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  “We made you thank-you cakes,” Zach told him.

  “My favorite kind,” he said graciously. “You guys didn’t need to do that, but I’m never going to say no to cake.”

  “They’re red velvet. My mom loves red velvet.”

  “Does she now?’ he asked, leaning toward her to swipe some frosting off the corner of a cake, which he licked seductively off his finger and she melted a little more. She was fairly certain he wasn’t going for sexy, but he was the kind of guy who didn’t have to try. Damn, he looked good licking that frosting. It made her mind go to other things he might lick. Just friends. Just neighbors.

  “Where shall I put them?”

  “I’ll put them on the porch, thanks,” he said, and he looked as good walking away as he did walking back. Firm butt, nice calves. Just neighbors.

  “Zach and I really appreciate you helping him with this baseball.”

  “No problem. I must warn you I was never that great at the game. My brother Mike was way better. I can pitch, but I’m not much of a batter, Zach.”

  “I’m not much of an anything yet.” The small boy sighed.

  “Well then, the only way is up!”

  Sarah stood there and watched him explain how to hold the bat and how to stand. It was a classic father-son moment, and she wondered if his own father had taught him. He and his brother were close, but he never mentioned parents. He had mentioned adults disappointing him as a kid. There was a story there for sure.

  “Okay, Zach, ready?”

  He swung and missed. “Sarah, you want to get in there with a glove and be catcher. It should be okay for the ankle. Hey, where’s Livi?”

  “Watching another princess movie,” Zach answered for her again.

  “Yep, I’ll catch. I’m a bit rusty, so you might want to go easy on me, boys,” she said, taking the mitt they’d found in Esme’s basement and sliding it on.

  “Okay, Mom.”

  After the third pitch, Zach started to find his rhythm and he finally connected with the ball. His aim wasn’t so great and it landed in Todd’s porch, narrowly missing the window, but Todd didn’t overreact. He high-fived the boy, and then explained how he needed to aim here on the lawn.

  “I’ll take you to the field tomorrow, if your mom says I can, so you can practice some big hits.”

  “Can I, Mom? Can I?”

  “If Todd is happy to take you.” He ran in a circle and did a little fist pump in the air. “I think we’ll take that to mean you’re excited about that.”

  Todd was laughing at the boy. “Come on, let’s do a few more now.”

  An hour later, everyone was spent, even Zach. The afternoon heat was an energy zapper for sure. Sarah was having a hard time controlling the many things her body wanted to do: laugh, collapse, and jump Todd all at once. His easy nature and kindness toward Zach made her heart flip. Just friends.

  “Honey, can you go check on Livi? And grab yourself some water.”

  He raced back across the road, slamming the front door again.

  “I might need to get that door adjusted.”

  “Definitely easier than reining him in,” Todd said, flopping down on the grass, his long lean legs stretching out before him, resting on his hands.

  “Thank you. I mean the cupcakes were not for today. I didn’t get to thank you for helping me when I fell and for organizing half the town to build the ramp.”

  He smiled up at her. “No need to thank me. Happy to help.”

  “There is a need.” She sat down on the grass near him, her back supported by a tree trunk. “I honestly don’t know how I would have managed that on my own. Honestly . . .” She felt those damn tears pricking again. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.”

  She looked so beautiful sitting back up against the tree. It took a lot of restraint not to crawl across the lawn and kiss her senseless. Sense being the key word. That would not have been at all sensible.

  “I don’t know how I can repay you but I’ll think of something.”

  Todd could only think of inappropriate forms of repayment. Nothing he could suggest to a friend so he just smiled.

  “Dermot’s gone then?”

  “Yeah, he had a show tonight. It was good to see him.”

  “Nothing like old friends. They know you like nobody else does.”

  “I guess.” She plucked a blade of grass and flicked it away. “I bet your brother probably fills that role for you.”

  “Yeah, you’d think. Sometimes I think Marissa actually knows me better, which is weird, especially now they’re together. It freaks me out a bit.” He faked a shiver. “Creepy.”

