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“That was the first thing my wife Laurie did when we bought this place.”
Tessa wasn’t sure what to say, so she said nothing. His voice held no bitterness—only a hint of amusement laced with tender longing. The moment passed quickly. He touched her elbow, indicating the dining room through the archway to the left.
“Sorry. Coffee, I’ve gotta have coffee. Want some?”
Tessa preceded him into the dining room and took a seat at the scarred oak table. “I’m not sure I should have another cup. I’ve already had two.”
Danny paused before the sideboard with a mug in one hand and the coffeepot in the other. “Really? When did you have the time?”
“I usually get up at five.”
“Good God,” Danny sputtered, nearly dropping his mug. “Why? I can’t even move much before eight.”
“That’s my time to think. Time to plan the day and get myself geared up to tackle it. But I don’t understand. You said you work twenty-four-hour shifts. How can you do that if you can’t get yourself going in the morning?”
He shrugged. “That’s different. That’s work.” He took a sip of coffee. “So does this mean you’ve changed your mind?”
Tessa blinked and realized she’d been staring at him. “About what?”
Danny gave her a strange look. “Are you sure you didn’t get up too early? After all, you called me.”
“Oh, right.” Tessa fought to keep from squirming. “I guess I’m willing to talk more about this arrangement, provided the kids are all okay with it and we can work out the specifics.”
“The specifics?”
Tessa nodded. “I have several questions.”
“Okay.” Danny took a long swig of his coffee, then rolled his shoulders as if to loosen up. “Fire away.”
Tessa pulled a short list from her hip pocket. “First, I’ll need to know exactly which days you work so I can schedule my jobs around them.”
“No problem. I’ll give you my calendar. There could be a few things that fall outside what’s listed there, but we can work it out. What else?”
“Second, we work out a food budget. You shouldn’t have to pay for all the meals that my kids and I eat here.”
“We don’t have to—”
“Yes, we do.” Tessa lifted her chin a notch. She thought she detected a smile hidden behind his coffee mug, but accepted Danny’s nod of acquiescence.
“Third, we agree to give fair notice if either of us wants to change the arrangement. Say, two weeks?”
Danny swallowed and lowered his mug. “I have no intention of backing out on you.”
“I didn’t think you would, but you did say you’re hoping for a job change. Who knows what might happen then?”
“That’s true,” he admitted. “I’m hoping for that to come about when two of the guys in the department are offered an early-retirement package, though I’m not sure of the timing.” His mouth twitched. “Are you going to back out on me?”
“Of course not,” Tessa protested, tracing a swirl in the oak tabletop with one finger. “I just think we should understand each other, that’s all.”
Danny lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, I think I understand. But I’ll agree with all your rules. Anything else?”
“One more thing.” Tessa pretended to study her list while she avoided his eyes. “What are your plans for sleeping arrangements?”
He smiled. “Did you have something specific in mind?”
Tessa sent him a narrow look. “Are you flirting with me? There’s no flirting—that’s part of the ground rules.”
“Flirting? Of course not. I just figured that because you seemed so prepared…” He indicated her list.
“Hmm.” The glint in Danny’s eyes left Tessa wondering.
“Sleeping arrangements. Well, I’ve got one extra bedroom fixed up that you can use. Your kids can either sleep in the loft on the third floor or in with my kids if they want. I hope that’s okay. There are two more bedrooms that I use for storage, but they need some fixing.”
“Good…that’s fine. I mean, I guess that answers all my questions.” Tessa nodded. Risking a glance at him, she half expected to see that roguish grin she’d encountered at the restaurant, and was surprised to see a solemn expression. It was almost a disappointment.
Before she could examine that unexpected thought, a small figure bounced in through the doorway leading from the kitchen, tattered blanket trailing.
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Mornin’, punkin. You’ve already been into the peanut butter, I see.”
Tessa hid a smile as the adorable little girl in her peanut-butter-streaked nightie hugged Danny’s knees.
“You were talking to the lady, so I had to do it myself.”
He patted her tousled golden hair. “Why didn’t you eat some cereal?”
“’Cause Kevin wanted peanut butter sammiches for the camp.”
“What camp?” Danny pried his daughter from his legs. “Are your brothers up in those trees again, after I told them not to?”
“They’re not.” The little girl shook her head so fiercely, her lopsided ponytails—which looked left over from the night before—bounced. She put her finger in her mouth and stared at Tessa.
“Tessa, this is Emma. This is Mrs. Doherty….”
“Tessa’s fine.”
He smoothed Emma’s sticky hair. “She might bring her kids over and be your babysitter while I’m working. Can you say hello?”
Emma removed her finger from her mouth with a pop. “Hi. Where are your kids?”
Tessa smiled at the sweet round face. “They’re home eating their breakfast now.” She glanced up at Danny. “Eric’s at that age where he thinks he’s old enough to stay home alone. I’ve started leaving them for short periods once in a while. But I should get going soon.”
Danny nodded. “Alison doesn’t think she needs a babysitter, either, but I can’t see leaving her with all this responsibility yet. She’s not even fourteen.”
“I will be in a few weeks, Dad,” proclaimed a sulky voice from behind Tessa. “You keep forgetting that.”
Tessa turned to watch the teenager round the newel post on the staircase. Alison had the same golden sweetness as her younger sister, though her curves were beginning to show up in other places. She plopped onto a chair near her father and swung her long coltish legs over the arm. She fixed a suspicious glance on Tessa, obviously questioning her reason for being there.
“Dad thinks I’m still a child! But I’m not.”
“All fathers think that,” Tessa admitted, exchanging a warm smile with Danny before bringing her gaze back to Alison. “Mine does, even now.”
