His Best Friend's Wife (Bachelor Best Friends 2)

“Have you ever actually been to one of those places?”

“Well...no. But I’ve heard about them. Pizza and games, right? I can play some Skee-Ball with the kids.”

“Mmm.” Tate gave him a look that might have held a hint of sympathy.

Evan pushed himself to his feet. “I think I need some more iced tea. Want me to bring you a glass?”

Tate tossed Daryn a few inches in the air, catching her on a fit of giggles. “Yeah, sure, thanks.”

Carrying their empty glasses for the refills, Evan moved toward the kitchen. He heard the women talking as he approached, and he couldn’t help overhearing what they were saying. He held back a minute before entering, not wanting to interrupt.

“Tate is so cute with Daryn,” Renae remarked. “It’s obvious that she adores him. And vice versa.”

“You should have seen him when he first met her,” Kim confided in amusement. “He was terrified of her. So afraid he would do something wrong with her. He’d never been around babies much before.”

“He’s obviously gotten over that.”

Kim chuckled. “You could say he had an immersion course in child care. Daryn and I were sick and he had to take care of her on his own for a couple of days. We’re talking feverish, cranky baby with nausea and toxic diapers. And I couldn’t even crawl out of bed to help him.”

“Wow. That would be a challenge for anyone.”

“He handled it beautifully. And oddly enough—” Kim’s soft laugh held lingering incredulity “—he asked me to marry him that very weekend.”

Realizing abruptly that he was eavesdropping, Evan started forward. He stopped abruptly when he heard Renae say, “Tate’s one of a rare breed then. Seems like a lot of men like the thrill of a new romance, but they find the day-to-day grind of marriage and kids too repetitive and restrictive.”

“Ouch. Sounds like you’re quoting. Bad dates?”

“Something like that.”

Evan clinked the glasses together lightly then stepped through the doorway, saying as he entered, “Any more of that iced tea? Tate and I worked up a thirst out there.”

Kim moved immediately toward the fridge. Renae gave Evan a sharp look, which he met with a bland smile.

“You should come out here and see Daryn get across the living room,” he advised her. “She’s only been crawling for a month or so and she’s already starting to pull up on furniture. Cute as a little button. I’m betting Tate she’ll be full-out running in another month.”

Filling the tea glasses, Kim groaned heartily. “You guys and your bets.”

Evan smiled, unable to stop thinking about the things Renae had said.

Had she been talking about him? Or thinking back to Jason’s preparenthood cold feet?

What would it take to prove to her that he was fully prepared for the challenges inherent in joining a ready-made family?

Chapter Ten

Though he had thought himself prepared for the experience, Evan was overwhelmed by the sheer chaos of the arcade. Shouldn’t there be a limit on how many kids were allowed in one building? Because he figured there were almost enough to make the walls of the place bulge out—or maybe that was just the impression he got from the running, squealing, laughing, pushing and crying kids that were everywhere he looked.

“You did ask for this,” Renae reminded him after the first deafening fifteen minutes. She’d had to raise her voice to be heard over the din of children, bells, whistles and buzzers all underscored by shrill-voiced kiddie songs piped from hidden speakers.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod, watching the twins crawling through a clear plastic tunnel over his head. “It’s...interesting.”

Most of a pizza sat abandoned on the booth table where they had sat rather briefly after arriving. The bland pie hadn’t really appealed to Evan nor, apparently, to Renae. The kids seemed to like it okay, but they were much more interested in playing than eating.

They had accepted Evan’s presence with remarkable aplomb, considering they had met him only once before. They’d chattered away as if they knew him well, proving that both had inherited their father’s gregariousness. He’d kept up pretty well, though they tended to drop names of their friends and neighbors as if he was supposed to know everyone they did. Occasionally Renae supplied some information for him, but mostly she simply held back and left him to interact with them on his own.

A test, perhaps? If so, he thought he was doing pretty well so far.

He’d picked them up at their house. Lucy had been nowhere to be seen—he was quite sure she’d made a point to be gone when he arrived—but he hadn’t said a word about that. Renae had made sure the kids were safely strapped into the backseat of the pickup, and then he’d driven them all straight here.