Eli tamped down a grin. Looked like Seth was in trouble.
“He’s cool. I was sounding him out about our plans.”
The girl still looked skeptical. “Nice to meet you.”
“You, too. Are you having a good time?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged.
Eli remembered Seth’s plans. Drew was on the right track keeping an eye on them. The couple planned to move to Albany in the fall, where she had a scholarship to St. Rose College. Seth was going to work and attend the state university there part-time. Seth hadn’t come right out and said it, but Eli had a strong impression that Ava wasn’t going to be living in the campus dorms.
Ah, to be young and in love.
Too bad it rarely lasted. He hadn’t been much older than Seth when he’d been engaged. His former fiancee had had a couple of years on him. She’d been almost twenty-one.
A splat of snow on the back of his leg, followed by a high-pitched giggle, drew him from the couple and his musings.
“Opal!”
He turned as Jamie crested the hill. The cold had put a rosy blush on her cheeks and the sunlight kissed her flawless skin. She looked barely older than Ava did. But Myles had to be fourteen or fifteen. She must be close to his own age, thirty-eight. Unless she and her husband had been one of those young loves that had lasted. A sharp pang of jealousy pricked him, followed by disgust that he was jealous of a fallen comrade.
* * *
Jamie’s breath caught when Eli turned, even though she knew it was him. He was taller and had broader shoulders than any of the teens, and his posture shouted “in command.”
“Apologize to Mr. Payton for throwing snow at him.”
“You mean him?” Opal pointed at Eli. “I didn’t throw my snowball at him. I threw it at Rose and missed.”
“Opal!” Jamie gritted her teeth to keep the screech out of her voice. Eli didn’t need to think all of her kids were incorrigible.
“Okay, okay.” Opal trudged over and planted herself toe-to-toe with Eli. She tilted her head back and looked him in the eye. “Sorry my snowball missed my sister and hit you.”
Jamie clenched her fists. The little girl’s tone clearly said she was sorrier she’d missed Rose than hit Eli.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and his eyes twinkled. “Apology accepted.”
Jamie unfolded her fingers.
“Hey, you’re pretty big,” Opal said. “I bet you weigh a lot.”
Jamie lifted her gaze to the cloudless sky.
A deep full laugh rumbled from Eli’s chest and stopped Jamie’s reprimand before she could vocalize it.
“I mean,” Opal said, “you could make the toboggan go really fast. I thought Mommy could ‘cause she’s gotten so fat her favorite jeans don’t fit. But we didn’t go that fast.”
“Is that right?” Eli gave Jamie a once-over, his smile broadening.
She looked around to see if there was a snow pile nearby that she could bury herself in.
“Yeah, it was fun, but I would have liked to go faster.”
“Opal, that’s enough. Drew is signaling me to get the next heat of races going.” Well, he was motioning someone about something.
“Mommy! But I have a good idea I want to tell Mr….Mr….”
“Payton,” Eli filled in, obviously enjoying himself from the look on his face.
“Mr. Payton. I’m Opal Susan Glasser.”
“Nice to meet you, Opal Susan Glasser.”
Jamie sensed rather than saw the youth group members congregating behind her.
“You can just call me Opal.” She turned to Jamie, dancing from one foot to the other. “Mommy, can I tell him my good idea?”
“Go ahead.” At least she still had a modicum of authority.
“If you and Mommy and me rode the toboggan, we could really fly.”
“What about me?” Rose sidled up next to Jamie.
Opal bit her lip. “I guess. You’d add some extra weight. What do you think, Mr. Payton?”
“I agree. I think your sister would add some extra weight.”
“No!” Opal stomped her foot in the snow and laughed. “I mean about us racing.”
Eli’s gaze caught Jamie’s. The winter sun glinted off his steel-blue eyes, or was it a sparkle of humor? Jamie warmed. He was good with kids. But that was his job, wasn’t it?
“We just went,” Jamie said. “We’ll have to wait our turn again.”
“But Mr. Payton didn’t. He hasn’t had a turn. We could show him how to do it.” Opal reached for the rope to the toboggan.
