Lost in His Arms by Carla Cassidy Page A

he’d ever seen her.
    â€œIt’s a good thing I gave her the night off. She’d go crazy if she saw this mess,” he said.
    â€œHey, it takes a mess to create masterpieces, right, buddy?” Richard ruffled Andrew’s hair affectionately.
    â€œHow long does it take to bake? I’m starving,” Andrew said, then picked a piece of pepperoni off the countertop and popped it into his mouth.
    Talbot opened the oven door and peered inside. “Just a couple more minutes and they should be ready.”
    â€œIf I don’t eat in a few minutes, I’m going to be tipsy,” Elizabeth said, and pushed her wineglass aside. “And if I have the awesome responsibility of judging this contest, I have to have my wits about me.”
    â€œYou won’t need your wits to know that mine is the undisputed best,” Richard said, gaining catcalls and boos from his brother and nephew.
    Talbot couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed an evening more. They had all cut up and acted silly. And the warmth and positive feeling continued as they ate.
    â€œI’m not making any final decision until I’ve eaten all I want of each pie,” Elizabeth announced as she started on the first piece.
    They sat around the table, everyone sampling not only the pizza they had baked, but the others, as well. And as they ate, the pleasant talk continued.
    â€œMrs. Walker in the grocery store said to tell you hi,” she said to Talbot. “And that her daughter, Alva May, just got engaged.”
    Talbot winced. “I dated Alva a couple of times,and I think her mother had already printed up wedding announcements for us.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you marry her, Uncle Talbot?” Andrew asked.
    Talbot leaned toward the young boy and grinned. “Because she had hairy legs and smelled like a burning tire.”
    Andrew snorted soda pop and spewed pizza. Elizabeth burst into peals of laughter, and Richard joined in with his own chuckles.
    Talbot continued, “You see, Alva is a mechanic down at Walker’s Garage. She’s twice my size, and she didn’t really love me at all. She just wanted to replace the shocks in my car.”
    â€œYou’re terrible!” Elizabeth exclaimed.
    He held out his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “So shoot me. I don’t like hairy legs and the smell of burnt rubber.”
    He was grateful when nobody pursued the topic and asked him what he did like in a woman. He would have had to answer that he liked a woman who had hair the color of butterscotch pudding and eyes as bright blue as gift-wrapping ribbon.
    He liked a woman who smelled as fresh as spring rain, as sweet as a summer flower. He even found endearing the tiny dab of sauce that decorated her slightly pointed chin.
    â€œMom, are you ready to make a decision yet?” Andrew asked anxiously.
    Elizabeth smiled and dabbed her face with her napkin, removing all trace of sauce from her chin. “Yes, I think I’m just about ready to announce the winner.”
    â€œBefore you do, Mom, I want to tell you something.” Andrew got up out of his chair and moved to his mother’s side. He slid an arm around her neck. “I just wanted to tell you you’re the best mom in the whole wide world.”
    â€œHey, no fair buttering up the judge,” Talbot protested with a laugh.
    â€œWho, me?” Andrew batted his lashes in innocence. “I just wanted her to know that I love her more than anything.”
    â€œIf anyone is going to be successful buttering up the judge, it’s going to be me,” Richard interjected. “After all, I’m the one who might not be here in a couple of weeks.”
    Elizabeth gasped, and whatever frivolity had been in Talbot’s heart blew to shreds beneath the weight of Richard’s words.
    A roar resounded in his ears—the roar of fear unexplored, of unrealistic rage, of guilt unnamed and of promises