Читать книгу Hometown Hero's Redemption - Jill Kemerer - Страница 12

Chapter Two

“I’ve been talking to Stan, and we think you should offer a class.”

Lauren looked up from her computer screen at the reception desk of LE Fitness the following afternoon. Megan Fellows, one of the Zumba instructors, stood in front of her. Since moving back in January, Lauren had reconnected with Megan, two years her junior, and they’d become good friends, partly because Megan was so upbeat and made it her mission to not let Lauren dissolve into a puddle of depression. What would she think of Drew’s offer?

It didn’t matter. Lauren had made her decision. She needed to stay strong and say no when Drew called. If he called...

He would call. His take-charge personality assured her he would not let this matter fade away.

“What kind of class?” Lauren typed in a new client’s information.

“A tumbling class for cheerleaders.”

A tumbling class? The idea didn’t horrify her. “I don’t know.”

“You keep saying you’re figuring things out, but you don’t have a plan.” Megan’s brown ponytail bounced as she drummed her fingernails on the counter. “And Laney will be back on Monday. What are you going to do?”

The million-dollar question. She had no idea. Megan was right about her not having a plan—every time she tried to figure out her next step, she froze. It was difficult letting go of the dream she’d had for most of her life. She couldn’t handle the heartbreak of social work, but she still liked kids. Tumbling classes might be something to consider.

“I don’t want you to go all hermit-like in your apartment again.” Megan rested her elbows on the counter. Her face had the concerned look that poked at Lauren’s conscience.

“Well, I have been offered a babysitting job.”

“Babysitting?” Megan grimaced. “What ages are we talking? Three? Five?”

“Ten. Do you remember Drew Gannon?”

“Do I remember Drew Gannon?” Megan rounded the counter in a flash and took a seat next to Lauren. “Tall, built and studly? Oh, I remember.”

“That’s him.” Lauren had probably been the only girl in school who hadn’t drooled all over Drew.

“I’ve had a crush on him since I was in second grade. I know he’s a little older than me, but how could a girl not like him?”

“Every girl in this town liked him at one point or another.” Lauren straightened the papers on the desk. “He’s back. Hired in at the fire station. He’s taking care of his best friend’s son.”

“Why?” Megan’s screwed-up face almost made Lauren laugh.

“I’m not getting into all the gory details, but Wyatt will be living with him for several years.”

“A single dad. Maybe he needs some help...from yours truly.”

Lauren swatted at her arm and laughed. “I’m sure once word gets out he’s back in town, there will be plenty of willing female bodies at his door.”

“He’s single, then?”

“Seems to be.”

“So how do you fit into all this?”

“His schedule,” Lauren said. “Twenty-four hours on. Forty-eight off. He needs someone to stay with Wyatt while he’s at work.”

Megan pressed her index finger to her lips. “Why you?”

“My degree. Experience. His mom recommended me.”

“Please tell me you jumped at the chance?”

She shook her head. “I can’t, Megan. You know I can’t.”

“I know no such thing. You can. And you should.”

“Uh, no. I’m not putting myself through it. No more emotionally damaged kids. My heart can’t take it. I’m finally getting back to normal.” If normal included not sleeping well, avoiding any public event and refusing to date any of the men brave enough to ask her out since she’d moved back...

Her new normal sounded sad. Add a few more felines, and she could be a reclusive cat lady.

“You love kids. And this is only one kid. It would be perfect. You wouldn’t be trying to find him a foster home or visiting him at a crack house. You’d be heating SpaghettiOs and helping with math problems. Easy.” Megan snapped her fingers.

Megan always made things sound easy. Unfortunately, Lauren knew better. There were so many factors making the situation impossible. Like the fact that Drew had been a complete jerk to her for years. Sure, he’d seemed caring with Wyatt and had apologized yesterday, but it didn’t guarantee he was a stand-up guy.

And then there was Wyatt. Withdrawn, emotionally shattered—it was written all over him. She couldn’t be simply a babysitter. She didn’t have it in her. No matter how much she told herself not to grow attached, not to fall in love with the kids, she did. She’d love him. And she’d get hurt. If she took care of Wyatt and made a bad decision, it could send him back to square one.

“You want to say yes,” Megan said. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“He was so skinny and small and withdrawn. He was sweet, too. I felt an instant connection.”

Megan smiled slyly. “And did you feel the connection with his temporary dad?”

