Hope Smolders (2 page)

Like good-looking men. And getting dumped.

“Oh. Will. Wow, it’s been a while. Wish I could hang out and talk, but I have kids I need to watch over, so I can’t. Great seeing you again.”

She started to walk away, but he grasped her wrist. “Wait. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, uh, I’m working at the day-care center here.”

His brows shot up. “A new job? You’re still teaching, aren’t you?”

“Yup. Still do that, too. Gotta run. See you later.”

Or, never. Hopefully. She looked like a wet basset hound, while Will had always been hot. And built. And as sexy as any man she’d ever known.

Of course she’d once thought Vic was hot and sexy, and look where that had gotten her. Divorced, with two children, a mortgage, and flat broke.

Never again would she let a hot body and bedroom eyes seduce her. She was a lot smarter now.

Though her rapidly beating pulse and all her feminine
parts hadn’t gotten the message. They were screaming at her that she hadn’t been with a man since she’d been abandoned by her husband two years ago. She hadn’t even gone out on a date.

Too bad. There were things high on her priority list, like making sure to keep a roof over her children’s heads, and keeping everyone fed.

Not dating. Or having sex. Those weren’t essentials. And right now, all she could afford to think about were essentials, so her thrumming body could just go to hell.

* * *

W
ill Griffin stood in the hallway, too surprised to even move as Jane hustled away after a trail of small kids, her daughter, Tabitha, one of them.

No wonder he’d recognized the great legs earlier.

He blew out a breath, guilt knotted up in his stomach. He should go by Jane’s house more often, should have made it by regularly when he’d known for sure Vic wasn’t coming back. But it had been awkward then. Still was. What was he supposed to say? Sorry? Not that it was his fault his former best friend turned out to be such an asshole. But he could have offered to mow her lawn or help her out in some way. Instead, he’d stayed away, figuring the last person she needed to see was someone she so closely tied to her deadbeat ex-husband.

And now, two years later, he still wasn’t any better at making conversation with her or seeing her. The distance between them was as wide as the Grand Canyon. They all used to be close—him and Vic and Jane. That changed somewhat when he and his girlfriend Chelsea had broken up, but Jane insisted nothing would change just because Jane and Chelsea were best friends. He’d appreciated their friendship, but he hadn’t turned out to be such a good friend after all, had he?

No sense gawking after shadows of the past when there
was nothing he could do about it now. Jane obviously wanted nothing to do with him.

He’d come out to get a sports drink after his treadmill workout, so he wandered over to the vending machine, grabbed one, then used his key card to get back into the workout room, deciding he needed to lift some weights and ease some of the tension this day and seeing Jane had dropped on him.

He caught sight of Luke on the weight bench and wandered over there. He warmed up with some lighter weights, then laid down on the bench for the heavy stuff.

Luke came over. “Want me to spot you?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

He went three sets, then racked the bar with Luke’s help. When he added another twenty-five pounds to each side, Luke cocked a brow.

“Sure you’re up for that?”

“Trust me, I need the challenge.”

“Okay, buddy. I’ll hang on to the bar for you in case it comes crashing down on your chest.”

“You’re so funny. I think I can handle it.”

Will slid onto the bench, determination setting his lips in a grim line. As he lifted the bar out of the rack, his arms shaking from the added weight, he realized he deserved this punishment for not being there for Jane, for not recognizing how Vic had been self-destructing in front of him.

Maybe he just hadn’t wanted to see it.

“Eleven, twelve,” Luke said, racking the bar. “Though I think I had to do the last one mostly by myself.”

Out of breath, his arms wobbling like overcooked spaghetti, Will grabbed his towel and swiped it over his face. “Yeah, you probably did.”

“Why the punishment? You hand out too many tickets on the highway today and feel guilty?”

Will choked out a laugh. “I never feel guilty about that.”

“Did you sleep with some girl then dump her?”

“Uh, no.”

Luke came around and faced him. “Then what is it?”

“Nothing, man. Just a rough day and I needed a push.”

“Well, if there’s something you want to get off your chest, you know I’m always here for you. Even if you are highway patrol and I’m local law enforcement. I mean, I can forgive you even that.”

