LITMIR.BIZ

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we eat breakfast, Mommy? ’Cause I’m hungry.”

      She nearly dragged him, finally walking out the front door of the building now. “I know a great place for breakfast, sweetie. You’ll like it. You can have pancakes.”

      “Can I have some, too?” a gravelly voice asked from behind her.

      She didn’t need to turn around. Her heart stopped and her shoulders slumped. She’d finally gotten her son outside and now their escape was thwarted.

      After a moment she looked over her shoulder and there he was, leaning against the brick wall beside the front door. He struck a casual pose but she knew he felt nothing but irate.

      “Hello, Nick. I—I can explain.”

      “I bet you can. But let me.” He looked down at the boy. “Hey, Robbie, did your mom tell you that you’re going to my ranch? There’s lots of cows and horses.”

      Robbie’s brown eyes, so like his father’s, danced between the two adults. “Really? Mommy, that’s great! Are there dogs there, too?”

      “You bet there are. Come on, buddy, I’ll show you.”

      “Mommy, we’ll have so much fun. Do you like horses, too, Mommy?”

      Before Abby could speak, Nick interjected, “Your mommy isn’t coming.”

      Robbie stopped dancing around, the excitement draining out of him. “Why?” he asked with a frown.

      Nick squatted down to his level. “Well, she has a job, you know. It’s real important to her, so she doesn’t want to miss it.”

      Robbie looked up at her. “Mommy?”

      Abby could no longer stand there and watch this drama. She broke through the paralysis that fear had brought on and went immediately to her knees in front of her son, her world. She looked into his watery eyes. “Nick’s wrong, honey. Nothing is more important than you. Remember what I always told you? Where you go, I go.”

      “Yeah, Mommy. I remember. I’m glad ’cause I want to see the horses and dogs, but not without you.” He slung his arm around Abby’s neck, smiling now.

      Abby tried to hide the tears that swamped her eyes, but failed.

      “So you’re coming with us?” Nick asked. “What about your job?”

      She looked up at him and shrugged. “I’ll wait and see how things work out.” He might get tired of having guests after a few days. Or his mother might. Besides, she wouldn’t admit that her job wasn’t what she’d hoped for. Having graduated with a business degree, she’d hired on as office manager in a prestigious law firm, but left after two years over a personality conflict between her and one of the partners. Her new job, for a smaller company, wasn’t challenging enough, but she’d decided to stick it out because it gave her time to spend with Robbie.

      Nick gave her an odd look that made her feel uncomfortable, as if he were assessing her response. Then he shrugged and hefted her suitcases. “Come on, then. Us men are hungry, right, Robbie?” he asked, grinning at the boy.

      “Yeah. Us men, Mommy!”

      Abby hesitated, then grabbed the bag she’d dropped, along with her car keys. “I’ll take my car and follow you. And I think Robbie should ride with me. His car seat is in my back seat.”

      Nick leaned closer to her and said in a low voice Robbie couldn’t hear, “You’re not planning on running away from me, are you?”

      She stiffened and gave him an indignant glare. “I wouldn’t endanger my child with a high-speed chase.”

      “Fine, then. I’ll just hold your suitcases hostage until we get there.”

      Her suitcases? He’d already held her heart hostage for five long years.

      “I know, Mr. Johnson, and I apologize, but the emergency wasn’t planned. I have to go back home today.”

      Nick worked on his pancakes, listening to Abby as she spoke on her cell phone a couple feet away.

      “No, sir, I can’t postpone it. I have—” There was a pause before she said, “Yes, sir. I see.” She flipped the phone shut without saying goodbye.

      Nick looked at her when she returned to the table. “Mr. Johnson didn’t take kindly to your emergency?”

      She picked up her coffee mug. “He fired me. Are you happy?”

      “Doesn’t matter to me. Coming was your choice.”

      She pressed her lips together before she took another sip, then turned to her son. “Finished, Robbie? Let’s go clean up in the rest room.”

      Nick stood up and offered his hand to the boy. “I’ll take him to the men’s room. He’s too big to go to the ladies’ room with you.”

      “Is it okay, Mommy?”

      From her expression he expected her to protest. Instead she surprised him. “Yes, honey, it’s okay.” She knew Nick would never hurt him.

      Robbie took Nick’s hand. “What’s it like in your room, Nick?”

      “My room?”

      “You know, the boys’ room. I never been in one before.”

      Nick smiled. “Well, let’s let you go see for yourself.”

      They walked toward the back of the restaurant, Nick holding his hand. “This is almost like having a daddy, isn’t it?” Robbie asked, catching Nick by surprise.

      “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

      “I asked Mommy for a daddy, but she said she couldn’t order one out of a catalog,” the little boy said with a giggle.

      “Didn’t your mommy ever talk to you about your daddy?”

      “No, I don’t have one. Mommy always says, ‘It’s just you and me, Robbie.’” He giggled again.

      And again Nick felt the anger build inside him. Abby could’ve told the boy something about—Well, maybe not. At least she hadn’t said that Nick hadn’t wanted his son.

      When they emerged from the rest room, Abby was anxiously watching for her child. She immediately checked his face. “Did you wash the syrup off?”

      “Yeah. Nick helped me. Mommy, it’s different from your bathroom. They have uri-uri—”

      As he stumbled over the word, Abby steered him out. “We’ll talk about that in the car, sweetie.”

      Nick couldn’t help but grin as he watched the boy walk away. He wanted to tell Robbie that he was his daddy, but he didn’t want to upset the kid.

      His kid.

      For the first time he thought about what was going to happen when they reached the Logan ranch. His mother didn’t handle surprises well. And Patricia?

      Damn, things weren’t going to be as easy as he’d hoped.

      Robbie fell asleep after only a few minutes on the road.

      Good. Abby needed to think. She’d spent so much time guarding her speech and screwing up her courage to face Nick that she was tired. Now she had to deal with what she would be facing in a few hours.

      Not what, necessarily. Who.

      Mrs. Logan.

      All during the time that Abby dated Nick, she’d never felt welcome in his family home. His mother, in particular, had made it clear that Abby wasn’t good enough for her son.

      Abby understood that. She’d been raised on a small farm in the ranching community of Sydney Creek. Though her parents had worked hard, they’d never had much. During high school Abby had worked at the town café so she could buy her own clothes. On

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