“Oh! Mom, can I stay at Jason’s tonight? He already asked his mom and she said I could, so can I? Please, Mom?”
If I hadn’t been watching her, I wouldn’t have seen the look of panic that crossed her face before she could cover it with a smile. “Wow, um, you sure you want to?”
“Yes, Mom, please!”
“Well, let me go talk to Jason’s mom, and I’ll let you know, okay? Go play.”
Parker seemed to take that as a “yes” because he high-fived his friend before running back to the jungle gym.
Looking back at Reagan, I noticed the panic was back in her eyes and walked closer to her. “First sleepover?”
Her head turned quickly to face me, and her hands went to play with the ends of her hair. “He’s only ever stayed at my parents’ house before.”
“Does he know the Jason kid well?”
“Yeah, they were in the same class last year, he’s his best friend. I’ve only met his mom a few times, but she’s really nice.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine, and if he’s not, he’ll call you and you can pick him up.”
“It’s not Parker I’m worried about, it’s—wait, why am I e
ven discussing this with you? For some reason I doubt you have kids, which means you have no idea what this is like. And you’ve only known my son and me for five minutes, you don’t have a say in any of this.”
Touching her arm, I turned her so we were facing each other and closed the distance between us. Her breathing started picking up pace again, and I waited for her to drag her eyes from my chest until she was looking up at me. “No, I don’t have kids. I just remember what it was like being that age. And I know I don’t have any say, and I’m not trying to. But anyone could have seen how close you were to freaking out, so I was trying to help you by getting you to talk about it instead of keeping everything inside.”
“I really hate how you act like you know me.”
“Never said I did, but you’re not hard to read, Reagan.” Leaning closer, I stared at her hazel eyes and whispered, “I also never said I didn’t want to know you.”
She inhaled softly, and neither of us moved as we continued staring at each other. Our faces were close enough that I could smell the mint from her gum, and I had to lock my body so I wouldn’t pull her closer so I could see if her lips were as soft as they looked. This is bad. She’s Hudson’s sister. She also had over six years’ worth of baggage that came in the form of not trusting any man.
Swallowing hard, I looked away and said, “You should probably go talk to Jason’s mom.”
When I glanced back at her, she was blinking slowly, like coming out of a daze. Then again . . . she also said Hudson had been trying to set us up . . . She didn’t say anything as she turned away, so I pulled her back.
“If you do let him go, and you don’t want to be alone tonight, your brother will know how to get ahold of me.”
“Don’t wait around for that to happen.” I couldn’t hold back my smile at the way her voice came out all breathy.
“I’ll see you tonight, Reagan,” I assured her as I took a few steps back.
“I said don’t.”
“I know what you said. Have a good rest of your day.” With a wink, I turned and started the run back to my condo.
She didn’t make any more protests, and I didn’t stop smiling the entire way home. From what I’d seen of her, I wouldn’t put it past her to ignore me just to spite me. But I’d also seen her reaction to me, and because of that, I spent the rest of the day doing nothing but thinking of her, and waiting for a call.
Chapter Three
Reagan—August 20, 2010
I PACED AROUND my apartment for thirty minutes after I’d dropped Parker off. It wasn’t my first night without him, but it was the first he’d be with someone other than my parents. And even those nights were rare. I was seriously considering going back to pick him up, but he’d been so excited to go . . . I couldn’t do that to him.
I so did not want Parker growing up having me as his only friend. Those mom-and-son pairs who were so close the guy ended up not dating when he got older because he was such a momma’s boy were creepy, and I didn’t want that for my son. I loved having our nights alone at home, but I wanted him to have a fun life, I wanted him to have friends like Jason, and girlfriends later . . . way later. I just hadn’t realized he was old enough for this stage yet.
Sitting on the couch, I turned on the TV and stared at it, not paying attention to what was on, as my legs continued to bounce up and down. Glancing at the clock, I groaned when I saw it was only five. This was going to be the longest night ever.
My eyes kept darting to my phone sitting on the coffee table, and I tried to think of someone to call. Anyone. Well, anyone other than Coen.