  “No secrets are safe.” She smiled at him, a wicked smile as if she thought he might be hiding something delicious.

  “Yeah, well, I’m pretty much an open book.” Apart from being a secret millionaire. “Your husband probably knew all your secrets.”

  “And took them to the grave.” She shook her head. “Actually, he didn’t know me all that well if I’m honest.”

  “How does that work?”

  “Long story.”

  “I have time. I’ll even share my cupcakes with you.” He really wanted to know how you could be married to someone who didn’t know you. This had to be an interesting story. After all, didn’t people marry so they wouldn’t feel alone? That’s what he’d been led to believe.

  “Keep the cupcakes.” She gave him a nervous smile.

  “How did you two meet?”

  “In a bar, very romantic.” She gave a laugh. “We were young. I was about to graduate from college, I had big plans to dance in New York, and he was about to go to Afghanistan.”

  “Young love, tis a beautiful thing.” He’d met a few pretty girls in bars back at college that had more than turned his own head.

  “Yeah. Anyway, he was a whole lot of fun. We were dating for a couple of months, by which I mean we were together every minute one of us didn’t have to be somewhere else and just before he left he asked me to marry him. And I said yes. We had a quick registry office wedding and a party with friends. My folks weren’t even there. That’s the only thing I regret, they were killed a few months later . . .”

  “I’m sorry.” He scooted a little closer and patted her leg for comfort. It was a bad idea. The soft smell of her, her smooth skin, he felt it again, that attraction he wasn’t supposed to have.

  #

  He touched her and there was the zing. Just friends. You’re telling a sad story.

  “Yeah, anyway. When he was deployed, I found out I was pregnant, and then my folks died, and I had, well, no one. College had ended and all my friends were leaving. Off to pursue new lives and dreams and I was kind of stuck.”

  “Hard to audition for a Broadway show with a baby bump.” He got it.

  “Exactly. I could have lived in a shared flat with seven other people and lived on ramen alone, but not with a baby.

  “So I stayed in Ohio, and I kept working at the dance studio I’d worked at through college, and I had Zach. All alone.”

  “That must have been really hard.”

  “Honestly, I thought it was going to be the hardest thing I ever went through, but I was wrong.” Her eyes met his.

  “Livi?”

  She nodded. “Anyway, when he came home, it turned out he was a tad traumatized, and so here we were two people who didn’t know each other that well both changed by our experiences, living in borderline poverty. Not exactly fun and games.”

  “But surely that settled.”

  “Yeah, I thought so. He left the Army and he got a job as a mechanic. He was never happy. He couldn’t settle. It was hard for him. Sometimes I’d get a glimpse of him, the great guy he’d been, but he was hard to find and I guess I didn’t know him that well to begin with, so it was harder for me to help him.”

  “That makes sense. And you had a lot on your plate.”

  “Yeah, anyway, he up and reenlisted. He didn’t discuss it with me. He just came home and said it
was done. He wasn’t coping, he wanted to go back . . . you get the idea.” It was embarrassing to say your own husband would rather go to a war than stay with you and your child but that was the truth. She knew it wasn’t that cut and dry. “Apparently, he’d been fired at the auto shop and I guess that was the last straw.”

  “You must have been mad.”

  She gave him a sad grin. “That’s one way of putting it because I’d just found out I was pregnant again and hadn’t had a chance to tell him.”

  “How did he react to that? He must have felt bad then?”

  “So he said, but truthfully, he looked relieved. Like he’d dodged a bullet, no pun intended.”

  Todd shook his head. “So, he didn’t make it back?”

  “Nope, he died just before Livi was born.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah. Me, too. He was a good guy. He was a terrible husband and a crappy father, but he was a decent guy. I expect he was a good soldier. I knew a lot of his friends and they loved him.”

  “That’s pretty generous of you.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, well, we were both to blame. Young, naive, impetuous . . .”

