Page 44 of Bountiful
He grinned. “Anytime. I’ll try to make my overflowing suitcase look less like a hobo’s while you’re inthere.”
“I really shouldn’t care,”Isaid.
He waved a hand. “Go do whatever it is you do when you’re trying to impress your babydaddy.”
“New rule. Never use the phrase ‘baby daddy’again.”
Benito laughed while I ran for theshower.
By eleven o’clock,I was showered and wearing my newest top, as well as lipstick and the barest hint ofmascara.
“Makeup?” Ben said from the sofa. “You must have really likedthisguy.”
“Shut up.” I would never admit that I had, in fact, really liked Dave Beringer. Who knew I’d been banging a professional athlete? “I’m just trying to look less like a trailer-parkmom,here.”
“Zara, we spent some years in a trailer park. Mom still lives in one. There’s no shame in it. Nothing wrong with not havingmoney.”
“I know that,” I groused. But who wouldn’t want to put her best footforward?
“I peeked in the bag Audrey brought. There’s cookies.” Benito pointed at a bag on the counter. “And, like, tiny yellow muffins. They’redelicious.”
“You can tell that just fromlooking?”
“Well…I tastedthem,too.”
“Uh-huh.” I grabbed a plate out of the cupboard and opened the bag. I was arranging them prettily after starting a pot of coffee when someone buzzed fromdownstairs.
My stomach did a somersault, and I actually thought I might be sick. I hadn’t been this terrified in alongtime.
“Do you want me to go let them in?” Benitoasked.
“Would you? I was just…”having a nervousbreakdown.
My brother opened the apartment door and disappeared into the stairwell. My hands began to sweat, even though I knew I was focused on all the wrong things. I shouldn’t care that seeing Dave again would be an ego-bruising experience. The real terror here was letting someone else into mychild’slife.
While I often felt guilty for robbing Nicole of living in a two-parent household, it was undeniably easier to be the only one in charge. In spite of my bossy family, the parenting decisions wereallmine.
In principle, I knew that Nicole’s father had a right to be involved with his child. Yet I knew I’d have trouble if anyone—no matter how well-meaning—wanted to tell me whattodo.
My worry train was interrupted when the door opened and Dave himself stepped through—all six feet odd inches of him, those broad shoulders making Benito’s apartment look smaller than it had a momentbefore.
And, damn him, he was every bit as attractive as I remembered. Maybe more so. He had a model’s cheekbones, and a wide, full mouth. His expression was as serious as I’d ever seen it. “Hi, gorgeous. Thank you for letting usdropby.”
Gorgeous. I never thought I’d hear him say thatagain.
“It’s my pleasure,” I said quickly. Then I wanted to kick myself for the breathy way it came out. And was I supposed to step up and hug him? Shake hands? What was the protocol for greeting your baby’sfather?
“I have to apologize in advance formysis…”
“Move your butt,Davey!”
My eyes widened as a woman with hair even more red than Dave’s pushed past my one-time hookup. In her arms was clutched a giant stuffed animal. A dog. And it too had red hair. “Isthatan—”
“Irish setter!” Dave’s sister said with a smile. “It was either that or the Great Dane. But he was even larger. And I didn’t want you to hate metoomuch.”
“You only want her to hate you a little bit,” Dave saiddryly.
His sister hip-checked him. “Introduce me, bigbrother.”
