It was a thing he’d done a thousand times before, and the memories came rushing back. She’d told herself that she’d moved on, forgotten about him, forgotten about the way it once was, but all of a sudden she was no longer sure.
“Things aren’t the same, Bobby. We’ve got a little girl who needs a mama and a daddy. Do you think you’re ready to settle down, get married, and be the kind of daddy Annie deserves?”
“I’d like nothing more, but you’ve got to realize, Suzanna, things like that take time. I’ve got responsibilities. In a few years I’ll make partner in my firm. That’s not something—”
She gave a cynical snort. “Not something you can walk away from the way you walked away from me and Annie?”
“I’ve changed, Suzanna. I’m different now. I know what I want, and I want you. I realize we’ve got a child to think about, and I’ve offered to help out financially, but where we go from here is up to you. If you give it a chance, I think you’ll see the passion is still there. It won’t always be easy, but we’ll work it out, find a way to be with each other.”
He lowered his eyes and his voice grew softer, threaded with what Suzanna believed to be the sound of regret. “Unless you’re willing to try, we’ll never know if this was meant to be.”
She felt a tiny bit of her resolve slip away. After all, he was Annie’s father, and they did have a history together. Everybody made mistakes; she’d made plenty of them herself. There was a very real possibility that Bobby regretted the way things ended, that he had looked for her, and that he actually did want them to be a family. If it was true, didn’t she owe it to Annie to at least give it a try?
She raised her face and looked into Bobby’s eyes. “Would you like to meet Annie?”
“Of course I would, but not right away. It’s too soon. You and I need to spend time together, get back to where we used to be.”
A prickle of suspicion suddenly crawled up her spine.
“Back to where we used to be?” she repeated. “Does that mean you getting me into bed, or are you actually interested in being a daddy to Annie?”
“I won’t lie to you, Suzanna, it’s both. Of course, I want to get to know our daughter, but I also want to hold you in my arms and make love to you. I’ve never stopped wanting that.”
It was late in the afternoon when they left the restaurant and drove back to Barston. Bobby parked his car in the darkened lot behind the shops then leaned across the seat, kissed Suzanna full on the mouth, and pulled her body into his. She didn’t resist even though it felt wrong and oddly out of sync with her memories. He was the same but somehow different. When he kissed her a second and third time, something stirred in the pit of her stomach and she began to believe the passion was still there.
It was too soon. Much too soon.
“Not yet,” she said, but her words had little conviction and were no louder than a whisper. “I think we should wait until—”
He silenced her, covering her mouth with his. When the kiss ended, he ran his tongue along the side of her throat. With his breath hot in her ear, he whispered, “Don’t think, just relax and let it happen.”
She forced herself to pull away. “No. Not here and not now. We’re not teenagers, and this isn’t the back seat of your daddy’s car. If we’re going to make this work, it’s got to be different this time.” Before she could say they needed to get to know one another again before they jumped into bed, he cut in.
“You’re right.” He grinned. “The Ellington Hotel is about 15 miles north of Barston. Next week I’ll check in, and you can meet me there at five o’clock. They have a nice cocktail lounge; we’ll have dinner, dance, and I’ll stay the night.”
Pushing aside the apprehension she’d felt earlier, Suzanna agreed to meet at the Ellington the following Tuesday.
“This doesn’t mean I’m going up to the room with you,” she warned, “but it would be nice to spend the evening together and see how we feel about one another.”
“I already know how I feel about you,” Bobby said with a twinkle in his eye.
He kissed her one last time. She stepped out of his car and headed over to where she’d parked Ida’s. As she watched him drive away, a warning bell sounded in the back of her mind, but instead of recognizing it for what it was, Suzanna imagined it to be the chime of wedding bells.
Suzanna
Shattered Dreams
WHEN SUZANNA ARRIVED HOME, GREGG was in the living room working on a Cinderella jigsaw puzzle with Annie. He glanced up, smiled, then looked back to the puzzle.
“I came by the shop this afternoon, and Colette said you were gone for the day. Where’d you go?”
Suzanna’s heart twisted, skipped a beat, then started up again, only faster. “It was on the spur of the moment. A friend I knew from high school came by and asked me to lunch. The shop was really slow, so Colette suggested I take the afternoon off.” Not a lie, but not the full truth. “If I’d known you were available, I would have called you to join us.” This time definitely a lie.
“It was a last-minute thing. The school canceled afternoon classes because the furnace conked out, and there was no heat in the building.” He gave a nod toward the half-finished puzzle and said, “We’re looking for Prince Charming’s shoe. Want to join in?”
“Later perhaps. I’m going to see
