Nicole didn’t know what to say. Her daughter rarely opened up to anyone, especially strangers, and especially men. But somehow this guy was drawing her out of her shell. It was amazing to watch.

And a little disconcerting.

She liked that he was telling Makayla all the same things she would say, but how did he know? Did he have kids? She realized just how little she knew about him.

Nicole rushed through the rest of her lunch, anxious to get her daughter away from the creepy guy who knew too much about how to talk to kids. She wanted to like him, but she had to be careful. She had her daughter to think about.

“Thanks for lunch,” Nicole said as she gathered their trash. “We really need to go though.”

“Really, mom?” Makayla asked with hope in her eyes. “Can’t we stay just a little longer?”

Nicole shook her head. “We need to finish up shopping and get home, honey. Let’s go. We appreciate lunch, Roger. It was nice seeing you again.”

Roger nodded once then watched her drag Makayla away with curiosity plain in his eyes. Nicole didn’t have time to alleviate the concerns of a stranger. She had to protect her kid. And herself.

She rushed around the store grabbing everything on their list and was cutting through Makayla’s favorite aisle, with all the office supplies, when she saw him again. She wanted to turn around and go the other way, but Makayla saw him at the same time. “Hi, Roger,” she said.

He turned and flashed Nicole a cautious smile then focused on Makayla. “Hey. I thought you guys would be gone by now.”

Makayla shook her head. “Mom said we’re done, but she promised I could get a new notebook. I ran out of space in my old one for all my notes.”

“What do you write notes about?”

Makayla shrugged. “Whatever I want. I’m going to write a book one day.”

Roger nodded appreciatively. “That sounds like a great thing to do. What sort of notebook are you going to get?”

Nicole watched as the two of them chatted like they were old friends. She loved that her daughter wasn’t afraid of everything, but she worried she wasn’t afraid of enough. After a minute, Roger stood up and walked over to her, leaving Makayla sitting on the floor flipping through all the notebooks.

“What happened back there?” he asked quietly when he reached her side.

“What do you mean?”

He sighed. “You know what I mean. At lunch. One minute we were talking and the next you were trying to get away from me as fast as possible.”

Nicole shrugged. “Nothing. I just realized we needed to get our shopping done.”

Roger turned to face her. She felt his eyes scan over her body, but instead of feeling like she needed to cover up, she wanted to strip everything off and let him have a good long look at her. She was really losing it.

“I know you’re lying. I know you don’t know me, but I’m not a creepy guy. Your daughter ran into me, and she’s a sweet kid. I have nieces and nephews so I’m comfortable around kids. Plus, I write children’s books.”

“You do?” Nicole asked, suddenly curious.

He nodded then dug into his pocket. He produced a wallet and out of it pulled a business card. He handed it to her and she gasped. It had his picture on it, but the name of Makayla’s favorite author. One of her favorites too, if she was being honest. “You’re…”

“Yep,” Roger said. “I use a pen name so people don’t stalk me, but yes. I could tell by the look on your face that you were worried because I could talk to her. I just want you to understand why.”