“Hello,” he replied without returning her smile. He kept his big blue eyes trained unwaveringly on her face.
“Are you here with your dad?” Jamie looked around for Trevor before turning her gaze back to Sam.
The boy shook his head. “I’m with Grandma.”
“Where is she?”
“Over there.” Sam pointed vaguely to one side.
“Does she know where you are?”
The boy shrugged, obviously unconcerned.
Funny child, Jamie thought, studying his serious little face. She assumed he laughed occasionally, but she had yet to hear it. He gazed up at her as if waiting for her to do or say something interesting, making her feel oddly self-conscious. “Um…so how are you, Sam?”
“Good,” he answered, then fell silent again, still looking expectantly up at her.
She was thinking about bursting into a song-and-tap-dance number—just to keep from disappointing him—when Bobbie McBride’s familiar voice came from behind her. “There you are, Sam! Why did you run off from me like…Oh, hello, Jamie.”
Feeling much the way the teenagers who’d greeted her earlier had probably felt, Jamie responded politely to her former teacher. “Hello, Mrs. McBride.”
Bobbie shook a finger at her. “I’ve told you to call me Bobbie. We’re colleagues now. And I still owe you a big debt of gratitude for rescuing my grandson.”
Since Bobbie had already telephoned Jamie to express her thanks, Jamie saw no need to go over it all again now. To change the subject, she smiled at the rosy-cheeked toddler in the seat of Bobbie’s shopping cart. “Hi, Abbie. How are you today?”
“Moo,” the tot replied clearly.
“We’ve been playing the animal-sounds game,” Bobbie explained. “Abbie just told you what a cow says.”
“Of course she did. That’s very good, Abbie.”
The little girl laughed and clapped her hands. Her more serious-natured brother tugged again at Jamie’s shorts. “I got a new book,” he said when he had her attention.
“Did you? What is it?”
Sam reached into his grandmother’s cart. “This one.”
“Berenstein Bears.” Jamie nodded approval. “I’ve always enjoyed their stories. This looks like a good one.”
“It’s about Brother Bear and Sister Bear spending the night at their grandmother’s house,” Sam volunteered.
“Yes, I see. I’m sure you’ll like it.” She gave the book back to him. “Do you like to read, Sam?”
Bobbie, who wasn’t known to be quiet for long, answered for her grandson. “Sam’s always got a book in his hands—just like his daddy when he was a boy.”
“All that reading certainly paid off for Trevor,” she murmured. Jamie had once considered Trevor McBride the smartest boy at Honoria High. She’d also thought him the most attractive guy in Honoria. Remembering the way he’d looked the other night, with his neatly brushed dark blond hair, his serious blue eyes, his clean-shaven, strongly chiseled chin and cheekbones, she reminded herself that she hadn’t changed her opinion about either of those things.
Bobbie abruptly changed the subject. “I’d like to have you to dinner. Our way of thanking you again for coming to Sam’s rescue.”
“That’s very kind of you, but it isn’t—”
“Are you free tomorrow evening? Seven o’clock?”
“Well, I—”
“Good. We’ll look forward to seeing you then. Come along, Sam. We have to be going.”
Sam was still gazing up at Jamie. “You’re coming to dinner at Grandma’s house?”