The twins poked around in the toothpicks and mints by the café cash register. Grady had given them the lunch bill and the money to pay while he and Jen stayed in the booth. The two kids needed to expend restless energy and this gave him a chance to spend a little more time with her—alone.
She looked at him across the red-and-white checkered tablecloth littered with the remains of their meal. “You really should let me get my own lunch.”
“You didn’t order enough to keep a bird alive. And you hardly touched what you did order. Besides, I already promised to buy.”
“I don’t feel right about this. But at least I’m a cheap date,” she said.
“Date?” One eyebrow lifted in question.
“You know what I meant.”
“Yeah.”
Nothing personal. He’d gotten the message. But seeing how great she’d been with the twins, and spending time together—the four of them—the message was getting less and less clear. Especially after what she’d said, confirming he was their father in every way.
Grady rested his arm on the leather-covered booth back. “I want to thank you.”
“Why?” she asked, tilting her head slightly.
“For what you said to the girls in your office. I talked to them but—”
“They told me. Really, Grady. Gag them with a cotton stick?”
One corner of his mouth rose. “That’s not what I told them.”
“It’s what they heard.”
“That’s not my fault. Although I appreciate you clearing up their questions.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Especially the one about who their real father is.”
“That’s a no-brainer,” she said. “It’s the guy who walked the floor with them when they were babies. Changed their diapers. Puts food on the table. Tucks them in bed at night.” She smiled. “You. I just told them the Lord’s honest truth.”
“Yeah, well, they’ve taken a shine to you, Miss Stevens.”
She looked surprised. Pleased, but surprised. “How can you tell?”
“Are you fishing for compliments?”
“If I put bait on my line, I expect to reel something in. You bet I’m fishing for compliments.”
“Why do you think they went to you for clarification of what I told them?” He thought for a minute. Back to that last night of the high school rodeo championships. When she’d hung out with the girls in the bleachers. “You can braid hair and you bought them all the junk food they could eat. What’s not to like?”
“My taste in men.”
“Zach.”
It wasn’t a question, but she nodded. “I was so clueless.”
“They say love is blind.”
“Do they say it’s dumb, too?” she asked, a tinge of bitterness in her tone.
“You can’t beat yourself up over it, Jen. That was a long time ago.”
“Feels like yesterday. What is it about coming back to Destiny now? It feels like the past is catching up.”
“Maybe it’s time. So we can put it to rest.”
At that moment the girls ran over. “Is it time to go to the doctor?”
Grady slid out of the booth. “Yes.”
“Are you coming with us, Jensen?” Stacey asked.
She nodded. “I have to take a sample to the doctor, too.”
They walked outside and the girls skipped ahead on the wooden sidewalk. Only Maggie Benson’s shop, This ’n That, separated the café from Doc Holloway’s office.
He wished she didn’t have anything that belonged to her husband. To hang on to mementos implied she still cared. Grady didn’t want her to have leftover feelings for the guy. He didn’t deserve it. But more important, Jen deserved more.
They ambled slowly toward their destination. He watched the girls disappear safely inside the doctor’s office. Even though he knew this was merely a formality, he wasn’t crazy about this.
“I talked to Jack Riley,” he said. “We’re running a search on the fingerprints.”
“Anything?” she asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “Not yet, but he only got them this morning.”
“In case it’s a dead end, I’ll have to come up with Plan B.”
“It’s not enough that I’m a good father?”
“You’ll get a chance to prove that in court.”
“I prove it every day—in real life.”
“I know. And we’ll make sure the court knows, too.” She slipped her hand into the bend of his elbow and snuggled in for a sort of sideways hug. “You have to be patient. We’ll win this, Grady.”
“If you say so.” It felt too damn good to have her this close to him and he wished they were anywhere except Main Street, Destiny. “After all, you’re my kids’ lawyer and you have to tell them the truth.”
“Here we are,” she said, stopping in front of the doctor’s office.
In the half-glass door was etched Frank Holloway, M.D.
Grady pushed it open for her. “Lawyers first.”
“I thought it was ladies,” she said, her lips curving up. “It would be if we weren’t here for DNA tests.”
They walked up to the counter, where two glass doors hid the reception desk. Grady knocked softly and the door was instantly opened.
“Hey, Sheriff.”
“Addie.”
Addie Ledbetter had bright blue eyes and even brighter red hair. She looked like the title character from an episode of I Love Lucy, only twenty pounds heavier.
“We’ve got everything set up for you.”
Grady rested his hands on the counter. “Has Billy Adams been here?”
The frown on the office nurse’s face gave him his answer. “There’s something not quite right about that guy.”
Jen sniffed. “You can say that again.”
“Once is enough. And that means I hope I never lay eyes on him in this office again.” She angled her head toward the hall. “Doc Morgan is with the girls in exam room one. You can go on back.”
“Thanks, Addie,” Grady said.
He opened the back office door and let Jen precede him through it. Without a word they walked down the carpeted hall, glancing at the neutral-colored prints lining the walls. When they entered the room, he saw Hannah swabbing Stacey’s mouth. The doctor then did the same to Kasey. Each swab was placed in a plastic tube labeled with the appropriate name.
