And that he was good with kids.

It was a challenge he hadn’t yet faced.

Mark, who was in jail awaiting trial for kidnapping, was out of the picture. Probably forever.

“You want to marry Tabitha? The new executive director of Don’t Forget Me? I was under the impression the two of you just met when you did interviews for the position. That you chose her because she’d been the parent of a missing child who found her son again.”

He hadn’t really interviewed anyone for the position. He’d lined up possible candidates for Tabitha to consider as her assistant. But he’d tell her about that later.

“I wasn’t just involved with helping her find Jackson. I’ve actually spent the past year with Tabitha,” he told his father as he headed toward the door. “She was my next door neighbor and helped me run the food truck.”

He wasn’t hanging around to chat. Right now he had a mission.

He’d finally figured out what it was and there was nothing...nothing...that was going to stop him from completing it.

For the first time in his life, he was driven from the inside out.

He hoped Tabitha was ready to deal with the results.

* * *

Tabitha took Jackson to work with her when she gave notice. She hadn’t planned to stay long, but they ended up spending more than three hours in the cafeteria as everyone came down to see him, a few at a time. And to talk to her. When they left, she had invitations stretching out until Christmas for get-togethers and gatherings. And she knew that leaving the hospital wasn’t going to be a goodbye. Her coworkers wanted to be in her life for the foreseeable future. And she was going to let them. She was not going to turn her back on love and friendship for fear of getting hurt. Being alone hurt more.

She noticed a new small black car in the driveway next door when she pulled into her garage. Probably a Realtor. Or maybe the new owner. If Johnny had put his house on the market, there wasn’t a sign in the yard yet. But he might have sold it himself. Whenever she went outside, she tried not to look over

there, dreaded seeing the proof that their time together was really over, but she’d known it would come.

“Ma! Ma!” Jackson was kicking his feet in the back, wanting out of his car seat. Unstrapping him, Tabitha tried not to think about that car. It looked expensive. Some kind of sports car. She wasn’t really up on them enough to know one from another.

Not many fancy cars in their neighborhood.

“I eat,” Jackson said, bouncing on her hip. She’d intended to take him straight into the house, but couldn’t resist opening the garage door again and taking another look at the black car. If a Realtor was over there, maybe she could find out what was going on. How Johnny was doing. If anyone was interested in the house.

“I eat,” Jackson said, more loudly, sticking his fingers into her hair. “Mama, I hungy. Hot dog!”

Her son knew his own mind. And had a healthy confidence in speaking it.

A man in an open dark trench coat and shiny black shoes stood on her front porch. His hair was short and her heart started to thud. Had Mark escaped from jail? Been released on bond? She’d been assured he’d be remanded without bail as he was clearly a flight risk. But...

The man turned and, for a second there, her breath stopped.

“Johnny?” His suit looked ungodly expensive. Superbly cut, it fit him to perfection.

He didn’t come down the steps. She didn’t go up them. Suddenly completely still in her arms, Jackson gaped up at Johnny.

“You said you have to believe to see,” he told her. “Well, sometimes you have to see to believe. See me? I’m here.” He leaned against the rail as though he didn’t care that it was leaving a mark on his perfectly pressed coat. Arms folded, he stared down at her.

“Why are you here?” If he had another job to offer her, she’d consider it, but with all the research she’d been doing, she had a feeling Don’t Forget Me was going to be a full-time venture and then some. She was itching to get started.

“I plan to stay here until you believe that I’m not leaving.”

She took a step closer. Had he been drinking? “Johnny, you can’t spend the rest of your life on my front porch.”

She hadn’t seen him in a month, was aching for his touch, and they were talking about her porch?

Jackson wriggled on her hip and she set him down. He knew not to wander far, but she didn’t have to worry. He went straight for the porch steps.

Johnny was watching as Jackson took hold of the rail and put one foot and then the other on the first step. He could make it up just fine, but Tabitha moved behind him anyway. She was still at the fear-of-something-happening-to-him stage.

Tags: Tara Taylor Quinn The Daycare Chronicles Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net