  “Live and learn,” he said.

  “You ever think of getting married?”

  He let out a low growl. “Never. It’s not in my plans.”

  “You never had a long-term girlfriend who wanted to marry you?” she asked. He was the full package, as far as she could see, the real deal.

  “Not lately. I had a serious girlfriend back at college, but . . . yeah, I’m definitely not marriage material these days.”

  She looked him up and down. Aware of his eyes on her as hers trained over his body. He looked every bit like marriage material to her but she guessed he knew.

  “What about you? You think you’ll marry again?”

  “You know what, I have no idea what my future holds. I’m only twenty-eight, but I don’t think so right now. I kind of have my hands full.”

  “Yeah, you do.”

  She decided to jump out on a limb. Sure, it was a risk but there was definitely some sizzle between them, and yes, he said he wanted to be just friends and neighbors, but she had a feeling that there was a possibility of more, a little something, something with no strings attached.

  “That doesn’t mean I want to be celibate for the rest of my life. How do you propose I get around that?”

  Todd felt his eyebrows head north to his hairline. How did he propose she scratched any itches she had? Was she serious?

  “You could hire a hooker?” he joked, because this could not be a conversation they were going to have.

  “Really, is that how you solve the problem for yourself?”

  It would have been easiest to say yes. Then, in theory, she would have found him repugnant and all conversation would cease. He wasn’t quite smart enough.

  “No. I definitely don’t do that. I have a couple of friends who I see from time to time. It’s casual. No strings attached.”

  “Yeah, see, that’s what I need,” she said. “Casual, convenient, and no strings attached.” She was looking right at him, almost daring him to offer himself.

  “It’s harder to come by than you might think. Lots of people think they want that but then, not so much.”

  “I know that’s what I want, though.”

  Todd’s phone buzzed. Saved by the bell. He picked it up and realized it was after five. Poker night. “Well, good luck finding it. I have to go get ready. Poker night.”

  “You have a poker night?”

  He leapt to his feet and offered her a hand to pull her up. He pulled too hard and she landed slap against his chest. He looked down at her. Lips so close, so kissable.

  “Yep, tonight.” He should have stopped there. “You play?”

  “A little.”

  “Well, if you want to come over, it starts at seven.”

  “Thanks, but the kids . . .”

  “Call Katie, I’m sure she’ll sit.” Something flashed in her eyes. She couldn’t afford a sitter. “My shout.”

  “You can’t pay for my sitter,” she said, still not stepping out of his reach.

  “Well, it looks to me like you’re going to need a job. Half the town is at poker night so you can put the word out. I think it would be a smart investment.”

  She bit her lip, struggling with the answer. Not knowing what to say.

  “What about this, I’ll call and ask. If she’s free, it was meant to be, if not . . . so be it.”

  She nodded. “Okay. I’m going to have to give you more than cupcakes to make up for all this.”

  There were several things he could think of. The air between them sizzled.

  “I also like brownies,” he said, releasing his hold. “I’ll let you know about Katie. Got to go.”

  He raced up the stairs and into the safety of his own home before he did something he’d regret, like kissing Sarah there on the front lawn.

  Chapter 7

  Sarah stood in front of her closet trying to decide what to wear to a poker night where a potential employer might be. It was a hot night, so she didn’t want to be steaming and sweating in whatever she chose, but too much skin wasn’t the message she wanted to send either. She was reasonably sure word had made it beyond her backyard that she knew a thing or two about burlesque, so she needed to be extra careful.

  Katie was downstairs with the kids and she had less than ten minutes to decide when she heard a voice at her front door. Chloe called up the stairs.

  “Are you ready?”

  She stood at the top of the stairs, a top in each hand. “What do you think? And aren’t you early?”

  “I’m always early. Sometimes I try to be late and I’m still early.”

  “Where’s Moose?”

  “He’s back in Maine. He’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “Do you ever go with him?”

  She shrugged. “Sometimes. I prefer it here. He lives in a hotel up there.”

