July couldn’t hide her shock. “And you’re going to spend it babysitting?”
“Mary Karen will have her hands full with Logan,” David said with a shrug. “And Granny needs her rest.”
“But—”
“The boys are no trouble.” David paused at the door to the living room where the two were already positioned in front of the television, the DVD playing. “They’ve got their own bedroom at my house and extra clothes, so it’s easy.”#p#分页标题#e#
“You really like kids, don’t you?” The realization twisted July’s stomach in one big knot.
David chuckled. “You make it sound like a bad thing.”
“No. No. It’s not.” July struggled to explain. “I think it’s wonderful.”
“They’re my nephews,” David said. “Family is important to me.”
Instead of admiration, July was seized with a cold chill. If she’d had any doubts what having a son might mean to him, she had none now.
Tell him, a tiny voice inside her head urged. Do it.
There was no reason something so simple, so basic, should be so hard. Yet her palms turned sweaty and her heart began to pound.
“Have you eaten?” he asked, giving her an out he didn’t even know she needed.
She took it and said a little prayer of thanks for the reprieve. “I had a sandwich and an apple for lunch.” July pulled her brows together, replaying the day’s events, “but nothing since.”
The growl from her stomach told her she’d remembered correctly.
“Follow me to the kitchen.”
When they got there he gestured to the table. “Have a seat. Grilled ham and cheese sound good?”
July wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. “You’re going to make me a sandwich?”
“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “I have to make one for myself.”
While he pulled out the ham and the cheese from the refrigerator, July took a seat. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had cooked for her. Certainly her mother never felt the need to put anything on the table. “Your wife must have been thrilled to have a husband so handy in the kitchen.”
“Celeste traveled a lot.” David placed an iron skillet on the stove and turned on the heat. “For me, learning to cook became a survival thing.”
Celeste. The name sounded like the wife of a doctor.
“Why did she travel so much?”
Was it only her imagination or did the light suddenly leave his eyes?
“She worked as a marketing rep for a company based in L.A. Travel was part of her job duties. She loved it. She—” He stopped himself. “Enough about that. We have a more important topic to discuss.”
July’s breath caught in her throat. Even though David already had the sandwiches in the pan, she stood. Not to run exactly, but surely there was someplace else she needed to be.
“I want to hear how you and Mary Karen got together.” He turned the sandwiches. “I didn’t know she was looking to rent a room.”
July dropped back into her seat and swallowed a nervous giggle. That’s what he wanted to discuss? The tension in her shoulders eased and she relaxed against the back of the chair. “The social worker at the hospital gave me Mary Karen’s name and phone number.”
“Lexi?”
“That’s the one.” When July had first learned that her new landlord and babysitter was David’s sister, she’d felt as if she’d been sold out by the social worker…for all of five minutes. She’d quickly realized how comfortable she was with Mary Karen. “I met with your sister and we immediately hit it off. It was a win-win situation for both of us. She needed the money. I needed a place to live and a babysitter.”
David flipped the sandwiches onto the plates he’d placed by the stove. “Milk?”
“Please.” Growing up, beer and Mountain Dew had been the only “beverages” in the fridge. Milk hadn’t even been an option. In fact, until July had discovered she was pregnant, she’d rarely drunk anything but coffee and soda. But over the past eight months she’d acquired a taste for the white stuff.#p#分页标题#e#
In a matter of minutes a tall glass of milk and a sandwich were placed before her.
With his own plate in hand, David pulled out a chair and sat opposite her. “Is that why you decided to stay? Your desire to have my sister watch Adam was stronger than the desire to keep your distance from me?”
The words were casual, the tone offhand and his expression certainly didn’t give anything away. But July sensed she’d hurt him with her earlier attitude and the realization only added to her guilt. She told herself it didn’t matter, but in the warmth of this kitchen, under the fluorescent light glow, she couldn’t help remembering how nice he’d been to her that long ago night, how considerate he’d been in the hospital.