FATHER IN TRAINING (26 page)

"I could have sworn you were going to tell me another bike ride wouldn't be a good idea."

She reached into the station wagon and picked up a covered casserole dish. She handed it to Kyle,
then
reached for the covered cake plate. He slammed the car door shut,
then
fell into step beside her as they started for the house.

"Why would I say a foolish thing like that?" she asked.

"That's what I was thinking."

When they reached the stairs leading to the porch, she paused and stared at him. Sunlight caught his short dark hair. He was tall and broad, strong. In the last few weeks, she'd come to think of him as dependable, which was a word she never would have associated with one of the Haynes brothers. Yet, they'd all changed. They'd grown up. For a brief moment, she wanted it to be enough.

"Is it true?" she asked. "Did you really have a crush on me?"

He looked past her toward a grove of trees next to the house. "It's the only time I hated my brother. The first time
Jordan
brought you home, I wanted to kill him and steal you away for myself."

"Really? Why?"

"I'm not going to answer that."

"When did you get over your crush?"

His gaze settled on her. "Don't ask questions unless you're sure you want the answers."

Her breath caught in her throat. What was he saying? That it had been over so quickly that she would be insulted if she knew, or something else? That he'd never gotten over it. But he had to have. He couldn't still have those feelings for her, could he? He was right, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

He laughed. "Sorry, that's as much of my confession as you're going to get."

"But Kyle—"

"But nothing." He raised the dish in his hands. "What did you bring?"

"Potato salad and chocolate cake."

"Sounds great. I brought yams."

She giggled. "Is it true? That's the only thing you can make?"

He looked insulted. "It is not. I just like yams."

"Okay, me, too. I thought they were great."

He bent toward her. For a second, she thought he was going to kiss her again. She wanted him to. She wanted him to hold her and touch her and take her to that magic place they disappeared to when they were together. She wanted to make love and talk about the past and the future. She wanted to hear about his crush,
then
whisper that she couldn't keep her heartbeat under control when he was around.

Then the front door opened and he straightened. "We need less interruptions and more privacy," he murmured.

She glanced up and saw the third oldest Haynes brother standing in the doorway. "
Jordan
!" she called and started up toward him.

"Hey,
Sandy
."
Jordan
wasn't as tall as Kyle, or as good-looking, but there was something soulful in his eyes. He'd always been the moody one, the brooder. While Craig had been the athletic star and Travis had collected ladies based on his charm,
Jordan
had been the James Dean of the county. Even Sensible Sandy hadn't been immune.

He met her at the top of the stairs and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I heard you were back in town. How's it going?"

"Really well."

"I met your kids," he said, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. "The littlest one has your smile. She's going to be a heartbreaker."

She was pleased at the compliment. "Thanks. Nichole is a sweetie."

She looked at her old boyfriend. Time had been kind to him. The new lines around his eyes only made him
more good-looking
. The Haynes family had an incredible gene pool, she thought,
then
realized she was standing right next to
Jordan
, talking to him, staring at his smile and feeling absolutely nothing. Not a twinge of attraction, not a flicker of a faster heartbeat. It was as if he were her brother.

"Before you get too charming," Kyle said, coming up and elbowing his brother out of the way, "the lady's with me.

Jordan
's dark eyes met hers. "So that's how it is?"

Sandy
glanced up at Kyle. Her heart kicked into high gear and her stomach dived for her toes. Maybe it was just the flu, or an allergy. "That's exactly how it is," she whispered.

Fifteen children, eight adults and an assortment of pets could go through enough food to feed an army and still have room to argue about who got the largest piece of cake.
Sandy
looked sadly at the few crumbs that were all that was left of her three-layer masterpiece.

"At least they enjoyed it,"
Elizabeth
said, coming up and taking the dirty side plates. "This family sure can eat."

"I'll say. I think that lone pickle floating in the jar is about it for leftovers."

Elizabeth
grinned. "Less work for us."

"That's true."
Sandy
gathered up a handful of flatware and set it on the cake dish, then carried everything into the kitchen. Rebecca and Christina, a petite blonde who was dating Kyle's oldest brother, Craig, were already washing dishes.

"More work,"
Elizabeth
called. "No rest for the wicked."

Rebecca glanced at her over her shoulder. "We're not
the wicked ones. It's those men who should be in here cleaning."

"I heard that," Kyle said, walking in with an armful of plastic glasses. "I'm helping."

