“No, but I can feel Him in my heart.” Grady put his hand on his chest. “If you pray, you’ll feel Him too.”
Lucy didn’t look convinced but dropped the subject to dig in to her waffles. Lauren tried not to sigh as her daughter ate the whipped cream first, before trying the waffle itself. Grady’s farmer’s omelet was huge; she was glad she hadn’t ordered something similar.
Her eggs were good, and they ate in silence for a few minutes. Dee came and refilled their coffee mugs. When Grady finished eating, he reached over and opened the laptop, clearly intending to go back to work.
“What time do you want to head into Madison?” She glanced over to where Lucy was still eating her waffles. Coloring aside, she knew her daughter would get bored if he really intended to sit there for a while.
“I’m checking the rental agency’s hours of operation now.” His gaze remained focused on the screen. With his thick dark tousled hair and the shadow of his beard darkening his jaw, he looked incredibly attractive.
Completely different from the men she normally associated with. And maybe that was the reason she was so drawn to him. He was different, in a good way, from the men she knew. Then she frowned, abruptly realizing that if her daughter hadn’t been targeted by a kidnapper who’d taken the wrong girl, she never would have met him.
Divine intervention? No, that didn’t seem right. She was the one who’d gone to Grayson’s Guardians to hire him based on her father’s recommendation. She was reading too much into the past thirty-six hours they’d been together.
Time to focus on the present. They’d managed to escape the kidnapping threat thus far, but they still needed the police and FBI to do their part to find the men or women responsible. And if they didn’t get cracking soon, she’d climb up the chain of command to add pressure.
“Okay, looks like we need to stay here a few minutes longer,” Grady said. “The rental agency opens at seven thirty.”
That was only a half hour from now. She stacked her empty plate with Lucy’s and set them aside. “Sounds good. Lucy, why don’t you finish coloring your picture?”
“Okay.” Her daughter pulled the coloring supplies over to pick up where she’d left off. Grady worked the laptop computer, which left Lauren with nothing to do.
She sipped her coffee, staring out at the dining room that was slowly filling up with patrons. Would they make it back to Chicago in time for the Heart Ball for St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital? As much as she wanted to support the charity that was deeply personal to her, she wouldn’t risk putting Lucy in harm’s way to attend.
No matter how much she’d been looking forward to seeing Grady in a tux.
Enough. She leaned over to watch Lucy. Her daughter was intently coloring the entire paper placemat Dee had given them.
“Looks nice,” she praised.
Lucy smiled, then set her crayon aside and held the drawing up toward Grady. “Grady, do you like my picture?”
Grady shut the computer and nodded, giving Lucy all his attention. He took the drawing from her fingers and admired it. “It’s beautiful, Lucy. You did a nice job. I love all the different colors you used.”
“Thanks. I colored it for you.” Lucy held the drawing out for him. “It’s yours. I hope you can put it up on your refrigerator.”
“Wow, really? Thank you so much!” Grady gushed as if Lucy had given him something of value. “I love it. And of course I’ll put it up on my refrigerator.”
“I’m glad.” When Lucy blushed, Lauren realized her daughter was crushing on Grady, seeing him as a father figure she could look up to and admire. It was probably something Lauren should have anticipated but hadn’t. Hard to blame her daughter considering Lauren felt the same way.
They were quite the pair, mooning over a man they wouldn’t have met under normal circumstances.
The worst part was that she didn’t want Lucy’s heart to be broken when this nightmare was over and they never saw Grady again. Just imagining Grady pulling on his leather coat and walking out of their life forever made her heart squeeze painfully in her chest.
And this, she thought wryly,was why she shouldn’t even consider dating. She wasn’t the only one who would be impacted by her decisions. Lucy would be a part of it too. And the last thing she wanted was for Lucy to suffer any more than necessary.
Bad enough that Lauren was living with the impacts of her past mistakes. No need to pile on with more.
Enough. She really needed to get a grip on her unruly emotions. She abruptly slid out of the booth and stood. “Come on, Lucy, let’s go to the bathroom again before we leave.” Lauren gestured for her daughter to come along.
“Aw, Mom,” Lucy whined.
“Now, Lucy.” Her tone was firm. “We might be in the car for a long time.”
Lucy sighed, but then scooted out of the booth. Lauren urged her daughter toward the restroom, glancing briefly back over her shoulder to find Grady gazing down at Lucy’s drawing with an intense expression.
Almost as if nobody had ever given him a simple gift like that before.
Lucy made things for her at school all the time. Something she’d taken for granted. Now, seeing the impact through Grady’s eyes, she realized how precious these small tokens of appreciation really were.