Oh, yeah. When she agreed to meet Drew, she’d been sure she wouldn’t find him attractive at all. His personality in high school had made him unattractive to her. But watching him interact with Wyatt? Seeing the way he pushed and pushed for Wyatt’s sake?

Made him enticing.

“Um, I guess a little bit. I mean, I have a pulse, and he looks like...”

“A hot fireman.”

“Yeah.” Lauren glanced up as someone headed her way. Phew. Saved by the shift change. “I’m out of here.”

“I think you should go for it,” Megan said. Lauren grabbed her purse out of the drawer, ignoring her. “If not, consider the tumbling class.”

She gave Megan a backward wave and walked out, soaking in the afternoon sunshine. Why was she still thinking about Drew’s offer? She wasn’t changing her mind. She’d made her choice.

She drove to her apartment over the hardware store on Main Street. Maybe Megan was on to something with the tumbling class. Lake Endwell High used to have an elite cheerleading program, but it had been several years since they had won any competitions. Tumbling classes would help, but not enough to get the program back on top.

What Lake Endwell needed was a boost to its cheerleading program.

Cheer academies had popped up all over Chicago while she lived there. One of the foster moms she knew owned one, and Lauren had visited it several times. The students came from surrounding school districts, and they traveled all over the country for competitions. Most of them went on to cheer in high school.

She parked in the lot behind her building. Years of gymnastics and cheerleading qualified her, but she hadn’t choreographed in a long time. And own a business? She wouldn’t know where to begin. While making her way to the back door, she checked her phone for messages.

Drew stood near the entrance. “I called the fitness place, and Megan Fellows told me you just left. She said I could find you here.”

I’ll get you back for this, Megan. She plastered a smile on, ignoring the way her heartbeat stampeded at the sight of him. “What can I do for you?”

“I feel bad about yesterday. Let me buy you a cup of coffee.”

“No need to feel bad or buy me coffee. We’re good. Your conscience can be clear.” She tried to push past him, but his broad shoulders blocked the door. He wore loose-fitting jeans and a dark gray pullover. By the strained look on his face, she’d say she annoyed him. Good.

“Will you please hear me out?” The words were soft, low. She let out a loud sigh.

“This isn’t necessary. I hold no ill will against you. I hope you have a wonderful life.” Without me in it.

“You were never good at lying.” The side of his mouth quirked up, and challenge glinted from his brown eyes.

“You’re right. I’m not.” Hiking her purse over her shoulder, she tipped her chin up. “I like Wyatt. I’m tempted to help you because of him. But I never worshipped you like the rest of this town did, and I don’t plan on it now. So go ahead and demand your way, but you won’t get it—not from me. All you have to do is walk three steps and you’ll find someone else who’s more than willing to do whatever you ask.”

He scowled. Maybe she’d gone too far. She hadn’t seen him in years, and it wasn’t his fault her life fell apart, so why was she taking her anger out on him?

And why was she so angry, anyhow? She’d been keeping it together reasonably well for months.

“I don’t want anyone to worship me. I’m just a guy. Someone who messed up most of my life.” Drew crossed his arms over his chest. “I admire you for being straight with me. Don’t worry—I’ll leave you alone.”

“Wait.” She caught his arm. His muscle flexed under her hand. She swiftly pulled back. “I guess one cup of coffee wouldn’t kill me. I know you’re trying to help Wyatt.”

“The Daily Donut?”

She shook her head. “Closes at two. Have you been out and about yet since moving back?”

“No, why?”

Tapping her chin, she realized he had no idea what was about to hit him. “Then let’s skip the coffee and go to City Park.”

“Isn’t there another coffeehouse in town?”

“You’re missing the point. When word hits around here you moved back, you’re going to be bombarded.”

He grimaced. Had he paled? “City Park it is.”

Drew Gannon, scared? She’d never thought he could surprise her, but never was a long time. Why wouldn’t Mr. Hometown Hero have made the rounds when he arrived?

“Give me a minute to drop off my purse.” Maybe a little chat in City Park wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

* * *

Drew strode next to Lauren along the sidewalk. If he was going to have any chance at getting her to help Wyatt, he needed to show her he’d changed. This would probably be his only shot. She smelled fresh, the exact same way she looked. He’d always thought she belonged on a California beach. All-American, pure sunshine.

