Chapter 13
Lesley pushed open the heavy, wooden door to Grace Bible Church. People crowded the foyer, making it hard for her to get the entrance open all the way. She squeezed in and immersed herself in the throng of parishioners all shuffling to find a seat in the old, wooden pews.
Scanning the church for a place to sit, she found the benches to the left had more vacancies and charged ahead.
“Lesley. Lesley, over here,” a child’s voice called.
She turned and sighed with relief. Rachel stood in her seat and waved. Someone she knew. Going alone wasn’t very much fun.
Lesley pushed against the flow of people and nodded a greeting to a few birthday partygoers that popped out from the crowd. Nestled in a pew on the right side of the church, Emma held Rachel’s hand while Matthew played rock-paper-scissors with Milton.
“Hey, guys.”
The sweet girl’s nose shone red like Rudolph’s; she mustn’t have applied enough sunscreen to her yesterday.
“Would you like to sit with us?” Emma asked as she scooted over to make room.
“I don’t want to intrude. Besides, John will need a place to sit.”
Rachel’s face turned down. “Daddy’s not coming. He never comes.”
“Oh.” Her heart weighed heavy at her misspoken words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. He gave up church after…” Emma’s words trailed off as she looked to the children.
After their mother died.
“I see.” Lesley nodded. John’s comment about her Aunt Myrtle’s Bible now made more sense. He didn’t believe in God.
“Well then sure, I’d love to sit with you.”
She slid in and sat next to Emma, placing her purse on the floor. The little girl squiggled around her aunt and graciously plopped herself in Lesley’s lap.
“Rach, you should ask before you sit in someone’s lap,” her aunt scorned.
“Oh, it’s all right.” Lesley gave the child a squeeze. “We practically had a sleepover last night. We’re buds.”
“Yes, I saw the laundry room. I’m quite impressed,” Emma whispered. “Anytime you want to loan out your laundry services, let me know.”
“I’ll help you with your laundry…if you help me learn how to make breakfast once I have guests.”
Emma nudged her. “Deal.”
“I brought my colors.” Rachel shoved the wax sticks in Lesley’s face. “Would you like to color with me?”
“I think I should pay attention to the preacher,” she whispered, “but you go ahead.”
A man wearing a long, black robe, walked to the pulpit. “Good Morning, everyone,” he said into the microphone. “I see a new face or two in the crowd. I’m Pastor Parks, and I’d like to welcome any newcomers to Grace Bible Church. If outside is any indication of what hell feels like then I don’t want to go there, Amen?”
“Amen,” Linda Lee’s loud voice shouted from the front pew. Beside her, Maybelle waved her hand in the air.
Lesley stifled a giggle and glanced at Emma, who just rolled her eyes.
“Now,” the pastor continued. “Let’s lift our voices to the Lord by singing Amazing Grace, page 324 in your hymnals. All rise.”
A lady with curly black hair and tangerine lipstick pounded on the piano like a toddler would a toy, hitting every other note off key.
“Is something wrong with the piano?” she whispered to Emma.
“Nope, just the pianist.”
She exchanged a giggle with her new friend and refocused her attention to the front of the church. A comfortable warmth rushed over her as she sat back and listened.
When the service ended, Lesley followed the others out onto the church steps and gave Rachel and Matthew a squeeze. “Thanks for letting me sit with you.”
“Lesley.” Milton reached for Matthew and placed the boy onto his shoulders. “We usually go to lunch after the service. Would you like to join us?”
“Oh, please.” Rachel grabbed her hand and jumped. “Please come.”
“Yeah, come with us!” Matthew bounced on his great-uncle’s shoulders then began joyfully swinging his hands in the air almost as if he conducted an orchestra.
Spend more time with John’s family? She’d spent practically all day with them yesterday. But the idea of going back to her house alone didn’t have much appeal.
“Sure, I’d love to,” she said. “Leo and Beatrice went to their own church and won’t be back until later this afternoon. I wasn’t looking forward to spending the day by myself.”
“Why don’t you ride with us?” Emma suggested. “We can bring you back to your car on the way home.”