Elizabeth
picked up a dish towel and tossed it to
Sandy
, then grabbed another one for
herself
. "Kyle, would you please bring in the rest of the dishes. Sandy and I will dry."

"No problem." He left the kitchen.

Rebecca grinned. "You notice how well behaved he is all of a sudden. As if he's trying to impress a certain someone."

"I thought that same thing, myself,"
Elizabeth
said. "Now, who could he be strutting around for? Is he dating anyone?"

"Not that I know of." Rebecca looked at
Sandy
. "You wouldn't know anything about this, would you?"

Sandy
could feel herself blushing. "Gee, I haven't seen anyone at his house."

"Except for
yourself
, of course," Rebecca teased.

"I'm just there to collect the children."

The two women exchanged knowing glances. Kyle returned with more dishes and conversation became more general.
Sandy
enjoyed her time with the women. She liked their friendly manner.

"Only two more weeks until camp,"
Elizabeth
said. "I can't wait. With Mandy gone, we're hiring a sitter every night for the baby, and Travis and I are going to be alone. I feel like it's been years since our honeymoon."

"It has been," Rebecca reminded her. "Austin and I are doing the same thing. Paying a sitter to mind the baby is a small price to pay for romantic time with my husband. David is so excited about going to camp. I adore him, but I sure look forward to the peace and quiet."

"What camp?"
Sandy
asked.

Elizabeth
dried a plate and set it in the cupboard. "Glenwood sponsors a three-night camp for all the children in town. They have to be five or older. It's great. All the parents get some time off and the kids are supervised. The best part is, because they go as a group, they're with people they know, so they don't usually get homesick."

She sighed. "Three whole nights and four days. I can't wait."

Rebecca looked at her. "Are your three going?"

"I didn't know about it." Although now that she thought about it, she did remember hearing Lindsay and Blake talking about a camp, but she'd thought it was the park's program they were already in.

"These are the last of them," Kyle said as he walked in carrying several serving dishes.

"
Sandy
didn't know about the camp,"
Elizabeth
said, then raised her eyebrows. "I'm shocked that you haven't already mentioned it."

He surprised
Sandy
by clearing his throat and shuffling his feet. "The kids know about it and want to go," he said. "We were, um, discussing the best way to bring it up. Lindsay didn't think you'd want them to go."

"Why would she think that?"
Sandy
asked.

"She said you hadn't let her go to camp two years ago."

"But that was right after her father had died. I thought she was trying to run away from his death and I was afraid of what would happen to her. She'd never been away from home before on her own."

"Oh." He looked up and smiled. "They'd like to go."

"I don't have a problem with that."

"Good." His brown eyes darkened to the color of a
midnight
sky. The air between them seemed charged with electricity and she was having trouble breathing.

"Is it hot in here, or is it me?"
Elizabeth
asked.

But her voice seemed to come from a long way off.
Sandy
knew what Kyle was thinking. If the children were gone for three nights, then they wouldn't have any interruptions or excuses. There would be nothing to stop them from taking the next natural step in their relationship.

She bit down hard on her lip. Relationship? She and Kyle didn't have a relationship. They were neighbors. Friends. Nothing else.

But as she stared at him and listened to the other women chuckling at their expense, she knew it was already too late. She and Kyle were involved. There was nothing she could do except wait it out and see what happened. It wasn't as if he was the love of her life. She was far too sensible to fall for a guy like him. It was just about attraction and sex.

She could always recover from a broken heart. What she couldn't recover from was regretting something she hadn't done.

"I'll make the arrangements tomorrow," she said.

Chapter 13

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S
he
wanted to ask him to pull the car over because she was about to lose her lunch. Not that she had eaten anything. She couldn't.
Sandy
closed her eyes and leaned back against the passenger seat of her station wagon. While her three kids had inhaled burgers and fries, she'd picked at a small salad. Even Kyle had gotten his lunch down with no trouble at all. Damn him!

She opened one eye and glanced at him. He was driving through the streets of Glenwood, heading back to her house. He looked calm, unconcerned. He was even humming with the radio! Didn't he know what was going to happen? Did he realize what they'd just done? Her three children were on a bus heading to the Glenwood city camp where they would spend the next four days and three
nights.
Nights he had implied the two of them would be spending together. Alone. Making love.

So why wasn't
he
nervous? Were his palms sweating and his stomach heaving and his body alternately hot and cold?

No, not Kyle. He was calm and relaxed. As if he had nothing to worry about. As if they weren't going to do
it.