time she did take his hand. “So do I.”
“But it wasn’t me, Zoey.”
“Dane—”
He forced a smile to his lips. “Maybe I should ask this Alex for pointers. I’m certainly going to need them with my own son.”
Suddenly Zoey felt conscious of the people around them listening to their conversation. She pressed her lips together and resolved to pursue this discussion later even if Dane’s expression was now cloaked, as though he regretted that brief glimpse of vulnerability.
At the half, the people around them introduced themselves to Dane and welcomed him to Sweetwater. He evaded their questions about where he had been and what he had been doing. Keeping secrets, holding himself apart from others, came so effortlessly and naturally to him that Zoey didn’t know if he could truly be a member of a family or a small town like Sweetwater.
When Wilbur Thompson kept wanting to know what he’d been up to these last few years, Zoey knew living in a small town was going to propose a lot of problems for Dane. Dallas had suited him well because he could get lost in a crowd. Sweetwater would eat him up alive because many people like Wilbur didn’t take no comment for an answer.
Finally Dane looked Wilbur in the eye and said, “I can’t help you, Mr. Thompson.”
Wilbur opened his mouth to pursue the subject, stared at the diamond-hard expression in Dane’s eyes, and clamped his lips together with a snort. The older man went back to sit at the top of the bleachers next to his wife, clearly not pleased that his curiosity hadn’t been appeased.
Zoey was thankful when the second half started, and everyone sat down again. Jesse decided to join Dane on the other side of him so he was between her and Zoey.
“Just in case anyone else wants to pry. They’ll have to crawl over me to get to you,” Jesse whispered, loud enough that many of the people heard. A few laughed.
“I thank you for your assistance. I didn’t relish getting into a fight the first day in town, especially with a man thirty years my senior.”
“And since Wilbur’s son is the police chief, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea. That man thinks everyone’s business is his. He fancies himself an amateur detective because of his son’s profession. He says it runs in his genes.”
“Is that a warning?”
“Well, I guess it is. Wilbur’s son, Zach, even tried to court Zoey a while back. Finally he gave up. He’s not like his daddy. He knows when to cut his losses and move on, thank goodness.”
Zoey was wondering if she could stuff a sock in her friend’s mouth. Jesse was way too informative, but then she always knew what was going on in Sweetwater, sometimes before the people involved.
Dane grinned. “I know that if I need any help you’re the one to come to.”
“Yep. I’ve always been there for Zoey. Been her friend since grade school. We lost touch when she was in Dallas, but now that she’s back, we’ve picked up where we left off as though a day hasn’t passed. I’m the one who encouraged her to apply for the counseling job at the high school. She needed something to do and she’s really good at helping the students.”
“Jesse,” Zoey cut in, “how’s your son doing?”
Jesse leaned around Dane, a puzzled expression on her face. “Zoey, he’s right there on the field next to Blake. He’s fine.”
“Yes, I see. But didn’t you say he was having trouble with his ears?”
Jesse waved her hand. “That was last week. He’s on medication again for another ear infection, but he’s much better.”
Dane straightened, his attention focused on Blake moving down the field toward the goal. Their son paused, aimed and kicked the ball. It shot toward the goal. The goalie dove for it but missed it by a few inches. Both Zoey and Dane leaped to their feet, cheering when the ball sailed between the goal posts for a score.
“He’s good,” Dane said, beaming at Zoey.
“He loves to play ever since he moved here. You should have seen him that first year. He—” The look of pain that flashed across Dane’s face halted her words. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No, I’m the one who is sorry. I want you to feel free to talk about what our children have done in the past. How else will I get to know them now if you don’t?” He moved in close and continued in a low voice, “The same goes for you and what you’ve been doing. It was nice listening to what Jesse had to say. It makes me realize you and I need to spend some time alone talking about what you’ve done the past few years.”
What I’ve been doing, but not you? His presence overpowered her, her senses inundated with his nearness. Zoey wanted to back away from Dane, but she didn’t. She didn’t want the townspeople to hear any of their conversation. “Will you share your life for the past few years, too?”
A shadow furrowed his brow. “There’s really nothing to share. I survived the crash and finally remembered who I was. I lived with good people who took me in. I learned to live in an environment very different from here without any trappings of civilization.”
She touched his arm, vaguely aware that people were staring at them, that the soccer game had continued. She didn’t care. “Sharing that is a beginning.” She sat, and Dane sat next to her on the bench. “I think your idea about talking is a good one. I’ll see if Mom can watch the children tonight. We can go out to dinner.”
“A date?”
“Yes. We may be married, but there’s so much we don’t know about each other.”
“Zoey, don’t expect me—”
She took his hand, stopping his words. “We have to start somewhere. For the children’s sake.”
“How about our own?”
His question, unanswered, hung in the air between them. Zoey wanted to hope one day they could capture the emotions they’d had when they’d first married before real life had intruded, before his work had taken him away from her and thrown up a wall between them that she couldn’t seem to scale, even now. But she was a realist now, and she didn’t know if that was possible.
Mandy clapped. “I won! I won!”
Dane began to put the pieces of the board game back in the box. “Did anyone ever tell you how lucky you are, young lady?”
“Yes, Mommy all the time.” Mandy helped to clean up the mess. “Ya look nice.”
He ran his finger under his collar. “You think so? I haven’t worn a suit and tie in a long time.”
“Is this what ya bought today at the store, Daddy?”
Every time his daughter called him “daddy” his heart swelled. How could he have forgotten her—forgotten Zoey and Blake? Oh, he knew all the medical reasons for amnesia, but in his heart he should have known. Guilt gnawed at his insides for the lost years.
He cleared his throat before replying, “I figured I’d better get some clothes that fit me.”
“I want to go out with ya and Mommy to eat.” Mandy came to sit next to him on the couch. “I have a pretty new dress that Nana bought me. I can wear it.”
His first impulse was to tell her yes. She would be a good buffer between him and Zoey. But he’d never been a coward before, and he wasn’t going to start now. He placed his arm around Mandy’s shoulder and pulled her against him. “You can another time. Your mother and I need to talk.”
“That’s okay. Ya can talk. I won’t mind.”
“Sometimes grown-ups need time alone. Just like you and I need special time alone.”
Mandy