Seattle Cinderella Part 4

She pasted on a smile, took the keys from the man, and got ready to get to work.

"Kat, are you ready?" Luke checked his watch. "Cindy's going to be here any minute."

He tried not to be impatient as Kat sprinted back into her bedroom, now painted a horrible shade of girlie pink, to select a different pair of perfect shoes to wear on another shopping trip during which she didn't need to buy anything.

He couldn't believe Kat was spending another evening with Cindy. For the last month it seemed Cindy had been there nearly every evening and every weekend. Sometimes they stayed at the house, sometimes they went out, sometimes they only took Tippy for a wobble, but they seemed to spend almost all their time together.

Still, he was glad Kat had the company. Most important, last weekend, for the first time since they'd lost Andrew and Sue, Cindy had convinced Kat to go to a church service on Sunday morning. For that, he would put up with any amount of girl stuff.

Not that Cindy was very girlie. In all the times he'd seen her, including church, he'd never seen her wear a dress or even makeup. He couldn't remember her wearing anything other than jeans, and the only things she wore on her feet were sneakers, work boots, or in-line skates. When all the rest of the young ladies in the youth group went to some kind of fas.h.i.+on party, Cindy took Kat and the boys to a car show.

"I think you should come to the mall with us," Kat called out from inside the walk-in closet.

"I don't."

Kat gave him a long, disgruntled sigh. "You have to come. You need a new pair of sneakers. How can you possibly have only one pair of sneakers?"

"I only need one pair. These are fine."

"They're"-Kat made a gagging sound-"white."

"They're clean."

The doorbell signaled Cindy's arrival, saving him from yet another argument about his insufficient footwear.

Kat ran ahead of him to the door and yanked it open.

Cindy stepped inside and hunkered down to give Tippy a hug. "Are you ready?" she asked without looking up.

Kat ran back to her bedroom, calling over her shoulder as she ran, "Almost. I just need to change purses."

Luke sighed. The girl seemed to have a different purse to match every pair of footwear she owned, which was a lot.

Cindy stood, so Tippy wobbled back to her blanket. "Would you like to come with us? There's a sale at the shoe store. Buy one get the second item for half price."

Luke gritted his teeth. "I..." His voice trailed off at Cindy's expectant smile, and something went haywire inside his brain. He smiled back. "Sure. I could use a new pair of sneakers."

At the shoe store, Kat hightailed it to the purse aisle, which was fine with Luke. That left him alone, or as alone as possible in a busy shoe store having a sale, with Cindy.

In under three minutes, he found a pair of black sneakers. With his conquest tucked under one arm, he turned to Cindy. "Since a second item is on sale for half price with one regular priced item, would you like to buy something, too? It doesn't seem right to be here and not get a bargain."

Cindy hesitated.

"It's obvious Kat's going to get a new purse with whatever footwear we came for in the first place." Luke regarded her calmly, and Cindy was reminded suddenly about his beautiful eyes.

She shook it off. "Are you okay with that?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "There are a lot of worse things she could be into than shoes and purses. I don't mind. Look at that, they have boots out already in the summertime. I've only seen you wearing steel-toed work boots." He grinned.

"Very funny. But you're right. I should get a pair of boots. If it snows next winter I'm going to need something warm for walking Tippy."

"I don't know if what Tippy does can actually be called walking." He gave her a wry smile.

Cindy glanced in Kat's direction. "Don't you ever say anything about the way Tippy walks. Kat will be very angry with you."

Luke snickered. "I know. Kat reminds me constantly that Tippy gets around fine, she's just a little balance challenged."

"She said that she's going to train Tippy to-"

"Cindy!" a female voice called out. "What in the world are you doing here?"

Luke watched Cindy cringe. He looked at the woman who had spoken so tactlessly and recognized her immediately.

He'd only met Cindy's stepmother once before, briefly, but she was a woman he would never forget. A drop-dead gorgeous woman who knew it and used it to her advantage.

