An Unexpected Christmas Baby (The Daycare Chronicles 2)

“The stroller has zip-up plastic walls and I’ve got a hat that completely covers her ears. And blankets.”

He also had to tell her about the restraining order.

If they were going to move forward after her work at Owens Investments was done.

“So you hardly had a chance to talk to Mallory yesterday at the dinner, huh?” she asked out of the blue.

“There was another single father there, one she’s apparently gone out with a time or two. While I like your friend, I had absolutely no interest in butting in where I clearly didn’t belong.”

“Would you have wanted to butt in if the other guy hadn’t been there?”

Was she jealous?

Was it wrong of him to be smiling at that thought?

“If he hadn’t, there wouldn’t have been anything to butt into.”

“Would you have asked her to the tree lighting if he hadn’t been there? And the two of you had spent more time talking?”

“I just learned about it this morning,” he told her. “I happened to see a sign on the way to work. If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to, Tamara. I’m not pressuring you. I’m just asking.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go...”

The problem was Diamond. He understood. So much more than she thought.

“She’ll be in her stroller the whole time,” he said. “And if there’s an issue, I’ll take her back to the car and handle it.”

“Don’t you think this seems more like a date?”

“It’s whatever you and I decide it is. Just like our lunches. And dinners. Do you think it’s too much like a date?” Maybe he was putting on some pressure, after all.

Maybe it was time.

“No. You’re right, Flint. I’m making excuses.”

“You don’t have to go.”

“I want to...” She sighed, hesitating.

“Then come with us.”

“I’m scared.”

“I know.” He could support her. He couldn’t take away her battle. Or fight it for her.

“Okay.”

“You’ll come?”

“What time?”

“It’s about an hour’s drive, so I’m guessing around five, being flexible in that I want to have Diamond freshly changed and fed right before I swing by to get you.” He knew she owned a bungalow by the beach. He’d yet to be invited there. And he didn’t even have the address.

“I’ll meet you at your house,” she said. “It’s easier that way.”

He’d prefer to deliver her safely to her door when they got back, but let it go. She needed to be in control of her destiny. He was good with that.

And good with life in general, too. There would always be roadblocks. It was how he handled them that defined him.