Page 79 of Bountiful
“Bess…”
My phone rang in my hand. Zara’s number. “Look, pushy,” I said to my sister. “Maybe it’s your lucky day.” Then I answered the phone. “Hello,gorgeous.”
“Hi,” Zara said, sounding out of breath. “I am sorry I didn’t get back to you and Bess, but I’m havingaday.”
“It’s no problem,” I said, making myself sound as chill as possible. Because maybe I really had behaved like a bulldozer about the house thing. “Isn’t that weddingtoday?”
“Yeah. And I’m in a bit of a situation. It is totally fine if you two are busy, but I have a wild little favortoask.”
“Name it,” I said. “We’re sitting on the porch doingnothing.”
“Well, is there any way I could drop Nicole off with you for about ninetyminutes?”
“Sure.” Bess would probably wet herself with excitement. “Are you having a babysittingemergency?”
“My mother’s friend fainted at the hair salon this morning, and Mom took her to the ER. They’ve already decided it’s not serious, but they waited a long time to see a doctor and they’re not back fromBurlingtonyet…”
“Come on over,” I told her. “It’s fine. We’llwatchher.”
Beside me, Bess let out a little shriek of joy. And, hey—if I could make my sister smile and do Zara a favor at the same time, that made two women happy. That’s two more than usual, so I was counting it asawin.
Twenty minutes later, Zara’s crappy little car pulled up beside my rental. She emerged from the driver’s side, full of apologies. But I missed the first few things she said because I was too busy admiring her in a sleeveless, flowered dress. Not only was she showing some very kissable skin, but her hair was loose and wavy, and she was wearing a little more makeup than usual, so her brown eyes lookedenormous.
I had the same damned reaction to her that I always did—pure,burninglust.
“Milk doesn’t need to be warmed. It’s a hot day. I don’t care how many of those crackers she eats, either. All my plans are blown to bits today, so just keep her happy. If you can.” Zara cringed. “Once she wakes up and realizes I’m not here, she might howl. I’msorry.”
“It will befine,” Bess clucked. “We can take it. Ibroughttoys.”
Of courseshedid.
“Okay.” Zara let out a deep breath. “I have to get back for the ceremony before Audrey has a coronary. The handoff would have been easier if Nicole hadn’t conked out in the car, but…” She opened the back door, and there was the baby, strapped into her car seat in a checkered dress, rounded limbs flung out in every direction, eyes pressedclosed.
“I’ll pick her up,” I offered, but Bess beat me to it. She carefully unclipped the harness and fit her hands under the sleeping child. Supporting her head, she lifted the baby out ofthecar.
“Hey, listen,” I said to Zara, realizing something. “If you need me to bring her to you at the Shipleys’ farm, I’m going to need thecarseat.”
“Oh, jeez!” Zara slapped a hand across her forehead. “You’re right. There goes another ten minutes. I have to show you how tosecureit…”
I pulled out the keys to my rental and offered them to her. “Let’s justswitch.”
She hesitated less than half a second. “I owe you big,hockeyman.”
“Hockeyman?”
She shrugged, handing me her set of car keys. “I’ll text you the address as soon as the ceremony is over. I really appreciate this!” She jogged around the car, headingformine.
“Take a breath, babe. Everythingisfine.”
That’s when Nicole let outawail.
“Uh-oh,” Zara said, hesitating, her hand onthedoor.
Go, Bess mouthed, rubbing thebaby’sback.
Zara bit her lip. Then she jumped in my car anddroveaway.
Unfortunately,Nicole was quite determined not to join the list of females I’d made happytoday.
