His freckled face reddened up to the roots of his hair. “No. She’s going to pick me up later.”
“Do you and your friends need a ride home now? Or at least when my son and I finish our ice cream?”
“Yeah, sure. We’ll take a ride.”
And just like that, she had her escorts home. Not that she wouldn’t still be checking her rearview mirror for silver sedans.
But why should she? If someone broke into her car, stole her driver’s license and twenty bucks, and then slashed her tires, what would he still want with her now?
Maybe he’d grabbed her license so he could see her address and follow her home. Of course, he’d have a long drive up to San Francisco. Maybe that’s why he was following her now-to see where she was staying locally.
She shook her head and dragged her tongue across the soft-serve vanilla ice cream. She’d been on edge ever since Mrs. Del Vecchio’s murder and Michael’s strange reaction to it. Now in one day, someone had broken into her car and her dead fiance had materialized in front of her. Those two events had done nothing to calm her down.
Crunching on her cone, she wiped a napkin across Michael’s mouth. She pointed to the melted ice cream dribbling down his fingers. “Are you done with that?”
He nodded and she tossed the remainder of the cone in the trash. She stepped outside into the cool night air. The boys were lounging at a table with a red-and-white-striped umbrella hanging over it.
“Are you guys ready? One of you can sit up front, and the other two can sit in the backseat with my son, Michael.”
Apparently, teenage boys were not as scary as grown men since Michael didn’t make a grab for her when she settled him in his car seat next to one of the boys.
She glanced around the parking lot, hoping for a glimpse of the sedan.
Pulling out of the parking lot, she switched radio stations to something the boys would appreciate and hit the road.
She wasn’t alone anymore. Kieran Roarke was back in town, and that man had a protective streak a mile long. It didn’t seem as if four years as a prisoner of war had done anything to weaken it.
If anything, his protectiveness had grown fiercer.
One thing she knew for sure. Once he decided to take on the job, he’d be father of the year.
Chapter Five
“We’re going to pick up my friend Kieran, and he’s going to come with us when we visit Dr. Elena.” Devon’s eyes met Michael’s in the rearview mirror. “You liked Kieran, didn’t you?”
“I hit him.” Michael pummeled an imaginary foe with his small fists.
“I know you did.” She wagged a finger at his reflection. “The only reason you didn’t get in trouble for that is because you thought you were protecting me. You don’t have to protect me against Kieran. He’s a good guy.”
“He has a pirate patch.”
“That’s because he hurt his eye fighting bad guys.”
“Bad guys?”
Michael’s face crumpled and Devon bit her lip. She’d had just about the best conversation going with Michael in weeks, and she had to bring up bad guys. Had someone from the building talked a little too loudly about Mrs. Del Vecchio’s murder? Michael never used to be afraid of bad guys.
Just like his dad.
“There are no bad guys anymore.”
Michael responded by gazing out the window, his eyebrows drawn over his nose.
If anyone could get to the bottom of Michael’s trauma, Elena could. She wasn’t sure about Elena hypnotizing Michael but if she thought it would help, Devon just might allow it. She wanted her son back, and then they could work on building a family with Kieran.
Maybe Michael’s skittishness was scaring off Kieran. If she’d presented him with a well-adjusted, uncomplicated boy would Kieran accept his role of fatherhood more readily? If that were the case, she didn’t want him in Michael’s life. Loving a child was all about taking the good with the bad.
Nothing like bad timing.
She cruised past Columbella House and Michael jabbed the window. “Columbella.”
“That’s right. We’ll explore the beach again down there, but you have to promise not to climb up through the sea cave.”
She pulled into the Roarkes’ driveway, and Kieran stepped out on the porch. Must’ve been waiting for them.
He slid into the seat beside her, smelling of soap and a hint of the sea. The scent took her back to cool nights wrapped in a blanket in the sand, snuggling against Kieran’s warm, smooth skin. Making plans. Laughing. Loving.
“Everything go okay last night?”
Devon blinked. “I called you when we got home. Everything was fine.”
“Why’d you decide to take those teens home?”
Lifting a shoulder, she backed out of the driveway. “Saved my neighbor a drive out and she brought me some squash from her garden this morning, so it’s all good.”
She could feel him studying her profile. She should probably come clean about the silver sedan she thought was following her, but she’d do it away from Michael. They had a lot of catching up to do…away from Michael.
“Where’s Dr. Estrada’s office?”
“It’s downtown. She’s on staff at the University of California at San Francisco, too, but she sees clients in this office only. She does research at the university.” She took the turn from the coast highway onto the street that led into town. “While she’s at it, she can probably recommend a good ophthalmologist in the city.”
“I’m good.”
“You don’t want to find out if…?”
“I’m good.”
She gripped the steering wheel and gritted her teeth. “Will you talk to Elena…Dr. Estrada?”
“Maybe. I’d like to see what she has to say about Michael.”
Devon pressed her lips together. That’s not what she had in mind, but she let it go. This new Kieran was not a man to be pushed around. Was he ever? She’d never tried before.
She’d changed, too. She’d had a protective father, fiance and brother. One had died. One had been presumed dead. And one had gotten consumed by his career. She’d been left with a helpless mother and a helpless infant, and she’d had to step up to the plate. She’d become the protective one.
But now was not the time to assert her new-found strength.
They rolled onto Main Street, coming alive with tourists eating late breakfasts or browsing the antique shops, and surfers heading back into town after hitting the early-morning waves.
She turned off the main drag and parallel parked into a space on the street in front of a two-story stucco building.
“Dr. Estrada’s office is upstairs. I’ll stay with you for a little while, Michael, and then you can play with Dr. Estrada by yourself.”
Michael clutched her hand as they walked up the steps, Kieran trailing behind them. She had faith Elena could break through Michael’s barrier and ease his fears. Then Kieran could really get to know his son.
Elena shared the floor with a dentist, a financial adviser, a Realtor and an empty office. Kieran opened the outer door of Elena’s office and Devon ducked under his arm, pulling Michael with her. Elena had left the door to her inner office ajar. She was a one-woman operation with a light indicator in the reception area instead of a receptionist.
Devon tapped on the door. “Hello?”
