The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks [42]
Taylor took another drink from his beer. “Why are you so interested, anyway?” he asked.
“Because we love you,” Melissa answered sweetly, as if that explained it all.
And don’t understand why I’m still alone, Taylor thought.
“All right,” he finally said, “I’ll think about it.”
“Fair enough,” Melissa said, not bothering to hide her enthusiasm.
Chapter 12
The day after Denise had run into Taylor at Merchants, she spent the morning working with Kyle. The accident seemed to have had neither a negative nor a positive impact on his learning, though now that summer had arrived, he seemed to work best if they were able to finish before noon. After that it was too warm in the house for either of them to concentrate.
Earlier, right after breakfast, she’d called Ray and asked him for a couple of extra shifts for the time being. Fortunately he’d consented. Starting tomorrow night she’d work every evening except Sunday, as opposed to her usual four shifts. As always, she’d head in around seven and work until midnight. Though coming in a little later meant less in tips because she’d miss a good portion of the dinner rush, she couldn’t in good conscience leave Kyle in the back room for an extra hour all by himself while he was still awake. By arriving later, she could put him down in the cot and he’d fall asleep within minutes.
She’d found herself thinking about Taylor McAden ever since she’d run into him at the store the day before. Just as he’d promised, the groceries had been placed on the front porch, in the shade provided by the overhang. Because it hadn’t taken more than ten or fifteen minutes for her to make it back home, the milk and eggs were still cold and she’d put them in the refrigerator before they spoiled.
While Taylor had carried the bags to his truck, he’d also offered to put their bikes in the back and give them both a ride, too, but to that Denise had said no. It had less to do with Taylor than Kyle—he was already getting on his bike, and she knew he was looking forward to another ride with his mother. She didn’t want to ruin that for him, especially since this would probably be a regular routine and the last thing she wanted was for him to expect a truck ride back every time they came to town.
Still, part of her had wanted to accept Taylor’s offer. She’d been around long enough to know that he’d found her attractive—the way he looked at her made that plain—yet it didn’t make her uncomfortable the way the scrutiny of other men sometimes did. There wasn’t the usual hungry gleam in his eye while he’d stared at her—the one that implied a roll in the sack would solve everything. Nor had his eyes wandered downward while she spoke—another common problem. It was impossible to take a man seriously when he was staring at her breasts.
No, there was something different about the way he’d looked at her. It was more appreciative somehow, less threatening, and as much as she resisted the idea, she’d found herself not only flattered by it, but pleased as well.
Of course, she knew it could have been part of Taylor’s shtick, his way of coming on to women, a pattern honed over time. Some men were good at that. She’d meet them and talk to them, and every nuance of their being seemed to imply that they were different, more trustworthy, than other men. She’d been around long enough to meet plenty of those types as well, and usually she’d hear little alarm bells going off. But Taylor was either the finest actor she’d ever come across or he really was different, because this time the bells were silent.
So which was it?
Of the many things she’d learned from her mother, there was one that