Beyond the Waves (Pacific Shores Book 1) (24 page)

A low sound of distress rumbled in his throat. “This is pretty deep. I think you are going to need stitches.”

Sure, that was just what she needed. A doctor bill.

She snatched her hand from his grasp. “I’ll be fine, I’m sure. Nothing a Band-Aid won’t fix.”

She examined her finger. A flap of skin gaped open, and blood was already dripping on the floor. The glass had somehow managed to slice down the side of her finger also. Oh boy. That cut was a doozy. Old, familiar words that used to be part of her everyday vocabulary sprang to mind, and she clamped her teeth shut before any of them could pop out. But she had to do something. “Ah. Okay.” She couldn’t seem to think. Do not panic. Do not panic.

She’d never been too good around the sight of blood, though she’d gotten a little better at handling it now that she was a single mother of an accident-prone toddler.

They really could not go to the hospital. Her insurance only covered 70 percent of emergency room visits, and she couldn’t even afford an extra dollar in her budget right now, much less who knew how much.

Plus she had things she needed to get done. Tomorrow was her day to bring the weekly treat for their Sunday school class, so she needed to get her cinnamon rolls baked. And she had a second coat of paint to put on the last wall of the unit next door for Mr. Meyer, her apartment complex manager, before she earned the extra hundred bucks she needed to pay all her bills this month.

She needed…Band-Aids. She glanced at the injury again. Okay, butterfly Band-Aids. A wave of light-headedness drained through her.

Marie turned a sickly pale greenish color. “Whoa.” Reece’s stomach clenched, and he lurched toward her and gripped both of her shoulders. He bent down and peered into her face. “Take a breath, Marie.” He smoothed his hands from her shoulders to her elbows and back again.

Even though she complied, she still didn’t look quite right, and she was trembling.

“Good. And another.” Heaven help him, even in paint-splattered work clothes, she was more beautiful than he’d remembered. She had eyes so blue a man felt like he could dive right into the cool depths of them. But right now they were wide and terrified as she studied the cut on her finger.

He let go of her shoulders and took hold of her cut hand, clamping his own fist around the now severely bleeding digit. “Alyssa.” He snapped his fingers at the little girl, who was apparently engrossed in the moving green liquid. “How would you like to take a ride with me and your mom in my big blue truck?”

Alyssa leapt to her feet. “Yes!”

Good. Looked like he’d pegged her right. Always up for a new adventure, just like her mother was. His gaze skittered back to Marie. Or at least used to be.

She still looked like she was about to hurl. Maybe she didn’t like doctors? “A few stitches and you’ll be as good as new.”

“Reece, I really can’t—”

But just then the box boy stepped into view. “Excuse me?” Reece cut her off.

The kid, who had to be about sixteen, stepped over, his eyes widening as he took in the chaos surrounding them.

Reece gestured from the drips of blood around their feet to the splat of pickles and glass in the aisle. “Could you clean this up for us, please? And put that grocery cart there”—he pointed to his groceries down by the cold stuffs—“and this cart here”—he pointed to hers—“off to the side somewhere? I’ll be back to get it all in about an hour.”

The kid scratched his head and examined the mess, his eyes darting from the pickles to the blood and back again, as though wondering which disaster to clean up first.

Marie cringed. “I’m really sorry, Alex.”

Reece’s eyebrows went up. She obviously knew the kid. How many times had the poor guy had to clean up after them? He fleetingly wondered how many other mothers in the world were on a first-name basis with the cleanup crew at their grocery stores.

But Alex didn’t seem fazed. “Oh, don’t worry, Miss Sinclair. We employees sort of had a bet—” His eyes shot wide and he spun on one heel, making a hasty retreat as he called over one shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll clean it up, and yeah, I’ll have the carts waiting for you, sir.”

Reece grinned down at her. “I think Alyssa might have just made that boy some money.”

“How nice that my daughter’s accident proneness can be fodder for an excellent gaming economy at Thrift and Save.” Marie’s face turned the prettiest shade of pink he’d seen in a long time. Her hand felt fragile under his. She was still as small and delicate as he remembered.

