“I admire your attitude.” Jax laughed. “We should charge admission, or make them buy something if they spend more than ten minutes ogling him.”
“That’s a great idea. Or you could invite him to coffee.”
“What?” The word came out in a too-loud yelp. Jax cleared her throat and lowered her voice. “I mean why would I do that?”
“You’re single. He’s single. I’ve only been working here a few months, but from what I can tell, you don’t seem to have a man in your life.”
“The divorce is too new. I’m still adjusting. Harris and I made huge changes and it’s taking time for me to figure it all out. Besides, I have the kids and the store and Ryleigh and Ramon. I’m good.”
Cheryl seemed surprised. “You don’t date at all?”
“Not really.” That was more a Harris thing, she thought, still surprised he’d been so accepting about Shawna spending or rather not spending the night.
“But you’re young. Don’t you want to be in a relationship? Or aren’t you the type to get lonely?”
“I’m not lonely. Trust me, my life is plenty busy, which is how I like things.”
Although if she were to ever change her mind, she wouldn’t mind seeing if Marcus was interested. He was easy on the eyes and she enjoyed talking to him. Even his smackdown of her idea for the wall had been delivered with the right amount of humor. But as she wasn’t interested, there was no point in wasting time thinking about the man.
Conversation returned to the summer schedule. When they were done, Jax started for her office. Ramon flew toward her and she automatically held out her hand for him. When he’d landed and pressed his beak to her cheek, she told him about what Cheryl had asked.
“She wanted to know if I was dating. Who has time? I’m busy with my kids and my business and my friends. I’m happy just the way I am.”
Ramon watched her without responding.
“What?” she demanded. “You disagree? Do you think I should be dating?”
He turned away as if the conversation wasn’t the least bit interesting to him.
“I listen when you rant,” she pointed out, then sighed. “Besides, I don’t need a man. I’m fine. Better than fine. Dating would be so... so... Well, I don’t know what but something weird.”
“Weird is as weird does.”
“Actually it’s pretty is as pretty does, which I’ve never understood.”
“Tomorrow is another day,” he said in a fair imitation of a Southern accent.
“Thank you, Scarlett.”
“You’re welcome, Rhett.”
Ryleigh stood in the center of her apartment living room. She’d managed to drive home from school and walk inside. After flinging her backpack and purse on the sofa, she’d tried to figure out what to do next. But her mind was still in shock and empty of thought, so she’d stayed where she was now, standing, wondering how she’d messed up her life so thoroughly so fast.
Part of her wanted to call Dustin and tell him she’d totally changed her mind. That she’d had a brain hiccup and hadn’t been herself. That of course, yes, they should get married and be happy together.
But even as she thought the words, she felt that tightness in her throat and knew that for whatever reason, there was no way she could accept his proposal.
“But it’s what I wanted,” she whispered to herself. “Him, us, the future. Kids.” Mostly kids, she thought sadly, sinking down to sit on the coffee table. She wanted two or three running around, making noise and messes and hugging her with sticky fingers. She wanted the memories, the hopes and dreams, the plans. She wanted to feel so much love that her heart felt as if it could burst. She wanted—
Someone knocked on her door. Her heart immediately started pounding as she wondered if it was Dustin coming to talk to her. That thought was immediately followed by the need to run and hide because she absolutely couldn’t deal with him right now.
The knock came again, reminding her that whoever was there would have seen her car in her parking space, so not answering only made her look like an idiot—which she probably was. She stalked to the door and flung it open only to find Alex there. He was so not whom she expected to see that for a second, she simply stared at him blankly.
“Hey,” he said with a smile as he stepped into her apartment. “You left your favorite black cardigan at my place the other night. I saw it this morning and I know how cranky you get when your classroom’s too cold, so I...” His voice trailed off as his face took on an expression of concern. “Ryleigh, are you okay?”
A very nice question that shouldn’t have been a problem. Only the second she heard the words, she burst into tears.
“I’m fine,” she mumbled as she turned away, covering her face with her hands.