Jamie pulled it back out of her reach. She wasn’t nearly as anxious as Opal to pile on the toboggan with Eli. She ran her gaze from his snow-crusted boots up his long legs to the navy blue ski cap covering his sandy brown hair. By himself, he’d take up most of the length of the sled.
“I’ll tell you what,” Eli said. “We’ll run the rest of the heats until we have a winner. Then, you and your sister…”
“Rose,” her older daughter filled in.
“And your mom can challenge the winner.”
Opal surveyed the teens gathered around them. “Good deal. We’ll win for sure.”
“Don’t count on it, squirt.” Myles walked up behind Opal and tugged her braid. He glanced from Jamie to Eli. A guarded look replaced his teasing grin.
“Hey,” Drew shouted from below. “What’s going on up there? Let’s get these races going.”
Jamie handed Myles the toboggan. “Okay, who’s up?”
The nine teens who had won their heats lined up a few feet behind the crest of the hill with two on the toboggans and the third member of each team standing to the side ready to push them off to a running start.
“Do you want to do the honors?” Jamie pulled a green bandana from her coat pocket and held it out to Eli. “The green flag. We’re improvising.”
“Ah, you’ve got this all organized.”
He pulled the bandana from her hand and gave her a lopsided grin that allowed her to ignore the surprise she’d detected in his voice.
“Is everyone ready?” she asked.
“Ready. Yes. Yo.” The teams each answered.
Eli raised the bandana. “On your mark. Get set.” He dropped the cloth. “Go.”
Opal and Rose jumped up and down. “Go, Myles! Go, Tanner!”
Drew raised his hands over his head as Myles’s toboggan flew by him first. He jumped off the toboggan and threw his hands in the air with a “whoop.” They ran another heat with Myles’s team coming in first again. It lifted Jamie’s spirits to see him having fun and enjoying himself.
“Come on, Mr. Payton.” Opal grabbed Eli’s hand as the teens returned to the top of the hill. “We have to beat Myles and Tanner.”
Jamie visualized them all crowded onto the toboggan, which seemed to have shrunk since she’d unloaded it in the parking lot. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Sure I do. I gave my word.”
Of course, he had. Jamie eyed the toboggan. She could sit in the front to steer and the girls could sit behind her as a buffer, with Eli in the back.
“Can I sit in front?” Rose asked.
“No, I want to,” Opal said. “She sat in front last time.”
“That sounds good to me,” Eli said. “You, Rose, your mom and me. How does that sound to you, Mom?”
Jamie searched her brain for a good reason to say no. “I don’t think so. Opal’s not big enough to steer the toboggan.”
Opal put her hands on her hips and opened her mouth.
“Agreed,” Eli said.
“But, you said.” The little girl sputtered.
“I did. You and Rose can sit up front and your mom can steer from behind you.”
The satisfied expression on Eli’s face said that he thought he had it all solved. Except his solution had her sandwiched between the girls and him.
“Hey, are you guys going to race or not?” Tanner shouted. Myles and their other teammate were already in plac
e ready to go.
Both girls looked at her expectantly. “Come on, Mom,” Rose said. “It’s all right with me if Opal sits in front.”
“Okay, then.” Jamie relented. She was being silly. It was only a couple-minute ride.
Jamie lined their toboggan up parallel to Myles and Tanner’s and held it while the girls climbed on. She followed, leaving Eli as much room behind her as she could. He stood to the right, his hands resting on her shoulders. She craned her head around to signal they were ready and, when her gaze caught his, a spark of energy shot through her. The girls’ enthusiasm must be catching.
“Where’s the flag?” Seth called out.
“I’ve got it,” Eli said. He raised his hands from her shoulders to pull the bandana out of his back pocket where he’d stuffed it after the last heat.
She shivered as the light pressure lifted and wiggled a little closer to Rose.
“Mom, you’re squishing me.”
“Sorry. I wanted to make sure Mr. Payton had enough room.”
Rose peered around her mother. “He’s not that big.”
