Page 34 of Luck of the Draw

My skin began to tingle, and I instinctively looked up. As if my thoughts had magically manifested him, Dylan stood about six feet away from me, standing at the end of an aisle, pushing a shopping cart that was mostly empty. My eyes locked with those whiskey-colored eyes that I’d memorized after staring into them for so long the day before.

I opened my mouth to say something, but he spoke first.

“Did you find your shoes?” Then he quickly added, “Dottie gave me your address. I didn’t follow you home or anything weird like that.”

My face flushed as I nodded. “I wondered if you’d gotten it from Blue or Lee. And yeah, I got them. They’re in my car now. My boys and I are on our way to Sam’s house for dinner.”

He stiffened at the mention ofmy boys, and my heart sunk. The thought of kids scared him, and to be fair, he was young. He should have a family of his own. Not a ready-made one.

“Thanks for dropping them off,” I said, taking a step backward.

“We both agreed, Mom!” Ollie exclaimed as he rushed over with a cake container. “Like, we didn’t argueat all!” He held out his cake box as though it held rare jewels.

“That’s great,” I said.

“What kind did you get?” Dylan asked, peering at the transparent lid of the box. “I love cake.”

Oliver glanced up at Dylan, his eyes widening in surprise. “Sprinkle.”

He glanced from me to Dylan and back again.

“And I picked a chocolate cake,” Liam said, approaching me from the other side, but his tone was more cautious.

“Which one is for Sam’s house?” I asked, then kicked myself for prolonging this conversation. I should just say goodbye and get out of there.

“The sprinkle cake, of course,” Liam said as though it was the craziest question I could think to ask. “Chocolate is your favorite, and we’re getting it foryourcelebration. That’s the one we need to bring home.”

My heart swelled with love for my son, who hung between childhood and becoming a man and carried the baggage that went with that transition, including the fear that showing affection was a sign of weakness.

“Celebration?” Dylan asked. I nearly missed the wistful tone in his voice.

“Mom got a new job,” Ollie said, practically jumping up and down. “She doesn’t have to call all those people and try to get them to go on cruises anymore.”

Dylan gave me a look of surprise, and my face burned with humiliation. While I’d run out on the man, I’d hoped to let him think I was someone worth missing. Not a broke single mom with a slimy job.

“Dylan doesn’t want to hear about that,” I said, unable to meet his gaze. “I’m sure he’s a very busy man.”

“I could use the distraction,” he said. “I’m preparing to go pose for an artist who makes goat paintings, and I’m trying to put it off for as long as possible.”

A stab of jealousy caught me by surprise. Was he going to pose with his shirt off? If he were posing for me, I’d have him take his shirt off. What if he was posing nude? The stab sank deeper.

I reminded myself it was none of my business. Not to mention the artist was in her sixties. Still, I couldn’t help but wish I were the one who was about to see his perfect chest.

“She’s going to make you look like a goat?” Ollie asked in awe.

Dylan laughed. “That is averygood question that I will unfortunately find out sooner rather than later.”

Ollie grinned up at him. “I wish she would makemeinto a goat. Like those people who draw you with big heads. Maybe she’ll make you have a big head on a goat body.”

Dylan laughed again. “I wish, but I worry it’ll be something much worse.”

“Like she’ll give you a goat head on your human body?” Ollie asked in excitement.

“Exactly,” he said, chuckling.

I dared to look up and found him staring at me. His hair was slightly tousled, reminding me of the way it had looked Saturday night after I’d grabbed handfuls of it to hold him in place when he was between my legs.

No. I couldn’t think of that now. But my body refused to listen, and an ache filled my core as I struggled to catch my breath.

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