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Sharon now held a baby in each arm, and she was spinning lazy circles in the middle of the room. “Looks funny without Brian’s exercise equipment,” she said. “You sure about this living arrangement?”
Abby glanced around at the generous space, unwilling to voice her turmoil. “Sure I’m sure,” she said.
And she was, in a way. At least she was glad to know that Wyatt would be here, in this house, with her and Rosie. Abby might have snagged a rather large stray in the form of Jack Kimball, but since the baby boy she’d tried to lasso was included, it should be well worth it.
“Since I volunteered to baby-sit the twins during the funeral, I’ve never met Jack,” Sharon said. She stopped turning, and caught Abby’s eye. “I assume you know what you’re getting into.”
“I think so,” Abby said with a shrug. “Besides, this was the only way to keep Wyatt for the time being.”
“Didn’t you say Jack was granted permanent custody?”
“I did.” She pulled Wyatt away from Sharon. “He’s a bachelor, though. He has no idea what he’s getting into. I’m predicting that he’ll want out within three months.”
Sharon frowned. “You know they can learn, right? Most men start off clueless when it comes to their first baby.”
“But Jack isn’t like most men,” Abby said with growing confidence. “He’s like Tim, my ex-husband.”
“How’s that?”
Abby counted off the similarities on her fingers. “He likes women, he spends too much time in bars and he buys expensive, big-boy toys.”
“Sounds like a typical single man, if you ask me,” Sharon said. “My Earl rode a Harley before we got married. He only traded it for the tractor after our third son was born.”
Abby swung Wyatt to her opposite arm and used her other hand to continue her tally. “Well, now I’m just guessing on these,” she said. “But I’ll bet that Jack bores easily, avoids commitment and hates self-sacrifice. He’s a Tim, not an Earl.”
“What does he look like?”
Abby scowled. “That’s irrelevant.”
“Is he tall?” Sharon asked with a chuckle.
Abby nodded. No need to deny that particular quality, since Sharon would find out for herself soon enough.
“Brian had nice eyes. Does Jack?”
She thought about a pair of devilishly handsome eyes and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
Sharon’s mop of graying blond hair floated triumphantly out of the room. “Sounds to me as if you’ve got more than the twins to worry about.”
“Jack Kimball is completely resistible,” Abby said as she followed her friend into the living room.
“What if you aren’t?”
Abby stopped near Paige’s plum curtains and pulled them closed. “Are you kidding?”
Her neighbor turned around and shook her head. “You said he likes women. You are one, Abby.”
She laughed at the thought. “I’m not his type.”
Sharon sat on the sofa with Rosie on her lap and tickled the little girl under her chin. “And that’s a problem?” she said. “Opposites attract.”
“Stop it,” Abby said. She jiggled Wyatt. “This is the only irresistible bachelor in my life. And besides, even if Jack doesn’t know better, I do.”
“You won’t have a problem with being chased around this fine, faux leather sofa?”
“That won’t happen,” Abby said with confidence.
Her friend patted the cushion beside her. “Sit down and spill it,” she said. “What are you up to?”
Abby laughed. She walked across the room and flicked on the lamp. “What do you mean?”
“I recognize that look in your eye,” Sharon said. “We’re finished moving for tonight. Sit and talk.”
Abby set Wyatt on the carpet amid a cheerful clutter of toys, then took Rosie from her friend’s arms to put her down there, too. After that she plopped down on the sofa, shrugged and admitted, “I do have a teensy little plan.”
JACK KNEW HE’D NEVER succeed at running his own business if he didn’t devote himself to it passionately. He spent most of his weekday hours developing and marketing software, training clients or troubleshooting problems.
Most days, he had lunch delivered to wherever he was working, and often ate dinners there, too. The only personal things he rammed into his grueling schedule were an hour’s exercise at whichever end of the day he could fit it in, and a shower and shave after that.
No one could work harder, and he had achieved a degree of success that allowed JK Business Software Systems to enjoy a nice little profit.
He also knew that play restored him, and he worked hard at that, too. He couldn’t do well at one thing without focusing ample attention on the other.
Therefore, most of his off hours were reserved for fun—any kind of fun. Wild or civilized, carefully charted or slapdash. His only requirement was that it, and the woman he chose to share it with, held his attention.
By the time Friday night rolled around, he was usually the first in line for entertainment. This weekend was no exception. Although he’d returned to Kansas City to pack for his temporary stint in the country, there was no reason he couldn’t squeeze in a few dates with his lady friends.
