The Family Man (9 page)

“You know they’re a band?” Tana asked, her face and tone reflecting surprise.

“Yeah. Even saw them in Germany once. Friend of mine dragged me kicking and screaming, but they were actually pretty good.”

“Ohmygod, you saw them in concert?”

Thus began a grilling by Tana that would rival that by any detective. She wanted to know what songs they played, what they wore, how awesome was the concert. Of course, Adam, being a guy, had lost a lot of the details.

“It was several years ago,” he said. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay. It’s cool that you saw them though. I’ve never met anyone who has.”

“Maybe you can see them when they come to the States sometime.” Adam paused and met Sara’s gaze. “If your mom says that’s okay.”

“We’ll see.” Sara didn’t want to commit until she
investigated if the band’s concert crowds would be appropriate for a thirteen-year-old.

Freddie himself arrived at the table with not one but four small pizzas. One pepperoni, one sausage, one feta-and-spinach and one supreme.

“You didn’t have to get different kinds,” Sara said.

“What’s the fun of coming to Freddie’s if you can’t have what you want?”

The way he said it and the devilish twinkle in his eye made Sara realize he wasn’t just talking about pizza. She felt like she was in water that was rising fast. Soon, she’d have to decide whether to swim away or allow herself to sink fully.

“What about you, Detective? You a native?”

She shook her head since she was in midbite. After she chewed and swallowed the delicious pizza, she said, “Grew up in Memphis. Came down here for a change of scenery.”

“I can relate to that. So, how does a pretty lady like you become a cop?”

“My dad was a police officer. Just following in his footsteps, I guess.”

“How does he feel about that?”

“I don’t know. He died before I made that decision.” How many times had she wondered if he would have approved, needed to know he was proud? She chose to think he’d be honored that she’d chosen the path she had.

She glanced at Adam and a new question formed
in her mind. What would her dad think of Adam? Would he consider him lazy, or would he say she was being too judgmental—just like he had when she’d told him she never wanted to see her mother again?

What was he doing here? Why had he thought pursuing Sara and getting more involved with her family had been a good idea? She had kids, for heaven’s sake! They were good kids, but kids who required protection and nurturing and all those things he sucked at.

How did a single woman with such a dangerous job even justify having children, ones she could leave orphaned?

But damn if he couldn’t seem to help himself. It was like she was some sort of sorceress who attracted him by otherworldly means. And she didn’t even seem to be trying.

He did realize over the pizza that he wasn’t the only one who had something in his past he’d rather forget. When she’d mentioned her father, he’d seen pain in her eyes. Was it the kind of pain he’d had in his life, or just sorrow that she’d lost a beloved father? He’d bet the latter. Otherwise, it didn’t make
sense for her to follow in her father’s footsteps. He sure hadn’t wanted to follow in his dad’s.

But it wasn’t any of his business. Yes, he had to admit he wanted to continue going out with her, at least a few more times. Kiss her again, maybe more. But he had to draw the line there. Serious was not his bag.

“We’d better be getting home,” Sara said as she slipped leftover pizza into a take-home container. “School night. And I bet someone still has homework.”

Tana groaned.

Already, Adam’s brain raced for when he could see Sara again. Maybe he was coming down with something. A virus that made him act like a lovesick puppy.

He should get home, too, before he started thinking and saying things he didn’t need to.

He watched the care Sara took with her daughters, the way the obvious love shone in her eyes, and wondered if he even had the capacity for such caring. If he ever had, in all likelihood the Iraqi sun had burned it out of him.

Adam drove Sara and the girls home. When he stopped in her driveway, she jumped out so quickly he wondered if he made her nervous or if she was having big-time second thoughts about being involved with him at all. Not that they were
involved
. It was only casual, just as he liked it.

Yeah, right. Stop fooling yourself. This woman is different than all the others
.

That’s what scared him.

He’d swear he could hear his former commander yelling, “Retreat!”

Before he could get out of the car, Sara leaned down and looked in the passenger side window. “Thanks for the pizza. The girls had a nice time.”

But had she? Sara didn’t say, but she did offer him an entrancing smile before she followed her girls into the house.

He sat there for several long moments, fighting the urge to drive out of Horizon Beach and keep going, before he backed up and headed home. Home to an empty house he had the strangest feeling was going to feel even more empty than normal.

“D
ID HE KISS YOU
good-night?” Tana asked, her big eyes alight, as Sara stepped into the house.

“No.” She headed for the refrigerator to put away the leftovers.

