Page 54 of Taming His Honeydoll
Rachel snorted. “Every woman is ready for that, honey. It’s called making a commitment. I can tell you right now that if she isn’t already, that girl will be looking for an apartment to live in very soon. She’s getting restless. Oh, she hasn’t confided in me and I haven’t asked, but I can recognize the signs.”
Alarm shot through his body, making his back stiffen. “What do you mean?”
Her face softened in the moonlight and she sighed. “Honey, no woman wants to just play house forever. When Emma found out she was pregnant, did she just move in with Henry? She could have, you know, and the result would still have been the same. But no—shemarriedhim. Because in her heart, she wants a complete family, not just a live together.”
“That’s what I want to,” he sputtered, his face turning red. “This is really none of your business, Mom but since you’ve poked your nose in, I’ll just tell you. Emma lost her trust in me and I’m trying to give her time to rebuild it.”
“Then give her the commitment she needs,” Rachel replied softly. “She’s young, she’s trying to work through everything that’s happened. I can understand that. You told me you regretted leaving her behind and not asking her to wait for you. That was lack of commitment on your part and look where it got you.”
Sawyer stared at her, his mind whirring like a pinball machine from point to point and coming back to the commitment point. He’d be damned if his mother wasn’t right.
Well, he could fix that.
Finally, he spoke. “Do you think you could watch Levi tomorrow? I want to take Emma out for a while.”
“Always,” she replied, her soft chuckle of satisfaction rolling over him.
He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Thanks, Mom. In your crazy way, you always seem to make sense. I can see why Dad always said he would be lost without you.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I’ve been lost without him too. I miss him every day, but seeing you settled and happy is grounding me again. Levi is a precious part of that and I’m very thankful.”
Sawyer held the door for his mother and followed her inside to ask Emma for a date tomorrow. He had plans.
***
EMMA WOKE UP WITH Asense of anticipation filling her. Sawyer had asked her to go shopping with him this afternoon and then get some dinner tonight at a restaurant of her choice. They hadn’t been out on a formal date since she was staying here. Something was different though; she could feel it.
The last three weeks had given her reasons to regret not having a close girlfriend to confide in. She envied Chessy and Marsha’s relationship. She’d really like a female her age to talk to right now. Henry only saw things from a male point of view.
After her parents had died, she’d sort of closed herself off. She hadn’t made friends easily anyway, and the girls around her at school seemed immature and fake. The marijuana crowd had been interesting until they got her in trouble. Concentrating on her grades had kept Oliver off her back and she’d floated through those years talking to the horses and dogs as her confidantes. Aunt Tootie had been a loving support but not a girlfriend.
When she’d arrived at college, she and Henry had hit it off immediately and had a few classes together. They had become fast friends. The boys at college were different than high school and she’d been friendly to them and accepted dates here and there but still never made any girlfriends. She seemed to make friends with boys better than girls, they were just easier to be around.
In the computer class she’d taken as an elective, she’d seen Sawyer and been instantly attracted. That was right before Christmas that first year. He’d seemed attracted to her too, but he never asked her out until much later. She’d hugged her secret to herself like a warm blanket and hadn’t even confided in Henry. It was too special.
Sawyer was older and seemed to have a take-charge, bossy type of personality that attracted her. Finally finding the nerve to ask him a question about one of their class assignments, he’d smiled at her, his blue eyes studying her in a way that made her feel breathless. For a moment, she’d thought he was going to ask her out, but then he’d merely answered her question kindly and then turned away. Disappointment had washed over her and she’d known she was falling in love. No other guy had ever made her ache to touch him or long for a kiss to see what he tasted like.
Going home at Christmas and attending Oliver’s wedding to Marsha, she’d let slip a few words about Sawyer, and then regretted them. What had she been thinking? Marsha could never be a confidante because she was married to her brother.
When Sawyer had finally asked her out, she was over the moon in love and he’d seemed to feel it too. He’d told her he loved her—but then he’d left her.
Pushing her mind away from the road it was traveling, she turned on the shower to get ready. That was all history now and the future was before her. No point in going over it again.
Lots of thoughts had run through her mind over these last few weeks and the first and foremost one at the moment was that she felt adrift. She wondered how long he was expecting her to stay? Getting to know Rachel had been great, spending time with Sawyer had been great, but she was getting restless.
The more time she spent with Sawyer, the harder it was getting to fight her physical attraction to him. Was it possible to want to jump into bed with someone and still not trust them at the same time? And he seemed perfectly happy with things just the way they were.
Beneath the warm shower, her thoughts were jumbled. Sawyer never took things any further than kissing and that was driving her crazy too. And he hadn’t even mentioned marriage. At this point she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, she just knew she couldn’t live here forever in a drifting state. If he didn’t want to marry her, then she needed to move out.
The thought occurred to her that she could always ask him if they were getting married, but then she’d never know if she’d backed him into a corner because of Levi. Beyond that he’d said he owed her a spanking for not telling her about Levi and he hadn’t delivered on that either. She sighed. It wasn’t like she wanted that, so what was her problem?
The check from the insurance on the house was supposed to be in the mail. Maybe it was time she just looked into getting an apartment for her and Levi. Maybe that would make things less complicated all the way around.
Then again, there was something different in the air today. What was up with that?
By the time Sawyer came out of his bedroom around 1:00 pm, Emma was bursting with anticipation and anxiety. Rachel had been sending her covert looks all morning as if she knew something Emma didn’t. Sawyer had been nonchalant at lunch and then had headed upstairs to take a shower.
He’d told her to just dress casually since she wanted to go out for Mexican food so she’d taken another shower after lunch and slipped into skinny jeans with a maroon, long-sleeved knit sweater that dipped into a V-neck. A light jacket with beautiful autumn colors and soft kidskin boots up to her calves completed her outfit.