Cindy regained her composure and smiled politely. "h.e.l.lo, Melissa. Are you hoping to find a good sale?"

Melissa waved one manicured hand in the air. "We're here to see if we can find just the right shade to match the dress Annie's going to wear to her graduation ceremony. I can't imagine what you're doing here. I didn't think they sold work boots."

The hairs on the back of Luke's neck bristled. To Cindy's credit, she simply looked away. Luke stepped closer to her and rested one hand on her shoulder. "Cindy and I brought Kat to see if anything catches her eye."

Melissa's eyebrows quirked, telling him she hadn't noticed he was there. On the other hand, Annie and Zella, standing behind Melissa, were smiling at him and totally ignoring Cindy.

Melissa rested one hand on Annie's shoulder. "Annie has better taste in clothes and accessories. Maybe she should go with you."

At first Annie stiffened, but then she smiled and stepped forward. "I'd like that," she said, as if Cindy weren't even there.

He could almost hear Cindy grinding her teeth. Her voice came out as sharp as a two-edged sword. "Maybe she can-"

Luke didn't let Cindy finish. He tightened his grip and eased her back away from the other ladies. "We're going to finish our shopping. Excuse us."

He didn't care where they went as long as it was far away from her stepfamily.

"Are they always so rude to you?" he asked when they were far enough that they couldn't hear.

"No. Most of the time they're worse, although a lot of the time I don't think Annie and Zella know which way to go. Melissa does her best to fill them with all sorts of poison toward me. When Melissa isn't home, Annie and Zella sometimes come to church with me, even though I think most of the time they're just trying to meet single men."

"Still, I guess that's a start."

"Enough of them. Let's go find Kat. I have the sudden urge to go to that arcade place at the end of the mall and play some serious whack-a-mole."

Luke cringed. "How about instead I'll buy you a nice chocolate milkshake?"

She gave him a shaky smile, which did something strange to his insides. "Sure. That sounds perfect."

Chapter 7.

The second Luke walked in the door, he trudged over to the couch, sank down, and groaned. Usually his job was fairly stress-free, but today was the first day of a big conference at the Was.h.i.+ngton State Convention Center downtown. Through some creative marketing, he and Brent had agreed to offer attendees a discount, and they'd leased every available car. Or rather Luke had because today of all days, Brent had called in sick. Luke had spent the entire day on his feet, filling out forms or inspecting cars and checking insurance. He'd even had to help the lot boy wash a car because the man who called for it was early and impatient.

"Uncle Luke? What are you doing?"

His eyes drifted shut and his head fell back. "I'm going to have a nap. Order a pizza." Using the last of his energy, without opening his eyes, he s.h.i.+fted his body so he could reach into his back pocket for his wallet then sagged back as he held it up.

"What kind?"

"Whatever you want." He'd eat anything that meant he didn't have to stand. Even sus.h.i.+. Maybe.

Her giggle told him that she wasn't going to order anything he liked, but he was so tired he didn't care. Kat took the wallet out of his hand and ran into the kitchen.

The couch s.h.i.+fted slightly, and Luke couldn't help but smile. Tippy couldn't jump onto the couch, so Kat had made a staircase out of firm pillows to allow the dog to scramble up without help. Tippy nudged his hand up with her wet nose then crawled into his lap.

He'd wanted to lie down, but he didn't have the energy or the heart to push Tippy aside.

Keeping his eyes closed, Luke listened to the sounds of drawers squeaking open and slamming closed as Kat searched for the menu from the pizza joint. Some kind of bad music drifted from Kat's bedroom. Tippy was snoring.

He didn't know a dog could fall asleep so fast.

He sighed as he started to drift into oblivion. His house used to be quiet. Not anymore. He used to be able to come and go as he pleased. He didn't have to pick up his socks.

Now there was always some kind of noise coming from somewhere, and he had learned to put his socks in the hamper right away or Tippy would get them and he'd find them in the backyard a few days later.

