Page 9 of Family Bonds: Alana & Brennan
She laughed. “Van might make him wet his pants. That would be a sight to see.”
“Good,” Kelsey said. “Be honest—do you like Brennan? It won’t go any further than these four walls.”
“He’s a likeable guy,” she said, standing up. This conversation was over in her mind.
She trusted her boss, but she wasn’t about to admit anything to anyone if she couldn’t figure it out herself. And right now, the only thing in her mind was that he had a cute daughter she got to entertain tonight so she wasn’t sitting home alone looking for Oreos and Doritos to stuff her face with.
3
BEEN WORTH IT ALONE
The doorbell went off. His heart pounded in his chest and his palms started to sweat.
An odd reaction for the babysitter and not the person he’d be meeting for dinner.
“Is she here?” Becca shouted and ran toward the door.
His daughter was only disappointed that Lila couldn’t make it for five seconds. The minute he’d told her someone else would be here, Becca was asking a million questions.
Too bad he didn’t have many answers since he didn’t know all that much about Alana other than she was a nice coworker, reliable and trustworthy.
Not her age, what interests she had outside of volunteering in the community. Things he’d heard through the walls or in the halls.
He assumed she was single, but had no clue.
Alana didn’t talk too much about her personal life and he wasn’t about to ask anyone.
Hell, he didn’t even want to go on this date, but he needed to move on. He wanted to give his daughter the chance at a real normal family and to do that, he had to try.
The last thing he thought divorcee Celia was going to provide.
“It sounds like she is,” he said. He was right behind his daughter and reached for the door as Becca jumped up and down, her blonde pigtails swinging around her head.
He opened the door to Alana standing on his front porch, a pizza box in her hand, a smile on her face, a few flurries in the background.
She made a vision showing up this way.
One that had his heart hammering even faster.
Slow the hell down,he told himself. She is coming to watch my daughter, not spend time with me.
He couldn’t get that lucky and sure the hell wasn’t about to jeopardize anything in his job.
“Hi,” she said. “I’ve got dinner.”
“I’m Becca,” his daughter said, pushing past his legs. “And I loooooove pizza. Daddy told me you were coming and that we’ve met before. I remember you.”
“You do?” she asked, stepping into his rented home, then squatting down to get eye level with Becca.
He reached over and snagged the pizza box out of her hand.
“I do,” Becca said. “You’re pretty. Do you know how to do a nice braid? Daddy doesn’t.”
“Thank you,” she said. “You’re pretty too. And yes, I know how to do braids. I can do your hair.”
Becca jumped up twice more. “Can you teach Daddy? Grandma can’t.”
“I can try, but your daddy has to go out tonight. You and I can have fun though.”
