My One and Only(7)
“Right. Sorry.” After a brief hesitation, she asked, “Is the baby cute?”
“She’s beautiful. And I think Jessi has a good heart. She was staring at little Emma as if she were the eighth wonder of the world.”
His sister shook her head. “Why can’t you stick to saving lost dogs and random barnyard animals?”
Repeating Haleigh’s words, he slung an arm over Abby’s shoulders. “Where would be the fun in that?”
Chapter 3
“So how long have you and Cooper been a thing?”
Haleigh looked up from Jessi’s chart. “Excuse me?”
“Is no one supposed to know?” the youngster asked. “Are y’all just having an affair or something?”
For a kid reluctant to share her own personal details, Jessi sure didn’t mind prying into other people’s lives. Flipping the chart closed, Haleigh hugged it to her chest. “Cooper and I went to high school together, and his twin sister is my best friend. What makes you think we’re having an affair, as you put it?”
Pencil-line brows shot up a wrinkle-free forehead. “I’m not stupid. You look at him like I used to look at Bobby. Like you want to rip his clothes off and take a ride on the Cooper train.”
That was absurd. He may be big, but Cooper was a man not a locomotive. Though he did have a nice caboose. And a man who worked out probably had impressive endurance.
“See?” Jessi said. “That look is what got me Emma.”
Glancing down at Emma’s cherubic face, Haleigh couldn’t help but wonder what a little version of Cooper would look like. Dark hair most likely. Happy and long-limbed.
Haleigh gave herself a mental shake. Had someone laced her coffee with extra estrogen or something?
Anxious to change the subject, Haleigh said, “Dottie should be in with your room assignment any minute, and then we’ll get you both settled upstairs for the night.”
Refusing to cooperate, Jessi said, “So where did lover-boy go?”
Offering a counterstrike, Haleigh asked, “So why won’t you call your mother?”
Blue eyes narrowed, conveying a clear eff-you, but she didn’t hurl the insult. “I don’t know where she is, okay?”
“You said she told you about your father. How could she do that if you don’t know where she is?”
With a nonchalant shrug that did little to hide her true feelings, Jessi replied, “A week after sharing the biggest news of my life, she picked up a trucker and skipped town. Her cell stopped working a few days later.”
Haleigh’s heart ached for this young girl fighting to be strong while her world spiraled out of control. Who could abandon her daughter like that? Especially when that daughter was about to have a child of her own? The violent urge to find Jessi’s mother and shake some sense into her vibrated down Haleigh’s spine.
“What about grandparents?”
“Don’t you think if there was anyone to call, I’d do it?” Jessi asked, showing a sudden burst of anger. Something she had every right to feel. “I’m not stupid. Emma deserves a home and a family.”
“So do you,” Haleigh pointed out. She was all for selfless parenting, but this girl needed a dose of self-preservation.
“I have Emma now.” Her stubborn chin jutted forward. “She’s all the family I need.”
“And yet you’re here looking for your father.”
The fight went out of the teenager, and she stayed quiet long enough that Haleigh considered apologizing for prying into something that wasn’t any of her business.
Breaking her silence, Jessi asked, “Do you have a good mom?”
Talk about a loaded question. The word no nearly escaped before Haleigh chose a more diplomatic answer. “My mother and I don’t always agree on how I should live my life. She has high standards and expects me to live up to them. But she loves me.” In her own way, she added, keeping the disloyal sentiment to herself.
“What about your dad?”
A slightly less chilly feeling filled her chest. “Daddy was different. Where Mother pushed, he encouraged. He offered unflinching support instead of constant judgment.”
“That sounds nice,” Jessi said with wistful longing.
Haleigh took a mournful breath. “He died when I was sixteen. A truck driver fell asleep at the wheel. Daddy never saw it coming.”
“Wow,” Jessi whispered. “That sucks.”
“Yeah,” Haleigh agreed. “Big time.”
Lost in her memories, Haleigh startled when the door to Jessi’s room swung open. A tall brunette followed Cooper into the room, and his newfound solution became instantly clear.