Vivian (5 page)

Vivian Monroe, the woman with the dark mesmerizing eyes and silky chocolate hair—and a chip on her shoulder the size of a boulder.

It would forever be obvious they both needed their healing space. He wasn’t healed yet, and, he figured that’s why he was tossing his heart around.

He rubbed at the back of his neck. If he wasn’t healed yet then why try to heal someone else? Wasn’t that just a bad combination?

Clayton knew he certainly didn’t need any more drama in his life. His girls didn’t need it either. Maybe it was good they hadn’t shown up. This gave him a clear view of what he was doing and it wasn’t in the best interest of everyone.

Vivian Monroe was a strong woman who didn’t want anyone’s help. She wanted to keep everything hidden away and let it stew—let it burn. Fine. There was always the rec center. Clayton didn’t
have
to leave the girls with them next week, though he liked their set-up. He liked Penelope’s gentle touch with Charlotte. Damn—he was simply too far into it now. He didn’t want to give up on Vivian.

“
Daddy, look!” Charlotte nearly bounced out of her booster seat to point toward the door.

When he turned back around, he saw two grinning faces running toward them. Emma and Ava scooted into the booth and instantly began making young conversation with their friends.

“
Where’s your mommy?” he asked, having never seen her.

“
She told us to sit here. She’s ordering a pizza.”

That wasn’t the plan. He stood from his seat but could only see the top of her head over the small wall. He certainly couldn’t leave four talkative toddlers sitting at the table alone.

A moment later she came around the wall. A weight was on her shoulders. And though she was smiling at him, he could see something was wrong.

“
I’m very sorry we were late. I was in Sam’s office and…” she closed her eyes and let out a breath before opening them again. “I’m sorry.”

“
No need. I have pizza.” He pointed down to the pieces of congealed cheese.

“
I knew I’d ruined your plans. A hot one is coming. You can heat that up for lunch tomorrow. School lunches are never very good.”

He laughed. “You’re right. They aren’t. Have a seat.”

She sat on the edge of the circular booth and he on the other end. Four chatty little girls sat between them talking Disney Princesses and My Little Ponies. Vivian, on the other hand, watched the door.

How was he going to get this woman alone so they could talk? They needed to talk. She needed to talk.

“
Ball pit, Daddy. We want to go in the ball pit,” Stephanie took over the planning of the evening.

“
Why don’t you take all of them? I’ll wait for the pizza.”

It wasn’t quite what he wanted to do, but he would. However, he’d be watching her very closely.

Clayton nodded and followed four little girls to the small ball pit in the corner, which he was sure was filled with nothing but germs that would have to be bathed off of them.

Vivian glanced at the door and then toward the kitchen where she knew there was a back door. She’d been at Sam’s office all afternoon, just as she’d told Clayton she had been. They’d pulled in Darby, the officer who had been called when the house had been broken into a few weeks before.

The break-in had been written off as a string of vandalism crimes that had happened that night. But Vivian had always known better. Someone had been in that attic looking for the money Adam’s grandmother had hid in all the vintage books. But now—now the text had her frightened. She was sincerely considering a bigger move than one to the house on Main and Pine. Maybe it was time to just disappear off the map.

It would mean leaving Penelope and Amelia with all Adam’s crap. But if it meant security for her and the girls—well that’s all she could think about now.

Vivian looked at the table. There were only three glasses. Hadn’t he said it was a family dinner night? Where was his wife? Certainly she would have come for dinner.

A young girl delivered the pizza to the table. Vivian thanked her, and though her stomach growled in anticipation of tasting hot food, she walked across the restaurant to the ball pit.

The familiar giggle and screeches of the four girls was music to her ears. It would devastate her girls if she moved them away from Clayton’s girls.

“
You look preoccupied,” Clayton said.

She looked up and he was looking down at her with brown eyes that could easily wrap her in the comfort she was craving. “I suppose I am. No worries.”

He shifted his glance back to the girls. “They are going to need a bath. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about what’s in that ball pit.”

“
Just like life, right? The worst things are the most fun?”

The comment had made him laugh and he had an easy, sexy laugh. Vivian fisted her hands to her side. She was pathetic. He was her ball pit. Everything about him said it would be a bad thing to keep showing up places with him while he wore that ring on his finger, but he made her feel good.

“
Why don’t we go back to my house?” he offered. “We can get those girls cleaned up, they can watch a movie, and we could eat some pizza without all this noise.”

Vivian felt it coming on—the desire to go to his home, the aching need to talk to someone who wasn’t married to Adam Monroe or knew him. And yet that stupid gold band—and absence of a wife—was confusing her until her stomach was in such a knot she thought she might get sick right there.

“
Why are you asking me to your house?”

Clayton dropped his shoulders. “Because this place is giving me a headache. I’d love to sit and actually talk to you.” He turned and faced her, shoving his hands into his pockets. “You don’t trust me do you?”

