Trending, page 6
Amelia swallowed hard and moved to her place without answering. Minutes later the ball was flying right for her when the music shifted and Creed began to sing her favorite worship song from their high school days. His deep voice distracted her once again and the so-called poised, organized teacher got beaned right in the face with the ball, losing the game for her team.
They all laughed good-naturedly and shook hands, but Amelia’s head was spinning, and not from the hit.
The sun sank low enough for the park lamps to switch on, signifying the end of the evening. Once again Amelia found Lucy and sat with her while Chad, Creed and others from the worship team packed up the sound equipment.
“So, you ready to go?” Amelia asked, all too ready to slink away and never see these people again.
“No, silly, we haven’t had dessert yet,” Lucy answered, not at all concerned with her older sister’s humiliation.
“But the sun is going down. Parks close at sunset,” Amelia pointed out, inexplicably panicked when she saw Creed, Chad, and Izzie walking toward them.
Those blasted butterflies in her stomach just would not let up!
“Thirty minutes after sunset. Anyway. we made arrangements with the city. Some people put away the sound equipment while others clean up everything but dessert, so we have plenty of time to enjoy brownies or cookies or whatever and then we’ll leave. Rebecca over there—” Lucy pointed, indicating the woman from the volleyball game that had confided that Creed affected her as well “—is having a card night at her house afterward if you are interested.”
Before Amelia could vehemently reject that idea, Creed was at their table.
The butterflies took flight and Amelia stood suddenly.
“Brownie!”
The group turned toward her, varying degrees of confusion twisting their features. Amelia blushed. “Um, I’m going to get a brownie, would anyone else like one?”
“Can I come with you Miss H?” Izzie jumped up and grabbed her hand. Amelia smiled tenderly at the ketchup smudge on the young girl’s cheek.
“Of course, kiddo,” Amelia answered before nodding her head toward Creed. “But you should probably ask your Dad.”
Creed cleared his throat, a strange look on his face. “Only if you bring me back a stack of cookies,” he obliged.
Amelia and Izzie walked to the dessert table, swinging hands. Izzie was intent on giving her teacher the inside scoop on all the recess happening from the day. Amelia listened with rapt attention, amused by the conversation. This she could do: play the teacher role, focus on the animated girl next to her and pretend she was a regular student…not Creed Williams’ daughter.
“Then Gracie chased Max down because he’s ‘posed to sit next to her at lunch, not with the other boys.” Izzie shook her head.
“And did she catch him?” Amelia handed Izzie a plate.
“Yup. And she kissed him right on his face. Blech!” Izzie scrunched her nose in disgust.
Amelia laughed and dished a large corner brownie onto Izzie’s plate. She also collected a variety of cookies for Izzie to take back to her father. “So, I’m guessing you are not ready to chase boys around the school yard?”
“No way,” Izzie said. After a moment, she narrowed her eyes and twisted her mouth to the side thoughtfully.
“Well, if they took my lunch or bag or something, I would chase them down and punch ‘em right in the stomach,” she made a fist with her free hand and almost dropped her full plate when Creed’s voice, sharp with disapproval, cut into the moment.
“Izzie Marie Williams!”
“Ah nuts,” Izzie murmured.
“Oh dear. Middle name and everything,” Amelia whispered to Izzie.
She suppressed a smile when she saw her student’s dejected face. They both turned toward Creed, hands hung on his hips, eyes narrowed. Amelia gave a mock shiver.
“Oooh, that cold Daddy stare,” she teased.
Creed’s mouth twitched at the corners, yet his features remained hard. “Izzie, why don’t you take our dessert and go sit down? Try to remember what I have said about you punching people.”
Izzie whispered an apology and turned large doe eyes on Amelia as she walked away.
Amelia pulled at her top lip with her teeth to keep from laughing.
