by Pamela Bauer
“May I join you?” He had a lunch tray with a salad and a cup of coffee on it. She was about to say no when he said, “I’m sorry about this morning.”
“Why? All you did was tell me the truth.”
“I didn’t have to tell it in quite that way. Can I sit down? I’d like to talk to you.”
“My lunch break is almost over,” she told him, hoping he would take the hint and leave.
He didn’t. “This will only take a few minutes. It’s about Megan.”
Reluctantly she gestured for him to take the chair across from her. As he set his lunch on the table she noticed for the first time how long and slender his fingers were. Megan had said her father built boats, yet Faith saw no callused skin on his hands. They looked large and capable, and she found herself wondering what it would be like to feel them wrapped around hers.
Because she sat at a very small table, his knees bumped hers when he sat down. He murmured, “Sorry,” and smiled apologetically. Between the woodsy scent he wore and the closeness of his body she was acutely aware of his presence and knew it was going to be an uncomfortable few minutes. She leaned back, hoping to put some distance between them.
He unfolded his napkin onto his lap. “I really am sorry about this morning. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
She shrugged. “It’s over and done with now.” He looked tired, and she wondered if Megan had taken a turn for the worse. “How’s Megan?”
“She’s fine”
“Have you told her about the DNA test results?”
He nodded. “This morning. She took it better than I expected. Much better, actually.”
She thought he would eat, but he didn’t. He sat staring at her with those intense brown eyes of his. It took a lot of willpower for her not to squirm under his gaze.
“She wasn’t surprised, was she?”
He shook his head. “Apparently she knew the first day you met you weren’t Christie.”
“I thought maybe she did.”
“Then you knew she was pretending when she said she believed you were her mother?”
“It seemed likely. There are quite a few differences between me and Christie.” She wished he would start eating so his focus would be on something other than her face, but he continued to stare at her, as if he were noticing those differences for the first time.
When she shifted nervously in her chair he said, “You were right. It was good that you spent some time with her so she could see those differences.”
“I enjoy being with her. She’s a delightful child.”
“She enjoys your company, too, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you. She’s been a rather unhappy child since she came to live with me. It was a big change for her—going from a small town to a big city, from a mother who’s now gone to a father she hasn’t known for very long.”
She nodded in understanding. “She’s had a lot to cope with.” And Faith had been around the two of them enough to see the strain the changes had caused in their relationship.
“You’re very good with children, Faith…but you don’t need me to tell you that, do you?” He smiled and took a sip of his coffee. Noticing the greeting card in front of her he asked, “Is that for Megan?”
Faith nodded. “I thought I’d send her a get-well wish.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to do that in person?”
“I didn’t think you wanted me to do that.” She saw no reason to pretend.
“I’m sorry about this morning,” he apologized for a second time. “What I meant was you didn’t need to feel obligated to visit Megan.”
“She was never an obligation, Mr. Novak.”
“Call me Adam,” he said with a smile that made her heart skip a beat. “And it’s nice to hear you say that because Megan’s become very fond of you, which is the second reason why I wanted to talk to you. She’s going to be discharged from the hospital in a couple of days and she’s already asking if you’re going to still be her friend.”
“Are you asking me to stay in touch with her?”
“Would you consider it?”
“Sure. She can call me at the Carsons. Or I could write to her,” she offered.
“Actually I had something else in mind. With Lori due to have her baby shortly, I need someone to look after Megan when she’s not in school. It would be a temporary position. Lori’s not sure how much time she’ll need after the baby is born, but she’s optimistic it won’t be more than a couple of weeks.”
Faith thought she must have misunderstood him. “Are you offering me a job?”
“Yes.”
When he asked her what she would require for an hourly wage she shook her head. “I can’t work for you.”
“Is it that you can’t or you don’t want to?”
It was both, but she didn’t tell him that. “I don’t think it would be wise considering everything that’s happened.”
“Megan knows you’re not her mother.”
“Yes, but I still have my amnesia. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing three weeks from now. Chances are I’ll still be here with the Carsons, but if I woke up tomorrow and remembered I had a family in another town or even another state…”
“You’d be gone,” he finished for her. “That’s what I told Lori.”
She should have known. It was Megan’s aunt who was responsible for him offering her the position. It wasn’t simply that he’d noticed how good she was with his daughter. His sister-in-law had convinced him she’d make a suitable nanny. She didn’t want to feel disappointed, but she was.
“Look, it’s a temporary position. If your memory does return and you’re no longer interested in the job, all you have to do is call Lori. You’ve already had amnesia for what…a month? Chances are you could have it another month or two.”
“You’re asking me to make a plan based on the probability that I’ll have my amnesia a month from now.”
“Isn’t it better to have a plan and not need it, than to not have one and need it?”
