then shrieked. Her little blue sneakers kicked his thigh as she clutched her controller—one that wasn’t connected to the TV set in the corner of her mother’s shop.
Lauren’s friend, Vee, Ruby’s mum, hurried over from the dressing room where Savannah tried on yet another outfit. She paused by the Husband Day Care sign propped up against the game console. “Are you sure she’s okay with you?”
“She’s cool. We’re having fun, aren’t we Ruby?”
“Boobie.” Ruby smiled, exposing two tiny top teeth, two tiny bottom teeth.
She held up the controller and rattled off a number of words to her mother that sounded like a dialect of Swahili.
“See? Fun.”
Glen slid a glance to the back of the shop. One of the dressing room doors swung open, and Savannah emerged in a pair of multi-pocketed khaki pants rolled up at the bottom and a tee shirt with Vee’s Closet screen-printed on the front.
Savannah’s gaze locked on to his like a heat-seeking missile, the first time since they’d entered the shop. Every now and then—okay, often—he’d glanced up from the screen to catch a glimpse of her in a new outfit as she’d examined her reflection in front of the full-length mirror. He’d always snatched his gaze away before she caught him looking.
He wasn’t her boyfriend, or significant other, or her anything. She wouldn’t want his opinion on what she chose to buy.
“Last one.” Savannah struck a pose, hand on hip, shoulders back, oozing attitude. “Yes, a possibility, or do the pockets make my butt look like Godzilla’s?”
The tee shirt skimmed over her breasts—sadly now restrained with one of the bras Sav picked up at the department store—and finished just above the webbing belt that emphasized her hips. Only a little of her tanned calf was revealed below the rolled hem of the pants, but somehow that was sexier than her cut-off jeans. Those Victorian guys were onto something. Who would believe a woman in utility pants could turn his blood to lava?
Vee remained silent. Beside him, Ruby jabbed random buttons on her controller. Glen’s gaze flicked from her to Vee, and finally Savannah. “You’re asking me?”
Oh, hell no. There was a reason comedians poked fun at men getting their asses chewed for this sort of stuff. It was one of life’s little clichés, but a lot of the time, there was more than a grain of truth in it. Take Tom’s little run-in with his aunty…
“I’m asking both of you.” Savannah did the head toss thing, her hair spilling over her shoulders. “I’m getting into character. Twenty-one-year-old Charlotte is about to do the school drop-off with little Amy, who’s running late because Muffin the snooty Persian shredded her homework. Does it work?”
Glen opened his mouth. Closed it again when his brain censored his original thought of: Lemme get my hands on that sweet bod…Yeah, the outfit worked. Just not in the way she meant. What the hell was wrong with him, panting over utility pants on a woman?
Maybe because he could picture Sav in this outfit for real. The two of them at a lazy Sunday brunch where they’d feed each other bits of smoked salmon and bacon, where afterward, they’d wrap their arms around each other’s waists and stroll along Bounty Bay’s beach. She’d lean her head on his shoulder and murmur something seductive while sea birds whirled above their heads. He’d laugh, promising to take her up on it once they got back to their unmade bed, which they’d made love in that morning.
A fantasy. As much based in reality as the plot of Savannah’s L.A. sitcom.
His fingers gripped the controller hard enough to snap it in two. “Looks fine. My younger sister Grace is only a few years older, and she’d wear that.” Glen kept his tone as level as possible, with just the right hint of boredom so she wouldn’t guess the crazy path his mind had momentarily taken.
Savannah smoothed her hands down the shirt and gave a little nod, her gaze sliding away from his. “Right. Add these to my tab, Vee, and I’ll keep them on, if that’s okay?”
“Of course.” Vee stroked Ruby’s dark curls and then walked to the small shop counter. “I’ll ring up the rest of the stuff and the fleece Glen picked out for his nephew.”
“Add one of your Vee shirts in black to that bag. I’ll pay.” Savannah tossed over her shoulder as she disappeared into the dressing room.
It shouldn’t give him the warm fuzzies that Savannah was buying a gift for Tom.