“Thank you, dear.” The customer’s wrinkled lips lifted with the woman’s kind smile.
“You’re very welcome.”
Shuffling herself around so she was facing that direction, the unsteady woman used the cane in her right hand to assist her steps as she crossed the expansive lobby. After keeping a close eye to make sure the customer didn’t fall, Raegan returned her attention to the handful of others still conducting their banking business.
A man she guessed was in his early thirties stood patiently at one of the windows, waiting as the teller there finished her task. Two spots down, a woman with thick, silver hair had just handed the teller assisting her a small stack of cash to be deposited.
Raegan’s gaze slid further down the expansive counter, past three empty windows to the one closest to the bank’s entrance. Standing directly across the tiled floor, she watched the young mother standing there with her little girl in tow.
Almost instantly, Raegan recognized the pretty brunette as one of the bank’s regular customers. They’d never officially met, and she had no clue about the woman’s name, but they came in about once a month to make a deposit, and there was almost always a smile on both their faces.
Raegan’s chest grew tight as she took in the heartwarming scene.
The mom’s attention bounced back and forth between the bank employee helping her, and the little girl whose hand was held snuggly within the woman’s gentle grasp. The blonde, pigtailed child looked to be around three, maybe four years old, and she was wearing a cute purple romper covered in small, white hearts.
The little girl giggled at something her mother had just said, shifting Raegan’s focus up to the woman’s smiling face. It was impossible not to see how similar the child’s features were to her mother’s. Which made her think of her own mother, who’d often referred to Raegan as herMini Me.
A slight smile lifted the corners of Raegan’s lips as she remembered those moments with bittersweet reverence. She thought of a past she longed to change…and a future she’d all but given up on.
What about you? You ever thought about it?
Rocky’s question from the other night rolled through her mind like a wandering tumbleweed. When he’d been over at her house, they’d briefly shared their thoughts on marriage and kids. And she’d told him those thingsusedto be part of her plan.
The truth was, deep down, she still very much wanted a family of her own. Raegan longed for roots that dug deep. Thick, unbreakable roots with no chance of ever letting go.
But before any of that could happen, before she could let herself eventhinkabout following any sort of path, the type of future she secretly craved, Raegan first had to deal with the past. And that meant keeping herself focused on the mission rather than her appealing neighbor with his intense gaze and full, kissable?—
“Sorry.” The deep, mumbled apology reached Raegan’s ears half a beat after he bumped into her right shoulder.
Righting herself, she flashed the distracted teenager a forced, “That’s okay,” while on the inside, she was thinking…
Seriously? You can’t get your head out of your phone long enough to pay attention to where you’re going?
Inwardly shaking her head at the entitled, self-centered jerk, she started to look away when she really noticed how the younger man was dressed.
Black sneakers. Black jeans. Hands and phone now stuffed inside the front pocket of his black, pull-over hoodie.
It was the hoodie that really struck her as odd. For one thing, it was a sunny summer day, yet he was dressed as if it were nearing winter. And two…the hood was still up.
Why did he still have his hood covering his head?
Something’s off.
Raegan’s suspicion of the man kick-started her pulse. The pumping of her heart came a little faster. Her focus homed in on every aspect of the concealed man’s form.
Height…roughly six feet. Weight…one-eighty, one-nighty. Slender build. A bit lanky.
She continued watching, hoping he’d turn his head enough for her to catch a full glimpse of the guy’s face. Before, when he’d collided with her, she’d only been able to see his profile.
That’s how she knew he was too young to legally order a beer. But as he continued walking slowly with his back to her, he looked around as if he were…what? Trying to decide which teller window to approach, maybe?
Feeling more than a little suspicious, now, Raegan started to move in closer. As she did, the teenager in black moved again, his entire body shifting as he began walking slowly toward the teller positioned in the center of the long counter.
So help me, this guy tries something stupid with that precious little girl in here…
Relief mixed with trepidation when, out of the corner of her eye, Raegan saw the mother-daughter duo wave goodbye to the smiling teller and start to walk away. Returning her focus to the kid in the hood, she was still trying to get a read on him when another customer—a frenzied, middle-aged woman trying to juggle her purse, sunglasses, keys, and a coffee—accidentally dumped the purse a few inches from where Raegan stood.
The woman looked distraught as several items spilled from the unzipped bag and began skidding and rolling around the tiled floor. Giving Raegan an exasperated frown, she quickly began apologizing for the mess.