Starting Anew (Life Unexpected Book 3)

by Melanie D. Snitker

  Sitting in her car in the parking lot, she pulled her phone out and wrote a text to Nathan. “Hey, if it’s not too forward, could you send me your address? I thought I might bring dinner by for you guys.”

  It wasn’t long before he answered her. “That would be amazing. Thank you.” And he included his address.

  Lynn ran by the house for a few things before heading toward the burger place. She’d noted what both he and Mia were eating when she’d first run into them there. Figuring that was probably safe, she ordered the same thing for them, and a meal for herself as well to eat after she dropped theirs off.

  When she finally located Nathan’s home, she pulled her car beside his in the wide driveway and retrieved the food from the back seat.

  She’d barely knocked before he opened the door and ushered her inside with a tired smile. “Hey, Lynn. It’s really sweet of you to do this.” He closed the door behind them and cleared his throat. “Please ignore the house.”

  Lynn observed the living room. It was pretty cluttered, but it wasn’t dirty. Clearly Nathan normally kept the house pretty clean. When her gaze rested on him, she couldn’t help but notice the way the tips of his ears had turned red. He was adorable when he got embarrassed.

  “Are you kidding?” Lynn laughed as Mia toddled into the room and wrapped her arms around one of Lynn’s legs. “You’re keeping a small, sick person alive. Your house is impressive.”

  “Thanks.” He leaned down and scooped Mia into his arms. “Come on, you little monster. Are you hungry?”

  “It looks like she’s feeling better.” Lynn set the bag of food on the table and watched as Nathan got Mia into her high chair. “That’s great.”

  “Oh yes, she’s feeling better. She hasn’t had a fever since late last night. Unfortunately, I was up every hour checking her temperature, so I didn’t get much sleep. And she’s been up all day because apparently sleeping well last night means naps are unnecessary.” He yawned, a hand over his mouth. “Sorry.”

  Smiling, Lynn shook her head. “You have nothing to apologize for.” She laughed as Mia tried to grab the bag of food. Lynn started pulling things out for them and setting them on the table.

  Nathan blinked. “You ought to join us.” He glanced in the bag. “Did you not get anything for yourself?”

  “I did. I left it out in the car. I figured I would eat later when I got home.” She hadn’t expected to be at Nathan’s place long.

  “I don’t blame you if you’d rather get home after working and all. But if you’re so inclined, you are welcome to bring your food inside and eat with us.” The hope on his face was more than a little endearing.

  Besides, she’d forgotten another small bag in her car that she’d intended to bring in. No matter which way she decided, it was going to be a little awkward. She finally gave a nod. “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

  Nathan smiled with satisfaction and started to get Mia’s food ready.

  Minutes later, Lynn was back with hers and a small bag that she handed to Nathan.

  “What’s this?” When she nodded toward the bag, he opened it and pulled out the box of vitamin C powder and a package of chocolate chip cookies. “What’re these for?”

  “The cookies are because chocolate makes everything better. The vitamin C is so you can hopefully keep from getting sick, too, with your brother’s wedding just a couple days away. Trust me, I’m taking it daily myself right now for the same reason.” She leaned across the table and tapped Mia’s nose with a finger. “These little people can be quite the germ harborers.”

  That had Nathan laughing. “That’s the truth. Thank you, Lynn. We will have to open the cookies after we eat.” He gave her a wink.

  They settled into easy conversation as they ate, mostly talking about weather, how several of the other kids at the daycare center had been out sick, and who Nathan had gotten to cover his classes.

  “Have you asked your friend about coming to class a week from Saturday?” Nathan popped one more fry in his mouth before starting to clean up his wrappers.

  “You must be psychic. I just did this afternoon. Sharon needs to double check her schedule and make sure her husband doesn’t mind, but she thinks it would be fun to go together.” Lynn willed herself to not blush when he smiled and clapped his hands together.

  “That’s great! It’s always more fun to take classes with someone else. Is Sharon the lady at Little Lambs with the short, curly dark hair?”