Will snorted. “Gee, thanks.”

Luke gave him a wink. “Hey, nobody’s perfect, man.”

Yeah, Will was definitely not perfect. Far from it. In fact, in some areas he was a downright failure.

But maybe he could fix that.

“I
hate broccoli.”

Jane inhaled a deep breath and let it out, then turned and faced her eight-year-old son, Ryan, with a smile on her face. Always approach everything with a smile, right?

“Broccoli’s good for you.”

They were eating dinner at Bert’s, one of her favorite diners in town. It had been a rough day, and she just didn’t have it in her to cook a meal and spend the evening inside with the kids. She needed to be around the presence of other adults.

Ryan stared at his plate, grimaced, and pushed it away. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“I love broccoli, Mommy,” Tabitha said. Always the pleaser, she took a big bite and chewed and tried her best not to make a face. She even smiled through it.

Yeah, Tabitha hated broccoli, too, but she’d do anything to make Jane happy. Even eat broccoli.

“There’s a two-week camp coming up next summer,” Ryan said. “Chris says it has archery and canoes and
swimming in the lake and hiking. I was wondering if I could go.”

Jane frowned. Chris’s parents owned one of the car dealerships in town. They had money. Jane did not. This camp wasn’t going to be free. She sensed disappointment ahead for her little boy. “Do you have a brochure?”

“Yeah.” Hope glimmered in her sweet boy’s brown eyes, and he fished it out from his backpack, no doubt with a sales pitch already planned. Her kid was nothing if not prepared when there was something he wanted. He was a lot like his father in that respect.

He handed it over. “They have lots of activities, Mom, and the counselors are all trained in CPR and first aid. Most of them went to the camp when they were my age. Isn’t that cool?”

Jane couldn’t help but zero right in on the cost. She swallowed, hard. No way could she afford it. She was stretched thin enough on her budget as it was, and trying to locate Vic to pay his back child support was harder than trying to find a dress that didn’t make her butt look big.

Might as well rip the Band-Aid off rather than give Ryan false hope. She looked up at him and gave him a smile that she prayed showed him how much she loved him. “It looks awesome, sweetie. But it’s a little too much money, and you know how things are.”

His hopeful smile died. He looked crushed, and her heart ached at his disappointment as he gazed down at his plate and pushed the broccoli around with his fork. “Yeah. It’s okay. I understand, Mom.”

That was the problem. He did understand, and he still loved his father, still hoped his dad would show up at his ball games. Or just show up.

Part of her wished he would, too, that he’d get clean and come back—at least for his kids. What she had with Vic was over, but his children needed a father, the kind of father he used to be, not the one he’d become when he’d spent every
day so drunk and high that he could barely remember his own name.

But it was times like this she was so angry at Vic that if he showed his face right now she wasn’t sure what she would do. Likely lay him flat for running out on his children and leaving them wanting things they couldn’t have, things she couldn’t give them.

Damn him.

“Hey, kids. I have all this extra chocolate cake and I thought—wow, the place is kinda empty tonight, and if there aren’t enough people eating dessert, I’m gonna have to throw it away. I thought maybe you could take it off my hands.”

God bless Anita, who was her favorite waitress and a good friend. Divorced three times and with two grown sons, Anita had been her lifesaver. They’d had a few heart-to-heart talks about lousy husbands. And Jane knew that cake wouldn’t end up on her check tonight.

Ryan had a sweet tooth that rivaled any kid in town, and Anita’s offer distracted him from his disappointment. His eyes widened. “Oh, cake. Can we have cake, Mom?”

She’d deal with the sugar high for hours and it would be hell to get the kids to bed tonight, but it would be worth it. “Of course you can have cake. Thanks, Anita.”

Anita winked and shoved her pencil into the wild mass of streaked blonde and brown hair piled on top of her head. “No problem, honey. Kids, go have Charlotte serve up that cake for you at the counter.”

The kids scrambled off. They loved sitting at the counter, where Charlotte, Bert’s wife, would serve them cake, no doubt with a dollop of ice cream on the side.

“Thanks again,” she said as Anita filled a cart with their empty dishes.

