LITMIR.BIZ

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to look guilty. “But they needed someone right away. Today even. I’ll be working as a receptionist at a posh health club. I can study any time I’m not answering a call, and it pays better money than—” She stopped herself but not before she’d made her point.

      Matthew shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from fisting them. “You can’t be serious.”

      “I said I’m sorry it didn’t work out. Elizabeth’s been bawling all morning, anyway, and asking for someone named Haley. I would never get any studying done with all of that racket.”

      As if that made what she’d just done to him okay. Before he could argue further, Renee waved and backed out of the door, leaving him alone with his child, who climbed down and crawled under his desk. He’d never been able to tempt Elizabeth with the box of toys he kept in one of his office cabinets when his big office desk served as the best clubhouse for a four-year-old.

      Matthew started ticking off a list of possible sitters on his fingers. His mother? No, she and Mrs. Scott were meeting with his mom’s accountant this morning. Dylan? Matthew shook his head. His brother had already complained about his heavy patient load today.

      Not that he liked to rely on Logan…but Logan? Grabbing his phone, he dialed his brother’s number at the park ranger’s office, but when the machine answered, he slammed the phone back into its cradle. He ground his teeth, probably ruining years of good dental care. What was he supposed to do now?

      An idea slid, unwelcome, into his thoughts, and he would have dismissed it out of hand, but he had neither the time nor the luxury. He knew one person who’d already proven she was great with kids, and his own child just happened to love her. For right now, that had to be enough. Resigned, he lifted the handset and dialed again.

      “Hey, Haley,” he said when she answered on the second ring.

      “Matthew, is that you? Is something wrong?”

      Guilt twisted inside him. Even Haley recognized that he wouldn’t call her unless he needed something. “As a matter of fact, I am in a bind.”

      “What is it?”

      Matthew took a deep breath and then filled her in on the details. He spoke quickly because it was going to take some convincing to get past the fact that he’d offended her yesterday.

      He finished with “I know you’re probably busy, but if you could possibly help me out…” Letting his words trail away, he braced himself for a chewing out more acidic than even Judge Andrews would be giving him in—another glance at the watch—twenty-nine minutes.

      On the other end of the line, Haley cleared her throat. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

      She didn’t say more, only clicked off the phone. Matthew let out the breath he’d been holding. He didn’t have to ask himself who’d been the bigger person today. That answer was clear in the grinning face of the little girl who crawled out from beneath his desk.

      “Is Miss Haley going to be my babysitter?”

      As frustrated as he was with his daughter’s behavior, he could only put out one fire at a time, and his eyebrows were already singed enough from the one he’d just extinguished. Anyway, if he didn’t find that brief in the next twenty-four minutes, he would have humiliated himself by asking for Haley’s help for nothing.

      “Just for today. Play there for a few minutes while we wait for her.”

      He didn’t have to tell her twice. She disappeared beneath the desk again.

      Hurrying back to the filing cabinet, Matthew threw open a drawer. Since he’d already searched the Lively file on his desk, he didn’t know where to begin looking for the misfiled document.

      “Daddy.”

      “Just a minute, honey. I’m busy.”

      “But Daddy—”

      His jaw flexing, he shot an annoyed glance toward his desk. Elizabeth stood just in front of the chair holding a messy stack of papers. His documents that had somehow fallen under the desk.

      “It’s dirty under there.”

      “It certainly is. Thank you for picking it up.”

      Now he had two people to thank for cleaning up his mess and one of them was too young to understand the importance of what she’d found. He’d put the documents in order and was tucking them in his briefcase when Haley rushed through the door, her winter coat flapping open.

      She brushed her hand back through her hair that was messier than normal and then glanced down at her sport pants and sweatshirt and the athletic shoes she wore without socks. “I wasn’t expecting to go out today.”

      “I’m glad you did. Hey, thanks—”

      “No problem,” she said to interrupt him. “Now where’s that Elizabeth hiding?” Though she asked the question, she walked right toward the desk where the child was hiding again.

      Elizabeth popped out, pushing back the office chair. “I’m here.” She scrambled over to Haley and hugged her around the waist.

      “Hey, you. We’re going to have tons of fun today, aren’t we?” Hefting Elizabeth on her hip, she turned back to Matthew. “Shouldn’t you be going?”

      He glanced at the door and then at his watch. Fifteen minutes. “Judge Andrews doesn’t look favorably on tardiness.”

      “Then go ahead.” She snuggled Elizabeth to her shoulder. “We’ll be fine.”

      Matthew gave Haley his address, handed her the house key and then grabbed his coat and briefcase. They would be fine; he knew that. And he would do what he had to do. He had to push aside any misgivings and get on with it. Still, like so many times in a parent’s life, he could only hope he’d made the right decision.

      “Daddy’s home!”

      The sound of the garage-door opener confirmed Elizabeth’s announcement as she dropped her doll in the middle of her miniature fashion show. She raced from the living room, through the kitchen, to the door that separated the house from the garage.

      Haley set her doll aside to place all the dresses and tiny pumps of every color in Elizabeth’s toy suitcase.

      From the other room, she could hear the sweet exchange that was probably the daily ritual in the Warren house.

      “Hi, Daddy.”

      “Hey, munchkin. Did you have a good day?”

      At the sound of the door closing and footsteps coming from the kitchen, Haley stiffened. It didn’t seem right for her to be so nervous now, not after she and Elizabeth had just spent such a wonderful afternoon together, but she couldn’t help hoping Matthew would be impressed by her efforts. The events of the last few days must have really done a number on her if she was this desperate for an attaboy.

      Matthew and his daughter came through the doorway hand in hand. Haley waved at them from the floor.

      “Hello.” He glanced her way but then started scanning the room.

      Haley followed the path of his gaze, at first wondering what he was looking for and then annoyed by her guess. Did he expect to find structural damage in his home or something? Wasn’t it enough that he’d asked her to care for Elizabeth only after he’d probably exhausted other possibilities? He seemed determined to offend her today.

      “It was so fun.” Elizabeth moved to stay in front of her father’s sliding gaze. “We played toys and read books and ate peanut butter and watched cartoons and—”

      “That’s nice, honey,” he said to interrupt her since she wasn’t likely to stop listing every detail.

      He must have found no bullet holes or burn marks on the wall because Matthew finally turned back to Haley. “Thank you for doing this.”

      “A whole day and

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