Luke pushed himself against a clothing rack as a tiny bundle of fur streaked past. A woman pushing a stroller barreled after the dog.
Could it be Sophie?
She looked…good. Really good.
And the baby…that had to be Jamie.
His heart twisted.
Jamie had only been a few months old when his parents had died. Now, he would be six or seven months old, getting teeth, sitting up, and maybe even crawling.
And Sophie… He had last seen her at the funeral. She’d been livid with him, of course. Dimly, he’d been aware that she’d lost a lot of weight since high school. She’d worn a black suit worthy of Madam Hillary, and she’d thrown a lot of accusations at him.
“Atticus! Come here!” Sophie tried to sound commanding.
She hadn’t known about his position, of course, so he’d automatically forgiven her. He only hoped that now that he’d returned and planned to settle down that she’d forgive him. He followed her into Tina’s Timeless Treasures and found her very attractive backside sticking out of a circular clothing rack. The clothes jostled as she moved. He tried not to stare.
Squatting beside the baby, Luke smiled at his nephew, searching for signs of Matt. Jamie waved a chubby fist at him. He was blond, blue eyed, and pink cheeked like his mom…and his aunt. Other than the curls, Jamie looked nothing like his angular, strong-jawed father.
“Luke Mason. I heard you were back in town.”
Luke tore his gaze away from his nephew to smile up at Tina Moon, the owner of the Timeless Treasures shop. She’d been old when Luke was in high school, but like her collection of what-haves and whatevers, she hadn’t seemed to age at all in the past fifteen years.
“Bought the Jacobys’ farm, have you?”
“Just the barn,” Luke told her.
Sophie scooted out of the clothes, clutching a puppy with a red ribbon tied around his neck to her chest. She had a smear of dust across her cheek and her hair was mussed. She probably had no idea how adorable she looked.
“Luke.” She made his name sound like a cuss word.
“Hey, Sophie. How are you?”
She climbed to her feet, hugged the puppy with one hand, and pushed her hair out of her face with another. He’d heard that she’d been practicing law at a prestigious firm in San Francisco before the accident. Her baby-doll appearance had undoubtedly thrown her opponents a curveball as soon as she opened her mouth and filleted them with her wit.
“I see you’re reacquainting yourself with Jamison.”
Jamison?
“Yes,” he said softly. “It’s about time,” he said before she could.
She pursed her lips, but he didn’t know how to read that or the look in her eye.
“I want to talk,” he pressed on, despite the scowl forming between her eyebrows. Straightening, he gave her his best smile. “Can I take you to lunch?”
“Now?” She shook her head. “I’ve got to pass out these fliers and after that it’ll be time for Jamison’s lunch and nap.” She appraised him before lifting her chin. “He’s on a schedule and so am I.”And there’s no wiggle room for you, her tone told him.
Luke grinned. He liked a challenge. “Well, I can help you pass out the fliers. What are you advertising?”
She handed him one. Below the words FOUND DOG was a picture of the puppy followed by her phone number.
“You can’t pass these out!”
She grabbed the flier from him. “Why not?”
“It has your number on it!” He swallowed.
“So?”
