Hope Smolders (3 page)

“Jane?”

It must have been more than a second because she felt disoriented, like maybe she’d allowed herself to fall asleep. She blinked and opened her eyes to find a sweaty hunk of beefcake standing in front of her. She shielded her eyes from the setting sun, unable to make out his face until he moved out of the shadow of the sun.

Will. Again? Why was she suddenly running into him a lot when she rarely ever saw him?

“Oh. Will. Hi. What are you doing here?” Other than catching her napping when she should be watching her kids. She made a quick search. Tabitha was still screaming down the slides with Heather, and Ryan had the football tucked under his arm, his buddies going all out to try and tackle him.

And she’d been passed out on the bench.

Wasn’t she just mother of the year?

“I was taking a run in the park, saw you sitting here.”

“I sure am seeing a lot of you lately.”

“I switched from nights to days.”

“Oh. Right. I heard about that.”

His lips curved. “Of course you did. Is there anything in this town that isn’t broadcast somewhere?”

“No. There’s a daily gossip update via social media. You can’t have secrets in Hope. Don’t even try. We even know what brand of toilet paper you buy via our spies at the grocery store.”

He laughed. “I’m going to assume you’re kidding about that.”

She arched a brow. “Am I?”

“Now that’s a scary thought.” He looked around. “Are the kids in the playground?”

“Yes. Over there,” she said with a nod of her head, grateful she’d been wearing her sunglasses so maybe he wouldn’t notice she’d been asleep.

He turned and she took a moment to check out his muscles, lean body, and long legs. Did the man have to be tanned and in such great shape? She wanted to not be in her yoga pants and a T-shirt, both more than a few years old. She’d just tossed the outfit on for the walk and now she looked down with a critical eye. The yoga pants were faded, but supremely comfortable, because really, once she got home, who cared? It wasn’t like she was trying to impress anyone.

And she sure wasn’t trying to impress Will.

“Wow, the kids have gotten so big. Ryan looks a lot like Vic.”

Her gaze wandered over to where Ryan was dashing for some imaginary end zone, a wide grin on his face. She smiled wistfully. “Yes, he does.”

Will took a seat next to her. “Have you heard from him?”

“From Vic? No.”

“At all?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry, Jane.”

She shrugged. “I’m over it.”

“I’m sorry for not coming over, too.”

Coming over? Why would he want to do that? “My family isn’t your responsibility. It’s Vic’s.”

“Still, I could have been there to help you through this. I guess I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to see me, that I’d remind you of what you lost.”

She frowned. “That’s ridiculous. You had nothing to do with him leaving.”

“But he and I were best friends. I should have seen it coming.”

She let out a very unladylike snort. “I was married to him. I lived with him every day. I shared his life. And I didn’t see it coming. Neither did his parents. So unless you’re some kind of psychic, I don’t think you had an edge on knowing he was going to abruptly check out of marriage and fatherhood without letting anyone know.”

Will stared out over the playground. “I know it’s been two years, but I still can’t believe he just up and disappeared without a word, that he hasn’t contacted you.”

“Oh, we were in contact through his attorney—at least long enough for him to sign the divorce papers.”

“Maybe he figured he was so screwed up that he was doing you a favor.”

“Some favor,” she said with a laugh. “Leaving me and the kids and then disappearing so well I can’t find him in order to get him to pay child support.”

“Jesus.” Will shoved his fingers through his hair and looked down at the ground. “I had no idea it was that bad.”

Wasn’t she a brilliant conversationalist? She could bring down a chat in three seconds flat. God, how depressing could she be?

She stood. “It’s not that bad, Will. The kids and I are doing just fine.” She hollered for Tabitha and Ryan, then turned to him. “Great to see you again.”

Will’s gaze was intense as he stood and came to stand beside her. “You don’t have to go, Jane.”

“Yes, I do. It’s late and it’s getting cool out here. I have papers to grade and the kids have homework. I’ll see you around.”

She gathered up the kids and headed down the street before she poured out her heart and soul and wept on Will’s shoulder, the absolute last thing she wanted to do.

