Capturing the Single Dad’s Heart by Kate Hardy Page B

run them by you before I try them out on her.’
    â€˜OK.’ She paused. ‘Thanks for making me come here and eat cake, Nate. I try to keep my personal life separate from work, but sometimes a case brings back the early days with Mikey and it gets to me,’ she admitted. ‘Judy’s worried about her husband leaving her if she can’t walk—and that’s exactly what happened to Mikey. His girlfriend said she couldn’t cope with his disability and she left him.’
    Nate winced. ‘I’m assuming his girlfriend was around the same age that he was when the accident happened—she was in her second year of uni?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Then she still had a lot of growing up to do.’ He paused. ‘James Watson seemed pretty supportive when I saw them together. I think Judy’s worrying over nothing.’
    â€˜Me, too, and I’ve told her that,’ she said. ‘But thanks. You’ve made me feel a bit better.’
    â€˜Any time. You’ve made me feel better, too.’
    For a moment, their gazes met; again, Erin felt that funny little flip in the region of her heart. But nothing was going to happen. Nate had too much going on in his life to offer her anything more than friendship. Even if his circumstances had been different, she had too much baggage for a relationship to work between them.
    If only she’d made some different choices, all those years ago. If only she hadn’t gone to that party with Andrew. If only she’d left when he started pushing her. If only she hadn’t called Mikey to come and get her and had called her best friend’s mum instead...
    But you couldn’t change the past. You could only learn from it.
    â€˜I’d better finish writing up my notes,’ she said. She scribbled her mobile phone number down on a scrap of paper and handed it to him. ‘Text me later and I’ll send you some ideas.’ And maybe thinking up things to do to help Nate bond with Caitlin would help her to smother her guilt again.
    * * *
    â€˜We could go on the London Eye on Saturday,’ Nate suggested. ‘Or the cable car over the Thames.’
    Caitlin remained impassive. Obviously neither of those suggestions appealed to her.
    â€˜Or shopping. Apparently there are good shops on Oxford Street.’ He named the clothing stores Erin had mentioned as being popular with teenage girls.
    â€˜I used to go shopping with my friends,’ she said.
    Meaning that she didn’t want to go shopping with him? OK. He could see that it wouldn’t be cool, hanging round clothes shops with your dad. ‘How about a speedboat ride on the Thames?’
    Her expression clearly said, Really? , with only the scorn a teen could muster.
    â€˜I’m very happy to hear your ideas,’ he said.
    She shrugged. ‘Whatever.’
    He knew she was hurting, so he wasn’t going to make it worse for her by yelling at her. He wanted to get closer to her, not push her away. But how?
    She hates all the ideas I suggested, he texted to Erin later.
    OK. How about this? It’s an escape game. You’re locked in a room and you have sixty minutes to get free—you have to work as a team to solve the clues and puzzles. There’s a countdown clock.
    She sent him a link to the company’s website. The more Nate read, the more he liked the sound of it.
    That looks like fun, he texted back. But you have to book in advance. I just checked and they’re not free on Saturday. Can we do that another time?
    Or was he presuming too much, hoping that Erin would spend more time with them?
    *Definitely* do it some other time,   was her immediate response. Then his phone pinged with another text.
    What about food? We could do Camden Lock—the street market there has something for everyone and we could see who can find the most unusual food stall. Or go and spot movie locations, if you find out what her favourite movies