The Nanny's Secret Baby. Lee McClain Tobin
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Название: The Nanny's Secret Baby
Автор: Lee McClain Tobin
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
isbn: 9781474096782
isbn:
“Oh, he’s just lonely because his friend Long John is off on his honeymoon,” Penny said. “Those two have been best friends forever and lived next door in the ranch cabins until just recently. Long John married a woman from town, Beatrice Patton, just as soon as her chemo treatments ended. I think they kind of bonded over their health issues, since Long John has Parkinson’s.”
“Wow.” The older woman’s matter-of-fact words put Arianna’s own problems into perspective.
“Anyway,” Penny continued, “Long John getting married and moving down to town is an adjustment for Willie.”
“I don’t know if the invitation is all about missing his friend,” Arianna teased. “I doubt he’d want Long John to wear a red dress to lunch.”
“Oh, stop it!” Penny said, laughing a little. “Willie’s a nice man, but...”
“He’s older than you are. By kind of a lot.”
“It’s not that. It’s that I’m not ready.” Penny sighed. “Truth is, when my husband left me, he took that part of me that used to trust people. Or trust men anyway.”
“I can understand that.” Arianna hadn’t dated anyone since Sammy’s father for that very reason. But while her own loneliness felt well deserved, Penny’s made her sad. “Sounds like he just wants to take you to dinner. Maybe you should go.”
“I don’t want him to spend his gift card on me. He’d think it means more than it does, and I don’t want to hurt anyone, but especially someone who lives on the ranch. We have to be able to coexist.”
Coexist. That was what she and Jack had to learn to do, too. But it was hard to look at it so impersonally when there was a child involved.
His child. Her child.
The sound of footsteps trotting up the steps interrupted their conversation. There was a tap on the door, and Jack’s face appeared in the glass. “Need any help?” he asked.
Yes, Arianna wanted to say. Can you help me make my heart stop pounding?
“Absolutely,” Penny said. “We have a bunch of boxes that need to be moved down to Finn’s truck. You look like just the man for the job.”
“It’s good to be needed,” Jack said. “Sammy’s TSS kicked me out. She said I was hovering.”
“Is Sammy okay being alone with her?” Arianna stood and looked out the window toward Jack’s house.
“For now, yes,” he said. “She has me on speed dial, and I’m to stay within shouting distance. She and Sammy were doing work with his vocalizing and I was distracting him, apparently.”
“Do they know what caused his autism?” The question seemed to burst out of her. She hadn’t even known she was wondering that. But she must’ve spoken intensely, because the other two stared at her.
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