He swallowed. Four years of running from his feelings for her, and his first full day back in town, he met her at the grocery store. What were the odds? She wasn’t wearing a ring—he gave himself a mental shake. A woman like her would certainly have a man in her life. And it was best he remember that—and the reason he’d broken things off with her in the first place. There was no evidence anything had changed.

Get back to the business at hand. He almost rolled his eyes at the inadvertent pun. “We should go.”

“Listen. I don’t need a doctor. Just a Band-Aid.” She looked a trifle terrified at the thought of going to the hospital.

Reece’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t want to scare her further, but he’d definitely seen the white of bone where the cut had crossed over her knuckle.

Her chin lifted in an oh-so-familiar stubborn tilt.

Then again, maybe giving her a good dose of reality was the only way to get her to do what was needed. He shook his head. “Band-Aid’s not going to be enough. You need a doctor. The cut is really deep. And do you know how many germs could be on the glass? It was on the floor before it cut you. Besides, the way the cut looked, you could have sliced a tendon. You need to have it looked at.”

Marie ran her free hand back through her hair. Her finger, still firmly in Reece’s grasp, was throbbing to beat the band, and despite his death hold on it, blood still seemed to be leaking out. She probably did need a doctor. She dropped her free hand to her side in frustration. She would just have to try and find a couple more odd jobs this month. “Fine.”

“That’s my girl.”

Marie darted him a look as her heart did a double flip. Of course he hadn’t meant the words to be anything more than encouragement. But the feel of his warm fingers around hers was much too enjoyable even if he was only trying to keep her from bleeding to death. She didn’t want her heart falling into that undertow again. It was nothing but a riptide that could tear her apart.

“Here, just…” She grabbed up the hem of her T-shirt and indicated he should let go of her finger. The second he let go, blood seeped into the space and started to drip on the floor again. She clamped a wad of her T-shirt around it. She offered him a flick of a glance. “We better take my car. I don’t want to get blood all over your truck.”

Reece pushed out his lower lip, wiped his bloody palm on his jeans, and snagged a set of keys from his front pocket. “No worries.”

She darted a glance at her purse where it sat in her cart. “Could you…” Before she could figure out exactly what she wanted him to do with it, he’d picked it up and looped the strap around her neck, angling it across her body so it settled against one hip.

“Good?” He was so close she could see the flecks of amber in his irises.

Mouth dry, she nodded.

“Let’s just take my truck. It will be easier for me to drive you. Besides, I already promised Alyssa here a ride, didn’t I, kid? You ready to go?” He squatted down to floor level. “Hop onto my back, and we’ll take your mom to get her finger looked at.”

“I love piggyback rides!” Alyssa gave a little squeal and clambered aboard.

Leaping to his feet, Reece gave a distinct whinny. He snagged his Stetson from his head and plopped it back onto Alyssa’s curls, then leapt a couple of trots ahead. “No pigs around here. Only horses.”

Marie shook her head and followed them down the aisle at a much more sedate pace.

Alyssa giggled and used one hand to push back the much-too-large hat. “You’re funny. Do you want to be my daddy?”

Marie gasped and tripped over her own feet.

Chapter 2

Thankfully Marie caught herself before she sprawled flat right there in the main aisle. But if ever she’d wanted the floor to open up and swallow her, this was it.

Reece only let out a bark of laughter and spun around to walk backward, assessing her with glimmering green eyes. “You don’t have a daddy, huh?”

While he’d directed the question at her daughter, there was a simmering curiosity in his gaze that flooded Marie with heat.

“Nope. Mr. Jackson wants to be my daddy, and Mommy said maybe. But he’s not—”

“—Alyssa!”

Blessedly, for once in her life, Alyssa seemed to catch on to the fact that Marie didn’t want her to share further, and she let the rest of whatever she’d planned to say drop.

A breath of relief pushed past Marie’s lips. But just to ensure something like this never happened again, she focused a mother eye on Alyssa. “That is not a question you are to ask a man again—ever—do you understand?”

“But Mommy, why? I think he would be a fun daddy, don’t you?”

“No!”

Reece winced and jammed a fist over his heart as though holding onto the handle of a knife she’d just thrust there.

Marie resisted a smile at his theatrics. “Well…maybe.”

