Out of Uniform (Wingmen Warriors 14)

Outside, Chase helped Jacob salt down sidewalks—when the teen wasn’t lobbing snowballs at random targets.

“Well, Chase comes to pick me up last night, and he’s so clueless. He doesn’t even walk to the door. He just honks the horn. I don’t expect him to, like, open doors and pull out chairs and all that stuff, but he could at least ring the bell, don’tcha think?”

“That would be the polite thing to do.” Dee swept aside Emily’s feet and sat beside her. “Maybe he doesn’t know better.”

“Have you met his mom?” Emily shot a glare out the window and mumbled, “Or maybe he doesn’t want to mess with having a kid.”

The baby swing clicked softly.

Life hadn’t played fair with the girl, either, Dee thought.

Emily locked her journal and pitched it to the floor. “It’s no big deal really. I’ll just freeze Chase out for a little while longer until he gets the message.”

“Or you could tell him.” She couldn’t squelch the longing to dispense maternal wisdom about boys and dating.

“Yeah, right.” Emily hitched her knees up to her chest and tugged her baggy T-shirt over them. Her face turned moony-eyed with adolescent longing as she stared at Chase.

Was she much better, Dee wondered, watching Jacob, starving for a glimpse of him? He hadn’t made a move on her all week. That should have been good, except it gave her too much time to get to know him, really know him across the dinner table.

She liked what she’d found—too much.

Even if she wasn’t a married woman, she couldn’t afford distractions, not now. And Jacob was a great big, hunkish distraction. “Do you have plans for tonight?”

“The three of us are gonna drive into Tacoma for a movie to celebrate Valentine’s Day—if I decide to forgive him.”

Valentine’s Day? She hadn’t even thought to make note of the date; now she couldn’t think of anything other than the holiday reserved for lovers.

Emily cast another baleful look at the window. Chase grabbed the shovel at his feet. Jacob launched snowballs baseball-style for the boy to smack.

Could Jacob really be as wonderful as he seemed? Okay, occasionally moody, but wonderful all the same.

Had the father of her child been this great? Did he drive her to distraction with just a look?

Valentine’s Day really stunk when a person’s love life sucked.

Emily’s fingers walked along the sofa back to pick at a crack in the upholstery. “You okay?”

“Huh?” Dee shook herself free of the self-pity. The kid didn’t need any more worries than she already had. “Of course. Just feeling lazy today, I guess.”

Emily picked at Dee’s cuff. “Nice sweater.”

“Thanks, it’s—” Dee acted on a hunch and continued, “My favorite color. You really did a great job matching up my size.”

“Thanks. I figured you were—Hey!”

Dee leaned back, her eyes narrowing. “He sent you shopping, didn’t he?”

“Oh, man.” Emily slouched into her clothes. “Jacob’s gonna kill me for spilling the secret. How did you guess?”

“I can’t envision him wandering through racks at the Gap.” A laugh slid past Dee’s lips, followed by Emily’s giggle. “Thank you. But no more charity for me, okay?”

“Hey, there’s nothing like shopping on someone else’s dime, and you really needed the clothes.” Her brows pulled together. “You like everything, don’t you?”

“Oh, honey, of course I do—How much more is there?”

A wicked grin crept up the girl’s face. “You’ll see. Besides, how could I turn him down? He watched Madison and sprung for a supper for Chase and me.”

Frustration chugged through Dee. “I don’t even want to think of what all of this cost.”