“I’m all finished.”
I looked at the side of the house, and the hole was gone. The only evidence was the slightly brighter piece of siding used to replace the busted one. “Thank you. I’ll try to be more careful.”
“These things happen.” He shrugged as he packed up his tools. Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t think he was paying any attention to me until he asked, “Would you like to have dinner with me?”
“What?” I blinked at him, unsure I heard what he said.
“I’d like to take you to dinner,” he repeated.
“Oh, um, I can’t leave Frankie home alone,” I answered, trying to let him down easily, until he offered to let her come too.
“It’s just dinner, Katrina.”
My eyes snapped to his. I’d grown accustomed to being called by a nickname; Richard and Clay had both called me Trina. When I told Slyce how much I hated it, she switched to Kat. Hearing a man say my full name was the only reason I could come up with for being caught off guard and saying yes.
Chapter Eight
Katrina
“You’re going on a date?” my daughter asked, exasperation evident in her tone.
“It’s not a date; you’re coming to.”
“No, I’m not,” she argued, turning her back on me and walking out of my room.
Abandoning my closet, I followed her down the hall. “You can’t stay here alone, Frankie.”
“Then call Maggie. See if I can stay with them.”
Though Frankie and Cami had gotten close in such a short time, I couldn’t stop the doubts and fears of letting her have a friend. I knew I was being unreasonable. Every girl needed a best friend. Except for me. I’d done that once before, and she’d betrayed me in a way I would never recover from.
“Frankie,” I cried.
“No!” She spun around, her face angry. “I’m not going out with you and some random guy.”
“He’s not exactly random. He’s part of the club.”
“Because that worked out so freaking well last time,” she snarked.
She was right. I never should have said yes, but I figured with Frankie there as a buffer, it wouldn’t really be a date.
“You like Jack,” I said, trying desperately to gain her approval for once again making a stupid decision that would likely have dire consequences.
“Jack is different. He has a wife and kids.”
“Well, I think there would be a bigger issue if I were having dinner with a married man,” I muttered.
Frankie pinned me with a look that said she wasn’t impressed with my attempt to lighten the mood.
“Look, he caught me off guard, okay? I said yes because he offered for you to come too, so it didn’t feel like I was saying yes to a date.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. I knew I didn’t have the best track record, but we’d gotten to know Jack and Sam a little, and well, I still had a weird feeling every time Jack looked at Frankie, but I trusted Sam.
She was a mom, but it was more than that. Even though Sam was a few years younger than me, there was something about her that left you with a warm feeling after talking to her. She was the type of person you could talk to and she listened.
Really listened.
“You’re right.” I sighed. “I’ll call Sam and get his number to cancel.”
