Authors: Gina Ardito
Adara’s heart cracked and bled, but what could she say?
Nothing wise or particularly comforting came to mind so she cuddled the boy
close and gave the only response she could. “I do, too,
sweetheart.”
“Adara?”
“Hmmm?”
“How come you’re here with us?”
The question took her by complete surprise. How much should
she tell him? Not the entire truth, that was for sure. The child had enough to
fear without knowing that a bunch of goons threatened his life to get to her.
“Your uncle and I are very good friends,” she finally said. “When I heard you
were going to see Prufrock, I was sooooo jealous. Uncle Shane was nice enough
to ask me to come along.”
The boy’s eyes widened in awe. “
You
like Prufrock,
too?”
She shrugged. “What’s not to like, right? He’s the greatest
superhero that ever lived.”
“He sure is!” Tyler threw a few awkward karate punches into
the air above the bed, then turned back to her. “Adara? Could you teach me how
to fight off the bad guys today?”
“Well, I don’t know how much time we’ll have, but I’ll tell
you what. How about I teach you one karate move a day for now? Does that sound
good to you?”
His crooked smile lit up the room. “It’s a deal. Can we
start right now?”
Now? Before her coffee? She stared up at the ceiling in
consternation. Such hardships could prove the death of her. “It’s a little
early, Tyler,” she said. “And there isn’t enough room in here. We’ll wait until
Uncle Shane is awake and try something in the living room. Can you wait a while
longer?”
Tyler shook his head. “But Uncle Shane’s already awake.”
Her attention focused on his bright brown eyes. “He is?”
“Uh-huh. He always gets up real early. On school days, he
lays out my clothes, packs my lunch and my backpack, and makes me breakfast—all
before he wakes me up.”
“Really? What else does he do with you?”
Tyler shrugged. “Lots of things. We play with my Prufrock
action figures, he reads me bedtime stories. Sometimes he takes me to baseball
games. Once, we even went to the circus, and Uncle Shane and I rode an elephant
around the center ring. That was really cool.”
“I’ll bet it was.”
The image of Shane as a domestic contradicted sharply with
her personal experience. Funny how a different perspective changed the man’s
personality in her mind.
She saw Shane as her fierce protector, like the griffins in
Gigia’s
myths. From the moment of their first meeting, Shane was her steadfast
champion, about as close to a knight in shining armor as any real man in the
real world could get.
But through Tyler’s eyes, she now saw a new side of the
hard-bitten detective. Here was a gentler man. Oh, she knew better than to
underestimate him. If anyone attempted to lay a finger on Tyler, she had no
doubt Shane would fly to the boy’s defense on eagle’s wings, with sharp talons
ready to slice the accoster to ribbons.
Right now, however, her imagination envisioned a man who
read Dr. Seuss and
Curious George
, who cooked oatmeal and pancakes, and
who rode a circus elephant—all to please a five-year-old boy. Although she
previously didn’t think it possible, with this new information, her opinion of
Detective Shane Griffin skyrocketed to “nearly perfect.”
So why wasn’t this nearly perfect man married, or engaged,
or in some way, taken? Not that she was ungrateful, but…
“Adara?” Tyler’s voice cut through her reverie. “Can we work
on some karate now?”
“I want to get up and get dressed first. Maybe brush my
teeth. You should, too, you know. Didn’t Uncle Shane buy you a brand new
Prufrock toothbrush and toothpaste?”
“Uh-huh. If I brush my teeth real good, will you teach me
something? Just a few moves? Maybe a kick or punch?”
“If you brush your teeth
well,
” Pauline suddenly
interjected, rolling over in her bed, “I’m sure Adara will teach you something.
Won’t you, Adara?”
“Yes. But it won’t be a kick or a punch.” The boy’s face
fell. “Not yet, anyway. First, you have to learn to break out of certain holds.
Then I’ll teach you kicking and punching. All karate moves, we call them katas
by the way, are learned step by step. Before you can fight, you need to know
proper stances, proper blocking techniques, all sorts of things. It takes a
long time to get to the point where you can beat up bad guys.”
Tyler’s little face crumpled, and her heart just about broke
in half.
