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Cameron settled into her seat and grinned at the girls. “Sounds like a plan. I bet we can
come up with all kinds of extra chores … like washing the dishes.”
“And doing the laundry.”
As they rattled off suggestions, the girls’ eyes grew wider.
“And vacuuming the entire house.”
“And changing the oil in my car…”
The room fell quiet.
A distressed expression crossed Mariana’s face. “Daddy, I don’t know how to change the oil.”
“Guess it’s about time you learned.” He winked at Cameron.
Now that they had a plan for how to deal with their meddling daughters, they could enjoy dinner. No one talked as they dug into the delicious entrées from La Cuchina. He could say one thing for Lizzie—she had good taste in Italian food. Although he imagined Cameron’s mom had a bit to do with the choices.
“Lizzie, how was your day today?” Cameron asked her daughter.
Alex studied the girl who had been instrumental in luring him and Mariana here tonight. Lizzie swallowed a huge hunk of sourdough bread and turned to Cameron. “Billy Adkins said girls couldn’t play baseball as good as boys in gym class today.”
Alex nearly dropped his fork. Had he heard Lizzie right? What kind of punk kid would say something like that to her? Especially since Alex suspected the little mastermind had no problem standing up for herself.
When his gaze locked on Cameron’s, he saw none of the distress that he felt. Her brows weren’t furrowed and she actually had a smile on her face. “And what did you do when he said that?”
A huge smile broke out on Lizzie’s face. “I hit the ball so far over his head that he couldn’t catch it.”
Cameron high-fived her daughter. “Atta girl. You show those boys girls can do anything boys can. Usually better.”
She took another sip of her wine as if Lizzie’s pronouncement hadn’t rocked her world. Knowing Cameron, it hadn’t. She had clearly taught Lizzie how to stand up for herself with her actions and not her words.
Had he done the same for Mariana? She hadn’t mentioned that she and Lizzie were having issues at school. Granted, Mariana wasn’t nearly as forthcoming as Lizzie seemed to be with Cameron. Maybe Cameron could share her secret to getting her daughter to open up. If he’d been more observant, he’d have realized how serious Mariana was about spending time with Lizzie outside of school.
Instead, the girls had resorted to trickery. And he was glad. Not only was he getting to know the mother of his daughter’s best friend, but he was having dinner with an intriguing woman who he wanted to spend more time with.
* * *
Cameron brought her wine glass to her mouth to use as a barrier so she could sneak a glance at Alex. He was handsome in his uniform, but seeing him in a turquoise polo that accented his tawny skin and a pair of well-worn jeans? That, she really appreciated, and for a moment, she forgot that he was a soldier.
Stop it, Cameron. You invited him to stay for dinner because it was the polite thing to do. No more day-dreaming about him. Stop it right now.
“Mom? We’re done eating. Can we go play in my room?”
As much as she wanted some time alone with Alex, she couldn’t let Lizzie go that easily. “What about these dishes? I wasn’t kidding about—”
“I’ll do it later, Mom. Thanks.” Lizzie grabbed Mariana’s hand and the two girls ran down the hall before Cameron could end her sentence.
Alex finished off his wine and swiped at his mouth with a napkin. “I guess they were done.”
“I’ve never seen Lizzie eat so fast. I usually have to prod her to take a few bites so she’s not sitting here for hours.” After today, though, nothing that her daughter did would surprise her.
“They had a huge motivation to get out of the line of fire after we figured out we’d been set up.”
“Have I apologized?” He didn’t seem upset at all, so the apology was more to soothe her own humiliation when Alex had arrived and she’d realized she was having unexpected dinner guests.
He reached out like he wanted to take her hand, but then didn’t. She wouldn’t have minded, even though she knew she shouldn’t be feeling this way.
