“We’ll find it. Don’t worry,” he assured the monkey on my back.
Obviously, he’d never lost a child’s shoe before, because it wasn’t that often they were found. A lot of times they disappeared never to be seen again like socks in the dryer. But I didn’t want to ruin his optimism. A few kids streaked by us, oblivious to our treasure hunt. We probably searched for another five minutes before a boy ran right in front of Dallas. Quick as lightning, he struck his hand out and grabbed the kid on Josh’s team by the back of his workout jersey, hauling him to a stop.
“Dean, you seen a shoe?” Dallas asked Trip’s son, the hand on the back of his shirt moving up to touch the back of the kid’s neck in an affectionate pat.
The dark blond, a little taller than Josh, frowned. “No.” He seemed to think about it a second. “What kinda shoe?”
Our neighbor gestured toward Louie and me. “Little boy shoe. A tennis shoe.”
“Oh.” The kid swiveled his attention to us, his smiling creeping up in a way that didn’t seem like it belonged on a boy about ten or eleven. “Hi, Ms. Diana.”
“Hi, Dean.” I smiled at him.
The grin on his face really was something else. “I’ll find it,” the boy said right before taking off in the direction he’d come, back toward a small group of kids younger than him.
Not really expecting much, I figured I’d wait a few more minutes before we headed home. I was resigned to the inevitable: having to buy another pair of shoes, this time from Walmart. Plus, it was getting late, and I’d left chili cooking in the Crock-Pot that morning. It was more than likely only a minute later before Dean rushed back toward us, his hand extended. In it was a red and black tennis shoe that I now accepted was brand spanking new. Mrs. Larsen really had tried to pull a fast one on me. Huh.
“What do you say, Lou?” I asked as I took the sneaker from him.
“Thank you,” he mumbled a little lower than he usually would have.
“Thanks, Dean,” I emphasized. “We really appreciate it.”
The boy did that smile again that my gut said was all trouble. “Anything for you, Ms. Diana.”
This kid was something else.
“Thank you?” I said, shooting a glance at Dallas, who had this ridiculous expression on his face like he didn’t know what to think either.
“See ya, Josh,” the boy called out to my nephew before bumping fists with Dallas and running off again. “Bye, Uncle Dal.”
Louie slid off my back, plopping down on the dirt, oblivious to the fact he was wearing his khaki school pants and the ground was damp from an earlier rain shower. He started putting his shoe on, slapping the Velcro straps over to the other side.
“Thank you for asking him to look,” I told our neighbor, keeping an eye on Lou at the same time to make sure something else didn’t magically disappear.
“Yeah, thank you, Mr. Dallas.”
“Dallas, and you’re welcome. I told you we’d find it.”
Lou climbed to his feet, rolling onto his knees as if getting his butt dirty hadn’t been enough. “We’re gonna have chili tonight. You wanna come?” he asked so suddenly, it caught me completely off guard.
I froze, snapping my gaze up to Dallas, smiling tightly.
He is married, I reminded myself. Married. The last thing I wanted to do was give him the impression we were trying to wrangle him in to our lives more than he needed to be.
Those hazel eyes bounced back and forth between Louie and me. “Chili?”
“It’s real good.”
Louie didn’t know a damn stranger. He was so honest and innocent in his answer it made me wish everyone was so upfront. It also made me want to protect his feelings that much more. “I’m sure Mr. Dallas—” I started to say before getting cut off by our neighbor.
“Just Dallas,” he cut in.
“—has plans already, Lou. We can invite him another day, not at the last minute.”
The boy blinked up at the man with those blue eyes that could conquer worlds if he ever put his mind to it. “You got things to do?”
Our neighbor opened his mouth, hesitationright there, an apology, an excuse, something, on his tongue, but he closed it just as quickly. He seemed to take in Louie completely, and I knew what he was seeing: the cutest boy in the world. “It’s real good?” he asked Louie, a soft, gradual smile crossing his mouth.