“But here’s what we’re going to do,” she said. “First, I’ll
teach you to break away from certain holds a bad guy might try to drag you with
him. If you can get away from me while I’m holding you, I’ll teach you one kick
as a reward. How does that sound to you?”
“That sounds great,” the boy exclaimed and leapt from the
bed.
Only his Prufrock-covered rump remained visible to Adara
when his head disappeared into the overnight bag while he rustled around for
his new toothbrush and toothpaste. Holding the items up in the air in a gesture
of victory, he grinned his waiflike smile, then toddled off to the bathroom.
“You have a natural way with children, Adara,” Pauline said
when the bathroom door closed. “That’s a rare gift.”
At such unworthy praise, she shrugged. “I don’t know about
that. He’s sweet, and he’s obviously frightened. Shane told me a little about
his parents. And I really do know several moves that could come in handy for
him. Even if he never has cause to use them, which I hope is the case, they’ll
still give him a sense of power. With any luck at all, he’ll become confident
that no bad guys can reach him.”
“From your mouth to God’s ears,” Pauline said, making the
sign of the cross. “I don’t know how much Shane shared with you, but that poor
child has suffered so.”
“I know his father killed his mother then killed himself.”
“Did he tell you that Tyler witnessed the killings?”
An involuntary gasp escaped her lips before she could stop
it. “No.”
“He and Shane see a psychiatrist twice a week. It’s hard
enough for the child to overcome his fear of the ‘bad guys.’ But can you
imagine how devastating it is for him because he equates his father with the
‘bad guys?’”
“I never realized…”
Her voice trailed off while her thoughts took flight into
the deepest recesses of terror in her subconscious. Everyone had emotional
baggage. Heck, she considered herself one of the walking wounded. But Tyler was
so small, so frail, and his experience too overwhelming, even for an adult to
comprehend.
A firm resolve rose within her. She’d teach him everything
she could about karate. And jiu-jitsu too, if he wanted to know. By the time
she was through, Tyler would be capable of kicking
Prufrock’s
butt.
Determined now, she rose from the bed and joined him in the
bathroom. Tyler was just rinsing the last of the toothpaste from his mouth.
Beneath the stark bathroom light, she noted his haunted look, his gaunt cheeks,
and the spark of innocence dimly flickering behind the horrible memories etched
on his features. Without warning, she scooped him into her arms and clutched
him tightly to her chest. “Do you have any idea how special you are?” she
asked.
“Adara, you’re crushing me,” he replied.
Embarrassed, she released her hold on him. “Sorry. Why don’t
you ask Grandma to get you dressed, then wait in the living room for me? We’ll
get started in a few minutes, okay?”
“Uh-huh.” He left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Alone, Adara stared into the mirror. Time to begin her daily
ablutions. In just a few minutes, she’d see Shane again. After what had
happened between them last night, how would he react? Well, she wouldn’t allow
him to give her the old apology speech again; that was for sure. Once in a
lifetime was quite enough for that.
He probably thought he was being chivalrous. She thought he
was being asinine. While brushing her teeth, she recalled the warmth of his
mouth on hers, the gentle whisper of his hand across her fevered flesh. God, it
had been too long since she’d felt so feminine, so desired.
Deep down, she knew why he’d apologized. Their time together
was temporary. Eventually, they’d return to New York, she’d testify in Cherry’s
trial, and they’d say goodbye to one another. Nothing permanent could come from
this escapade.
But she knew
that
before she ever kissed him. Her
entire life had been spent avoiding those awkward moments when someone said,
“I’m sorry, but it’s just not working out.” She never gave any man the
opportunity to get close to her, close enough to devastate her when he
eventually left, as all men did. Even with Terry, she did the leaving first.
Inadvertently, her thoughts turned to Ted. Maybe she should
have considered his marriage proposal. After all, hadn’t he already told her he
knew she didn’t believe in happily ever after? Yet he still insisted they
should marry. He still believed they belonged together, despite her misgivings.
Or maybe because of them. She didn’t know which.
It didn’t matter. Either way, Ted was back in New York, and
she was stuck here in a roadside motel in North Carolina. The window of
opportunity for marrying Ted had slammed shut.
Finished in the bathroom, she returned to the bedroom. While
Pauline tugged a shirt over Tyler’s head, Adara dug out a T-shirt and shorts
from the garment bag and laid them across her bed.