She was strong, and a survivor. She hated those looks of sympathy and pity from anyone, especially Will.

Her life was just freaking fine.

* * *

W
ill watched Jane wander down the street with her kids. She held Tabitha’s hand, and Ryan was walking backward, talking nonstop to her about something.

Will had said something wrong, because she’d looked hurt or pissed off and she couldn’t wait to get away from him.

Maybe because she didn’t like talking about Vic and the divorce. Either way, he made a mental note to look forward, not back, the next time he saw her.

He knew he’d woken her up when he’d come upon her on the bench. She was likely exhausted. He wondered how long it had been since she’d gone out and had some fun. Had she even been out at all since the divorce? Or had she been so focused on rebuilding her life with the kids and making sure their needs were met that she hadn’t been meeting her own?

He might not be able to do anything about her sonofabitch loser of an ex-husband, but he could definitely do something about her having some fun.

T
wo algebra classes in a row always made her brain tired, but Jane lived for math, even if her students didn’t jump for joy over quadratic equations.

Her next class was basic math, so she’d get a breather, though she had a couple kids in this class who needed one-on-one help. They were skating the edge of failing and she’d be damned if she’d let that happen.

If a kid didn’t give a crap, she’d work with him or her and try to explain what it would mean to fail her class. She’d push and prod, and often, the kid would come around. Sometimes it wouldn’t matter, and no amount of cajoling and notes and phone calls home to parents would change the kid’s attitude. And attitude was so prevalent in this age group, where hormones came into play. There was so much to juggle at the early high school age. Boys and girls noticed each other, so you had burgeoning sexuality to deal with along with surging hormones.

So fun.

But God, she loved these kids, this awkward age she
remembered so well from her own years in the gawky teens.

It hadn’t gone so well for her, so she tried her best to pave the way for those not born with perfect genetics.

After she went through the work with the entire class, she worked with Susie and Robert. Robert was more amenable to the one-on-one instruction. Susie was the balker. She was in foster care, her dad had never been in the picture, and her mom was in and out of jail for drugs. Jane’s heart went out to Susie, who hadn’t had an easy life since birth. Born addicted, she had some learning disabilities, but the kid was tough. Jane was determined to see her make it, despite all the strikes against her. She gave Bobby a worksheet and went through the simple math problems over and over again until Susie was frustrated.

“You want to pass this class, don’t you, Susie?” she asked.

Susie just shrugged a shoulder, affecting her typical “I don’t care” attitude as she stared at the worksheet.

“I think you’re really smart and you can do anything you set your mind to do.”

“I’m not smart,” she whispered. “I’m stupid.”

Jane so wanted to fold this girl in her arms and give her a huge hug. “You
are
smart. You have to work harder than anyone else in this entire school, so that means you’re smarter than any of them.”

Her dark eyed gaze lifted to Jane’s. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. So let’s show them all how smart you really are. And how tough you are. Don’t fail.”

She saw the tears of frustration shimmering in Susie’s eyes. “I’ll try.”

“That’s all you have to do.” Jane leaned over the worksheet and went over the math problems again. By the end of the class, Susie had gotten them all right. It felt like a triumph. Jane sent another worksheet home with Susie with a note to her foster parents to work on it with her, along with praise for how well she was doing.

It was all she could do, but she knew Susie had a good foster family. They’d work with her.

Her fingers were crossed.

After school, she went and picked up Tabitha and headed to the community center to work at the day-care center. Her dad was going to pick up Ryan and take him to baseball practice.

She wouldn’t have survived the past two years without her parents’ support. They’d pitched in when needed to run the kids to sports or dance if she had to go in an opposite direction. She tried not to lean on them too much, but frankly, she’d have drowned without them.

Tabitha loved the day-care center, so it was no hardship to bring her along. Several of her friends’ parents worked out at the community center, so she got to play for a few hours while Jane watched the kids. At least this afternoon there wouldn’t be any swimming involved and she could hide in the day-care room and not have to parade past the hard-body room.

