Page 32 of Dangerously Yours

“A patient of mine is having a meltdown, so I need to go. Was this all you wanted to talk about?”

“Yeah,” I told him, then took the half of beer he handed back to me. “I think I just needed to see things from her perspective. Thanks for setting me straight.”

“Anytime, Noah. Enjoy the rest of those beers. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Be careful,” I told him, then shook my head at how fatherly I sounded at that moment.You’re very grounded, and mature beyond your years.I flipped off his retreating backside, even though I knew Daxon was right.

LULU

Summer in Chicago was the perfect time to visit the city. Besides its natural beauty in full display, there was so much for the kids to see and do. Each of my children loved something different, and it often made keeping them happy an unenviable task at times. Leslie loved being at the Navy Pier. Taking cruises on the lake... riding the Centennial Wheel... watching fireworks light up the night sky... Her sister was a true animal lover, and her go-to destinations often included one of the area zoos such as the ones in Lincoln Park and Brookfield. She also loved the aquarium, and had done more than one of the animal encounters offered. Zachary was much more outdoorsy. He loved sports, and I often found myself bringing him to games and events held by the various professional teams, and there seemed to be one for almost every sport imaginable.

It was often difficult to find a happy medium when I had all three kids with me, but one of the places they all loved was Maggie Daley Park where they would spend hours with the various activities offered. The other was shoreside at one of Lake Michigan’s many beaches. Today, Noah and his teammates wereat Foster Beach, and it had been all I had heard about from Zachary.

“Can we go, Mom. Please?”He had pleaded with me until I finally said that we could. The girls were not as excited about that, but Amanda had bought a new bikini when at the mall with friends the weekend before, and Leslie loved any place where she could swim. It truly was the best of all worlds, except for mine.

Noah and I had been talking a lot over the last few weeks since the Carter’s retirement party. We had made some time for one another, and I had to admit, if only to myself, but I had fallen hard for him. It was hard not to when he was so attentive, even across the phone line, not counting in person. I normally flushed crimson and would become aroused as I thought about the sex between us both. The man had stamina for days, and I was often left sore afterward.

It was hard to have a relationship though when you had to keep it secret as if it was something bad. Cade was constantly photographed with various women, yet I was the one walking around with a scarlet letter across my chest, and for something I hadn’t even done. Yes, I was with Noah now, but that had happened after my divorce from Cade was finalized. The very thing ostracizing me now were fictitious lies spread by my ex to discredit me in the community.

He had, after all, called me a whore at that retirement party. I was sure I would never get another gig, but I did. One of Noah’s teammates was getting married next summer, and I had already started working with the bride. Their wedding wasn’t the only one, either. Gabriel Blake had proposed to Harper Grimes, and the two were getting married next March. Their wedding was already being dubbed ‘the social event of the season’ and itwasn’t for several months. It was proof that good news not only traveled fast, but that it lingered, too.

Bad news, and bad feelings, did as well. Cade and I were living proof of that.

“Are you going to stop by Foster’s Beach tomorrow? Zach’s excited about hanging out with some of the football players, and?—”

“That quarterback of theirs broke my fucking nose. He better hope that I never see him out in public. I’ll?—”

“If you’re just going to make a scene like you always do, then do us all a favor and stay away,”I had said before disconnecting the call. I had heard nothing else from him since.

Our children still adored their father, and it was a shame that he was so spiteful as to deny them time with him just to try to stick it to me. None of that mattered to me personally, but it did to them. As a mother, the last thing I ever wanted to see would be any of them hurting, but Cade didn’t buy into the same philosophy. I had been managing well enough on my own so far, and I would continue to do so. Nothing mattered more to me than their wellbeing, and it was something I had even discussed with my new lover.

While I had known that Noah was an only child, I had never known how badly he had wanted other siblings. I’d had a sister, so it never occurred to me that those without one often felt like their childhoods were lacking. He also loved kids, and after seeing how good he had been with Zachary that one day, I could already picture him as a father. And that was another thing. He eventually wanted to settle down and have a family, but I was already pushing forty, and I did not want to have any morechildren. I loved the ones I had, but after Leslie, I had sworn to stop there. What would happen when he wanted kids of his own?

“I don’t know why we’re even worrying about that now,”he had told me when the subject came up a few nights earlier.

“It has to be somewhere in the back of your mind. I could get serious about you, and if I did, a sudden need for children would end things between us.”

“You’re worrying about things that do not matter right now. I don’t have time for kids of my own at the moment. You know how busy I am with football. You’re buying trouble that’s not needed.”

And maybe he was right. I was just so fearful that if I truly allowed myself to fall for him, then I would be handing him the power to hurt me much like Cade had done. The two were completely different men, but my ex-husband had been every bit as charming when we had first started dating. He had said and done the right things, and I remember wondering what good I had done in my life to have found my prince so early on. Friends of mine would date many men over the years, but I had batted a home run on my very first try at bat.

Everything that glitters isn’t gold.

My mother used to tell me that whenever I would sit in our mountain cabin and dream of the big city with all of its glitz and glamor. My daydreams included places like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, where I had eventually decided on for college. The gallant knight had shown his true colors and that armor was tinfoil more than anything else. I had wasted so much time with him.

Could I do that with someone else?

“Look Mom. It’s Noah, Romeo, and Sammy. Can I go over and say hello?” Zachary asked me.

I looked at my son, and his excitement would’ve been contagious had I not been so distracted. “Sure.”

“I’m going to take Leslie to swim,” Amanda told me, and I smiled at her.

“Thank you, baby. I’m going to set up our things. Just please keep an eye on her.”

“I will. Stop worrying so much, Mom.” Typical teenagers.

Amanda then left with Leslie and I looked down at the small cabana. The heat in Chicago this time of year was no joke, and I tended to spend much of my beach time under the large, covered space. Since I was no stranger to this task, it took very little time to erect it. I spread two large blankets underneath, then put our belongings on the corners of each one, using them to keep the blanket from blowing away. We also had a cooler of drinks and a bag of snacks, but I didn’t want any of those right now.

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