Page 5 of A Heart of Little Faith
Gideon stared with amusement at the little girl. “Oh yeah, this is the fourth game, and she’s beating me again,” he affirmed as he put the game away, keeping his head down.
“I hope she behaved well. Claire, you were a good girl for Samantha and Gideon, right, sweetie?” She leaned and kissed the top of her daughter’s brown head, inhaling the sweet combination of fruity shampoo and sweat. She reveled in its scent.
“Yes, Mom,” she answered in an exasperated six-year-old voice.
“She was great, Lily,” Gideon replied. “We had a good time, didn’t we, ClaireBear?”
“You bet!” Claire ran over and hugged him. Lily stared in surprise. “Thanks for playing with me.”
“Next time, I’m going to beat you!” he taunted.
“No way!” she yelled as she headed toward the door. “C’mon Mom, I’m hungry.”
“Coming, baby,” Lily responded. “Thanks again for playing with her. Bye, Samantha.”
As the door shut, Gideon heard them discuss what to cook for dinner. The apartment stilled and he stared after them. In the background, the faint sounds of car horns and bus engines on Avenue C wafted into the apartment. Samantha patted his shoulder and he jumped.
“She’s a great kid, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, she is. And smart too. You should have heard the things she told me.”
“Her mom is sweet too. They moved in a few months ago. She lost her husband in a car accident in Philadelphia three years ago. It’s sad, she—”
“Enough, Sam, I know where you’re going and you can stop right now.”
Ever since his accident, his sister had been after him to date. No matter how often he resisted, she always pushed. And now, she was going for the jugular. It didn’t matter how perfect Lily and Claire might be, Samantha wasn’t going to succeed in setting them up.
“The only place I’m going is into the kitchen,” she countered airily over her shoulder. “What do you want for dinner?”
Gideon followed her into the kitchen, but he couldn’t get the Claire or her mother out of his mind.
Chapter 2
Friday night, Lily sat in front of her mirror, applied her makeup and brushed her hair. It had been three days since she’d last seen Gideon and her stomach was fluttery.
“You look pretty, Mommy.” Claire watched every brush of blush, stroke of hair and pat of powder. She mimicked Lily’s movements. “Can I have some?”
“Of course, sweetie.” Lily sat Claire in front of her and swept light blush on her smooth cheeks. “Ooh, look at you.”
“I’m a princess!” Claire pushed herself off Lily’s lap and twirled around the room. Lily wished Daniel could see her. He would have loved to watch his daughter grow up. Claire reminded her of Daniel more as she grew older. She had his smile, his sense of humor, his intelligence and his nose.
Willing her thoughts in a different direction, she thought about tonight. Samantha had invited her to go to the movies with her and Gideon. She’d been reluctant to infringe on their time together, but Samantha had insisted. It had been a long time since she’d seen a movie without a cartoon character, and she was giddy. Or maybe it was the idea of spending time with Gideon. He threw her off balance, like a sailboat that listed in the wind. What started out as enjoyable banter the other night quickly disintegrated into contentiousness, and Lily’s face heated at the memory. Yet, when she remembered how his hair fell over his forehead, the spicy scent of his aftershave, the deep gentleness of his voice and his rapport with Claire, her blush deepened.This is ridiculous. He paid more attention to Claire than to me. It’s a night at the movies with Sam. She applied a deep pink lipstick, pressed her lips together and answered the door for the babysitter.
“Hi, Tara. Come on in.” She opened the door wide for the teenager in front of her. “Claire, Tara is here!”
“Please don’t go out Mommy. I want you.” Claire rushed over and hugged her so hard Lily could barely breathe.
She gently pried her away. Claire’s pajamas were cottony beneath her fingers, which belied the vice-like grip she held around her waist. “Honey, I love you, but I’m just going out for a little while. You’re going to bed in a few minutes and won’t even know I’m gone.”
“Yes, I will,” Claire pouted. “What if I have a bad dream?”
“That’s why Tara’s here.” Lily threw the babysitter an apologetic glance as her daughter flounced into her bedroom, her footsteps pounding out her disappointment. She felt a pang of guilt. Claire wanted to spend time with her, something she hadn’t been able to do lately. With a sigh, Lily paused in Claire’s doorway and rested her cheek on the cool, hard wood. “How about we do something special this weekend, just the two of us?”
Claire grinned, all traces of her disappointment magically erased. She hugged Lily, but not as hard as before. “Will you come in to check on me when you get home?”
Lily ruffled her curls and kissed the top of her head as she took one last sniff of her daughter’s fruity shampoo. “Absolutely.”
“Promise?”