Page 17 of Always Be Mine
“Craig. Seriously.” The redheaded woman rolled her eyes, jabbed Craig in the ribs with her elbow, and crossed the floor toward her. “Hi,” she said to Lucy. “I’m Kat.” She held out her hand. “And I’m sorry for my brother. He’s had kind of a big day. Obviously, his managerial style could use a little work.” She turned and shot her brother a look. “This is Meredith.”
“Hi,” Lucy greeted the little girl first. “I’m Lucy.”
“Everyone calls me Meri.” Very seriously, Meri held out her hand for Lucy to shake. “Do you have anything else that’s purple?”
Lucy pretended to think about it for a moment. “You know what? I don’t think I do.”
“That’s okay. You have a purple jacket.” Meri held up a pencil crayon. “I’m going to draw you.” Before Lucy could respond, she ran away with her art supplies and climbed up to a table in the corner by the window.
Lucy couldn’t help but smile after her. She didn’t have a lot of experience with kids. But Meredith was a cutie, with just the right amount of sass.
She liked her.
“Your daughter is super cute.”
Kat shook her head and laughed. “I agree. She is super cute, but she’s not mine.”
Confused, Lucy looked to Craig, who simply nodded.
“Oh.”
It was far from an adequate thing to say considering she’d kissed the man the first time she’d met him, which was something she never would have done if she’d known he was married with a family. A red-hot blush crept up her neck as she surreptitiously glanced at his left hand.
No ring.
Interesting.
Not that it made a difference. No matter how attractive he was. And he was—all six feet of him, with his flop of sandy-blond hair and deep-green eyes that made her stomach flip when they were focused on her.
Nope. Not even the fact that she couldn’t stop thinking of that silly little kiss she’d laid on him would make a difference. It wasn’t happening. He had a child, which meant there was a mother to that child somewhere, and, as of a few minutes ago, Craig had officially become her boss.
No, thank you. She wasn’t going down that road.
Not again.
She winced at the thought. What happened with Ross hadn’t been her fault. But that didn’t make her feel any better about it.
“She’s mine,” he said, as if it needed any further explanation.
“She’s cute,” Lucy repeated needlessly.
“And…” He shrugged and gave her a bashful look. “I know this is going to sound a little strange, but that’s actually why I hired you.”
The situation was getting more confusing by the moment. Lucy looked between Craig, Kat, and then Meri before finally facing Craig again. “Excuse me?”
“I know you were applying to work in the shop here, but you said yourself you were overqualified to scoop ice cream.”
“Uh huh.”
“Oh boy.” Kat chuckled but didn’t make any moves to leave until Craig shot her a look. “Why don’t I take Meri in the back to find a snack?”
“Good idea.”
Kat didn’t bother hiding her laughter as she held out her hand for Meri, who grabbed it readily at the promise of a cookie.
“Good luck,” Kat called out over her shoulder as she went.
Lucy didn’t know who it was aimed at, but her senses were on alert.