  Lynn nodded.

  “She seems really nice. Has she and her husband been married long?”

  They chatted about random things for several more minutes while she and Mia finished their dinner. By then, Mia had ketchup on her hands and even more around her mouth. At the same time, Nathan had covered more yawns than Lynn could count. It was barely six o’clock. He probably had another hour or two before he could get Mia to bed.

  A thought came to mind, and she voiced it before taking the time to talk herself out of it.

  “Why don’t you let me clean this up, give Mia a bath, and then we’ll play for a while. You can go take a much-needed nap.”

  He immediately started shaking his head. “I couldn’t ask you to do that. You spent all day taking care of kids. I’m sure you’re more than ready to get home and rest yourself.”

  She might have been when she left Little Lambs. But right now, seeing Nathan so sleepy and drained, had her heart aching for him. No, she’d much rather help out here if she could. Besides, if he didn’t get rest, he was more likely to get sick. She pointed that out as she stood to extricate Mia from her high chair. “I’ve got this. Truly. Besides, Mia’s different.” The moment she said that, she realized it could mean so many things.

  If Nathan was wondering about it, he didn’t give any indication. At first he looked as though he might argue, but apparently the need for sleep overrode his objections. “Only if you’re sure. Because you’re right, I can’t afford to get sick. I’m going to set my alarm for an hour from now. If you need me before, just holler.”

  “You should try to sleep for an hour and a half,” Lynn suggested. “Mia and I will have fun. Won’t we, bug?”

  He nodded his agreement. “Thanks, Lynn.”

  “No problem. See you in a bit.” She watched as he retreated from the kitchen followed by the sound of a door closing.

  Lynn tickled Mia’s tummy. “Come on, bug. Let’s see if I can find everything we need to give you a bath. I’m pretty sure you are wearing more ketchup than you ate.”

  Later, as Mia splashed in a few inches of water in the bathtub, Lynn kept one hand on her as she prayed softly. “God, please help Nathan to rest well. Protect him from any illness so that he can attend his brother’s wedding. Keep Mia healthy now, and if You don’t mind, please keep me well, too, so I can watch Mia during the ceremony. Thank you for Your many blessings.” Lynn leaned forward and kissed Mia on the top of her wet head. “Amen.”

  She hadn’t heard a peep from Nathan. Hopefully the poor guy was sleeping peacefully. It was strange to see how she’d gone from telling Nathan she’d bring him food to caring for Mia while he slept in the other room.

  Her chest tightened as she tried not to think about how much the two of them were starting to mean to her.

  ~*~

  As Nathan awoke, it took several heartbeats to understand what time it was, and why he was asleep so late in the day. The next moment, his heart jumped into his throat as Mia came to mind. He’d leaped off the bed, ready to search for her, when he remembered that Lynn had volunteered to watch her so that he could sleep.

  A quick check with his phone told him the alarm was set to go off in five minutes. Wow, that hour and a half went by fast. He ran a hand over his face in hopes of wiping away the lingering fog from his nap.

  He heard the muffled murmur of voices coming from the other room and followed them. In the living room, he found Lynn sitting on the floor with Mia nearby. They’d taken the set of five large, colorful blocks and were putting items o
f the same color on top of each.

  Mia just placed a plastic orange on top of the matching block when she spotted him. She waved. “Da!”

  To Nathan, it still felt like yesterday when she’d started to say his name. It never ceased to give him joy.

  “Hi, Mia.” He joined the girls on the floor. “Have you been good for Miss Lynn?” He turned his attention to the woman who’d gone beyond kindness to do him not one big favor, but two.

  She smiled at him then, and there was something about her hanging out in his living room, playing with Mia, that made it way too easy to imagine she belonged there with them. Especially when Mia climbed into her lap and put her chubby arms around Lynn’s neck. Nathan was pretty sure his heart melted into a puddle right then and there.

