Texas Baby

by Tanya Michaels

  "Tanner, honey, Giff is on the phone and wants to talk to you."

  The way the little boy's face lit up simultaneously warmed her and justified her concerns that Tanner might get too attached to her project leader. Tanner leaped out of his chair, his stocking feet making him skid across the kitchen tile.

  "Slow down," she cautioned, carrying the cordless phone to the couch. She sat next to Tanner so that she could remind him to actually speak into the receiver—during calls with her parents, she'd noticed that he sometimes held the phone out in front of him, as if it was one of his toy walkie-talkies. He snuggled against her, and she was close enough to hear Giff clearly when he said hello.

  "Hey, sport. You have a good week at school? No more trouble?"

  "No, sir." Tanner shook his head very solemnly. "I got all happy faces on my chart."

  "Good job."

  "Are you calling about watching me play soccer?" Tanner asked.

  "Not exactly, but I'll talk to your aunt about that later. You know how you invited me to a game? That was really nice, and I thought I'd return the favor, invite you to do something with me. Would you like to do something together tomorrow?"

  "Yes!" Tanner whooped. He slanted a look at Addie. "Can Aunt Addie come, too?"

  "Her and Nicole, the whole family."

  Even though she knew what he'd meant, making her reaction completely irrational, Giff's words rocked Addie. The whole family. It was all too easy to picture the four of them together. Giff, with a smiling Tanner on his shoulders, Addie next to them, carrying a happily gurgling Nicole.

  "I have a friend," Giff was saying, "who owns a really nice boat and he offered to take us all out fishing. Have you ever been fishing before?"

  "Once. My dad took me." Tanner cuddled more deeply into Addie's side, his expression conflicted.

  "Did you have fun?" Giff prompted gently.

  "Yeah."

  "Would you like to try it again?"

  The boy's soft brown eyes were wide. "Dunno."

  "Tanner, I really think we'd all have a good time if you come with me. We had a great day at the baseball game, didn't we?"

  Addie could feel her nephew's body relax slightly at the happy memory and mentally congratulated Giff on redirecting the topic to something less threatening. Giff Baker may be known for his understanding of technology, but he was also damn good with people.

  The boy's voice was barely a whisper when he admitted, "I'm scared."

  Addie tightened her arm around him, hugging him close.

  "That's okay, sport. Everyone gets scared."

  "Even you?"

  "Even me. But your aunt will be right there to watch over you, and I'll be with you, and Captain Jason has life jackets for all of us, even Nicole. I won't let anything happen to you."

  Tanner swallowed, looking nervous but determined. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

  "Thanks. I'm proud of you, sport."

  Addie pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes so that she wouldn't have to explain to her nephew why she was crying.

  "You want to talk to Aunt Addie now? I'm gonna go finish my french fries." Barely waiting for a response, Tanner thrust the phone out to her and happily scampered back to the table.

  She sniffed. "You were great." If Giff asked her to go out with him right now, she'd say yes. Right at this moment, she'd agree to pretty much anything he asked. "He was great," Giff said modestly. "That's a good kid you're raising."

  Her chest tightened. "I know. But it's hard sometimes and they don't come with programming code and I can't thank you enough for the way you helped with this. I owe you."

  "Enough to consider a string bikini?"

  She gave a watery chuckle. "Good night, Giff."

  "That wasn't technically a no," he pointed out as she disconnected the call.

  After she'd hung up, she remained still for a long moment, unable to ignore the growing truth. Who am I kidding? She'd told Giff and Jonna that there was a real danger of Tanner becoming too emotionally invested in the man. It was a real risk, trusting your affection, your heart, to someone else. Yet it wasn't her nephew sitting here now, counting the hours until they saw Giff in the morning.

  She was the one on the verge of falling.

