The Promise (Thunder Point #5)(22)

“Not likely,” he said. Not since she’s playing for the girl’s team. “She made it very clear, she’s not interested in men. And she’d only give me a three-month commitment. That’s understandable—a little clinic like mine doesn’t pay well, and she can use this time to find her next position for more than twice the salary. Nah, my luck is the same. Don’t you have a pretty cousin somewhere you can introduce me to?”

“No,” she said with a laugh. “Listen, lots of women say that they don’t want to date. Could be anything—just coming off a breakup, frustration with the way things haven’t worked out in the dating world, some reason we’d never think of....”

That’s for sure, he thought.

“When I was frustrated with Mac not noticing me as a datable woman, a romantic partner, I was so furious I swore off men. Be patient. The right opportunity might present itself.”

“Um-hmm,” he muttered, eating his breakfast. “I think I took you out to dinner a couple of times during your moratorium on men. Timing is everything.”

She smiled at him. “Sorry that didn’t work out, Scott.”

“No, you’re not,” he said.

“No, I’m not. I say we give Peyton time to settle in and then reevaluate.”

“Gina, I say we face facts.” And too bad about the jeans, he thought. But, damn!

Five

Devon and Spencer weren’t due back until Thursday, but on Wednesday afternoon they pulled into the garage of their beachfront home. They dropped their bags inside the door of the house and went directly to Cooper’s.

“Hey, the bride and groom are back!” Cooper said. “Don’t you have another day of freedom?”

“I missed the kids,” Devon said.

“She missed the house,” Spencer corrected.

“Well, I’ve never had a house before!” Devon said. “And there’s still a lot to do before football practice starts, and I no longer have a husband.”

“She brought me back to work,” Spencer said. “I don’t know what’s harder on my back—football or construction.”

“But we’re so close....” She flushed a little. “And I did miss the kids,” she said.

But to Devon this house meant security, for maybe the first time in her life. She’d been raised by a woman known as Aunt Mary, but she was really the day-care provider Devon had been left with when her mother died. She didn’t realize Mary couldn’t leave her a house to live in until after her death when Devon was a very young woman. The years since had been hand-to-mouth, until she’d met and fallen in love with Spencer. Once Spencer understood how uncertain and unstable her life had been, he thought the best thing he could do for her, for both of them, was to own a piece of property, protected and secure. Devon loved him so much for understanding, for helping to provide. And she’d made a promise to him. “I’m going to make it the most loving home you’ve ever known.”

“All you have to do to accomplish that is live in it with me,” Spencer had said.

Cooper grinned at them. “I’ll help out while I can, but I think pretty soon Sarah is going to have chores for me.”

“How is she doing?” Devon asked.

“She’s laying down right now. She has heartburn, water retention and gas. I had no idea how sexy pregnancy was.” Everyone laughed at him. “Your kids are down there with the real babysitter.”

Down on the dock Rawley was fishing with Mercy and Austin.

“I’d better go tell them we’re back,” she said.

“Let ’em fish,” Spencer said. “They’ll figure it out pretty soon and come up here. Cooper’s going to give me a beer.” He looked at his watch. “I have at least a few more hours of honeymoon left.”

“Is that Ashley with Scott’s kids down there by the water?” Devon asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Cooper said. “It’s been kind of exciting around here. Let me get that beer and I’ll tell you all about it. A wine, Devon?”

“That would be wonderful. What’s going on?”

Cooper sat with them on the deck and explained that Gabriella had left suddenly because her mother needed her, the bus accident being the big talk around town, Peyton helping out in the clinic and Ashley babysitting—the story as he knew it. It was only a few minutes before Mercy was up the stairs and on her mother’s lap, a few more minutes before Scott was walking across the beach at the end of his work day to check on his kids. He came up to the deck to have a beer, and Rawley and Austin joined them. And then Sarah appeared, looking a little sleep rumpled.

“And here’s Mrs. Cooper with her big bump and bed head,” Cooper said.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said. And then with a muffled groan, she bent over slightly, and water spilled down her legs.

Cooper jumped to his feet with a horrified look on his face.

“Oops,” Sarah said. “Maybe that wasn’t gas.”

“Mommy,” Mercy said. “Sarah had a accident.”

With a very large grin, Sarah said, “I’m going to have ankles again.”

“That’s not all you’re going to have, Sarah,” Scott put in.

* * *