“Okay, you guys can go pick out a toy. Do you know where Doc keeps them?” Hannah asked.
“Yup. Hi, dad. Hi, Jen.” The girls raced past him and out of the room.
He watched them hurry down the hallway, then looked back in the room. “Hi, Hannah,”
The blond, blue-eyed doctor turned to him and smiled. “Sheriff.” The look she slid to Jen had curious written all over it.
“This is Jensen Stevens,” he said, introducing the two women. “Our attorney.”
She held out her hand. “You’re Taylor’s sister. I remember you from high school.”
“You went to Destiny High?” Jen asked.
She nodded. “I’m not surprised you don’t remember me. I skipped a couple grades and was into geek stuff, major nerd mode.”
“And look where you are now.” Jen smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Hannah.”
“Same here. Especially after what the twins said. It was Jensen this. And Jensen that. You’re the best thing since sliced bread.”
“If only the partners in my law firm were as easy as those two. They’re complete sweethearts.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” She looked up at Grady. “Okay, big guy. It’s your turn. Hop up on the table. I’ll be gentle with you. This won’t hurt a bit.”
“That’s what all the pretty ladies say.” All except Jensen, he thought. And he realized she was the one he wanted to hear it from.
But he did as he was told and opened wide when ordered. It took less than a second and he was finished.
Hannah turned to Jensen. “I understand you’ve got something from
your husband that has to go to the lab?” Hannah took off her disposable gloves, toed open the lid on the metallic trash can and tossed them in.
Jen pulled a plastic bag from her purse. “Here. It’s a lock of Zach’s hair. I found it in a scrapbook stored at my sister’s ranch.”
Hannah took it and nodded. “I’ll get all of these in the mail this afternoon—”
“In my experience results usually come back in about ten days if the lab’s not backed up,” Jen said.
“To be honest, I haven’t any experience with this sort of testing,” Hannah admitted.
Jen’s face tensed into her lawyer expression. “Look, Doctor—”
“Hannah, please.”
“Okay, Hannah. I’m going to be honest with you. There aren’t going to be any DNA surprises. But we want as much time as we can get to plan a strategy. Would it hurt anything to hold off mailing these samples till tomorrow? Or the next day—”
“Or the day after that?” Hannah asked, smiling.
Jen grinned. “I see we’re on the same page.”
“I know what’s going on,” the doctor admitted. “Normally I don’t make snap judgments about people, but Billy Bob Adams made my skin crawl. There’s no way he should get within ten feet of those girls. If I can help by sending those samples out by pony express, consider it done.”
“Thanks.” Jen glanced at Grady. “It’s quite obvious the woman is gifted.”
“Destiny gossip says Dev Hart thinks so, too,” Grady commented.
“We’re just old friends.” The color flooding the doctor’s face said something completely different.
“That’s what all the pretty ladies say.” Again he meant Jen. But they were definitely on different pages. He wanted more than friendship. “I better go get the girls. Thanks, Doc.”
They went out to the waiting room, where the twins were watching fish swim in the aquarium in the corner. When Grady and Jensen walked up behind them, the girls turned.
“Dad, Kasey and me been thinking…”
“A dangerous thing,” he said to Jen.
“Don’t make fun, Daddy,” Kasey said. “This is serious.”
“Okay.” He put on his thoughtful expression. “What have you been thinking?”
“First we have a question.”
“Shoot,” he said.
“It’s for Jensen.”
She stepped up beside him. “Shoot.”
Stacey adjusted her baseball hat. “Would we have a better chance of staying with our dad if he was married?”
In spite of the fact that her cheeks were pink, Jen met his gaze. One of his eyebrows rose in question. “I don’t know for sure,” she hedged.
“Guess,” they ordered her.
“Okay. I’d have to say with two single men wanting custody of you guys, one a biological relative, the other your dad in every way but—if he had a wife it would probably tip the scales in his favor.”
“That’s what we thought,” Stacey said. The two girls looked at each other and smiled. “We have the perfect solution, Daddy. You should marry Jensen.”
Chapter Nine
Jen looked from the satisfied expressions of the two little girls to the surprised yet amused face of their father, a peace officer who didn’t do a thing for her peace—of mind.
“I don’t quite know what to say,” she answered.
“That’s bad,” Grady commented. “A lawyer should never be at a loss for words.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Just say yes,” Stacey advised. “It’s not drugs or anything, so you don’t hafta say no.”
Grady O’Connor was like a drug and she was finding it harder every day to say no.
With difficulty, Jen concentrated. “Somewhere in that statement is logic. I’m just not sure where.”
“Oh, Jen,” Kasey said, clapping her hands together, “it’s brilliant.”
“Beyond brilliant,” her sister added.
“Your father hasn’t asked me,” she said, hoping that would put an end to the matter. Because the fact of the matter was he wouldn’t want her. Her stomach knotted. She couldn’t look at him, because she was afraid she would see in his eyes that she was right.
“But you love our dad, right?” Stacey asked. “Everybody in town loves our dad.”
