Page 13 of A Soldier's Return

That was probably more revealing than he intended, at least judging by the probing look Melissa sent his way. He opted to change the subject. “So you’re off to have pizza?”

“Yep. Like I said, we always have pizza on Friday night,” Skye told him. “Pizza on Friday, Tacos on Tuesday. The rest of the time, we like to mix things up.”

He found it charming that she included herself in the meal-planning process. As precocious as the girl seemed, he wouldn’t be surprised if she could fix a gourmet meal all by herself, given the chance.

“That’s good. You wouldn’t want to be too predictable.”

“What are you having for dinner?” Skye asked him.

“I don’t know. I haven’t crossed that bridge yet. Unfortunately, I donothave a pizza-on-Friday tradition, but it sounds good.”

More than likely, he would head back to his father’s house and make a sandwich or heat up a TV dinner—neither of which sounded very appetizing compared to the carbtastic wonders of A Slice of Heaven.

“You could come with us,” Skye suggested.

He glanced at Melissa, who looked taken aback by the invitation. She didn’t seem crazy about the idea, yet Eli was surprised at how very much he wanted to accept. The idea of eating alone again at his father’s house held no appeal.

“I don’t want to impose on your night out together.”

“We eat together every night,” Skye said. “Besides, pizza always tastes better when it’s shared. It’s a scientific fact. Anyway, that’s what my mom says.”

“Funny. I don’t remember learning about that in school.”

He sent a sidelong look to Melissa, who shrugged and blushed at the same time.

“You must have missed the breakthrough study. Plus, when you share a pizza, the calories don’t count.”

“Good to know. I wasn’t aware.”

“But you’ve probably had a long day,” she said. “Don’t let us pressure you into it.”

He should gracefully back out of it. She didn’t want him there anyway. But he found he wasn’t willing to do it. He wanted pizza and he wanted to spend more time with her. Neither craving was necessarily good for him, but that didn’t seem to matter.

“I haven’t had pizza from A Slice of Heaven in years. Now that you’ve planted that seed, I’m afraid nothing else will do except that. Thank you for inviting me.”

She paused, then gave a smile that seemed only a little forced. “Great. Do you remember where the pizza parlor is?”

“I could probably find it in my sleep. I’ll meet you there.”

“See you.” Skye tugged on her mom’s hand. “Let’s go. I’m starving!”

She followed her daughter out of the rehab center, and he watched them go for a moment before following closely behind.

As delicious as the wood-fired pizza was at the beloved seaside pizzeria, he found Melissa and her daughter even more appealing.

Chapter Three

In her long and illustrious history of bad ideas, inviting Dr. Eli Sanderson out to grab pizza with them had to rank right up there with the lousy perm she got in seventh grade and losing her virginity to Cody Fielding after the prom her junior year.

Technically, Skye had invited Eli, but Melissa should have figured out a polite way to wiggle out of it, for all of their sakes.

WhyhadSkye invited him along? Her daughter did love Dr. Sanderson Sr., but she usually wasn’t so spontaneously open to strangers.

Maybe her daughter had responded, as Melissa did, to that air of loneliness about Eli. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was just somethingsadabout him. A shadow in his eye, a particular set to his mouth.

She had tried hard to teach Skye how important it was to be kind to others. Okay, maybe she tried to overcompensate a little on her end, knowing her daughter wouldn’t receive similar lessons on the rare occasions she was with her dad. Maybe she had triedtoohard, if Skye was going to go around inviting random gorgeous men to share their Friday-night tradition.

So much for her lectures all day about keeping her head on straight around him. That was fine advice in a professional setting when he was her boss but might be harder to remember in social situations.

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