“I guess we could do that.”
“Excellent.” Lucy grinned. “You know I love shopping!”
Laughing, Jillian followed her friend out of the shop, locking it behind her. If it made her a coward to be grateful she could put off facing Jesse for another day, she was willing to accept the label.
* * *
The following day, Jesse was back from Houston and felt like he’d been dragged behind the truck the whole way. He hadn’t had a decent hour’s sleep since the night he’d left Jillian. No matter what he did, she was there, in his mind, refusing to be ignored.
He’d believed he could step back from her. But clearly it was going to take longer than he’d thought it would. What he needed to do was keep busy. Lose himself in the ranch, the work.
“Yeah, because that’s working so well,” he muttered as he walked across the ranch yard toward the main house. It took everything he had to not grab his damn cell phone and call Jillian. He could tell himself that he just wanted to check in, make sure everything was all right. But the truth was, he just wanted to hear her voice.
He was still muttering when he opened the front door and stepped inside. Instantly, his sister called out, “Jesse? Is that you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, thank God.” She sounded irritated and impatient, but that wasn’t anything new for Lucy.
“Jesse…” Mac’s voice came as a plaintive wail that had him hurrying toward the great room.
“What’s going on?”
“Hi, Uncle Jesse!”
“Hi, kid,” he said, smiling at his nephew, playing with his trucks on the floor near his mother.
Lucy was sitting on the couch, a clearly unhappy Mac on her lap. His sister looked harried, Mac looked miserable and Jesse figured he looked confused.
“What’s going on?”
“Mac’s sick,” Brody offered, never looking up from his trains.
“Sick?” he echoed.
“Sick,” Mac whined.
“Come and take her,” Lucy ordered, even as Mac held up both arms and wailed his name again.
“What’s wrong with her? Where’s Jillian?” He scooped the little girl into his arms while he looked around the room as if half expecting the woman to pop into existence. He was disappointed when that didn’t happen.
“Jill had to work today,” Lucy said, sweeping both hands through her hair. “Since she’s quitting so soon after being hired, she felt bad about staying home with Mac and they were short-handed at the day care today, so she had to go in even though Mac’s sick…”
“What kind of sick?” he asked, taking a quick look at the tiny girl in his arms.
“Sick, Jesse,” Mac whined, laying her head on his shoulder.
Now that he was taking a good, hard look at her, he could see that her eyes were too bright and her cheeks were flushed. And a jolt of fear shot through him. “What’s wrong with her? Did you take her to the doctor? Should I?”
Lucy grinned. “Calm down, oh, rational one. She’s fine. She’s just got a little fever and she’s feeling pretty crappy.”
“Crappy,” Mac echoed.
“Oops,” Lucy said with a grimace. “Anyway, I told Mac I’d keep her here, but she’s been so restless, and all she wants is you.”
Both pleasure and panic shot through Jesse in a split second. Pleased that the child had asked for him, even though he had no clue what to do for a sick kid. He patted Mac’s back gently and felt his heart clench when she gave a tired sigh and snuggled in closer to him.
“You’re panicking and it’s not very attractive,” Lucy told him.
Jesse ignored that. “What am I supposed to do for her?”
“Just hold her and keep her comfortable.”
“Right.” How hard could that be? God, he really wished he’d had a little sleep in the last couple of days. “Okay, I’m taking her over to my place. I’ve got to get a shower and—” he broke off. How could he do that when he had to take care of Mac?
Lucy read his mind again. “Go on. I’ll ask one of the guys to carry the crib to your house. Just lay her down when you take a shower. Maybe she’ll sleep for you. She should be tired.”
“Tired,” Mac whimpered, and rubbed her eyes with a tiny hand.
“Okay sweetie,” he whispered, “we’ll go lay down.”
Lucy smiled at him. “Don’t look now, but you’re sounding like a Daddy.”
He fired a look at her. “Don’t get any ideas, Lucy. I mean it.”
“Oooh, your stern expression.” She held up both hands. “Color me terrified. Go. Go home. One of the guys will be there in a few minutes with the crib.”