Free What I Love About You by Rachel Gibson Page B

arms and legs. Charlotte had carefully drawn ten fingers and toes, and a big head topped with three strands of blond hair.
    “What’s that?”
    Natalie pointed to the gray eyes and the straight red line for a mouth. “This is you.” She slid her finger to the black furry circle with paws and tail. The puppy had a head with a red tongue and floppy ears. “This is Sparky. I’ve noticed that Charlotte’s artwork has improved in the last few months. Everything used to be stick figures.”
    His brow furrowed and he leaned in for a closer look. “Is that supposed to be my hair?”
    Natalie smiled. “Charlotte doesn’t have very much experience drawing hair on men. Her grandfather is bald.” And her father has a prison cut.
    “Is that a pot gut?”
    He sounded so insulted her smile turned to soft laughter. Blake Junger had a full head of hair and his gut was definitely flat. “Your eyes are the right color.” She moved to a lower cupboard and pulled out a pan. “And your smile.”
    “This thing isn’t smiling.”
    “Exactly.” She filled the pan with hot water and set it on the stove to boil. It was mac and cheese night at the Coopers. Living with a five-year-old, she’d learned it was easier just to keep the menu simple and hide veggies in things her daughter liked to eat. She’d learned to pick her battles. Over the sound of cartoons in the living room, Sparky barked, proving that she’d lost that one.
    Blake straightened and she expected him to leave. To leave the part-time dog he’d conned on a little girl and run like hell. Instead he said, “I met a friend of yours a few weeks ago at the grocery store.”
    Her list of friends was short. She grabbed a box of mac and cheese and looked over her shoulder at him. “Lilah?”
    “Mabel.”
    She set the box on the counter next to the stove. Maybe he was sticking around because he was lonely in that big empty house next door. That made her almost feel bad for him, but not quite. “Mabel Vaughn?”
    “Yeah.”
    “She was my grandmother’s good friend.” She added salt to the water. He didn’t seem to have a job or family. He didn’t seem to do anything but chop wood and shoot pictures. “I’ve known her all of my life.”
    He leaned a hip into the counter and folded his arms over his chest like he was settling in for a chat. Like he wasn’t the rude neighbor who’d sworn at her child and questioned her motherhood. “She mentioned that.” He wore a gray Navy football sweatshirt and a pair of Levi’s worn in curious places. Curious places like the back pocket were he kept his wallet and his button fly where he kept something else. Not that she’d looked. Okay, she’d looked, but it wasn’t her fault she’d noticed his bulge, like he was packing serious heat behind that button fly. Having him here in her kitchen was really strange. His testosterone was throwing off the feminine balance in her house. Like a storm cloud in the middle of her calm blue feng shui.
    “She also mentioned your husband.”
    Natalie glanced toward the empty doorway of the living room and pushed her hair behind her ear. “Ex-husband.” She wasn’t surprised Mabel had gossiped about her. Annoyed, but not surprised. “No doubt she ‘mentioned’ he’s in prison.” She looked back at Blake watching her through those intense smoky eyes of his.
    “When does he get out?”
    Natalie rarely liked to talk about Michael, and this wasn’t one of those rare occasions. “Around Thanksgiving.” In the other room, Natalie listened to the sound of Charlotte’s laugher over the puppy’s barking and a My Little Pony cartoon. My Little Pony was okay, but ever since Lilah had rented I, Robot for them all to watch, anything with robots gave Charlotte nightmares.
    “Is Charlotte excited?”
    Natalie didn’t like to talk about Michael, but he wasn’t a secret. She learned years ago that secrets made a person sick. Sick like her former husband. She’d been in a really dark place