  Chapter Ten

  Addie scowled at her reflection. Vanity, thy name is woman. Despite the times she'd maintained that she and Giff should be no more than friends, with ten minutes to go until he was due to pick them up, she found herself wishing she was, well, sexier. The man spent time at high-dollar benefits and symphony orchestra performances with beautiful socialites in designer evening gowns. Compared to those women, she probably wasn't very alluring in her pink-and-white checkered halter bathing suit and denim cutoffs.

  She half wished she owned a string bikini. Granted, she wasn't endowed enough to fill out the top portion very well, and she'd never had washboard abs, not even at eighteen, but her arms were toned, her legs were great and—Knock it off! You're not supposed to be alluring. Not for this outing, anyway.

  Resolving to put aside her ego, she grabbed a wide barrette and secured her hair in a ponytail as she walked down the hall. "Tanner? Giff will be here soon, and it's been a few hours since breakfast." How was it that the child she had to drag out of bed on school mornings cheerfully got up with the sun on the couple days she could have slept in? "You want a snack, honey?"

  "No, thanks." He glanced up from the cartoon he was watching. "My tummy doesn't feel so good."

  Nerves, no doubt. Yet he'd never once asked or suggested that they cancel the day's plans. She was so proud of him she ached with it. Joining him on the sofa, she ruffled his hair. You look so much like your daddy. She had a moment of déjà vu—how many Saturdays as a kid had she sat with her big brother on the couch watching cartoons, laughing, bickering? "Did I ever tell you about the time your dad talked me into painting myself blue?"

  Tanner's eyes widened. "Really?"

  "I used to watch this cartoon about a village of little blue creatures who lived in the woods, and your father told me that they were real but you could only see them if you were blue like them."

  "And you believed him?" Tanner asked incredulously.

  "Give me a break, I was little! And he wasn't much older than you. Grandma was not happy with us."

  Tanner giggled. "You're making this up."

  "If I were going to make up stories, I wouldn't be the one doing foolish things in them. Trust me." She hugged him, glad she'd shared the silly, miscellaneous memory. Although she would never discourage the kids from talking about their parents, she rarely brought up Zach and Diane because she hadn't wanted to upset Tanner. But maybe that had been a mistake.

  "Hey, you know who else you can trust?" she asked after a moment. "Giff. He's a good guy. If he says we're going to have fun today, I believe him. What about you?"

  Tanner considered this, then nodded.

  "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish packing our duffel bags." As she stood, she glanced to where Nicole was gurgling and kicking her feet inside a mesh-walled playpen. "Tanner, promise me you'll never try to get your sister to paint herself blue."

  "I promise." His voice followed her into the kitchen. "What about purple?"

  Chuckling, she rummaged through the two open bags on the table, trying to inventory what she'd already packed and what she still needed. She was grabbing some extra granola bars and bottles of water when there was a knock at the door.

  "I'll get it!" Tanner volunteered.

  "What do you always do first?" she prompted.

  "Look through the peephole," he said with a long-suffering sigh.

  Ever since the kids had moved in, she kept a small plastic stool to the side of the door so that Tanner could check before he unlocked or opened the front door. Though Giff was expected, she figured the safety precaution was an important habit to develop.

  "It's him!" Tanner called.

  Addie heard the metallic click of the dead bolt, followed by Gi
ff's deep voice. The sound caused the same bone-deep yearning she experienced whenever she passed the Dessert Gallery over on Kirby Drive. Yummy.

  "Hey, sport. I like the swim trunks." The two guys discussed their favorite superheroes for a moment, then Giff asked, "Where's your aunt?"

  "In the kitchen. She's filling our dusting bags."

  Footsteps approached and Addie glanced up, meeting Giff's smile with her own. "Duffel," she said.

  "I figured." He leaned against the end of the counter, watching her.

  Her apartment wasn't spacious by any stretch of the imagination, and having the former football player stand in the entrance to the room shrunk the kitchen considerably. Not that she felt crowded, just that the room suddenly seemed more…intimate than it should.