“I don’t need a babysitter. And we don’t need a babysitter for anyone else, either,” she said with a pointed expression as she glanced at her dad and then back to Tessa.
“Alison…” Danny’s voice sounded a low warning, but Tessa headed him off, recognizing the sense of ownership in the teenager’s eyes. She knew she’d have to tread carefully with her.
“That’s good to know. I was worried about whether six kids would be too many to handle. Five sounds a little better, and I could sure use your help.”
Alison hunched a shoulder and appealed to Danny again. “Dad, really, I think we should talk about this.”
Danny had picked up a paper napkin and was wiping peanut butter from Emma’s face. Instead of answering he changed the subject. “Alison, will you get your sister some breakfast? I’ll round up the boys so you can meet them before you leave, Tessa. But how about dinner tonight with the whole gang? We can talk more then.”
With a friendly smile at Alison, which was met with a perfunctory nod, Tessa stood. “Sounds good to me. Where?”
“McDonald’s,” Emma chirped.
“But I’m supposed to meet Bethany at the mall tonight,” Alison complained.
At that moment the room erupted as two boys burst through the kitchen door. “Hey, don’t we get a choice? We want pizza!”
Astonished, Tessa could only stare at them. They were as boisterous and identical as two blackbirds fighting over a crust of bread. They’d already been out in the dirt, she could see. And both had the strangest haircuts…. Tessa looked back at Danny and smiled. “They look like you.”
“I have more hair at the moment,” Danny muttered. Then he corralled the pair and made quick introductions. “So Kevin and Kyle want pizza, Emma wants burgers—what do your kids like?”
“That depends on what day it is,” Tessa replied. She glanced down at Alison, whose mouth was pursed in a sulky pout. “How about the food court at the mall? That way everyone can eat what they want and then play in the arcade afterward.”
“Yippeee!” The boys didn’t wait around for further discussion. Emma clapped her hands gleefully, and even Alison appeared happy with the decision as she led her younger sister into the kitchen.
“The mall it is.” Danny escorted Tessa to the front door. “Six o’clock?”
She stepped out onto the porch, turning back just in time to see Danny struggling to hide a yawn. She couldn’t resist teasing him. “Six is fine…if you think you’ll be completely awake by then.”
“MAYBE SHE CHANGED her mind.”
Danny stopped scanning the crowd of shoppers surging past the food court and glanced down at Kyle, who squirmed impatiently.
“Probably she’s just combin’ her hair or somethin’.” Across the table, Kevin aimed a packet of ketchup at his brother and smashed it with his fist. Fortunately, the packet remained intact.
Danny intercepted the ketchup before his son could try again. “What makes you say that, Kev?”
“That’s why Alison’s always late.”
“Nope, I don’t think she’s comin’ at all,” Kyle repeated slyly. “I bet she changed her mind just like all those other babysitters. She took one look at that big zit on Alison’s forehead and ran screamin’ for the hills.”
“Little creep,” Alison muttered, slouching in a chair at an adjoining table in a vain attempt to pretend she was an only child.
“Daddy, is that true?” Emma’s eyes widened solemnly. “Did Tessa change her mind?”
“No, honey.” Danny patted Emma’s head with one hand and lightly cuffed Kyle with the other. “She’s just a little late, that’s all.”
“Well, I wish she’d hurry. I’m starvin’!”
Danny silently agreed with his son, though not for the same reason. The thought of seeing Tessa again made his pulse pound just a little faster than usual, not to mention the fact that keeping all four kids gathered in one spot wasn’t easy. Lifting his head, he peered toward the mall entrance.
“I think I see them,” he said a few moments later after spotting a woman Tessa’s size as she angled through a cluster of teenagers loitering in front of the music store. “Wait here. Alison, keep an eye on these guys, please.”
Danny covered the length of the food court in long strides, dodging a couple of boys as they raced toward the arcade. Halfway across, Tessa looked up. Her smile deepened, sending a shock wave through Danny’s gut.
“Sorry I’m late.” She stopped directly in front of him, allowing a group of ambling shoppers to move around them. A bright-eyed little girl skipped behind her. Tessa indicated a dark-haired boy, who followed more slowly. “I forgot that Eric had a baseball meeting.”
Danny smiled back at Eric, who was all arms and legs. “You play baseball?”
“Sort of. I’m not very good.”
Tessa put her arm around his shoulder. “You will be. I just need to find more time to practice with you, that’s all.”
Eric rolled his eyes and shrugged her arm away. “No offense, Mom, but you stink worse than me.”
“Nobody stinks worse than you, Eric,” his sister said in a matter-of-fact tone as she skipped just beyond her brother’s reach.
“Josie, don’t be rude.”
“Motormouth,” Eric countered.
“Hey, you two, put a lid on it.” Both kids pouted, but they obeyed. Hands on her hips, Tessa sighed dramatically. “Well, here they are.”
Josie butted her head around her mom to peer up at Danny. “Hi, I’m Josie.”
“Hi, yourself. You can call me Danny.” He leaned down to squeeze her hand. She was a miniature Tessa, from her honey-colored hair to the sun-kissed freckles dusting her cheeks.
Josie pointed past him. “Are those kids yours?”
Danny glanced over at his children, who were, remarkably, watching from the same place he’d left them. “Yep. Wanna meet them?” He was speaking to the air, however, because Josie was already skipping her way over to the table.
Tessa shook her head. “My extrovert. Now Eric, on the other hand…”
“Mom, don’t talk about me like I’m not here.”
“Sorry.”
Danny watched the boy blush, then reached out for a handshake. “You know, Eric, I played some baseball in college. Maybe I could give you some pointers or something.”
“That’d be great,” Tessa answered. “Wouldn’t it, Eric?”
Eric sent his mother a sidelong glance. “Maybe.”
“Why not—”
