,” Sienna said to him.
Leo’s brows dipped and his jaw jutted out. “No. I hate math.”
“I know, but you need to learn it.”
“I don’t want to.” Leo’s voice began to rise in volume.
“Think how proud your teacher will be if you learn your subtraction tables.”
“No, I don’t want to.” Leo began a hasty retreat from the kitchen.
“Math can be more fun than Legos,” Tim said.
Leo stopped in the doorway. “No, it can’t.”
“I’ll prove it to you,” Tim said. He turned to Sienna. “Got any M&M’s?”
It was her favorite candy and she never dared to bring the things into the house. “No.”
“How about...those little marshmallows?”
Those she did keep on hand for hot chocolate. She nodded.
“Marshmallows!” Leo hooted.
“Want to do marshmallow math?” Tim asked him.
Leo nodded eagerly.
“Think your mom will let us have some marshmallows?”
“Mama, can we have marshmallows?”
Anything was worth a try. “Sure,” Sienna said and fetched a bag of miniature marshmallows from the cupboard.
A few minutes later Tim and Leo were settled at the kitchen table with them. “Now, we’re not going to do a lot of marshmallow math, because you’ll probably
get all buzzed and bounce off the walls. But we’ll do some.”
He reached into the bag and pulled out one marshmallow. “This guy looks lonely. Do you think he needs a friend?”
“Marshmallows can’t have friends,” Leo said with a giggle.
“Sure they can, if they’re doing marshmallow math. He’s all by himself, so let’s name him Mr. One.”
“Mr. One,” Leo repeated.
“Let’s give Mr. One a friend.” He pulled another marshmallow from the bag and walked it over to the first. “Hi, Mr. One. Would you like a friend?” he said in a falsetto voice. “Yes, I would,” he said, lowering his voice and jiggling the first marshmallow. “What’s your name?
“I’m Miss Two,” he continued, falsetto. He lowered his voice and bounced the original marshmallow up and down. “Let’s be friends, Miss Two. If we add one and one, that gives us...”
“Two,” Leo said easily.
“Right. But they still want more friends. Let’s add another.” Another marshmallow joined the first two. “How many do we have now?”
“Three!”
Two more marshmallows came out. “How many now?”
Leo counted them out. “Five!”
“Oh, no. These two don’t want to play anymore.” He gave one to Leo and popped one in his mouth. “Two went away. How many are left?”
“Three.”
“Very good. So, we had five marshmallows and we took away two. If you take two from five, you have?”
“Three!”
The marshmallow math went on for another few minutes, moving up to higher numbers, with marshmallows going into mouths and over to visit Sienna, who had decided to make some hot chocolate to go with all those marshmallows. There were a few times when Leo bit his lip and strained to concentrate, but Tim was patient and encouraging and had no problem backtracking, moving marshmallows around the table, hiding them in his shirt pocket and pretending to pull one from behind Leo’s ear. Instead of tears and tantrums, the kitchen was filled with giggles.
Tim finally gave the bag back to her. “We’d better stop with the marshmallows before he gets a sugar overload,” he said, then turned his attention back to Leo. “Okay, now let’s think about our marshmallow friends. How many did we have when we first started?”
The drill went on for another few minutes as they enjoyed their hot chocolate and, amazingly, Leo enjoyed it.
“Good job, my man,” Tim said when they were done. “Knuckle bump.”
He made a fist and held it out to Leo, who fisted his small hand and bumped it against Tim’s.
“Let’s play Legos,” Leo said, jumping up from the table.
Poor Tim. Sienna was ready to rescue him but he said, “Good idea,” and went back into the living room with Leo. Sienna followed, settling on the couch and watching. Tim Richmond was great with kids.
After half an hour Sienna decided it was time to set Tim free. “Okay,” she said to her son. “Time to get ready for bed.”
“Aww, Mama.”
Tim got up from the floor and stretched out his tall frame. “Thanks for showing me your Legos,” he said to Leo.
Leo grinned. “You’re fun, Tim.”
Yes, he was. And patient. And looking more perfect all the time. “Let’s run your bath,” Sienna said and held out a hand to her son.
“Okay,” he said, resigned to his fate. “Bye, Tim.”
“Bye, Leo.”
“I’ll be right back,” Sienna said.
“Take your time,” he told her and sat down on the couch like a man who meant to stay.
“Can Tim come back tomorrow?” Leo asked as she ran his bathwater.
“Probably not tomorrow,” she said. Although it would have been fine with her if he did. And the tomorrow after that, too. Oh, she was falling hard.
“I like Tim,” Leo informed her when she finally tucked him in.
“So do I.” But it was crazy to get her hopes up.
“Sorry to keep you waiting so long,” she said when she finally joined Tim in the living room. “You probably need to get going.”
“I’m in no hurry,” he said. He rested an ankle on one knee and slung an arm over the back of the couch, looking very much at home.