  “She’s been a sweetheart,” Lynn assured him as she patted the little girl’s back. “She’s all cleaned up, we’ve done a lot of playing, and she’s starting to slow down a little. With any luck, she’ll be ready for bed soon and maybe you can relax a bit this evening.”

  The woman was seriously a miracle worker. After his nap, Nathan felt better than he had for a couple of days. “I can’t thank you enough, Lynn. We both appreciate you.”

  “It’s no problem. I was happy to help. Besides, I missed this little bug’s hugs.” She got to her feet, Mia still in her arms. “You be good to your daddy tonight, huh? And I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Mia squirmed, so Lynn set her back down on the floor. “I’m going to get out of your hair. Not to mention Thai is probably ready to tear my house apart out of boredom.”

  Her kitten. Nathan had nearly forgotten about him. He wondered if he’d ever have the opportunity to see her place and meet the kitten that had Lynn sneaking around her house with a rolling pin. “We definitely don’t want him to do that.” He checked to make sure Mia was staying out of trouble before walking with her to the front door where she’d left her things.

  Lynn picked them up and turned to face him again. The moment she lifted her chin and her pretty hazel eyes to him, he leaned in a little. The need to put his arms around her and kiss her was nearly overwhelming.

  His gaze traveled to her lips for a moment before focusing again on her face. She swallowed hard, shifted her weight to her toes, and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. It was so brief, he might have imagined it if it weren’t for the way his skin zinged from the contact.

  “Stay well, Nathan. Good night.”

  With that, she let herself out. Nathan stood in the doorway and watched as she got in her car and pulled away. That’s when it dawned on him.

  He was falling in love with Lynn Crosby.

  Chapter Eight

  With the last of Brooke’s furniture loaded into the moving truck, Nathan checked on Mia in the play yard in the shade beneath the tree. Brooke kept the play yard at her house for when she watched Mia on Saturdays. It would be the last thing loaded into the U-Haul. Most of her things were taken over to the house she’d share with Chess after the wedding tomorrow except for necessities she needed to live for the last two weeks.

  “Where did you say the girls went?”

  Chess sat on the moving truck’s bumper. “To do girl things, I guess. Anna insisted Brooke needed to get her nails done, have her hair trimmed. Who knows what else. Brooke was looking forward to it all week.” He grinned. “I’m real glad this wedding is a small one. Take it from me—when you decide to get married, make sure she likes small weddings, too.”

  “I’ll add that to the questionnaire I give out to all my potential spouses.” Nathan joined him on the bumper, glad to sit down for a few minutes. His mind immediately flew to Lynn for the hundredth time in the last couple of days. “Are you telling me that if Brooke wanted a big, fancy wedding, you’d have called it off?” He was only teasing because he knew full well that Brooke had Chess wrapped around her little finger.

  Chess laughed loudly, his deep voice snagging Mia’s attention. She smiled big in response. “Nah. I’d marry her anyway. But the small wedding is certainly a bonus.” He shook his head. “A lot has changed since I was helping you move into your place last year, hasn’t it?”

  Nathan remembered that well. He was still getting to know his new-found brother. The decision to leave his home in Florida and move to Texas had been a big one, but he hadn’t regretted it once. “It sure has.” He turned to find Chess giving him a curious look. “What?”

  “How are things going with Lynn? You’ve talked non-stop about her for weeks, and you haven’t said a word about her today.”

  “I didn’t realize you were keeping track.” When Nathan’s comment was met with silence, he sighed. “I care about her, Chess. More than I should. But it’s complicated.”

  “Are you in love with her?”

  Nathan stood from his spot on the bumper. “It could easily happen if I let myself. But there’s a lot I don’t know about her, and I’m not sure why she’s reluctant to talk about it. After Mia’s mom—”

  “—who was nothing like Lynn.”

  “—I just don’t think I could handle watching someone else walk away from Mia.”

  “Or you.” Chess nodded slowly. “I get that. But you deserve the chance to grow old with someone, and Mia deserves to have a mother who cares about her.”