When Izzie was out of earshot, Amelia leaned close to Creed. “For the record, she didn’t actually punch anyone. She only told me what would cause her to chase boys around the playground. And, honestly, you might prefer her tactic once she catches them over Gracie’s.”
Creed hung his head. “I don’t even want to know.”
“Hey, be happy you don’t have a Mariah Watkins on your hands,” Amelia said, referring to a very flirtatious girl they had gone to school with.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Creed murmured, distracted, his eyes on the ground.
“Well, I better go sit.” Amelia ducked her head and inched by him, suddenly shy again.
“Amelia, why do you keep running from me?” Creed asked abruptly.
She stopped and slowly pivoted to face him. “Well, I…” she fumbled, unsure of what to say. Finally, she shrugged and answered honestly, “I guess you make me nervous.”
“But you were fine just now, before Izzie walked away.” Creed tilted his head.
Amelia shrugged. “I’m a teacher, Creed. Kids are my safe zone.”
He nodded and looked past her to the receding sun. When he didn’t say anything more, words that Amelia had longed to say to him since the reunion welled up inside of her. Before she thought better of it, Amelia whispered them, hoping her heart didn’t crack in the process.
“I wrote to you.”
Creed winced. He faced her, his eyes clouded with an emotion she didn’t recognize but could almost feel emanating from him. Regret?
“Will you come to coffee with me?” he asked, reaching out to grasp her free hand. “Izzie is spending the night with my sister.”
Amelia’s mouth went dry and she was unable to answer. She thought of the first letter she wrote to him: the one full of drippy confessions and pathetic declarations. The last one was even worse—how his kisses had affected her so deeply that she couldn’t seem to conjure up romantic feelings for her own fiancé. Why-oh-why had she brought it up?
“I would really like to tell you about, well, everything,” Creed murmured. His thumb traced a small circle over the skin on her wrist. Could he feel the wild tap-tap-tap of her pulse?
Amelia swallowed, and try as she might to remember her resolve to forget about men, the desperation in Creed’s eyes broke down her resolve.
“Okay.”
Chapter Ten
Creed waved good-bye to Izzie as she rode away in Kate’s van, smiling when she blew him a kiss. He turned toward his own SUV to find Amelia waiting near the passenger door, an odd smile on her face.
“What’s that look for, Howard?” Creed asked, the tension from earlier hanging in the air, but set aside for the time being.
She shrugged. “Just kind of amazing. You and Izzie. You as a father. You’re good at it, Creed.”
Unsure of what to say, he retrieved the keys from his pocket and reached around her to unlock the door. Amelia misread the movement and hugged him around his middle. Creed allowed his arms to settle around her shoulders. He closed his eyes and rested his cheek against the top of her head. It was so familiar he couldn’t help himself. How long since he’d held a woman in his arms? Especially one that smelled amazing and fit just right?
“Um, thank you. I was just going to open your door for you,” Creed chuckled softly against her hair.
When Amelia jerked away, her face cloaked in horror, he could have kicked himself.
“Oh my goodness,” she breathed and placed her hands on her cheeks. She stepped back to let him unlock her door and quickly slid onto the passenger seat, the streetlight illuminating the blush that crept up her neck. Creed hesitated for a moment before he shut the door gently and jogged around the back to slip behind the wheel.
“I’m so embarrassed, Creed. I thought you were giving me a hug!” she punched him playfully on the arm.
There was the old Amelia.
He grinned. “Yeah, I figured that one out when you hugged me.”
He turned toward her and spread his arms wide. “I won’t turn down another one, though.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “You already got one, Pal. So where are we going for coffee?”
“Actually, do we have to pretend to be adults and do the coffee thing, or can we just suck it up and get pie like we both know we want?”
Amelia chuckled. “You read my mind.”
Creed started the car and backed out of the space. The car’s headlights spanned across the few remaining cars in the lot. The beacon caught on Chad and Lucy where they stood side by side next to Lucy’s car, deep in conversation.
