Lana's Lawman (17 page)

“Sure, Lana,” he replied, appearing puzzled that she even felt it necessary to mention ground rules.

Well, she did. She knew Sloan would never do anything deliberately to endanger her son, but she still had some very definite qualms about that big Kawasaki. Maybe he should let her ride it first.

Hmm, that was an inviting thought, she mused as she hastily set an extra place at the table for her guest. Sitting behind Sloan with her arms wrapped around his hard body, her thighs snuggled up against his, the powerful engine roaring beneath them as they flew along a country road …

“Sitting at your table is getting to be a real habit
with me,” Sloan said. “You'll have to start calling me Sloan the Mooch.”

“Hardly,” Lana said dryly, taking her seat. “You earned the first meal and bought the second.”

“Mom, it's cold in here.”

“I know, son. The furnace man is scheduled to come out this afternoon.”

“Can't Sloan fix it?”

“Wish I could,” Sloan answered. “But furnaces aren't my specialty. Roofs and doors and windows, those I can do.”

Rob studied Sloan silently for a few moments, then abruptly asked, “Are you my mom's boyfriend?”

Lana thought she was going to sink through the cracks in the floor, but Sloan merely laughed. “Well, now, that's something you'll have to talk to your mother about.”

“Is he, Mom?” Rob persisted.

“Um, well, we've been on only one date, Robbie. That doesn't really count as being a boyfriend.”

“But what if you go on more dates? Then is he?”

“We'll have to see,” Lana said through mounting panic. It was distressing enough trying to figure out what her relationship with Sloan would be without having to do it in front of her eight-year-old son!

“Dad has a girlfriend, Charlene,” Rob continued matter-of-factly. “She's around all the time. It'd be cool if you could be Mom's boyfriend and come over all the time. You could show me how to do stuff and teach me about being a cop and stuff.”

Lana winced. Rob was really putting Sloan on the
spot, though she couldn't blame him too much. The poor child was desperate for a decent male role model, which his father certainly wasn't.

“Charlene, huh?” Sloan said. “She's around all the time when you're there?”

“Mostly.”

“Does she spend the night?” he asked casually.

“Yeah, all the time. Dad says it's okay, 'cause they're getting married.”

“Uh-huh.” Sloan shot a significant look Lana's way. She nodded, filing the information away for future use. Lana wasn't one to pass judgment on her ex-husband's morals, but a family court judge might.

“Tell you what, Rob,” Sloan said. “About this boyfriend-girlfriend stuff, let's just take things one step at a time, all right? Meanwhile, if you like—if it's okay with your mom—I could show you how to hammer nails after lunch.”

Both males looked at Lana expectantly. “Okay, Mom?” Rob asked, his brown eyes pleading.

She shrugged. “It's fine with me. There are some old tools and lumber scraps in the garage.”

Rob gulped down the rest of his soup. Lana started to clear the table.

“Thank you for lunch, Lana,” Sloan said.

“Thank you for lunch, Mom,” Rob echoed.

“You're welcome, gentlemen.” She smiled. That was a first. Bart had never thanked Lana for preparing a meal, whether it was sandwiches or veal cordon bleu, so Rob hadn't learned from anyone's good example. It warmed her heart that he was looking up to a solid
man like Sloan. Maybe her son would learn a few things that needed learning.

“That's it, Rob. Use nice, sure strokes as you hammer. Think about the direction you want to make the nail go.”

Rob screwed up his face in concentration as he tried to follow Sloan's directions. Wham! He hit the nail Sloan had started for him, and for once it went into the wood. It didn't bend.

“I did it!”

“You sure did, Mr. Handyman. Hit it again.”

Sloan enjoyed the couple of hours he spent with Lana's son out in the garage, hammering stray bits of plywood together. No adult had ever paid attention to him when he was growing up, which he had to believe was one of the reasons he'd turned into such a hood.

Certainly no child had ever looked up to him before, and it filled him with an unexpected warmth. He'd never thought of himself as the kind of guy who'd be good with kids, but he was actually having some success with Rob.

It seemed important to get along with Lana's son if he hoped to be spending a significant amount of time with them both. On the other hand, Rob appeared to be well on his way to a case of hero worship, and that worried Sloan, especially because he could see how much it pleased Lana. Rob's devotion to the new man in his mother's life threw a monkey wrench into the works.

Sloan knew how eager Lana was to connect with her son. While her ex was buying Rob's affection with expensive toys and indiscriminate privileges, Lana was struggling to compete with love and attention. If letting Sloan hang around would help her make that vital connection, she'd do it.

Once again Sloan couldn't help but wonder if Lana wanted him because she wanted him or because he was convenient at this stage in her life. In high school they'd stumbled across each other at a time when Lana was dying to stretch her wings and push against the confinements of a conservative childhood. He'd been a test, proving to her she wasn't ready for an adult relationship.

Was this another test? Was he her first post-divorce experiment? To see if she was ready? What if she wasn't?

Relationships were just too damn complicated. No wonder he'd failed at them for so many years.

“It feels funny, meeting without Callie,” Millicent said glumly as she dug into her Caesar salad at the Pie Pantry.

Lana nodded her agreement. The three women had begun setting up regular monthly meetings after their encounter with Theodora, Fortune-teller, to discuss their bizarre experience. But as they'd exhausted the subject and come up with no hard facts to explain things, the meetings had gradually turned into social occasions. Even though Callie was living in Nevada
with her new husband now, Millie and Lana had agreed to continue their luncheons at the Pie Pantry.

“Callie married her cowboy though,” Millicent said. “And now I hear you're dating a cop.”

