LITMIR.BIZ

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any more danger than your average truck driver. Still, there are no guarantees in life and if something should happen to me—well, Daniel would be alone.”

      Hannah let out a long breath. He was implying that Daniel didn’t have a mother! Could that be true?

      Jess sipped his coffee, then lowered the cup to its saucer before he continued. He didn’t know why he was getting into all of this with Hannah. She was little more than a stranger. Yet something about her gentle face and shy smile encouraged him to confide in her.

      “But I’ve got a more immediate problem,” he went on when she didn’t say anything. “Daniel’s baby-sitter is leaving in a week and a half. She’s an older lady and she’s decided to spend her retirement with her sister in Tucson. I can’t blame her for that. But I don’t know what I’m going to do without her. She’s helped me with Daniel from the time I first brought him home from the hospital.”

      Confused and more curious now than ever, Hannah couldn’t stop herself from blurting out, “But what about Daniel’s mother? Does she have a job, too?”

      The question brought a cynical snort from Jess. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen her in nearly four years.”

      Hannah gasped before she could stop it. “You haven’t? But why?”

      He’d often told himself he was over Michelle’s desertion. But he hated to admit to anyone, much less another woman, that he and Daniel hadn’t been worth a backward glance to Michelle.

      “She moved on.”

      Hannah couldn’t have been more shocked. Even if a woman couldn’t get along with her husband, did that justify her leaving her newborn son? Hannah couldn’t imagine such a thing.

      “Oh. I—I’m sorry.” Embarrassed by the whole thing, she took a quick, nervous gulp of coffee.

      Jess shrugged. “There’s no need for you to be sorry, Hannah. We were never married. Michelle didn’t want that. She didn’t want to be tied down in any way.”

      Hannah wanted to ask him why he’d involved himself with that sort of self-centered woman, but she stopped herself. She didn’t want to sound preachy. Besides, in Hannah’s eyes, he’d more than made up for the mistake by being a caring father to Daniel.

      “Some people just can’t handle responsibility,” she said softly. “They don’t set out to intentionally hurt others. But they do.”

      Jess was surprised by her words and her open-mindedness about the whole thing. But then, a lot about Hannah had surprised him.

      Before anything else could be said, the waitress arrived with their breakfast. As they ate, Daniel became very talkative and Hannah took pains to answer his many questions. He was a bright, inquisitive boy for his age, and from his conversation, she could tell that Jess had obviously spent a great deal of time with him. That and just the fact that Jess had taken on the job of a single father surprised Hannah greatly. Remembering the teenage Jess Malone, she would have never figured him to be so responsible; he’d grown up. Oh, had he ever.

      After the meal was over and the three of them were walking across the parking lot to Jess’s pickup, he said, “I feel like I’ve just come out from under a microscope. I think everyone in that place was looking when we walked out of there. You’d think I was a creature from Mars, or something.”

      Hannah felt herself blushing. “I don’t think they were—uh, looking at you, Jess.”

      He opened the pickup door. As Daniel climbed in, he glanced at Hannah. “What makes you say that?”

      “Because I know they were looking at me.”

      “You? You’re not a stranger around here. Probably everyone in that café knew you.”

      Hannah felt the familiar hurt and embarrassment rise in her. “They did know me. That’s…uh…why they were looking. They’ve never seen me out with a man. I guess they were wondering what I was doing with you.” Or more likely, what Jess was doing inviting a woman like her out to breakfast, she silently added.

      How utterly cruel, Jess thought. “It’s none of their damn business,” he said with a grimace.

      She smiled wanly. “No. But I’ve had years to get used to being labeled the weird old maid.”

      Hannah Dunbar was far from old and there wasn’t anything weird about her that he could see. Certainly reserved and shy, but not weird.

      Deciding the best thing to do was treat the situation lightly, Jess gave her an impish wink. “Maybe they’ll think we spent the night together. That’ll cut your reputation to shreds.”

      Of course he was teasing. Still, just the thought of being that intimate with Jess was enough to shake her. “I really think it would be your reputation that would suffer,” she tried to joke.

      Not wanting her to feel any more awkward than she already did, Jess merely smiled and took her elbow to help her up into the seat. Her arm was small and soft and made him feel oddly protective. This woman was too vulnerable, he thought. And far too kind for her own good.

      “Thank you for breakfast,” Hannah said when he pulled into her driveway. “It was very nice of you and Daniel to invite me.”

      “Can I go in with Hannah?” Daniel quickly asked his father. “Can I go see the bird again?”

      “May I go in,” Jess corrected him, then shook his head. “No. You may not go in. You’ve already talked Hannah’s leg off this morning.”

      “Nonsense,” Hannah said as Daniel looked beseechingly up at her. “I won’t be doing anything but a little housecleaning. Let Daniel stay with me while you take your father’s things to the church.”

      “You didn’t show me where it was,” Jess reminded her. “And I forgot to ask.”

      “Oh. It’s the Catholic church on the south end of town. You probably remember it.”

      Not from attending services, he thought, but rather from circling the old building on his motorcycle. Maybe things would have turned out differently for him if he’d been inside with Hannah, rather than outside giving Judy Mae Johnson a fast ride. Maybe he wouldn’t be a single father now. Or maybe Hannah wouldn’t be so virginal. That thought brought a curve to his lips and a dimple in his cheek.

      “Yeah, I remember. What do I do with the things, once I get there?”

      Hannah frowned as she tried to figure out what was putting such a devilish look on his face. They’d been talking about church, for Pete’s sake! But this was Jess Malone, she quickly reminded herself. The same guy who’d been accused of seducing his high-school English teacher.

      Realizing she had yet to answer his question, Hannah said, “Just set them inside the front door. It’s never locked. Father Lopez or one of the other parishioners will find them.”

      “What about me, Daddy?” Daniel said, tugging on Jess’s shirtsleeve. “Do I get to stay at Hannah’s?”

      “Of course you can,” Hannah told the boy before Jess had a chance to protest. “Come on and we’ll feed Albert.”

      “You’re sure about this?” Jess asked her while unbuckling Daniel’s seat belt. “I wouldn’t want either of us to be imposing on you.”

      Hannah held her arms up to Daniel. The boy scrambled across the seat and straight to Hannah. She helped him down to the ground, then held on to his hand while glancing over to Jess.

      “I’m happy for Daniel to visit. And don’t worry. I might not be a mother, but I do know how to take care of children.”

      Jess wasn’t worried about that. He was more concerned about Daniel’s hanging his sights on having Hannah for a mother.

      “I’m not worried,” he assured her, then started the truck and backed onto the street.

      As

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