But the sunshine had sharpened to lightning over the years—she certainly hadn’t held back with her opinion a minute ago. The way she’d put him in his place had shocked him at first. But, oddly enough, he liked her even more because of it.

He’d dated too many women who had their own agendas. He couldn’t remember any of them saying exactly what was on their minds.

How long had it been since he’d been on a date?

Five years? Six?

“Where’s Wyatt, by the way?” She easily kept pace with him.

“School. His first day. I’m picking him up at three thirty.”

“School already? You don’t waste time, do you?”

“I wasted enough time when I was younger. I don’t see the point in waiting when something has to be done.”

“What do you mean?” They reached the last store on the street. A quarter mile and they’d be at the park.

“You know how I was in high school?” He didn’t glance at her, not wanting to see how she viewed him. He could guess well enough. “I thought I was somebody. Didn’t work hard at anything but football, and by senior year I wasn’t even giving that my all. I believed my hype. Thought I was special.”

“Well, everyone around here agreed, so you probably were.” Her dry tone made his lips twitch.

Keep it serious. Show her you mean this.

“I was unprepared for college. I actually thought the coaches were going to fawn over me the way it was here, not that you would know what I mean...”

“I know what you mean.”

“Yeah. I guess you would, but I had no clue. I got to college and was a nobody. Third-string quarterback. For the first time in my life, everyone around me was as talented—more talented—than I was.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to feel sorry for you.”

He shot her a look. There was the megawatt smile he’d missed. He chuckled.

“I had it coming. I struggled at practices, and instead of working harder and giving it my all, I complained about the coaches. Told everyone they didn’t like me. That I deserved to be a starter.” He gestured to the park entrance, and they headed toward the gazebo. “Do you know how many snaps I took in games?”

She made a face and shrugged. “None?”

“Two.” He almost shuddered. “None would have been better. I threw two interceptions. The sum total of my freshman year stats. Two plays. Two interceptions. I gained weight, lost muscle, didn’t attend a team meeting. And I was so dumb, I was actually shocked—and I mean shocked—when I was cut from the team. No more scholarship. No more college.”

“I’m sorry, Drew. I didn’t know all that.”

“Well, you’re the only one from this town who didn’t. I have my doubts about moving back.”

She hopped up on a picnic table and perched on the top, facing the water. Seagulls landed in the distance, and two ladies power walked on the bike trail. The unmistakable smell of the lake filled the air.

“Why did you come back?” Lauren pushed her hair to the side of her neck. The LE Fitness lime-green T-shirt she wore under a black formfitting warm-up jacket hugged her slender body. He liked the way it looked on her.

“Chase asked me to. He wanted Wyatt to grow up in a healthier environment, away from the reporters and the private school full of kids with wealthy parents. He always joked I was the most normal person he knew. He wanted normalcy for Wyatt.”

“You? Normal? Debatable.” She leaned back, resting her hands on the table, and grinned. Understanding knitted between them. The peace of the lapping waves nearby mellowed his senses.

“You gave me the ten-second version on the phone, but what really happened to Wyatt’s mom? And how did you become his guardian?” Lauren crossed one leg over the other and faced him.

“It’s kind of a long story.”

She propped her elbow on her knee. “I’ve got all afternoon.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Where to start? “Chase and I met in college. We were roommates. We had a lot in common, liked the football lifestyle. The girls, the parties, the accolades.”

She snorted. He opened his hands as if to say, This is what you get.

“Chase was more grounded than I was. The guy was pure talent. And he worked his tail off to be the best. I can’t tell you how many times I wished I would have followed his example.”

“Yet he’s in jail, and here you are.” The words were barely audible.

“True. Anyway, he’s my best friend. I refused to come back to Lake Endwell after getting kicked out of college. And even if I could have afforded out-of-state tuition, I had no desire to continue. I was bitter. Worked at a gas station, shared an apartment with a group of potheads. I couldn’t face life without football. Couldn’t face my parents. Certainly couldn’t face my old buddies from home.”

“Some of them would have been supportive. There are some good people here.”

“You’re probably right, but I couldn’t handle it. I’d gone from being the hero to a nobody. Chase was the one who kept me going for two years. He told me I was better than that. Helped me realize I could do something with my life besides football. He fronted the money for me to take classes to be a firefighter and an EMT. A few years later I decided to continue my training and become a paramedic. It was brutal. I almost quit. Chase didn’t let me.”