“Where'd you hear that?” Lana asked, disappointed because she didn't get to spring the news on Millie herself.

“From Rob, of course. He tells Will everything, and then Will tells me.”

“Who'd have thought eight-year-old boys could be such gossips? Sloan and I aren't exactly dating, but he's been over to the house a few times for dinner, and we went to the bookstore. He gets along with Rob real well.”

“And how well does he get along with Lana?”

Lana felt herself blushing.

“That's what I was hoping,” Millie said. “I remember Sloan from high school. What a hunk! I even talked to him a couple of times. We had an art class together. He seemed kind of scary until I got to know him, and then I found out he was just a regular kid who hid behind an image. We all did that, don't you think?”

“I suppose. Millicent, swear you won't tell anyone if I tell you a secret?” Lana giggled, feeling like a high-schooler again.

“Cross my heart and hope to spit. What is it?”

“Sloan Bennett and I did the deed back in high school.”

Millicent gasped. “Lana, you slut! I remember distinctly when you and Callie and I—we all swore we
were going to save ourselves. You and Sloan—and no one knew?”

“We were very discreet. It lasted only a few weeks. Then I … got scared, I guess. It was all so intense, so overwhelming. So adult.”

“I know. I was only eighteen when I met Ronnie, you know.”

“But obviously you did a better job handling those intense feelings. You married the guy.”

“Ronnie was older, stable, and ready for marriage. Face it, Sloan wasn't good husband material back then. Now, however, is a different story. So it's kind of like fate that you found him again.” Millicent cocked her eyebrows, waiting to see if Lana would elaborate.

“You're not going to bring up that Theodora stuff again, are you?” Lana asked.

Millicent grinned. “I don't need to. You're already thinking about it.”

“I'm not going to marry a cop! After my experience with Bart, I don't think I'll ever get married again.” She hadn't told Millie about Bart suing for custody. By her keeping silent, the suit seemed less real.

“Yeah, but remember, it was only a couple of months ago we were sitting at this very table, and Callie was swearing she wanted nothing to do with Sam. Now she's married to him.”

True enough. Lana shook off the shivers and glanced at her watch. “I've got to run, or I'll be late getting back to work. You're sure you're okay? You don't need me to come over this weekend and help you out with anything?” Millie's pregnancy was advancing
quickly, and with no husband to help her with the three kids she already had, the burden on her was enormous.

“I'm fine. Physically I never felt better, and Nancy and Will have been really good about helping around the house. Besides, you get only one weekend a month without Rob at home, and I think you and Sloan ought to take advantage of it.” Millie winked knowingly.

Lana would have argued, but she really was running late. With a hasty good-bye to her friend, she scooted out of the booth and hustled out of the restaurant and across the parking lot to Full Bloom.

Sue Coldwell was waiting for her. Lana wasn't late by more than a minute, but she apologized anyway. Sue, an elderly woman who'd owned the shop for as long as Lana could remember, was a great employer as well as a friend.

“It's okay,” Sue said. “But I do need to talk to you. It's slow today, so let's go into the office.”

This was ominous. Sue hardly ever resorted to such a formal manner.

In a matter of ten minutes the problem was out in the open. Sue was ready to retire, and she'd sold the flower shop. The new owners planned to employ family members, and they wouldn't need Lana's services as manager. Transfer of ownership would take place at the end of November.

Lana was stunned. “Why didn't you tell me this sooner?”

Sue shrugged. “It came up rather suddenly. In fact, the buyers approached me. I hadn't even formally
listed the store for sale yet. Besides, I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily until I was sure the sale would go through.”

Lana remained silent, ashamed at the tears pushing against the backs of her eyes. She should be happy for her friend, who for a couple of years now had been talking about all the things she wanted to do when she retired.

“Lana, honey, you'll find another job. I'll give you a glowing letter of recommendation. And you have almost a month to find one.”

“Yeah, I know.” She nodded and patted Sue's frail arm. “I'm just so surprised.” Of all times for this to happen! All she could think about was that being unemployed wasn't going to be a point in her favor during the custody suit.

Actually, all she could think about was calling Sloan and crying on his shoulder. Since when had this become such an automatic response for her?

 NINE

Lana wanted to call Sloan. She
needed
to call him and hear his voice, to let him comfort her and encourage her. But it was that raw need that kept her from picking up the phone. It scared her. She couldn't let those feelings dominate. She had to keep things in perspective.

Even when he called her on Tuesday, very properly, to ask her out for Friday, she bit her lip and managed not to tell him about her latest disaster. Maybe she was being foolish not to take advantage of his sympathetic ear. But she knew how easy it would be to start believing he could be the answer to her every prayer.

She couldn't lose herself in Sloan, not again. Not until she felt stronger. Maybe on Friday she would confide in him. By then she might have a lead on a new position, something positive to tell him.

But things didn't go that way. She scanned the classifieds
and put out feelers with everyone she knew, and so far she hadn't gotten a single viable lead.

Still, she put on a smile when she answered the door Friday night. No sense putting a big damper on what was supposed to be a fun evening—the first real “date” she and Sloan had gone on.

“What's wrong?” were the first words out of his mouth the moment he saw her.

She should have known she wouldn't be able to fool him. Before she knew it, the whole miserable story came pouring out, complete with tears.

“Ah, hell, Lana.” They hadn't even gotten past the entry hall. Standing there on her fake marble floor, he put his arms around her. She felt better immediately. “For someone like you, a job should be easy. You're smart and capable,” he added. “Anyone would be crazy not to hire you.” He kissed her tenderly. “I could talk to some people I know—”