“Yeah, okay.” Lesley followed the clan to Emma’s SUV. Milton graciously squeezed in the back row between the children, allowing her to have the front seat.
“Where are we going?” Matthew yelled from his car seat over the noise of the radio.
Emma peered in her rearview mirror. “Preppy Pepperoni’s.”
“Pizza,” they hollered in unison.
The lawyer placed his hands over his ears and laughed. “I may be deaf before we get there.”
“Is pizza all right with you?” Emma asked.
“Sounds great.” Hopefully, the man with the tennis ball walker wouldn’t be there this time.
“John’s going to meet us there.”
His sister turned out of the church parking lot as Lesley’s heart picked up in tempo. “He is?” Blood rushed to her face, while her ears heated.
Lord, all this blushing has to stop.
She’d been in town a total of four days, and had seen John every single one of them. He’d become a friend, but she was determined to keep it at that. Friends. With the ink barely dry on her divorce, there was no way she could be ready for more.
No way at all.
****
John cursed under his breath as he watched Lesley walk through the door of the pizza parlor with his family. If he had known she was coming, he wouldn’t have invited Seth. Despite his growing fondness toward Lesley, he didn’t plan to date her, but he didn’t like the idea of his best friend dating her either, no matter what he told Seth. And to top it all off, she looked like a freaking super model in her church dress. He figured not a single man in that service had heard the sermon for staring at her.
“Daddy!” Matthew ran through the restaurant.
“Hey, big guy.” He scooped his son up and plopped him on his lap.
Rachel rushed to his side. “Daddy, Daddy, look who’s here. It’s Ms. Lesley.”
“Yeah.” He stared up at her. “Hey, Lesley. Long time no see.”
“I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to church this morning. I’m not usually up until two in the morning doing laundry.”
His sister raised her eyebrows behind Lesley’s back and held up two fingers as she mouthed, Two a.m.?
He ignored his twin and the slight twinge of guilt. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I hope you don’t mind me coming. Emma invited me.” She stood by the table and pointed a thumb to his sister.
Great. She thought he didn’t want her there. Even though he really didn’t, that wasn’t what he meant.
“No, it’s fine. We just need to pull up another chair. My friend, Seth, is coming also.”
Emma pulled up a chair and sat across from him. “Really? Seth’s coming?”
“Yeah, he went fishing with me this morning.” He tapped the menu. “I hope you guys don’t mind, I already ordered for us.”
“Great.” Milton walked over with an extra chair for Lesley and put it down.
Directly. Beside. Him.
The smell of her flower perfume floated in the air around him as she sat. Not only did she look good, she smelled good, too, for cripes sake. He was in hell. Complete hell.
“What’s the next step on the manor?” Milton directed the question to them both.
“Whatever this man right here tells me to do.” Lesley patted him on the arm.
He hadn’t been touched as much by a woman, at least a woman so young, anyway, since Sandra died. Silently, he wished her hand would linger a little longer, but she quickly pulled it back.
His uncle stared at him. “So?”
“So, what?” John asked. What had they been talking about?
Milton hid a grin. “What’s the next step at the manor?”
“Oh, yeah, the house. Well, once we finish cleaning out everything—”
“Hey, everyone.” Seth’s megawatt grin nearly blinded them all as he sauntered up to their table. His gaze lingered on Lesley longer than anyone else. Emma stood to hug his friend, and once the two ended their embrace, Seth moved toward him and patted him on the shoulder. “Scoot down, will ya bud?”
John grit his teeth and slid down the booth, squishing Matthew in the corner.
“I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced.” His buddy held out a hand to Lesley and gave her his stare—the stare that made all women want to drop their panties the minute they met him. “I’m Seth Waters.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” She politely shook as a blush crept up her cheeks.
And another one bites the dust.
If he didn’t stop this now, Lesley would wind up being inducted into the flavor of the month club. He didn’t think he could sit there and watch that happen. Especially not after the hurt her ex-husband had left with her.
“Seth.” John cuffed his friend’s shoulder and squeezed. Hard. “Let’s go get everyone some extra napkins and plates.”
His buddy gave him a scrutinizing glance.
“No worries.” Emma held out her hand for Rachel. “We’ll go get them.”
