Kevin looked at the unopened package of hamburger meat sitting on the counter and rolled his eyes. “It’s not like that’s gonna be anytime soon, is it?”
As soon as he’d left the kitchen, Sean looked at Deanna and grinned. “Scolded by a five-year-old,” he lamented. “How embarrassing is that?”
“Not as embarrassing as trying to explain what he almost walked in on,” she said. “I felt as if I were sixteen again and my father caught me making out on the front porch.”
He studied her with undisguised curiosity. “Did you get caught a lot?”
“Probably not nearly as much as you probably did,” she said.
“Nobody much cared what I did,” he said in a matter-of-fact way that said volumes about how much that still hurt.
Deanna avoided any hint of pity. “Not even the fathers of the girls you dated?”
A smile tugged at his lips, apparently at some nearly forgotten memory. “You have a point. They did care quite a lot, but I was a smooth operator. I almost never got caught kissing their precious daughters.”
“Lucky you.”
He winked. “Luck had nothing to do with it. I knew enough to steer clear of their front porches. I did all my kissing in the back seat of a car, blocks from home.”
Deanna felt a little thrill of excitement at the image he’d created. She wouldn’t mind spending an evening in the back seat of a car with him. But given their age and experience, she doubted they’d be able to confine themselves to kissing.
“Don’t even go there,” Sean said.
“Where?” she asked innocently.
“I am not going to make out with you in the back seat of a car,” he said firmly, his eyes twinkling and his lips struggling to hold back a grin.
She frowned at the obvious teasing. “Who asked you to?”
“Come on. You know you want to. It’s written all over your face.”
She shook her head and regarded him with a stern expression. “Given what you’re telling me, I’m more amazed than ever that you made it to the age of twenty-nine without having at least a brush with fatherhood.”
Sean’s humor promptly died. “Ever heard of birth control?”
“Sure, but it’s not fail proof.”
“It is when I use it,” he said, his expression grim.
She should have found that reassuring, but for some reason all she felt was sorrow that a man with as much parenting potential as Sean was more terrified of becoming a father than he was of walking into a blazing building.
Sean thought things had been going just great until Deanna had started pushing him about being a father. Why she couldn’t see that he was a lousy candidate for such a role was beyond him. He liked kids. He got along with them. But that wasn’t enough to prove that he had what it took to nurture one the way a real dad was supposed to do. Hell, he didn’t know the first thing about making that kind of lifelong commitment to another human being.
He pounded the hamburgers into patties with more force than necessary, scowling as he went over their conversation in his head. He’d been honest with her, but she hadn’t believed him. Like too many women Deanna apparently saw him the way she wanted him to be, not the way he was. The faith she apparently had in him was scary stuff, worse than any fire he’d ever faced.
When she’d gone into the living room to check on Kevin, he’d finally breathed a sigh of relief. He’d thrown open the window to get some air into a room that had suddenly gone claustrophobic.
A faint prickle of unease on the back of his neck told him she was back.
“You trying to tenderize that meat by pounding it to death?” she inquired lightly.
Sean stared at the hamburger patties that were less than a half inch high. “Just working in the seasonings,” he claimed, molding them back into balls before flattening them on the already hot skillet.
“What can I do to help?”
“Not a thing. I’ve already dished up the potato salad and coleslaw. We’ve got tomatoes, onions, ketchup and mustard. Anything else you need?”
“Buns?” she asked, glancing around.
“In the oven warming.”
“Sounds as if you have everything under control, then.”
“Kevin okay?”
“He found the cartoon channel. What do you think?” she asked wryly. “We don’t have cable at our place.”
“That’s probably a good thing. Kids spend too much time in front of TV or computers these days. They’re better off outside in the fresh air, getting plenty of exercise.” Even as the words left his mouth, he realized it was something he’d heard his foster father say on more than one occasion. Evan Forrester had obviously taught him more than Sean had realized.
“Amen to that,” Deanna said. “I only wish there were more places for them to play in our neighborhood. Some of the kids play in the street, but I refuse to let Kevin do that, and the nearest park’s too far away.”
“Ruby could bring him here in the afternoon. There’s plenty of room outside the building, and there are usually a bunch of kids out in front. I could introduce her and Kevin to some of the moms.”
“You wouldn’t mind doing that?”
“Why would I?”
“It might mean you’d be bumping into Kevin more. I’m sure it’s flattering to be idolized the way he idolizes you, but it can take a toll after a while. You might start to want your privacy back.”
“Dee, don’t worry about it,” he said, using the nickname he’d heard Ruby use. “Kevin’s a great kid. He’s not getting on my nerves. I like having him around. And it’s not as if I’m here all that much, anyway. If it’ll make you feel better, have Ruby call me before they come by, to make sure it’s not an inconvenience, but I can tell you right now that it won’t be.”
Deanna didn’t look totally convinced.
“Okay, what else is on your mind?” he asked.
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for him to start to count on you too much,” she admitted.