“
I don’t know you.”

“
Oh, I think we’ve established that quite a few times.”

She could feel that prickling anger creep up her spine. “Listen, I don’t know what your situation is, but I’m no home wrecker. I married one of those and I don’t need any more of it in my life. So, if you have other plans then I have to tell you I’m not…”

He held up his hand and closed his eyes as if he were mentally willing her to stop talking—so she did.

“
Whoa.” He opened his eyes and they flared temper. “Who in the world would accuse you of being a home wrecker?”

“
Anyone who saw me having dinner with you and if they see me going home with you. Oh, and then there is the fact that you’ve been at my house all week.”

Now his eyes narrowed and he took a step toward her. “Friends. Are you telling me people in this town don’t understand friendships?”

“
Sure. Just not between a newly widowed woman and a married man.”

“
Married? And wait, what about Amelia and Penelope? They are both engaged and newly widowed.”

“
And no one knows they were Adam’s wives but you.”

“
Oh, I see since I’m a good enough friend to know all your secrets, but I’m not a good enough friend to have you over?”

“
I just don’t understand why you…”

Her voice had risen, but she hadn’t noticed until Stephanie and Emma were standing in front of them.

Emma tugged on her shirt. “Are you mad at Stephanie’s dad?”

Vivian looked at her and then at Stephanie whose eyes were equally as sad and confused as her own daughter’s.

Clayton reached his hand to Emma’s shoulder. “Your mom and I just need to talk away from all this noise. I was thinking you all could come to our house for just a little bit.”

“
Yes!” Both girls answered simultaneously.

“
Go get the others.”

They ran toward the ball pit.

Vivian fisted her hands on her hips. “That wasn’t fair.”

“
Looks like it’s the only way I can talk to you. You seem to have some preconceived ideas brewing in your head.”

She clenched her teeth. “I don’t like to be tricked.”

“
I was pretty open with the invitation.” He watched the girls bring back their sisters. “One hour. I want one hour of your time.”

He turned and walked the girls back to the table.

Fine. She’d give him one hour. What did he need her for? Why did she feel the need to follow him?

She watched him with the four young girls as they gathered jackets and items they’d carried in. He was amazing with them and she assumed he was equally as amazing when he was in a classroom.

As he joked with them and they giggled, she saw a light in her girls’ eyes she hadn’t seen in awhile. It tugged at her heart.

When he turned to her and those brown eyes were soft and inviting that goo began to puddle in her belly again. Then the corner of his mouth turned up and her heart lodged in her throat. Only once had a man smiled at her like that and the world stopped. But it was happening again, only this time she was much older and so much wiser.

However, when he gave a nod toward the door, she couldn’t help it. She followed like the lost puppy she was. There was a deep urge to get to spend this forbidden hour with him at his house. She was going to hell for this.

Chapter Five

It wasn’t until the moment they walked in the door that Clayton remembered the sink full of dishes. He winced.

At least he’d taken a moment during the day to tidy up the living room and the bathroom was clean.

As Vivian and her girls pulled up, Stephanie and Charlotte began their assault on his ears. But as he watched them jump up and down as Vivian unbuckled Emma and Ava it brought a certain joy to him. They loved those girls and that excitement was contagious.

The moment Emma and Ava ran through the door, the four of them were off to the bedroom where he could already hear talk of the many fairy tale items strewn all over the floor.

Vivian walked toward the door, her arms full of jackets, holding the box of pizza from the restaurant. “They forget when the sun goes down it gets cold.”

“
I forget that too,” he joked as he stepped aside and let her into the house.

There was always that uncomfortable moment when someone walked into his house and looked around.

“
The girls are all in the bedroom comparing toys.”

She nodded. “I’m sure my girls are loving that. Most of their toys were destroyed in the tornado.”

There was an immediate reaction that spiked inside of him and he reached a hand out to her shoulder. “Your house was destroyed in that tornado?”

“
The old tree out front blew into the house. So it wasn’t hit by the tornado, but damage was done.”

He cupped her shoulder in his hand and left it there. “I’m so sorry.”

“
Don’t be. It was a horrible little house full of bad memories. Sam made sure we had a place to live.”

He let his hand fall from her shoulder and brush down her arm. “He’s a good man.”

“
The best.” She looked around again. “Can I set these somewhere?”

“
Oh, yes.” He shut the front door and took the jackets from her. “I’ll set them here.” He placed them on a chair in the corner where he would usually sit and read while the girls watched TV. “Please excuse the mess too. I’ve been busy with my classroom, not my house.”

“
Don’t apologize on my behalf.”

He wasn’t very good at entertaining. “I’m going to make a pot of coffee. I’ll take the pizza and put it in the refrigerator. Unless you want a slice now.”

She shook her head. “I’m not really hungry and it looks like the girls are otherwise occupied at the moment.”

He took the box from her. “Make yourself at home.”