Wife by Design

“Something tells me you both have.”

Her grin immediately reminded him of last night’s fantasy….

Voices floated in to them again. He recognized Darin’s. The other one was quite distinguishable, too.

“Maddie’s here?”

“Yeah.”

“Does she live with you?” It made sense, the two of them sharing a place. Since they both were employees. Other than Lila, whose apartment, he’d been told, was in the main building, Lynn and Maddie were the only two who lived at The Lemonade Stand full-time.

“No. She has her own bungalow in the first commons. But she tends to panic if she’s left along in the dark for too long, so there’s another woman, Gwen, who stays with her at night. Gwen has her own home, and is never here during the day. Her husband works nights. He drops her here on his way to work and picks her up on his way home every day.”

So Maddie was never completely unsupervised with her daughter. Other than maybe for lunch sometimes, he amended, remembering that afternoon and the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Maddie had promised the little girl.

But they hadn’t been heading toward the first commons….

Curious, he figured he shouldn’t ask questions, but he couldn’t help a raised brow. These women, their lives…they were unconventional, and yet they seemed to blend together perfectly.

“Gwen was a resident,” Lynn said, more forthcoming than usual as they stood in the hallway. He wasn’t sure why they weren’t going to collect Darin, but as long as his brother was engaged in a conversation that he seemed to be enjoying, Grant had no problem spending a few minutes alone with Darin’s beautiful nurse.

“Her first husband, her abuser, came after her a couple of times once she’d recovered, made a new life for herself and remarried. He’s been in jail, but is out again. Gwen was terrified to stay alone. Her husband, someone we all know here, didn’t want her to stay alone, and Maddie needed a life helper. It worked out for all of us.”

“So Gwen gets paid for her time here? This is her job?”

“The state pays a stipend for Maddie to have a companion. Gwen donates it to the shelter.”

“She works seven days a week?”

Lynn shook her head. “Five. Sunday through Thursday. On Fridays and Saturdays Maddie either stays here or at one of the other bungalows. She likes to have slumber parties with the younger girls and they seem to enjoy having her.”

Maddie laughed. Too loudly. As she did on occasion. Darin laughed, too, and he could hear Kara’s squeal. Maybe the slightly odd woman and her curly-haired imp had been invited for dinner.

Lynn still didn’t move toward them. And Grant leaned one hand on the wall behind her, not close enough to touch her, but closing them into a more intimate stance.

What he wanted to do was kiss her.

She hadn’t moved out the half circle he’d created around them. He’d left room for her to step back. Plenty of room.

He hadn’t forgotten the way she’d shied away the second he’d gotten too personal before, and he wasn’t about to blow any chance he had to be close to her before he even found out if he had a chance.

“I need to talk to you,” she said with a glance toward the other room.

He stepped back. What guy didn’t know those words were the kiss of death?

“Okay.” He’d come on too strong.

In his world, his behavior had been circumspect, but he had to remember that he wasn’t in his world here. The Lemonade Stand was a special place, almost a sacred place.

“Not now,” she said, looking again to the other room. “Can you come to my office on Monday before you start out in the yard?”

“We’re going to be here all day. Monday is the day my guys are coming to help lay the fountain.”

“I know. But you said it was okay to leave Darin alone with them. I’ll be in the office by seven.”

He didn’t want to wait that long.

But whatever she had to talk to him about, she clearly didn’t want his brother present. And Darin would be with him all day Sunday. Every Sunday. And every Saturday night. And Friday night. And any other time a man might ask a woman out on a date.