Caught in the Current (Pacific Shores Book 2) (3 page)

Thankfully Marie caught herself before she sprawled flat right there in the main aisle. But if ever she’d wanted the floor to open up and swallow her, this was it.

Reece only let out a bark of laughter and spun around to walk backward, assessing her with glimmering green eyes. “You don’t have a daddy, huh?”

While he’d directed the question at her daughter, there was a simmering curiosity in his gaze that flooded Marie with heat.

“Nope. Mr. Jackson wants to be my daddy, and Mommy said maybe. But he’s not—”

“—Alyssa!”

Blessedly, for once in her life, Alyssa seemed to catch on to the fact that Marie didn’t want her to share further, and she let the rest of whatever she’d planned to say drop.

A breath of relief pushed past Marie’s lips. But just to ensure something like this never happened again, she focused a mother eye on Alyssa. “That is not a question you are to ask a man again—ever—do you understand?”

“But Mommy, why? I think he would be a fun daddy, don’t you?”

“No!”

Reece winced and jammed a fist over his heart as though holding onto the handle of a knife she’d just thrust there.

Marie resisted a smile at his theatrics. “Well…maybe.”

Reece’s eyebrows shot up.

She hurried on before he could comment. “But that’s not how getting a daddy works.”

Oh boy, this was a mess. Had she really just said maybe? And right after Alyssa had mentioned Dan? Reece was going to think she hadn’t changed a smidge since he broke up with her in high school.

Reece seemed to be having just a bit too much fun with this. He tucked his lower lip between his teeth, squinched up his face, and tilted his head, as though seriously assessing her answer. Then she noted the glimmer of amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes.

The man was laughing at her predicament! She wrinkled her nose at him.

He grinned and, after a quick wink, faced forward again.

She couldn’t deny her relief at being free from his scrutiny.

Alyssa had apparently been pondering her response, because just then she piped up with “How does getting a daddy work, then?”

Reece gave a distinct snort, but mercifully he didn’t turn to look at her this time.

The automatic sliding doors opened for them, and they stepped out into the warm July heat of the Pacific coast. Maybe she could just change the subject. “We’ll need to get Alyssa’s car seat from my car.”

Reece seemed to take pity on her and joined in the effort. “Sure. Where are you parked?”

She gestured as best she could with her T-shirt-compressed finger toward her ancient, rust-marbled white Toyota Corolla. And of course the keys were in her purse. She fumbled with trying to keep the compression on her finger and lift the flap on her purse at the same time.

“Here, let me.” Reece stepped close, but then paused. “Do you mind?”

It wasn’t like she was going to have an easy time getting the keys out herself. She might as well complete her lesson in humiliation and get it over with. She shook her head. “Go ahead. Thanks.”

As Reece set to digging through her purse, she considered their driving situation again. “We really should just take my car. We’ll have to come right back by here on our way home from the hospital, and I can just drop you off at your truck, and then we won’t have to transfer the car seat back and forth.”

“But Mommy! I want to ride in the big blue truck!”

Reece scrunched one eye closed and offered her an apologetic look, even as he lifted her keys on one finger. “Tell you what, kiddo.” He swung Alyssa down to the pavement and bent to look into her face.

Marie loved the way he got right down to Alyssa’s level when he communicated with her. Something went soft inside her.

“How about we go get your mom’s finger fixed up at the hospital, then we come back here to get groceries, and then you and your mom can ride in my truck to the welcome-home barbeque my parents are hosting for me tonight?” He angled a questioning look at her over his shoulder.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Alyssa was already clapping her hands and jumping up and down.

All the softness Marie had just been feeling hardened into granite. How could she say no when he’d just gotten Alyssa’s hopes so high? But she really must say no. She still had so much to get done. “No, I’m sorry. We can’t.” Of course she couldn’t say the real reason they couldn’t go—the fact that Reece’s mother had handed out invitations to everyone around her at church on Sunday but not given her one—because to do so would just sound like a cry for pity. “Can we just…” She let the words trail away and blinked hard at the asphalt under her feet. All she really wanted to do was go back home and crawl into bed and sleep for several hours. But that was not going to happen.