  She tried to lighten the mood—or, more accurately, her reaction to him—with a wisecrack. "I was going to wear one of my many string bikinis, per your request, but turns out they're all in the dirty laundry."

  Giff studied her, doing a slow head-to-foot that raised her body temperature at least ten degrees. "I'm not disappointed."

  Recalling her earlier wistfulness over not being "sexier," she suddenly found herself very relieved that she wasn't. If he was already looking at her with that much sensual appreciation…

  "You're very good for a woman's ego," she said, her voice husky in her ears.

  "I'm good for a lot of things." He grinned. "For instance—anything I can do to help you get ready?"

  "Not really." It would be quicker for her to gather the one or two remaining items she needed than try to explain to him where they were. She laughed. "Unless you want to change Nicole's diaper for me before we go."

  "Sure," he said amiably.

  "Seriously?" Damn, he really was the perfect man.

  "Why not? I mean, in the interest of full disclosure, I've never changed one before, but I should be able to figure it out."

  "It's a good thing you're starting with a baby girl. They're the basic model. Boys are the advanced class."

  Giff laughed. "Got it."

  "She has a portable changing table out in the living room. Tanner can show you where it is and talk you through the process. I'll be out in a sec."

  "Okay. Tanner," he said, as he returned to the living room, "can I get you to be my wingman? I've been sent on a diapering mission."

  * * *

  ADDIE'S LIVING ROOM WAS a clear statement on the two halves of her life, Giff noticed. Since he was no longer in her line of vision, he took the opportunity to be nosy and look around, wanting to learn more about the woman who was coming to mean so much to him.

  The neatly arranged built-in bookshelf contained software manuals that were alphabetized and collector's editions of sci-fi DVDs; apparently her career interest in computers and technology spilled over into the books and movies she liked. She'd made the most of her limited wall space with two framed pieces of coordinating modern art by a painter whose work he recognized and enjoyed. But the order evident in the top half of the room was missing below. Random toys were present on the sofa, the corner of the entertainment system and the floor. There was a broken crayon under the coffee table. From the grooves in the carpet, it was obvious that she'd rearranged her furniture, scrunching it together to accommodate a baby swing, diapering table and playpen.

  This single room of her apartment illustrated just how dramatically her situation must have changed, the havoc that could be caused when a single woman had to squeeze two kids into her life and home where one could argue that there wasn't really space for them. Yet he'd never once heard her complain or sound put out by the adjustments she'd made; the only frustration he'd heard her express was worry for the kids' well-being. Right below a framed, gallery-worthy painting hung a thumb-tacked drawing of stick figures playing soccer. He smoothed a finger over the sheet of paper. This room might be cluttered, but it was also a lot cozier than his professionally decorated home.

  "That's a picture I drew," Tanner said. "It's not where the diapers go."

  Giff glanced down, confused. "What?"

  "You said you were s'posed to be diapering," Tanner reminded him.

  "Right you are." Guessing that the first thing he needed for changing a baby's diaper was the baby, he went to the pen and lifted Nicole into his arms. She looked up at him with gray eyes that were almost exactly like her aunt's, except Nicole's gaze was filled with unconditional trust. There was none of the wariness he saw in Addie's gaze as she continued to second-guess how close she should allow Giff.

  Giff smiled at the baby's uncomplicated joy to see him. "Could you put in a good word for me?"

  Babies were, from a physical engineering standpoint, odd. For something that looked so small, Nicole was solid through and through. He'd almost forgotten since the baseball game how much she weighed. Yet despite her heft, she didn't hang like a sack of a potatoes in his grip. She was mobile and practically boneless as she waved her arms in unnatural directions and tilted her head so far back to grin at her brother that a future as a contortionist seemed assured.

  When Giff reached the table and started to lower the baby, Tanner interrupted.

  "You're supposed to put down a pad first." Tanner pointed to the shelf of supplies beneath the tabletop.

  "Oh. Thanks. I've never done this before." Holding a squirming Nicole against his shoulder with one hand, he used his other to grab a disposable changing pad. Unfolding it single-handedly took a moment.

