“Are you overwhelmed?" she asked. "It's a huge family."
“
I'm
getting the adults," he said. "The kids are
going to take longer."
“
We all have trouble with that. At one time or
another, each of us has had to stop one of the chil
dren and ask who they belong to."
She took a step closer and lowered her voice.
"When Travis told us that there were long-lost
Hayneses around, everyone was thrilled. When I
heard you were all single, I was doubly delighted."
He raised his eyebrows. There was no way she
was asking for herself.
She laughed. "I have a friend. D.J. doesn't know
it yet, but she's ready to settle down. I was planning
on fixing her up with one of you. The thing is,
you're not all single, are you?"
“
Gage and Kevin have had a change in circum
stance in the past few months."
“
So I heard." She grinned. "I had high hopes for
you, Nash, but they've recently been dashed."
She turned and nodded across the room. He fol
lowed her gaze and saw Stephanie talking with Jill.
As Stephanie spoke, she moved her hands. A
smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Jill re
sponded and they both laughed. He was standing too
far away to hear the sound, but he imagined it and
smiled in return.
“
Oh, my," Rebecca said. "It's worse than I
thought."
“It's not anything."
“Really?"
“Yes." He wasn't about to tell her about his no-
relationships rule. "I'm only in town for a couple
of weeks."
“Sometimes plans change."
“Not mine."
“
Too bad." She shrugged. "But if you're leaving
that quickly, you wouldn't be right for D.J. even if
you were available. Which leaves the mysterious
Quinn Reynolds. Maybe I can fix them up."
Nash considered the idea. On the surface Quinn
was a charmer, with plenty of stories and a woman
on each arm. But underneath...he wasn't like the
rest of them. Quinn lived in a world that would
break most men. He did things, saw things, no hu
man should endure.
“
Quinn's a great guy," he said. "But more than
a little dangerous."
Rebecca looked intrigued. "D.J. enjoys a chal
lenge."
“
Quinn would be that. But he's a loner. Women
tend to have one purpose in his life, and it's not
cooking."
He'd expected Rebecca to be shocked, but instead
she grinned. "How fun. That would make D.J. completely crazy."
Nash wouldn't have used that word to describe
Quinn's relationships with his women, but then he
didn't know this D.J. person, either.
“
You want to torture your friend?" he asked.
"No, but I can't figure out another way to get her happily married."
“Okay, then." Nash took a step back. Sometimes women completely confused him.
Rebecca excused herself. As she walked away, Stephanie joined Nash. She glanced at her watch.
“
Would you mind if we collected the boys and left? It's a school night and they're already wired
enough from school getting out in a couple of days.
If I have any prayer of a decent bedtime for them,
I need to get moving now."
“Sure. Want me to help?"
“
Please. Why don't you look for the twins?
They'll be together and more cooperative. I'll pull
the car up front and get Brett."
They said goodbye to the Haynes family, then
walked into the main restaurant. The video-game
room was by the door. Nash spotted Jason and
Adam on a bench by the wall. Adam stood as he approached, but Jason only blinked sleepily.
“
Time to head home," Nash said.
“I'm ready," Adam said.
Jason rose, then held out his arms. "I'm tired."
Nash stared at him. A small child holding up his
arms was a pretty universal symbol. Even living a child-free existence, Nash got it right away. Jason wanted to be carried.
Nash hesitated. It wasn't because he thought Ja
son would be too heavy or that Stephanie would
mind. Instead he paused because something inside
of him warned him that this was potentially prob
lematic. He didn't do relationships—not with
women, not with friends, not with kids. Relation
ships required a level of letting go he didn't permit
himself. Control was all that stood between him and
chaos.
Jason's implied trust made him uneasy. He'd only
known the kids a couple of days. So why was Jason
so comfortable around Nash?
“He wants to be carried," Adam said, as if he thought Nash didn't get it.
“I know."
There didn't seem to be a graceful way out of the
situation and Nash didn't want to make a scene over
nothing. So he bent forward and pulled the boy up
toward his chest. Jason instantly closed his arms around Nash's neck and rested his head on his shoulder. His small legs wrapped around Nash's waist.
Nash put one arm around the boy to hold him in
place, then motioned for Adam to lead the way.
In
stead the eight-year-old tucked his fingers into Nash's free hand and leaned close.
“Is Mommy bringing the car around?" he asked sleepily.
“Yes. Come on."
He led the way to the front of the restaurant, then
out into the night. Brett was already waiting on the
sidewalk. He took one look at the three of them,
then turned away. But not before Nash saw the hos
tility flare in his eyes.
