Page 10 of Love & Rockets

She’d have to knuckle down for the next few weeks to be able to get back to building up her meager savings account. Though she’d negotiated a great payment plan, the down payment on Grace’s orthodontia had eaten a chunk of her reserves. Combined with back-to-school shopping, her nest egg had been cracked open and devoured soft-boiled. She needed to get her funds back up over what she considered safety net level and quick. She never knew what expenses lay lurking around the corner, but she knew damn well there would be something. Car trouble. Medical bills. She laughed whenever her friend Harley asked how she was fixed for a down payment on a house, and bristled whenever he offered to secure a loan for her. Harley and his mother had already done so much for her and Grace. Too much. And though Harley could easily afford to help, Darla’d had to learn to draw some lines.

Space Camp was nowhere in the budget, but she wanted Grace to have a shot. Drawing a deep breath, she pulled one of the squeeze bottles of sauce from her apron and slid the peace offering across the table.

Jake eyed the bottle as if she’d offered him a bundled stack of fifties. “I’m not on the selection committee.”

“You aren’t?” Her shoulders dropped as she expelled the breath she’d been holding.

He picked up the bottle and offered it back to her. “Sorry, no.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “Keep it. Saves me a trip later.”

A slow smile spread across his face. The effect was so stunning Darla had to admit Zelda Jo wasn’t far off in her assessment. He might have that whole serious science guy thing going on, but when his eyes crinkled at the corners and grooves bracketed his mouth, he was definitely a contender for any sexiest guy title. And though she wasn’t sixteen anymore, it was damn hard not to crush on a guy who had everything—brains, looks, good manners, and an undeniable streak of nerdiness that made him seem a little lost.

“I don’t judge because I have more fun mentoring a couple of kids each year.”

Darla stared at him, so drawn in by those crinkles and brackets and the warmth of those hot fudge eyes she almost missed the gist of what he was saying. At last, she latched onto the word ringing in her ears. “Mentor?”

“Help them with their thesis, teach them proper methodology, the importance of data integrity.” He rolled his hand, urging her to catch on. “Advise on how best to present their findings.”

Her heart surged in her chest. “Mentor Grace.” She dropped into the seat across from him again and almost reached for his hands, but checked herself in time. Folding her own hands atop the tacky table top, she looked him dead in the eye. “Please.”

“This is quite the turnaround from last night,” he commented mildly, but his eyes still held the light of his smile.

“Darla! Get off your backside. You’ve got orders up and I think table seven is sufferin’ de-hy-dration,” Zelda Jo ordered as she sidled past with a loaded tray. Tossing a knowing smile over her shoulder, she blew an exaggerated kiss at Jake and cooed, “Stop looking at her like that, John-John. Short-circuits a girl’s wiring.”

Jake shook his head and frowned as Darla scrambled to her feet. “I’ve told her a million times my name is Jake, but she insists on calling me John.” He looked up at her, utterly bewildered. “Do you think she has memory problems?”

Darla snorted. “Zelda Jo has fifty-seven problems on any given day, but faulty memory isn’t one of them.”

“So she calls me John to bug me?”

“More of a flirting thing.” She wrinkled her nose at the thought of Zelda Jo putting serious moves on a guy like Jake Dalton. “Listen, why don’t you come to dinner one night?” The suggestion was out there before she’d given any thought to the state of her freezer. She grimaced as she realized what slim pickings she had to offer, but the invitation was out there now and there was no taking it back. Straightening her shoulders, she forced a tight smile. “You can talk to Grace and see if you might want to work with her, and I’ll have the chance to make things up to you.”

“You don’t have to make anything up to me.”

His chivalrous dismissal of her rude behavior was a relief, but she had a live one on the line now, and she wasn’t going to give up until she landed him and served him up on a plate for her little girl. Even if she’d have to pull an Internet search on how to make ramen noodles into something not quite so ramen-y. Now that she thought about it, there might be an open package of pasta up behind the quinoa she kept meaning to cook. She could spring for a jar of sauce and maybe a loaf of bread. Gracie liked all forms of Italian food. Though they’d hugged and made up for the most part, Darla was aware she hadn’t been entirely forgiven. She would have to make things right as far as Grace’s chances at winning the Space Camp scholarship.

Serving up the esteemed Dr. Dalton as a side dish would go a long way to getting her back in her daughter’s good graces. Anything to avoid spending the weekend attempting to coax a pre-teen out of the awkward silent treatment thing she’d picked up recently.

Wrinkling her nose in an attempt to look sheepish, she leaned in close and pitched her voice low. “I have to make up to Grace. She was a little put out with me for chasing you off.”

Jake leaned back and looked her in the eye. “Was she?”

“Nothing fancy. I’ll make dinner and you two can form your own save the midget planets society.”

“Dwarf planets,” he corrected, as she knew he would. “And they’re not endangered.”

“I know. They don’t get the respect they deserve,” she replied gravely. “Think about it. I’ll put your order in.”

She turned on her heel and headed back toward the kitchen. For good measure, she added a little extra sway to her step. Because sometimes a mother had to do what a mother had to do.

---