“Looks like we’re not the only pair that’s catching up tonight,” he commented lamely.
Amelia settled back in her seat. Silence settled around them until Creed finally cleared his throat.
“I owe you an apology, Amelia.”
She turned toward him. “I’m okay with that. Shoot.”
“When I got your letters—“
“Oh, so you did get them. I thought maybe they were lost in the mail. So, what—you needed time to respond? Ten years?” she joked, but the earlier twinkle in her eyes melted into a pool reflecting the hurt she carried inside.
Creed sighed and tugged nervously at the bill of his hat. “Hey, I’m trying to apologize here.”
Amelia cringed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” She folded her hands in her lap and watched his profile.
“When I got them, I just couldn’t write back. At first it was just that new college thing, you know? Busy with classes and new friends and getting settled.” Okay, so it wasn’t entirely the truth, but it was the best he could do for now.
“I was dealing with all of that too, Creed, and I still wrote to you,” Amelia pointed out.
“I know. But you were always so sure of yourself. Where you were going, what you believed, who you were.”
“You didn’t know those things about yourself?”
“Not really. Once I was on my own I realized my barely-there faith was my parents’ and my drive had been you pushing me all of those years. When I was on my own I just didn’t know who I was. And, unfortunately, the only thing that stood out was my ability to flirt. I became more and more distracted by parties and having fun. And, although I mostly stayed on track with school, I spent far too much time, uh, socializing.”
Amelia nodded. “I get that, Creed, but I still don’t understand why you couldn’t write me back.”
“I was just too ashamed. You wrote me letters reminding me of who I had been, or at least who you thought I was. I knew I wasn’t really that guy and I definitely did not want you to know the kind of guy I truly was. So I just ducked my head in the sand, so to speak.”
There was more to it, of course—much more. But it was too soon. Their barely recovered friendship too new.
Amelia stretched her arms out, fingers interlacing over one knee. “So, then…what changed? Because the single-dad I saw tonight—the one that buckles his daughter safely in her booster seat and sings worship music for a church picnic—doesn’t look all that much like a partying frat boy.”
Creed pulled in a breath and glanced her direction. A passing car illuminated Amelia’s profile momentarily before shadows swallowed it up again. “Near the end of my junior year of college, a woman I had dated casually showed up at my apartment with a baby she claimed was mine.”
“Izzie?”
“Of course, Izzie! What, you think I have a dozen kids running around?”
She had the good sense to cringe.
“Sorry. Stupid question. Where is Izzie’s mom now?”
“That’s a great question.”
Amelia listened without comment as Creed explained the way that Hailey showed up with a baby and made a hasty exit. He shared how Izzie changed his life. He finished just as he parked the car at a local diner and cut the engine. A neon sign that advertised warm apple pie flashed on and off, casting Amelia’s silhouette in red, then green, and back to red. She stared straight ahead, gaze fixed on the dashboard, her bottom lip pulled in thoughtfully. Finally, she nodded and grabbed the door handle. The dome light cast a harsh glow.
“I’m so sorry, Creed. I can’t believe I was so snarky about a couple unanswered letters when you were dealing with all of that.”
“No, it was wrong of me not to write back, Amelia. Especially after you told me—“
“It’s all forgiven, Creed. Really. So are you ready to buy me a piece of that apple pie?” she exited the car abruptly and Creed stared after her in stunned silence.
Okay…apparently talking about the content of the letters is off limits.
* * *
Well now what do I do? All she could think of was getting out of the car. Once the cool night air hit her, Amelia’s mind cleared slightly. After everything Creed had gone through, her emotional letters were hardly worth mentioning.
Please don’t let him mention it.
She looked up as Creed slowly unfolded himself from the seat and locked the car. His legs swallowed the distance to the sidewalk in three long strides. Amelia waited at the door offering him a small smile.
