The Mommy Plan
Page 12
“Tiffany’s first instinct was to ask the doctor if it was too late for an abortion.” He squeezed her fingers.
Rachel’s mouth gaped open for a moment, then she snapped it shut. “I…I don’t know what to say.”
“Neither did I.”
“Obviously you managed to convince her otherwise.”
“Yes, thank God.” He couldn’t imagine life without the child who’d stolen his heart from the moment he’d first found out about her existence. Even at the ultrasound that had revealed the defect, he’d seen her—a baby sucking her thumb—as his child, counting on him to make everything right for her. “But Tiffany didn’t understand unconditional love. All she understood was that our baby ended up getting far more attention than she did, and that it was hard work to spend your days at a hospital bedside.”
“So she left you and Molly?”
James nodded.
“Her loss.” The vehemence in the normally soft voice surprised him. “Molly is a wonderful child, and I can’t imagine how a mother could turn her back on any child, let alone one with such a sunny personality. Does she have visitation rights?”
“Only on paper. She lives in California now and doesn’t have time for her daughter. Molly’s lucky to get a card on her birthday and Christmas.”
“That’s awful.” Genuine concern filled her expression. “Your daughter is a special kid, James. She’s lucky to have you for a dad. And your ex obviously got out of line when they were handing out maternal instincts. God, I’d give anything…”
Candlelight glinted off the tears welling up in her eyes. She withdrew her hand, tossed her napkin onto the table and gathered up her purse. “I have to go to the ladies’ room. If you’ll excuse me…”
He rose to his feet with her and laid a restraining hand on her arm. “Don’t be gone too long. I’ll be lonely without you.”
Eyes downcast, she nodded.
“And I will come in there after you, if necessary.”
She glanced up at him through her long lashes, mouth still clenched in a tight line, and nodded again. Shrugging off his hand, she strode quickly across the restaurant. Several other diners, particularly the men, looked up as she passed their tables. A quick stab of jealousy pierced him.
I’ll be lonely without you? He sank back down into his chair. And jealousy? What the hell was that all about?
CHAPTER TEN
“WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY’RE doing on their date?” Molly asked Cherish, as they both leaned over the baby in the middle of the bed. Molly reached out and tickled his foot.
“Having dinner, I guess. I mean, that’s what they went for.”
Tyler cooed at them, making spit bubbles.
“Eewww, look at that!” Molly wrinkled her nose. “Slobber is dripping down his neck.”
Cherish laughed. “Beats it dripping down your neck, which happens if you’re holding him.” She took a cloth from a nearby bag and wiped him.
Tyler turned his head away and screamed.
Molly’s mouth dropped open. “Wow. He’s pretty loud, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, he sure is.”
The baby made his hands into fists and squished up his face, turning bright red. He grunted.
“Oh, no.” Cherish moved to the doorway. “Mom? Come get dribble-puss. He’s making a present for you.”
A horrible smell drifted from Tyler, who suddenly stopped squirming, relaxed and looked a whole lot happier. “Oh, man!” Molly pinched her nose shut. “How can something so small smell so bad?”
Cherish’s mom came into the room and picked up the baby and the diaper bag. “You get used to it.”
Molly exchanged a glance with her best friend, who also pinched her nose shut and shook her head.
“You do not,” Cherish whispered as her mom left the room with the baby. “That’s the worst part about him.”
Molly let go of her nose and sighed. “I still say you’re lucky. I wish I had a baby brother.” She threw herself down on Cherish’s bed.
“First you need a new mom for that.”
“I know. And that’s probably never going to happen.”
“Don’t be so sure. My mom always said she’d never get married again, but she did.” Cherish picked up a cotton ball from her dresser and dumped some alcohol on it, dabbing at her ears. Her pierced ears.
Something else Cherish had that Molly didn’t stand a prayer of getting. “I wonder how Dad’s doing with Miss Rachel? Is he acting like a dork? Do you think he’ll kiss her?”
