The Accidental Encore Read Free Page B

they
could do to stop it. “So, what’s on the agenda for tonight?” he asked. “Any
homework?”
    She sighed. “Math, as usual, and a little bit of Spanish.”
    “You’re taking Spanish?”
    She smiled, and for a moment, Craig thought he was talking
to Becca. “Si, senior. Esta noche tengo piano.”
    “Say what?”
    “I said, tonight I have piano.”
    “Oh. Okay.” He turned onto Mark’s street. “Do we have time
for dinner first?”
    Leah looked at the clock on the dash of the crappy rental.
“Nope. According to Dad’s notes, tonight’s lasagna, so it’s got to cook for an
hour.”
    “I’m starving,” Craig said. “How about we do something crazy
and veer off the schedule? We can have lasagna tomorrow and tonight I’ll whip
us up a couple of sandwiches.”
    “Can’t,” Leah said. “Dad always makes enough for Ms. Allie.”
    “Who’s Ms. Allie?”
    “My piano teacher.” She rolled her eyes. “Jeez, did you even
read Dad’s instructions?”
    “Your piano teacher stays for dinner?”
    “Not always, but we’re her last lesson of the day, so Dad
always makes enough in case she wants to stay.”
    Interesting. Homey dinners with the piano teacher was a side
of Mark that Craig hadn’t expected. “Okay, I guess we’re having lasagna.”

 
    Chapter 4
    When Leah walked into the kitchen, Uncle Craig was looking
outside through the window. “Somebody’s here,” he said, but didn’t quit
staring.
    Leah looked over his shoulder. She rubbed her face against
the soft fabric of his worn flannel shirt. “That’s Ms. Allie.”
    He brought his hand to her shoulder and let out a whistle.
“You didn’t tell me your piano teacher was hot. No wonder Mark invites her to
dinner.”
    Leah sputtered. She knew Ms. Allie was beautiful. She’d
always impressed Leah with her stylish clothes and fancy shoes, but hot? Weird.
She nudged Craig in the arm. “Dad’s married now, remember?”
    He dropped the curtain and walked toward the front door with
her in the crook of his arm. “He may be married, squirt, but he’s not dead.”
    Leah broke free of his embrace and opened the door just as Allie
raised her hand to knock. “Oh,” she said and clutched her shirt with her hand.
“You scared me.”
    “Sorry, Ms. Allie.” Leah opened the door wide. “Come on in.”
    Allie took two steps into the dimly lit foyer and then
jerked to a stop, her eyes wide on Blackjack, sitting calmly at Uncle Craig’s
feet.
    “That’s Blackjack. He belongs to my Uncle Craig.”
    “Oh.” Allie flashed her perfect teeth before holding out her
hand. “Hello, Uncle Craig.”
    Leah looked at her uncle. Instead of the flirting smirk she
expected, his brows were drawn tightly together and he puckered his mouth like
he tasted something bad. “Do I know you?”
    “I don’t think so,” Ms. Allie said. “But you do look
familiar.”
    They shook hands slowly and eyed one another as Leah stood
waiting. “Well, he is my dad’s brother.”
    They dropped their hands. “It’s nice to meet you, Craig,”
Allie said. She glanced down at the large black and white dog. “And Blackjack.”
She turned to face Leah. “You ready?”
    “Yep.” Leah walked into the den and sat down at the piano
bench. Allie sat her bag on the floor and draped her pretty wool coat over the
chair.
    “Would you like something to drink?” Uncle Craig asked Allie
from the foyer.
    “No, thank you.” She smiled at him and then opened Allie’s
lesson book to the song they’d been working on for her recital. “Let’s see how
much practice you’ve done this week.”
    ***
    Craig leaned against the door casing of the foyer and
watched Ms. Allie as she took a seat next to Leah. The gentle curves of her
backside nicely complimented what he’d seen of her front. He never looked twice
at beautiful blondes, not after Julie. He certainly didn’t seek out blondes who
wore tailored slacks and silk blouses, but this one, with her light green eyes
and dark brows,