Page 38 of Her Summer Hope

It wasn’t a complete lie. He used to be one.

“Well, that sounds like good, safe work at least,” he said and she felt her chest tighten. He’d meant it to be comforting. He couldn’t know.

“Yeah,” she said smiling uneasily.

“Do you want me to drive you home? Are you okay to drive?” he asked, staring at her.

“I’m fine. It’s just a bruise,” she promised with a little smile. “I didn’t break my leg.”

She got to her feet and he did as well. She handed him the ice pack. He took it carefully without touching her. In fact, he made sure to put distance between them.

She felt bad. Was it because she was lying to him yet again? Was it because she was on the receiving end of his compassion and knew that she didn’t deserve it?

She wanted to bring them back to their easy companionship.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in plenty of time to feed you guys.”

“You better or we might have to put together a mission to steal you away for a few hours. The guys would have absolutely no qualms about it either,” he promised, but it lacked his earlier openness.

“That might be harder than you think,” she assured him.

She had a mental image of the guys showing up to kidnap her and ending up having to pack up the kids, the diaper bag, the playpen, and Em’s car seat. She smiled at it.

“I think we could handle anything you could throw at us.”

Four kids? My kids? Highly debatable.

She laughed. “Maybe.”

They walked into the now-empty kitchen. “You met Jimmy?” he asked suddenly. “I meant to introduce you but it completely slipped my mind.”

She tightened her lips. “Yeah, we met.”

He caught the microexpression and frowned. “Was he polite?”

She smiled ruefully. “Polite?”

He laughed. “Was he respectful, at least?”

“Aside from questioning my food pairings and general money management skills, yes.”

“Money management?” he asked, perplexed.

“I saw no need to go buy more ingredients when I can cook a perfectly good meal with what we have on hand,” she explained. “I’ve never been extravagant, and I intend to be a frugal employee.”

“Ahh, the lack of cabbage,” he remarked, crossing his arms.

“Exactly.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” he reassured her. “Just ignore him and go on the way you have been doing. If you need something from the store just write it down. We have a generous food budget and I trust you.”

The words were like a knife to her chest. He trusted her.

Chapter Ten

Kyle

Madison was hiding something.

---