She traded with Marisol, the other person on duty at the day-care room, checking kids in and out and alternately playing with them. They ranged in age from eighteen months—the minimum age they’d accept—to five years, Tabby’s age. After that, the parents were on their own, which was why she couldn’t bring Ryan.

Another reason she adored her parents. She needed this extra money, as paltry as it was, but working here a few days a week after school would help.

“Hey, Jane.”

She stood at the doorway, which had a door that partially opened from the top only. The bottom half of the door remained close to discourage runaway kids. She had just checked out one of the kids so she was initialing the departure.

She raised her gaze when her name was called, thinking it was the father of one of Tabby’s friends.

It wasn’t. It was Will, whom she hoped she wouldn’t run into again. He made her senses go haywire, and made her remember things she hadn’t had in a very long time.

Things she shouldn’t want.

“Oh. Hey, Will.”

“I thought I saw you come in right before me.”

Her hair was half pulled out of her ponytail since she’d been holding baby James and he was a hair puller. And then he’d wiped his jelly snack all over her left breast. She looked a mess. Once again, Will had on a sleeveless tank and gym shorts, and was tanned, muscled, and gorgeous.

Sometimes life just wasn’t fair.

“Yes. Working again.” She turned to see if she needed to make a hurried exit, but there were only three kids in attendance at the moment. Baby James was down in the porta-crib for a nap, and Tabby and her friend were being entertained by Marisol, so Jane was out of luck.

“You stay busy, don’t you?”

She offered him a smile. “You have no idea.”

“Where’s Ryan?”

“My dad took him to ball practice.”

“Yeah? I’d like to watch him play sometime.”

Ryan would adore that. Which meant it would never happen. The last thing she needed was for Ryan to attach himself to some male that he’d use as a substitute for his father. “Yeah. Sure.”

“I was wondering if you’d like to come out with me sometime.”

She blinked several times, certain she hadn’t heard him right. “Excuse me?”

His lips curved and, oh, God, when he smiled he looked even sexier. If that was possible. “You’re going to make me ask it again?”

“I’m not sure I understood what you said.”

“Okay, then I’ll say it again. I’d like to go out with you. I’d like you to go out with me.”

“You want to go out with me? Why?”

Two parents had suddenly shown up in line behind him. Will turned around. “Maybe this isn’t the best time. What time to do you get out of here?”

“Uh, six thirty.”

“I’ll come to your house and bring a pizza. We’ll talk about it then, okay?”

“Uh, wait, Will.”

But he was already gone.

Come to her house? Bring pizza? Was he insane?

And he wanted to take her out?

She was living in some kind of alternate universe, because surely that hadn’t just happened.

A guy like Will Griffin did not go out with a woman like Jane. She had issues. Her life was a nightmare. He was single and gorgeous. She had two children.

And apparently he was coming over for pizza tonight. At which time she’d set him straight.

* * *

O
kay, so maybe he’d hustled her, but Will figured Jane’s life was all about being busy with her kids and her jobs, and if he didn’t, she’d never say yes.

She still hadn’t said yes, because he hadn’t given her a chance to. But he did pull into her driveway with an extra large pizza at seven fifteen. And her car was visible in the garage, so she hadn’t shut the garage door and turned off all the lights, pretending she wasn’t home.

It was hot as hell, like a typical late August in Oklahoma. And her lawn needed to be mowed and weeded, he noted as he walked toward the front door. She probably did all that herself, too.

Mentally calling Vic a list of very unkind names, he rang the doorbell.

Ryan answered the door. He looked up and studied Will, as if deciding whether or not to let him in.

“Hey, Ryan.”

“You’re Will. I remember you. You used to be friends with my dad.”

He smiled. “I remember you, too.”

He opened the screen door. “Mom said to let you in. That you’d have pizza. She’s in the shower. One of the babies at the gym barfed on her. She smelled really bad.”

He laughed as Ryan led him into the kitchen. “Is that right?”

“Yeah,” Tabitha said, taking his hand as he got into the kitchen. “I’m Tabitha and I’m five.”