“The one where you’re so flustered when I say his name that you drop food.”
“Knock it off, Maddie.” She tossed the burger into the trash and slapped another frozen patty on the grill.
“He’s going to be here awhile. He asked Quinn if he could demo his new game in the pub.”
“Yeah? When’s he doing that?” She held her breath, waiting for Maddie’s answer.
“In about a month,” her friend said airily.
“A month?” She dropped her spatula. “How long does it take to throw a game into a console and put it on a screen?”
“He said he’s got some work to do before it’ll be ready.”
She couldn’t work here for another month with Walker hanging around every night. Maybe Pat at the bank would give her the loan for her restaurant now if she agreed to a higher interest rate. She could save some money if she bought used kitchen equipment. She’d have Nick search eBay and Craigslist for what she wanted.
Walker’s presence in Otter Tail was turning out to be a good thing. The nudge in the back she needed.
No. There was nothing that would make Walker’s presence palatable.
Jen could feel Maddie’s gaze on her, but she pretended to be busy at the stove. “Why don’t you get to know him?” her friend finally said. “Go on a date. You remember those, don’t you?”
A date with Walker. Right. “Just because you drank the happily-ever-after Kool-Aid doesn’t mean the rest of us want to.” She plated slices of meat loaf and garlic mashed potatoes, then slid the two meals onto the stainless-steel table.
“What’s wrong with him?” Maddie put the food on her tray. “He’s good-looking, fun, smart. Rich. What’s not to like?”
“Deliver the specials before they get cold, Mrs. Murphy.”
That distracted Maddie, as Jen had known it would. “Don’t call me that. Maddie Murphy sounds like a soap-opera actress.”
“It’s your name, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t change my name and you know it.” Maddie lifted the tray. “Maybe after we have kids.”
She backed through the swinging door. “We’re not done with this conversation,” she called as she disappeared into the noisy pub.
“Oh, yes, we are,” Jen muttered.
Unbidden, she thought about that moment on the baseball field when she’d caught Walker staring at her after she’d changed her shoes. For an instant, she’d imagined desire in his clear green eyes. And her treacherous body had responded.
That’s what happened when you lived like a nun.
But it hadn’t been just some random guy who’d stirred her desire. It had been Walker’s butt in those biking shorts. Walker’s muscles beneath the jersey. Walker’s scent.
How pathetic was that? He’d laugh his ass off if he knew. Then he’d figure out how to use it against her. How to use it to make her agree to a DNA test.
That could never happen. Nick and Tony already had a tenuous relationship. They fought over sports, over Nick’s time on the computer, over his friends.
Nick had a serious case of hero worship for Walker. If he had any idea what Walker was thinking, it would irreparably damage his relationship with Tony.
And Tony. He didn’t know she’d actually had sex with Walker. If he found out, he wouldn’t let it go. Every time they fought about anything, he’d throw it in her face.
Hypocritical wasn’t in her ex-husband’s vocabulary.
As she was about to slide the burger and another chicken breast off the grill, Jorge, the dishwasher, yelled, “Mierda!”
A blast of water hit Jen in the back. She yelped and spun around to see Jorge holding the hose attached to the sink. It writhed like a snake, spewing water in all directions. “Turn off the water!” she called.
By the time he got it off, she and Jorge were both soaked. He had somehow managed to kink the hose, and it had sprung a leak.
Jen swiped her wet hair out of her face. “Get the mop and clean this up,” she told the young man. “And don’t look so worried,” she added, softening her voice. “It was an accident. It’ll be fine.”
The swinging door to the pub opened and Walker stepped in. “Jen? You okay?”
She shoved her dripping ponytail over her shoulder and it landed with a wet slap. “Just peachy.” She reached for a sponge and crouched next to the grill. “Patrons aren’t allowed in the kitchen.”
Walker took the mop and bucket from Jorge and said something to him in Spanish. The young man’s shoulders relaxed and he returned to the sink.
“What are you doing?” Jen asked Walker.
“Cleaning up the mess.” He swabbed the floor as if he knew what he was doing, wringing out the mop and moving on to another section before she could object. His biceps bunched and flexed, and the T-shirt he wore pulled taut across his chest as he worked.
She shook her head and let the sponge soak up some water. It was a pitifully small amount, but she walked gingerly across the wet floor and squeezed it into the bucket.
As she headed back to the grill, Walker barred her way. “Let me get it. You’ll be here all night with that sponge.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Jorge and I can clean it up. Get out of here.” She made shooing motions with her hands, but he continued to mop.
“Jorge needs to dry all those dishes. You have food cooking.”
The burger and chicken were smoking. She dumped them into the garbage, then threw fresh ones onto the grill. She’d wasted a lot of food tonight.
“Where did you learn to mop like that?” she asked as she watched Walker.
He pushed down on the wringer hard enough to make water squirt into the air. “My father had a fishing boat.”
Had she known Walker’s father was a fisherman? Had she bothered to find out anything about him, other than his skill with a computer, before she had sex with him?