His daughter bounced out of her seat, and grasped his sister’s hand before they weaved around the crowd.
Damn. His plan hadn’t worked.
“So.” Seth leaned in closer to Lesley. “John tells me you’ve inherited the Rosalyn Manor. That’s a lovely piece of property.”
Liar. He didn’t think Seth had ever seen the place.
“It is,” she agreed. “Or at least it will be when John gets finished with it.”
Seth leaned back and elbowed him. “My man here is a miracle worker with his hands. He makes the Taj Mahal look like a kid’s art project.”
“I believe you.” Lesley twisted her purse strap around her fingers and smiled at John. The same smile she shot him at the pool the day before.
Her belief in him was flattering, but even he didn’t know what kinds of miracles he could perform on the old place without a working crew; at least, not in this century.
Emma and Rachel came back just as a kid in skates slid their pizzas on the table. John happily passed out the pieces—the more food he could force down Seth and Lesley, the less talking they could do. He tossed a few pieces on each of their plates.
“Oh, just one’s enough.” She held up her hand to stop him from placing more down.
One? He may not have known the princess long, but he knew her long enough to know that she had a ferocious appetite. One piece would only be an appetizer for this woman.
He recalled back to when he and Sandra first started dating. She didn’t eat much in the beginning either. Only when they became more comfortable with each other did his wife show her true colors and her true appetite. She said she had been trying to “impress” him, and he realized the same thing was happening here. Lesley was trying to impress Seth. The same girl who ate two bagels and three pieces of birthday cake yesterday right in front of him acted timid with his friend.
She liked him.
Damn.
John did his best to ignore the continued conversation happening next to him. He colored the kids’ menu with Matthew and did the word search with Rachel. All the while, Lesley giggled at everything Seth said. He’d been friends with the guy for years. There wasn’t anything that had ever come out of that man’s mouth that was that damn funny.
Matthew let out a slow yawn. Thankfully, he finally had a legit excuse for the lunch date from hell to be over.
“Well, I think it’s time to get these kids down for a nap.” John pulled his son closer. “And I think maybe we should get some more work done on the house today.” He leaned around his friend, and directed his comment to Lesley.
She nodded. “Good idea.”
“If you guys need some help, I’d be willing to lend a hand.” His buddy stood and pulled Lesley’s chair out for her.
This guy really knew how to lay it on thick. Bastard.
“Hey, that’d be great,” she all too happily agreed.
“No. Not necessary,” he quickly amended. “Lesley and I have it under control.”
“Man, really, I don’t mind.” Seth placed his hand on the small of her back. She didn’t bother to move it away.
“Yeah, I think it’s a great idea. He could help us move some of the larger pieces of furniture. I mean, if you’re up for it,” she backtracked and peered at Seth.
“Put me to work.”
The two of them were in their own little bubble, oblivious to what was going on around them.
Fine. He would put him to work all right. Seth was a great guy with numbers, and while his muscles were made from working out at a gym, working at a construction site was a whole different kind of workout. He’d have his buddy begging for mercy before the afternoon was out. He’d make sure of it.
And maybe then Lesley wouldn’t be so impressed.
Emma stood. “I’m going to head on into work then.”
“Okay, well, I’ll need a ride back to my car,” Lesley commented.
“Right, I forgot. John, could you take Lesley?” his sister asked.
“I don’t mind,” Seth interrupted.
“Don’t be silly. It’s in the opposite direction of the manor,” Uncle Milton piped in. “The kids, and the three of us”—he motioned to him and Lesley—“can fit in John’s truck. We’ll drop Lesley off at her car, and John can drop me off with the kids at the house. I’ll stay with them this afternoon while you guys get some work done.”
Being that his Uncle Milton was the senior of the group no one argued.
“Sounds great.” John clapped his hands. “Let’s go.” So they could get this over with.
He threw a twenty on the table to help pay the tab. His last twenty. He’d have to talk to Lesley about money. Today. He couldn’t go another day without being paid. His kids had to eat.
His stomach knotted. He knew what talking about money did to her. Stressed her out, made her nervous. Neither of which he wanted to do. He’d almost rather watch Seth court Lesley.
Almost.