“
Tell me about school," she said as she slid onto
the chair between Adam and Jason.
Her twins were in third grade, while Brett had just finished his first year in middle school.
“
Mrs. Roscoe said we're her best class ever,"
Adam told her. "We beat all the other classes." He
gave his twin a triumphant grin.
Jason ignored him. "We got our summer reading
lists today, Mom," he said. "I've picked out five
books already. Can we go to the library this week?"
“
Sure. You'll all want to think about summer reading. We're going to have to talk about how
many books you'll be getting through. Are there
book reports?"
Adam reached for the backpack he'd left on the
floor and pulled out a folder. He passed a single
sheet of paper to her.
Stephanie scanned 'he directions, then glanced at
Brett. "What about you?"
He rolled his eyes. "It's up in my room. We have
to do about two pages. I want to do mine on the
computer. Are we getting a new one? You said we'd
talk about it when school was out."
“
You're right. And unless I'm reading the cal
endar wrong, school isn't out yet."
“We've got four days left."
“
Which gives me ninety-six hours until you can
start bugging me."
Brett tried to hide his smile, but she saw it. He'd
been after her for a new computer for the better part
of a year. While there was nothing wrong with the
one they had, it didn't play the really cool games.
She figured she could probably put him off until
Christmas when her "twenty dollars a week" fund
would have reached computer size. Then the new computer would be a family gift.
Adam bounced in his chair. "I have a new joke,"
he announced. "Knock knock."
“
Those are baby jokes," Brett said as he took a
cookie.
“
They are age-appropriate," Stephanie told him.
"I listened to yours when you were his age."
Brett sighed, then dutifully went through the joke
with his brother who squealed with delight when he
repeated the word
who
enough for Adam to ask him
why he was being an owl. Jason giggled at his older brother.
As the three of them took turns talking about their
day, Stephanie found her attention sliding to the man
in the next room. He was sitting out there alone
while she was in here with her family. She kept
having to fight the impulse to invite him to join
them. Which was crazy. She'd never once encour
aged guests to befriend her children. Besides, if
Nash was alone, it was by choice.
He was probably married, she told herself. Or he had a serious girlfriend back in
Chicago
. She knew
he had family here—he'd mentioned the Hayneses, although not how he was related to them.
Indecision made her fidget in her seat until she
couldn't stand it anymore.
“
I'll be right back," she told the boys and stalked
out of the room.
This was insane, she told herself. She was asking
for trouble. Worse, she was asking for humiliation.
She needed therapy.
As there was no psychologist standing by to offer advice, she walked into the dining room only to find
Nash where she'd last seen him. Standing in front
of the window looking out onto the street.
A quick glance at the tray told her he hadn't
touched the food she'd brought him. He hadn't even poured any coffee.
He turned around and raised his eyebrows in si
lent query.
After clearing her throat, she tried to figure out
what to say. Nothing brilliant occurred to her so she
was left with slightly awkward.
“You must miss your family," she said.
His eyebrows lowered and drew together. "I
haven't met them yet." What? Oh. "I meant your family in
Chicago
."
“
I don't have any there. I'm not married."
Score one for the hormones, she thought, trying
not to feel or look relieved. The good news was that
when Nash left, she would have a great time re
membering all the surging feelings she'd experienced while he was here. It would be a lot more
interesting than sorting coupons or ironing.
“
Okay." She sucked in a breath. "You can tell
me no. It's completely crazy and not even why
you're here. I don't usually even ask. Why would
you want to?" She shook her head. "Forget it." She took a step back.
He blinked at her. "Was there a question in there
for me?"
“
I don't think so." She waved toward the
kitchen. "We're just hanging out in there. The boys
tell me about their day at school and they have a
snack. You seemed..." She tried a different line of
thought. "You're welcome to join us if you'd like.
Or you can simply run screaming from the room and
I'll get the message."
He looked surprised, and not exactly comfortable
with the idea. Of course. He was a sexy, successful,
single guy. Men like that didn't hang out with three
kids and a single mom.
Heat crawled up her cheeks and she had a bad
feeling there was a blush to match. "Never mind,"
she said brightly. "It was a silly suggestion." She started toward the closed door that led to the
kitchen, but before she'd gone more than two steps,
he called her back.
“I would like to join you," he said.
She eyed him. "Why?" He smiled and her internal organs did a couple of synchronized swimming moves.