  “Are you serious? That sounds divine.” Sarah could not remember when she’d last stayed in a nice hotel, maybe when her aunt took her to New York years ago.

  “It is nice, but I grew up in fairly austere circumstances, so it’s taking me a while to get used it.” She sat on the end of the bed. “Fashion dilemma?”

  Chloe was wearing black three-quarter pants and a pale blue sleeveless shirt. The only whimsy was a pair of cute beaded sandals and bright pink toenails.

  “Yeah, is there a dress code?”

  Chloe snorted. “Hardly. If Dave has shoes on, we’ll be happy. It’s a mixed bag. I like that one.” She pointed to a purple top with cutout shoulders.

  She peeled off her shirt, sprayed on her deodorant, and put the top over her head.

  “You have a seriously amazing body, Sarah,” Chloe said, her voice tinged with awe. “I might have to take up dancing.”

  “I need to find somewhere to dance. Is there a studio in town?”

  “Actually, no. There was I believe, but the woman who ran it got married and moved to Nashua. Hey, you should open one.”

  Sarah was the one laughing now. “That’s a great idea except, between you, me, and these four walls, I’m flat broke. I couldn’t even afford a sign let alone a proper fit out or advertising.”

  Chloe’s brow furrowed. “That is a problem we will have to solve.”

  “Yeah, Todd said that I should let drop I need a job tonight, someone will know of one.”

  “That Todd, he’s so sweet. And so mysterious.”

  “Do you think?”

  “Sure, I do. I mean, what is his actual job? And where does he get all his money from? Why won’t he date? There are lots of unanswered questions there. And he’s hot. You saw him shirtless. Damn.”

  She was right he was hot, and come to think of it, he was kind of mysterious. “He’s a designer, isn’t he?”

  “Of what? He does the artwork for a few businesses around town. That wouldn’t keep anyone in business and his rates are cra
zy low. I know because he does my ads for the ice-cream parlor.”

  She pulled on some white palazzo pants and slid on some sparkly silver ballet flats. “How’s this?”

  “You look amazing.”

  They said good-bye to the kids, reminding Katie they were literally over the road and she could call anytime.

  “We’ll be fine.”

  The kids were back in their tent bed, again. She and Dermot had pried them out the last two nights, but she’d let them sleep there tonight. She worried maybe it wasn’t the best thing for Livi’s condition, but a happy kid was sure to heal faster.

  They strode across the road. Sarah noticed the street was now lined with an array of trucks. “You people love a truck.”

  “Snow. It helps in the snow. I’d never seen snow until I moved here, and now, well, if I never saw it again, I’d survive.”

  “You don’t like it?”

  “I like it, but life is easier in the sunshine.”

  “You sound like a greeting card.”

  Chloe pushed through Todd’s screen door and they walked into a room full of men. In fact, it seemed like she and Chloe were the only girls there. Todd looked up from where he was laying some dips in his kitchen and smiled. That smile. The one that made her stomach flip. The one that reminded her she was a woman again. Just friends, she reminded herself for the hundredth time that day.

  She’d as good as propositioned him this afternoon and he’d resisted. He was very clear on them being just friends, so she’d have to learn to ignore that hum her body had at the sound of his voice welcoming them.

  “Guys, you all know Chloe and this is Sarah, Esme’s niece. She’s new to town so play nicely. It is entirely possible Esme will haunt you if you don’t,” he added. Her aunt had been formidable, so perhaps he was right. Sarah herself felt like the woman was her own guardian angel. In fact, she must, now that she was mobile again, go visit her grave. That would be a project for tomorrow.

  A good-looking but scruffy fellow with no shoes approached. “You must be Dave.”

  “My reputation proceeds me.” He extended a hand and she shook.

  “It’s the shoes. Chloe warned me.” He handed her a beer. She wasn’t really a beer drinker these days, but she could nurse that one all night. It was poker night. She supposed beer was in order.