Tana followed, undeterred. “Why not?”

Why not, indeed? He hadn’t even gotten out of the car.

You didn’t give him time. You jumped out of there like a scared rabbit
.

“Just because two adults go out doesn’t mean they end up kissing.”

“Don’t you like him?”

“He’s fine.”

“Are you going out again?”

Sara shoved the pizza in the fridge, closed it and
turned toward Tana. “Why are you pushing this so hard?”

Tana hesitated for a few moments. “Because you seem lonely.”

The revelation hit Sara in the gut, and she fumbled for a response. “How can I be lonely with you and Lilly here? And Ruby nearby?”

Tana gave her one of those disgusted teenager looks, the one that said adults didn’t have a clue. “It’s not the same.”

“Honey, grown-up relationships are complicated.”

“Don’t treat me like a little kid. I’m not stupid.”

Sara crossed her arms. “I didn’t say you were, but I’ll be the one to decide who the right guy is.”

Tana shoved her hands into her shorts pockets. “But you don’t think it’s Adam.”

“I don’t know. Probably not.”

“Why? Because he’s not some ‘perfect,’ boring CPA or something?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair,” Tana muttered.

The tinge of bitterness in Tana’s words had Sara looking at her more closely. “What’s this really about?”

Tana just shrugged. Did she miss her real parents? Or just having a father figure in her life? Sara couldn’t help the feeling of failure that washed through her. She did her best to be two parents, but she knew from experience that no one person could truly give a child what she should be getting from
two. Her own father had been wonderful, but he hadn’t been a loving mother able to teach Sara all the girly things.

“I’ll find someone,” she said, feeling lame.

“Whatever.” Tana headed for her room. Moments later, the door closed, and music came out of her iPod dock speakers.

Lilly appeared in the doorway, her eyes wide and filled with unshed tears. “Why is Tana mad at you?”

Sara lowered herself to Lilly’s level. “Oh, honey, she’s not. She just doesn’t understand some of my decisions.” Or lack thereof.

“But she’s playing her mad music,” Lilly said.

Sara noticed the song playing did sound mad. Should she try to talk to Tana more, get to the core of her upset, or just let her have time to work through whatever was bothering her? An image of herself as a teenager, locked in her room and letting her own version of mad music block out the rest of the world, kept her rooted to the spot.

“Make up,” Lilly said, on the verge of letting her tears fall free.

“We will, sweetie pie. Don’t worry.” Sara leaned forward and kissed her precious baby on the forehead. “Now go on and play in your room for a little bit. Bedtime in an hour.”

Lilly hugged her before trudging down the hallway. Sara watched her go, saddened by the fact she wasn’t running or skipping like she normally did.

If this was what resulted of her going out with Adam Canfield, tonight had to be the last time. Sure, she wanted a wonderful man to make her family complete, and she had to admit Adam had been wonderful tonight. But no man was worth bringing unhappiness to the family she already had. For the first time, she wondered if the three of them were all there was ever supposed to be. Maybe fate didn’t have marriage or love or romance in store for her.

That thought caused a pang in her chest, and she suspected Tana would hate that idea.

Suddenly all kinds of tired, Sara sank onto the floor and leaned against the refrigerator door. Even though Sara could never admit it and make her girls feel like they weren’t enough, Tana was right.

She
was
lonely.

And Adam Canfield had made her forget that.

T
HE ONGOING DEBATE
in his head was still being waged like a back-and-forth firefight when Adam pulled in to his own street. He wished he could turn off thoughts about Sara, but he couldn’t. He’d tried and failed.

What was it about her that had latched on and refused to let go? Sure, he’d realized at the benefit just how beautiful she was, but he’d dated lots of beautiful women, flirted with them every night at the Beach Bum.

Not recently.

That realization caused his heart to skip a beat. When had he last flirted with someone besides Sara?

He pulled a quick U-turn and headed back through town, looking for the real Adam Canfield. The one who didn’t fixate on one woman and neglect his normal flirting routine.

The one who didn’t go home before midnight.

The one who didn’t feel happy and relaxed around two kids.

Well, all that nonsense was stopping right now. He parked and headed down the beach to the bar.

“Look who decided to show up,” Suz said when she spotted him slipping onto his usual perch.

“Dude, where you been?” Zac Parker asked from where he was pouring a beer from the tap.

“I bet I know,” Suz said, a self-satisfied smile spreading across her face.

“Sara?” Zac asked.