  They both knew how rare it was to have both parental figures in their lives, and what it was like to grow up without them, or with an unhealthy family life in general.

  Nathan wanted nothing more than for Mia to have a mom she could go to for help. Someone to teach her and reach her in ways that Nathan would never be able to. But how was he supposed to know that Lynn was the one? That any woman was the right one?

  “I’ve got a lot of baggage I’d be bringing into a relationship. I’m not sure how good of an idea that is.” Sure, he’d already told her about a lot of it. But there was a difference between listening to someone chat about his life, and being a part of what that past meant.

  “It sounds like she’s got some baggage of her own, too.” Chess said with a knowing voice. “I think we all do. It just matters how much of it we carry around with us compared to that which we’ve left behind. The baggage you say you’d be bringing? You left most of that back in Florida.” Chess gave his younger brother a pointed look. “There’s no sense in dredging it out of the past and adding it to what you have to carry now.”

  He wasn’t wrong. “I hope I’m that smart when I’m as old as you are.”

  Chess shoved Nathan. “Being the brother with both the good looks and the smarts is a responsibility I’ll just have to shoulder.”

  “Right. Dream on, dude.” Nathan laughed for several moments before sobering again. “So, you think I should go for it with Lynn?”

  “I can’t tell you that. But I do know that I’m thankful every day for what Brooke and I have. If you think there’s even a chance that you could find that with Lynn, you owe it to yourself to try.”

  Nathan nodded slowly. “Thanks, Chess.” He tried to fight back a smile. “For the record? You might have been born with the smarts, but the good looks are debatable.”

  Laughing together, they closed up the truck and got ready to take everything over to Chess’s house. Nathan was glad for the distraction because he wasn’t sure what to do about Lynn. What if he told her he was interested in her and she ran for the hills?

  He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize Chess and Brooke’s wedding. Which meant everything needed to stay the same with Lynn through Saturday. After that? Nathan had a feeling he’d be doing a lot of praying between now and then.

  ~*~

  There weren’t many guests attending the wedding. Maybe thirty at most. But Lynn’s fear of being recognized by some random stranger was very real. That’s when being in charge of an adorable baby was one of the best things that could happen. People saw Lynn with Mia in her arms, and all comments were directed toward the girl.

  If someone did address Lynn, they often asked how she knew the family. It was easy to say tha
t she kept Mia during the day while Nathan was working. That seemed to satisfy everyone, allowing Lynn to avoid any further questioning.

  She glanced at the clock on the wall of the sanctuary where all the guests were gathered. They had about ten minutes left before the wedding was scheduled to begin.

  Armed with a bag full of snacks and toys, Lynn and Mia had been directed to the row of chairs at the very front. Mia might not remember her uncle’s wedding, but at least she’d grow up knowing she was there to witness it.

  Mia sat in the chair next to Lynn, a busy board book on her lap. She seemed content to raise and lower flaps for the time being.

  There were plenty of people passing by them, but it wasn’t until someone stopped and crouched down in front of Mia that Lynn raised her gaze. Nathan smiled back at her.

  “How are you two pretty ladies doing?”

  He was probably just being polite, but his compliment still made Lynn’s cheeks warm. She’d spent hours with Sharon trying to choose the right dress to wear. She’d worried about showing up to the wedding and being too fancy. Or not fancy enough. Thankfully, she seemed to blend right in with the rest of the guests.

  Whether he really meant the compliment or not, she didn’t know how to respond. So she chose to update him on his daughter.

  “Mia’s doing well. Aren’t you, bug?”

  The little girl babbled something Lynn couldn’t quite decipher.

  Lynn took in Nathan’s black suit, white shirt, and tie. The guy sure did clean up well. In fact, it was a struggle not to stare. Especially right now when he kept watching her, a sweet smile on his face, and his piercing blue eyes drawing her in.

  She mentally shook herself. “Shouldn’t you be with the groom?”

  “I’m going back again, but I wanted to make sure you two were okay. If anything comes up, just wave me over. Seriously.”