“Sounds like a great guy.”

“He is.” Drew leaned forward, his clasped hands dangling between his knees. “He met Missy while I was working at the gas station. She was gorgeous, and she liked to party. That was all Chase looked for in a girl. At the time it was all I looked for, too. They fought a lot, but they’d make up just as quickly. She got pregnant his junior year. Moved to Chicago with him when he got drafted. They never married. She left when Wyatt was two, taking him with her, and the next year Chase was traded and moved to Detroit.”

“Did she move, too?”

“No. Not then, anyway. If she would have, things might not have spiraled out of control the way they did. She found a new boyfriend, Len, who also became her drug supplier. When Chase realized how addicted she’d become, he fought for full custody of Wyatt—and he won. From that point on, I was a big part of Wyatt’s life.”

“How so?”

“I’d gotten a job in Dearborn the year before. When Chase gained custody of Wyatt, I transferred to a fire station closer to them. He was on the road or training for over half the year. He hired a part-time babysitter, but I stayed at his house whenever he was traveling. I had my own apartment the rest of the time. Wyatt has no living grandparents. That’s why the courts appointed me to be Wyatt’s guardian.”

“So you’ve been helping take care of Wyatt for years?” She tilted her head.

“When Chase couldn’t.”

“That’s actually a good situation for Wyatt. He’s comfortable with you and doesn’t have to learn a new routine.”

“Living here will be a new routine for us both. I hope his first day is going okay.”

“I do, too. Kids make friends easy at his age. I’m sure he’ll fit right in.”

Drew gazed out at the water. “I don’t know. He’s too quiet. And he never used to be shy.”

“Losing your parents will do that to you.” She rubbed her upper arms although it wasn’t cold. “You still haven’t told me what happened.”

He hated discussing it. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t memorized the details. Once he opened his mouth, he knew he’d be able to tell her the facts in a detached voice. If only his insides wouldn’t twist and cry out at the senselessness of it all. Missy hadn’t deserved to die, and his best friend shouldn’t be in jail.

“Over a year ago, Missy went to rehab and, once out, decided a change of scene would help her stay clean. She moved to Detroit to be in Wyatt’s life. She and Chase reconnected, were even dating again. On a hot day in August, Len showed up at her apartment. They fought. He choked her to death.” He cleared his throat to dislodge the lump forming. “It changed Chase. He became obsessed when Len skipped bail. He hired a private investigator, and when they located Len, he went there to confront him. No one knows exactly what happened, but Chase drove over Len with his truck.”

“He didn’t kill him, though?”

“Broke his leg.” He rubbed his chin. “Chase was found guilty of second-degree attempted murder. Len is serving a life sentence in prison for first-degree murder.”

Drew glanced at Lauren to see her reaction. “Is that the saddest story you’ve ever heard?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s not.”

“That’s pretty heartless.”

“Is it?” She stood, shaking her legs out. “Work in the inner city of Chicago for eight years. You’ll see worse.”

He rose, too, shoving his hands in his pockets. Logically he knew awful things happened every day all over the world, but they hadn’t touched him the way Chase and Missy did. His own line of work put him face-to-face with horror on an ongoing basis. While he cared about the people he helped who had been in accidents and fires, he didn’t love them the way he did his friends, so their tragedies didn’t feel as devastating. He probably should feel guilty about that, but he didn’t.

“Let’s go walk along the lake.” He took her by the elbow, directing her to the lakeside path. “Tell me about Chicago.”

She strolled beside him. “I’m trying to forget.”

“What do you want to forget?”

“It’s kind of hard to forget if I talk about it.” She acted lighthearted, but the tiny furrow in her forehead revealed the truth. Whatever had happened must have affected her deeply.

“You got me there.” He wouldn’t push her.

“Yeah, well my do-gooding days are over.”

He cringed, remembering the way he and his friends had taunted her. How she’d walk down the school halls with her spine so straight it looked like it would snap. They’d thought she was stuck-up, but he knew better now. She’d been protecting herself from them.

Why had he been so clueless? So thoughtless? So mean?

“I hope that’s not true,” he said. “The world needs more people like you.”

She snorted. “Not even close. I was so naive. Thought I could make a difference. I tried. I really did try.”

“I’m sure you made a big difference in a lot of people’s lives.”

