First Came Baby
Page 12
“Craig broke his arm.”
She blinked. “Say what?”
“Yeah. He was carrying some boards and he tripped. The next day, Jill corralled me in the hall. She basically told me I was coming to live with them because Craig had put his ass on the line for me more times than I knew, making sure I didn’t get in trouble, and now it was my time to pay him back.” He shrugged. “So I moved in with them.”
“You’re saying you owe your life to a broken arm?”
“Yeah,” he said with a wry laugh. “That’s about it. If Craig hadn’t tripped, God only knows where I’d be now. Rotting in jail, most likely.”
She squeezed her eyes tight to block out the mental images. Some possibilities should not be examined. “Were they planning to go to Peru even then?”
“It wasn’t definite. At least not officially. But I think they were pretty certain of it.”
“And were they looking to bring you along right from the start? Because I have to say, anyone looking at it from the outside could say, hmm, a kid with no family, they needed muscles and dedication—”
“They had a daughter.” He swallowed hard. “She died.”
Oh, God.
As if by unspoken agreement, they both turned to watch Jamie, who responded by delivering a wide, drool-filled grin.
“When she was a teenager, she got into drugs in a bad way. It went downhill fast. Jill and Craig did everything right, got her into rehab, got counseling. They thought they had it behind them.”
“Please don’t say it.”
“She slipped up once,” he said gently. “That was all it took.”
“Turn off the recorder, please.”
It wasn’t until she felt the slide of his palm against hers that she realized she had taken his hand. Regret washed through her.
“Jamie and I need to get down to Peru as soon as we can make it,” she said. “We need to meet them.”
“They’d like nothing better.”
She nodded, stood and moved to check Jamie’s diaper, simply because it was the only thing she could think to do that would keep her away from Boone.
From taking his hand again.
From kissing him again.
From giving him all of her in a misguided attempt to make up for his past.
* * *
ONE WEEK LATER than originally planned, it was finally time for the family gathering at Maggie’s place. Boone was looking forward to it about as much as he’d relished that five-mile trek from an outlying village to Ollanta that he’d had to do a couple of months ago. The trek he’d had to make because the village had no phones, no internet and no way to tell Craig and Jill that he needed a ride back. Because he’d picked up a parasite that was seriously complicating life in a place with no indoor plumbing.
So, yeah. Dinner was going to be great.
Kate buzzed around the house, gathering the small army’s worth of baby supplies she deemed necessary for a couple of hours away from home. He watched as she raced back and forth, checking on the contents of the diaper bag and muttering to herself.
“Wipes, okay, plenty in there. Diapers, oops, need another one. Boone, can you grab a diaper from the changing table, please?” She frowned into the depths. “Better make it two. Or even three. I’ll get a spoon and his dish and the box of... Bibs! He’ll need a bib!”
Boone walked past the bouncy seat where Jamie watched the activity with his hand in his mouth. “Did you know that you require more equipment than most of my friends in Peru have in their entire homes?”
“I heard that!”
He rolled his eyes and leaned a little closer to Jamie, whose eyes were now firmly locked on him. “Good luck sneaking anything past her when you get to be sixteen.”
The drive took less than twenty minutes. He suspected it would have been faster, but Kate seemed to be taking him on a guided tour of Comeback Cove’s finest attractions.
“Now that I can walk again, we’ll have to go to River Road and poke around,” she said. “It’s not tourist season yet so a lot of the shops are still closed, but it’s pretty, and Jamie will love the ducks on the river. Maybe we’ll get fudge, if the Flip-Flop store is open.”
“The who?”
“The Flip-Flop Fudge shop. Best fudge in the universe. They make one kind...it’s vanilla, really creamy, with little gummy flip-flops in it. So good. You have that smooth yummy sweetness and then the chewy, sour candies, and it’s like, OMG. Food orgasm.”
The silence that followed wasn’t one that anyone would describe as comfortable.
It wasn’t just her words that got to him. It was the way he was suddenly and painfully aware of her at his side, their arms almost brushing in the confines of the car. He was swimming in her: the sound of her breath, suddenly sharper and faster; the smell of baby powder and lemon that surrounded her; the curves and dips hovering at the edge of his vision, the ones that had become so familiar to his hands and his lips when they were together.
And in the back seat, the living, kicking proof of their togetherness gnawed on his own hand and made soft snuffling sounds.
Kate bit her lip and stared out the window.
“Do you want to pretend I didn’t say that?” she asked. “Or should we talk about it?”
He took his time answering. He needed to get these words right. Not the easiest task, given that the more they were together, the more difficult he was finding it to keep his distance.
“Talking is probably not a good idea. Especially not while we’re driving, and definitely not when we’re about to go to your mother’s place.”
“I don’t know.” Kate’s words were light, but there was an edge to them that told him she wasn’t as carefree as she was trying to appear. “In my experience, hanging with Mom has never been much of a mood enhancer.”
Like he needed the help?
She pulled up to a stop sign and breathed in deep. He wished she wouldn’t. It drew attention to places he wasn’t supposed to be noticing, unless his son was attached to them.
