Dreamer – Chapter 1
“That’s good, Stella.” Jane held her hand out to catch her young daughter before she fell on her head.
“You don’t have to spot me, Mom!”
Jane didn’t answer that, and Stella was probably right, but they were in the front yard. It wasn’t like they were in the gym with mats. So instead, she said, “Try to keep your hands closer together.”
Her daughter executed a very nice back walkover. Following in mom’s footsteps?
Jane asked, “Can you do a slow one?”
Stella demonstrated, then stood up, hands up in the air. “How’s my split, Mom?” referring to her shape in the middle of the back walkover.
“It’s good. Keep your toes pointed. Keep your eyes on your front foot. You can watch to see you pointed your toes,” Jane was instructing as she caught movement from the corner of her eye.
Luckily, she was close. With a lightning-fast hand, she reached out to spot her youngest attempting to do what her older sister was doing. With her chubby little legs and arms, not yet made for gymnastics, Claire tilted farther and farther back until she landed awkwardly.
Damn, Jane thought. Her youngest had gotten herself into a back bend and she hadn’t conked her head. Maybe it was genetic.
Giving Claire a little push, she watched as her toddler flipped over to her feet and stood up, hands in the air, like her sister.
“Look!” She pointed, instantly distracted from her own celebration of success.
Following her little outstretched finger, Jane saw. At the end of the drive, alone, a man was walking along the smooth paved surface, toward her house. He wore a black leather jacket and held a motorcycle helmet loosely in one hand. Jane frowned.
This was a lovely suburban neighborhood—big houses, classic designs, well kept. Because her house was one of three on a well-rounded cul de sac, she had a reasonably long drive compared to some of her neighbors. Though it was normal to see kids playing in the street—even setting up soccer goals or playing hoops—a lone man walking around was an unusual sight. Her muscles tensed.
Who was he?
Her two oldest kids were in the backyard. Dylan was going to make an amazing chemist one day, if he didn’t burn the house down first. Tyler, her oldest, was still in the climb everything, run everywhere phase. She hoped that, at nine, he was going to burn it out relatively soon.
Keeping her gaze on the man, she assessed him. He looked fit, tall and lean. Blond hair brushed at his shoulders, but the scowl on his face was not welcoming. It was just her here to protect her four kids.
Tyler was still barely of any age to be a man about the house.
Though he appeared languid in his movements, the man was already halfway up the drive. He was moving faster than she expected.
Jane stood sharply upright, though her full height barely topped five feet. She called out, “Can I help you?”
Her tone clearly conveyed that she wasn’t prepared for a visit, and it wasn’t welcome. She hated being on alert, but too much time in the ER let her know exactly what could happen.
He motioned down the street behind him. “I’m sorry, I just had a complete moment of stupid and ran my bike out of gas.”
She nodded at him oddly, as if that were any kind of reasonable explanation for him walking up her driveway. She couldn’t see his bike. He must have come all the way up the short street, but he had passed a dozen houses getting to hers.
When he didn’t say anything more but kept coming closer, she frowned harder at him. Would he ask to use her phone, to go inside?
He didn’t do either. Instead, he did something worse. He turned to the girls and offered a devastating smile. Damn, he was good looking, and she watched as even the toddler reacted. Both girls instantly smiled back at him as her own hackles went up. Then he said, “You must be Stella and Claire, and you’re Jane.”
He turned the wattage of that smile onto her though Jane’s alarm grew with each accurate name.
“I’m sorry!” He took a step back, clearly realizing her distress. The one hand without the helmet came up in a soft stop sign, as if to tell her to back down, but she wouldn’t.
What the hell was he doing?
“I’m Charlie.”
