by Megan Kelly
Without employment, she had no chance of adopting a baby.
Chapter Five
“Daddy,” Serena said at breakfast the next morning. “Can we get a puppy?”
Scott choked on his spoonful of cereal, glad he hadn’t had time to make anything hot for breakfast. Eggs would have fallen out of his open mouth and oatmeal would have gagged him. Clearing his throat, he battled back the instant negative response that sprang to mind.
Rena looked hopeful, but Shelby’s gaze remained on her Froot Loops. Obviously, she didn’t hold much hope for the plan. Her comment about “not doing fun things” like seeing the movie bit his conscience. He hated to disappoint her again, but what would they do with a puppy with the three of them gone all day?
His instinct to deny the request just so he didn’t have to take on more responsibilities—because he knew he’d be doing all the cleanup, feeding and training—made him feel lower than a basset hound’s belly.
“We’ve talked about adopting a dog,” he hedged. “I thought we’d wait for nicer weather to make it easier to train him.”
“I want a girl puppy,” Rena insisted.
“A girl might be a good idea. They’re supposed to be gentler.”
Shelby’s rounded eyes caught his. “You’re serious? We can get a puppy? For real?”
Scott blinked. Had he agreed to that? He didn’t think so. How could he say “yes” while meaning “not now”?
“We’ve just moved in, Shel.” His heart sank as her shoulders slumped. “Do y’all really want to take on the training of a puppy now? You’re—”
“Yes!” both girls called out at the same time.
“Let me finish. You’re just now making friends.”
“Friends like to play with puppies,” Shelby countered.
“Puppies take time,” he said. “You have to train them to go potty outside, and you clean up their messes when they go inside by accident.”
Rena nodded, looking as though she’d given this much thought. “I think we should put the puppy in diapers and then throw away the poop like moms do with people babies.”
“Dogs can’t wear diapers,” Shelby said.
“It’s a good idea, Rena, but Shelby’s right. The puppy would wiggle out of it. And puppies aren’t people, so we can’t expect it to wear clothes like a doll.” He pictured a tiny dog in costume 24/7. Ballerina bulldog. Dolly dachshund. Tutu shih tzu. He shuddered for the poor mutt’s sake. “They have to go for walks. And all puppies bite, the same way babies teethe. Are you sure y’all are ready for this? Your toys and shoes might get chewed on, as well as your fingers.”
Rena crossed her chubby arms over her chest. “I don’t care.”
Shelby smiled. “I’ll walk her, Dad, and feed her and play with her. Please? You said we could get a dog when we moved into our new house. And we’re here, so isn’t it time to get the dog like you said?”
He noticed the one chore she didn’t claim she’d do. Unable to hold out against his daughters when reminded of his own promises, Scott gave in. “I’ll check around and find a shelter or rescue program. We’ll go this weekend.”
Rena squealed. “Shelby’s teacher works at an animal place when she isn’t teaching. She tolded me so.”
Scott arched an eyebrow. “Did she now? How helpful of her.”
“You want me to ask her about it at school?” Shelby offered.
“No, I think I’ll have a few words with Ms. Winchester myself.” Like Don’t talk to my daughters about puppies. Don’t make it easy for them to find a puppy. Don’t even mention the word puppy.
Despite the dire warnings he planned to give her, he couldn’t help a race of anticipation through his veins at the idea of seeing Ginger again.
Scott reined himself in. He had no right to berate her about anything. Wasn’t it bad enough he’d had sex with her without even knowing her last name? Or that he drove past her house at least once a week for no good reason? Or that he couldn’t keep his mind off her body or his memory off how good she felt in bed with him?
No, then he had to make her work life a mess with that stupid meeting.
That crusty old nag, Mrs. Grady, had picked up on his attraction to Ginger right from the start. When he’d gravitated to her side, so damned glad to see her enter the meeting room that he couldn’t stay away, he’d established his interest. When the old bat had planted her flag as head of the committee, he’d defended Ginger, once again tipping his hand.
It wasn’t as though he didn’t know how these committees worked. Politics, especially small town politics, were hardwired with nastiness.
He dropped Shelby off at school after breakfast. Since Rena still had to be delivered to the preschool, he had to resist the urge to see Ginger.
“Liaise together.” He snorted in the relative quiet of his car as he left the Wee Care half an hour later. The older teacher might as well have shouted, “He wants to sleep with her.”
She wouldn’t have been wrong. He’d have taken Ginger on the meeting room table if they’d had privacy. Against a wall. On the floor. He wasn’t picky. Seeing her soft skin and being close enough to smell the flowery scent of her again made him crazy with desire.
Would it be so wrong for her to date the father of her student?
Crap. What was he thinking? He’d seen firsthand what Ginger would be subjected to, and that was without proof of wrongdoing. Cindy Grady would have a field day if he and Ginger started a public relationship.
Not that he was ready for a relationship. Dammit. Ginger had him tied in knots, thinking of spreading her out on the conference table, burying himself in her warmth and softness, and just staying there for hours.
Then he’d remember why they couldn’t do that. Shelby. Serena. Sam. It was way too soon for his daughters to deal with him seeing another woman. The movie outing had proved that. A long-term relationship with someone new would have to wait. Once his heart healed, he’d consider it.
