Working Romance. Susan Kohler

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СКАЧАТЬ over his lap, sipping iced tea and Kate was lying on the chaise lounge pretending to be asleep. Laura and Jack might even have been fooled, if it wasn’t for the silly smile on Kate’s face.

      Laura woke her up. “Having a good dream?”

      “What?” She tried to act drowsy and puzzled.

      “No one smiles like that when they’re just sleeping,” Laura said sternly.

      “Maybe it’s just been a good day.” Kate tried to hide her smile but it broke through. “So what?”

      “So if that’s all it is, Jack dragged us all out for ice cream for nothing. But I’d bet my last nickel that things got pretty hot while we were gone.” Laura gave her friend a mischievous smirk. “I have a secret for you, if you’ll tell me yours.”

      “Not here, I wouldn’t want Bob to think I’m the kind to kiss and tell. What’s yours?” Kate tried not to let Laura know that she already knew, but she failed. “I know, I’ll bet you’re finally pregnant, aren’t you?”

      “Witch!” Laura grinned widely, pretending to cuff Kate on the shoulder. “You were supposed to let me tell you.”

      “What does Jack think?” She certainly didn’t want to let Laura know that Jack had already told her.

      “He’s so excited that he’s floating on clouds, he loves kids.” She smiled. “Look at him with yours.”

      “Does Bob know?” Kate asked. “Or anyone else at the office?”

      “No, not yet,” Laura smiled. “But Bob will be happy for me; he’s been nagging me to start a family.”

      A small cranky voice broke in. “Mommy, can we go home now?” Suzy was getting tired and bored since all the real fun seemed to be over.

      “That’s my cue, I’d better round up the brat pack.” Kate stood up and called the kids. “Okay guys, pick up all your things, we’re going to go home.”

      She walked over to Bob. “Thanks for lunch and letting the kids go swimming. We had fun.” She smiled at him.

      “I sure hope you did.” He winked at her, “I did.”

      He glanced around and said with a soft voice, “Somehow, I can’t say good-bye to you quite the way I’d like to with all these little people here. Or even those two big people.” Bob smiled into her eyes. “You will show up in the morning, won’t you? You won’t have any second thoughts?”

      “I’ll definitely have second thoughts but I can guarantee you that they won’t keep me from showing up at work tomorrow. Nothing could do that now,” she said softly “Good. I’ll see you in the morning; it was really spectacular meeting you. Goodnight.” He squeezed her hand softly.

      Kate returned the gentle squeeze, not trusting herself to speak. Bob nodded, and then he went over to say good-bye to the kids. Kate walked over to Jack.

      “Hey, I get to repeat my congratulations, Daddy.” She hugged him. “I don’t think Laura knows you let the cat out of the bag.”

      She looked at her kids and grinned. “By the way, thanks for taking my kids out for ice cream, even if you did try to apply it to them externally. Next time, you might try to get some of it in their mouths.”

      All three of the kids had ice cream smeared all over their swimsuits, hands and faces.

      “No problem, Kate. Except for the part about getting the ice cream into their little mouths.” Jack looked her over speculatively. “Are you interested in him?”

      He nodded his head towards Bob.

      “Well, he’s about a thousand percent better than the last guy Laura tried to get me together with, but I’m going to be working for him. You know how tricky situations like that can be.” She surprised even herself by answering him seriously.

      Jack gave her a quick grin. “Well, after knowing my wife all these years, you should be an Olympic champ at handling tricky situations.”

      “So true, but I’m only the silver medalist,” she laughed, hugging him. “Laura’s got the gold, in more ways than one.”

      She began to load her kids into the car seats, strapping and buckling everyone in. When Kate finished getting all the kids fastened in, she turned around.

      “Hey Jack?” she said with a grin.

      “What?” He seemed distracted.

      “You and Laura rode with me, remember?” she prodded.

      “In other words, I’d better go fetch my wife.” He turned to go but Laura came up behind him.

      “Are we leaving?” She looked in the minivan. “Dumb question, the kids are all strapped in.”

      She pinched Jack on his behind. “So get in, Buns.”

      Just as Jack climbed into the minivan Suzy asked, “Mommy, why did Aunt Laura call Uncle Jack Buns?”

      Just as Kate was trying to figure out a good answer for that one, Sarah answered, “Dummy! It’s because Uncle Jack ate so many hamburgers!”

      The sound of adult laughter filled the minivan.

Chapter Three

      The next morning was Kate’s first day of work in over five years, since shortly before Sam had been born. She was at various times: anxious, excited, and filled with nervous energy and secret anticipation at the prospect of seeing Bob again.

      With all that going on, of course it turned out to be one of those mornings. The kind of morning working moms are all too familiar with. She had quite a struggle getting the kids out of bed, not to mention dressed and fed, before dropping them off at her parents’ house, and getting herself to the office.

      First, the twins had a food fight with the cereal and she had to change their clothes. There was spilled milk, sugar, and corn flakes all over the kitchen table, and dirty dishes in the sink. Then she started to put the kids into the van but she couldn’t find Sam. When last seen, he had gone outside to play with the dogs so Kate went into the backyard to look for him.

      When she found Sam, he was crawling under a hedge trying to retrieve a missing dog toy. He was muddy, dirty, and his T-shirt, his new T-shirt, was torn. She was running too late to bother trying to change him into clean clothes. Just to be on the safe side, she grabbed clean shorts and T-shirts for all three kids, gathered her brood and got them into her slightly battered van.

      The kids were firmly strapped into their car seats but still cranky from being dragged out of the house at such an early hour, so the ride to her parents’ house was anything but peaceful and quiet. She was glad when she finally got there and deposited the little angels with her mother. She handed the spare clothes over to her mom with a sigh of gratitude.

      “Thanks Mom, I’ll pick them up after work. Be sure to tell Dad I said that I love him.” She grinned ruefully. “I realized one thing this СКАЧАТЬ