Читать книгу Child of Her Heart - Cheryl St.John - Страница 14

“Did you enjoy the afternoon?” Justin asked.

“Very much.” The waitress had brought her a club soda with a lemon slice on the rim of the glass, and she sipped the iced drink. “Thank you for introducing me to Mauli.”

“I thought you’d like meeting her.”

“You knew I needed encouragement.”

“Everyone needs encouragement.”

“You know what I mean.”

He threaded his long fingers together and placed his elbows on the table, looking at her thoughtfully. “I know.”

She could only imagine what he was wondering about her single-parent status. He was so straightforward, she wished she could share more with him. It was too much to go into so soon, and besides, she was enjoying her anonymity. “I chose to be a single parent.”

“I see. I imagined a guy who didn’t want to deal with fatherhood and cut out.”

She shook her head. “There was a guy once. But it wasn’t fatherhood he couldn’t deal with. I’m better off without him.”

“Probably. But you’re wary.”

“Yes.”

“And maybe that’s partly why you chose to have a child alone. You didn’t trust a man to stick around.”

Bingo. “Maybe.”

“So a man would really have to earn your trust to get anywhere with you.”

She didn’t have a reply, and she didn’t know if he was suggesting something or not, so she shrugged noncommittally.

“Tell me about your life,” he said. “Your family and your job.”

She waved a hand. “I don’t want to talk about my family. My job is great. As you know I work with children recovering from accidents or surgeries who have disabilities. I see a lot of special-needs kids. A couple of years ago, I got this idea that I wanted to start a camp for them, and call it Camp I Can. Some of those children want so badly to do normal things and be treated as equals.”

“What type of medical problems do these kids face?”

“The whole gamut. Kidney and liver transplants, leukemia and cancer among other things.”

Justin nodded thoughtfully. “We’re so fortunate.”

She leaned forward. “Creating something for these kids became my personal goal. I was fund-raising and doing a pretty good job of it until…well, until I had a few personal setbacks. Then the camp idea took a back seat to my pregnancy and Anna’s birth. But I’m ready to get involved again.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to pull it off. I can hear the passion in your voice.”

“I plan to return to work and get back to this project as soon as my vacation here is over.”

“How long are you here for?”

“Two weeks.”

“We’ve come to this beach for three years now,” Justin said. “When my wife was alive we used to go to Florida to see her family. Now I send the boys for a week twice a year to visit their grandparents. It’s too difficult for me to go back there.”

“A lot of memories?” she asked softly.

“Too many.” He propped his chin on a knuckle for a moment. “I met my wife in college, and we married when I graduated. She postponed the rest of her schooling to work while I clerked for next to nothing. We lived in a tiny little place. I landed better and better jobs, but by then Jonah had come along and then Lamond.