His Ordinary Life by Linda Winfree Page A

chaos filtering out to them. Barbara pressed her lips together and held his gaze steadily. Two nights. He wasn’t asking for much, not really, and if she was totally honest with herself, the idea of having an ally in dealing with Blake appealed. She could handle two nights.
    She blew out a long breath. “All right. Two nights.”
    Relief lit his eyes. “It’ll work. You’ll see.”
    The dimple in his cheek flashed with his grin. She stared down at him, her knees almost brushing his stomach. He’d smiled up at her that way, in this same position, when she was miserable and large with the twins. Seated on their bed, she’d been ready to cry over her appearance, and he’d run his long fingers over her outer thighs and whispered that she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. He’d pressed a kiss to her stomach, to her thigh, and now, her face heated with the memories of how he’d pleasured her with his hands and mouth.
    “Mama,” Anna called from the back door. “Miss Melanie wants to talk to you.”
    A reprieve. Thank God. Barbara rose, nearly colliding with Del’s chest. He reached out a hand to steady her, the warmth of his callused palm on her wrist sending a jolt of awareness along her skin. She stepped back, afraid he’d feel the sudden jump of her pulse. His hand dropped away.
    “Excuse me a minute.” She hurried across the deck to take the cordless phone from Anna. Pulling the door shut closed out the sounds of her children bickering over whose turn it was to take out the trash. Resisting the urge to tell them to look at the chore schedule, she lifted the phone to her ear, glad the deck was large enough that she could stand outside and still be out of Del’s earshot. “Hello?”
    “Hey, girl.” Melanie’s cheerful voice washed over her. “What’s going on?”
    Barbara laughed, a short humorless sound. “You really don’t want to know.”
    “Uh-oh. More trouble with Blake.”
    “Not exactly.” She cast a surreptitious glance at Del, who had settled into the sling chair she’d vacated. Head tilted back, eyes closed, he appeared boneless. “I just agreed to let Del move back in for a couple of days.”
    “You what? ” Melanie’s incredulity shrilled into her ear. “Okay, I’m coming over and we’re going for a walk.”
    “Melanie, wait. I can’t—”
    “Oh, hell, yes, you can. Get your walking shoes on. We have to talk.”
    * * *
    “Is this a regular thing for your mom?” Del flipped through the stack of homework, checking it off against Lyssa’s planner and initialing each listed assignment. He stood at the island in Barbara’s cheerful kitchen with its bright coral walls and white ceramic tiles to match the white cabinets. Sometime over the past few months, she’d ripped out the old countertops, painted the warm pine cabinets they’d chosen together. He’d noticed other changes in the house, as though with him gone, she’d wanted to start eradicating his presence from the place.
    Slowly, the place ceased to be his home.
    “Is what a regular thing?” Blake asked.
    “Walking with Ms. Williams.”
    Slumped on an island stool, Blake shrugged, the tense line of his body screaming resentment at being made to sit in the kitchen with his father. “They walk two or three times a week. If Mama doesn’t do laps.”
    So he hadn’t been imagining the delineation of muscles in Barbara’s arm when he’d touched her earlier. All of Barbara’s body seemed more toned than he remembered. Although he’d liked her figure just fine before, he couldn’t stop looking at her trimmer form and wondering what it would be like to run his hands over those tight curves.
    He cleared his throat, trying to dismiss the taut pressure in his stomach. “Ms. Williams seems nice.”
    Another terse shrug. “She’s okay. I have her for biology.” Blake glanced at him, an under-the-radar look beneath his lashes. “So are you leaving once Mama gets back?”
    Del bought a minute by carefully