“
Because you asked and it sounds like fun.”
“
I'm not sure about fun, but I can promise loud.”
“Close enough."
Now that he'd accepted, she felt foolish about her
invitation, but it was too late to retract it. She moved
to the table and collected the tray, then tilted her
head in the direction of the kitchen.
“
Brace yourself," she said and pushed open the
door with her shoulder.
All three of her boys were talking at once. They
barely noticed her, but the second Nash walked in
behind her three pairs of blue eyes widened and
three mouths snapped closed.
“
This is Mr. Harmon," she said as she put the
tray on the counter.
“Nash," he said easily.
“
Okay. Nash. These are my boys. You've already
met Brett, who is rapidly becoming a macho tool
guy. And these two—" She walked to the table and
put her hands on their shoulders. "—are my twins.
Jason and Adam. Say hi to Nash."
The twins offered an enthusiastic greeting, but
Brett didn't say much. His expression turned wary
and Stephanie wondered if he was about to say
something that would make her cringe.
“
We're having chocolate chip cookies, grapes
and string cheese," she said quickly in an effort to
forestall Brett. "You're welcome to that or the
shortbread."
“
How about shortbread and grapes," he said.
"No problem."
As she bustled around the kitchen, he pulled out
one of the two empty chairs. Brett sat across from
the twins, which meant Nash would be across from
her. It was only a snack, she told herself. She could handle it. At least she hoped she could.
As she worked, she tried not to notice the silence.
Her normally ten-thousand-words-a-minute kids
were all staring at Nash. But before she could think
of something to ease the escalating tension, Nash
broke the ice himself.
He leaned toward Jason and Adam. "I'm a twin,"
he said.
The boys grinned. "No way," Jason said.
“
Not identical, like you two. Kevin and I don't
look very much alike. But we're still twins."
“
Cool." Adam offered a shy smile.
Nash turned to Brett. "I heard school is out this
week. Are you excited about summer?" Stephanie saw her oldest wrestle with his innate excitement and his need to be standoffish. "Summer's good," Brett said at last.
“
There's a community pool," Jason said. "We
go swimming every week. And there's sleepover
camp at the end of summer. And Adam and me are
gonna play volleyball at the park."
“
Sounds like fun," Nash said.
“
Brett's seriously into baseball," Stephanie vol
unteered as she carried a plate to the table, then re
turned to collect the coffee.
"His
team made the city finals.”
“
What position do you play?" Nash asked.
"First base."
She could see he was itching to say more, but for some reason didn't want to. As if wanting to talk to
Nash was a bad thing.
Stephanie sighed. Brett considered himself the "man of the family." He took his responsibilities
seriously. While she appreciated the effort, some
times she wished she could convince him that it was
far more important to her for him just to be a kid.
Conversation flowed for about twenty minutes un
til she glanced at the empty plates in front of her
three. "Looks like you're done eating to me. Guess
what comes next?"
Adam smiled shyly at Nash. "We do our home
work now."
“
It's when I used to do it, too," he admitted. "I
liked every subject but English. What about you?”
“
I like 'em all," Jason announced and pushed
back his chair.
He carried his plate to the counter by the sink,
then gave Stephanie a hug. She hugged him back.
As she felt his small back and warm, tugging hands,
she reminded herself that jerk or not, Marty had done one thing right. He'd given her these boys. They were worth all the heartache and suffering
she'd endured along the way.
When all three of them had trooped out of the
kitchen, she turned to the table. Nash would go now,
she thought. Which was fine. She'd tortured him
with her family long enough. Whatever feelings of
loneliness he might have had would have been
erased. No doubt he would be grateful for some sol
itude.
“Good cookies," he said as he rose.
“
Thanks. I won't tell you how much butter is in
each batch."
“
I appreciate that."
He carried his plate and mug over to the sink,
which was a bit of a surprise. Then, before she could
say anything, he turned on the water and began to
rinse them off.
Stephanie thought about rubbing her eyes. She
had to be having some kind of hallucination. A
man? Doing work? Not in her world.
“
You don't have to do that," she said, trying not
to sound stunned.
I don't mind helping."
As he spoke, he collected the boys' plates and
rinsed those off, too. Then he opened the dishwasher
and actually put the plates inside. She couldn't be
lieve it. She didn't think Marty had ever known
where the dishwasher was, let alone what it was for.