“Maybe. I dunno.”
Molly rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin in her palms as she watched Cherish finish caring for her ears. “Do you think they could end up like people in the movies—you know, fall in love and get married?”
“Then you’d have an evil stepmother like Cinderella had?”
Molly giggled. Sometimes they joked about Nolan being the big, bad, evil stepfather, but really he was a great guy and Cherish loved him. “No, goof. I mean like we get to be a real family and we all live happily ever after. I’d have a mom to do things with, like makeup and stuff. Dad freaks out if I even want to polish my nails.”
Her wristwatch beeped and Molly rolled off the bed. “Meds time.”
Out in the living room, the phone rang.
“How much you wanna bet that’s my dad, checking up on me?” Molly headed for the door with Cherish behind her.
“No way. I’d lose, for sure.”
“We need to catch more fireflies tonight, Cherish. I need more than a distraction for my dad. I need to wish for a new mom to help permanently.”
A new mom who didn’t mind a transplant kid and liked water balloon fights.
A new mom like Miss Rachel.
“CAUGHT YOU,” RACHEL SAID as she slipped back into her chair.
James returned the cell phone to its holder on his belt loop before he looked over at her. Her eyes were slightly puffy and tinged with red, but otherwise she looked fine. “Caught me what?”
“You were checking up on Molly, weren’t you?”
“Guilty.”
Rachel tsked and shook her head. “Don’t you trust your friends to take care of her? How is she?”
“She’s fine. Annoyed that I called, but fine.” He studied her intently for another minute. “What about you?”
“Me? I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Do I need to give you a list? Do I need to remind you again about keeping things bottled inside?” While she’d been gone, he’d asked the waitress to postpone bringing their food, until he was certain she was going to be able to handle it. Knowing how important maintaining her composure was to her, he didn’t think falling apart in Giordano’s Italian restaurant would be good for her.
He wasn’t going to be much good for her, either, if he couldn’t keep his mind off how much he wanted to sweep her into his arms, kiss her into a stupor, and then make love to her.
“You’re nothing if not persistent, Dr. McClain.” She fussed with the napkin on her lap.
“Don’t call me that. I know how you feel about my profession, and besides, I told you, I’m off duty tonight. Tonight I’m just James, out on a date with a pretty lady who I already consider a friend. And I wish she’d feel the same about me.”
A slight smile touched her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes and barely activated the smile lines around the corners of her mouth. “You could never be just James.”
“No?”
“No. You’re too special to be just anything.”
An intoxicating rush stormed him that had nothing to do with the glass of merlot he’d been sipping. Special. She thought he was special.
He was treading deeper water than he’d expected. Hormones and lust were a helluva lot safer.
Because he thought she was pretty special, too.
He cleared his throat. “Thanks.” A ringing cell phone saved him from anything further on that topic line. A brief flash of panic dissipated as he realized it wasn’t his.
When no one answered her, Rachel looked at the caller ID. Blocked number. She stabbed the off button. A quiver ran along her spine.
“Who was it?” James asked.
She shrugged. “Nobody, I guess.” She stuffed the phone back into her pocketbook, unable to shake the feeling that it had been Roman.
She glanced around the restaurant. “Where’s our waitress? I’m starving.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” James signaled the waitress. “Now, why don’t you tell me what brought you to Camp Firefly Wishes?”
Rachel grappled momentarily with the decision to tell him, then shared the story of Jerry and her father “encouraging” her to attend the camp.
His eyes never left her face. If nothing else, the man was a great listener—but then it went with his job.
Didn’t it?
The waitress arrived, setting plates of steaming lasagna in front of them and replacing their empty glasses with full ones. The scent of sauce mingled with garlic from the bread wafted to Rachel’s nose and she forced down the overwhelming sense of dread that accompanied the smell.
