Chelsea cocked her head to the side. “Some guy? Is that what Will is to you?”
“Come on, Chelse. You know what I meant.”
“Yeah. I know exactly what you meant. Will’s just some dude you’re screwing around with to get your rocks off, and you want to be alone and independent the rest of your life.”
“You don’t understand.” She picked up a carrot, then set it down again, her appetite gone.
“I do understand,” Chelsea said. “I really do. You want to be able to give your kids everything you and Vic could do for them. But guess what? You’re a one-person income now, so you can’t and probably won’t be able to until you’re a two-person income again. With Will in the picture, you can do some things for the kids you couldn’t do before. So if Will offers to help out with some things financially, that’s a bad thing?”
“No. But what if things don’t work out with me and Will? Then what does that do to my kids? They become dependent on him—and his income—just like they depended on Vic. I’m an adult. I can handle the heartbreak, but I won’t have their hearts broken all over again.”
Chelsea nodded. “I appreciate your fear. But you can’t lock your kids away and shelter them from hurt the rest of their lives. Nor can you lock yourself away in order to protect them. You have to allow yourself to live again, Jane. Even if it means risking you—and them—and the chance you could all be hurt again.”
She stared at her carrots. “I’m not sure I can take that chance.”
“Then you’re doomed to be alone the rest of your life. I hope you think that’s worth it.”
She pinned Chelsea with a look. “That was harsh, Chelse.”
“No, Jane. That was the truth.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Will thought a lot about what Jane had said the other night.
He didn’t like it, but they were her kids and she had the right to make those decisions. Even if he didn’t agree with all of them.
The discussion about the camp had come up in conversation with Ryan. Will had told him he’d gone to the camp when he was a kid. Ryan had been so excited about the camp, and Will thought it was something he could do to help.
It was simple. He had plenty of money. Hell, who did he have to spend his money on?
Obviously Jane didn’t see it as simply as he did. Sometimes she was just damned unreasonable about things.
But, again, the kids were hers and so were the decisions. And he just needed to butt out.
He called her the next day. She answered, tentative with him. He hated that.
“I’m sorry for walking out on you,” he said.
“I’m sorry for what I said.”
“You had a right to say it. You’re Ryan and Tabitha’s mother, and you get to call the shots where they’re concerned. I shoved my way in and made suggestions, and I had no right to do that.”
She went quiet for a few seconds. “It’s okay to suggest. I appreciate the suggestions. I just won’t always say yes.”
“Okay. I can live with that.”
“Thank you for always being so understanding. Especially when I’m not always so reasonable.”
He laughed. “So I’m forgiven?”
“Nothing to forgive.”
“I’m glad you think so. Look, there’s another reason for my call.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. There’s an animatronics dinosaur show coming to town on Friday. Do you think the kids would be interested?”
“Are you kidding? They’d be thrilled.”
“Great. How about we go out for pizza and head over to the show Friday after work? Say about six thirty?”
“That sounds perfect.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you all up.”
They talked for a while, and when he hung up he felt a lot better about where things stood, especially when he saw Jane at the gym that night. She grinned at him and caught him in the hallway.
“Have a good day?” she asked.
“It was an uneventful one, and to me that’s always a good day.”
She started walking with him as he headed toward the lockers, so he veered off into one of the side hallways, grateful to see they were alone. He pushed her against the wall and kissed her. She kissed him back with fervor, sliding her fingers into his hair and pushing her body against his. He finally had to pull back and take a deep breath.
“Getting a hard-on in these shorts is going to be difficult to hide.”
She breathed deeply. “I’m having the same problem.”
“Yours is easier to hide.”
“I can give you some tough math problems to solve,” she said, her eyes bright with mischief.
“That won’t help. Your body is still pressed up against mine.”
She slid out from under him. “I can fix that. See you later.” After a quick brush of her lips against his, she winked and waved as she hurried off, leaving him alone to think up some of those complex math problems while he breathed deeply.
Friday was a clusterfuck at work. Rain moved in, and that never boded well for traffic on the highways. The storms were intense, accidents were frequent, and to top it off, two of the patrol officers who were due to relieve his shift were sick, which meant he’d be working overtime.
Great. Just great.
He called Jane that afternoon after she got off school.
“Hey, how’s your day going?” he asked.
“Just fine. The kids are really excited about tonight.”
“Yeah, about that. I have some bad news. Two of our officers are sick and I have to work overtime.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I hate to disappoint the kids, but there’s nothing I can do.”
“Don’t worry about it. We can do it another time. You be careful out there.”
“There’s another showing at noon tomorrow. How about it?”
“That sounds great.”
“Good. I’ll be there at eleven to pick you up.”
“Perfect.”
“Thanks for understanding. I need to get back to it, so I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay.”
* * *
Jane hung up the phone and went to the window. Thunder rolled and cracked outside, and lightning lit up the sky. Summer storms were always vicious, and this one was no exception. It had been a hard-driving storm all day.