Exhaustion pressed down on her. She’d already worked five eight-hour shifts at the gym this week, plus put in several hours after Alyssa was asleep each night painting the apartment across the hall for her landlord just to get a hundred bucks.

If Reece wasn’t careful, he was going to end up with one very emotional female to deal with.

“Please, Mommy? Please? Please? Please?!”

Great, now the tears were going to start in earnest. She really could use some emotionally stress-free days. Were two in a row too much to ask for? She gritted her teeth against the flood of emotion wanting to burst forth and didn’t even bother answering Alyssa for the moment.

Reece took one look at her face and lurched into motion. “Hey, kiddo, I’ll tell you what. If it doesn’t work out today, I’ll give you a ride one of these days when I can figure out a good time with your mom, okay? Right now let’s just get your mom fixed up.” He unlocked the door and held it until Alyssa could climb inside. “Do you need help buckling your seatbelt?” he questioned her daughter.

Alyssa’s lip was extended in a full pout. “No. I can do it myself.”

“Gotcha.” Reece shut the door and turned to face Marie. “I’m really sorry. I wasn’t thinking what a spot that would put you in. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

In the future? Marie swallowed. She tipped him a nod of forgiveness.

He opened her door, and she sank into her seat while he trotted around to the driver’s side. To her chagrin, she found that while her three-year-old hadn’t needed help with her seat belt, she did. There was no way to keep the compression on her finger and pull the belt across her at the same time. In frustration she gave up. She could just ride to the hospital without one on.

But before she knew what he planned, Reece propped one arm behind her seat and leaned across her to grab her seat belt. For one split moment he paused and met her gaze, his face, shaded by the brim of his hat, only inches from hers. She smelled the crisp familiar scent of his aftershave and saw the glint of something inviting in his eyes. And then he eased back and clicked her belt in. He adjusted the driver’s seat to give more room for his legs and turned the key.

Her car coughed a couple times but didn’t catch right away.

“It always does that. You have to pump the gas a little.” She tipped her head against the seat rest.

Reece pushed twice on the gas pedal and tried again.

Nothing.

Marie bit the inside of her lip. This was not happening to her, was it? She totally had no money to spend on her car. This day threatened to overwhelm her. She lolled her head over to look at the ocean across the road from Thrift and Save. It stretched into the distance, blue green meeting blue-gray sky on the sill of the horizon. She pressed her lips together and scrunched her eyes shut. She was not going to cry. Tears would not solve a single thing.

Reece engaged the starter several more times between pumps, all to no avail. He cleared his throat and glanced over at Marie.

Head back, she was staring out over the Pacific, and he could see the distinct shimmer of extra moisture in her eyes. He wanted to reach over and clasp her shoulder, but shoved his hands under his legs instead. He needed to remember why he’d walked away from her in the first place. He didn’t know if she was any closer to the Lord now than she’d been, and no matter how beautiful she was, or how many emotions this woman could make him feel, one thing he did know was that he wanted a marriage where both he and his wife would put God first. Which clearly hadn’t been the case with Marie the last time they’d been dating.

He shook off the memories. He really needed to get her in to have that finger fixed. “Let me grab my truck and give us a jump. Sit tight. Shouldn’t take more than a minute.”

He had to park behind her because there were no empty spaces nearby, but thankfully he had long enough cables. He parked, hooked up the cables, and tried the key again. Her little car still wouldn’t start.

Marie looked weary.

He did squeeze her shoulder this time. Only in a gesture of friendship. “One thing at a time, huh? My truck to the hospital, and then I’ll help you figure out what to do about your car.”

She sighed softly. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.” He clicked her seat belt open and then got out and unhooked the cables and jogged them back to his truck. By the time he returned to grab Alyssa, Marie had already wrestled open the back door. He rested a hand on her arm before she could try and lift Alyssa out. “I’ll get her.” The tyke was sound asleep, a little bunny he hadn’t noticed before tucked under one arm.

Marie moved out of his way, smiling softly. “Can you lift both her and the seat at the same time? We can just leave her belted in and transfer her to your truck.”

