A Bid for Love by Rachel Ann Nunes

happened to me eight times now, and I don’t even have children.”
    “Yuck!” Andrea said.
    “Yeah. And the last time I didn’t even flinch,” Jared added. Scotty and Andrea nodded, properly impressed.
    “Come on now. Let’s go get Cassi some yogurt and some fruit.” The children followed after Jared obediently.
    They were putting the groceries into the trunk of the car when Cassi and the girls came out of the store carrying small stacks of paper toweling. As they passed a black sedan near the store’s entrance, Janet tried to peer inside the darkened windows, but Cassi pulled her along. Jared stared at the car. Hadn’t he seen it at the restaurant?
    “Well, we’re here,” Cassi said. If nothing else, she and Sandy were wetter than before from the attempt at washing.
    “What are those for?” Jared asked, pointing at the towels.
    Cassi looked at him, chagrined. “To put on the seat so Sandy doesn’t get it wet. After we were in the bathroom, I realized I should have come out here for her change of clothes, but . . .” She shrugged as her voice trailed off.
    “It’s not cold, and in my experience, most kids don’t really care about being wet unless they’re cold.”
    “That’s what I was hoping.” Cassi looked down at her dress and then back to Jared. “I’ll give us both a bath when we get to the hotel.”
    As their eyes met, a tingle ran through Jared’s body. With a brief flash, he remembered how long the drive to the hospital had seemed after receiving the note about Renae, and how relieved Cassi had looked when he arrived. Her face had been pale and her hair disheveled—just the way he liked it. The Cassi he was getting to know fascinated him. When she had teased him in the store about babies named Jared and he had looked into her eyes, there had been a connection between them. Then she had looked away with some hidden emotion in those dark eyes, just as she did now.
    Why? Was this a game? Jared wanted to make her look at him, but he didn’t dare push.
    “Come on,” he said brusquely. He hated not being able to control his feelings, and being unsure that he even wanted to control them made the situation more strained.
    He opened the door and watched Cassi strap Sandy into her car seat. The other kids piled in and fastened their own belts. Jared waited to shut Cassi’s door before going around the car to his own seat. They were silent nearly all the way back to the hotel. The children were sleepy, and both adults were intent on their private thoughts.
    I ’ve been independent so long, Jared thought. Maybe I’m afraid of caring about someone . Jared didn’t like to admit fear. He wondered if the look Cassi had given him in the store reflected her own fear of caring. He glanced sideways at her, hoping it was remotely possible.
    Feeling his gaze, she turned toward him. “Larry mentioned that you’d been at the hospital twice today. May I ask why?”
    Jared swallowed the sudden lump that came to his throat at the question. “A good friend of mine died this morning.”
    “I’m sorry. That’s why you were late to the auction.”
    “And why you got the Mother and Baby.”
    Cassi smiled. “I might have gotten it anyway.”
    “Maybe.” She appeared so content that Jared didn’t want to bring up the possibility of buying it from her—yet.
    Jared drove back to the hotel in a roundabout fashion, and not only because he enjoyed Cassi’s company. At each turn, he checked his rearview mirror to see if the black sedan from the store still followed them. It did. Anxiety rose in his chest, and he forced himself to drive casually. Could this sedan have anything to do with the warning note he had received? Was the Buddha the “it” the note had mentioned?
    “Is something wrong?” Cassi asked.
    “No,” he said.
    Jared was relieved to see that the black sedan didn’t follow them into the hotel parking garage. He warily searched the area before opening the doors for Cassi and the children.