Page 84 of Bountiful
When Dave stepped back, he put a polite hand on my shoulder, his touch cordial. “Howareyou?”
“Great!” I said a little too brightly, aware of all the people looking our way. Dave’s reappearance had been widely discussed, but few people had set eyes on him. Several dozen were taking that opportunityrightnow.
Naturally Nicole picked that moment to put her hand right between my boobs, down my dress. “Abah!” she babbled, which surely meant,Whip out theboobs,Mom.
“Well…” I chuckled nervously. “Since your grandma is deep in discussion with Father Peters, you and I can sneak off for a few minutes. I should nurse or she’ll be cranky formymom.”
“I’ll come with you,”Davesaid.
“You don’t have to.” I’d expected him to bailimmediately.
“It’s okay.” He pointed into the catering tent. “In there, maybe? There’rechairs.”
I didn’t want to be nursing while they ran around me setting the tables. “No, this way.” I led him to the side of the cider house. On a work day, Zach and Griff might be washing or filling cider barrels here. But today the concrete slab was empty of people, and I sat down on the bench againstthewall.
Immediately, Nicole tugged on mydress.
“Hang on there, champ,” I said, trying to wriggle an arm out. My efforts weren’tworking.
“Want me to hold her for a second?” Daveasked.
I looked up at him in surprise. We’d come a long way in two weeks. And every time he did something fatherly my insides turnedtomush.
Danger!
“Well… Could you unzip me?” I steered my knees away from him in order to expose the back of mydress.
“Any day of the week.” He chuckled. Then his hand landed at my shoulder, the palm warm, while his other one slid myzipperdown.
I bit my lip as a sizzle ran through my body. Just the brush of his fingertips against my skin was enough to remind me how much I’d enjoyed being undressed bythisman.
Stop it, Zara! We’re not goingthere.
Slipping an arm out of one side of my dress and bra, I set the baby up to nurse on the right side. Tired—and probably cranky from dealing with strangers—she naturally tried to get at myotherbreast.
“Nope, sorry. You have to go with righty today.” I was trying to preserve a few shreds of my dignity by exposing only the boob furthest from theparty.
“She has a preference?” The bench creaked as Dave sat down beside me. He angled his big body the other way and was actually blocking formenow.
“Yup. She prefers the left side. I think she’s going to be left-handed.”
“I’m left-handed,” he said suddenly. “Is thatgenetic?”
“No idea. Although Alec once made a joke about loading the shotgun for any left-handed redheadshemet.”
Dave snorted. “Of course he did. Your brotherhatesme.”
“He hates theideaof you,” Icorrected.
“Whatever. I cantakeit.”
We fell into a companionable silence as the baby nursed and the sun sank behind the distant hillside. Dave was people-watching, while I gazed down at my daughter. “How’d it go with her?” I asked. She looked as peacefulasever.
It had been incredibly hard to walk away from her earlier—to just hand her over even though I’d known in my gut that Bess was as avid a babysitter as they come. Even though I knew Dave well enough to say he was a good guy who cared aboutpeople.
It was still hard. For Nicole’s sake, I wanted Dave to stay in our lives. But sharing her might be the hardest thing I’d ever triedtodo.
“It went fine. She freaked out when you left, but then she fell back to sleep and woke up in abettermood.”
