A Dad for Her Twins. Tanya Michaels

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      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Tanya Michaels started telling stories almost as soon as she could talk…and started stealing her mom’s Harlequin romances less than a decade later. In 2003, Tanya was thrilled to have her first book, a romantic comedy, published by Harlequin Books. Since then, Tanya has sold nearly twenty books and is a two-time recipient of a Booksellers’ Best Award, as well as a finalist for the Holt Medallion, National Readers’ Choice Award and Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award. Tanya lives in Georgia with her husband, two preschoolers and an unpredictable cat, but you can visit Tanya online at www.tanyamichaels.com.

      My heartfelt thanks to Kathleen Scheibling for including me in the State of Parenthood series, and all my love to Ryan and Hailey, even if you do keep my life in a perpetual State of Chaos.

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Chapter Fourteen

      Chapter Fifteen

      Chapter Sixteen

      Epilogue

      Chapter One

      “Peachy Acres is a stupid name,” Drew complained from the backseat.

      Thank you, Mr. Optimism. Mackenzie Green, intrepid single mom and owner of a minivan that was older than her nine-year-old twins, sighed inwardly.

      Kenzie empathized with her son’s unhappiness over moving, but his negative commentary was making the four-hour trip from Raindrop, North Carolina, to Atlanta, Georgia, feel like an interminable cross-country trek. Or a voyage in space, she thought, vaguely recalling some old movie promo about no one being able to hear you scream. Too often Kenzie felt as if she were screaming on the inside.

      Behind her, Leslie had adopted the prim, emphatic tone that made her sound like a cranky schoolteacher. “I’m sure it’s called Peachy Acres because Georgia is the Peach State,” she informed her brother.

      Drew was unimpressed. “Know-it-all. I hate when you talk like you’re older than me. We’re the same age!”

      “A person doesn’t have to be older to be smarter.”

      “All right!” Kenzie took a breath, reminding herself that deep feelings of maternal love prevented her from strapping the kids to the roof for the duration of the trip. Well, maternal love and state laws. “You two be nice.”

      She was always a touch envious when she heard about inseparable twins who dressed alike and finished each other’s sentences. It would be bliss if her children could just go a day without bickering. Heck, an hour—she wasn’t picky! Tensions were running abnormally high today; the kids had said goodbye to the only home they’d ever known.

      Leslie was coping by burying her nose in a young-adult reference book about Georgia during the Civil War, despite her increased tendency to get carsick while reading. Drew, as had become his habit this past spring, was channeling his misery into anger. Would the new setting do him good, giving him the chance for a fresh start and provide distractions like the zoo and natural-science museum, or were Kenzie’s difficulties with her son about to get worse?

      She’d debated turning down this transfer to a Georgia branch of the bank she worked for, but the Atlanta location had far more frequent job openings than the small bank in Raindrop, including the position of loan officer, to which she was being promoted. The stress of moving and the higher cost of living seemed worth the much-improved salary and increased odds of upward mobility. Another plus was that Kenzie’s sister lived in the Atlanta area. Even if the two hadn’t been close as children, it would do Kenzie and her kids some good to СКАЧАТЬ