Faith knew he had a point, and the thought of having a paying job was an appealing one. It would make her feel like less of a burden on the Carsons’ generosity. She was tempted to say she’d consider the proposition. Tempted. Only one thing stopped her. The man sitting across from her. Did she really want to put herself in a position where she would see him on a regular basis?
“I haven’t mentioned this to Megan because I didn’t want her to get her hopes up until I talked to you,” he told her.
“But you’ve discussed it with Lori.”
“Yes. She wanted to be with me when I talked to you. I guess she thought she’d do a better job of selling it to you than I could do, and she’s probably right,” he admitted with a half grin that Faith found extremely charming. “Or are you going to tell me you’re interested in the position?”
She lowered her eyes. “I don’t think it would be wise for me to accept your offer.”
“I’ll tell you what. Don’t give me an answer today. Think about it for a couple of days, or at least overnight. That’ll give you time to talk it over with your supervisor in the child-care center and with the Carsons. Fair enough?”
Reluctantly, she agreed. “All right.”
“I’ll have Lori give you a call in a few days if I haven’t heard from you,” he said. “You probably should talk to her anyway because she’s the one who can better tell you what it involves.”
A glance at the cafeteria clock had her scooping up her things. “My lunch hour’s nearly over. I need to be going.”
He stood as she rose to her feet. “I’m sure Megan would rather you deliver that card in person.”
“I will,” she told him, then hurried out of the cafeteria.
As she made her way back to the child-care center she thought about his job offer. Part of her wanted to accept the position, yet another part of her warned her that it would be a mistake. She wished that someone else would make the decision for her, then immediately chas
tised herself. She was not a woman who needed others to tell her what to do.
It was a realization that startled her. Why did she come to that conclusion now, of all times? Who was she? She closed her eyes and with great concentration willed her memory to return. And as had been the case so often these past few weeks, her efforts were in vain. She couldn’t recall who she was or why she knew that she didn’t want anyone making decisions for her.
That included Adam Novak. She would weigh all the aspects of the job he’d offered and make her decision based on what was right for her. She was her own woman. It was a thought that sent her home with a smile in her heart.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHEN FAITH STOPPED BY to see Megan that afternoon, she discovered that Adam was wrong about his daughter. Megan was very much aware that her father had asked Faith to be her nanny to help during Lori’s pregnancy and did everything she could, including make all sorts of promises as to how much fun they would have, if she would only say yes.
But it was Lori who helped her reach a decision. She explained that even though Faith would be taking care of Megan, she should think of herself as Lori’s assistant. She was, after all, the one who needed help. After talking with both the Carsons and Mrs. Carmichael who assured her she could still volunteer at the child-care center on the days she wasn’t working for the Novaks, Faith accepted the job.
Although Lori wanted to provide transportation for her on her first day, Faith insisted she could take the bus. With the help of Marie and Avery, who took her on a tour of the city in order that she could become familiar with the route the bus would take, she had no trouble finding her new place of employment.
Located in a wooded neighborhood not far from the hospital, the house was a collection of stacked rectangles and squares with more glass than stucco. There were so many windows that when Faith stepped inside she felt as if she were still outdoors. Sunlight streamed through the skylights in the roof and the floor-to-ceiling windows brought nature inside in a contemporary fashion that fit Lori’s sunny disposition.
“Let me take your coat,” Lori said, helping her out of her winter coat as Faith gazed in amazement at the wide open spaces in the multilevel home.
“There are a lot of windows.” Faith stated the obvious.
“That’s because I’m a person who needs lots of light. The more there is, the better I like it,” she said, looping her arm through Faith’s. “Come and I’ll give you a quick tour. Adam’s going to call us when he and Megan get back from her doctor appointment. Until then, we’ll have a cup of tea and chat.”
Faith followed her employer as she led her through the various rooms of the house. Although the house had several levels, she discovered that most of the rooms were on the first floor, with much of the second- and third-story space used to create vast, open ceilings. The rooms that were on the upper levels were more like lofts that overlooked the living area below.
“I saved the best for last. This is my favorite spot,” Lori told her as she spun around with arms outspread in the sunroom at the back of the house. “No matter how cold and nasty it is, I can come in here and feel as if I’m outside. I’m an outdoor person. Actually, we all are. What about you?”
Faith shrugged. “I don’t mind winter the way some people do.”
“Do you ski?”
“I’m not sure.”
Lori placed a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked such a stupid question.”
“No, it’s all right. I don’t understand myself why it is that I know some things without having a memory and other things I don’t.”
“It must be confusing.”
Faith nodded, not wanting to talk about herself. She glanced out the window at the birdbath where a small basin of open water had attracted a male cardinal. It sat perched on the edge, gingerly hopping in and out of the water, flapping its red wings.
“The water’s not frozen,” she noted.
“It’s heated. You can’t see it because of the snow, but there’s a cord going up through the base that connects to a heating element hidden beneath the surface of the basin,” Lori explained.