Jamie gripped the rope and stayed where she was.
“Here you are.” Eli handed the bandana to Seth and returned to them.
Jamie braced herself for him to put his hands back on her shoulders.
“All set?”
“Yes,” she answered without looking at him. Rose and Opal echoed her agreement.
“Then, let’s race.”
At Seth’s “Go!” Eli pushed them three long strides and scrambled on behind Jamie. As he wrapped his arms around her waist, she determined that, contrary to Rose’s assertion, she hadn’t given him an inch too much space.
Halfway down the hill, with their toboggan in the lead, a dog darted up the hill into Myles’s path.
“Watch out,” she and Eli shouted in unison.
Myles yanked the control ropes hard to avoid the dog and sent his toboggan in a trajectory straight for the front of theirs.
Fear paralyzed Jamie for a moment and a second too late, she pulled the left-side rope as hard as she could to steer them out of Myles’s way, but it wasn’t enough and the rope broke. Myles and Tanner were headed directly for Opal.
Chapter Five
Eli felt every muscle in Jamie’s body stiffen when she saw the boys’ toboggan careening toward them.
“The rope broke,” she screamed.
“Rose, grab Opal,” he ordered as he stretched his right leg and rolled all four of them off into the snow. The other toboggan smashed into theirs and continued down the hill.
Eli jumped to his feet. “Are you all right?” He offered Jamie a hand up.
She grasped it tightly, rose and shook off the snow. “I’m fine.”
Her words released the tension dammed up inside him. He stepped over and helped Rose and Opal up.
“Why did you do that?” Opal glared at him. “We were winning.”
“Opal, that’s no way to talk to Mr. Payton. He kept us from getting hurt.”
“I don’t care. He’s not our boss. He’s not Daddy.”
Eli didn’t know where that came from and, by the stony look on Jamie’s face, neither did she. All he’d done was keep them safe. He jerked his head away and looked up at the descending yellow-orange sun. What was with him? He was questioning his trained instincts because of a child’s accusation.
“Stop right there, young lady.”
He turned to see Opal stomping down the hill. Jamie started after her.
“Mom. Mommy.” The quiver in Rose’s voice and her use of Mommy drew both his and Jamie’s attention. The girl had sat back down in the snow. “My leg hurts like it did last summer at camp when my kneecap slid out of place.”
Jamie looked from Rose to Opal, who was now most of the way down the hill.
“I’ll go after her,” Eli said.
Relief flooded Jamie’s face. “Thanks.”
He looked over at Rose. A tear streaked one cheek.
“If it’s her kneecap, I should be able to snap it back in place. I’ve done it before. We’ll be fine,” Jamie reassured him.
He jogged down the hill after Opal. Jamie’s firm, calm handling of the situation—make that situations—with the girls impressed him. If it was an example of typical day-to-day life with kids, parenting was a lot like combat.
Eli reached Opal at the same time Myles did. Her brother must have seen her stomping downhill when he and Tanner were headed back up.
Myles reached for his sister, and she kicked him in the shin. “Don’t touch me.”
Myles rubbed his leg. “You are going to be in such trouble with Mom.”
“I don’t care. We were ahead and then you cheated and ruined everything.” Opal burst into tears.
“Go ahead.” Eli motioned Myles uphill. “Opal and I will head over to the clubhouse. I hear they have hot chocolate there.”
“She kicks me, and you take her for hot chocolate.” Myles looked up the hill at his mother and shook his head.
“Go help your mother with Rose. I’ll handle this.”
“Whatever.”
Opal looked at her brother.
“Yeah, you can go have hot chocolate with him.” The teen yanked his toboggan and stomped away much like his sister had earlier.
Eli took Opal’s hand. “You weren’t nice to your brother.”
Opal shrugged her shoulders and sniffled.
“The race was supposed to be for fun. It didn’t matter who won.” Eli opened the clubhouse door and followed the little girl in.
“Yes, it did.”
“Sit here.” He pulled out a chair for her in the small snack area. “I’ll get the hot chocolate and we can talk.”
