Drawn Deeper by Brenda Rothert Page B

the boys were just pulling into the driveway, all smiling and eating ice cream cones.
    “Hey,” she said, giving me one of the smiles that made me forget there were other people in the world.
    “Hey.”
    “Dad, I got bubble gum,” Eric said, thrusting his cone toward me. “Try it.”
    “Uh, no thanks.”
    “Cotton candy?” Jordan offered as he jumped out of the Jeep.
    “Even worse.”
    “Vanilla?” Meredith tilted her cone toward me, and I walked around to the driver’s side.
    “Vanilla, huh?”
    I leaned down and tasted her cone.
    “Vanilla’s a good place to start,” she said softly.
    “It is. There are lots of other flavors to add later.”
    Her playful smile made my dick stiffen. The boys took off for the garage, and I leaned against Meredith’s Jeep door.
    “You coming in?” I asked her.
    “I have to go back to work, actually. We sold a crazy amount of cars between Saturday and today. The paperwork needs to be caught up.”
    “See you tomorrow, then?”
    She nodded and tilted her ice cream cone toward me again. “Want another lick?”
    “Most definitely.”
    I touched her hand as I brought the cone to my mouth and swiped another taste.
    “See you soon, Kyle.”
    “Not soon enough.”
    Her cheeks pinked as she backed out of the driveway. Across the street, Billy Carmichael pulled into his driveway, got out of his car, and waved at me.
    I didn’t wave back. Nosy bastard. He needed to live his own life instead of paying so much attention to mine.
    I did force myself not to stare as Meredith drove away, though. Maybe I could keep Billy guessing.

Meredith
    My dad walked into my office, his hand in a giant bag of beef jerky.
    “How’s it going, Merry?” he asked, biting into a piece of jerky as he closed my door.
    I took off my glasses and turned away from my computer to face him.
    “I’m good, Dad. How are you?”
    He sat down in the chair in front of my desk, a little breathless just from the walk in here. My worry for him was always present, whether in the front or the back of my mind.
    “We’re selling like gangbusters, so I’m a happy camper,” he said, grinning.
    He was financially secure, but the salesman in my dad loved it when business boomed. Morale at work this month was very high because everyone knew he gave out bonuses at the end of big sales months. I’d heard some of the guys in our repair shop talking about how they’d spend them already.
    I loved that my dad didn’t just give bonuses to the sales staff. Every employee got one, because our business was a team effort.
    “It might be our biggest month ever,” I said. “I’m all caught up, and it’s our biggest to date, so we’ll see if it holds.”
    “People in this town know the importance of shopping local. We’re lucky to have that.”
    “Shopping local is good for them and us. A big dealership wouldn’t have picked Jimmy Morris up in the middle of the night because the car he bought from them two years ago broke down.”
    “Dead battery,” Dad said with a chuckle. “He sure felt like an ass for cussing out that new guy in the service shop who picked him up and changed it when he found out that was the problem.”
    There was never a good time to bring it up, but I couldn’t keep watching him eat crap after bypass surgery and not say anything.
    “So how’s the diet and exercise plan going?”
    He smiled sheepishly and held up the bag of beef jerky. “It’s hard to eat healthy here. I had some broccoli last night with my meatloaf at the diner.”
    I kept my cool, though I wanted to blow up and ask him if he had any idea how much it upset me to see him putting his health in danger.
    “What about walking in the morning before work? Have you tried that?”
    He chuckled and grabbed another piece of jerky. “I walk to the toilet, does that count?”
    “Dad, I’m serious. I’ll come over and walk with you. You can do this—we can do it together. I’ll cook you dinner every night if you want.”
    He