Learning to Lean Read online

  “A kiss would be traditional at this point,

  but since we’re only friends, maybe we should shake hands instead.”

  His words were as a brake placed on her heart, bringing it to a slow, painfully heavy drumbeat. He was right. Heather knew he was, and she hated it. With a tight rein on her emotions, she held out her hand and felt it swallowed by Matt’s warm grasp.

  She lowered her lashes to hide the hurt and confusion in her eyes. A gentle tug pulled her forward, and Matt’s lips brushed her forehead in a quick, sweet kiss. She lifted her gaze to his, and he slowly moved closer while her heart resumed a quick staccato.

  Headlights swept across the yard and tires crunched on the gravel beside the street. Matt and Heather jumped apart as if they’d been caught in an illicit act. Matt released her hand.

  ~*~*~*~

  Learning to Lean

  By Mildred Colvin

  Copyright © 2011 Mildred Colvin

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  bookcover © Sebastian Czapnik | Dreamstime.com &© Monika Adamczyk | Dreamstime.com

  This book is available in print at most online distributors.

  My mission is to write and distribute sweet romances suitable for all ages that will uplift and encourage.

  ~*~*~*~

  ~One~

  “Mom, look out!”

  Fear slammed against Heather Conway’s chest. She stomped the brake pedal. The left front fender of her van stopped mere inches from a blue Bronco parked at an odd angle across the lane she’d been cruising, looking for a parking place. Obviously he’d seen the space first, and she’d been too concerned about what Candace was doing in the backseat to watch her driving.

  “Good thing I yelled.” Her oldest son, Brad, blew out a low whistle. “Close call.”

  Heather sucked in a lungful of air and let it out in a whoosh. She could’ve caused an accident. She turned to see nine-year-old Gary looking out the window with wide eyes. He seemed all right. Three-year-old Candace blissfully crumbled crackers and threw the crumbs over the middle seats and floor of the once-clean van.

  Heather knew better than to allow her children to distract her while she drove, even at a crawl through a parking lot. But how did she know someone would try to take the same parking space she wanted when she turned around to scold her daughter for making a mess in her clean van.

  “He’s backing out of the way.” Brad spoke with the authority of his teen years. “You can go ahead now.”

  “Yes, I see.” Heather waved at the man behind the wheel who smiled and motioned her forward. She parked and held a hand to her chest, willing her heart to slow. She couldn’t afford an accident. Although her insurance might pay, the monthly rates would go higher than the cost of repair. With every penny already accounted for, another expense was not an option.

  From the corner of her eye, Heather watched the SUV cross the lot and roll into an empty space. She shut her motor off. Heat radiated with each pound of her heart. Turning off the air conditioner didn’t help. If Brad hadn’t yelled when he did…

  “Are we going in?” Gary moved forward to perch on the middle seat beside his little sister. “She really made a mess, Mom. There’s crumbs all over the place.”

  “Man, that was close.” Brad shook his head. “Much more and we’d have bought a Bronco. Way to go, Mom.”

  “Yeah,” Gary grinned and brought his hands together in a loud clap. “Smack.”

  Only a young boy would find such delight in an almost-collision.

  “Okay, you two.” Heather grabbed her purse and dropped her keys inside. She opened the door. “Let’s not rub it in.”

  “Aw, we’re just teasing.” Brad unfolded his lanky frame while Gary hopped out the side door.

  Heather lifted Candace from her car seat. She brushed cracker crumbs off her daughter’s pink shorts before setting the little girl down and taking her hand.

  “Come on, guys, let’s get your supplies. Only a week until school starts.”

  “Don’t remind me.” Brad’s scowl told Heather school was a sore subject.

  “You’ll do fine.” She remembered her high school days, right here in Cedar Ridge, Iowa, where little changed. The old two-story brick building was the same as it had been twenty years ago when she started her freshman year.

  “Hey, Mom, can I go look at the model cars?” Gary asked.

  “What about school supplies?”

  “You can get them, can’t you?”

  Heather started to argue that he should take more interest in school, when her attention drifted across the lot to the blue Bronco. The man lifted a toddler from the back. A young teen girl fell into step with him while a boy who appeared the same age as Gary wandered ahead.

  “I’ll go with him, Mom,” Brad said. “You get the school stuff. We’ll meet you there.”

  Heather entered the store with her children. “Listen, guys, we can’t afford a lot of extras.” She hated telling the boys the same thing every time they went to the store. If only Darrell hadn’t left her with so many bills. How ironic that a man who sold insurance for a living died without a policy of his own.

  “We know, Mom.” Brad punched his little brother. “Come on, Gary. Let’s go.”

  Heather started to call them back and stopped. Why bother? She didn’t mind them browsing. The hurt came when they found something they wanted, and she had to say no. But one day they’d appreciate her scrimping and saving when she could buy a nice house like the one they’d had before their dad died.

  ~*~

  Matthew Sanders locked his Bronco before going into the store. He slipped Kristen into the shopping cart’s child carrier and headed toward the hardware section. He’d pick up school supplies next as soon as he found the rubber cement he needed. School started in a week, and he still needed to enroll the older kids. Moving to Cedar Ridge was an experience he hadn’t counted on.

