Groaning loudly, I rolled over in bed and slammed my hand down on the blaring alarm clock. The insufferably loud beeping was cutting through the quiet dark air of my bedroom with such sharp precision that my head already ached.

I struggled to open my eyes as I waved my hand frantically through the air, desperate to silence the awful noise penetrating my eardrums. Finally, my fingers touched cold plastic and the alarm silenced.

Sighing, I rolled over and pulled a pillow over my head. The first rays of sunlight were peeking through the blackout curtains, and even though I’d gotten over six hours of sleep, I felt like I’d just worked a double shift with no break. My whole body ached – the muscles in my thighs, hips, and back were screaming in pain by the time I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.

I pulled a cotton robe from the hook on the back of my door and wrapped it around my body. Being awake this early always made me feel numb – when I was younger, I’d assumed that I’d just become a morning person when I grew up. But at thirty-one, I was starting to realize that adults never have their shit together as much as children think.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes, pushing the curtains back. Bright sunlight filled the room and I pressed my forehead against the glass, taking it all in.

“Mom!”

“I’m coming, sweetie,” I called back. Turning away from the window, I walked out of my room and down the hall. My son, Jacob, was standing on top of his twin-sized bed, arms in the air, already grinning. His bright blue eyes were wide open and his blonde hair was sticking straight up from his head.

I burst out laughing. “You okay there, sweetie?”

Jacob looked immensely pleased with himself as he flopped back down. His dinosaur pajamas were riding up on his stomach. I’ll have to buy some new ones, I thought. Maybe I can make time to go to the department store later, after grocery shopping and picking up everything on the list.

“I stayed in bed, Mommy,” Jacob said. He grinned.

I smiled. “I see that, sweetie,” I said. “Thank you so much.”

Jacob beamed. He’d only been sleeping in a twin bed for a little over a month. At first, it had been an exhausting trial getting him to stay put every evening. Even though he’d begged me for a “big kid bed,” I’d almost regretted donating his crib to the Salvation Army. But for the most part, Jacob was a great kid. He was smart, quiet, and imaginative. I knew that compared to a lot of parents, I had it pretty easy.

“You want some breakfast?”

Jacob nodded. “Pancakes?”

I shook my head. “I wish, sweetie, but Mommy has to run some errands today. You get to see Elisabeth again, isn’t that nice?”

Jacob smiled. “Aunt Lisbeth!”

I nodded. “Yeah, sweetie. She’s coming over right after breakfast.”

Jacob frowned. “You’re leaving?”

I forced myself to keep smiling. “I wish I didn’t have to,” I said. “But Mommy has a lot to do today. And I’ve got work later.”

“You always work,” Jacob said. He pouted.

“I know, baby,” I said. “But I promise that sometime really soon, I’ll take some time off and we’ll go on a vacation together. How does Disney World sound?”

“Really?” Jacob’s blue eyes got wide and his mouth opened. “With Mickey? And Donald?”

I nodded. “I promise,” I said. “You just have to promise me that you’re going to be patient, okay? And you also always have to be good for Elisabeth. Can you do that?”

Jacob nodded before climbing out of bed and trotting down the hall. I couldn’t believe that he’d be turning four in a little less than a month – he was growing up so fast! As much as I loved documenting my time with my son, being a single mother sometimes meant not being able to take as many pictures as I wanted.

I hated having to work so much, but it was unfortunately a necessity. I’d always planned for my son, but unfortunately that didn’t make anything cheaper. Between saving for college and constantly buying new clothes and shoes, I’d been living paycheck to paycheck for as long as I could remember. Savannah, Georgia wasn’t the cheapest city, but I liked the culture and the safe neighborhood where I lived with Jacob.

By the time I got to the kitchen, Jacob was running around the table, waving his arms in the air. I smiled wryly as I pulled out the eggs and started cracking them into a bowl. He’s definitely going to need a nap later, I thought, making a mental note to tell Elisabeth. He’s got so much energy! God, I wish I remembered what that felt like.

“Settle down, sweetie,” I called, glancing over my shoulder. Jacob was still running full-speed around the table. I dumped the egg mixture onto a heating skillet, then pushed it around until it started to scramble. After adding cheese, I portioned the eggs onto two places and carried them over to the breakfast.

Jacob scrambled up into a chair. I handed him his special plastic fork, and he gripped it intently in one hand, staring down at the plate.

“You okay, sweetie?” I reached over and pushed his white-blonde hair back from his forehead. “You’re gonna need another haircut soon,” I added, more for my benefit than Jacob’s. “Hard to believe we just got you one last month.”

Jacob nodded. “Can you stay home today?”

I sighed. “Sweetie, I really wish I could,” I said honestly. “But Mommy has to do so much, and I know you don’t like going on errands with me. I’m sure Elisabeth will make sure you have lots and lots of fun.”

Jacob pouted for another minute. “Can I watch a Jacob show?”

Shit, I thought, feeling guilty. Maybe I really should call out of work – things wouldn’t be that bad. And then my kid wouldn’t feel like he needed to watch television.

Before I could reply, the doorbell rang.

