Page 4 of Bidding on a Second Chance
“Oh!” She scrambled for the phone. “They probably have the food on the table and everything.”
“I can take you there instead.” Graham’s low voice was as warm and toasty as a campfire.
This was dangerous ground. She would not fall for the man. She could not. For everyone’s sake—especially his.
ChapterThree
How could Piper’s nails remain perfect after a run-in with two and a half tons of steel? Graham locked his gaze on the road and didn’t ask. She wouldn’t have an answer, and she didn’t need to know he paid her such close attention. She certainly didn’t need to know he’d always considered her small hands and delicate fingernails, perpetually glossy with a clear coat, perfect. Any touch from her had always been far more jolting than it ought to be, and that spark wasn’t her only superpower.
Her dark-brown irises and the slight downward curve of her lower lash line made her eyes look suited to a cartoon fawn. Combine those with her expressive eyebrows and her upturned nose and one glance from her could reach his heart faster than a bullet—and leave just as much carnage.
Her effect on him was empty chemistry. Superficial remnants of what had once been—or what he’d once thought they’d had, anyway.
Silence radiated toward him from the passenger seat. Why couldn’t he move on like she had? He needed to forget about her, her hands, and the pesky instinct to offer help as she recovered.
He cleared the concern from his throat and replaced it with gruff detachment befitting their current relationship. “You can’t do your job like that.”
“I can do enough.” Piper combed her fingers through her hair. The clip holding it back looked … stressed. The thing had already let loose strands on either side of her face long enough to reach her collarbone. “I won’t rearrange Second Chances’ displays until after I’m back on my feet.”
“That’s a plan to fail if I’ve ever heard one.” Sure, she’d always liked to keep the store fresh, but changing the look was optional.
Much of what she did wasn’t.
Locals brought towers of clothing and accessories for her to evaluate. What she deemed stylish, she bought from them and resold. She also received deliveries of new home goods. While they’d dated, he’d regularly stacked the hefty boxes in the stockroom for storage until they were needed on the sales floor. She’d managed without him in the time since, but that was without an injured foot.
Piper exhaled an incredulous scoff. “I’m a competent business owner. I’ll get by.”
He may have taken the gruffness too far. Still. “You can’t even drive. How will you get around?”
Piper’s eyebrow rose, an indication that her temper was doing the same. “It’s not like I did this on purpose.”
“Right. I know. But what now?” He willed her to have a plan that would allow him to walk away.
Because he wanted to walk away.
Right?
Right. She’d dumped him heartlessly.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“Can Bryce help you?” She’d had custody of her nephew since shortly before breaking up with Graham.
“Bryce is ten.”
“If he’s old enough to skip school, he’s old enough to help.”
“You heard about that.” Soft and filled with regret, her voice indicated she’d hoped he hadn’t.
“Police give missing children top priority because sometimes, it’s more serious than a boy walking away from recess to get a cupcake.” Back in September, when the call came in, Graham spent an hour searching the streets of Redemption Ridge before word came over the radio that Bryce had turned up at The Cakery, asking what he could buy for the three dollars and six cents in his pocket. “Maybe extra responsibilities would be good for him.”
“He’s busy as it is. He has some homework and friends, of course, and he goes to church on Wednesday nights. Plus …” She cleared her throat, but her next words came out mumbled. Something about basketball?
Graham’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. When it came to basketball, he could imagine only one reason she’d try to slip something past him. “What was that?”
Her hand hovered by her mouth, but she enunciated this time. “Rec league basketball starts soon.”
“He’s enrolled?”
