Chapter Ten #2
“Why? Don’t you know you’re an incredibly beautiful woman?”
She looked up at him. Her eyes were wide and color stained her cheeks. “Wow. No one has ever said that to me before. Thank you. I feel very special.”
She was special. So special that the thought of always being like this wasn’t the least bit scary.
Unrealistic, but not scary. If he were willing to give a relationship and love a try, Heather might be the one woman he would want to be with.
Of course, because of how much he admired and respected her, he would never inflict himself upon her. Talk about a no-win situation.
They danced twice more. As they returned to their table at last, a gray-haired older woman stopped them. A boy of nine or ten was at her side. The woman spoke in rapid Spanish.
“She says to tell you that she is Lupe’s grandmother,” the boy said, then paused to listen. “She says that you were very kind to Rick and that she’s glad God has blessed you with a wife and family of your own. Your daughter is beautiful.”
Jim shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to say. “Tell her…” He paused.
Heather smiled at the grandmother and touched her arm. “Tell her that we appreciate her kind words and that we wish Lupe and Rick all the happiness in the world.”
The older woman beamed in response, then moved off. Jim tugged at his collar. “Sorry about that. I didn’t know what to say.”
“I know.” She looked at him with wide-eyed innocence. “Gee, have you noticed we’ve been getting some not-so-subtle messages from the world at large? An awful lot of people assume we’re married. I wonder what that means?”
He closed his hand over the back of her neck. “Yeah, like you want to get married any more than I do.”
“Less,” she said firmly as she led the way back to their table. “I want to get married even less than you do.”
Fifteen minutes later, she was dancing with one of Rick’s uncles. Jim watched, trying not to feel annoyed at the way the other man was holding her close. He felt someone move next to him, glanced over and saw Flo.
“Don’t you want this for yourself?” she asked.
“Are you referring to the cake on my plate? Help yourself.”
She swatted his arm, then motioned to the bride and groom sitting alone at the head table. They stared into each other’s eyes and spoke as if the rest of the world didn’t exist.
“Marriage,” she said. “A family. Heather.”
He didn’t answer; he didn’t have to. Flo knew his thoughts on the subject.
She glared at him. “Women like her don’t come along every day.”
“You’ve told me this before. I know you’re right.”
“How long do you intend to be stubborn and stupid? When are you going to take a chance on love?”
He stared at her earnest expression and the concern darkening her brown eyes. “Thanks, Flo.”
“What you really mean is never, right?”
He didn’t even have to think before nodding.
* * *
“I can’t do this,” Jim said frantically as he paced from one end of the waiting room to the other.
Heather rolled her eyes. “I knew it was a mistake to bring you. Calm down. This is a well-baby visit. Diane’s going to get weighed and measured and the pediatrician will make sure everything is okay with her. Nothing else.”
“But he’s giving her a shot,” he said in the same tone of voice reserved for discussing serial murderers. “She’ll cry. It will be horrible.”
“She probably will cry,” Heather agreed. “And guess what? We’ll all survive it. Well, except possibly you.”
Heather glanced down at her daughter who was perfectly content to play with her bright plastic set of baby keys, then at the other woman sitting in the waiting room. She had a one-month-old in a carrier.
The woman met her gaze and smiled. “It’s nice that your husband was able to take time off work to come with you and your daughter.”
Heather had given up ever trying to explain her relationship with Jim. “I agree. Although if I’d known what he was going to be like, I would’ve left him behind.”
He glared at her, then slumped into the seat next to her. “Fine. Kick me when I’m down. Can I help the fact that I’m worried about Diane? Is that so horrible?” He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. “I’m going to be sick,” he announced.
The other women giggled softly and Heather had to bite back a smile.
The real humor of the situation was that Jim wasn’t kidding.
While he’d been perfectly calm and capable during her emergency delivery in the elevator, when faced with a well-baby visit that involved getting Diane vaccinated, he fell apart.
Still, she had to admit she was happy to have him along. Even with his melodrama, he was company and another pair of ears to listen to the doctor’s instructions. Sometimes she got so caught up in remembering all her questions that she had trouble remembering the answers.
They were a good team. Everyone around them assumed they were married—from Rick’s grandmother at the wedding the previous month to the young mother in the waiting room here in the pediatrician’s office. She’d teased Jim that it was a sign from God, but now she wasn’t so sure it was a joke.
She drew in a deep breath and reminded herself that she’d tried the relationship thing three times in the past ten years and ended up hurt in a big way every time.
Jim was a wonderful man even though he had a few issues from his past. She liked him and got along with him and they had a chemistry that she’d never experienced before, but they weren’t going to have a romantic relationship together. They couldn’t.
At first she’d resisted because of her three-strikes rule.
But now she wasn’t willing to take the chance and risk losing the friendship she’d come to count on.
Jim had become a part of her life and she didn’t want him to leave.
As long as they were friends, she was reasonably confident that he would be there for her.
But if they stirred sex and love into the mix, there was no telling what might happen.
Better for both of them to keep the status quo.
* * *
“Feeling better?” Heather asked later that evening as Jim drank a beer.
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“No way. I thought you were about to pass out when you saw the needle. You screamed louder than Diane.”
Jim looked insulted. “I did not scream. I exhaled loudly.”
Heather laughed. “You made a shrieky noise that could wake the dead. Poor Dr. Miller nearly jumped out of his skin.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grumbled, but she could see the faint red tingeing his cheeks.
Heather couldn’t resist leaning over and patting his arm. “It’s okay. Your secret is safe with me. I’ll never let on that you can’t handle watching Diane get vaccinated.”
“It wasn’t that,” he said. “It was…” He paused.
“Yes?”
“Something else. I don’t remember.”
“Oh. Of course. Something else made you cry out like a woman.”
Blue eyes turned icy and she half expected to see frost forming in the corners of her living room. “What was that?” he asked.
Heather knew she’d crossed the line. Jim might be a great guy, but he wasn’t above a tickling attack that would leave her gasping and crying uncle. She cleared her throat. “I didn’t say anything. Really.” She batted her eyes for effect.
“I thought so.”
He shifted so that he was facing her. They sat on the sofa in her living room. Dinner was long over and the dishwasher had nearly completed its cycle.
“Thanks for letting me stay,” he said. “I enjoyed watching Diane taste her first solid food.”
Heather thought about the mess and the tiny amount her daughter had actually swallowed.
“I don’t think it was a complete failure, but I don’t know that we can call it a roaring success, either.
I’ll do what the doctor suggested and try it every couple of days until she gets the idea.
I guess I should go look at high chairs this weekend. ”
For her first sampling of baby cereal, Diane had been propped up in Heather’s lap. But that wouldn’t work for very long.
“You want company?” he asked. “My car has a bigger trunk.”
“We’d both like that.” She looked at his familiar, handsome face. “You’re very good to us.”
“Yeah, well.” Jim cleared his throat. “Actually, I want to talk to you about that.”
“The high chair?”
“No. That you don’t seem to mind me hanging around with you and Diane.”
“I don’t. We have fun.” She paused. What was he trying to tell her?