The Road To Love: Love by Degree / The Rain Sparrow

“Have you got a date, too?” Derek pressed.

It seemed as though everyone in the kitchen was watching Reed, waiting for his response. “I generally go out on Friday nights.”

“Well,” Ellen said, coming to her feet. “I think I’ll get moving. I want to take advantage of the holiday to do some errands. Does anybody need anything picked up at the cleaners?”

“I do,” Monte said, raising his hand. “If you’ll wait a minute, I’ll get the slip.”

“Sure.”

By some miracle, Ellen was able to avoid any more questions for the remainder of the day. She went about her errands and didn’t see Reed until late in the afternoon, when their paths happened to cross in the kitchen. He quickly whispered a time and meeting place and explained that he’d leave first. Ellen didn’t have a chance to do more than agree before the boys were upon them.

At precisely seven, Ellen met Reed at the grocery store parking lot two blocks from the house. He’d left ten minutes earlier to wait for her there. As soon as he spotted her, he leaned across the cab of the pickup and opened the door on her side. Ellen found it slightly amusing that when he was with her he drove the pickup, and when he was with Danielle he took the sports car. She wondered whether or not this was a conscious decision. In any event, it told her quite a bit about the way Reed viewed the two women in his life.

“Did you get away unscathed?” he asked, chuckling softly.

She slid into the seat beside him in the cab and shook her head. “Not entirely. All three of them were curious about why Charlie wasn’t coming to the house to pick me up. I didn’t want to lie, so I told them they’d have to ask him.”

“Will they?”

“I certainly hope not.”

Reed’s hand reached for hers and his eyes grew serious. “I’m not convinced that keeping this a secret is the right thing to do.”

“I don’t like it, either, but it’s better than their constant teasing.”

“I’ll put a stop to that.” His voice dropped ominously and Ellen didn’t doubt that he’d quickly handle the situation.

“But, Reed, they don’t mean any harm. I was hoping we could lead them gradually into accepting us as a couple. Let them get used to seeing us together before we spring it on them that we’re...dating.”

“Ellen, I don’t know.”

“Trust me on this,” she pleaded, her eyes imploring him. This arrangement, with its furtiveness and deception, was far from ideal, but for now it seemed necessary. She hoped the secrecy could end soon.

His kiss was brief and ardent. “I don’t think I could deny you anything.” But he didn’t sound happy about it.

The restaurant he took her to was located in the south end of Seattle, thirty minutes from Capitol Hill. At first, Ellen was surprised that he’d chosen one so far from home but the food was fantastic and the view from the Des Moines Marina alone would have been worth the drive.

Reed ordered a bottle of an award-winning wine, a sauvignon blanc from a local winery. It was satisfyingly clear and crisp.

“I spoke to Danielle,” Reed began.

“Reed.” She stopped him, placing her hand over his. “What goes on between you and Danielle has nothing to do with me. We’ve made no promises and no commitments.” In fact, of course, she was dying to know about the other woman Reed had dated for so long. She hoped that if she pretended no interest in his relationship with Danielle, she’d seem more mature and sophisticated than she really was. She didn’t want Reid to think she was threatened by Danielle or that she expected anything from him. Hoped, yes. Expected, no.

He looked a little stunned. “But—”

Swiftly she lowered her gaze. “I don’t want to know.” Naturally, she was longing to hear every detail. As it was, she felt guilty about the other woman. Danielle might have had her faults, but she loved Reed. She must love him to be so patient with his traveling all these months. And when Derek had first mentioned her, he’d spoken as though Reed and Danielle’s relationship was a permanent one.

Danielle and Ellen couldn’t have been more different. Ellen was practical and down-to-earth. She’d had to be. After her father’s death, she’d become the cornerstone that held the family together.

Danielle, on the other hand, had obviously been pampered and indulged all her life. Ellen guessed that she’d been destined from birth to be a wealthy socialite, someone who might, in time, turn to charitable works to occupy herself. They were obviously women with completely dissimilar backgrounds, she and Danielle.

“I’ll be in Atlanta the latter part of next week,” Reed was saying.

“You’re full of good news, aren’t you?”

“It’s my work, Ellen.”

“I wasn’t complaining. It just seems that five minutes after you get home, you’re off again.”

“I won’t be long this time. A couple of days. I’ll fly in for the meeting and be back soon afterward.”

“You’ll be here for Christmas?” Her thoughts flew to her family and how much she wished they could meet Reed. Bud, especially. He’d be in Yakima over the holidays and Ellen was planning to take the bus home to spend some time with him. But first she had to get through her exams.

“I’ll be here.”

“Good.” But it was too soon to ask Reed to join her for the trip. He might misinterpret her invitation, see something that wasn’t there. She had no desire to pressure him into the sort of commitment that meeting her family might imply.

After their meal, they walked along the pier, holding hands. The evening air was chilly and when Ellen shivered, Reed wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“I enjoyed tonight,” he murmured.

“I did, too.” She bent her arm so that her fingers linked with his.

“Tomorrow night—”

“No.” She stopped him, turning so that her arm slid around his middle. Tilting her head back, she stared into the troubled green eyes. “Let’s not talk about tomorrow. For right now, let’s take one day at a time.”

His mouth met hers before she could finish speaking. A gentle brushing of lips. Then he deepened the kiss, and his arms tightened around her, and her whole body hummed with joy.

Ellen was lost, irretrievably lost, in the taste and scent of this man. She felt frightened by her response to him—it would be so easy to fall in love with Reed. Completely in love. But she couldn’t allow that to happen. Not yet. It was too soon.

* * *

HER WORDS ABOUT taking each day as it came were forcefully brought to Ellen’s mind the following evening. She’d gone to the store and noticed Reed’s Porsche parked in the driveway. When she returned, both Reed and the sports car had disappeared.

He was with Danielle.

CHAPTER SEVEN (#uf7b8ab33-98c7-58ae-8584-8fcd71c58a23)

“WHY COULDN’T I see that?” Ellen moaned, looking over the algebraic equation Reed had worked out. “If I can fix a stopped-up sink, tune a car engine and manage a budget, why can’t I understand something this simple?” She was quickly losing a grip on the more advanced theories they were now studying.

“Here, let me show it to you again.”

Her hand lifted the curls off her forehead. “Do you think it’ll do any good?”

“Yes, I do.” Reed obviously had more faith in her powers of comprehension than she did. Step by step, he led her through another problem. When he explained the textbook examples, the whole process seemed so logical. Yet when she set out to solve a similar equation on her own, nothing went right.

“I give up.” Throwing her hands over her head, she leaned back in the kitchen chair and groaned. “I should’ve realized that algebra would be too much for me. I had difficulty memorizing the multiplication tables, for heaven’s sake.”