White Picket Fences

She’d never obsessed about a man in her life.

And when she had drifted off, she’d had a horrible dream about sitting in a restaurant, being herself, enjoying herself, and glancing up to see a look of revulsion on Zack Foster’s face. Which alternated with indifference.

She couldn’t go.

Her hair was okay. She had to keep it short so it didn’t get in the way, but there was style to it. Bounce and casual curl. And the streaks of light blond mixed in with the darker blond were all natural. Her eyes were probably her best feature. Chocolate-brown—they were her older brother Will’s eyes. She was proud to have them.

With one last look at herself, Randi turned her back on her reflection and grabbed the phone from the nightstand in her bedroom.

“Becca?” she said as soon as her sister-in-law picked up the phone.

“Randi, I just called you, but you didn’t answer.”

“I’m not at school.”

“Where are you?” Will’s wife asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” Randi said automatically. Then she remembered the day, almost a year before, when Becca had shown up on her doorstep, desperate, unsure, frightened. Of everyone she knew in Shelter Valley, she’d come to Randi.

“Well… I’m home, not sick or anything, but I’m not exactly fine,” she clarified.

“What’s up?”

“First, you have to promise me that you won’t say anything to Will. Or anyone else, for that matter.”

“You know you can trust me.”

She did know that. Which was one reason she was on the phone at all. Becca was the epitome of discretion. It was Becca’s mother, Rose, who was the town gossip.

Of course, Rose was harmless, since much of her gossip bore only a minute resemblance to the truth, and everyone knew that.

“I’ve got a date tonight.”

“You do?” Becca couldn’t quite keep the excitement out of her voice, but Randi gave her full marks for effort.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, you have my permission to go. Just be home by midnight.”

“It’s with Zack Foster. He’s the new partner Cassie took on at the clinic last spring.”

“Oh?”

Randi almost smiled at the eagerness Becca was trying hard to conceal. Except that she felt so miserable smiling wasn’t currently an option.

“I can’t go,” she muttered.

“Why not?” There was curiosity and concern in Becca’s tone, though no condemnation.

Randi relaxed enough to sit down on the side of her bed.

“I don’t know, Bec,” she admitted. “I’ve only met the man once and he…he scares me.”

“Zack? I’ve seen him a couple of times and he’s big, I’ll grant you. But a teddy bear. Besides, since when have you ever let a man frighten you? I can remember when you were barely five years old and challenging your teenage brothers, fully believing you could take them on.”

“I could.” She did smile this time.

“Yeah, because you had them wrapped around your sweet little finger.”

“I could still take them on,” Randi asserted. She had learned a long time ago that the mind was a far more effective weapon than physical strength. When she’d been on the professional golf tour, before the accident that had squelched that particular dream, it hadn’t been the strength of her swing that had made her a winner. It had been the mental control and finesse that went along with her swing.

“It’s not that Zack scares me, exactly,” she said now to Becca, staring down at the logo on her shoe.

“When I was sitting in his office yesterday, it was almost like I’d been hypnotized. I was practically ready to agree to whatever he said. It was the oddest sensation.”

“You like him.”

“I like you, too, but I don’t lose my ability to think when I’m with you.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“THAT’S DIFFERENT. I’m a woman.”

“Yeah?” Randi replied. “No kidding.”

Becca ignored her sarcasm. “Did your stomach flutter, too?” she asked knowingly.

“Yeah,” Randi answered a little more slowly. The logo on her shoe was dirty. Dirty shoes always bothered her. “But that might’ve been because I skipped breakfast.” She carried the phone with her as she went into the bathroom to take a wet washcloth to her shoe.

“And you couldn’t stop looking at him?”

“Maybe.” The smudge wouldn’t come off. Damn.

“You’ve got the hots for him.”

That was precisely what scared Randi. She didn’t know how to have the hots. And she was a little old to be finding out.

“I’ve been attracted to a man before.” She told Becca the same thing she’d told herself at least a hundred times since she’d awoken that morning.

“You’re speaking of Sean?”

“Yes, mainly.”

“Sweetie, you didn’t give a damn if you were with Sean or not. You went out with him for so long because it was convenient.”

“I wouldn’t sleep with a man without feeling something for him,” Randi defended herself, walking to her closet for another pair of athletic shoes.

“I’m not saying you weren’t fond of him, but there was no spark between the two of you. Will and I saw that right off the bat.”