Glynna Kaye - Dreaming of Home

Joe shifted his weight and stretched out an arm to lean against the RV as he looked up at Meg. “I still can’t believe Davy invited himself like that. Diaz men do not go around begging favors from women.”

“Listen to you!” Meg hunched her shoulders, gave a little swagger and lowered her voice to a respectable bass. “Diaz men don’t—”

She broke out laughing.

“Okay, okay.” He hung his head for a brief moment, but couldn’t suppress a grin. “Just make fun of me.”

Laughter lit Meg’s eyes. “I’m committed to never pass up the opportunity.”

No kidding. He hadn’t missed her earlier comments about his aftershave and the burned potatoes. He narrowed his eyes. “I can see this is already getting to be a bad habit.”

Their smiling gazes met for a long moment, and then he sobered. “Thanks for letting Davy visit tonight. But if he gives you any trouble, just—”

“I won’t be trouble, Dad.” Now standing on the upholstered seat, Davy leaned in to creep his forearms closer to the fishbowl.

Joe snapped his fingers and pointed at his son in light reprimand. “Hey, you, no eavesdropping. And don’t stand on Miss Meg’s furniture.”

Davy dropped again to his knees.

Meg remained in the doorway, and Joe searched for another topic of conversation. It seemed she was lingering for a chat and his spirits lifted at the prospect. It had been a long time since he’d allowed himself to relax into a comfortable conversation with an attractive, single woman. No, he wasn’t looking for an entanglement. But he enjoyed her company, and she didn’t seem opposed to his. What would it hurt?

Meg tilted her head and her eyebrows rose as if in question.

Then it dawned on him that he blocked her from pulling the door shut. He stepped back, and she reached for the handle.

“Be good,” he said loud enough for Davy to hear.

Meg’s eyes twinkled. “We will be. See you soon.”

She pulled the door shut. A lock clicked into place. The exterior light went out.

So much for prolonged conversation. He’d sure misread those signals. Dimwit. Shouldn’t be playing with fire anyway.

He’d barely moved away when the outside light came on again and the door swung open. He turned to see Meg as she leaned out, holding the door open with one hand and Bear with the other.

“Joe?” she called into the darkness.

“Yeah?” He moved back to the door. Maybe his instincts weren’t off base after all. Could there be a little chemistry going on here?

“Forgot to ask. Any allergies?”

Odd question. He cleared his throat as his mind conducted a search. “Not since I was a kid. Got stung by a bee. Nothing too serious, though.”

He sensed her smile rather than saw it, and a hot wave washed over him. “You meant Davy.”

“Yeah.” Amusement colored her voice, but she didn’t outright laugh at him this time. “Any food allergies? Like to peaches? I’m big on fresh fruit as dessert.”

He dredged his memory. His mother-in-law hadn’t mentioned allergies when she gave him Davy’s medical records. She would have, wouldn’t she? “No, no food allergies that I know of.”

“Great.” A smile playing on her lips, she tilted her head. “Does it seem strange to be back? In Canyon Springs, I mean?”

Drawing the conversation out again. Good sign. He stepped closer.

“Kinda weird. A lot of things have changed, but at the same time they haven’t, you know? Some of it’s good, some of it’s not so good.” Joe laughed. “That made a lot of sense, didn’t it?”

“Actually, it did. It’s not as if you’ve been gone a lifetime. But you wouldn’t have been much more than a kid when you left and still seeing it through a kid’s eyes. Now you’re seeing the town and the people from an adult perspective.”

He nodded. “True. But I sure didn’t expect to feel ten years old again when I temporarily moved back in with Dad.”

Meg laughed. “Culture shock?”

“No foolin’.” He grinned. “I mean, I’m a father now, right? Yet Dad and I still butt heads like we used to when I was growing up, even over what’s best for Davy.”

“I’m sure it’s an adjustment for Bill, too.”

“Probably. But hopefully that science teacher will make up her mind about the job soon. Then Davy and I can establish our own household. That should help keep the peace.”

Meg glanced momentarily away, running her finger along the door’s framework. “So you taught high school science prior to joining the Navy?”

So she was curious about him.

“Two years in Flagstaff. I’d just started my second year when 9/11 hit. I was under contract, of course, so I didn’t join up until the school year was over.”

“Why the Navy?”

“Family tradition. Dad served and so did my Grandpa Diaz.”

“Interesting. So you’ve been in the Navy all these years?” She coaxed him with a smile that bumped his respiratory rate up a notch. “And you’re now returning to your first love—teaching?”

“Well, not exactly.” He chuckled, then sidestepped toward her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Confession time—but remember, if I tell you and you tell anyone else, I’ll have to kill you.”

She rubbed her hands together in mock anticipation. “Oooh, sounds highly classified.”

He looked around with exaggerated secretiveness, then lowered his voice. “Can I trust you?”

She pantomimed zipping her lips.

He grinned, then sobered. “To be honest, teaching didn’t pump me that much, if you know what I mean. But Davy’s my number one priority now. I’ll do whatever it takes to do what’s best for him, like separating from the Navy and moving back to the old hometown.”

“So did you do some kind of teaching in the military?”

“No. When I taught school I was an EMT on the side, then a Corpsman in the Navy. You know, medic stuff. But regular hours and summers off make a whole lot of sense now that I’m doing the single dad thing.”

She raised a brow, and he hastened on. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I hated teaching, it just may not be my gift.”

With a quick, tight smile she reached out to the door handle. “Well, I wish you the best of luck.”

“Thanks.”

Davy appeared at her side. “Bye, Dad.”

He lifted a hand in farewell, but didn’t catch Meg’s eye again before the door shut. With a pang of unexpected disappointment, he nevertheless whistled all the way back to the house.

“I thought you’d sworn off women.” Bill flipped the switch on the dishwasher, then walked to the living room and eased into his oversized leather chair.

Joe looked up from the Phoenix paper he’d spread across the dining table. “What are you talking about?”

“Meg.”

“You’re the one who invited her to dinner. You and Davy. Not me.”

“Yeah, and you’ve bombarded me with questions about her for the past twenty minutes.”

Joe shook his head as he stared at the red silk flowers still adorning the table. “Dad, it’s called good parenting. I need to know what kind of person you want to let my son hang out with. You can’t tell me that when I was Davy’s age you’d have let me go off with some stranger you didn’t know anything about.”

“In a heartbeat.”

“Yeah, right.” Joe stood and moved to the front window to scrutinize the recreational vehicle sheltering his son. “Not a good idea, Dad, for Davy to get attached to someone who won’t be around for long.”

Inwardly, Joe cringed. Good going. He left the door wide open for a well-deserved chastisement. Neither of them had brought up the issue, and some days it hung like an invisible barrier between them.

The leather chair squeaked. “Who says she won’t be around?”