The hits just kept on coming. “Your dad is a fine man, but I…we… It’s not that simple, girls. Two people shouldn’t get married unless they love each other. It’s the first, best and only reason.”
At that moment she glanced at Grady. He had the oddest expression on his face.
“Right, Sheriff?” she asked him.
“Right.” His tone lacked conviction.
She ignored him and looked at the girls. Bending to their eye level, she rested her hands on her knees. She decided to leave out the part where she hoped to prove that their uncle was unfit for fatherhood. Accentuate the positive.
“You guys have to trust me. It’s my job to convince the judge that staying with your dad is the best thing for you.”
“How?” Stacey asked.
“I need to show the court that he has wings, a halo and can walk on water.”
“Is that good?” both girls questioned, clearly confused by her choice of words.
“It means I’m practically a saint,” their dad explained.
Kasey blinked as her long bangs caught in her eyelashes. She brushed them aside. “How are you going to show the judge our dad is the best?”
Jen slid a glance to the self-satisfied lawman in question and made a mental note to get him a new hat—in a size that would accommodate his rapidly expanding ego.
“He’s the sheriff,” she pointed out, as if that explained everything. Two pairs of blank brown eyes stared back at her. “At the same time he’s running a flourishing ranch. He’s raising you girls by himself and doing a great job. You’re terrific. He’s a pillar of the community. So you see, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Right. For them. She, on the other hand, had a lot to worry about. She’d done such a good job convincing them their dad was the best thing since the electric light bulb, her own heart believed it too well. She was doing her best to resist him and failing miserably. But she could never mean as much to him as Lacey.
Jen knew her road to romance had dead-ended ten years ago. She hadn’t out-and-out-lied when asked if she loved their dad. Her officer-of-the-court status was intact. Barely. As far as falling for him, she was sliding out of control and trying to get a handhold to stop her descent. If she could just do that, she’d worry about climbing out of the pit later. Distance. She needed it now and the more the better.
“Let me walk you back to your office,” she said to him.
He nodded. “And I’ll walk you back to yours.”
So, the distance strategy needed some work. Whatever had possessed her to lease space next door to him?
He tapped each of his daughters on their turned-up, freckled noses. “Then I have to take these two to day camp at the park.”
Stacey looked at her twin. “Race you to the sheriff’s office.” She was gone before her sister could answer.
Kasey looked at Jensen, then Grady. “Daddy, I still think marrying Jensen is the best idea.” Then she took off after her sister.
Leaving Jen alone with their father.
“Well,” she said.
“Eloquent, yet deep.” The look on his face was so completely cute.
Distance. She needed to get away from him. Wait. She’d already realized proximity wasn’t the answer, since their offices were side by side. She was bound to run into him. Often. That left her only one alternative. Work. She needed work. And lots of it.
Jen glanced at the clock on her wall. Six forty-five in the evening. She turned off her computer, then rubbed her eyes. It was time to go home. Or rather to Taylor’s. Where her sister and Mitch were deliriously in love. Jen couldn’t be happier.
Or sadder. For herself. She really needed to find a place of her own.
She’d moved her things from her Dallas apartment and it was time to give Mitch and Taylor privacy. After all, they would be married soon.
As she stood and stretched, she looked through her office window at the couple outside on the walkway. Maggie Benson’s red curls were hard to miss. Not to mention Jack Riley, black-haired, blue-eyed hunk that he was.
When he noticed her, he waved, then opened her door. “Hey, Jen.”
“Jack,” she said, smiling. “How’s it going?”
“Never better.”
Maggie slid around in front of him. “Hi. Looks like you’re wrapping up for the day. Want to join us for dinner?”
“Where’s Faith?”
“Sleepover with a friend. What do you say? I’m dying to tell you all about our wedding plans.”
Jen groaned inwardly at the same time that she plastered a bright smile on her face. “Gosh, I sure wish I could. But…”
“Another time,” Jack said.
Subtle. But there was something completely endearing about a man who wanted alone time with the woman he loved.
“Yeah,” she said. “Hey, Jack? Anything yet on you-know-who?”
She almost felt guilty asking. The man had his hands full with a new computer business. She’d taken care of the paperwork for his purchase of It’s Geek To Me. He handled equipment and set up systems for large companies.
He shook his head. “Nothing that will help. One of the problems tracking him is he doesn’t seem to stay with one job very long. But so far he looks like a model citizen. I’m waiting for something to turn up on those prints. If it does, I’ll let Grady know.”
“Okay,” she said. “Have a nice dinner, you two.”
“Count on it,” he said, grabbing Maggie’s hand as he sent her a look so full of love it was almost painful.
The door closed and she was alone. As she straightened the files on her desk, she put the one marked “Adams vs. O’Connor” on top. Her stomach clenched. There couldn’t possibly be much time left. Four weeks was even more time than she’d hoped for. But—
As if the fates could read her mind, she glanced out her window and saw Hannah Morgan crossing Main Street. Dev Hart was with her, holding her hand. Jen knew that Hannah had turned down a lucrative offer from a Los Angeles pediatric practice to stay in Destiny with Dev, the man she’d loved since high school.
What If We Fall in Love? Page 10