Reece’s eyebrows shot up.

She hurried on before he could comment. “But that’s not how getting a daddy works.”

Oh boy, this was a mess. Had she really just said maybe? And right after Alyssa had mentioned Dan? Reece was going to think she hadn’t changed a smidge since he broke up with her in high school.

Reece seemed to be having just a bit too much fun with this. He tucked his lower lip between his teeth, squinched up his face, and tilted his head, as though seriously assessing her answer. Then she noted the glimmer of amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes.

The man was laughing at her predicament! She wrinkled her nose at him.

He grinned and, after a quick wink, faced forward again.

She couldn’t deny her relief at being free from his scrutiny.

Alyssa had apparently been pondering her response, because just then she piped up with “How does getting a daddy work, then?”

Reece gave a distinct snort, but mercifully he didn’t turn to look at her this time.

The automatic sliding doors opened for them, and they stepped out into the warm July heat of the Pacific coast. Maybe she could just change the subject. “We’ll need to get Alyssa’s car seat from my car.”

Reece seemed to take pity on her and joined in the effort. “Sure. Where are you parked?”

She gestured as best she could with her T-shirt-compressed finger toward her ancient, rust-marbled white Toyota Corolla. And of course the keys were in her purse. She fumbled with trying to keep the compression on her finger and lift the flap on her purse at the same time.

“Here, let me.” Reece stepped close, but then paused. “Do you mind?”

It wasn’t like she was going to have an easy time getting the keys out herself. She might as well complete her lesson in humiliation and get it over with. She shook her head. “Go ahead. Thanks.”

As Reece set to digging through her purse, she considered their driving situation again. “We really should just take my car. We’ll have to come right back by here on our way home from the hospital, and I can just drop you off at your truck, and then we won’t have to transfer the car seat back and forth.”

“But Mommy! I want to ride in the big blue truck!”

Reece scrunched one eye closed and offered her an apologetic look, even as he lifted her keys on one finger. “Tell you what, kiddo.” He swung Alyssa down to the pavement and bent to look into her face.

Marie loved the way he got right down to Alyssa’s level when he communicated with her. Something went soft inside her.

“How about we go get your mom’s finger fixed up at the hospital, then we come back here to get groceries, and then you and your mom can ride in my truck to the welcome-home barbeque my parents are hosting for me tonight?” He angled a questioning look at her over his shoulder.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Alyssa was already clapping her hands and jumping up and down.

All the softness Marie had just been feeling hardened into granite. How could she say no when he’d just gotten Alyssa’s hopes so high? But she really must say no. She still had so much to get done. “No, I’m sorry. We can’t.” Of course she couldn’t say the real reason they couldn’t go—the fact that Reece’s mother had handed out invitations to everyone around her at church on Sunday but not given her one—because to do so would just sound like a cry for pity. “Can we just…” She let the words trail away and blinked hard at the asphalt under her feet. All she really wanted to do was go back home and crawl into bed and sleep for several hours. But that was not going to happen.

Exhaustion pressed down on her. She’d already worked five eight-hour shifts at the gym this week, plus put in several hours after Alyssa was asleep each night painting the apartment across the hall for her landlord just to get a hundred bucks.

If Reece wasn’t careful, he was going to end up with one very emotional female to deal with.

“Please, Mommy? Please? Please? Please?!”

Great, now the tears were going to start in earnest. She really could use some emotionally stress-free days. Were two in a row too much to ask for? She gritted her teeth against the flood of emotion wanting to burst forth and didn’t even bother answering Alyssa for the moment.

Reece took one look at her face and lurched into motion. “Hey, kiddo, I’ll tell you what. If it doesn’t work out today, I’ll give you a ride one of these days when I can figure out a good time with your mom, okay? Right now let’s just get your mom fixed up.” He unlocked the door and held it until Alyssa could climb inside. “Do you need help buckling your seatbelt?” he questioned her daughter.

Alyssa’s lip was extended in a full pout. “No. I can do it myself.”

“Gotcha.” Reece shut the door and turned to face Marie. “I’m really sorry. I wasn’t thinking what a spot that would put you in. I’ll be more careful in the future.”