His girls needed a mom in the house and would need a woman even more as they grew older. They deserved someone who would love them and care for them and just be there. Bake them cookies. Go to school events and watch them play sports or dance. Bandage their scraped knees now and their scraped hearts later on.
Not that Sam hadn’t been good at that. But she wasn’t here now, had chosen not to be, and he had to build a life without her.
Could he love again? Sam had taken so much out of him. He’d loved her with his whole heart—the part the girls didn’t claim, anyway. She’d left him to deal with their growing up and his own broken heart.
Would he choose Ginger to replace the girls’ mother when the time came? He sensed she would be a good mom. He already knew she was an exceptional lover.
But none of them was ready for the reality, except possibly Ginger.
Maybe in the meantime, he and Ginger could carry on a secret affair? If no one from her school found out… He’d only have to face his own conscience. Did he really want sex so badly he’d sneak around? Conduct a dirty little liaison that he couldn’t take public?
The organ behind his zipper screamed, Hell, yeah.
The organ between his ears frowned in disapproval.
The organ in his chest just ached.
GINGER LOOKED UP AT THE TAP on her classroom door after school. Her weariness ebbed at the sight of the man standing there.
“I would have liked school a lot better if my teachers looked like you.”
“Scott.” She smiled, her skin drawing tight.
“Bad time?” He crossed to her desk.
“Not at all. Is this about Shelby?”
He shook his head.
“The technology committee?”
He perched on the edge of her desk. His study of her features made her fidget, as though he could see into her thoughts.
“That’s all I can talk about here.” She leaned back in her chair to create space between them.
“Are you sleeping?”
She narrowed her e
yes. “I told you that’s none of your business.”
“No, not are you sleeping with someone, although I would like to know now that you’ve brought it up.” He leaned forward and touched his fingertips to her cheek.
His touch heated her bloodstream like lava.
“Are you losing sleep? Is it the tech committee? Is that Grady woman giving you a hard time?”
“No, I’m fine.”
He grinned and withdrew his hand. “You’re a lousy liar, but I like that about you.”
Ginger blew out a breath and drummed up a last thread of patience. After she’d been announced as the tech committee replacement the week before, Cindy Grady practically lived in the doorway across the hall, watching every move she made. Today her vigilance had intensified. Ginger didn’t need Scott coming in her classroom, smelling like mint toothpaste and looking crisp and energetic in his ironed yellow Oxford shirt and creased gray slacks. She visualized rumpling him up and taking advantage of that energy. Taking advantage of him.
So he thought she looked worn out. Sure, she’d had some sleepless nights, worrying over why the adoption agency wouldn’t approve her to foster or adopt. What red tape or interview or referral blocked the process? What had she done wrong?
She fought the urge to smooth her hair into place. Scott had cost her a few sleepless nights, as well, as she wrestled with her attraction to him. Now here he was, making her heart jump and her skin tingle, touching her cheek with gentle concern, and making her yearn to snuggle against him. Soaking up his warmth and some of that energy would do her a world of good.
Unless someone saw them.
“Scott, I’m more than willing to discuss your daughter’s progress and behavior in my class or the technology committee, but not my sleeping habits.” She wished his grin didn’t tempt her so. “Not anything personal.”
“Okay. I have something really impersonal to discuss with you. A bone to pick, if you will.”
She cocked her head as she reviewed possibilities. Shelby hadn’t done anything to complain about. Her responses bordered on the smart-alecky, but nothing Ginger felt she had to curb. The girl had won a few admirers with her humor, and Ginger didn’t mind giving her a little rope in order to make friends in her new town. Hopefully Shelby would use the rope to pull herself back to shore rather than the other alternative.
“You ‘tolded’ Rena you worked at an animal shelter.”
Ginger smiled at his quotation of his youngest. “I do put in a lot of time there. I think I mentioned it—yes, I remember. We discussed volunteering versus working before the movie began.”
“Well, the only part she remembers is you saying you’d help us pick out a puppy.”
Ginger’s mouth dropped open at his teasing tone as she scrambled to remember. “That’s not exactly what I said.”
She was pretty sure she hadn’t promised that. Did Scott want a dog? Was that the bone he had to pick with her? She understood the joke in his phrasing now. She liked his sense of humor. She liked too many things about him.
“But you know about dogs,” he said, “and where to get one and how to find a healthy one?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“And you wouldn’t want us stuck with an aggressive dog, I’m sure.”
She fought the smile that wanted to rebel. A traitorous part of her delighted that he’d go to such lengths as blackmail to have her spend time with him and his girls. “I wouldn’t want you to adopt an aggressive dog, no.”
But she did want to spend time with him. She shouldn’t. She could list the reasons it was a rotten idea, starting with Cindy Grady, and the impact on Shelby and even Rena, and going on from there. Creating a clean slate man-wise in case the adoption agency checked—and they would. Her job, her chances at adopting, her sanity. These were reasons enough to avoid him, she thought as their eyes locked.
But, oh, how she wanted to be with him again. The clean pine scent of his soap brought to mind his luscious naked body against her. His smile made her tummy tingle.
