Page 46 of The Payback Adventure
Caitlin tagged along after Henry as much as Ruff did. Abby sought him out to help her with homework or some advanced subject she’d decided to study for fun. Sam pretended not to care, but Elisabeth noticed he watched Henry and not with the same mistrust he used to show. She even looked forward to having coffee with him during their breaks.
Distance wasn’t possible.
Elisabeth stopped the car in front of the barn. She jerked the parking brake into place, yanked the keys out of the ignition, and jumped out of the Suburban. If she hurried, shecould get the feed unloaded and a chicken in the Crock-Pot for dinner.
Ruff barked.
“Home from work?” Henry asked from behind her.
The rich sound of his voice sent a shiver of pleasure along her spine.Ugh. She didn’t want to react to his voice. To him. Not when she already missed him, and he wasn’t even gone. Elisabeth pushed a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear. “Yes.”
“A little early for you.”
It wasn’t a question. Elisabeth hadn’t known Henry paid attention to her schedule. His interest flattered her. Made her feel warm and tingly inside.
Stop.
What he said to her shouldn’t mean anything. She hated that him noticing something small about her life made her feel this way.
Elisabeth opened the tailgate to remove the two fifty-pound bags of feed.
She untied her stained apron from work and tossed it into the SUV. Bill Tucker’s two-year-old son had squirted a bottle of ketchup all over the table and her, but she didn’t want the fabric to get dirtier. “A coworker is sick, so Kathy needs me to work the dinner shift, too. I just have to do a few things here first.”
“That’ll be a long day for you.”
She struggled to pull one of the feed bags out. “I’ve done it before.”
“Let me take that.”
Elisabeth appreciated his offer, but she didn’t need thehelp. She wouldn’t rely on him any more than she had to. “Thanks, but I can do it.”
“I know you can.” Henry picked up the bag without any effort. “I want to help.”
She worked on removing the next one.
“Do you want me to get the kids from school and watch them for you?” he asked.
Babysitting was a long way from wanting to have children of his own, but his offer made her wonder if the kids were softening his views on having a family. “Theresa’s doing it. She already picked up Caitlin from preschool and will get Sam and Abby later, but thanks.”
“I’ll do it some other time.”
Her heart danced at the possibility. “Sure.”
“What about this weekend? I can watch them, and you can go out.”
“Out where?” she asked.
“Out on a date.”
Huh? Elisabeth nearly dropped the bag, but thankfully, Henry grabbed it. She was so flustered she couldn’t even thank him. All she could think about was him offering to babysit so she could go out with another man.
Ouch. She needed more than distance from Henry; she needed a reality check.
“I don’t date.”Ick. She sounded like a pathetic, shriveled-up spinster. Might as well hand him a list with all her flaws and fears. “I mean, I rarely date. The kids and all. Theresa always wants to fix me up with someone, but I hate blind dates as much as I hate people playing matchmaker with me.”
Henry stared at her. “So, you’re not looking for Mr. Right?”
“I’m not looking for Mr. Anything.” But as she said the words, she got the funny feeling she was looking at Mr. Right himself. Her mouth went dry.