A year spent in the sticks taking care of two babies, with Abby’s solemn eyes judging his every move, sounded exhausting. And long. Possibly joyless. He wanted to cram as much of his usual rakish lifestyle into this weekend as possible.
It had taken him only a few hours this morning to pack his things and dismantle his computer. He’d boxed everything and stacked it by the front door. The movers would pick up a few big items tomorrow and deliver them to the farmhouse on Sunday. It wouldn’t make sense to get out there before his furniture did, which meant most of the weekend was open.
It only proved that he led a charmed life—he had plenty of time, and three beautiful girlfriends who should fill it rather nicely. Maybe if he could smooth things over with each of them, an occasional weekend visit might be arranged, making the year a little less arid.
Since Diane happened to be a real estate agent, he called her first. Maybe she could help him find a temporary tenant for his condo. Even if that didn’t work out, she was well worth his time. His latest paramour had a cap of sexy black hair and mile-long legs. But his favorite feature by far was the seductive laugh she only used in the bedroom.
He dialed her cellphone number, knowing her Friday morning would have been spent showing houses or scouting out opportunities.
“Diane Westmoreland,” she barked.
“Hey, Diane. I’m back in town.”
“Ooh, Jacky!” she said, in a tone fairly dripping with carnality. “How good to hear your voice.”
“You must be alone,” he said, chuckling at the change. She’d gone from frigid to fiery in a second.
“Way, way too alone, big boy.”
Good. He would enjoy seeing her, but more than that, he needed her help. “You busy in an hour?”
“There’s not a thing happening here that can’t be rearranged for you.”
“How about meeting me for lunch? We can go to your favorite Italian place in the city.”
“Sounds wonderful,” she purred. “I’ll be waiting.”
Wonderful it wasn’t. It was closer to woeful. Or wintry.
Once Jack told Diane that he was moving to rural Topeka, her temperature went right back down to 98.6 degrees. And when he explained about moving into the farmhouse with Abby, it plummeted well below freezing.
The mood had been so frosty at lunch, he’d worried that they’d both develop hypothermia. Or at least indigestion.
He spent nearly an hour trying to convince her that he was not involved with Abigail Briggs. He told her that Abby was too countrified, often sharp-tongued and genuinely not his type. For some reason, Diane didn’t believe him.
She had finished her meal and gathered her purse to leave before he remembered that he was going to ask her to sublet the apartment for him. He opened his mouth to speak, but after looking at her dour expression one more time, he thought better of it. He’d just have to call her later, after she had warmed back up to room temperature.
There was no point in hiring a stranger just because the wiliest Realtor in town was a little miffed.
Besides, there was no need to be alone tonight—Paula was next on his list. He owed her the choice Friday night slot because she’d been the most enduring girlfriend of his adult life.
Ultrasophisticated Paula put up with his other lady friends and always greeted him with a smile. He was hoping she’d be willing to let him crash at her place whenever he had to come into the city on business.
She surprised him. Their understanding about dating other people seemed to fly out the window as soon as he said the word roommates.
“What do you mean, you’re going to live with her?”
Jack held Paula’s wineglass out to her. She’d always understood his need to date around. This was only a slight deviation from normal, and it shouldn’t truly upset her.
“She’ll be living in the same place, but that’s all,” he explained. “We’re not romantic. Think of her as a housemother, if you wish. Or the girl next door.”
Paula didn’t take the glass, and she didn’t look amused. “And you’re actually going to help take care of two brats?”
Jack frowned as he sat the glass back down. That had sounded ugly. He knew she wasn’t the nurturing type, but now she was slandering his own flesh and blood. “They’re only five months old,” he said. “Infants can’t be classified as brats.”
“Future brats, then,” she sniffed, standing up to leave before they’d even ordered dinner.
“Paula, you surprise me,” he said, as he stood up, too.
“Darling, I’m afraid it’s you who has surprised me,” she said over her shoulder.
Jack threw a couple of bills on the table and followed her out, wondering why two out of three of the women who were supposedly crazy about him were giving up so easily.
He wasn’t doing anything shady. This was all just geographical. He was moving from a condo in the city to a house in the country, and it was an easy forty-five minute drive between the two. What was the problem?
As they stood near the front of the restaurant, he held out her jacket so she could slip it on. In a desperate attempt to bring their conversation back to its usual witty banter, he said, “If I can ditch the rugrats one weekend and get to the city, may I give you a call?”
“You can try,” she said. “I do have a life, you know. I’ll tell you what you can do—you can call me when you’re finished playing family man. Perhaps then we can move in together.” She gave him a peck on the cheek before she slid into her car, which the valet had just parked in front. And then she drove away without a single backward glance.