“Come on,” Pauline told the boy as she playfully patted his
little behind. “Let’s go find Uncle Shane while Adara gets dressed.”
Once the door closed behind them, Adara quickly changed her
clothes then ran a brush through her hair. After sleeping on a wet head the
night before, a riot of waves stuck out in every direction around her face, and
she sighed. Why couldn’t she be one of those fortunate women who woke up
dewy-eyed with barely a hair out of place? She smoothed the wild mane as best
she could and left the bedroom for her first teaching session with her new
pupil.
Shane stood in the hallway, Tyler perched upon his
shoulders. Quickly looking away, he mumbled, “Good morning.”
Oh, no you don’t. I’ll be damned if we’re going to walk
on eggshells around each other now.
The devil in her ear urged her on, and she leaned forward to
kiss Shane’s cheek. “Good morning. I hope you slept well.”
His eyes widened in surprise, but he recovered, buying time
by setting Tyler back on the floor. “Go watch a little television before we go
out to breakfast.”
Tyler scampered off, and Shane’s now impassive eyes focused
on her. “In the future, I’d prefer you kept some distance between us.”
Hands on her hips, she offered him an icy glare. “Oh? Why?”
“Because of Tyler.”
“Do you think I’d hurt that sweet, innocent boy? Not for
anything in the world, Shane.”
He shook his head. “You don’t understand, Adara. He needs
permanence in his life right now. He’s experienced too many goodbyes for
someone so young. His heart can’t handle any more.”
“And because I kiss you good morning, that means I’m fooling
Tyler into believing in some kind of permanent relationship between us? Look,
Shane, he may be young, but he’s not an idiot. He’s a bright kid. So, how do
you plan to explain my presence here to him? Don’t think he won’t question it.
He will. He already has.”
“He has?”
“Mmm-hmm. Just a little while ago.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him that you and I are good friends, and I wanted to
see Prufrock, too, so you invited me along. What did you expect me to tell him?
The truth?”
The tension lines in his forehead eased. “Thanks, Adara.
That was quick thinking.”
She smiled. “Does that mean we’re square now?”
“I suppose.”
“Good.” Appeased, she walked around him, but a quick touch
on her arm stopped her. “Is there something else you want to say to me?”
“As a matter of fact there is. About last night…”
Oh, thank God. He was going to face up to his idiocy.
Salivating with anticipation, she had to clench her hands into fists to keep
from rubbing them together in glee.
“I’m all ears.”
“It won’t happen again.”
Thump
! The sound of her heart falling to the floor.
Didn’t we already cover this? Does he still know so
little about me? Looks like it’s time for another lesson in Understanding Adara
101. No, wait. On second thought, let him figure it out for himself. After all,
he’s a detective. Let him detect.
“You know what?” She turned her back on him then tossed over
her shoulder, “You’re an asshole.”
~~~~
Shane stared after her, mouth agape, her words stinging as
if she’d slapped him.
That’s what you get for being a nice guy. Of course, a
nicer guy would have stopped last night’s activities before they occurred.
His conscience mocked him, but his groin had a quick retort
and rose to the occasion to make its presence known. He might as well have
tried to stop a runaway train than halt his runaway testosterone. Even now, her
smell lingered on his skin, her taste on his tongue. Every inch of her flesh
seared his memory. After she’d said goodnight last night, visions of her lying
beneath him taunted his dreams, ruining his chances for sleep.
And this morning, looking tousled and so damned enticing,
she had the audacity to sidle up to him and kiss him like they were lovers from
long ago. As if beginning a relationship would have no effect on the
impressionable five-year-old he held.
Still, he reconsidered, stealing a glance at her tussling on
the floor with a giggling Tyler, she’d charmed his family as easily as she’d
charmed him. While Mom’s quick acceptance astounded him, Tyler’s adoration was
a complete novelty and a joy to see.
From the time he knew what a “stranger” was, Tyler had
always shied away from anyone unfamiliar. When Shane considered it now, he
suspected the boy’s shyness had to do with fears of his angry, overly
possessive father. The subsequent loss of his mother at his father’s hand had
only intensified his terrors—with good reason.