“You looked like you could use a ray of sunshine today.”

She hated that it showed on her face. “Oh, I’m fine. I just hate saying no to the kids.”

Anita laughed. “It’s a good word for them to learn. Teaches them that not everything in life is free.”

“I know that, but I haven’t been able to do anything special for them since Vic left. And Ryan wants to go to this fancy summer camp and I just can’t afford it.”

“Yeah, well, that’s Vic’s fault, not yours.” She punctuated the statement by tossing the utensils viciously into the cart.

“But my kids still adore their father.”

Anita gave them a look over her shoulder. Tabitha and Ryan were busily scooping from the bowl of ice cream Charlotte had given them and paying zero attention to their conversation.

“They’ll get over that when they’re older and realize how much he piled on your shoulders.”

“I got the great end of the deal,” Jane said with a smile. “I got them.”

Anita squeezed her arm. “You sure did, honey.”

Charlotte came over. She was a slight, just a bit over five feet tall woman with short gray hair, but she was formidable and ran Bert’s like a drill sergeant. She was also one of the sweetest women Jane had ever met. She slid a bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of her. Jane didn’t know what she’d do without Bert’s as a refuge.

“Some for you, too, sweetie,” Charlotte said.

She lifted her gaze at Charlotte. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“Figured,” Charlotte said with a wink.

Alone at the table, Jane inhaled and took a bite of the ice cream, then sighed, realizing this wasn’t going to do much to thin her thighs.

Then again, today she didn’t much care.

“Did you hear that Emma Burnett is back in town?” Anita took a seat across from her. It was a light crowd at the diner, and they’d come before the typical dinner rush anyway.

Jane was glad for the company—and some town gossip.

“No. Really?”

“Yes. She bought out Doc Weston’s veterinary practice and is reopening it.”

Jane smiled, happy to be talking about someone else for a change. “That’s great news. Gosh, I haven’t seen Emma since…high school, I guess. It’s been a really long time.”

“Yeah, she left town for vet school and then some job somewhere else and hasn’t been home much. I know she popped in here now and then during breaks from college, but we sure haven’t seen much of her over the years.”

“You’re right about that. Come to think of it, I don’t know that I can remember the last time she was back in Hope.”

Anita nodded. “Anyway, that’s all I know. Now she’s back and prepping the clinic to reopen.”

“That’s good news for Hope. Since Dr. Weston retired, everyone with animals has only had one clinic to go to. I can’t wait to see her. I’ll be sure to drop by once the clinic opens.”

“The Burnett sisters sure pulled a disappearing act, didn’t they?” Anita asked.

Jane frowned, then nodded. “Oh, that’s right. Emma’s little sister, Molly, left, too, didn’t she? I didn’t know her all that well because she was a few years younger than Emma and me.”

“Yeah, she hightailed it out of town even before Emma left. No idea what happened to her.”

“Huh. Me, either.” She hadn’t thought about the Burnett sisters in a long time. She and Emma hadn’t been best friends in high school, but they’d hung out in the same circles.

After dinner, Jane and the kids took a walk to the community park. Tabitha liked the playground there and Ryan fed the ducks, at least until he found a few of his friends and a game of football ensued.

Her little boy was growing up. He was so tough and was trying so hard to be the man of the house. But he was still only eight years old, and underneath the tough-kid exterior
was a vulnerable little boy who’d been hurt when his daddy, his hero, had abandoned him.

Fortunately, he loved his sports, and that kept his mind occupied. She wished she could send him to that ridiculously expensive camp this summer. But there was no sense wishing for things that weren’t going to happen.

Glad Ryan had an outlet for his excess energy, Jane took a few minutes to stretch out on the playground bench, take a couple deep relaxing breaths, and exhale.

At least she had a job. And now another job at the health club. She’d also applied to teach summer school, since positions were at a premium and you had to apply early. Maybe she could afford a few extras for the kids this summer.

Maybe.

Tabitha played with Karen Redmond’s daughter, Heather, and Karen stood watch over them like a hawk. Ryan was deeply involved in a football game, with other parents supervising, so she tilted her head back and closed her eyes for just a second.