She straightened her spine and firmly grasped her fork, poising it over the plate. “Okay, I can do this.” She glanced across the table. Did she dare ask him? The delightful teasing they’d engaged in earlier certainly would help make the food go down a lot easier. Besides, teasing and flirting didn’t mean she was about to jump into bed with him.
“Where’s that other stimulus you promised? The pleasurable one?”
One side of his mouth curved slowly upward. “We’re not alone, but I’ll see what I can do.” He took her left hand and turned it palm up on the red-and-white-checked tablecloth. His fingertips traced swirling patterns over the sensitive skin, wandering up over her wrist, back to her palm, to the ends of her fingers.
Rachel closed her eyes and sighed. It had been so long since she’d been touched in any way, not counting hugs from children. She craved adult human contact. His contact especially, she realized with a jolt.
The scent of lasagna grew stronger and she opened her eyes to see James holding a loaded fork. “You ready for this?”
She opened her mouth, and he eased the food in.
Her heart thudded against her chest, and her throat threatened to close off, preventing her from swallowing. She shut her eyes again and prayed not to embarrass herself.
The fork clattered onto the plate and James moved closer, his fingertips leaving her hand and slipping onto her thigh beneath the edge of the tablecloth. Warmth caressed her ear as he spoke softly. “I still don’t know what that pleasurable image was you pictured earlier, but I’m game for later if you are.”
The image returned, only this time with far more detail: skin-to-skin contact between their naked bodies; James’s sensual mouth lingering over her lips, her breasts, her…
A wicked, wonderful sensation crawled over her.
In an effort to clear the lump in her throat, she swallowed the lasagna without tasting it. She opened her eyes to find him watching her intently. “You’re game for later? Isn’t that kind of risky without knowing what I pictured? What if my image involved tying you up and having my wicked way with you?”
Heat flared in his eyes, and he grinned at her. He tightened his fingers around her leg. “A man can always hope.” His eyebrows moved up and down and a rich chuckle rumbled in his throat. “But you don’t strike me as a dominating type.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “And I’m usually pretty perceptive about those kinds of things. Personality assessment goes with my job.”
“So how do I strike you?” She accepted another mouthful of food from him.
“You strike me as a very sensual, sexy lady, someone whose idea of pleasure would be my pleasure to indulge.”
Sexy? He thought she was sexy?
Even Roman’s seduction had been more or less the result of a self-challenge to see if he could corrupt Miss Goody Two-shoes. And he’d made it plain a few months into their marriage that he’d found her boring in the bedroom, that even his expert tutelage couldn’t make her into something she wasn’t. One of her acts of defence after the divorce was to buy herself a whole new set of lingerie.
“I see doubt in those beautiful blue eyes,” James said, offering her more food. “I mean it. You became one of my fantasies the moment we met.”
“Fantasy?” she managed to choke out. “Really?”
He pressed his lips together tightly, as though suppressing a grin, and nodded. “With Molly and work, I have neither the time nor inclination these days for much more than fantasy. And, lady, let me tell you, if the reality is half as good…” His eyes darkened, and his cheeks flushed.
She felt pretty flushed herself.
No one had ever fantasized about her before.
The reflection of the candlelight in his eyes illuminated a smoldering that had nothing to do with the flickering flame.
Oh, yeah. Her initial assessment of him had been right. Trouble. And for once, inviting trouble didn’t seem such a bad idea.
THE FIREFLY FLICKERED as it flew off into the darkness, and Molly shut her eyes tight and wished again. Hard. The same wish she’d made five times already.
Please, please, let my dad fall in love with Miss Rachel so she can be my new mom.
“Here.” Cherish dropped into the dirt alongside the bottom porch step where Molly sat, and handed her another plastic cup. “I got three more.”
“Okay, thanks.” The cling-wrap lid crinkled as Molly set the fireflies free and wished again. Only one of the fireflies didn’t blink his tail light.
“You wanna do something else now? I’m tired of catching fireflies.”