“So in a minute, you’ll be able to see the river,” she chattered. “On a really clear day you can see the island where Daisy...” Her voice trailed off. She sighed. “Boone, I... Look, please understand, this isn’t easy for me, either. But I don’t think... No. I know. Being...together again. It would be... I’m not going to lie.”
She probably should. His sanity might depend on it.
“There’s a definite appeal to the thought of going back to where we were. You, um, made quite an impression.”
Damn it. He really wished she’d kept talking about the river.
“But I have to think about the future. And even though, yes, we had some pretty unforgettable moments—”
Blue. He spotted a streak of blue. That would be the Saint Lawrence.
“I need to think long-term. If you and I were to start up again, it would just...” She sighed.
I’m not you. I want to have more kids. I would like to have them with someone I can build a life with.
Right. Her life was here and his was there, and he was supposed to be making things better for her. So far, all he’d done was send her through a rotten board.
I shoulda named you Mosquito, said his mother’s voice. ’Cause that’s about how annoying you are.”
He stared at the window, searching for that bit of blue again. If it was close enough, he could jump in and have some sense shocked into him.
* * *
KATE ALL BUT jumped out of the car the minute she pulled up beside the sign that said Daisy’s Place Bed-and-Breakfast. She was an A1, first-class idiot.
Though for the life of her, she wasn’t sure what was worse—trying to resist Boone, or trying to talk like a reasonable adult when she was walking around feeling like some warped fairy godmother had sprinkled her with aphrodisiac pixie dust.
She crawled through the rear door to unbuckle Jamie, breathing deep. Ah, yes. Nothing like the smells of stale back seat mixed with Eau de Diaper to ground a gal.
Unfortunately, she was still acutely aware of Boone standing behind her, no doubt watching her butt as she leaned and stretched.
A year ago, she wouldn’t have hesitated to give a teasing little wiggle. Now the only wiggling she allowed herself was that of her fingers in Jamie’s face as she sang “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”
Even though she and Boone had never even pretended that they had a future, watching him go back to Peru had done a number on her, and not just because she’d been pregnant. She had missed him. More than she’d expected, more than she could believe. It had scared her to see how long it took to stop reaching for him in the night, to stop grabbing her phone to text him a funny message or an update whenever she thought of him, which was basically all the time.
She couldn’t go through that again.
She wanted a full family. A husband who lived in the same house. Getting back into Boone’s bed, letting him back into her heart—neither of those would help her in the long run.
She refused to think about how utterly amazing the short run would be.
“Here.” She shoved Jamie into Boone’s arms. “You carry him. That way my mother can’t throw anything at you.”
“Oh, that was reassuring.”
“I try.”
She kept one hand under Boone’s elbow as she half guided, half propelled him forward up the walk to her mother’s porch. Daisy’s Place, like Kate’s house, was one of the older buildings in Comeback Cove. Unlike Kate’s house, though, her mother’s was in immaculate condition. No loose shingles or sagging floorboards were allowed to exist here.
“Mom has a local contractor practically on retainer,” she said as they walked the weed-free stone slabs leading to the steps. “I hired him to do a couple of the most urgent things when I first moved in. He does great work but he’s pricey.”
And maybe if she kept babbling, she could forget about the warm strength of Boone’s arm beneath her palm.
A door closed. Kate looked to where Maggie waited on the porch, watching them with the assessing eye of a ruling monarch inspecting the fleet.
She gave Boone’s elbow a sustaining squeeze.
“Hi, Mom.” Kate bounded up the steps first, determined to show her mother the benefits of having Boone around to help with the lugging. She gave Maggie a quick kiss and hug. “Is Allie here?”
“She and Cash are in the dining room. They came early to help.” Maggie shot a quick glance in Boone’s direction. “Cash is very helpful.”
Kate looked back. Boone rolled his eyes.
Quickly, before she could talk herself out of the instinct, Kate took Maggie’s arm and pulled her away from the door. “Go on inside, you two,” she called out gaily, as if she wasn’t ready to blow her top at any second. “Boone, just yell and Allie will give you the tour. Mom and I will be right behind you.”
With that, she marched her mother to the corner of the porch farthest from the windows.
“Katherine Joy, what are you—”
“Mom.” Kate came to a halt beside one of the many flower planters lining the porch banister. Crocuses and grape hyacinths already filled it to overflowing. “This has to stop.”
“Oh, really.”
“Really. Boone has never lied to me, as I reminded you many, many times over the past year. We are both happy with our arrangement, and you know damned well that Jamie deserves the chance to know and love his father.”
“I—”
“Hang on.” Kate leveled one finger in her mother’s direction. “Boone is a good and honorable man who is working to make the world a better place for people. I knew that when I got involved with him. And not to gross you out or anything, but I was the one who did the seducing, okay? So you can stop acting like he took my virginity and tossed me out like old laundry. I want him in Jamie’s life and I will thank you to stop making him feel guilty for not doing what you think he should have done.”
Maggie’s eyes were bright and her cheeks were pink, but her lips were still set. “I can think whatever I wish of him. It’s still a free country.”
