Read Online Fair Catch by Cindy Roland Anderson - Free Book Online Page A

She had been surprised he hadn’t tried selling them on the Internet. Still, gas, hotel and food would be her responsibility. She would have to dip into her savings in order to pay for everything.
    “Hey, when we get home, I’ll race you to Betsy’s house.”
    The diversion worked. Cade squealed with excitement. “Okay, but I’m really fast.”
    She glanced in the rearview mirror to catch a glimpse of her little boy, babbling with excitement about how fast his shoes made him run. They were the cheap Transformer shoes from Payless , but Cade loved them.
    She grimaced at her reflection. Yikes! She needed to do a little repair work to her hair and face. Once at the house, Cade nearly jumped out of the moving car, eager to win the race.
    If she had to see Nick again, she wanted to look a little better. “Cade, Mommy can’t race just yet. I need to…” Her voice trailed off. The white SUV pulled into Nick’s driveway. Why hadn’t she replaced the battery for the garage door opener so she could park inside?
    Smoothing down her hair, she cut a sideways glance across the street. The driver’s side door opened. A long leg, clad in a pair of khaki dress pants, appeared. Adrenaline kicked in and she grabbed Cade’s hand. “Let’s run inside for just a second and then we can race.”
    She didn’t give her son time to answer and practically dragged him toward the house. When he started to protest, she resorted to bribery. “You know, you’ve been so good today I think you can choose a prize from the Surprise Basket.”
    The Surprise Basket contained little things she’d picked up at the dollar store. Sometimes a four-year-old needed an extra incentive to obey his mother. So it wasn’t really bribing her child—it was more like motivation . Sort of the same concept as a bag of chocolate Kisses for a single mother.
    That did the trick. Cade burst forward, excited to claim his prize. They were inside the house before she heard the car door across the street close. Seeing Nick Coulter face to face again was inevitable. Still, there was nothing wrong with prolonging the meeting.
    The basket was kept in Ellie’s room, high up in the closet. The clock radio read fifteen minutes ‘til six. If she didn’t wash her hair, she could take a quick shower and still have a few minutes left to dress in something fresh, repair her makeup and style her hair.
    She pulled the basket down and spoke to Cade, who bounced up and down in anticipation. “You can have one right now and if you let mommy take a very fast shower, I’ll let you choose another prize.”
    His blue eyes widened in delight. “Okay!”
    Before she showered, she made sure Cade knew not to leave. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of what she had labeled “the towel incident.” Plus, she reminded him about the second prize.
    Five minutes later, she picked out one of her new shirts from the mall. Yes, she had gone shopping to update her wardrobe. She had some birthday money from her parents that she had promised to spend on herself. The light green shirt looked good on her, hugging her curves, but not too tight. Some of the styles these days were either very tight or looked like maternity clothes. The stuff she’d found fell somewhere in between.
    Cade didn’t forget the promise to race next door. Betsy told her to come to the backyard so they made a beeline to the back of the Stewarts’ house. They charged into the yard, both laughing and Cade doing a little victory dance, pumping his arms up above his head. “I won. I won.”
    Ellie suddenly became aware of their audience that consisted of one person: Nick Coulter. He was manning the grill. Alone. Did Betsy have some kind of radar? She and Owen must have just gone back inside the house.
    Nick’s mouth lifted in a half grin. “Hi.” His blue eyes remained focused solely on her.
    “Hi.” Her voice squeaked and she felt breathless—and it wasn’t because of the race she’d just run. Her heart rate