Page 26 of The Disputed Legacy
“And sweet dreams,” I muttered, watching her back.
I wouldn’t. If I went home and relived the memory of her lips touching me, I was guaranteed the filthiest and naughtiest dreams possible, with her starring as the one I wanted and couldn’t have. Yet.
11
WILLOW
Nothing more.
That was my explanation for Saul last night.
It was a flimsy excuse to give him, but I couldn’t think up anything else to provide a reason for kissing him.
If I’d told him that I hated to disappoint him, that would be surrendering my independence, to admit that his feelings and reactions were more important than my stiff rejection of dating him. Or anyone.
If I’d told him that I wished we could be more than mere friends, I would’ve been lying directly to his face because I was nowhere near ready to let a man into my life. I wasn’t prepared to open up and let a single stranger into my life.
But already, he wasn’t just some sexy stranger who came to the diner every night. He wasn’t a random guy whose name I knew while wanting to know so much more. If he didn’t stand out so much and so clearly look like someone who didn’t belong in this working-class establishment, then I bet he would’ve already slipped from my mind.
He hadn’t.
Instead, he was on my mindallthe time. He consumed my thoughts, and after I’d taken the bold step to kiss his cheek as a good-night parting, he crept into my mind no matter what I was doing.
This is ridiculous.
I’d seen hot guys before. I’d had handsome men as my customers at the diner. They’d never ensnared me like this. Like I was cursed to replay every interaction we’d shared. Like I was hexed to always have him in my daydreams, taunting me to bring me into my life more.
“Do you think he’s lonely?” Oscar asked as I took him to school that morning.
I blinked, not missing a beat. “I don’t know. Do you think he is?”
There was no need to ask who he was talking about. My son was observant and perceptive and he’d noticed Saul from the first day. I had to trust the situation a little more when Saul sat at Oscar’s table. Then when they did homework together. And talked.
And laughed.
Saul wasn’t annoyed by Oscar’s amusement. He laughed right along with him.
The difference between him and that whatshisname Irene wanted me to chat with was stark. I had so much to learn about Saul, but I had a hunch that he wasn’t one of those stuffy jerks who’d dislike kids.
“I hope he’s not,” Oscar said. “But he kind of has to be if he keeps coming to the diner every night, right?”
It was a mystery, one I wanted to solve. Margo assumed he was cheating on his wife and hiding while getting dinner, but that didn’t seem likely. A man like Saul wouldn’t hide from his wife. He seemed too… fierce. Passionate. If he were at oddswith a woman—with anyone—he would be the kind of person to confront them and settle the issue directly. Even impatiently.
Speculation was all I could do where he was concerned, and it was wearing on me.
Oscar always told me everything that he and Saul talked about. No question alarmed me. And nothing that Oscar told him would be a risk. He knew better than to give away too many answers. Every time I saw them talking and getting along, though, it made me wonder if I was already making too many mistakes.
I asked Margo for her opinion about it as soon as we had our first slow spell of downtime. “What if Oscar starts to like talking to him even more? What if he starts bonding with him, and it’ll never go anywhere with him?”
Margo hummed, nodding her head. It was her tell that she was listening and thinking of an answer, careful with her words though blunt with them when she shared them.
“He has befriended him quite easily,” she replied. “But that’s not terribly shocking. He hasn’t had any male… Uh, I suppose Saul could be like a male role model.” She shrugged. “Oscar hasn’t met many men who could have a steady presence in his life.”
That was a deliberate choice of mine. “That’s true.” Before I’d let myself wallow in a little guilt trip about over-sheltering my son from the world and others, I shook my head and stuck with the pressing need to hide him and keep him as safe as possible. My boy was all I had, and it would never be a simple thing of loosening up where his safety mattered. “But I’m not so sure that Saul is someone I’d want to allow as a steady anything in his life.” Letting them sit at the booth and talk was fine. I could watch from a distance. I could see them and witness their nonverbal cues to ensure there wasn’t any manipulation going on.
“What about inyourlife?” Margo raised her brows. She knew some of the details about why I was a single mother, but not the biggest ones. From early on, she’d guessed that I was avoiding Oscar’s father, or maybe I didn’t know him, and both of those were accurate.
“I see how you get those little smiles now and then,” she commented, not judging or teasing but merely pointing it out.