His mind wandered as he thought of what would make his home perfect. He had part of the equation already: a kid-even if she was kind of big-and a dog. He only needed a wife. A blond wife who came home from work wearing blue coveralls and smelled like grease. They would have fun making supper together and then get distracted as he hugged and kissed her. She'd kiss him back. They would forget about cooking and...

Tippy's paws pounded into his stomach.

"Luke?"

Luke groaned as the picture faded. He struggled to block out the world, but the image wouldn't come back.

"Luke? Wake up."

Tippy began to bounce in his lap.

He straightened to protect himself, winced, opened one eye, and looked up. The dream was back. Blond. No blue coveralls, but he could smell a little grease.

"Are you awake? There was a pizza guy in your driveway, so I paid him and brought it in." She held up a box.

He tried to clear his head. "Cindy? What are you doing here? No, never mind. I'm glad you're here. How much do I owe you?" He started to move his hand toward his back pocket but froze, remembering that Kat had his wallet. "I don't want you to pay, but I do want you to help us eat it." He gave Tippy a nudge, encouraging her to jump off the couch and follow Cindy into the kitchen. Then he did exactly the same.

Remnants of his dream hung in the back of his mind. It would have been so natural to step up closer to Cindy and give her a hug then a kiss. If she reciprocated his feelings. Which she didn't.

Cindy set the box on the table, leaned over it, and inhaled deeply.

"Barbecue chicken and peppers. My favorite."

The image of a perfect end to a long day faded as reality slapped him up the side of the head. "Barbecue chicken? On a pizza?" Just as he suspected, Kat had ordered something he didn't like. He couldn't imagine chicken on a pizza.

Kat appeared before he had a chance to complain and, being outnumbered, he didn't even try. The ladies put a piece of pizza on each of three plates, and they prepared themselves to say a quick grace before eating. He'd never been the touchy-feely type, but Cindy automatically rested her hand in his. Her touch, albeit light, gave him a momentary charge that zapped the fatigue out of his body, at least for the duration of their meal. It also helped that chicken on a pizza wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

He turned to Cindy as he reached for another piece. "What brings you here today? Shopping? Homework?"

"Today we're just going to take Tippy for a wob...uh...a walk."

Kat stopped chewing for a few seconds, glared at Cindy, and then shoveled another bite into her mouth.

Luke struggled not to laugh. "Have fun. It's a full moon tonight, lots of light out there."

Kat stared at him. "Aren't you coming?"

Luke wiggled his toes and flexed his aching feet. "I hadn't thought about it."

"You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"Good." As the words left his mouth, he caught Cindy turning her head to look directly at him, so he met her gaze over the empty pizza box.

"Are you sure?" Cindy asked.

"I..." If he wore his comfortable black sneakers instead of the leather shoes he'd worn all day, it would probably be tolerable. As long as he didn't go far. "Okay, I'll go."

Cindy smiled. "That's wonderful. Tippy will be so happy."

It wasn't Tippy he wanted to make happy. "We might as well go now."

They rose in unison and headed for the front door, but just as Kat opened it her cell phone rang. She listened for a few seconds then flipped it shut. "It's Sasha. I forgot about a geography project we have to hand in tomorrow. I have to go. I'll see you later. I'll phone when I need a ride home."

Before Luke could say anything, Kat stepped out the door and jogged down the street in the direction of Sasha's house.

He turned and waggled his eyebrows at Cindy. "Looks like it's just you and me."

"That's okay. Lock the door and let's go."

As they walked, Cindy nodded a greeting to Luke's neighbor, who was setting up a tripod, apparently attempting to get pictures of the full moon.

She couldn't help but wonder what Luke's neighbors thought of her at Luke's home nearly every evening. Mostly she was there to be with Kat, but yet...

She tried to tamp down the feelings of excitement; after all, nothing could happen. When the day came that she could fall in love, it wouldn't be with a man like Luke. It would be with a man who had no entanglements, at a time when she could finally be free of her own.

And that wasn't going to happen for a very, very long time.

She slowed her pace to let Luke catch up, after he'd stopped to allow Tippy to sniff something.