LITMIR.BIZ

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too tedious, so he takes the quickest route.”

      “Does he date?”

      “Not that I’ve heard.” Valerie had just taken the salad out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter. She half smiled at Tricia. “These Falcon men are hard to resist, aren’t they?”

      Tricia straightened. “What do you mean?”

      Valerie peeked around the doorway, making sure they were alone. “I started falling for David the first day I worked for him, too.”

      “‘Too’? Oh, no. Not me. Uh-uh.” Tricia held up both hands. “I’m out of here in three months.”

      Valerie frowned. “What do you mean?”

      “I’m temporary. David hired me to buy time for Noah to find someone who will be permanent.”

      “Does Noah know that?”

      “I’m sure David told him.” And she’d mentioned she was selling her house, and that her room here was fine for the short term. He hadn’t flinched at either point. “So, tell me. What’s this about you falling for David on the first day?”

      “I didn’t want to, but there it was. He makes me very happy. My daughter, too.”

      “Why the rush to get married?”

      Valerie took out the fragrant, bubbling lasagna and slid the bread under the broiler. Almost immediately the pungent scent of garlic filled the air. “Why wait? It’s right, and we both know it. Plus I won’t move into his bedroom until we’re married. I want to set a good example.”

      “You mean, you haven’t slept together?” Tricia couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.

      Valerie laughed. “Well…David often works from home. And Hannah does go off to school.”

      “Oh. Okay. Good.”

      “Good?”

      Tricia nodded. “I’ll tell you why some other time.”

      “I hope you’ll come to the wedding.”

      “I’m not going to be here on the weekends.”

      “Make an exception, please? I don’t have many girlfriends here. I’d like for us to become that. I’ll introduce you to my friend Dixie, too. She’s my maid of honor. You’ll love her. And there’s the bachelorette party, of course. You have to come to that.” She poured dressing on the salad. “Maybe you could tell the gang that dinner’s on? I’m sure it’ll take them five minutes to actually get to the table.”

      Tricia stopped just outside the family room door and observed the activity. Noah sat with his back to her, watching David and Adam play a video game, complete with hoots and hollers and threats of maiming. Ashley and Hannah were intent on a second television, but Tricia couldn’t see the screen, so she didn’t know what held their interest. Zoe bounced a soccer ball from knee to knee, not an indoor activity, but Noah wasn’t objecting, which seemed odd.

      Then there was Zach, who sat cross-legged at his father’s feet, not communicating with any of them, but taking in everything.

      He spotted her and smiled. She smiled back. “Dinner is served,” she said to the room at large.

      “You’re doomed!” Adam shouted to his uncle, who shouted back, “Not yet, I’m not!”

      Noah got up. Ashley stood right away, too, and turned off the television. She and Hannah made their way to the door, grabbing Zoe by the arm and pulling her along. Zach held back, putting himself between Tricia and Noah.

      “Dinner smells good,” Zach said.

      “Looks like your uncle got himself a chef in the bargain. Do you like lasagna, Zach?” Tricia asked.

      He nodded.

      “We eat a lot of pasta dishes and casseroles,” Noah said. “It’s an easy thing for Cora to fix that will keep and reheat well. Sometimes my other brother, Gideon, comes over on the weekend and we barbecue.”

      They came into the dining room. It was obvious Noah sat at the head of the table, with David at the other end for tonight. Zach found his place farther down. Which left one empty seat, next to Noah.

      Tricia expected at least a small amount of chaos with so many people, but it was all very…civilized. As an only child, Tricia had craved the noisy family dinner table she observed at some friends’ houses. Here there were five children and four adults and little conversation. David asked questions, and the children answered, but no one took it further.

      After the dishes were done, Tricia excused herself to put away her things and then to look over the children’s past work. The third-floor classroom was huge. Each child had a desk. A computer workstation held two computers, but only one was connected to the Internet and was password protected so that the children couldn’t log on privately. Areas were set aside for art and music, and worktables for science projects or other messier tasks. The room was tidy and spotless.

      The view was spectacular, as the room was made up almost entirely of windows that faced the surrounding woodlands, and no neighbors in sight.

      After a while, Ashley came up the stairs, dressed in her pajamas.

      “We’re going to bed,” she said. “If you’d like to say goodnight,” she added hesitantly.

      “Yes, I would, thank you.” She put an arm around the girl’s shoulders and walked down the stairs with her. “I’m looking forward to starting class tomorrow. Do you enjoy your schooling?”

      “Sometimes. It kind of depends on the teacher.”

      “I’ll do my best to make it interesting and fun, Ashley.”

      “I know you will,” she said with a smile as they walked into her bedroom. Zoe emerged from the bathroom, her strawberry-blond hair damp and tousled, a dab of toothpaste above her lip. She hopped right into bed and pulled the blankets up to her nose.

      “What time do you get up in the morning?” Tricia asked Zoe.

      “When Ashley pulls the covers off and won’t let me have them back.”

      Tricia smiled. “Who wakes you up?” she asked Ashley.

      “My head. I wake up early on my own around seven. Then I wake up everyone else. We go to the classroom at eight. Zoe’s usually the last one there.”

      “Do you make your own breakfast?” Tricia knew that Cora didn’t come until eleven-thirty.

      “I don’t like breakfast,” Zoe said. “It makes me sick to my stomach.”

      Ashley rolled her eyes. “We eat cereal or peanut butter on toast. And a banana or apple. We fix our own.”

      “What time does your father leave for work?”

      “He’s gone before we get up.” Ashley climbed into bed and settled the bedding over her.

      Tricia leaned down for a hug from her, then moved on to Zoe, whose body language said, “Don’t come too close,” so Tricia just smoothed back her hair and said good-night.

      She encountered the same situation with the boys. Adam hugged her. Zack retreated from contact. She wondered where Noah was. She couldn’t hear any sounds within the house.

      How did he spend his evenings? Working? Watching television? Should she track him down and find out?

      She decided to return to the classroom and finish reviewing the children’s previous work. Thank goodness none of them were in high school yet and taking chemistry or something else she hadn’t studied in years.

      After a while she heard someone coming up the stairs, the footsteps heavy enough to be only Noah’s. He called her name, alerting her that he was about to enter the room.

      “How’s it going?” he

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