“I’m going to name this one Cindy, after Cinderella.” Callie grinned up at April. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No, do you?” April asked.
“Nooo. I’m just six years old. That’s too young to get married, and that’s what boyfriends are for, ain’t it?” Callie asked.
“Calliope Wallace!” Kent finally caught up with her. “That’s not a nice question to ask a lady.”
“Well,” Callie huffed, “I needed to know because you ain’t got a girlfriend, and I bet if you got one, she would love Belle and Cindy.”
Kent shot a brilliant smile toward April. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “She has no filter on her mouth.”
“Oh, to be young and be able to say anything on my mind.” April returned the smile. “This is my cousin Nessa O’Riley. Nessa, this is Kent Wallace and his daughter, Callie.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Kent said, but his eyes stayed on April.
“You’ve got hair like Ariel in The Little Mermaid,” Callie said to Nessa. “Daddy, can I dye my hair like that?” She looked up at him with her big blue eyes.
“Not until you are thirty years old,” Kent said.
Callie crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s what you always say.”
“Yep, it is, and we’d better be getting on our way if we’re going to the movies,” Kent said.
“Bye, April. Bye, Ariel. Hey, Daddy, wait a minute. Can April go with us?” Callie asked.
“I’d love to, darlin’, but I’ve got to do some shopping. I’ll see you sometime this week when you come get another kitty cat.” April thought she could see relief in Kent’s eyes.
“Oh, all right,” Callie said. “At least I don’t have to wait until I’m thirty to see you again.”
Kent pushed his cart toward the parking lot with one hand and held Callie’s hand tightly with the other one. He was handsome, but it was his kind eyes that appealed to April. And then there was the fact that he was so sweet to his daughter. That says a lot, doesn’t it? she thought as she and Nessa made their way into the store.
“Wonder what happened to Callie’s mama,” Nessa said as they made their way through the automatic doors into the store.
“Stella says that she died when Callie was only a year old. Callie is a lucky little girl to have a father like she has.” April sighed. “He’s definitely one of those good guys—the kind Flynn wants to become.”
“I think he might like you,” Nessa told her.
April picked up a head of lettuce and two tomatoes and put them in the cart. “Then you’re thinking wrong. He’s a lawyer, for crying out loud. He would never be interested in someone like me.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself, Cousin. Besides, you can’t fool kids, and that little girl thinks you’re pretty enough to be her daddy’s girlfriend,” Nessa said.
April flushed at Nessa’s observation and then gasped. “Is that Jackson over there? And who in the hell is kissing him? I mean it’s just on the cheek, but it is a kiss.”
“I’m sure I don’t know, but he’s pushing the cart for her, so . . .” Nessa felt the world crumbling under her feet.
“It was just a cheek kiss. Maybe it’s a cousin or a friend. We don’t know all the people that he knows. It could be nothing. Just ask him about it,” April said.
Nessa appreciated April’s rationalization, but the way the tall brunette, who was wearing short shorts and high-heeled shoes, looked up at him left no doubt that she was a lot more than a friend or a cousin. “Let’s go to Kroger to do our shopping. I don’t want to run into him.”
“You did sleep with him, didn’t you?” April asked as she put the lettuce and tomatoes back and left the cart in the middle of an aisle.
“Third date.” Nessa blinked away the tears. She’d made a wrong decision again, and now things were going to be awkward between neighbors.
Chapter Twenty
Nessa laid her forehead on the steering wheel and let the tears flow freely. “Just another disappointment, and I’m used to those.”
April patted her on the back. “The O’Riley curse strikes again. Don’t beat yourself up. I thought he was a nice guy, too, but then my judgment ain’t worth crap. You’re just doing what all three of us have done. We’ve all tried the same old recipe, even though the outcome leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.”
Nessa jerked her head up and slapped the steering wheel with both hands. “Don’t tell Flynn. He’s doing so good right now, and he has to work with Jackson. He might think he has to defend my honor or something crazy like that.”
“I won’t say a word to him, I promise.” April leaned over the console and hugged her. “You really should talk to Jackson about this, though, in case there’s an explanation.”
Nessa wiped at her eyes. “She was so tall and so beautiful. If he could have her, then why would he even look at me?”
“Don’t do that to yourself,” April scolded. “He’ll call, or you two will meet at the falls, or maybe you’ll even sit in another ant bed. When that happens, just give him the chance to explain before you let that red-haired temper get ahead of you.”
Nessa started the engine and put the SUV in reverse, but then sat frozen in her seat as she watched Jackson and the woman in her rearview mirror. He opened the door of his truck for her, proving that they were together. Her chin quivered, but she was determined that she wouldn’t cry anymore. Evidently she was just a one-night stand to him.
Then that’s what he is to me, she thought, my first and last one-night stand. I’ll never make that mistake again. Forget the third-date rule that everyone these days talks about. I’m not sleeping with another guy until we’ve had a dozen dates.
“Living in the moment,” she muttered.
“What does that mean?” April asked.
“Jackson and I were talking about living in the moment as opposed to always looking ahead to the future,” she explained as she backed her vehicle out of the parking spot and headed toward the grocery store. “Last night I was in the moment, not thinking about what the consequences would be for the future. I wanted this to be more than just . . .” She couldn’t even say the words.
“I’ve tried that moment thing too many times to count, and it sure didn’t work for me, either. I’m going to enjoy the day, but I’m also not wasting my time on something that only lasts a day,” April said. “Third date? When did you have the first two? I thought your first date was when you went to the cemetery and had supper at Weezy’s.”
Nessa took a deep breath. “We talked last week when we both showed up at the falls. I stumbled when I stepped in a gopher hole and wound up kissing him, so he said that was our first date. The second was the cemetery. The third was the ant bed.”
“So that’s what a third date is—one that involves wallowing in an ant bed.” April laughed and then grew serious. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a third date. I usually fall hard, let some sorry sucker move in with me after a week or so, and then it all falls apart because it’s all built on steamy sex, but that’s not the way things are going to be from now on.”