Shutting his eyes, he leaned back against the wall and gave himself up to her ministrations. Blood rushed through his veins and to other parts of his body and when he heard ringing the first time, he thought the sound was in his head.
And then her hand stilled and he recognized the noise as his cell. “Dammit.” He forced his eyelids open.
“You’d better get it. It could be important.” Kendall said.
He reached over and grabbed the phone. “This better be good.”
Kendall raised an eyebrow at his frustrated greeting and he winked at her.
“Rick, it’s Lisa Burton.”
He exhaled an aggravated groan. Lisa had annoyed the hell out of him at the DARE car wash. His taken status hadn’t deterred her this afternoon and now this phone call. “This isn’t a good time.”
“I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important.”
“Well, I’d have assumed a 911 call was important too.” His patience for games had run out. Maybe it was pure frustration talking or maybe now that he knew which woman interested him, he wished women like Lisa would accept and back off.
“I’m calling as a teaching professional. I have a young girl here named Hannah who says she’s your responsibility.”
At her words, Rick refocused. “You’re with Hannah? What’s wrong?”
Kendall came up to him in an instant, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Is Hannah okay?” she asked him.
“She’s fine,” Lisa told Rick.
“Then what’s she doing with you? I left her with Jonesy.” Not with the one woman he didn’t want any kind of connection with.
“He had to leave. Right after you left he got a call from his wife. I didn’t think it would be a big deal to watch over another teenager, so I told him I’d keep an eye out. I figured it was no big deal and it wasn’t . . . until Dr. Nowicki arrived.”
Uh-oh. Rick ran a hand through his hair. “What did Hannah say to the principal?” he asked, resigned.
Kendall groaned aloud, burying her face in her hands. “Oh, no. What’d she do now?”
Rick wrapped a hand around Kendall’s waist. “Your sister’s fine,” he whispered in Kendall’s ear.
“Oh, your girlfriend is with you? Figures.” Lisa sniffed, obviously offended. “Maybe Hannah has a right to act out. It seems her sister can’t be bothered with her. And you snuck off first chance you got to be with your new lady friend.” Lisa choked over the words, as if it galled her to admit she’d lost not just the battle but the war for Rick’s attention. “You left the poor girl alone in a strange town. It’s no wonder she’s looking for attention.”
Rick generally wouldn’t put much stock in Lisa’s obviously biased, jealous assessment of Hannah’s situation as it pertained to himself and Kendall. After all, when he’d left Hannah, she’d bonded with two very nice girls and she’d been happy—which had been his goal in taking her to the car wash.
But considering he had taken off to be alone with Kendall, he felt guilty despite the fact that he’d believed Hannah was settled and cared for. And he was sure Kendall wouldn’t be any more pleased than he was.
Before dealing with their feelings though, they had to pick up Hannah. “Are you still at the elementary school?” he asked Lisa.
“Actually I brought her to Norman’s. She said she needed to meet you there.”
“Thank you, Lisa.” He swallowed his pride. “I didn’t mean to snap earlier. We’ll be right down to get her.” He hung up the phone and turned to Kendall.
“What’d she do?” She cringed as if afraid to ask. “Lisa didn’t say. But she’s downstairs waiting for us now. You can ask her yourself.”
“Why don’t you stay here and take your shower. I’ll talk to Hannah and you can meet us whenever you’re ready.” She paused. “Or not. Like I said, Hannah isn’t your problem.”
He shook his head. He didn’t think she was backing off, just trying to be fair to him, to give him an out—before he took one himself. “You go on and I’ll be down in ten minutes, dry and ready to help out, okay?”
She nodded. “If you’re sure.”
Her hesitant voice told him she wasn’t. That no matter how many times he told her he wasn’t going anywhere, she was waiting for him to do just that. Rick didn’t miss the irony. He wasn’t the one leaving. “Read my lips.” He grasped her face in his hand. “I’m sure.” He brushed a kiss over her lips. “Now go.”
She shot him a smile and ran out the door. The sound of her footsteps followed, growing fainter, farther away. Just like Kendall.
Like Jillian before her.
Rick paced the floor of his apartment in the town where he’d always lived. He tried to distinguish Kendall’s situation from Jillian’s, to put himself in Kendall’s place. Never having had two parents she could rely on. Moving from home to home, family to family, never having people she could call her own, including close friends. And then coming to a town where most people were what they seemed. Where friendship was offered with no strings and all the trappings of stability were dangled before her. Seemingly just out of reach—if only because she was afraid to reach for what she’d never had.
Hell, he’d had it all, grown up with a loving family, had married, then divorced, and he was afraid to reach out completely and be hurt again. How could he blame Kendall for her inability to do the same?
* * *
Kendall walked into Norman’s and immediately spotted Hannah sitting in a booth with Lisa Burton. Upon walking up to them, Kendall met her sister’s defiant gaze but instead of starting an argument in front of the other woman, Kendall decided to work on tact and diplomacy.
She glanced at Lisa first. “Thank you so much for bringing Hannah here.”
“It wasn’t like I had a choice, Ms. Sutton. She was unchaperoned and she’d already dumped a bucket of water over the principal.”
Kendall winced.
“I couldn’t leave her alone to cause more trouble and it wasn’t like you were anywhere to be found.”
Kendall narrowed her gaze. She’d only heard Rick’s side of the phone conversation, not Lisa’s, and she had no idea why his friend Jonesy had taken off. But Kendall assumed he had good reason and had made sure Hannah was cared for. Recalling Rick’s words the other day, she could only assume jealousy was causing Lisa’s behavior and Kendall refused to give the other woman the satisfaction of showing her emotions.
“Hey, don’t blame my sister, miss.” Hannah spoke up before Kendall could formulate a neutral reply.
Kendall blinked in shock. Hannah had actually stuck up for her. Even her sister’s rudeness couldn’t prevent the accompanying tug of pride and caring rushing through Kendall as a result. And though Hannah’s smart mouth as well as the water-dumping incident called for a reprimand, Kendall didn’t want to destroy any small inroad in their burgeoning relationship by reprimanding her in front of a teacher, especially Lisa Burton.
“Hannah,” Kendall began tentatively, but her sister ignored her, still glaring at Lisa through eyes lined with dark makeup but smudged from a long day in the sun.