agonizing over what to wear. He was working tonight, tending bar at the country club, and Mrs. Foster was watching the girls. Cameron, finally released from servitude at the golf course, was out with his friends. She could only hope he wasn’t joyriding along the back roads at the edge of town. Unlikely, she thought. Not after his loss.
“Come on, Lily. Just pick something,” she muttered, glaring into the depths of her closet. It was the closet of a conservative, boring person, redeemed only by the splashes of color and style added by Crystal. She fingered the red dress she’d worn to the movies with Greg, then dismissed it. This wasn’t a date but a discussion and she should dress accordingly. Slacks, then. No, not slacks. Jeans. With a lime green shirt and clogs that made her taller. She forbade herself to fuss over hair and makeup, reminding herself even as she drove to the country club that this was not a date.
It was so much more important than any date.
Get a grip, Lily, she told herself, crossing the parking lot toward the clubhouse bar. She paused in the front to reel in her nerves. She’d never noticed how pleasant a golf course was, how peaceful. The sun was just setting over the shoulders of the distant mountains, and deep shadows stretched across the fairways. The cry of a bird and the murmur of a car’s engine were muted. And the cool air tasted sweet as she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. All right, she coached herself. Just go talk to him.
She reminded herself that she had gotten to know Sean in ways she’d never known anyone else, not even a boyfriend or lover. Sharing what they did, it couldn’t possibly be otherwise. Their love for the children had created a unique, inevitable bond between two strangers who ordinarily wouldn’t even give one another the time of day. She wondered if he realized that; if, like her, he marveled at the impact these three orphaned children had on their lives.
When she stepped into the bar and her eyes adjusted to the dim light, her first glimpse of him swept away those misty illusions. He stood behind the carved oak bar, surrounded by three women. Three attractive women. Three attractive women who were coming on to him. Even from a distance she could see that at least two of them wore wedding bands.
Resentment boiled up in Lily, unexpected and bitter. You’re a family man now, she wanted to scream. You can’t hang around, flirting with married women.
She stood there unnoticed, breathing the yeasty smelling air of the bar and watching a Sean she had never seen before. Without a break in style, he drew draft beer and mixed drinks, refilled snack trays, wiped down the counter and treated the three women as though they were the last ones on earth. He fixed a fresh cosmopolitan for one of them, and she leaned over to thank him, her breasts pressing forward as she slipped a bill into the tip jar.
Forcing herself to overcome her discomfiture, Lily went to the bar and slid onto a leather-covered stool, as far from the three women as possible. He turned to her with that beguiling smile. She saw the instant he recognized her. The smile froze, the eyes turned wary. He excused himself and approached her with a wary air.
“Hey, Lily. Is everything all right?”
“Why would you assume anything is wrong just because I came here?”
“To see me? In a bar? I’m thinking dire emergency here.”
She ground her teeth. Here she was, intending to discuss his future and his career, and he was teasing her. “Maybe I came to celebrate the last day of school,” she said.
“I’d celebrate with you, but Charlie and Cameron brought home their report cards today,” he remarked.
She knew what Charlie’s grades were—definitely room for improvement. But Cameron…“He’s always been an A student.”
“Streaks are made to be broken.”
One of the trio at the other end of the bar signaled. “Seanie, I’m ready for another Kir royale, hon.”
Lily sniffed. “Seanie?”
He winked at her and turned away, easing back into his banter with the customers as he fixed the champagne and Chambord and served it with a flourish. By the time he returned to Lily, she was having second thoughts about bringing up the topic at all. This wasn’t exactly the best place to discuss the children. She cut a glance at the three women. “Your fan club?”