Page 47 of The Bachelor's Dilemma

The best time of the day was after she returned home. Being with Myles reminded her of the evenings she and Tom had shared. Preparing dinner together, talking about their days. But the aching sense of loss she’d experienced for the last year was easing.

Being with Myles brought out the best of being a couple, with none of the crushing reminders of her husband.

“Mommy.” Zack raced down the hall to greet her, flinging his arms around her legs as high as he could reach.

“Hey, sweet thing, how are you?”

Anna picked him up to hug, her eyes going to the tall man following him at a more sedate pace.

“Myles and me went to the park.”

“I know. He told me he was taking you there.”

Sharing the look with Myles felt right. When he was close enough, he leaned in and kissed her, then looked at Zack, still in his mother’s arms.

“Did you kiss Mommy?” Myles asked.

Zack kissed her, then smiled at Myles.

He struggled to get down, then ran back toward his room.

“I got a car. Wait till you see it,” he said.

Anna put her purse on the small table and took off her light jacket. “You bought him another toy? Honestly, where is he going to put them all?”

“Hey, a ball, a kite and a battery powered car are hardly going to force you to live elsewhere. Besides, I have as much fun with them as he does.”

“I know, two boys at heart.”

He pulled her into his arms and gave her a proper kiss.

“I may be a boy at heart, but around you, I feel all man,” he said a moment later.

Zack returned with his new car before Anna could respond. She admired his ability to drive the car, though it crashed into the wall a time or two.

Then she said, “I need to change clothes. Then who wants to help me with dinner?”

“Me and Myles. Me and Myles,” Zack shouted.

Anna laughed. But as she walked toward her room, she wondered how her son was going to react when, in a couple of months, Myles returned to work?

Would he keep in touch? She hoped so. She couldn’t imagine never seeing him again.

Once in casual clothes, she hurried out to the kitchen to start dinner.

Once Zack had been put to bed and it was just the two of them, Anna became quiet. She was getting too used to this arrangement. Zack wasn’t the only one who was going to miss Myles when he wasn’t around.

“How about showing me those pictures of Zack when he was younger?” Myles suggested when she walked into the living room.

“A great idea to a mother, but you’ll be bored after a while.”

“I doubt it,” he said.

He’d wanted to see the early pictures for days. He yearned to know all he could about Zack, from if he’d been a fussy baby to when he took his first steps. Surely Anna would enjoy sharing that.

She went to the bookcase and pulled out two bulging albums and carried them to the sofa.

Opening the first, she caught her breath as the memory hit. It showed her holding a bundled up Zack in front of the building where they all used to live. She remembered Tom had wanted to have a picture of Zack’s first home in case they moved later. Neither suspected Anna and Zack would move without Tom.

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