Читать книгу Out of Sight - Michelle Celmer, Michelle Celmer - Страница 11

“Ms. Sullivan?”

Abi looked up from the file on her cluttered desk to the young man standing in her office doorway. The red T-shirt he had draped over his shoulder bore the retreat logo, meaning he was probably her new employee. According to his employee file he was barely twenty, and she didn’t make a habit out of ogling men ten years her junior, yet she couldn’t help feeling a tad breathless by the sight of him. Jet-black hair with dark, deep-set eyes to match. Tall and muscular in all the right places. A real heartbreaker. “You must be Tom.”

“Tom Sterling.” He dropped his duffel bag and walked toward her, hand outstretched, flashing her a lazy, brilliant white smile.

Oh, yeah, this guy was going to drive the female counselors into a tizzy. But considering his shining recommendations, he would be worth the hassle.

Abi stood and took his hand. His grip was firm and confident. “Welcome to Healing Hearts. I appreciate you coming on such short notice.”

“It’s me who should be thanking you. My scholarship doesn’t cover living expenses, so when my last position fell through, I was kind of desperate.”

“I was just looking over your file. Your references are impeccable. As I explained on the phone, you’ll be working primarily with the younger kids.”

“Okay,” he said.

“Great.” She pulled open the file drawer and took out a copy of the employee handbook. “This will cover what we didn’t discuss on the phone. If you have any questions, you can ask me or any of the other staff.” In fact, she was sure the female employees would be falling all over themselves to accommodate him.

“Go see Susie in the main office. She’ll see that you get settled in. I’ll give you the rest of the day to acquaint yourself to the grounds. You report for work eight o’clock tomorrow morning in the children’s activities center.”

He took the handbook. “Thanks, Ms. Sullivan.”

“Just Abi,” she said. “I’ll see you bright and early.”

He shot her one more heart-stopping, slightly shy grin, then grabbed his bag and headed out the door.

Abi picked up the phone and dialed Susie’s extension. “Susie, I sent Tom your way. Could you have one of the counselors show him to his cabin and get him settled in?”

“Sure thing, Abi. What do you think of him? Is he cute or what?”

“He’s going to wreak havoc on the female staff.”

“If I were ten years younger…” she said with a wistful sigh before she hung up.

Abi knew exactly what she meant. Seeing a young man like Tom, with his entire future ahead of him—it made her feel so…old. As if the best years of her life had been wasted. If she could only go back, knowing then what she knew now. She would have done things so differently.

But there was no point dwelling on the past. Some things you just couldn’t change.

Abi checked the sign-up sheets in the office and shook her head. “Darn it.”

Susie looked up from her computer monitor. “Something wrong?”

“I don’t suppose Will Bishop has been in here today.”

“The guy with the face? Nope, haven’t seen him. Why do you ask?”

“I was just hoping he signed up for therapy, but I don’t see his name here.”

“Maybe he just hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”

“Yeah, maybe.” She’d seen him heading toward the golf course with a group of men that afternoon and later she’d seen him walking toward the lake, a towel draped over his shoulder. She’d really hoped he would find time to stop in the office, but at least he seemed to be making friends. Maybe one of the other men would persuade him to join a group. She had the feeling that deep down he knew he needed therapy. Why else would he be here? All he needed was a nudge to get the ball rolling.

“Where’s Adam?” Susie asked.

“He’s with the tot group down by the beach. They’re having a picnic dinner. There’s a little boy who’s four, so Adam has a new best friend. He just loves it when the new family sessions start. Would you do me a favor and let me know if Will signs up?”

“Sure thing, Abi.”

Abi left the office and headed for the main dining room. It was the first Tuesday of the session, meaning it was Italian cuisine night. Though meals were served buffet-style, the food was delicious. Despite that Abi had a full kitchen in her cabin, it was usually easier to eat in the dining room with the guests and other staff. However, she tried at least two or three times a week to have a special dinner for just her and Adam—a family night when they would eat together, then sit on the family room floor and play board games or cards or do crafts. Then he would climb into bed and she would read him books until he fell asleep.

Sometimes she would sit and watch him sleep, memorizing every detail of his precious face. Though being a single parent could be rough, she couldn’t imagine her life without him in it.

Abi fixed herself a plate with linguine in clam sauce and a slice of toasted garlic bread, then went to find a table, scanning the room, telling herself she wasn’t looking for Will—and denying a dash of disappointment when she didn’t see him there. He’d mentioned seeing her at dinner, although that didn’t mean he’d planned to sit with her. In fact, she didn’t want him to sit with her.

Well, maybe she did a little, but she knew it would be best if he didn’t. He had stirred in her feelings she’d locked away a long time ago. What scared her even more—he made her feel things she’d never felt before.

