He was suddenly beside her. It always surprised her that she didn't need to look up far to meet his eyes. She guessed he was five eleven tops, but he'd been such an overwhelming figure in her life that he seemed much taller.

"For loose pedals," he added.

The suggestion was an excellent one, considering she'd be liable if a customer had a mishap. They called in a technician to regularly service the bikes to prevent exactly that.

"I'll get Jason to do it," she said.

"I worked in a bike shop one summer. I can help him."

"You don't have---."

"I want to," he interrupted.

She stared at him, at a loss as to what to say to get him to leave. Lindsey was probably awake by now. She could appear at any minute. Common sense dictated that the less time Ryan spent around the girl, the less chance he'd have to figure out their connection.

"I'll get started on the bikes while you clean up." He strode toward the rack of mountain bikes available for rental, as though she'd already given him permission.

Cursing herself for not speaking up more forcefully against his help, Annie started for the house. Lindsey was sitting on the sofa in front of the television, her legs tucked under her, a spoon poised above a small container of peach yogurt. She glanced at Annie, then did a double take. "Oh, my gosh! What happened?"

"I fell off a bike," Annie said.

Lindsey put down the yogurt and unfolded her legs, scooting forward on the sofa. "Need any help?"

It made Annie feel marginally better that Lindsey offered.

"I got it." Annie walked past her into the kitchen and tore a few sheets from a roll of paper towels. She wet them and mopped up the blood and the dirt the best she could, wincing as she did so.

"That looks like it hurts." Lindsey had followed her into the kitchen, yogurt in hand. She wore a gray-and-pink striped tank top that ended just above the low, elasticized waist band of her very short gray shorts. "How'd you fall anyway?"

"One of the pedals came off." Annie reached into the cabinet where her father kept bandages and ointments and withdrew some supplies.

"Don't you rent those bikes out?"

"Yes."

Lindsey made a face. "I'd be afraid to ride one."

The girl's train of thought, Annie noted, was distressingly similar to Ryan's.

"We're checking the other bikes to make sure it doesn't happen again," Annie said.

“Who’s we?”

Annie hesitated, reluctant to tell her Ryan was on the premises. “A teenage boy works for me.”

Lindsey ate a spoonful of her yogurt, then dropped the container in the kitchen waste basket. "You sure you don't need any help?"

She not only thought like Ryan, she sounded like him.

"I'm sure." Annie smoothed a gob of salve over the brush burn on her thigh, then tore open a package containing an oversized bandage. She concentrated on centering it over the scrape.

"See you later," Lindsey called.

Annie's head jerked up in time to see the teen headed for the door on long, bare legs, her flip flops making smacking noises against the heels of her feet. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"To see if I can help with the bikes,” Lindsey tossed over her shoulder without breaking stride.

"Wait!" Annie called again, but it was too late. Lindsey was gone.

She made short work of dressing the rest of her wounds and charged for the door, only to look down at herself and discover her shorts were ripped and her T-shirt streaked with dirt.

She dashed for her bedroom, pulling the T-shirt over her head as she went, and yanked another shirt and pair of shorts out of her dresser drawers. Moments later, she was rushing out of the house, her sore arms and legs screaming in protest.

Laughter carried through the clear summer air, a girlish giggle mingling with the deep vibrations of a man's laugh. She followed the sound around the side of the building to the mountain bikes they rolled out of the storeroom each morning, then stopped.

Ryan was crouched on the ground beside a bicycle, his hand on one of the pedals as he looked up at Lindsey.

"A squirrel really ran into your bicycle wheel?" Lindsey's voice was filled with both laughter and doubt.

"Yep," Ryan said. "Bounced right off. Lay there for a second stunned, then scampered away."

"Why would it do that?"

"Why do squirrels do anything? You've seen them run into the path of a car. This was the same kind of thing."

"You didn't fall off the bike or anything?"

"Nope. Just wobbled a little."

Lindsey laughed again, then bent her head toward his. "Why are you wiggling the pedals like that?"

"I'm checking to make sure they're securely fastened to the crank."

"The crank?" Lindsey repeated.

"It's this round thing with the jagged edges." He ran his hand over the part, giving her a visual. "It's pretty easy to check. You just jiggle the pedal from side to side to see if you feel any looseness."

Lindsey moved to another bike, imitating what he'd shown her, first on the right pedal, then the left. "I think this left one's loose."

Ryan joined her at the bike, performing the same check she just had. "You're right. It is loose. Good job spotting it. You might be a natural at this."

Even from her position twenty feet away, Annie could see the effect of the compliment. Lindsey was in a squat, like Ryan, but she seemed suddenly taller.

If Lindsey had grown up with Ryan as her father, he could have built up her self esteem in countless interactions instead of just this one.

How could Annie seize the opportunity to spend time with Lindsey, fully aware it could be the only one she'd ever get, and deny Ryan the same chance? Didn't he have as much right as she did to know the girl, no matter how brief their window of opportunity? And if she didn't reveal to him who Lindsey was, could she live with herself?

Lindsey spotted her first. “You didn’t tell me Dr. Whitmore was here, Annie. I’m helping him.”

“She catches on quick.” Ryan’s smile reached his eyes. “Hey, Annie.”

She didn't attempt a response as she contemplated what would be the right thing to do.

The fair thing.

The decent thing.

He cocked his head. "Are you okay?"

He probably thought the bike accident had knocked some of her brain cells loose. Considering what she was about to do, maybe it had.

Lindsey was regarding her with the same interest as Ryan, her head angled in exactly the same way so their resemblance was unmistakable.

"Can I talk to you alone, Ryan?" She swallowed. There would be no turning back now. "There's something I need to tell you."