“Lisbeth!” Jacob shrieked loudly and banged his cup against the table. With a wry smile, I got up and walked over to the door. I could tell Jacob was going to have a very high-energy day. Maybe he’d be so tired by the time I got home from work that he’d crash right away. While I loved the prospect of getting a full night’s sleep, I wasn’t crazy about missing so much time with my son.

My neighbor, Elisabeth, grinned at me when I opened the door. Her arms were full of sewing and knitting projects, and her light brown hair was piled into a loose bun.

“Hey, you,” Elisabeth said. She put down her basket of sewing in the foyer. “Hi Jacob!”

“Hi!” Jacob yelled back from the kitchen.

Elisabeth laughed. She leaned in for a light hug, pressing her cheek against mine. When we pulled away, she grabbed my wrists and raised her eyebrows.

“Wow, you look tired,” Elisabeth said. “Everything okay?”

I nodded, yawning and rubbing my eyes. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m fine, you know. Just the usual.”

We walked into the kitchen together. Jacob, suddenly shy, turned his gaze down at his plate and stared at his eggs. Even though Elisabeth had been watching Jacob for over a year, he was always a little shy when she first came over. Most of the time that didn’t bother me, but this morning a pang of guilt shot into my heart.

“Hi sweetie,” Elisabeth said. She reached into her bag and brought out a stuffed dinosaur. “Look, I fixed Mr. Spikes!”

Jacob glanced up. His blue eyes lit up with excitement and he burst out laughing. Mr. Spikes was Jacob’s favorite toy, and as a result, he took quite a bit of abuse. I’d brought him home from the hospital when Jacob was born, and they’d been close ever since.

“What do you say, Jacob?” I asked.

“Thank you, Aunt Lisbeth,” Jacob said shyly. He grabbed the plush dinosaur and hugged it to his chest, grinning and squealing happily.

“Yeah, honestly, thank you so much for that,” I said getting up and grabbing my purse. “How much do I owe you?”

“Relax, Alex,” Elisabeth said, putting her hand on my wrist. “Nothing. It was easy, don’t worry about it.”

I sighed. “You do so much for us,” I said. “I don’t feel like it’s fair not to pay you what you deserve.”

Elisabeth grinned. “Trust me,” she said. “You pay me enough already.” She glanced over at her sewing bag. “It’s those clowns on Etsy who always try to undercharge me. As if they have any idea how long it takes to sew curtains!”

We laughed together. It felt good to have a friend like Elisabeth. At thirty-five, she was a little older than me, but we felt like sisters. Like me, she was single – Elisabeth had been divorced three years. When Jacob and I had first moved into our condominium community, I’d hired Elisabeth to babysit. She’d spent so much time at my house that our friendship was truly inevitable, and I valued her more than I could say.

“You should get going,” Elisabeth said. She settled into a kitchen chair. “Don’t worry about the dishes. I can take care of those when Jacob goes down for a nap.”

I clasped my hands in front of my chest in mock prayer. “You are a saint,” I said, smiling and nodding at my friend.

“Go,” Elisabeth said, pretending to be stern. “You’re gonna be late, Alex.”

I walked over to Jacob and leaned down to kiss the top of his white-blonde hair.

“I’ll see you soon, sweetie,” I said. “You be good for Aunt Lisbeth, okay?”

Jacob twisted around in his chair and grinned at me. “I will, Mom,” he said, sounding surprisingly serious. “I promise.”

My heart melted and I pulled my son into a tight hug. “And this weekend, we’re going to spend so much time together,” I said. “I promise.”

Jacob grinned. “Okay, Mom,” he said.

I slung my purse over my shoulder and grabbed a light denim jacket. Leaving was always hard, but it wasn’t like I could miss work. I’d just started working at The Sleeping Dog, and while it wasn’t great for tips, it was always packed with frat boys crying for a beer and a shot.

Usually the only alone time I had during the week was driving to and from work. I cherished that time. As much as I loved Jacob, it was important that I had the occasional bit of Alex time, just to reflect and think and contemplate without having to worry about making my son’s world as perfect as I could.

If I had a chance to do my life over again, I was sure I’d have made the same choices. Being a single mom was tough sometimes, but I made it work. Jacob was my world – I was determined to be both a mother and a father to him, and to make his life as happy and free of stress as possible. I’d been lucky – Jacob was a great kid. Aside from some brief trouble with colic when he was a baby, he’d had a life fairly free of incidents.

I didn’t mind being single. Really, truly – I loved it. I only had to answer to myself, and sometimes it was easier to do all the parenting knowing that I didn’t have a partner who would undermine my discipline as soon as I was out of earshot. Sometimes, I thought that it would be nice to have a boyfriend or a husband, but thinking about having to juggle a social life with my already-busy schedule was impossible. Besides, the only Mr. Right for me would also be Mr. Perfect Father for Jacob…and I was sure that man didn’t exist. Maybe when Jacob was older, I could think about being a little selfish and taking some time to date. But for the next few years, I was more than confident about where I stood.

