True Summer Love

Chapter Ten

She couldn't seem to get Lance off her mind. She had seen that look in his eyes Saturday. The look that clearly told her that he loved her still. Hope had lodged itself firmly inside her heart. Maybe God had heard what was in her heart even though she had refused to pray for her own happiness. Maybe she was going to get the family she had been dreaming about having for the last six years.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" Lance's voice came from beside her and made her jump with fright. She looked over at him and saw his blue eyes sparkling with amusement.

"You scared me." she scolded. He shrugged and held his hands up.

"I wasn't sneaking." he promised. "You were just so caught up in your thoughts that you didn't hear me."

"I was just thinking about how funny life can turn out sometimes." she said and then she shivered as a gust of cold autumn wind blew. Before she had time to realize he was going to, Lance had his arms wrapped tight around her and her back pulled against his chest. He rested his chin on her shoulder and his warm breath caressed her cheek and caused her entire body to tingle.

"Thought you said you can handle cold weather?" he teased. Tiffany looked around and saw the eyes of many of the mothers on them and she realized that they were starting to whisper excitedly to each other.

"I can… It's just going to take my body a while to adjust after being hot all summer is all." she replied as she snuggled deeper into his arms. She couldn't help herself. Standing here with him made her feel like she was nineteen again and she just wanted to enjoy his warmth and strength.

"How long do we have before Parker gets out because I really want to talk to you about something."

"About ten minutes or so," Tiffany replied after looking at his watch.

"I would like to go out to dinner with you one night this week." Lance said and Tiffany tried to keep herself from jumping up and down with happiness.

"I would like that." she replied. She felt Lance smile against her hair.

"Can someone watch Parker tomorrow night?" he asked.

"Erin is staying until this weekend. She'll watch him."

"It feels good to hold you like this." Lance said as he squeezed her tighter. Tiffany suddenly wondered how she could have been so cold a few moments ago when she was on fire now. "I'm sorry that we haven't had a chance to talk much about us since I came back."

"You've been focusing on Parker, that's the way it should be." Tiffany replied and she noticed that a group of women kept edging closer and closer to them while they whispered excitedly. She wondered what in the world they were up to.

"Speaking of Parker… I made that appointment to get the birth certificate changed Wednesday at ten." he said. Tiffany nodded and pulled away from Lance as the three women walked up to them. Lance was irritated to have his conversation interrupted as he looked at the three ladies.

"Lance Asher?" The tallest of the three asked timidly. Lance sighed and nodded.

"Yes ma'am. I'm Lance Asher." he replied knowing that he'd been recognized. He had known it was going to happen sooner or later. He was lucky it hadn't happened as soon as he'd gotten to town.

"Oh my gosh! This is amazing. I'm a huge fan!" another of the women said. Lance went into 'star dealing with fan' mode and signed a few autographs before finally wrapping his arm around Tiffany's shoulders and smiling apologetically.

"I hope you understand ladies, but I'm just here to pick my son up from school." he said. The ladies understood they were being dismissed.

"Tiffany, this is Parker's dad?" the first lady spoke up again. Tiffany nodded.