  “Dad, can I go to electronics?” Ricky grabbed the cart before they turned into the hardware aisle. “I promise I won’t go anywhere else, so you can find me.”

  Matt shrugged. “Sure. If I’m not here, I’ll be a couple of aisles back in school supplies. Okay?”

  “Yeah. Thanks Dad.”

  “I go potty.” Kristen patted his arm.

  “All right, hang in there.” He started to turn the cart around when his oldest daughter stopped him.

  “I’ll take her.”

  Matt pulled Kristen from the cart and handed her to Becka. What would he have done without her help the last two years? “Thanks, honey. I’ll probably be in school supplies when you get back.”

  “Okay, Dad. Don’t worry, I’ll find you.” Becka waved off his concern and left, her little sister straddling her right hip.

  Matt turned into the aisle with cans of paint on one side and various tubes and packages on the other.

  “Hi, may I help you find something?” A pretty woman in her mid-twenties greeted him with a friendly smile.

  “I’m looking for rubber cement.”

  “Well, you’re in the right place. It should be here somewhere.”

  She walked around his cart and pointed to an empty holder. “This is where it belongs. Seems we’re out. Let’s check school supplies.”

  To his surprise, she fell into step with him. When she smiled at him, the expression in her eyes said she liked what she saw. “I don’t remember seeing you in my department before.”

  “Do you remember all your customers?”

  Her smile widened. “No, only the handso
me ones.”

  He laughed. “Oh, yeah?”

  “Definitely.”

  Matt enjoyed her flirting, although he would never pursue any type of relationship with someone only ten years older than Becka. If he married again, he wanted a mother for his kids. An image of the pretty brunette who’d almost run him down in the parking lot popped into his head. He grinned and shook his head. She had a van full of kids and was probably happily married.

  They went to the middle of the school supplies aisle and stopped in front of crayons, pencils, pens, glue, and erasers. Everything except rubber cement.

  “Hey, Daddy,” Becka stepped into the aisle. “Here’s your big girl. She went potty, didn’t you, Kristen?”

  “Yes. Go potty.” Kristen nodded her little head, making the tiny pigtails Becka had put in her hair bounce. Her wide grin showed her pride.

  Matt took Kristen from Becka and grinned at her. “That’s my sweetheart.”

  He hugged her close before slipping her back into the cart. His mind registered the shock on Cindy’s face, as Ricky barreled into the aisle waving a CD.

  “Dad, can I have this?”

  The clerk’s glare singed Matt. “I’m sure you’ll find rubber cement here. I need to get back to hardware.” She swept out the end of the school aisle.

  Becka watched her go and turned to her father with accusing eyes. “What’d you do to her?”

  “Nothing.” He held up his hands in an innocent gesture, but he couldn’t stop the grin that slipped out.

  Becka laughed. “Honestly, Dad, can’t you find someone old like you?”

  Matt laughed.

  ~*~

  Heather browsed through the home furnishings department, admiring lamps she couldn’t afford. She picked up one with a cut-glass base to peek at the price tag and set it back down. Like her sons, she enjoyed dreaming of the impossible. Someday, she would be able to buy what she wanted when she went into a store. Just not today. With a sigh, she turned toward school supplies.

  As she pushed her cart past paper and notebooks, she searched for the supply list the store put up each year. She went well into the aisle before she noticed a man standing a few feet ahead of her with three kids. His son badgered him to buy a CD. She could sympathize.

  The list was not hanging where it should be, but she noticed backpacks beyond the family and pushed her cart forward. Footsteps pounded behind her. She turned to see Brad and Gary skid to a stop.

  “I tried to talk him out of it, Mom.” Brad shrugged and gave Gary a smirk. “I told him you wouldn’t buy him a model.”

  “It’s real cool.” Gary ignored his brother and shoved the box at her. “Please, Mom?”

  A bump and the sound of metal hitting metal had Heather swinging back the other way. Her cart had scraped the side of the man’s cart. Warmth crept into her cheeks as she recognized the man from the parking lot. His lips turned up in an amused smirk and his eyes twinkled. If she could wish herself away, she would. After almost smashing his fender she should’ve known right off who he was. How had she missed that brown, wavy hair not to mention the cleft in his chin?

  She forced herself to meet his smiling gaze. “I am so sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” His grin widened. “This beats using our vehicles. A lot less damage, right?”

  Gary grabbed her arm. “Mom, please?”

  She glanced at him. “Not now, Gary.”

  “Kristi, let go of the lady’s cart.”

  Heather turned back to find the little girl and Candace, sitting side-by-side now. Their little fingers curled around the wires of the other’s cart, holding them together for a reason known only to them. She joined the father in trying to get them to turn loose.

  “Candace, let go.”

  “Dad, can I have this CD?”

  “I don’t think so, Ricky. You don’t need another CD. Kristi, I said to let go of the lady’s cart.”

  “Mom, I promise I’ll pay you back.”