After running a couple of quick errands, I pulled into the parking lot of The Sleeping Dog. It was quiet, but I knew it wouldn’t stay like that for long. The bar had only been open about six months, but it had already attracted clientele from all over Savannah. College boys came for the buy-one-get-one specials, and they stayed for the all-day happy hour that included two-dollar Jägerbombs and one-dollar rail shots. I’d once joked with Elisabeth that my job at The Sleeping Dog involved cleaning up more bodily fluids than my job at home, taking care of Jacob.

I punched in, then got to work cleaning and sweeping and scrubbing the top of the varnished wood bar. Despite mostly being a college hangout, The Sleeping Dog was actually a pretty classy establishment. When I was alone, behind the bar, I often felt a sense of peace.

Of course, that vanished with the first drunken customer of the day. It was only Tuesday, but that was no exception. As soon as the doors had been unlocked for fifteen minutes, a steady stream of college guys filtered in. Soon I was slinging beers and shots and throwing tabs left and right.

The hours passed by like seconds. It was always like this – one of the reasons why I didn’t mind tending bar at thirty-one years old.

A group of kids yelled for their tab and I turned my attention to the register, flipping through my file and looking for their card.

“Scuse me,” a male voice called loudly from behind. “You work here?”

“Just a second!” I yelled over my shoulder. “I’ll be right with you!”

The reply was, infuriatingly enough, a deep chuckle.

“Sweetheart, calm down,” the man said. “I’ll be right here. I ain’t going anywhere.”

I rolled my eyes and whirled around, expecting to see a bratty college kid wearing a stained football t-shirt. Instead, I was shocked to a see a man – a real man, who had to be at least my age. He was also gorgeous – deeply tanned skin, blonde hair that looked almost white in the dim light of the bar, and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a suit, but not professionally – the first two buttons of his shirt were undone, and his jacket looked more like a surfer’s hoodie than an expensive piece of clothing.

He grinned and raised his eyebrows in a cocky smirk. “You expecting someone else?”

“No,” I said tartly. The man’s grin was infectious, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile. A strange feeling fluttered through my belly – something like butterflies. Wow, I thought. I haven’t felt like this since I was in high school. Why are my palms sweating?

“You the owner of this fine establishment?”

I laughed humorlessly. “No,” I said. “That would be Keaton Ames. He’s not in.”

“Yeah, I know,” the man said. He grinned again. “You’re too pretty to be that old grizzled man.”

Do not blush, I ordered myself. But my cheeks tingled anyway, and I tried to look as stern as possible.

“He comes in on the weekends, sometimes,” I called as I walked back to the register and got the tab ready for the table of college boys.

The blonde man laughed. “Well, that don’t suit me too well,” he said. He had a nice, thick Southern drawl – it didn’t make him sound uneducated, just amused and easygoing. Combined with his handsome smirk and the twinkle in his blue eyes, it was a dangerous thing.

“Too bad,” I said. I shrugged. “You want me to take your card?”

The man shook his head. “I’m Billy,” he said. “Billy Lessner.” He stuck out his hand to shake. After a moment’s hesitation, I slipped my palm against his. The feel of his warm, dry hand against mine sent a thrilling shiver down my spine.

“Alex,” I said after a moment, yanking my hand back.

“Just Alex?” Billy raised his eyebrow.

I blushed again. Damnit! I thought. What is wrong with you, girl? Why are you acting like some schoolgirl?

“Alex Harding,” I said.

“Pleased,” Billy said. “Listen, Keaton’s an old client of mine. I was really hoping to reach him today.” He smiled and this time, there was no hint of mocking in his smooth lips. “You think you could give him a call and let him know I stopped by?”

“I don’t think so,” I replied smoothly.

“Aw,” Billy said. “You don’t believe me.” He winked. “I can tell.” He reached into his jacket pocket and handed me a delicate ivory business card.

“Why do you need to speak with him?”

Billy laughed. “You’re a real nosy one, aren’t you?”

“Well, he’s my boss,” I said hotly, crossing my arms over my chest. I was aware the black tank top I wore showed off the line of my breasts very nicely. When Billy’s eyes flicked over my body, I couldn’t help blushing once again.

“Listen, Alex,” Billy said. The way he said my name sent a thrill rushing through me. “I’ll come back in a week or so. You see Keaton, just tell him I stopped by. That alright with you?”

I shrugged. “I’ll tell him,” I said. I put Billy’s business card up on the mantle without looking at it.

“Thank you,” Billy said. He bowed, and I got the sudden feeling that he was mocking me.

“No problem.” My mouth was dry. Part of me wanted Billy to stay, to keep talking with me, but the other part of me was irritated with myself for even allowing this tiny interaction. It had been so long since a guy had been flirtatious with me that I barely knew how to handle myself.

“Alrighty then,” Billy said. He rocked on the balls of his feet and I resisted the urge to look down and see if he was wearing cowboy boots. I waited for him to say something else, something flirtatious – or even ask for my number. When he grinned once more and turned on his heel, disappointment flooded my body.

The rest of my shift passed in a daze. Strangely enough, whenever I closed my eyes, Billy’s cocky grin popped into my mind.

I’ve got get a grip, I thought. This could be trouble.