She reached blindly for plates and buns. So much pain, so many consequences for one stupid, thoughtless act. Tony had lost the career he’d wanted so badly, Walker had lost his scholarship and Jen had lost her self-respect.
Maddie stuck her head through the door. “Those are the last two orders,” she called. She glanced at the walls, still dripping water, and the bucket in the middle of the floor. “What happened?”
“Minor leak,” Walker answered.
“What are you doing back here?”
“Cleaning it up. I was walking past the kitchen when all hose broke loose.”
Jen rolled her eyes. “That’s lame, Barnes.”
“Programmers don’t have a sense of humor. It’s part of the job description.”
The door closed behind Maddie, but not before Jen saw her friend’s smug smile.
“We appreciate the help,” Jen said. “But I’ll finish.”
“You can take over when you’re done cooking.” He wrung out the mop once more, then grabbed her sponge and began to wipe the walls. By the time she’d plated the two orders and shut down the grill, he’d dried the room.
“Thank you, Walker,” she said as she began her closing routine. “Tell Quinn he owes you a couple of beers.”
“Are you going to have one with me?”
“Sure,” she said easily. “I’ll meet you up front.”
“I’ll wait and help Jorge.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
He tossed the sponge in the bucket and wandered over to the dishwasher. “I haven’t fallen for that kind of line since…”
He paused, and she glanced at him. His expression was easy to read. Since you asked me to change Tony’s grade.
She pushed harder at the metal blade she used to scrape the grill. He was right. She’d planned to sneak out the back door again.
Jorge was working on his last load of dishes when she wrapped up, and Walker was leaning against the wall. Waiting for her. She grabbed her jacket and purse from the hook at the rear of the kitchen, then paused. If she slipped out the back, Walker would just follow he
r. The best strategy would be to go out the front and lose him in the crowd.
She tried to walk through the swinging doors, but Walker caught her arm and leaned close. Too close. “If you try to leave, I’ll tell Maddie I’ve asked you on a date and you refused.”
Her friend would hound her mercilessly. She’d dig for details. Jen couldn’t bear the constant reminder of what she’d done to Walker so long ago.
“That’s a lie.” His hand was warm on her arm, his fingers slightly callused. She let his warmth sink into her muscles, her bones, for a long instant before she pulled away.
“Go out to dinner with me,” he said promptly.
“No!”
“There. I’d be telling her the truth.”
Two could play this game. He was trying to throw her off balance. Since Jen was quite sure he was no more interested in her than she was in him, she’d go along with him. Turn the tables and make him think she was pursuing him.
Then she’d watch him squirm.
Looping her arm through his, she smiled to herself at his surprise. “Let’s go have that beer.”
WALKER GLANCED AT JEN as they stepped into the noisy crowd. What was going on?
One minute he’d been needling her, and the next she was acting all chummy. As if she actually wanted to have a drink with him.
He knew she’d been planning on bolting out the back door. He’d seen her eyeing it. Now she slid onto one of the stools at the bar and smiled at Quinn.
“I’ll have a Leinie, boss.”
“Me, too,” Walker said.
Quinn glanced at the two of them, and Jen edged closer to Walker. Beneath the smell of beer and grilled onions in the air, he caught the tang of lemon in her hair. When he leaned a little toward her, the subtle scent of her skin drifted over him.
“Here you go.” Quinn set the two beers on the marble bar and smiled. “You want some company or do you want to be alone?”
Instead of bristling at the implication, Jen smiled back. “Hard to be alone in a room full of people.”
What the hell was she up to?
Quinn grinned. “I’ll let you two figure out the logistics.” He moved away from them.
“What are you doing?” Walker demanded.
She lifted the glass of beer and took a drink. “Having a beer,” she said, setting it on the coaster. “What does it look like?”
This was about Nick, and about convincing Jen to let him do a DNA test. Walker had figured if he irritated her enough, she’d give in just to get rid of him.
Instead, he was sitting on a bar stool too close to her, drinking a suddenly tasteless Leinie.
“Tell me about Nick,” he asked.
Her hand tightened on the glass, but she said, “What do you want to know?”
He wasn’t even sure what questions to ask about kids. “Um, whatever you want to tell me.”
Her smile was amused, as if she’d read his mind. It faded as she centered her glass in front of her. “He’s a typical teen. Always testing the limits,” she said quietly. “But a good kid. He doesn’t like sports, but that’s Tony’s fault. He pushed too hard, and Nick finally rebelled.”
“He likes computers.”
“He loves computers. He’d spend all day and all night on his, if I let him.”
Walker absorbed the information and realized it wasn’t nearly enough. The same things could be said about hundreds of boys Nick’s age. Walker wanted to know what was beneath the surface.
What kind of person he was.
What parts of Nick might have come from Walker.
He wanted to look at Nick and see himself.
And wasn’t that a kick in the ass? He’d never thought about having kids. Never even considered it.
Not even with his ex-fiancée. They hadn’t talked about children. And now he hungered for information about a boy he’d never even known about.
Jen finished her beer and stood. “Thanks for the drink, Walker. I have to get going.”