She quickened her pace, and he sped to keep up with her. “I’d get kids placed in a foster home, and the next month they’d be removed at the foster parents’ request. They needed stability, but did they get it? Or I’d try to get kids out of an unhealthy, neglect-filled home, but the parent would find a way to work the system.”

“Some of the cases you worked on must have turned out well.”

“Some did. The last one, though... I couldn’t do it anymore. Those kids meant too much to me. I always got in too deep emotionally.”

“It’s better to be emotionally invested than to be apathetic. When you don’t care about other people, you only really care about yourself. Trust me. I know.”

“What if you don’t care about yourself, either?” The breeze blew the hair around her face, and she tucked it back behind her ear.

“Then you end up living with a bunch of potheads and working at a gas station because you’re so mad at the world, you can’t handle living in it.” He checked his watch. “I didn’t realize the time. I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got to pick up Wyatt.”

“No problem.” They turned around and started walking back to her apartment. “Do you ever miss playing football?”

“Miss it? I still play.”

“When?” Skepticism laced her tone.

“Me and the guys throw the ball around whenever possible. You should see us when football season starts. We watch all the college and NFL games, and we split into teams to play outside, too. Well, we did back in Detroit, anyway.”

Her smile lit her face. “So I assume you’ll be coaching a rec team for Wyatt this August, huh?”

“Unfortunately, no. Chase made me promise I wouldn’t let Wyatt play.”

“Why not? Isn’t he the big football star?”

“That’s part of the problem. He blames the celebrity lifestyle for coloring his decisions. Like I said, he wants Wyatt—”

“To have a normal life.”

“Yep.”

They crossed the street at a traffic light.

“Hmm...” She appeared deep in thought.

“What’s the ‘hmm’ for?”

“I guess I was thinking no one really has a normal life.”

Drew opened his mouth to refute it, but she had a point. What was normal?

His job was normal. He loved being a firefighter. Craved the adrenaline rush of his duties. Didn’t mind the danger.

Lauren’s complexity intrigued him. What about that last case had made her lose her faith in herself? What had her life been like in Chicago? Why did this golden girl, who seemed to have it all together, not view herself the way he—and everyone else—did?

The questions would have to wait. They reached the parking lot, and he stopped in front of her building’s back door. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For giving me the time of day. For letting me talk to you.”

A blush spread across her cheeks. Whoa. He couldn’t help staring at her and wishing things were different.

“Listen, I’m taking Wyatt to the fish fry at Uncle Joe’s Restaurant Friday night. Why don’t you join us? Say, six thirty?”

She bit the corner of her lower lip and averted her gaze. “I’ll think about it.”

At least she hadn’t said no. It would have to be enough. “You know where the restaurant is?”

“Everyone knows where Uncle Joe’s is.”

He nodded and jogged to his truck. As he started it up, he looked back, but she’d disappeared inside.

For a firefighter, he wasn’t being smart. He knew better than to light matches near a dry forest. What was he doing, thinking about beautiful Lauren Pierce? He ran his palm over his cheek. Just because he’d made peace with his past didn’t change the fact that he’d made big mistakes.

She’d been too good for him then, and she was too good for him now.

One thing had changed, though. She’d grown sassy enough to tell him off.

Maybe this was life’s funny way of getting back at him. Because that sass only made him like her even more.

* * *

Lauren didn’t bother changing out of her work clothes after Drew drove away. Instead, she poured a glass of sun tea, selected an adult alternative radio station to play over the wireless speaker on her shelf and stretched out on the couch. What was she going to do now? Babysitting Wyatt no longer felt like an absolute no. But what about the tumbling class or researching a cheerleading academy? Wouldn’t either be the smarter move?

Zingo, her Maine coon cat, jumped on her stomach. “Oof. Watch it, big guy.” He circled on top of her legs three times before curling into a purring ball. She reached down to pet him. “Love you, too.”

Staring at the ceiling, she tried to empty her mind, but it churned with all the things Drew had told her. About Wyatt. About himself.

Hearing about Wyatt’s parents hadn’t shocked her, and she sniffed at how Drew thought it was the saddest story. Yes, it was sad, but so was the destruction she’d witnessed over and over in her life.

Physical abuse, parents giving drugs to their small children, molestation, death—it horrified her. She’d dealt with it all, seen it all, and she wished Wyatt could have been spared. At least he had been able to rely on Drew all this time.