As Jack watched her go, he didn’t wonder at his lack of disappointment. He knew his weekend’s diversion wasn’t lost just yet. He’d simply call in his third option tonight, instead of waiting for morning.
Zuzu was slightly offbeat, but her unpredictable way of looking at things was amusing. And he’d never once seen her mad. Despite a colorful head of hair whose base tone, he suspected, was red, she was peaceable, often prophetic. He called to invite her out for coffee. Luckily, she was free.
An hour later, he sat in a trendy diner handing Zuzu fresh napkins. “I knew you were going to run off to the country and fall in love,” she sobbed.
The sequins on her pink-and-orange blouse glimmered with each shuddering breath, making it hard for Jack to take her seriously.
“Zuzu, I’m not in love,” he said. “Abby and I are just moving in together for convenience. We have never even kissed—”
He clamped his jaw shut when he remembered how much he’d wanted to do just that in the farm kitchen a few days ago, and he tried not to let the thought echo in his brain.
There was no need to bring something like that up now.
“W-well, if you haven’t yet, you w-will. I just know it.”
“I doubt that,” he soothed, moving his chair closer to hers so he could rub her back. Maybe there was still hope for snatching a little romance out of an otherwise wasted evening.
In a singsong voice, Zuzu asked, “Is she pretty?”
He removed his hand. She’d sounded far too childlike to be touching her seductively right now. Sighing deeply, he said, “In a way, I suppose. She seems to have the basic material, but she doesn’t try very hard to enhance it.”
“But that’s worse!”
“Why?”
“Because that means she’s a natural beauty.”
“I suppose you’d say she’s all right in the looks department,” Jack said, wondering if Abby would be considered attractive by another woman.
Her eyes were gorgeous—no one else had eyes that bright and clear. But her hair was usually just parted in the middle and tied back. Even at Paige and Brian’s wedding, she’d simply wound a braid around each side of her head. He’d never seen her hair loose around her shoulders, and her clothes were usually unassuming.
A woman would think she was plain, he supposed. Only a male would home in on that sexy little body.
“Is she sexy?” Zuzu asked.
He shrugged. He prided himself on being truthful with his dates, but with Zuzu he tried to be extra careful.
In case she knew.
Sounding confident now, she said, “See what I mean? You’ll be married in less than a year.”
“Zuzu, we’ve talked about this before. I’m never going to get married. There are too many women out there.”
“Every man says that,” she said. “Every woman knows it only takes the right one.”
Jack frowned. He always spent time at the beginning of each relationship establishing a single rule: he’d date whom he wanted, when he wanted.
No commitments, and no cat fights.
“And what makes you think Abby’s my Miss Right?”
“Intuition,” Zuzu said with a knowing smile.
“Baloney,” he responded, with a confidence of his own.
And with that, the otherworldly Zuzu drifted out of the diner, and the astounded Jack returned to his town home alone for the first time in a number of weekends.
Always before, a barren weekend had been his choice—not theirs. He’d had no idea how spoiled he’d been. He walked around among his boxed possessions, wishing he hadn’t packed. Wishing the movers would come so he could get to the farmhouse and begin to put the next year behind him.
At least there the baby-care duties should keep him from being bored. It had been nice of Abby to offer to take care of the twins all weekend. He wondered if Wyatt had gone to sleep without a struggle tonight, and if Rosie had babbled nonstop all day.
After an hour of quiet, he called Abby to find out.
“Hullo?”
Her voice was low and throaty. She sounded tired. He checked the time and realized it was eleven o’clock. She’d probably been asleep. He could picture her lounging in bed with a pristine white sheet slipping down the front of her— Whoa!
An evening’s assorted discussions about the caliber of her assets must have gotten to him.
“Hullo? Is anyone there?”
“Abby, it’s Jack. How’s it going?”
“Fine. The babies have been asleep for two hours,” she said. “They wake up early, so I came on up to bed.”
Bed. There it was again.
No matter how hard he fought it, that image of her naked body kept popping into his brain. The only explanation he could think of was that his woman-filled weekend had been a complete washout.
“I’m sorry if I woke you. I just wanted to check on things there,” he said with his eyes closed, as if he could block the unwanted mental pictures.
“You mean you’re alone? Jack, are you slowing down at the ripe old age of…what, thirty-one?” As she grew more alert, she seemed to extend her talons again.
“There’s no need to start a fight now,” he said, opening his eyes again.
He should thank her, really. As soon as her tone changed from soft to sarcastic, her image transformed, and he saw her standing with her hands on her hips and her lips pinched together. Wearing plenty of clothes.
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