Page 51 of The Perfect Distraction

“Beth? I gotta go. My date’s here.”

She should have known Becca wouldn’t be alone on a Saturday night. She rarely was.

“Who is it tonight?” Beth teased. Her sister never dated anyone for long, preferring to “play the field.” Beth smiled at all the baseball metaphors, especially since she wasn’t even a sports fan!

“His name’s Mario. He’s Latin.”

“A Latin lover, huh?”

“We’ll see! Love you. Talk to you soon.”

After Becca hung up, Beth glanced around and realized she’d been sitting in the dark the entire time. Rising from the couch, she padded into the kitchen to get a glass of water, and naturally, she peered out the window at Colton’s house.

There were still several lights on, and she wondered what he and Joey were doing. Were they watching a movie together? Was Colton reading to him before bed? If not, maybe she should suggest it.

“There you go again, getting too involved.” But she couldn’t help it. And then she saw a shadow pass in front of his kitchen window, and she ducked down. She didn’t want Colton to think that she spied on him on a regular basis when it was only that one time. Well, maybe there’d been a few other times, but who was counting?

She waited a little longer until her legs hurt from crouching, and then she slowly stood back up. Colton was still in the window, but he was looking down, seemingly deep in thought. Was he thinking about them and what they’d done earlier? Or maybe he was just doing the dishes. Maybe, maybe, maybe!

Disgusted with herself, Beth turned away from the window and went upstairs. Even though it was only a little after nine o’clock, she got into her pajamas and slipped beneath the sheets, planning to read until she fell asleep. She’d had a lot of practice with that—reading as a means of escape. True, she’d always loved reading, but she’d found it especially comforting during the sad and lonely times after Christopher left.

What did Colton do to combat his loneliness? Of course, he had Joey, so that had to help. But like he’d said, he missed adult interaction. Had he meant the kind of interaction they’d had earlier? Suddenly feeling warm, she threw off the top blanket and attempted to get lost in her book.

A while later, her eyes were starting to droop when her phone rang on the nightstand and startled her. Guessing it would probably be one of her family members calling to check on her, she quickly picked it up and was surprised to see the name on the display.

Did this mean he’d been thinking about her too?