He slid off his stool. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
“I didn’t drive.” He saw the instant she realized the trap. “So sit back down and enjoy your beer.”
“I’ll take you home.” He finished the last of it. “We’re having so much fun, I don’t want the evening to end.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“IT HAS BEEN FUN,” she said easily, “but I don’t want a ride home. I like to walk after I work.” She shrugged on her jacket and began to weave her way through the crowd.
He threw a bill on the bar, watching as she waved at someone in the band. The woman playing drums waved a stick back at her and the guitar players nodded. Then Jen pushed through the door and disappeared.
Walker grabbed his jacket off the hook on the wall and followed her. She was already half a block ahead of him.
She’d shoved her hands into her pockets. As he came up behind her, she looked over her hunched shoulder.
“Walker. What are you doing?”
“Walking you home, since you don’t want a ride.”
“I’ve been finding my way home for a long time.”
“Then I’ll just keep you company.” He edged a little closer. “Looks like you’re cold.”
Her shoulders relaxed and she took her hands out of her pockets. “I’m fine.”
The air was crisp and chilly, a typical late April evening in northern Wisconsin. A few clouds scudded across the sky, and millions of stars twinkled above them. He’d forgotten about the nights up here. A person could breathe beneath a sky like that.
“Go back to the pub, Walker. You can harass me all you want, but I won’t agree to a DNA test.”
“How about the pictures? Will you look at them?”
“Fine.” She stopped. “Let me see them.”
“I don’t have them yet.”
She resumed walking. “Talk to me when you do.”
“Nick is going to find me, you know. He wants to talk gaming with me. It would be easier if you didn’t forbid him to spend time with me.”
“Easier for who? You? It’s not my job to simplify your life.”
“Easier for Nick. Do you want him sneaking around?”
“He wouldn’t do that.” But there was no conviction in her voice.
“It doesn’t take a genius to guess that he will.”
“You don’t know my son, Walker.”
“I understand fifteen-year-old boys. I used to be one.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good.” He smiled to himself. Her first concession. There would be more. The first one was always the hardest to get.
She crossed the street without looking at him. “Go back to the Harp. I’m not going to cave because you’re following me home.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “I don’t like being pressured. You push me, I’ll push back.”
“I’ll consider myself warned. Why don’t you tell me about yourself while we walk home?”
“There’s nothing I’m interested in sharing.”
“Really? Not one single detail?” She looked at him, and beneath the wariness, he thought he saw anticipation. Was she attracted to him?
“No. And why would you care?”
“You’re the mother of my son. Of course I want to find out who you are.”
She clenched the strap of her purse. “No, I’m not.”
Could he make her more nervous? Nervous people sometimes blurted out things they hadn’t meant to say.
He shortened the distance between them. The pulse jumped in her throat, and he watched, fascinated. They were so close to the stores that the dark windows of the flower shop they were passing reflected her pale skin and huge eyes.
The sleeves of their coats brushed with a whisper of sound. She moved sideways.
“Careful.” He took her arm and steered her past a flowerpot in front of the bookstore. “Don’t want you to trip.”
She pulled away from him. “Thanks. I know my way around Otter Tail.” But she spoiled the
effect by stumbling on a crooked piece of the sidewalk.
“Something bothering you?”
She nudged him with her elbow until there was air between them. “Other than a psycho jerk threatening to tell Nick he’s really not Tony’s son, you mean?”
Grinning, Walker slipped his arm through hers. When she tried to pull away, he pressed her elbow against his side. “I don’t want you to stumble again.”
“Let go of me, Walker.” She wrenched her arm out of his and swung around to face him. “I’ve had my fill of this.”
Behind her, he saw movement at the other end of an alley. Three figures ran past, glancing toward them before they disappeared. One faltered, then recovered and kept going.
Nick. Walker stared down the alley. What was he doing out at this time of night?
And did Jen know he wasn’t at home?
Walker would bet any amount of money she didn’t. She’d just told him Nick wouldn’t sneak around.
A responsible person would tell Jen her son was out late at night.
According to Jen, Walker wasn’t responsible for Nick.
Jen had taken advantage of his hesitation and moved several steps ahead. He smiled when he saw her arms plastered to the sides of her body. It looked as if she didn’t want to be touched again.
“I’m just making conversation.”
“If you wanted conversation, you should have stayed at the Harp. There were plenty of people who wanted to talk to you,” she said.
“No, they didn’t. They wanted to talk to the owner of GeekBoy. Hoping I’d buy their drinks.”
“That’s really cynical.” She glanced at him. “People in Otter Tail aren’t like that.”
He shrugged. “Everyone is. It doesn’t bother me anymore.” He expected it now—he’d seen calculation on too many faces in the past several years.
She slowed. “You must have some real friends. People who don’t want anything from you.”
“Of course I do. Quinn. I came up here for his wedding, didn’t I? And Kirit Patel. He’s GeekBoy’s vice president. We met when I was a hungry wannabe. Before I sold my first game.”
There was silence. “Is that all?” she finally asked.
“Of course not. What do you want? A written list?”
Can't Stand the Heat? Page 5