He rose and paced away, then turned back. “Do I have to put a dog in a crate if I adopt it at this shelter of yours? I don’t like the caged look they have, but it seems all I hear about on TV or read about in the papers is crate-training dogs.”
“There’s no rule about training. You do what works for your family. Crates have advantages, but you can live without one. The only rule, per se, is you have to spay or neuter the animal you adopt.”
He winced, and that rebel smile of hers escaped as laughter.
“It’s not that bad.” His skeptical grimace eased the tension that had taken up residence in her shoulders for the past several days. “Do the girls have their hearts set on a certain breed? The selection at the shelter isn’t pedigree. I might be able to help you find a reputable breeder, though.”
He shrugged. “So far, I’ve only heard it must be a girl.”
“Will they accept an older dog? You’d have the added benefit of it probably being housebroken.”
“I don’t know. This is really bad timing for me.” He ran a hand across the back of his neck. “We’re still settling in. I need to get the girls in swimming and dance classes, and figure out transportation to those classes, and make sure they have friends and have rides to and from places with those friends, and now I’m supposed to train a dog not to mess in my house and chew all our furniture and shoes—” He took a breath. “And I’m whining.”
“You are.” And it was adorable. Jeez, she had it bad for this guy.
He grimaced. “Sorry.”
“Look, I can help with the dog. If you want one.” She cocked her head in question. “I’ve heard you say the girls want a puppy, but what about you? If this isn’t a good time, if you can’t give the puppy the attention it needs, wait to come to the shelter. Otherwise, you’re all going to wind up miserable.”
“I know. I’m not sure I’m ready, but who’s ever ready when you bring someone or something new into the house? It’s like bringing home a baby.”
Ginger’s throat tightened. She wouldn’t know, but she hoped to find out soon. The reminder to be on better behavior in case Cindy was interviewed as her work contact had her straightening back in the chair.
“You prepare and organize and arrange,” Scott continued on his baby theme, “but then you’re home and panic seizes you anyway.”
“Even with Serena, the second baby?”
A strange look crossed Scott’s face that she couldn’t interpret. Caution? Whatever it was, he’d closed to her, gone blank and bland and unreadable.
Then he smiled, and although it looked genuine, Ginger had to wonder what memory or emotion it covered.
“Bringing home Rena was incredible, but the dynamics changed because then we had two children. So we had two little ones to worry about, two needs to fulfill, and two children to physically care for. It was a great time, but hectic.”
Her chest ached with envy. Would she be able to experience that predicament, or would her baby—if she was granted approval to adopt—be an only child?
Like the need to poke at a sore tooth, Ginger wanted to know about his wife. It would hurt, but that didn’t stop her. “I’m sure you and your wife handled it just fine. What’s her name?”
Scott stared for a minute. “Samantha.”
“Another s.”
“Yes.”
Samantha, Scott, Shelby, Serena. Ginger. One of these things is not like the others.
“What does she look like? Dark-haired like Shelby?”
His gaze fell.
“I imagine Serena inherited your hair color. Brown with those red highlights. But the girls both have dark eyes.” She couldn’t stop probing. “Like Samantha’s?”
“Look.” He slid off the desk to stand rigid before her. “I don’t want to talk about the girls’ mother or who they got their looks from, okay? I just came about a dog.”
His fists clenched and unclenched.
Ginger swallowed at the emotion the mention
of his wife engendered. “Okay. Sorry.”
He paced away then back. “No, I’m sorry. I just can’t talk about it. Not yet.”
She nodded and pushed aside her own feelings to concentrate on Scott’s problem. Dog, not ex-wife. “Do you prefer a puppy or a dog? Or are you going to put off getting one until your family is more settled?”
He blew out a breath and his body relaxed. “I think we’re going to do it soon. The girls have been through a lot in the past year. They need something to take their minds off…everything.”
She heard what he didn’t say. The girls were separated from their mother, their family down South, their house, their friends, their school. Take their minds off everything, indeed. Why had he done it? How bad could their mother be to take the girls so far away? Sole custody, the parent info form said.
Ginger shivered, knowing all too well the horrors a parent could visit on her child. Too many of her students over the years had been victims. “I don’t have to tell you an animal is a commitment,” she said instead. “Do you want me to explain it to the girls? That you’re bringing another creature into your home, and you’ll be responsible for it forever.”
“I’ve tried, but no, I didn’t cover forever.”
“They won’t quite grasp the long-term effects. I’m not even sure how much Serena will understand, but Shelby could be informed of some of the difficulties you’ll have to deal with.”
“No, thanks. If anyone’s going to be the bad guy, it’ll be me. But it wouldn’t hurt for them to come visit the shelter. Just to look.”
She couldn’t restrain her grin.
“What? You think we can’t visit without taking a dog home?”
“Let’s say I’d be surprised.”
“You think I’m a pushover,” he accused.
Exactly. “I think you’re a nice guy who loves his daughters.”
“A schmuck.”
She had to laugh. “Not at all.”
“You’ll see. You write down the address and what day you can go with us, just for a tour. And we’ll go have a great time and leave without a dog.”