Page 3 of This Baby Business
“No. I’m fine. Okay, let’s start over. I’m Levi Lambert, your next-door neighbor.” He stuck out his hand and shook hers.
“Carly Gilmore.”
“I’m in a bind this morning. My sitter Annie, well, she ran off and got married yesterday and forgot to tell me about it. So…she’s not coming.”
“Annie. Yeah. That was not a wise choice.”
“You’re telling me. I’m new in town, and one of my friends recommended her.”
“Yes, she’s sweet but unreliable.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure how I can help you.”
A little worried that his cute neighbor might have been dropped on her head as a baby, and not encouraged by that possible fact, Levi took a deep breath. “Could you maybe just fill in for her today? I’m a pilot at Mcallister Charters, and I’m about to be late for a flight.”
“Me? You wantmeto watch your baby?”
“Don’t you hand out baby advice? So you have children, right?”
She didn’t have a ring on her finger but in his experience that didn’t mean she wasn’t married. Or she could be a single mom.
At this, she went a little pale then gave him a tight smile. “I…I know a lot about babies, yes, of course. I’m what you would call an expert.”
“Wow. This is my lucky day. If you could watch Grace just for a while, I’d be so grateful. I’ll try to come home early, too, right after my flight, if I can arrange it.”
“B-but where’s her mother?”
Levi always hated this part, and the pity that flashed across people’s faces. He didn’t want or deserve their pity. “She passed away.”
Cute Carly drew in a sharp breath, and sympathy flashed in her eyes right on cue. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. It’s just the two of us.”
She shifted from one leg to another. “Well, okay. I can help you, since I’m a baby expert and all. Plus, I don’t want you to think that I’m not neighborly, because I am. But just today!”
Levi let his shoulders unkink and carried Grace’s car seat inside. He set it down on the hardwood floor of the entryway and handed her the diaper bag he’d packed.
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
“Here.” She handed him a scrap of paper and a pen. “Write down your phone number so I can reach you.”
He gave her his cell phone number and also the number for Mcallister Charters and Magnum Aviation. And the local hospital. And poison control. He had all of them memorized. He also got Carly’s phone number, then with one last kiss on Grace’s sweet forehead, he headed out the door.
Levi climbed in his truck, where he studied his neighbor’s house for a moment. Like his rental, it was a small tract home. Unlike his house, she had rows of colorful flowers lining the front yard and several others in pots hanging from the eaves. Fit right in with this older residential neighborhood. He made a mental note that he should probably buy some of them flowers at some point if he was going to stay in the rental. Grace should grow up in a home that reflected some kind of femininity. Not that she wouldn’t play sports with the boys if that’s what she wanted, and of course he prayed that she did, because he could help her with that.
Should he go back and get his baby and rethink this whole thing? He tended to reconsider every one of his decisions thanks to Sandy’s parents. One false move on his part, one mistake, and he might give them ammunition. The last thing he wanted was a long, protracted legal battle he couldn’t afford.
But the warmth in Carly’s eyes when she’d heard about Grace’s mother told him she was compassionate. Kind. Maybe he’d assumed too much and far too easily, but he had a good sense of people, and it hadn’t failed him yet. No. This was good.
He started his truck and headed to the airport.
CHAPTER2
Carly
From a shortdistance, I had definitelynoticedmy new neighbor. Once when I’d had the day from hell. But up close and personal, the way he’d been on my doorstep this morning, he was a blend of tall and built, with a bad-boy charm that scrambled with my brain. He had deep and dark blue eyes that promised the fun kind of trouble, sun-kissed dark blonde hair and a cleft in his chin that made him ridiculously gorgeous. I was grateful for a small scar through his left eyebrow that at least kept him from being prettier than me.
I’d done a doubletake on the baby because, really? Some woman had tamed this dude and made him a father. Which proved, as one of my best friends, Zoey, believed, that miracles happened every day.
They just didn’t happen for me.
