The Real Mr Right

The mother who’d saved his sorry butt when he’d been too little to know his butt needing saving.

Never mind the risk involved, he thought as he plunked the LEGO set, as well as a brightly colored sock monkey, on the counter by the cash register and pulled out his wallet, should he get involved.

His phone buzzed as the cashier handed him back his credit card, the bagged toys. And not only to your career, bonehead, he thought when he saw Kelly’s name and number in the display, and his heart thumped.

“Hey...what’s up?” he said, aiming for casual...which went right out the window when he heard Kelly’s next-door-to-hysterical laugh in his ear. No, not a laugh, some sound that defied description. Now outside, his hand tightened around the phone. “Kelly—?”

“Rick’s dead,” she choked out, then burst into sobs.

Chapter Four

It wasn’t until the front door opened that Kelly realized she hadn’t moved from the floor in front of the family room sofa for more than an hour. The dog sashayed out, only to return a moment later with Matt, who immediately kneeled in front of her, his gaze focused. Kind, yes, but all business. Thank God.

“Where’s the kids?” he asked.

“With your sister. She’d offered to take them to Target while I went over to the kitchen. My catering kitchen, I mean. I’ve got a job this weekend....” Bile rose in her throat. She shut her eyes, willing the world to stop spinning. Matt wrapped his hand around hers. She didn’t object. Couldn’t.

“What happened?” he asked gently, and her stomach twisted. A hundred times, she’d probably replayed Lynn’s words in her head, but she hadn’t yet said them out loud.

“Best guess is a heart attack,” Kelly whispered, keeping her eyes averted. Afraid to look at Matt, knowing she’d fall apart if she did. Even more afraid to acknowledge the vicious, nonstop voices inside her head that it was her fault, that she’d given up and walked away and now he was dead and it was her fault, her fault, her fault.... “But no one knows for sure. His m-mother found him in his room. The poor woman....”

Her eyes flooded again as sadness swamped her. Letting go of her hand, Matt grabbed a box of tissues from the end table, held it out. Kelly yanked one from the box and pressed it to her mouth until she could speak.

“Rick was Lynn’s only child. She was already heartsick. I can’t imagine what she’s going through. I should be with her, but I couldn’t leave until—”

The garage door rumbled open. Kelly’s eyes shot to Matt’s as her heart bounded into her throat. He’d gone perfectly still, his breathing calm and steady, like Rick’s had been in the delivery room with Coop, back when things were good. When she’d taken “forever” for granted, could have never imagined what would happen. But now it was Matt holding her gaze, being a rock in the midst of her turbulent emotions, helping her breathe through a pain she doubted anyone else would understand. And for the moment—since this is all it was, this freakish, momentary intersection of their lives—she was grateful.

She struggled to her feet. “I should get the kids’ things together.”

“Why?” Matt said, standing, as well.

“Um, so we can go back home? Since we don’t need to hide out anymore?”

“Plenty of time to do that tomorrow. Or whenever.” At her undoubtedly puzzled expression, he said, “Don’t you think it might be better to let the kids stay in a neutral zone for now? Especially Cooper.”

Cooper. Oh, dear God. Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. “How am I going to t-tell him, Matt?” At his frown, she said, “It wasn’t all bad. I swear. Not for a long time, at least. Coop used to worship his daddy. And I think what hurts the most is that, in spite of everything, he probably still does. Or at least wants to.”

For a moment, something sharp flickered through Matt’s eyes. Then his gaze softened. “Do you want me to tell him?”

Not in a million years was that going to happen. Even so, catching her haggard reflection in a nearby mirror, she sighed. But then, why shouldn’t she be upset? Whatever had happened between her and Rick, this was a horrible shock. Was going to be horrible for some time. And to pretend otherwise would be hideously unfair to their son.

“Thanks. But no.”

“You sure?”

Not at all. But such was life, right? Nodding, Kelly turned back to Matt. Concern buckled his forehead and her heart swelled. For his goodness, if nothing else. That he’d grown up even better than she’d imagined he would.

Whereas she was still a very shaky work in progress.

“I’ve spent far too much of my life avoiding the hard stuff, letting other people run interference for me. The last thing I need to do right now is let Cooper think his mother is a wuss.”

“He will never think that,” Matt said softly, a moment before Abby and the children burst into the room. Coop took one look at her and stopped dead in his tracks.

“Mom? What’s wrong?”

Not even bothering to check her tears, Kelly opened her arms.

* * *

“What’re you doing out here?”

Slouched in one of the big rattan chairs in the sunroom off the dining room, Matt shrugged at Abby’s question. “Thinking,” he said, stretching out one foot to lay it on the matching ottoman.

“That’s not like you,” she said, and he smiled in spite of the knot in his chest. “You okay?”

“Me being okay isn’t the issue.”

Abby tromped across the terra-cotta-tiled floor and dropped into another chair a few feet away. “Which is why I don’t get why you’re out here and not in there.”

“Did you see the look Cooper gave me after Kelly told him about his dad?”

“Please don’t tell me you think that was really aimed at you? For God’s sake, the kid was in shock.”

Punching out a frustrated breath, Matt pressed his thumb and forefinger against his eyelids, still trying to figure out how the world could go ass-over-teakettle in less than a day. Bad enough that some chick he’d never expected to see again shows up out of the blue, but then her ex—who was the reason for her showing up to begin with—dies? Holy hell. Although you’d think, considering how often life had clobbered him in the past, he’d be used to it by now. Coop, however...

Matt squinted against the glare of late-day sunlight slashing across the leftover snow outside. No, he didn’t know the kid. Or, beyond what Kelly had told him, anything about his relationship with his father. But he understood the upheaval and uncertainty, the “what comes next?” the kid was probably feeling. And Abby was right, the boy’s reaction wasn’t personal. In fact, it had nothing to do with Matt. A fact that would probably make a lot of men sigh in relief.

Except relieved was one thing he most definitely was not right now, logic be damned. Frustrated as hell was more like it—

“You’re pissed that you can’t fix this, aren’t you?” Abby said, startling him.

“What?”

A slight, slightly smart-ass smile touched his sister’s mouth before she stood, contorting her arms into the most painful-looking position to crack her spine. Then, releasing what sounded like a blissful sigh, Abby punched her hands into her hoodie pockets. “I know that look. God knows I’ve seen it often enough. And not just on your face. On Dad’s, too. Never mind that you haven’t seen this woman in years, that you don’t know these kids. If someone’s in trouble, you want to make it better. No...you have to. Am I right?”

Glaring at the backyard, Matt locked his hands behind his head. “Yeah. And maybe that’s why I do what I do.”

“And we all love you for it,” his sister said, leaning over to give him a quick hug. “Most of the time, anyway.”

Matt pushed out a dry chuckle and Abby straightened, her hands in her pockets again. And maybe it was the light, or because his brain was on overload, but suddenly he saw a...seriousness behind the sparkle in those bright blue eyes he’d never noticed before. Huh. His baby sister was all grown up.

Then her gaze shifted to the open French doors behind him. Matt twisted around, surging to his feet when he saw Kelly in her coat and scarf, her curls abandoned to fend for themselves. In the stark light she looked paler than ever, her hand tightly fisted around the purse strap straddling her shoulder.

“I hate to ask, but...” A nervous smile flickered around her mouth, apology screaming behind those ridiculous glasses. “I really do need to go see Rick’s mom for a little while, but...I’m not sure I should take the kids—”

“I’m so sorry,” Abby said. “I’d be glad to watch them, but I’ve got to get back to work—”

“You go on, Abs,” Matt said. “I’ll stay.”