moment he saw his chance back at the ripe old age of eighteen, his father bolted to the wild, wild West, and settled in Seattle?
Had that been the only way for Dad to find a mate on his own?
Maybe.
A car honked behind him, and David realized he’d been so caught up in his freaked-out thoughts, that he hadn’t seen the light go green. He pulled forward with a jerk, his blush hot all the way to his forehead.
“…you know why you’re on your way to pick up Grandma Dottie. You’re nuts about her. And I am, too—everyone is. She’s the sassiest, sweetest, smartest woman I’ve ever met. And you’d do anything for your grandmother.”
“I already admitted to my weakness, Maddox. So what’s your point?”
“Just that I wish I could be there to see you face a crowd of women who just spent hours and beaucoup de bucks turning themselves into traps for unsuspecting guys.”
At the next stop sign he looked both ways, relieved by the lack of traffic. True, it was ten o’clock on a Wednesday night, and he was driving down a posh residential neighborhood now, but you never knew when a speed demon would come at you with total lack of forewarning.
David tuned out Dan’s teasing again, and started into the intersection. Headlights appeared in his rearview mirror. He wondered if it might be another sucker roped into an appearance at the Lady Look Lovely party. Maybe the two of them could commiserate—
A woman stepped into the crosswalk.
He honked, yelled, “NO!”
Dan’s gibberish turned anxious.
The headlights pulled up to his left side. The gray Lexus roared ahead.
Twin beams limned the woman and a child she pushed behind. She stumbled on.
“Get off the street!” David yelled. He slammed the horn and stomped on his brakes.
Dan squawked some more.
David ignored him, tried to block the gray car with his.
The woman froze.
The Lexus swerved to avoid him then veered back, its aim sure, deadly. It hit her.
David skidded toward the sidewalk. “Call 911,” he yelled at Dan. “Ambulance, too.”
The car slowed. He gave Dan his location. Almost before he came to a full stop, David jumped out.
His temples pounded. He wanted to yell again, but something took hold of his throat. He rushed to the woman, who now lay on the road, the little boy frozen at her side.
An urgent prayer accompanied him down to his knees. “Are you all right?”
He took her pulse. Fast, too fast, but strong.
The woman, younger than he’d initially thought, gave him a wobbly grin. “Yes…no—maybe.”
He forced a smile when he saw no blood. “Now there’s a definite answer for ya.”
“It’s kind of hard to say….” She worked her way up to a sitting position, her shadowed features twisted in pain. “I think everything’s where it should be, and probably in working order, too. The car didn’t hit me hard.”
Her words contrasted with the fear in her eyes and the tremor in her hands. She held out her arms, and the boy crumpled into her embrace. Over the child’s head, she met David’s gaze. “Umm…you see—”
The boy’s sobs cut her off. She turned her attention to the scared kid, who couldn’t have been more than five or six. She murmured reassurances in a soft, musical voice, and her hands in turn dried tears, smoothed hair, checked for any sign of injury.
“He seems fine…right?” What did he know about kids?
She gave a tight nod. “The car didn’t hit him. I made sure of that.”
It struck him then that he’d failed to take note of the license plate on the Lexus. He made a face.
The woman inched away from him.
Great. He’d scared her. “Sorry. I just thought of something…important.”
She scooted away a little more. “Please. Don’t let me keep you. I’m sure you have somewhere to go. We’re fine.”
Considering they were sprawled all over the middle of the street, David didn’t agree. But she did have a point—one, only one. “That reminds me…”
He thanked the Lord for the lack of traffic, pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and dialed his grandmother. In a few, terse sentences he let her know an emergency had come up and that he’d be late. She knew him well enough not to doubt the tone of his voice.
As he turned back to the victims, he heard distant sirens. He breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re going to be okay,” he told the frightened two.
The little boy’s eyes looked like huge dark holes in the poor light. “You a doctor, mister?”
David grinned. “No, but my mother sure wanted me to be one.”
The tyke frowned. “Did she make you time-out ’cause you dinn’t ’bey?”
“No, not for that. But I spent hours and hours doing time-outs for all kinds of other things.”
A spark of mischief rang in his “Really?”
“Don’t bother the nice man, Marky. I’m sure he has to get going.”
“Aunt Lauren! You know you shouldn’t call me that.”
The sirens wailed louder even than the boy’s complaint.
Lauren tsk-tsked—nervously, to David’s ear. “I’m so sorry, dear. Aunt Lauren forgot this time. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
Mark aimed narrowed eyes at his aunt. “Double-dip promise, with a cherry and whip cream on top?”
“Double-dip promise, with a cherry and whipped cream on top.”
David was charmed, but not so much that he forgot what had to come next.
“Don’t you think you’d better call his parents?” he asked. “The investigating officer will be here soon, and he’ll want to ask you a million questions. The boy, too. The police will need parental permission to question him.”
The smile the banter had brought to Lauren’s face vanished. “Oh, dear. We don’t need the police. I’m fine, and so is Mark. Nothing happened here.”
“What do you mean, nothing happened here? That idiot ran right at you—and hit you! Then he pulled a hit-and-run. In my book that’s two for one. Crimes, that is.”
Alarm again filled her face. “Oh, no. Really. I’m sure the driver just skidded on the wet pavement. It gets slippery when it starts to snow like this.”
David snorted. “Look, lady—Lauren?” When she nodded, he continued. “The guy started out behind me. The minute you stepped into the crosswalk—on a green light for me, mind you—he hit the gas good and swerved around me. He was heading for you, and there’s no other way to call it. This was no accident.”
“You must be mistaken,” she argued in a shaky voice. “It couldn’t have happened that way. I’m sure it was the snow and…”
She stopped.
Shook her head.
Tightened her hold on Mark.
“Please,” she whispered. “Send them…all of them—” she gave a little wave “—away. I’m fine. Nothing happened here….”
Despite her urgent denials, David heard no conviction behind Lauren’s words. Something wasn’t right. Why was she so determined to