Page 3 of The World She Never Knew Existed

He held his hand out to hers to shake it. She was shocked as there seemed to be some type of electrical spark that shot through her arm as soon as their hands touched.

It must be my imagination,she thought.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he said.

“You as well,” she said.

She tried not to stare at the incredibly sexy man with light brown hair and hazel eyes that stood in front of her. His muscles were bulging, and his arms looked as though they were going to bulge out of his t-shirt.

Luckily, he hadn’t caught her staring at him like a moonstruck teenager over a movie star. He had turned his attentions to Zeke.

“Hello, Zeke. It’s nice to meet you,” Dillon said.

“You, too,” Zeke said, shaking Dillon’s hand. “My name is Ezekial Jonathan Montgomery, but everyone calls me Zeke for short. I’m six years old, and I already know how to read and to add numbers. My mom taught me.”

“Wow, you seem like a very smart young man,” Dillon replied.

“I am,” Zeke said.

Clara shook her head. Humble was not a word that could be used to describe her son.

Dillon grinned at Zeke’s response.

He caught her eye and for a brief second it seemed as though something passed between them, although she couldn’t say what it was. The moment was gone quickly, leaving her to wonder if she imagined it.

“Dillon is a great guy,” Greta said. “Most of the folks around town are.”

“I take it that there are some who aren’t as awesome,” she said.

“There’s always some bad in every group,” Greta said. “But the good far outweigh the bad.”

She and Zeke went back to Colorado Springs that evening tired. The closing date for the café was quickly approaching, and she had a lot of packing to do.

A couple of weeks later, she was happy when she signed the documents and handed over the cashier’s check to pay for the café and the house. Now, was the hard part.

“Charlie, could you watch Zeke for me?” she asked her.

“Do you want me to be there with you?” she asked. “For back up or just moral support?”

“No, this is something that I have to take care of by myself,” she told her. “We’re meeting in a public place, and you know how important appearances are to him, so he’ll control himself for the most part.

She and John met at a small diner where they usually met to exchange Zeke.

“What is so important that you wanted to meet me here?” he asked, checking his watch as though he had something more important to do.

“Zeke and I are moving to Ivy Springs,” she told him, bluntly. “I have bought a café there, and we are moving.”

“That is a hundred and twenty miles away,” he exclaimed. “You can’t do that.”

“I have already done that,” she told him. “It is close enough that you can still have Zeke every other weekend. We can find a halfway point to meet.”

“No,” he said. “I won’t let you take Zeke that far away from me.”

I didn’t ask him why it mattered so much. He rarely saw his son except on his weekends.

“You don’t have a say in this,” I told him. “Everything is final. The moving truck comes tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? How long have you been planning this?” he demanded.

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