He grinned at the thought of her questioning whether he could lift a kid, who couldn’t weigh twenty-five pounds soaking wet, and a car seat, which weighed maybe ten. The guys at Deschutes Rejuvenation would get a kick out of that. “Yeah, I think I can manage.”

It didn’t take him long to get both of them buckled into his truck.

As he put the truck in reverse, Marie spoke. “Thanks for driving me. I’m sorry we’re going to end up taking up such a chunk of your day.”

He shook his head and eased the truck out onto the main road. “It’s not a problem, at all.” A comfortable silence settled, but he really wanted to know a little more about her life. “So tell me about yourself.”

His peripheral vision caught the lift of one slender shoulder. “Oh, you know. Pretty much the same as before, except I have a little girl now.”

Disappointment settled.

“I still work at Mom’s Gym with Taysia Sumner. Still live in the same apartment. What about you? Where have you been for the past several years?”

The hospital lay just ahead to the right. He put on his blinker and pulled into the lot near the emergency room. “I’ve been working for a wilderness camp for troubled teen boys. They come to us from all sorts of backgrounds and live with us for six months. Hopefully they go home changed. I’ve loved it. But after eight rotations, I was feeling a little burnout. And then Dad took sick. So”—he shrugged—“I’m here to help Mom with the bed-and-breakfast for the foreseeable future.”

“Oh.”

Curiosity furrowed his brow as he stopped in a parking spot. Was it disappointment he heard in her tone? He glanced back at Alyssa. “Do you want me to take her out of her seat or just bring her seat in?”

Marie pressed her lips together. “If you don’t mind holding her, I think she’ll stay asleep longer than if we leave her in the seat.”

“I don’t mind at all.” Carefully, he unbuckled the tyke and lifted her so her head lolled against his shoulder. Locking the truck, he shoved the keys into his pocket and then pressed a hand to Marie’s back, directing her toward the emergency entrance.

Her feet seemed to drag until she finally came to a complete standstill. “Do you think I really need stitches?”

“Yes, I’m afraid you will. Listen, if it’s the procedure that has you worried, I’ll stay with you the whole time.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just—” She tucked one side of her lower lip between her teeth. “Never mind, let’s just get this over with.”

Chapter 3

Marie couldn’t believe she’d almost blurted out that her finances were already stretched so thin she could read a book through them. Being around Reece was dangerous. He had a way of extracting things from her without her even knowing he was doing it.

The doors to the emergency room whooshed open, and the interior of the money-sucking facility loomed.

Okay, Lord, here we go. I could really use some help here. I’m sure You were looking over my shoulder when I was balancing my checkbook the other day? She paused. Why was it she never seemed to turn to God with her concerns before she worried and agonized about them till she was nearly a blubbering puddle? She winced a glance upward. Forgive me? You are probably wishing I would learn to quit fretting about You providing so You could move on to some other lesson, huh? If I quit stressing, will You drop a big check from the sky? She wrinkled her nose as they stopped before an unoccupied desk, behind which a door stood ajar. Probably doesn’t work like that, huh? I know. Okay, I’m trying to let this go. I trust You, I really do. And I’m so thankful for all the ways You’ve changed me. Help me to keep growing and learning to trust more.

Reece wore a worried frown. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Yep. Just praying a little.”

An emotion she couldn’t quite peg softened his features and brightened his eyes. He opened his mouth like he wanted to respond, but just then a woman in blue scrubs bustled through the door and plopped into the chair behind the desk. She took in Reece and Alyssa first, and then her focus zoned in on Marie’s bloody shirt. One eyebrow quirked. “What can we do for you today?”

Marie lifted the offending appendage still clamped carefully in her other fist. “I cut my finger.”

The nurse was already pulling up a form on her computer. “I can see that. How did you cut it, and how deep did it look?”

“Uh…on a broken pickle jar, and I think it’s pretty deep.”

“How much pain are you in on a scale of one to ten? Ten being the most pain you’ve ever felt in your life.”

Marie scrunched up her face. Did it matter if she wasn’t in too much pain but might bleed a bucket on their floor? “Two, maybe three?”