“It takes a while to get Leo settled.”
“He’s a nice kid. How old is he?”
“Nine.” Nine and still trying to master basic addition and subtraction, while other children his age were adding and subtracting four-digit numbers and learning their times tables. Sometimes she got discouraged on her son’s behalf. “It was nice of you to help him like that.”
Tim shrugged. “No big deal.”
“It was to me.”
“He’s a good kid, easy to like. You are, too,” Tim added with a look that got Sienna’s hormones singing “Joy to the World.”
“Thanks,” she said. Tim was so easy to like it scared her.
“Too bad his dad’s a lightweight.”
Like the other men who had come along since. “Yes, it is. But we don’t need someone like that in our lives. If someone can’t see Leo’s worth, he’s not worth being with.” May as well let this someone know that right up front.
“Everyone has value,” Tim said simply, and she could have kissed him.
Actually, she could have kissed him, anyway. This man was perfect.
Except there was no such thing.
Conversation moved into new territory. Tim wanted to know how long Sienna had been in Icicle Falls and where she’d lived before moving to the mountains. Then he wanted to know why she’d moved.
“A new start. Sometimes you just need to get away.”
“Sometimes you can make a new start right where you are,” he said.
“Is that what you did?”
He nodded.
“Tell me more about your orchard,” she prompted. “How long have you owned it?”
“Ten years,” he said, “although it was in my family long before I took it over. I like tending the trees, watching the apples grow. I guess it’s kind of a simple life. But what can I say? I like to keep life simple. Well, as simple as you can with an ex in the picture.”
Sienna wished her ex were in the picture. But he wasn’t, and her life wasn’t simple. At some point that would sink in and Tim would be gone, back to his apple trees.
But for the moment he was in no hurry. He stayed on, talking about his own kids and how involved he was in their lives.
“Amelia’s seven and Amy’s eleven going on sixteen. God help me when she gets old enough to date. She’s a regular fashionista and wants to design clothes when she grows up. Amelia’s decided she’s going to be a princess. Her mom says she’s well on her way since I spoil her and get her everything she wants.”
“Well, she is a princess.”
“There you have it,” he said with a grin. “They’re both great kids.”
With such a nice man for a father, that was hardly surprising.
“Between them and the ex and the uncle, they all keep me hopping,” he finished.
Leo all by himself was enough to keep anyone hopping. Did Tim have room in his life for anyone else, really?
Finally, he said, “I’d better get going. You probably have stuff to do.”
No, nothing. I have no life. He was already standing, so she stood, too.
“Thanks for dinner. It was great.”
“Thanks for helping my son.” You’re great.
For a moment he stood there smiling at her. Then his gaze fell on her lips and she found herself holding her breath. Kiss me.
He didn’t. “Well.” He motioned toward the front hall. “Like I said.”
“I know. I need to let you go.”
Another moment and he was gone and th
e house, which she’d so loved when she moved in, suddenly felt like it was missing something.
More like someone. She sighed. It was stupid to even start anything with this man. It was stupid to start anything with any man.
She said as much to her cousin the next day when she came to the house to pick up Leo.
“Tim, Tim, Tim, that’s all Leo’s been talking about ever since he got here,” Rita said. “You’d be crazy not to see where this goes.”
“I know where it’s going to go,” Sienna said. “The same place every other relationship I start goes. Nowhere.”
“I don’t know. This guy seems different.”
“They all seem different. In the end they’re not.”
Although heaven knew she wanted this man to be different. But once he spent more time with Leo and her, once he saw more of what their life was like...
Why take a chance on a man again and wind up disappointed? No, she was beyond simple disappointment already. Tim Richmond had the potential to break her heart into more pieces than any other man she’d known.
“I’m not going to encourage him,” she said to Rita. “It’s not worth it.”
Except she didn’t discourage him when he called and suggested stopping by on Friday night with pizza. She would, though. She’d wait and discourage him in person.
“Oh, yeah,” Rita said when she reported this new development. “It’s so much easier to discourage someone in person.”
“Well, I didn’t want to be rude.”
“No, of course not. And you’d better be polite if he kisses you, too.”
She should call him right back and tell him she couldn’t see him.
But he was probably busy. She’d stick with her plan and discourage him come Friday. She had to stop him before this snowball rolled along any further.
When he showed up bearing a box of pizza from Bavarian Alps as well as a movie he’d picked up at Redbox, microwave popcorn and Milk Duds, her resolution dwindled. He was such a nice man, and just looking at him got her heated in all the right places. Things could work out...
“Hi, Tim!” Leo cried, bouncing up and down as if Santa himself were standing in their front hall. “Is that pizza?”
“It is. Are you hungry?”
“Yes!” Leo hooted and raced down the hall to the kitchen.
Christmas in Icicle Falls Page 18
