No, not just a boy. Her son.
He clung to her neck and landed a big kiss on her cheek. “Fun!” She closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against her son’s head. When she opened her eyes, her gaze was a silent challenge to Shane to say anything.
He couldn’t help it. He scanned her left hand for a wedding ring. Her fingers were bare. Did she take her rings off to work, or was she single? Treasonous hope burned in his chest.
By now, April’s mom had spotted Shane. All her humor disappeared. “April, I need you in the back for something.”
“I’ve got the shop, honey,” Sonny said flatly, his stare burning a hole through Shane. “Go on back.”
April gave Shane one last inscrutable look, hoisted Kevin higher onto her hip, and followed her mother through the doorway without looking back.
“I suggest you leave,” Sonny told Shane.
“I understand you don’t want me here. You’re remembering who I was, all those years ago. I was a scared kid and I did all the wrong things. But I’ve changed, Mr. Taylor. Just let me prove it to her.”
“You broke my little girl’s heart, Shane. Made her feel like she wasn’t good enough for you and yours. She ran off to Vegas and that’s where all her trouble started. She doesn’t need you in her life right now. Neither does my grandson.”
Shane nodded. “I’ll leave now. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be back. I’m going to prove myself, sir, to her. I hope to prove myself to you one day, too, but if I never do, I don’t care. She’s the one who matters.”
Shane turned to leave.
“Shane.”
His heart thumped at the sound of his name coming from April’s lips. He turned back around.
She stood in the doorway. “You gonna leave without even ordering something?”
Sonny looked at her like she was crazy. “April?—”
“Papa, I can’t believe you’re turning away a paying customer. What’s wrong with you? We got a mortgage to pay.”
Bam. With that reminder, she might as well have gut punched Shane. If anyone else in the world had said that, he would have walked away. But that’s how April was—strong, no-nonsense, proud. It was what made him fall in love with her inhigh school—she never let anyone push her around, not even the school’s golden boy. She never failed to put him in his place when he deserved it. She won his trust that way, and she would always have it.
April walked past her father to the counter. “What can I get you?”
Shane walked toward her, holding her gaze, almost afraid that if he looked away, she’d disappear. She didn’t look away, either.
He reached the counter. “Large coffee, black. Hot as you can make it. One sugar.”
“Here or to go?”
“Here.”
Sonny swore under his breath.
April nodded once. She rang him up, then turned to pour his coffee. They both caught sight of her little sister Hannah and her cousin Brianna peeking at them from the doorway.
“Here you go.” April set Shane’s coffee on the counter. Steam rose from the white mug. “Try not to hurt yourself,” she said pointedly.
Shane grinned back. “I’ll take full responsibility if I get burned.”
“Oh my God, did youhearthat?” Hannah stage-whispered to Brianna.
April’s head snapped to the side and she shooed them away. They disappeared in a cloud of whispers and giggles. She rolled her eyes at him and for a moment, they were both back in high school, getting spied on by two annoying little girls as April tutored Shane in math. Thank God they never caught them when they were doing more than that.
They snapped back into the present the moment they realized they were remembering the same thing.
“Thanks.” Shane dipped his head and pulled a bill from his pocket. He stuffed it into the tip jar.