Her coffee-brown eyes, so like her brother’s and mother’s, flashed defiance, but she nodded.
Eli got their drinks and returned to the table. He handed Opal a cup.
“Thanks.” She kept her eyes focused on the cup.
He slid into the seat across from her, unzipping his jacket but leaving it on since the clubhouse wasn’t a lot warmer than outside. “So tell me why it was so important for you to win the race.” He sipped his hot chocolate as he waited for her answer.
“Not me, us. It was important for us to win so Mommy would be impressed with you. You would have made us win. That would have impressed her. We were going a lot faster with you on the toboggan than Mommy and Rose and I did when we went down before.”
He was certain winning would not make any difference in Jamie’s opinion of him, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know why Opal wanted him to impress her mother.
“There’s this father-daughter dance at school. They have it every year.” Her words poured out. “Daddy was home one year and went with Rose. But I wasn’t in school yet, so I couldn’t go. Mommy said she’d go with us, but that’s weird. It’s not the mother-daughter dance.”
Eli could see where this might be going, but he had to ask. “What does that have to do with me?”
Opal sighed, as if he should already know the answer, which he was afraid he did. “When Emily watched us after school that day Mommy and Myles were meeting with you, I heard her tell Drew that Mommy should start going out again. That it’s been almost two years since Daddy didn’t come home and Mommy needed fun with grown-up friends.”
Opal’s words kicked him in the gut. He wondered how often she’d seen her father. Had she known him at all? She talked about his death as if it were only a matter of him not coming home when he was scheduled to. Like he might return later. Had John Glasser had regrets about how much he was missing out on being away for so much of his kids’ lives? Eli studied the black curls that had escaped Opal’s braid and framed her face, just like her mother’s curls. Glasser would have had to be a fool if he hadn’t. He revised his hasty assessment of the man. Jamie struck Eli as a woman who wouldn’t suffer a fool.
“If Mommy liked you, you could be her boyfriend and take her out and make her happy, like Emily said. And if you were her bo
yfriend, you could take me and Rose to the dance. Amy Bryant’s mother’s boyfriend is taking her.”
The hope in her wide eyes got to him. “Opal,” he said as gently as he could, “I can’t be your mother’s boyfriend simply because you want me to be.”
“But if she liked you, you could be.” A single tear slid down her cheek.
“Honey, that’s not—”
“No!” She pushed away from the table, sloshing hot chocolate on its surface. “Leave me alone. I’m going to the girls’ room.” She ran toward the lavatory.
Eli rose to follow her.
“Let her go,” said the woman who had sold him the hot chocolates. “If she’s not out in a minute, I’ll go in and check on her. The back door is locked. The only place she can come is back here.”
The woman had looked familiar. Now he recognized her from church.
“I’m Karen Hill. My husband and son own Hill’s Auto Repair. I think you may have gone to school with my youngest brother, Mark.”
“We played football together. How’s he doing? I haven’t run into him since I returned.”
“You wouldn’t have. He lives out near Seattle, has a company that designs computer games and apps. Stuff like that.”
“I can see that. He was a wiz at math. And Ninja Gaiden.”
Eli glanced over toward the hall to the restrooms. Shouldn’t Opal be back by now?
“Sad, isn’t it?” Karen asked. “Those poor kids without a father. And Jamie, so young to be widowed. Can you imagine?”
“Yeah, it’s tough.”
Karen raised her hand and covered her mouth. “Sorry. I’d forgotten about your father. You do know what they’re going through.”
Eli shifted in the chair. “Uh, would you mind checking on Opal?”
“Sure. We’ll be right back.” Karen hustled across the room.
He finished off his hot chocolate in one swig and made a face. The drink had gone cold and bitter. When Karen didn’t return immediately, he stood and walked to the hall. The air temperature dropped as he turned the corner and saw Karen pushing open the glass door at the end of the hallway. The door she’d said was locked.
She looked back over her shoulder. “Opal wasn’t in the ladies’ room.” Concern laced her words. “This door is supposed to be locked.”
Small-Town Mom Page 5