  “No, Gary. Not today. Candace, please let go now.”

  The boys begged, the little girls squealed with laughter and held on, the older girl tried to help her father pry tiny fingers loose, and Heather didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Chaos reigned while Brad stood back with arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face. Seven voices grew progressively louder as each tried to be heard over the others.

  In the midst of all the confusion, the man straightened, put his fingers in his mouth, and let out a shrill whistle, stopping everyone within twenty feet. Heather could’ve truly gone up in a puff of smoke with her face so hot, but the resulting silence was too welcome.

  In the quiet, the man spoke. “What I wouldn’t give for a good daycare right now.”

  Heather stared at him then started laughing. She grabbed her purse and pulled out a card advertising her daycare. Handing it to him, she said, “I can’t help you right this instant, but if you’re still interested on Monday, come see me.”

  He accepted the card with a smile. “Hi, I’m Matthew Sanders. My friends call me Matt. After what we’ve been through today, you qualify as a friend.”

  Heather offered her hand and shook Matt’s. “I’m glad to meet you, Matt. My name is Heather Conway. Candace is the one who finally let go of your cart.”

  She touched Gary on the shoulder and motioned toward Brad. “Gary wants a model. Brad is my oldest.”

  Matt acknowledged the introductions with a handshake for Gary. When he turned toward Brad, the teen stepped back with a brisk nod and a frown. Matt simply smiled and nodded in turn. He grinned at Candace before turning to his children. “Becka is my oldest, Ricky my only son, and Kristen our little one. I’m glad to meet you all. I may take you up on that daycare.”

  Heather smiled. “I hope you do.”

  She moved her cart before the little girls latched on again. Matt seemed eager to move on, too, as Becka showed him the supply list Heather hadn’t been able to find. He started tossing things in his cart while his daughter read the list to him.

  “Let’s go take a look at those models.” Heather needed to leave the area for a few minutes even if it meant Gary got a model she couldn’t afford.

  She shoved the cart away from the Sanders family, her heart pounding with the knowledge of what she’d done. Giving an absolute hunk—a married hunk with three kids no less—her phone number was too forward. It was only her business card, but how likely was he to bring his kids to her daycare? Not very. She’d been out of circulation for a long time, but she recognized the admiration in Matt’s eyes when he said he might take her up on her offer.

  Which meant nothing. He wouldn’t take her up on any offer. Why couldn’t she meet a single, childless guy as good-looking as Matt? As laid back and easy going as Matt? Because the few men who fit that description are married. At her age, single men were few and far between. She’d gotten by without a man’s help for the last four years, and the only reason she could see to change things now would be if she fell in love with a rich man.

  ~*~*~*~

  ~Two~

  Heather stopped in front of the daycare. While predawn darkness pressed against her nerves, she searched the one-story frame house and playground before climbing from her van and entering the surrounding chain link fence. When she drew near the front porch, the security light came on and lifted some of her uneasiness. At not quite six, this surely was the darkest part of the night. She unlocked the door and slipped her hand inside to flip on the light before going back to the van for the kids.

  Gary sat slumped against the door, still half asleep. He slid to the ground and stumbled toward the light while she unbuckled her sleeping daughter and carried her inside.

  Following their routine, she laid Candace on a cot in her office and covered her with a light quilt. Gary gravitated toward the TV room where Heather turned on a cartoon at low volume, and he sank to the pillows on the floor.

  With the kids taken care of, Heather went into the kitchen. Her thoughts strayed to Brad as she se
t out bowls, spoons, and cereal. During the summer months, he had stopped spending time at the daycare with the rest of the family. She didn’t blame him for wanting to sleep in while the younger kids crawled from their beds in the early morning darkness. She felt the same way. Still she missed the closeness they used to share.

  Brad had changed over the summer in ways she didn’t understand. He would be in high school next week, yet she sensed there was more to his behavior than simply growing older. He seemed to be pulling farther away from her each week.

  The door opened, and Tommy, one of Gary’s friends, stepped in. Without a word, he headed into the TV room to join Gary. His mother signed the register and waved before ducking back out the door.

  With a good start on breakfast, Heather slipped into her office. Candace still slept, so she sat at her desk and worked on the menus for the following week. She needed to go grocery shopping in the next day or two.

  When the kids began to trickle in, Heather left her office door cracked open so Candace could get out when she woke. She moved into the kitchen to hand out bowls of cereal, French toast, and orange juice.

  Darlene Pitts, an older woman who worked full time during the summer, arrived and went into the large playroom where several of the early kids played.

  “Mommy, I want cereal, too.” Candace stood on the other side of the counter with only her large blue eyes and forehead visible.

  Heather smiled at her baby. “How should we ask for things?”

  “May I please want cereal, too?”

  Heather laughed. “Yes, you may have cereal.”

  She handed her daughter the bowl, making sure Candace had a good grip. “Carry your food to the table. I’ll bring your toast and juice.”

  “Awright, Mommy.” Candace strutted off to the dining area and set her bowl on the table before climbing in a chair. Heather followed with the rest of her breakfast.