Page 10 of A Place to Call Home
And yet, Shantice had a point. He had reason to be careful. But she’d also thought there had been a reason to talk to her about something other than his condo.
“Ada!” Shantice’s whisper was almost frantic. “Ada, look. Look who’s talking to Devon. Look!”
She knew that dark, wavy hair in an instant.Craig.How was this possible? Miles of beaches, millions of people, and Craig was standing right there, talking to Shantice’s boyfriend. A boy— Jack, probably— was playing with Ruff.
“It’s fate,” Shantice whispered. She whistled, and Ruff came bounding over.
Ada was immediately on alert, sitting straight up in her chair. She didn’t trust the scheming look in Shantice’s eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Getting you a second date.” Shantice waved the dog over more eagerly.
An instant after Ruff arrived, Jack did too. The dog’s tail wagged excitedly.
“You can keep petting him if you want,” Shantice said. “He likes you; I can tell.”
“He’s great,” Jack declared, popping to his knees in the sand and going to town petting the dog and scratching behind his ears.
“His name’s Ruff. I’m Shantice. This is my friend Ada.”
“My dad knows someone named Ada,” Jack said, not looking away from Ruff. “He told my aunt Bianca about her.”
Shantice shot her a wide-eyed look and an I-told-you-so nod. Ada didn’t let herself get her hopes up. Bianca Adamson was a friend of a friend. She was the one who suggested that her brother-in-law hire Ada. Craig could have mentioned her as nothing more than his realtor.
“I know your dad, actually,” she told Jack. “I’m helping him buy his new house.”
“Oh, then you’re not Coffee Ada.” Jack shrugged, looking a little disappointed.
“Coffee Ada,” Shantice mouthed.
Ada’s heart leaped around unexpectedly. She was usually pretty levelheaded. “I might be,” she told Jack. “We did have coffee on Friday.”
That brought the boy’s gaze to her face at last. “Really?”
“Really.”
Jack jumped to his feet. “Don’t go anywhere, Ruff.” Then he bolted toward the waves. “Dad! Dad!”
Ada couldn’t hear what he said, but Jack pointed back at her as he spoke to his father. Almost as if in slow motion, Craig turned his head in her direction. Surprise registered on his face, followed by a slow, heart-melting smile.
“You aresogetting a second date,” Shantice said.
Ada couldn’t take her eyes off Craig. “That smile. It’s killer, isn’t it?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And he’s a genuinely good guy, which is even better. Smart. Funny. A great dad.” It was little wonder she wanted a second date so badly. You didn’t meet someone like that every day.
Craig, Jack, and Devon made their way over, Craig eying her with curiosity.
“Hi,” she said when he was in earshot.
“Small world. What brings you out?”
She moved her sunglasses to the top of her head. “I thought I’d come watch the seagulls attack some tourists.”
“Hey, Dad, that’s what we do!” Jack had a nine-year-old’s version of his dad’s smile. In a few more years, he would break some hearts.
“Have you seen any attacks today?” she asked Jack.