Faith glanced around the yard and saw numerous platform feeders scattered across the yard. “You must feed a lot of birds.”
“My husband’s the one who could tell you which ones are still around in winter. He’s the birder in the family. He likes this room as much as I do. When we remodeled we had the architect design those loft offices I showed you, but we often end up down here with our laptops, especially in the summertime. I love to open the windows and listen to the water running over the rocks.” She nodded toward the garden where a series of waterfalls had been landscaped into the hillside.
“This doesn’t look much like the city,” Faith commented as she surveyed the forest surrounding them.
“That’s what attracted us to this area. You feel like you could be living in the country. If it were summer and the leaves were on the trees, you wouldn’t even see the neighbors’ houses. See that gray roofline over there?”
Faith followed the direction in which her finger pointed.
“That’s Adam’s garage. His house is just to the left behind that group of evergreens,” she explained.
“It’s close by.”
“Not as close as you think. The distance is deceptive and there’s a pond between us. If you’re going to walk, you need to take the street. Today the windchill is too cold to be outside for more than a minute or two, so we’ll take my car.”
Lori led her back into the kitchen where a large vase of cut flowers graced the oblong table giving the room a hint of spring despite the wintry weather outside. Over tea Lori handed her some notes she had made regarding Megan’s schedule. Faith noticed she had listed “Make Adam and Megan’s dinner” as one of her duties.
After looking it over she glanced up at Lori. “Do Adam and Megan usually eat dinner with you and Greg?”
“Sometimes. Usually Megan ends up eating with us because Adam works late.” She rubbed the small of her back. “I am so glad you’re going to be helping me with her. Even the smallest of chores are becoming difficult to do lately. You don’t mind cooking, do you?”
“No, not at all,” she answered, wondering if Adam knew that she would be fixing his dinner.
It wasn’t much later that he called to let Lori know that he and Megan were home from the doctor’s office. Faith knew the moment had come when she would have to come face-to-face with him again. It had been several days since she’d last seen him and her stomach did a small flip. She tidied up the kitchen, then pulled on her coat and climbed into Lori’s Audi for the short ride to the Novak home.
Except for the fact that it was large, the house was nothing at all like Lori’s contemporary residence. It was a large brick two-story that looked like something Faith had seen in one of the home and garden magazines on Marie’s coffee table.
Lori didn’t knock, but went straight into the house. They were not met by Adam, but by Megan, who wore a pink sweater with rhinestones in the shape of an M on the front. She smiled shyly at Faith.
“Look at you. You must be feeling better. You’re up and moving around,” Faith commented as she unbuttoned her coat.
Megan came closer. “I can do some stuff but I still have to be careful not to hurt this.” She pointed to where her incision had been. “I can’t play outside.”
“You probably wouldn’t want to today. It’s very cold,” Faith told her.
“I’ll second that,” Lori said as she hung up their jackets in the entry closet. “I’m sure we’ll have lots of fun staying inside.”
“Can we make cookies?” Megan asked.
“I think before we make any plans we better talk to your dad,” Lori answered. “He said your teacher had sent home some work for you to do.”
“She’s already done her schoolwork.” Adam’s deep voice echoed in the tiled entry. “She worked very hard so that she would be finished by the time you came.” He glanced
at Faith, pinning her with his intense gaze. “How are you this morning?”
“I’m fine, thank you,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as breathless as she felt. Wearing an off-white sweater and dark brown corduroy slacks, he was even more attractive than she remembered, and he had that look in his eye again—the one that made her feel as if they shared a secret.
She was glad when Lori drew his attention by asking, “What did the doctor say?”
“To keep up the good work. Because she’s been following his orders, she’s making very good progress,” Adam answered. He wagged a finger at her. “Remember. No jumping.”
Megan nodded dutifully.
He walked over to the closet and pulled out a leather jacket. “I need to get to the office. Can you show Faith around?” His question was directed to his sister-in-law.
Megan stepped forward. “I will.” She extended her small hand to Faith.
“Will you be home for dinner or should I take Megan to my place?” Lori wanted to know.
“I should be home,” he answered.
As he slipped his arms into the sleeves of the jacket, Faith couldn’t help but notice how broad his shoulders were. There were too many things she had been noticing about him. All of them making her aware of just how attractive a man he was. She was relieved when Megan tugged on her hand.
The little girl shyly looked up at Faith. “Will you make cookies with me?”
Faith glanced at Lori who nodded in response to the unasked question.
“Sure, we can do that. Or we can play some games.”
“Or you can read more stories,” Lori suggested. “Megan has quite a collection of books.” She looked at her niece and said, “Why don’t you show Faith your room and she can see for herself just how many books you have?”
Megan looked at Faith. “You want to?”
“I’d love to see your room.”
“Okay. It’s this way,” she said, and would have led her away except Adam’s voice stopped them.
“Hey. Do you have a hug for me?” he asked, stooping to Megan’s level.