The brief glimpse of the twelve-year-old's raw
hurt and anger stirred something familiar in Nash.
Stephanie drove up and broke his concentration.
Then he got caught up in settling the twins. As he
was about to climb into the passenger seat, Kevin stepped out of the restaurant.
“What did you think?" his brother asked.
Nash looked back at the pizza place. "Good people."
“
I agree." Kevin grinned and slapped him on the back. "See you soon." He ducked his head into the
minivan. "Nice to meet you, Stephanie. If this guy gives you any trouble, you let me know." She smiled. "So far he's been terrific, but if that changes, I'll call."
“You do that. Night."
Kevin stepped back into the restaurant. Stephanie
watched him go.
“
You have a great family," she said. "You're
lucky."
Nash had never thought of himself that way, but
in this case, maybe she was right.
Stephanie sucked in a breath and did her best to
hold on to her temper. "Brett, it's late, it's a school
night and you're behaving like a brat. If you're try
ing to convince me that you're not mature enough
to handle evenings out on a weeknight, you're doing
a great job."
Her oldest flopped back on the bed and stared at
the ceiling. Since arriving back from their dinner out with Nash and his family, Brett had been sullen,
uncommunicative and mouthy. She couldn't figure
out what the problem was. Sure he was inching
closer to being a teenager, but hormones couldn't
kick in over the course of a couple of hours, could
they?
She sank onto the bed and put her hand on his
stomach. "I know you had a good time. I saw you laughing."
“It was okay."
“
Just okay? I thought you were having more fun
than that." He shrugged.
She began to rub his stomach, something she'd
done when he was little and not feeling well. "I'm
not leaving until you tell me what has your panties
in a bunch. I'm just going to sit right here. After a
while, I might start singing."
He continued to stare at the ceiling, but she saw
his mouth twitch. All the boys thought she had a
horrible voice and begged her not to sing. Plus, he would really hate the panty remark. She wondered
which one would get to him first.
“I don't wear panties."
“
I do the laundry. I already know that." She
leaned over him. "How about I just stare at you?"
She made her eyes as wide as possible and forced
herself not to blink. Brett pressed his lips together,
but it was too late. First he smiled, then he grinned,
then he giggled and turned away.
“Stop staring at me!"
She relaxed her face and sat back. "I will if you'll talk."
He turned on his side so he was facing her, but
instead of looking at her face, he studied the blanket. "Do you still love Dad?"
She was unprepared for the question. Brett didn't
want to have this talk very often, but whenever he
did, she felt uncomfortable. She always went for the
easy answer, rather than the truth, because that's
what Brett wanted to hear. Because she wanted her
son to remember his father as a good person and his parents as happy together.
“
Of course I still love him," she said gently.
"Why do you ask?" He shrugged.
“
Is this about Nash? Are you worried that some
thing's going on between us?" Another shrug.
“
He's being nice," she said. "I like him, but that
doesn't mean anything. He's on vacation. When his vacation is over, he's going back to
Chicago
."
Where the handsome widower probably had
dozens of elegant, sophisticated women vying for
his attention. Where he wouldn't even remember a single mom with three kids who had an embarrass
ing crush on him.
“
Do you want to, like, you know, go out with
him?"
Honestly she would much prefer to stay in with
Nash, but that wasn't what Brett wanted to know.
Two weeks ago she would have told her son that
she never planned on dating or getting involved with
a man ever. But Nash's arrival had shown her that
there were some empty places in her life. While she would never be stupid enough to risk marriage, she
wouldn't mind a little male companionship now and
then.
“I can't imagine Nash and me on date," she said truthfully. "But your dad has been gone three years.
While my feelings for him haven't changed, there
will come a time when I want to start dating again."
Brett's blue eyes filled with tears. "Why? Why
can't you just love Dad?"
“
Because he's gone." She pulled him into a sit
ting position, then drew him into her arms. "When
y
ou get a little older, you're going to think girls are
a whole lot better than icky. I promise. So you're
going to go out. You may even have a girlfriend." He writhed in her arms. "Mo-om."
“Just listen. So you have this girl you really care about. Will you still love your brothers?"
He looked at her. "What does that have to do
with anything?"
“
Just answer the question. Will you still love
them?"
“I guess. If they're not being dopey."
“Will you still love me?"
“Sure."
“
That's my point. The human heart has the ca
pacity to love as many people as we want to let into
our lives. If I start dating or not, nothing about my feelings for you, the twins or even Dad are going to
change. There's more than enough room for every
one."