A laugh escaped her lips, and she clapped her hand over her mouth. Where had that thought come from? In one day she’d flipped from thinking Drew a complete waste of time to an upstanding guy?

He’d been honest. Open. Bared his soul, not knowing if she’d retaliate or not.

She was surprised she hadn’t. Well, she kind of had. Her angry outburst earlier had come out of nowhere. The venom still puzzled her.

What had Drew said about being mad at the world? She closed her eyes, trying to remember. They’d been discussing her getting too close to the kids, and he’d said something—something important.

Being so mad at the world you couldn’t handle living in it. That was what it was.

She sat up. Zingo glared at her in protest, then resettled on her lap. Mindlessly, she stroked his fur.

Was that why she couldn’t move forward?

Was she so mad at the world she couldn’t handle living in it?

No. She shook her head. Of course not. She wasn’t angry. She was protecting herself from a job that wasn’t good for her anymore.

She could move forward. She would move forward. The idea of helping the local cheerleaders had sparked something inside that had been dormant since high school. “Sorry, baby, but I have to get up.” She cradled the huge gray tiger-striped cat and kissed his head before setting him back on the couch.

She’d call Angela Duke, the foster mom who owned the cheerleading academy in Chicago, and find out what was involved with starting her own. She hoped she still had Angela’s number. Where had she put the files with her Chicago contacts?

Rummaging through her bedroom closet, she found a box of old purses, a bag stuffed with receipts from the past five years, stacks of books, a jar full of change and two suitcases. Three boxes sat on the top shelf, so she located her step stool and dragged them down.

One looked like the box where she’d thrown the file with her personal contacts. She pawed through it. Appliance manuals. Why did she keep them? She tossed one over her shoulder, unearthed an old trophy and kept digging.

The purple duffel bag.

She dropped it like it was covered in battery acid. Taking two steps back, she fell to her knees.

A home movie of her earliest memories played through her mind, stealing her breath, stinging the backs of her eyes.

She’d kept the dirty, ripped purple duffel bag packed with every one of her belongings from the time she was three years old until she was eight. She’d been living with the Pierces for more than a year before she finally believed they were her forever family.

Creeping forward, she took it in her hands and held it to her chest. Emotions rushed through her. Remembering the fear of being placed in a new foster home. Five different homes in four years. Some had been good, others not so good, but none had lasted.

She’d been unwanted.

The purple duffel bag had been the only thing she’d owned. Every night before she went to bed, she’d fold her clothes and zip them into it.

Always ready. Always prepared to move.

One of the boys at the third home tried to steal it from her, and she’d grown blind with rage. Six years old. Already too street-smart for the world. That night she’d snuck into the kitchen, grabbed a paring knife, went into his room and waved the knife, demanding he give it back.

He had.

And she had been placed in a different home two weeks later.

The look in Wyatt’s eyes yesterday, the one questioning if he was worth anything, roared back. Wyatt hadn’t lost all his hope yet. Not the way she had so early on. And he wasn’t living in a hovel with his meth-addicted mom on a notorious gang’s street like Treyvon and Jay had been.

Drew thought she’d be good for Wyatt.

She clutched the bag tightly and almost laughed. He had no idea that six-year-old Lauren had threatened a kid with a knife to get this bag back. Her nicknames had been “Prude” and “Do-Gooder” and “Prim Pierce,” and they were so far from the truth, it was laughable.

She wasn’t a wild, angry little girl anymore. Her adoptive parents had given her more than a home. They’d given her faith in a loving God. They’d given her a baptism, a new person to replace the old, rotten, unwanted one.

And she’d promised herself she would be worthy of their love, and she’d help kids like her, the way they had.

She uncurled her legs, set the duffel bag on top of the box and sat on the edge of her bed.

Lord, I’ve been avoiding the hard prayers lately, the ones where I ask You to show me Your will. I was afraid—I am afraid—You’ll ask me to do something I can’t handle.

Could she babysit Wyatt and not have her heart broken?

Who would help Wyatt if she didn’t?

At least he had Drew.

The longing she’d sensed in Drew before he left earlier had drawn her heart, unbidden, to him. He’d given her a peek of who he’d become, and she had to admit, time and experience had turned his drive into something less selfish than it had been in high school.

Could she say the same about herself?

She’d consider meeting him and Wyatt at Uncle Joe’s Restaurant Friday night. In the meantime, she’d find the Chicago file.