over Chloe’s head. “We’ll be waiting.”
Those words made me smile.
I hoped I knew what I was doing too.
Samantha
Watching Chloe with Ian was fascinating. I had never seen her react to a man the way she had to him. The day we met him, when I had stumbled trying to catch up with her and had watched her run up to him, desperate to find her beloved Stitch, I was worried. He was a stranger, and she was alone with him. I had pushed through the bushes just as she flung herself into his arms. His facial expression and reaction calmed me. He was soft-spoken and kind, and I could hear every caring word he said. He wasn’t a danger to her. His reaction to my injured ankle proved that even more. His innate gentleness surrounded him.
He stood after bandaging my ankle and insisted on trying to locate Stitch. I couldn’t believe we had lost him—he had been Chloe’s constant companion since before she was two. I had bought him for her just after Alan had left us. She barely remembered her father, but Stitch was her world. I was so used to him locked on to her little backpack. His Velcro-covered paws must have given away and he got left behind. I wasn’t sure how Chloe would manage without him.
Ian questioned Chloe in a direct, calm manner. His hands were on his hips as he thought about her replies. He was tall—well over six feet—with sandy-colored hair and hazel eyes that twinkled when he laughed. An angular jaw covered in scruff set off full lips and a handsome face. His shoulders were wide, waist slim, and his smile was inviting and warm.
He seemed pretty perfect until I read that text and shut down. It hit too close to home, and once he returned with Chloe, empty-handed, I concentrated only on her. I’d already had my heart trampled on once; I wasn’t letting it happen again—and I wouldn’t allow my child to be hurt.
Except now, the teasing text explained and Ian sitting with Chloe on his lap, listening intently to her, and seeing how tender he had been with her earlier, my mind and heart were at war. When he had given her back her beloved friend, I almost wept. The rapturous joy on her face was a sight to behold. Since we’d sat down, Ian had peppered us both with questions, never rushing my answers, but obviously interested.
My mind told me not to get involved. My heart whispered this man was different.
Which one could I trust?
Ian
Over vanilla milkshakes, I had found out a lot about Samantha and Chloe.
Chloe was four. Her birthday was in the fall—only a week after her mommy’s, she informed me. Samantha preferred Sam—at least to friends. They had moved here to Grimsby last month from Toronto. “I wanted a smaller town for Chloe to grow up in,” she explained.
I was delighted to find out they lived in the same apartment complex as I did—four floors above me. Given my odd hours, it wasn’t surprising we had never encountered each other in the building.
I planned to change that.
Sam was a book editor for a publishing house. She made her own hours, and as I realized, they rivaled my own at times.
She informed me she was divorced from Chloe’s dad.
“Alan left us for a coworker,” she clarified quietly. “He told me in a text—on his way to the Caribbean with her. The divorce happened quickly, and from what I understand, so did the end of his relationship.”
I covered her hand on the table with mine. “No wonder Gail’s text spooked you.”
She lifted a shoulder. “I had no business being upset.”
“Is it wrong to tell you I’m glad you were? I was upset I didn’t get your number.”
She glanced at Chloe, now sitting beside me, busy coloring a picture for Stitch to show him all he had missed in the past week, talking to him in her sweet little voice.
“Are you certain of that, Ian? It’s not only me,” she asked.
I thought of how I’d felt when they walked away from me in the park. How joyful I was, despite the circumstances, that I found them today in my ER.
“I am. But maybe I should ask you the same thing. My hours here are crazy. I volunteer at the local youth shelter. I get called in at odd times. I’m paying off student loans, and I live pretty simply.” I held up my hand before she could respond. “Dating