Page 3 of Family Bonds: Alana & Brennan
“No,” she said sarcastically. “No one comes to visit me. All my friends are in the air right now. I’m stuck here alone or withyou.”
He bit his tongue and stood up. It wasn’t the first time she’d used the word “stuck” with him.
He opened the door, saw some guy there he’d never seen before. “Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Rene Simons.”
He heard Rene gasp behind him, turned to see her face pale. He stood up taller, his six-foot-three height towering over the man in front of him. “What’s this about?”
“My child that she’s carrying,” the man said.
1
WORTH A SHOT
Three Years Later
“Hi, Lila,”Brennan said when he saw his babysitter calling. This couldn’t be good news getting the call at work. It never was.
“Hi, Brennan. I’m so sorry. I can’t watch Becca tonight. I think I’ve got the flu. My head is killing me and I’m running a fever.”
“That’s fine,” he said. He didn’t want to go out tonight anyway and this was the perfect excuse to get out of the date he’d felt pressured into. “I’d rather you not be around Becca if you’re not well.”
“I thought you’d feel that way. I’m really sorry.”
“No worries,” he said. He hung up with the part-time sitter who watched his daughter nights or weekends to give his mother a break if he had things to do.
The move two months ago hadn’t been an easy one, but he had little choice when his nanny took another job.
Doing it on his own wasn’t an option. Finding another nanny he could afford was an impossible feat.
His mother, who was his backup nights and weekends when work was crazy, had finally gotten her dream retirement home on Amore Island and brought up the possibility of him transferring.
It hadn’t been something he’d thought of prior, but since he worked for Karen Raymond in Boston and she had a CPA firm on the island, it’d been worth a shot.
Karen had been thrilled with the request and gladly accepted.
He stared at his phone, debating on his next call.
Celia had been hitting on him since the first day he ran into her dropping Becca off at pre-K. And every day since.
The looks, the touches, the giggles all increasing.
In a moment of weakness, he agreed to dinner tonight—telling himself it wouldn’t hurt to keep an open mind and give Celia a real chance. She wasn’t exactly his type, but maybe it was unfair to judge her based on a handful of awkward interactions.
It’d been years since he’d had any weak moments, but life had been quiet here and no one else was knocking on his door since he’d moved.
He’d promised himself Becca would come first and anything else in his life would be guarded.
But Becca got along well with Celia’s daughter, Polly, and he thought one dinner wouldn’t hurt to feel things out.
That was his problem.
Putting everyone else and their feelings first in the past.
Just Becca now.
Which was the only reason he was wavering with Celia.