“Glad to know I’m such a topic of conversation when I’m not here.” Adam scanned the bar’s patrons, determined to find a lovely woman to occupy his time and his thoughts.

“What?” Suz slid a longneck in front of him. “Just because I tell your best friend you’ve got the serious hots for someone, suddenly I’m a gossip?”

Adam gripped the cold bottle in his hand. He didn’t know what reflected on his face, but Suz backed off.

“So, how’s married life treating you?” he asked Zac.

“I highly recommend it,” Zac said, the stupid-goofy look of a schmuck in love on his face. “You might want to try it sometime.”

Adam cursed in his head. What exactly had Suz told him? “Nah, I’m more the play-the-field type.” As if to prove his point to them, and himself, he met the eyes of a pretty brunette three tables away. “No commitments for me.”

He slipped off the stool and headed for the brunette. As he grew closer, he shoved away images of Sara looking at him from across the table at Freddie’s, of her in that sexy red dress. When he realized the girl in front of him must be a decade younger than he was, Suz’s previous comment about him becoming a dirty old man came back to haunt him.

What the hell was happening to him? He’d never even paused before.

He made an effort. He really did. But by the time fifteen minutes had passed with Leila and her friends, all college students from Panama City, he had to get away. It didn’t feel right, and he hated that he could feel his carefree life slipping away.

Adam excused himself, left his unfinished beer on the bar and walked out without a word to Suz or Zac. Let them think what they would. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. As he drove home, he was now thankful an empty house awaited him. No one should be around him when he was in a foul temper.
Damn David Taylor anyway. Adam’s life would be just fine if David hadn’t run away from home. If he hadn’t, Sara Greene would have remained only someone he saw in passing around town. He wouldn’t be all twisted up in knots about her.

Adam pulled in to his driveway and cut the engine, then slammed the heel of his hand against the steering wheel. How much of an ass was he for wishing David hadn’t run away when the kid had been in danger?

God, if Sara was smart she’d tell him to take a hike. She deserved someone better.

A
FTER SEEING
T
ANA OFF
to school and leaving Lilly with Ruby the next morning, Sara went for a run on the beach and deliberately headed toward the pier. She’d lain awake until nearly 2:00 a.m. thinking about Adam and how he’d turned her world upside down in such a short time. If Ruby, Tana and Lilly all liked him, could they all be wrong? Had Ruby been right that there was no such thing as Mr. Perfect?

As her running shoes beat against the packed sand at the edge of the water, she remembered how sad both of the girls had looked at breakfast. For some reason, they’d grown fond of Adam very quickly, and she wondered if maybe they saw things more clearly than she did. Were kids’ instincts about people better than those of adults because they didn’t overanalyze
everything so darn much? Was fate trying to tell her something through those sad faces? Should she stop fighting it and give Adam a real chance? If he wanted it, that was.

She swallowed the nervousness that she’d come to this decision too late, that his not getting out of the car last night meant that sometime over pizza he’d decided two dates with her was enough.

Well, she’d find out soon. The pier was only a hotel length away.

Only he wasn’t there.

An older guy sporting a Hawaiian shirt and a bit of a paunch sat in Adam’s spot and blinked back at her. “You wanting to go out on the pier?”

“Uh, no. I thought Adam was working this morning.”

“Called in sick.” The guy sounded annoyed, like Adam’s call had torpedoed his plan to sleep all day.

“Oh. Well, thanks.”

Feeling awkward, she turned and hurried off the pier. Something told her the guy was watching her retreat, so she jogged in the other direction, up past the Beach Bum, over the dunes, through the parking lot back to the sidewalk along the street.

She refused to read meaning into the fact that Adam hadn’t been at the pier. He’d said he was sick. Maybe fate wasn’t trying to tell her something in code at every turn. Deciding to take the explanation at face value, she jogged toward home.

Once there, she showered and got ready for work. Her caretaker instincts nearly got the best of her when she opened the cabinet to grab a bag of pretzels to take with her and she spotted the cans of chicken noodle soup. Those helped when you felt bad, right?

With a groan, she shut the cabinet door. She did
not
know Adam well enough to go to his house bearing chicken noodle soup for what ailed him. She shouldn’t even know he was sick.

She determined not to try so hard, not to let this fixation take over. Work beckoned as a way to fill her thoughts with other things, so she hurried to the station.

Unfortunately, what waited for her there made her wish she could go back to conflicting thoughts about Adam Canfield. They would have been less disturbing.