She headed for an empty table near the back, set her plate down and took a seat.

Even if he had been there and she had wanted to sit with him, she probably wouldn’t have had the guts to approach his table and sit down. The old Abi, the one she’d been before she’d had Adam, would have strutted into the room, happy only when she knew all eyes were turned her way. She wouldn’t have hesitated inviting herself to sit with any man she chose. Of course, she never would have chosen a man like Will. She’d been attracted to men with money and power. Men who served a purpose.

In the end, all it had gotten her was trouble, and she realized now she was better off alone. No man was worth what she had been through.

If that was true, why did she find her eyes straying toward the door? Why did her heart flutter with nerves when she thought about seeing Will step into the room? When she remembered the way he looked at her? She couldn’t help wondering what it was he saw. Her days of a flat stomach and twenty-four-inch waist had left her for good in the fourth month of her pregnancy, when the morning sickness had ended and her appetite had returned with a vengeance.

Rather than feel disgusted by her expanding figure, she’d felt free. She’d said goodbye to the daily torture of exercising herself to death, to the diet of lettuce and water. With every pound she’d gained, every stretch mark that had appeared on her flawless skin, she’d felt more content, more in control of her life. She was more comfortable in her skin now than she’d ever been.

Maybe some men—men like Will—found that attractive.

Or maybe she was delusional.

Forcing herself to concentrate on her plate and not the door, she shoveled a bite of creamy pasta into her mouth. She would hurry up and eat, go pick up Adam, then call it an early night. It sounded like a pretty good plan, until her eyes strayed up once again and landed right on Will coming through the dining room door. As much as she wanted to look away, she felt frozen in place.

He stopped just inside the doorway and gazed around the room. He’s not looking for me, she told herself, just a vacant place to sit. Then his eyes stopped on her and held there, a grin quirking up one corner of his mouth. Her stomach did a hard flop and the hair on the back of her neck shivered to attention. There was a boyish charm to his smile, but there was no doubt in her mind he was all man.

He held her gaze for a few seconds more, then headed for the buffet to fix himself a plate. She forced herself to keep her head down, eyes on her food. Just because he’d looked at her, it didn’t mean he’d been looking for her. It didn’t mean he wanted to sit with her, and she didn’t want to encourage him by making eye contact again. He’d already caught her staring at him far too many times.

She took another bite of pasta but had trouble swallowing past the knot of anxiety that had lodged itself in her throat—an almost giddy, nervous, excited feeling that didn’t want to go away.

“Is this seat taken?”

Abi looked up to find Will standing beside the table, gesturing to the seat beside her, and her heart began to beat double time. So he did want to sit with her. But was it a good idea? She didn’t want to be rude. It wasn’t his fault she had some sort of weird fascination with him.

“Um, no,” she said, inviting him to sit.

He pulled out the chair and sat down, so casual and at ease, she felt silly for feeling nervous. His hair was damp and he smelled like some sort of masculine soap. “How did the rest of the hike go this afternoon?”

“It was good.” she said, trying to look not at him but at her food.

“Looks like Eric has a new friend.”

Abi followed the direction of Will’s gaze and saw Eric sitting across the room with Noah. Noah was gabbing away about something, his mouth moving a mile a minute. He’d been stuck to Eric’s side the second half of the hike and had followed him around like a lost puppy the rest of the afternoon. It had to be driving Eric crazy by now, but he sat quietly listening to Noah yammer on.

As she’d suspected, he was a good kid at heart.

“I was just in the office,” she told Will. “I didn’t see your name on the sign-up sheet.”

He flashed that crooked grin. “Checking up on me, huh?”

She refused to be rattled by his charm. “That’s my job.”

“I said I would think about it.”

“And?”

He shrugged. “And I’m still thinking.”

“Mommy!”

Abi looked up to find Adam barreling toward her, his little legs carrying him as quickly as they could, followed by Renee, one of the junior counselors. As it always did, her heart filled with so much love and pride at the sight of his happy face she thought it might burst. She’d never truly learned to love until she’d become a mother. Until she’d felt her baby kick the first time. Until he was born and she’d gazed down into his perfect little face, counted all ten fingers and toes. It was then that she’d finally felt complete, as if she’d found her purpose.

He was the only thing in the world that mattered to her now.

Adam launched himself into her arms and she pulled him up in her lap, ruffling his short dark hair. “Hey, kiddo, did you have a good picnic?”

“I made you a present!” Adam said, squirming excitedly. “Show her, Renee!”

“Okay, okay,” Renee said with a laugh, handing Abi Adam’s latest creation—several Popsicle sticks glued together to form an abstract shape covered with blue and gold glitter. Some of it flaked off and landed on her plate.