Be Mine Forever (A St. Helena Vineyard Novel) by Marina Adair Read Free Book Online Page B

she needed.
    “Missed you too, kiddo.”
    He nodded and then let go. Sara dropped to one knee and gave her full attention to her entire world, who was dressed in a San Diego Chargers ball hat, a matching jersey that hung to his knees, and nothing on the bottom except, she’d bet a million dollars, Batman undies. “What happened to your pants?”
    “Don’t need them,” Cooper explained.
    “He said pants slowed him down too much,” Heather clarified, with a look that said she’d drop the subject of Sexy Italian Guy. For now. “And we also learned today that warm glue and excited hands are a bad combo so I got him in a bath. When it came to getting him dressed for bed, well, the pants weren’t happening.”
    Sara was surprised Heather managed to get him in the jersey. Cooper was going through his tough-guy phase, which translated into walking around the house in his underpants and not much else.
    “Pants are for babies,” Cooper said. Lately anything he didn’t want to do was because it was for babies.
    A knock sounded at the door and Cooper’s face went flush with excitement as he yelled, “I’ll get it,” and took off.
    “Don’t open the door until I get there,” Sara reminded him but he was already swinging it wide open.
    “Roman!” Cooper squealed and started jumping up and down. “Mom, look. It’s Roman. At our house!”
    “I see,” Sara said, coming up behind her son and resting a hand against the door. “Hey, Roman.”
    “Hey, Sara,” he said and flashed a flirty smile.
    Roman Brady was good-looking, everybody’s friend, and a single dad who had an honest way about him and a killer body that made women melt.
    “Is Matt here?” Cooper poked his head around Roman’s legs and scanned the front porch for his best friend.
    “Sorry, buddy. Matt’s at his mom’s tonight,” Roman said, extending a paper bag with Cooper’s name scrawled in crayon across the front. “But I found this by the garbage can after pickup and I knew that you spent a lot of time picking it out, so I wanted to drop it by.”
    “Thanks,” Cooper mumbled. “Hunter took it and wouldn’t give it back.”
    Sara shot Roman a worried look. Hunter Lock was a bully of the worst kind—mainly because his parents refused to see him for what he was. For whatever reason, he’d selected Cooper as Target of the Year.
    Sara was about to ask him what transpired today, when Cooper opened the bag and, with an enthusiastic yes, pulled something out and waved it in front of Sara’s face. “Look, Mom! It’s not broken.”
    “What do you have there?” she asked, moving her head and narrowly escaping a collision. “Is that a block of wood?”
    He frowned as if truly surprised no one else saw the true awesomeness of the block.
    “It’s a car.” He ran the block of wood down Sara’s knee. “Well, it will be. It’s for the Mighty Mites Pinewood Derby.”
    “Pinewood Derby?” This was the first time she’d heard of it.
    Mighty Mites was an after-school program and Cooper’s time to hang with his buddies, learn how to tie knots, identify bugs, and make farting sounds with his armpit. It was also how Sara was able to manage her studio without sending him to day care. Something she refused to do.
    “I sent a flier home last week,” Roman explained. Not only was he the St. Helena fire chief, he was also Cooper’s Mite Hive Commander. And as of recently, Sara’s friend. “The qualifier race is next Saturday.”
    “We have to turn that hunk of tree into an actual car that rolls? By next Saturday?” Sara asked, wondering how she was supposed to accomplish that task.
    “Yup.” Cooper gave a decisive nod. “I’m going to win.”
    “There are directions in the bag,” Roman said softly, leaning in close. “They’re pretty detailed. I also put in an extra flier about the big swarm race that is held at the end of the month. The top five winners from the qualifier square off against the best Lady Bug racers. It’s a pretty