Читать книгу A Time To Forgive - Darlene Gardner, Darlene Gardner - Страница 11

JAYE HELD THE EMPTY BOX of brownie mix, little lines of concentration appearing on her forehead as she read the directions on the back. “It says we should add two eggs.”

Abby opened the refrigerator door, retrieved the eggs from the tray and put them down on the counter next to the mixing bowl. “You know how to crack them, right?”

The girl’s eyes rounded. “Of course. I added the right amount of oil and water, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did. In fact, you’re a natural in the kitchen. Want to tell me how you got to be that way?”

“My mom taught me some stuff,” Jaye mumbled.

Abby would have liked to pursue the subject, but the girl picked up an egg and kept talking.

“You tap gently on the edge of the bowl,” Jaye said, explaining to Abby the fine points of cracking an egg. The girl’s tongue stuck out slightly as she focused on the task. “Then you let the egg guts slide inside it.”

“Egg guts,” Abby repeated. “You do have a way with words as well as brownies.”

Jaye giggled, something that had been happening more as the first week of their new arrangement wore on. It was Friday, the fifth day they’d been together but the only one in which Abby hadn’t taught lessons.

So far, the arrangement had worked far better than Abby had expected. Because of Jaye’s penchant for attracting attention, she’d feared that the girl would disrupt her lessons.

But Jaye proved adept at entertaining herself. She usually chose to stay in the room where Abby gave lessons, but even that caused no problems.

Connor Smith was the one causing a problem.

He was just so…sexy.

Abby wasn’t sure when she’d started to associate that description with him, but now that she had she couldn’t get it out of her mind.

She noticed small things about him, such as the way he gave her his undivided attention, as though nothing were more important than what she had to say.

She found herself appreciating the simple act of breathing because of the clean, male way he smelled.

And his mouth… His mouth was sheer masculine perfection. More than once, she’d daydreamed about how it would feel to kiss him.

Not that kissing him would be smart, considering how she felt about his work-centered lifestyle.

Besides, despite his invitation to take her to dinner, which he hadn’t repeated, she was relatively certain he had a girlfriend. Relatively certain, but not positive.

“Should I pour the batter into the pan now?” Jaye asked. “I already sprayed it with cooking spray.”

Abby brought her attention back to the girl. “Go ahead.”

Jaye poured, assigning the task the same attention she’d given everything else. When she finished scraping the batter from the mixing bowl into the pan, she carefully set the pan into the preheated oven.

“One more hour,” Jaye announced.

Abby tilted her head quizzically. “Are you sure? I thought the brownies only took forty minutes to bake.”

“I meant one more hour until Uncle Connor comes to get me.” Jaye thrust out her lower lip. “I wish I could stay here with you tonight.”

“Your uncle hasn’t seen you much this week. I’m sure he wants to spend some time with you.”

Jaye made a face. “He’d probably rather go on a date.”

There couldn’t have been a more perfect opening to find out if Connor was involved with anyone. “Is your uncle still seeing that woman who used to pick you up from after-school care?”

Jaye made a face. “I didn’t like her. She was mean to me. She wanted me to move out so she could move in. But she’s gone.”

It was news to Abby that Connor had been dating someone seriously enough to contemplate living with her. It was probably also none of her business. Except now that she was spending so much time with Jaye, anything involving the girl was sort of her business. Or so she told herself.

“Is he dating anyone new?”

“I don’t think so.” Jaye pointed to the clock, which showed that it was nearly five o’clock. “Would it be okay if I watched Nickelodeon? There’s a funny show on at five o’clock that I like.”

“Go ahead,” Abby said.

Jaye was still watching television forty minutes later when the oven timer beeped, signaling that it was time to take the brownies out of the oven. Fifteen minutes after that, when they’d cooled enough for Abby to cut them, the television was still on.

The telephone rang. Half expecting it to be Connor saying he’d be late, Abby picked it up, ignoring the sudden racing of her heart.

“Hello.” Her voice sounded slightly breathless.

“Hey, girlfriend. What’s happening?”

Abby’s heartbeat returned to normal at the sound of her friend’s voice. Some years ago she’d met Rae Ann at a pottery-making class. In spite of the fun they’d had, making pottery hadn’t caught on with either of them, but their friendship had blossomed. “I’m baking brownies.”

“For a man?” Rae Ann asked.

Abby laughed. Rae Ann had a one-track mind. “For one of my students. What’s up?”

Abby cradled the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she cut the brownies.

“I called about tomorrow night. Did you line up a date yet?”

“I already told you, Rae Ann, I’ll come but I’m not bringing a man with me.”

“Oh, come on, Abby. We’re all bringing dates. That’s the entire point of getting together on a night we don’t usually meet. It’s supposed to be something different, something fun.”

Abby used a spatula to start transferring the brownies from the baking pan to a Tupperware container. “I can have plenty of fun without a man.”

Rae Ann sighed dramatically, and Abby imagined her rolling her eyes. “Listen to yourself, Abs. You might as well become a nun with an attitude like that.”

“You know I like men as much as any of you.”

“Then what’s your problem?”

Abby paused. “I don’t have anybody to ask.”

“Nonsense. Open your eyes and smell the testosterone. There are men everywhere. You can’t tell me that one of them doesn’t ring your bell.”

“Well,” Abby said slowly and licked her lips. She could hardly believe she was going to bare her soul to Rae Ann, not when she’d hardly admitted as much to herself. She could hear the television playing in the next room and figured it was safe to talk. “There is somebody.”

“Who?” Rae Ann demanded. “And when can I meet him?”

Abby smiled. “I didn’t say we were going out, Rae. I said I’m attracted to him.”

“You mean he gets you hot?”

“Okay. Yes. He gets me hot.”

“What does he look like?”

“Tall, dark and luscious. He has the most beautiful mouth God put on a man. I can’t look at it without fantasizing about kissing him.”

“How about his body?”

Abby put down the spatula, the brownies remaining in the pan forgotten. “I can’t say for sure because he’s always wearing too many damned clothes, but I’m betting there’s some prime beef under there.”

Rae erupted into laughter. “So who is this mystery man?”

“The uncle of one of my students. He’ll be by any minute to pick her up.” She lowered her voice. “I swear, Rae, lately when I see him, my heart races so fast my head can hardly keep up.”

“So why don’t you bring him?”

“Oh, I couldn’t. He’s the sophisticated type. He wouldn’t come with me to something like this.”

“Wanna bet?” asked a low-throated, masculine voice.

Abby’s eyes flew to the entrance of the kitchen, where Connor leaned negligently against the door frame.

She closed her eyes in mortification. What was he doing here on time? His usual modus operandi was to show up anywhere from ten to twenty minutes late, although he usually called to let her know when he wouldn’t be on time.

Something clanked, and it took her a moment to realize she’d dropped the phone. She heard Rae Ann’s panicked voice coming over the line. “Abs, what happened? Are you all right?”

Connor’s gorgeous mouth curved into a smile. Her heart raced, exactly the way she’d described to Rae Ann.

She bent to pick the phone off the floor. “Rae, I gotta go. I’ll call you back later.”

“But—”

Abby hung up, cutting off her friend. She wet her suddenly dry lips.

“Jaye let me in,” he explained.

“I figured that. Um, exactly how long ago was that? I mean, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear that you want to see what’s under my clothes.”

She felt her face flame. “I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about the uncle of one of my other students,” she said with as much haughtiness as she could muster.

“Okay. But in case you were talking about me, in the spirit of fairness, I’m going on record as saying I’d like to see what’s under your clothes, too.”