Mommy Wanted. Renee Andrews
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didn’t mind the child relating her to someone she obviously liked. “I’m...” She felt odd merely saying Kate, so she pulled from her own youth and added the Southern salutation. “I’m Miss Kate.”
The little girl wrinkled her nose, sending a tiny spray of freckles dancing. “That’s okay, I guess. But I like Snow White better.”
Kate laughed. “Me, too.” She was glad for the chance to chat with this little princess while waiting to talk to her dad. Her nerves had almost disappeared with the interaction, and the fact that Mitch didn’t seem to remember her didn’t hurt, either. “So, what’s your name?” she asked.
“Dee.” She moved to the smaller of the two desks in the office, put her back against the front wooden panel and then slid down to sit on the floor. She wore a yellow shirt with tiny pink flowers, matching yellow shorts and brown buckled sandals. Pink bows capped her strawberry pigtails. “Dee Ellen Gillespie,” she added, her s coming out with an adorable lisp that made the name sound like Gillethpie.
As soon as Kate heard the name, she remembered even more about the time she’d met Mitch. He was with his wife, and she held their baby, a little girl only a couple of months older than Kate’s daughter. Was this that little girl? Kate took a nearby seat and asked, “How old are you, Dee?”
Concentrating, she put her thumb and pinkie together and held up the middle three fingers. “This many.” Then she released her pinkie finger. “But I’m almost this many. That’s four.”
Kate’s heart tugged in her chest. Three, and almost four. This was the baby she remembered, almost exactly the same age as Lainey, who would be four on August 30.
Wow. Kate’s daughter would be like this little girl, full of ideas and opinions and able to express herself and carry on a conversation with her mom.
But the only mom Lainey knew...wasn’t Kate.
The door to the restroom opened, and Mitch came out carrying Emmie, her head on his shoulder and her eyes closed, thumb stuck in her mouth. He looked exactly like Kate remembered, with reddish hair and a ruddy complexion, bright blue eyes and broad shoulders. A strong resemblance to Prince Harry, in Kate’s opinion, and the exact type of look she’d never take an interest in for herself. She’d always gone for the Bradley Cooper, Matthew McConaughey, good-looking-enough-to-stop-traffic kind of guy. But that didn’t matter now anyway, because Mitch was married, and Kate wasn’t here for any romantic interest. She’d chased after what she thought was love in Atlanta, and when the going got tough, Dr. Harrison Tinsdale had checked his bedside manner at the door. Then again, as a world-renowned plastic surgeon, he dealt with “pretty” on a regular basis; he had no concept of how to deal with “sick.”
Mitch’s eyes glanced right past Kate and zeroed in on the little girl still sitting against the desk. “Dee, you okay?”
“Yep.” She bobbed her head. “She’s not Snow White, though. She’s just Miss Kate.”
His eyes warmed toward the little girl, and then he turned his attention to Kate. “I’m afraid it isn’t always this eventful in my office, but I was called to get Emmie—” he tilted his head toward the little girl now sleeping on his shoulder “—at day care because she’s sick.” A lift of his mouth. “I guess you figured that out.”
“She going to be okay?” Kate asked.
“I’ll get her home so she can rest, and then hopefully she will be. The teacher said there’s a twenty-four-hour bug going around.” He looked toward the bigger desk. “I’m afraid I was just stopping by to get my computer so I could work from home while I’m taking care of her. I wasn’t prepared for customers, but if you want to write down your name and number, I can call you later to answer any insurance questions you may have. Are you looking for coverage? You must be new to Claremont.”
“I am,” Kate said. In fact, she’d crossed the city line only an hour ago. “My name is Kate Wydell. But I’m not here for insurance. I’m actually here for the position you advertised in the paper. I have a résumé.” She’d nearly forgotten that she still clutched it in her hand. She lifted the résumé.
He winced. “You said that earlier, didn’t you? That you were here for the job.”
“Yeah, she did,” Dee said, fiddling with one of the buckles on her sandals.
He gave Dee a grin, then to Kate said, “Sorry about that. My mind was on taking care of Emmie.”
“That’s fine.” She admired the fact that he was so dedicated to his little girls. Obviously they took priority over the potential employee. Kate wished she’d have put her own little girl as a priority three years ago, but she’d attempt to rectify that now, starting with a move to Claremont and a place in Lainey’s world. “Is the job still available?”
“It is,” he said. “And to be honest, I’ve never needed help more than I do right now. I’m behind on, well, pretty much everything and—” he patted Emmie’s back “—it looks like I may be taking a couple of days to work from home. Let me get my things, and I’ll take your résumé with me.” He turned toward the larger desk, which Kate now noticed had his nameplate perched at one corner, balanced Emmie a little more solidly in his arm and then used his opposite hand to close his laptop. Then he lifted a black computer bag from the back of the desk and started trying to put the laptop in one-handed.
Kate wasn’t certain whether the feat could be accomplished while holding his baby, and she could tell he wasn’t about to put the sleeping child down, so she quickly moved to stand beside him. “Here, let me help.”
He already had the computer in his grasp, and her hands brushed against his as she opened the case and guided the computer inside.
She zipped the bag and then realized that she was standing closer to him than she’d intended, his height catching her off guard as she looked up into blue eyes framed with reddish-blond lashes. The contrasting color only emphasized the brightness of his eyes, as well as the compassion of a daddy holding his little girl. Kate swallowed and felt another tug of her heart. This was a real parent, what she desperately wanted to be.
* * *
Mitch cleared his throat. “Thanks.”
He was thrown by the instant awareness of the woman standing so near. She was several inches shorter than Mitch, but it was her petite features, her tiny hands touching his as she helped him with the laptop, that made him feel taller. He grasped Emmie, protecting his sick baby girl by holding her close as she slept, but he found himself feeling the oddest sensation that this pretty lady needed protection, too.
And he felt another sensation as well, something he hadn’t experienced in quite some time. His skin bristled with the awareness of a definite attraction to the dark-haired beauty standing so near.
A sharp stab of guilt pierced his heart and he swallowed through the assault. He’d lost Jana only a year and a half ago, merely two weeks after they’d had Emmie. He wasn’t ready to feel attraction again. Didn’t know if he’d ever be ready.
He was exhausted from all of the work he’d had this week and worried about his little girl. Therefore, he wasn’t himself. That had to be what caused this unwanted feeling toward a woman he’d just met.
“Can we go home now?” Dee asked, pulling him out of the momentary trance.
He took a slight but noticeable step back from the woman. “Yes, we should be heading home,” he said, and wrapped his fingers around the handle of his computer bag.
“You want me to put my résumé in your bag?” she asked. She’d placed the single page on the desk while she assisted him with the laptop and neither of them had thought to add it.
“Sure.”
And again, soft hands brushed his as he released the handle and she quickly unzipped the bag, slid the paper in and then closed it. Mitch winced through the realization that even the touch of her hands caused an awareness he didn’t need