Luck of the Draw (A Betting on Romance Novel Book 1)(11)

The front door slammed.

“Liam? Are you still inside?” Okay, she was a little panicky, but at home, large bodies of water had fences around them.

“It’s just me!” Jim Pearson answered.

Kate stepped out of the little kitchen where, yes, she’d been hiding. “Oh. Thanks.”

Jim nodded and headed down the hallway again, a white toilet tank in his arms.

Kate sucked up her courage and followed. She waited until he’d set the tank on the bath mat then cleared her throat and reached out her hand.

“I’m Kate, by the way. Kate Mitchell. June Hastings’ granddaughter? She’s a friend of your grandmother.”

“Ah, right, one of ‘the ladies.’” They shook hands awkwardly over the toilet tank. “When does she get here?” he asked.

“Who?”

“Your grandmother.”

“Oh, Nana won’t be back for a few days. She went to Portland for a quilt festival.”

He nodded and turned to screw some things to the bottom of the tank.

Kate cleared her throat. “Um. About earlier...”

He glanced up.

She swallowed. “What I said… about being cute…” She mouthed the last word. “I didn’t mean it. I mean, not that you aren’t… but I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. The truth is, I’m not in a place right now for, um, dating... and I just wanted to be clear I wasn’t hitting on you. Or anything.” She felt her face flame to her hairline and briefly considered high-tailing it back to Connecticut.

He set the tank on the back of the toilet. “That’s good.”

“Yes,” she agreed, taken aback.

“Nothing personal, but I’m not into married women.” He looked pointedly at her left hand.

“Oh, I’m not married. That is… not anymore.” Kate twirled with the gold band on her finger. She’d worn it ever since the night Randy had died.

“Divorced?”

She dropped her hand. “That was the plan.”

“Ah. Separated.” His lips twisted humorlessly, and he shook his head. “Definitely not interested.”

He bent over and fiddled with something inside the toilet.

Kate frowned. She didn’t know why she didn’t correct him and tell him she was a widow. Maybe it was because she didn’t want his pity. Maybe it was because dating right now would be like inviting a guy to hop onto the sinking Titanic for a pleasure cruise. Or, maybe, it was because he was already rejecting her as if she’d offered herself on a silver platter. Which, for the record, she most certainly had not.

“Great,” she said, forcing a smile—not that he was looking or anything. “We’re on the same page, then.” She picked up a little seashell from a shelf by the sink and set it down again. Damn, it was hard to make a grand exit when the offending party wasn’t even looking at you. “Well, I guess I’ll go, um, take care of some things.”

“Sure,” he grunted, folding himself into the space between the wall and the toilet.

Kate retreated to the barren living room. Liam ran over her toes with his toy car. “I’m going to start putting some things away upstairs,” she announced. “You stay here, all right?”

“’kay.”

But when Kate returned a few minutes later, Liam was gone.

“Liam? Liam!” Kate skidded to a halt outside the bathroom. “I thought I told you Mr. Pearson was working. Come on. Let’s get your sunscreen on. I’m done unpacking.”

Ruth’s grandson searched in his toolbox and pulled something out. “It’s Jim,” he corrected. “And he’s not bothering me. We were just getting acquainted. Weren’t we, Bud?” Jim reached behind the tank to attach a thin hose.

Liam nodded earnestly.

“Well, I’ll get him out of your hair so you can finish.”

She made a grab for Liam, but he scooted over to the far side of Jim’s legs, which were, at the moment, splayed across the bathroom floor. She tried not to stare as she pondered how to extricate her uncooperative son.

“I’m nearly finished. Don’t worry about the sunscreen, by the way.” Jim stood and fiddled with the floatie thing in the tank before setting the cover on. “This time of day, you need bug repellent more than sunscreen.”

Kate turned toward the tiny window at the far end of the room. Crap. Now that he mentioned it, the sun wasn’t as brilliant as it had been when they’d first arrived. “I’m sorry, Liam. I guess it took me longer to get organized than I thought it would. Maybe we can swim tomorrow.”

“But you promised!”

“Why don’t we have a special dinner instead? We can have pizza!” She turned to Jim. “I’m assuming there’s a place nearby?”

“Right in town.” He began collecting his tools. “All set.”

“Great.”

They stared at one another a moment before she briskly patted Liam on the shoulder. “Well, Pumpkin, we should go get that pizza, don’t you think?”

“Can he eat with us?” Liam asked.

Jim tossed a wrench into his toolbox and avoided Kate’s eyes. “Thanks for the invite, Buddy, but it’s been a long day. Maybe another time.”