“You can think whatever you want, Mom. But he is the father of my son and I would appreciate it if you treated him with common courtesy and respect.”
“Fine. I’ll be the soul of tact.” Maggie pulled herself to her full height. “But you just remember that when I go in there, everything I’m saying to him is a lie.”
“Oh, there’s a surprise,” Kate muttered as her mother marched back to the door.
“Surprises are highly overrated,” Maggie snapped and yanked the door open.
Kate sagged against the post and focused on the glints of sunset bouncing off the river. Couldn’t anything ever be simple?
At that moment, Allie poked her head out the door.
“Oh, good,” she whispered. “You’re still alive.”
The laughter that burbled out of Kate was most welcome.
“Of course I’m alive, you nitwit. Did you leave Mom alone with Boone? He’s the one we need to worry about.”
Allie waved the words away. “Not necessary. Mom is in there fussing over Jamie, and Cash is an excellent diplomat. He’ll make sure no blood is spilled.” She scooted closer to Kate and lowered her voice. “What did you say to her? She came in looking like she was ready to rip off heads, but she practically oozed sweetness and light.”
“To Boone?”
“Yes, to Boone. Though come to think of it, he’s looking kind of shell-shocked. Like he’s braced for attack.” She shuddered. “Boone isn’t my favorite person, either, but he doesn’t deserve the Wrath of God treatment.”
“Nobody deserves that. And at the moment, I bet Mom is more pissed off at me than at him.”
“Why, did you threaten to cut off her Grandma privileges if she didn’t make nice?”
“Almost.”
“Katydid. You didn’t!” Allie practically bounced out of her totally nonsensible heels. “I wish I’d been here to watch the show.”
“Yeah, well, if dinner is exceptionally horrific tonight, you can blame me.”
“Not to worry. Cash will sweet-talk Mom into behaving before she even knows what hit her.”
“Speaking of Cash, have you figured out a solution to the moving in dilemma?”
The bouncing came to an abrupt halt. “Not yet. Part of me wants to take the plunge. And part of me wants to take it slow. And the rest of me is hoping that the perfect answer will be hiding inside my next fortune cookie.”
“Well, I’m no cookie, but I had a thought.” One that Kate couldn’t believe she had needed so long to figure out, because from what she could see, it was the perfect solution. “Why don’t you move in with me?”
Allie blinked. “With you? But you’re going to sell.”
“Yes, I am, but not right away. Even with everything Boone is doing to fix things up, I’ll need more time to get it completely market-ready, and who knows how long it will take to sell. I’ve been thinking it might make sense to get things in shape, stay through the winter, then list it in the spring when the market is so much better.” She pointed at Allie. “If you moved in and split the bills with me, it would be cheaper than buying yourself out of a lease and I could definitely afford to stay through winter. Plus you would have more flexibility. You could take your time about making the next big step with Cash. Believe me, nobody ever regretted taking the time to be sure of a decision.” She grinned. “And if you don’t make it home at night, I’m not going to interrogate you the way Mom would.”
“Oh,
dear God, don’t make me think that. She’s already dropping hints about Cash, and how much time I’m spending with him, and hoping I learned my lesson with Luke.”
Well, it was nice to know that Boone wasn’t the only one on Maggie’s radar. “I thought she liked Cash.”
“She does. She adores him. But you know Mom. She’s going to reserve final judgment until the minister says husband and wife.”
Yep. That sounded like vintage Maggie.
“So, what do you think?” Kate asked. “I’m game if you are.”
“I think it’s a great idea. Plus I’m all for having more time with Jamie. But are you sure you’re okay with it? I can be a bit of a slob.”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t certain. I’ll whip you into shape. Plus it’ll be nice to have an extra set of hands, you know?” Not to mention that she was already dreading the way the big house would echo once Boone was gone. Saying goodbye again would be a lot easier if she knew there was going to be someone else around.
Also, having Allie at home would help her focus on the future. On the next steps in her life. Maybe she could even start dating again, while she had a sitter on hand. Surely she would feel like being with someone else eventually, right? Maybe in winter, when the divorce would be well underway and she was used to Boone being back in Peru. Once she knew that the marriage was truly over, there would come a day when she would feel ready to see someone else.
Certainly.
Someday.
CHAPTER TEN
BOONE HAD SAT through his share of uncomfortable meals. His first dinner with Craig and Jill...the awkward airport breakfast with the flight attendant who had helped him make the most of an unexpected overnight in Lima...the oh-so-proper tea that Kate’s grandmother had insisted they have after their wedding. Yeah. He was still convinced that Nana’s presence was the only reason Maggie hadn’t poisoned him.
This dinner wasn’t the worst meal he’d endured, but it was definitely in the bottom ten.
Hadn’t Kate said something about a secret passage in this house? He wished he knew where it was about now.
At least they had Jamie to keep things light. Every time the conversation dragged or Maggie’s sighs became too loaded, someone would comment on Jamie’s outfit or marvel over the way he was sitting so straight on Kate’s lap, and the oohing and aahing would begin anew.