Dateline Matrimony (Hot off the Press! 3)

“I doubt that she’ll accept,” he’d said.

Bud shook his head. “Any why wouldn’t she? She’d probably enjoy having a nice evening out without the kids. Heck, I’ll even baby-sit. It’ll be fine.”

Riley had been half convinced that she would turn him down, using the short notice of the invitation as an excuse. He was a bit surprised that she had accepted.

It wasn’t a date, he reminded himself as he opened his closet door late that afternoon. He’d been in possession of an extra ticket and he’d thought Teresa might enjoy accompanying him. She didn’t seem to get out much without the children, and she would probably enjoy mingling with some of the local adults.

He’d really thought she would turn him down.

As he draped the clothes he’d selected on his bed, he mentally replayed the telephone conversation with her. Had he made it clear that he’d only asked her to accompany him as a friend? Had he made anything clear? For some strange reason, he’d found himself stammering and stumbling through that invitation like an adolescent asking for his first date. But he specifically remembered saying that this wasn’t a date.

Neither of them wanted that kind of involvement.

Not that he wasn’t attracted to Teresa. Just the opposite, in fact. Had things been different, he’d be doing his best to charm her, as he’d been trying to do before he’d seen her at that football game with her kids.

Things had changed that night. He’d stuck to his longtime rule of not getting involved with single mothers—or at least he’d tried. He couldn’t have predicted that Teresa would move into his house. Or that his uncle would practically adopt her kids. Or that he would end up doing baby-sitting duty himself. And that had been such a stressful experience that he still hadn’t completely recovered. Still, here he was, getting ready to spend another evening in Teresa’s company.

It wasn’t a date, he repeated as he shoved his arms into his shirt sleeves. Maybe Teresa was very clear about that—but he seemed to have to keep reminding himself for some reason.

Chapter Ten

Bud answered when Riley knocked on Teresa’s door at the appointed time. He gave Riley a once-over, then waggled both bushy eyebrows. “Don’t you look spiffy?”

“Don’t start with me, Bud.” Riley stepped into the living room, where he was greeted enthusiastically by Teresa’s children.

Maggie wrapped both her arms around one of Riley’s, hanging there like a little blond monkey. “Hi, Riley. You look very nice.”

“Thanks, Mags. So do you. I like that red sweater you’re wearing.”

She preened. “It’s new.”

“Very becoming.”

Mark wouldn’t be left out for long. “Hey, Riley. Uncle Bud brought pizza and videos.”

“Let me guess. Pepperoni and Jerry Lewis.”

Bud nodded. “Kids today don’t know real funny stuff when they see it. Only choices they get are those smutty sitcoms and syrupy cartoons. I brought real family movies. Funny ones, without any bad language or half-nekkid people in them.”

“Bet I even know which ones you brought. The Family Jewels and The Geisha Boy.” They were the two films that Riley could remember watching with his uncle every time they were replayed on television, before the era of videocassettes.

“Good guess. I thought I’d save the Lewis and Martin films for future showings.”

Even as he fondly remembered those pleasant boyhood hours, Riley couldn’t help thinking about how confident Bud seemed that there would be future evenings with Mark and Maggie. And he couldn’t help worrying a little about the complications of getting this tangled up with the Scott family.

Teresa entered the room then, and Riley had to make a conscious effort to keep his jaw from dropping. Until now, he’d seen her dressed only in her work clothes and what he’d come to think of as her PTA mom clothes—khakis, sweaters, jumpers and long, loose skirts.

She didn’t look like a PTA mom tonight. She looked more like the princess he’d often mentally compared her to.

Cut from a rich midnight blue fabric, a close-fitting long-sleeve jacket hugged her curves from the deep scoop neckline to the hip-length hem. A mid-calf-length skirt of the same deep color moved softly around her legs when she walked. Those legs looked even longer and shapelier than usual in sheer stockings and strappy black heels. She had twisted her blond hair into a smooth updo, and wore a bit more makeup than usual for a sophisticated evening look.

“Wow,” he said.

Maggie giggled. “He thinks you look pretty, Mommy.”

“So do you,” Teresa murmured to Riley, eyeing him with the same surprised interest Bud had shown when he’d opened the door. “I had no idea you even owned a tie.”

“I own several, actually. I just don’t wear them very often.”