He wondered how much of it she would be willing to endure for them to spend more time together.
He’d been waiting approximately ten minutes when she finally appeared. She headed straight for the horseshoe-shaped back booth where she’d told him to wait. She wore a cream-colored short-sleeved sweater with navy slacks, and her hair was pulled into a neat twist at the back of her head. She looked as though she were going to a PTA meeting. She had obviously dressed so as not to draw attention to herself.
Kit could have told her it wasn’t working. Savannah McBride was a woman who would be noticed whatever she was wearing. Men would admire her, women envy her, but they would both most definitely notice her.
She slid into the booth beside him with little more than a nod of greeting. “I’m sorry I’m late. I had an errand to run on my way.”
Kit searched her face. “You’re angry.”
She grimaced. “Yes.”
“At me?” Kit wondered if she was annoyed that he had tracked her down. He supposed he couldn’t blame her if she was, but he hoped he could convince her that he had only wanted to see her again.
But Savannah shook her head. “I just picked up my son’s things from the house of the friend he was supposed to stay with last night. The other boy’s father ridiculed me for grounding Michael. He made a point of making fun of me in front of his son, who is not being punished at all.”
Kit shook his head. “He’s not doing his son any favors if he lets him get away with breaking the law.”
She let out a sharp breath. “Are you kidding? He was practically patting him on the back in pride. He thought the entire incident was funny. The kind of thing teenage boys naturally do when they get together.”
“I can concede that young boys—and girls, for that matter—tend to get into mischief when they’re left unsupervised,” Kit murmured. “But that doesn’t mean they should be encouraged. They have to learn responsibility and self-control, and to understand the consequences of their actions. I think it’s the job of the parents to teach those lessons before the kids end up in serious trouble as adults.”
“That’s what I think, too,” Savannah agreed. “I made so many mistakes when I was young. I wanted to help my children avoid making the same ones. I didn’t expect other adults to actively try to sabotage my efforts.”
“You can’t let them influence you, Savannah. You do what’s best for your son and let them worry about theirs.”
She nodded, appearing to contemplate his words.
Kit found it rather odd that he was sitting here dispensing parenting advice to the woman he’d been obsessed with for the past two weeks. Until yesterday, he hadn’t
even known she had children.
He couldn’t say for certain that it would have made any difference to him if she had known. He might have given a bit more thought to the ramifications of becoming involved with a single mother, but he suspected that he would still have come looking for her.
A young waitress shuffled up to their table. “What can I get you?”
Without looking at the menu, Savannah ordered a cup of vegetable soup and a turkey sandwich. Figuring she knew the restaurant, Kit ordered the same for himself.
When the waitress ambled away, obviously in no hurry to turn in their order, Savannah sighed, seemed to shake off her family problems—at least temporarily—and looked directly up at Kit.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You couldn’t possibly be interested in discussing my son’s misadventures.”
“Now, that’s where you’re wrong,” he corrected her, brushing a stray strand of hair away from her temple. Even that brief contact made his fingers tingle. “I’m interested in everything about you.”
A light wash of pink tinged her cheeks. He had her attention now, he thought in satisfaction as their eyes met. For just a moment, the intimacy they’d shared on Serendipity returned, and their surroundings seemed to fall away. For just a heartbeat, there was no one in the little diner except Kit and Savannah.
And then, to Kit’s disappointment, a clatter of dishes made Savannah blink and look away, breaking the spell.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve been telling everyone the story you came up with. I think they believe it.”
She didn’t sound entirely certain of that, but Kit nodded. “I could tell it made you uncomfortable for people to think there was anything personal between us.”
“That’s because there isn’t. We hardly know each other.”
He slipped an arm along the back of the booth, so that his fingers were only inches from her shoulder. He scooted just a bit closer to her on the curved vinyl bench, making it impossible for her to ignore their proximity. He knew his tactics were working when the flush on her cheeks darkened.
“You keep saying that, but I don’t agree,” he murmured. “We got to know each other pretty well on that island.”
She shot him a quick look of disbelief. “Hardly. I never told you I have twin teenagers. You never mentioned that you were a well-known writer. We didn’t even exchange last names.”