LITMIR.BIZ

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care of him. To cheer him up when he’d been smarting from a slap across the face delivered by his mom. He’d had the Garretts. And he’d soon realized that the void he’d felt from having no one to take care of him could be filled by offering Kate what he’d so desperately wished for when he’d been young.

      Somewhere along the way they’d lost some of that. Something to do with her not being a kid anymore, he supposed.

      The bell above the door rang again and Alison Davis walked in, carrying a white pastry box with a stack of brochures on top. “Good morning, Kate.” She offered Jack a cautious smile, tucking her red hair behind her ear and looking down at the ground. “Good morning.”

      “Hi, Alison,” he said, softening his tone a bit.

      Though she’d left her abusive husband a year and a half ago, Alison still seemed skittish as a newborn colt. Maybe that was just him, too.

      “What brings you by?” Kate asked.

      Alison appeared to regroup in time to focus on Kate. “I wanted to bring you a pie. And also to ask if it would be all right if I put a couple of advertisements for the bakery here in the store. I have two new employees, both women who just left men who were...well, like my ex. I’m happy to have them working for me, but now I need more business to match the expense. One of them hasn’t had a job in fifteen years and no one else would hire her.” Alison let out a long breath. “It’s hard to start a new life.”

      “I’m sure,” Kate said. “Yeah, I’ll take a whole stack of those ads. I don’t think Travers will have a problem with it. But if he does, I’ll tell him he’s being stupid. And then he’ll probably change his mind because he’s pretty cool.”

      “I don’t want to get you in trouble,” Alison said.

      Kate snorted and planted her hands on her hips. “Nobody gets me in trouble unless I agree to be in trouble.”

      “I appreciate it.” She set the bakery box on the counter and took the brochures off the top of them. Then she lifted the lid, revealing the most perfect meringue he’d ever seen in his life. “Lemon meringue,” she said. “I hope you like that.”

      “I do.” Kate took the pie and moved it behind the counter. “I gladly accept. I promise to refer customers to you, too. If anyone comes in with a pie craving I can send them right down the street.”

      “I appreciate it. Really I appreciate what everyone has done. I thought when I quit the diner, Rona would be mad at me. But instead she decided to order all of her pies from me now that I’m not making them there.”

      “That’s great!” Kate smiled.

      Yes, she seemed perfectly capable of being nice to other people. So it was him.

      “I have a few other businesses to go to. And I don’t want to distract you from your work.”

      “Great—just leave the brochures here on the counter.”

      “Thanks, Kate.” She offered a shy wave, then turned and left the store.

      Jack watched her go, then turned his attention back to Kate. “That was nice of you.”

      “I am nice,” she said.

      “To some people.”

      She scrunched up her face. “Some people deserve it.”

      “Oh, go on, Katie. You like me.”

      Kate looked at the computer screen, a slash of pink spreading over her cheeks. “I like my brothers, too, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to punch them in the face half the time.”

      She was blushing. Honest-to-God blushing. But he didn’t have a clue as to why.

      “That embarrassing to have to admit that I’m not the worst person in the world?”

      “What do you mean?” she asked, looking back at him, her dark eyes glittering.

      “You’re blushing, Garrett.”

      She pressed her palm to her cheek before lowering it quickly. “I am not. What the hell would I have to blush about around you?” She turned her focus back to the computer screen, her expression dark now.

      “You wouldn’t be the first girl I made blush.”

      “Gross.”

      “Are you bringing that pie tonight?” He thought it was probably best to change the subject, because something about it was making him edgy, too.

      “I don’t know. I might hide it back in my house and keep it all for myself.”

      “You can’t eat a whole pie.”

      “I can absolutely eat a whole pie. And will.”

      “Better idea. Only you and me know about the pie. Save it, and I’ll come back to your place with you.”

      Kate blinked rapidly. “No.”

      “What?”

      “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come to my house. I mean, I think we need to share it.”

      He wasn’t sure why it was so difficult to find a topic that didn’t make her mad or...weird. Jack never had problems talking to women. Women liked him. He liked women. The exception seemed to be Kate. And seeing as he’d known her the better part of her life, he couldn’t fathom why. Usually, their banter was pretty good-natured. Lately, he wasn’t sure that was the case.

      “Your total is one ninety. That includes shipping,” she said, the change in topic abrupt.

      “Great. When do you expect it to be here?”

      “Should only take two days.”

      “Even better.” He reached into his back pocket, took out his wallet and handed Kate his debit card. “I might actually swing by the bakery and pick up another pie on my way home.”

      “Yeah, I wish there was more I could do to help. For now, all I can think of is increasing my pie consumption. Which I’m not opposed to. But there has to be more that can be done.”

      Ideas started turning over in Jack’s head. His brain was never still. Not unless he was on the back of a bull intent on shaking him loose. Or riding his horse so hard and fast all he could hear was the pounding of hooves on the ground. In those moments he had what he imagined was tranquility. Outside that, it never happened.

      “If I think of anything, I’ll let you know,” he said. He was already determined that he would think of something.

      The printer whirred, spitting out a receipt that Kate tore off and handed to him. “You’re all set. Someone will give you a call when it’s in.”

      “Great.” And then, for no other reason than that he was curious whether or not he could make her cheeks pink again, he tipped his hat, nodded his head and treated her to his patented Monaghan smile. “See you later, Katie.”

      He didn’t get a blush. He didn’t even get a return smile. Instead he got a very emphatic middle finger.

      Jack laughed and walked out of the store.

       CHAPTER TWO

      “I COME BEARING FISH! And chips. Well, French fries. But you knew that.” Kate pushed her way through the front door of Connor’s house holding two large white takeout containers. One held the fried fish fillets, and the other the fried potatoes.

      “I’m starving.” Kate rounded the corner and saw her sister-in-law, Liss, standing in the center of the dining area with her hand on her rounded stomach.

      “You’re eating for two,” Kate said. “Or so I’ve heard.”

      Liss screwed up her face. “That would make sense. If I

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