  "We're always putting stuff down for her to lay on and sit on," Tanner said. "Even at the grocery store. She has a special thing she sits in so she doesn't get germs from the cart. And Aunt Addie's always wiping things off before Nicole touches them."

  Giff nodded absently. Now that he had Nicole lying on the appropriate pad, he was trying to unfasten the snaps at the bottom of her pink cotton outfit. Which would be a lot easier if her legs weren't flailing about as though she were auditioning for a revival of Riverdance.

  "It's weird all the stuff grown-ups do to keep babies from getting dirty," Tanner observed, "when babies are usually the ones making the mess. You should have seen what came out of her diaper yesterday!" The boy shuddered.

  "Uh…" Slightly unnerved by Tanner's words, Giff wondered what kind of mess he was about to find. If it was bad, surely there would have been some kind of olfactory warning?

  Having finally unsnapped what she was wearing, he was ready to tackle the actual diaper. He exchanged glances with Tanner, who was giving them the same skeptical, assessing look Giff had received at sixteen from the DMV employee who'd tested him for his driver's license. One of the adhesive tabs took its job too seriously and would not open, so he simply ripped the side of the diaper.

  "Now you roll it into a ball and put it in there." Tanner gestured toward a disposal canister that looked complicated in its own right.

  "Okay." Giff was listening to Tanner's instructions for twisting the top of the trashcan device when he realized that Nicole had flipped onto her tummy and had raised herself up onto her hands and knees. She immediately began rocking back and forth so forcefully that, for a horrified second, he was afraid she could launch herself off the table. He gently rolled her onto her back and grabbed a new diaper. She tried twice more to return to her stomach. It should have been a simple thing to hold her still except that it took more than the two hands he had to keep her in place, use the wipe, secure the new diaper and refasten her outfit.

  "Boy." Tanner grinned. "You're really not good at this."

  Giff winced. A former college honors graduate and high school valedictorian, and now he was receiving legitimate criticism from a six-year-old. Having small children around was a humbling experience. Addie must have a lot of inner strength to deal with it.

  Of course, Addie was probably a hell of a lot better at this than he was.

  * * *

  ADDIE TOOK HER TIME IN the kitchen just so she could continue shamelessly eavesdropping on the two guys in the other room. But it sounded as if they were f
inished now. She zipped up the duffel bags and grabbed the sunglasses that were sitting atop yesterday's mail on the counter.

  When she rounded the corner to the living room, she was treated to the sight of Giff cradling Nicole against his chest. It was a simple, domestic moment, but there was something so elementally beautiful in a virile man smiling at the pink-clad bundle he held that Addie lost her breath. Giff was imprinting himself on her heart as indelibly as the kids had.

  Over the top of Nicole's head, Giff grinned at her. "Mission accomplished. All ready?"

  No. She was not ready, not prepared for these burgeoning feelings. But she was becoming less and less confident that she could continue fighting the inevitable.

  Chapter Eleven

  Addie glanced down the pier at the stately white boat that was docked. The shiver of apprehension that went up her spine was unexpected.

  "You okay?" Giff asked softly.

  "Y-yeah." It hadn't occurred to her that Tanner might not be the only one nervous about his first time back on a boat. She hadn't spent nearly as much time aboard them as her brother had; in fact, he was in almost every shipboard memory she had.

  "This is hard for you," he said.

  She looked back at Tanner, not wanting him to hear that his aunt was scared. "Lots of memories," she said finally, swallowing hard. "I was so focused on what this would be like for him, I didn't…Back on the horse, though, right?"

  "Or in this case, sea horse." Giff accompanied his pun with a crooked smile that sliced through her melancholy.

  "Thank you." If she weren't encumbered by Nicole's bulky carrier, she might have thrown her arms around him in a grateful hug. Instead, she turned her attention back to the waiting boat, frowning at the words on its side.