Creed eyed her for a heartbeat, then opened the door, gesturing for her to go first. They entered the diner in awkward silence; the dull jangle of a bell alerted the staff to their entrance. A waitress in her mid-forties with long brown hair pulled into a high ponytail greeted them. Amelia couldn’t help but smile at the waitress’ cliché uniform: a blue dress covered by a crisp white apron and white sneakers.
“Looks like you have the run of the place tonight. Everyone else in town seems to be at the football game,” the waitress said. A piece of neon green gum peeked out from where she’d tried to tuck it in her cheek. She reached an arm out toward the row of empty booths lining the windows, her gesture indicating that they could seat themselves.
Amelia led them to the last booth in the back corner. The waitress walked away after she plunked down two ice waters on the table and handed them plastic menus.
Amelia finally spoke up. “Creed, I—well, I’m sorry you went through that. I’m really proud of the man you have become.”
“Surprised, you mean.”
She playfully swatted at his folded hands resting on the table. “No, proud.”
They locked eyes, warmth radiating across the table. His baseball cap cast a charming shadow across his eyes, cloaking him in mystery. Ten years’ worth.
Creed opened his mouth to speak, but the waitress chose that moment to step up to the table, pen poised above an order pad.
“So are you two ready to order?”
Both Amelia and Creed glanced down at their untouched menus.
“Or do you need another minute?” the waitress asked, tapping her pen against the pad.
Creed pointed at Amelia. “You want pie, right?” he asked.
She nodded and glanced up at the waitress. “A slice of Dutch Apple please and a cup of decaf.”
“I’ll have the same, but make mine á la mode, please,” Creed said.
He handed the menus to the waitress with a charming smile before he turned back to Amelia.
“If you have more questions, I’m happy to answer them, but I would also like to hear about you.”
Amelia’s heart tripped. Despite Creed’s omission of the details in the letters she sent him, she still wondered if it would come up. Did he even remember? Oh, how she hoped all of his years of single parenting stress had blotted out the details. She sipped her ice water before setting it down with a loud, awkward thunk.
She folded her arms on the table and leaned in. “Me? Well, you know everything there is to know: I’m a teacher. That’s all that has changed.”
“That, and you have become even more beautiful, which I did not think possible,” Creed said, taking a sip of ice water.
“Oh come now, who do you think I am? One of those silly girls in high school that turned to mush as soon as Creed Williams tossed them a compliment?” Amelia scoffed, hoping the blush she felt inching up her neck would not give her away.
“Seriously, though,” Creed leaned back. “Tell me about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Hmm, for starters where do you live?”
“Right now I live in a little basement apartment near the school. A sweet widow lives on the main level upstairs and has graciously kept my rent the same for the last five years. I just bought a house, though, and will be moving in just a few weeks. My new place has a much bigger yard for my dog, which is wonderful.”
Creed tilted his head, surprise lighting his eyes. “I always figured you for a cat person. What kind of dog?”
“Olé is a golden retriever; he’s basically the best dog ever. And I do love cats, I just never…” her throat closed and she stared at the table, blinking rapidly. How do I explain to Creed that a creepy commitment I’ve had for some mythical future husband all of these years has kept me from getting a cat?
The silence stretched for moment before Creed rescued her.
“Olé as in Café Olé?”
She let out a chuckle. “Yup. I do love my chips and salsa.”
“I remember,” he said. His lips melted into a fond smile.
Amelia looked away, then back. She dropped her eyes to the table, suddenly at a loss for words.
“I’ve always wanted to get Izzie a golden retriever,” he said, rescuing her.
“You should; they’re amazing with kids. I can set you up with the family I bought Olé from—they breed often. In the meantime, Izzie can play with Olé anytime she wants.”
A shadow passed over his features. “Yup. That would be great.”
“All right, folks. Two Dutch apple pies. One á la mode.”
Amelia leaned back when the waitress set down their pie.
“So if you like them so much why don’t you get her a retriever?”
“Why don’t you get a cat?” Creed countered.