“You think that’s enough wishing?” Molly stuffed the plastic wrap down into the cup. “I really want to be sure it takes.”
“Heck, yeah. Hey, at your birthday you only get one wish. I think you’re ahead.”
“All right. What should we do now? Wanna go play with your mom’s makeup?”
“Nah.” Cherish rose to her feet and brushed dirt from her shorts. “I know. Let’s go spy on my mom and Nolan.”
Molly giggled. “Think we’ll catch them kissing again?”
“Probably. They can’t keep their hands off each other. At this rate, I’m going to end up with a bunch of brothers and sisters. Maybe next time it’ll be a girl.”
“Eewww. I still can’t imagine anyone actually doing…you know…that. Gross.” Molly followed Cherish around the front corner of the cabin, bumping into her when her friend stopped suddenly.
Cherish clamped her hand over her mouth, but laughter came out around the edges until she drew in a deep breath and snorted. She bent over, trying hard to smother the noise.
“What’s so funny?” Molly whispered.
“You. You want your dad to fall in love with her, you want a baby brother or sister. How do you think you’re going to get one? Jeez, grow up.”
Molly poked Cherish in the side. “I’m trying to. Dad doesn’t even know that I know where babies come from.”
“Yikes. Don’t you dare tell him I told you.” Cherish put her finger across her lips and waved for Molly to follow her. They snuck around to the back of the cabin, peeking around the corner toward the blazing fire in the pit. Cherish’s mom and Nolan were cuddled together in a double folding chair, his arm draped around her shoulder.
“You can’t blame him, Michelle. It’s been a long time.”
“I know. It’s just that…” Cherish’s mom sighed. “I don’t know. On the one hand, I feel badly for Rachel. I mean, I’ve faced the fear of what happened to her. I know she needs someone to love her, maybe even another child, something to help fill the hole in her heart.”
A tingle ran across the back of Molly’s neck. Miss Rachel needed another child? Cool. They both needed each other. Her wish could help them both.
“But
I’m also worried about James. He doesn’t need the complications this woman could introduce into his life. And Molly’s.”
Nolan nuzzled Cherish’s mom’s hair. “Can’t you accept that he just wants to have some summer fun?”
“James doesn’t believe in casual fun.” She emphasized the last word.
Molly stifled a giggle. That was the truth. She loved him to pieces, but fun wasn’t exactly Dad’s big thing.
“So, maybe it’s about time he learned. He’s a big boy, ’Chelle, so just smile and stop thinking about it.”
“I suppose you’re right. It’s just I know how much Tiffany hurt him, and I don’t want to see him get hurt again.”
“You can’t wrap him in Bubble Pak the way he tries to do with Molly. Pain is an unfortunate part of life, something we all have to deal with from time to time. He just needs to live a little. Maybe if Jim learns that, he’ll lighten up on his daughter.”
In the dark shadows of the cabin’s edge, Molly’s eyes widened. She hadn’t known Nolan was on her side about that kind of thing.
“How he raises Molly is his business, Nolan.”
“And so’s his love life, ’Chelle.” Nolan pulled Cherish’s mom into his arms. “I’d rather concentrate on our love life.”
“There they go again,” Cherish whispered into Molly’s ear as Nolan kissed her mother.
“Don’t they ever, like, bump teeth or something?” Molly angled her head for a better view. Sure beat watching kissing scenes in the movies.
“Nah, they’ve had plenty of practice.”
Molly tried to imagine her dad kissing Miss Rachel in the same way. Would he ask her medical history first? Maybe spray her with disinfectant spray? Force her to gargle with Listerine to kill the germs? She giggled.
The kissing couple broke apart and Cherish’s mom glanced over the back of the chair in their direction. “Girls? Are you over there?”
Cherish elbowed Molly in the ribs. “Now you’ve done it.”
“All right, you two, show yourselves. I know you’re over there.”
“Uh, yeah, Mom, we just didn’t want to disturb you.” Cherish led Molly to the fireside.