Mommy in Training. Shelley Galloway
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“What about me? Aren’t you worried about disappointing me?”
Minnie glanced at his lips. Wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. Really kiss him.
He grinned.
Suddenly it hit her. Matt knew exactly what he was doing. He knew she had a weak spot for him that had everything to do with a crush that didn’t have the decency to go away.
She fought to remain aloof. To remember that his company was about to put her store out of business. “Not particularly. After all, you are my competition.”
He stepped back. “Minnie Clark, I can’t help it if you don’t like my job. Don’t be mad at me forever.”
Dear Reader,
Thanks for picking up Mommy in Training! While some books have seemed to come together pretty quickly, this one sure didn’t. Over the past eight years I’ve written and rewritten Matt and Minnie’s story. The only things that stayed the same were Matt and Minnie’s characters and my belief that their romance was worth sharing. I couldn’t be more pleased with how the story turned out.
I enjoyed writing Mommy in Training because it allowed me to think about Texas and remember everything I love about the Lone Star State. I grew up in Houston, and my husband and I spent the first five years of our marriage in a little town north of Dallas. Through Matt and Minnie, I got to go back to places where everyone knows each other, heat and humidity are nothing to take lightly and where a trip to the grocery store means putting on a fresh coat of lipstick.
So, though it’s cold outside, I hope you’ll take a little break with Matt and Minnie. Sip some tea. Imagine it being as hot as July, and remember that sometimes the best things just take a while to happen. But when they do, they’re certainly worth waiting for.
If you get a moment, I hope you’ll join me at my Web site, www.shelleygalloway.com, or at the Harlequin American Writers’ blog: www.harauthors.blogspot.com.
Happy reading!
Shelley
Mommy in Training
Shelley Galloway
MILLS & BOON
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shelley Galloway loves to get up early, drink too much coffee and write books. These pastimes come in handy during her day-to-day life in southern Ohio. Most days she can be found driving her teenagers to their various activities, writing romances in her basement or trying to find a way to get ahead of her pile of laundry. She’s also been known to talk to her miniature dachshund, Suzy, as if she actually has opinions about books.
Shelley is the proud recipient of a Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for her 2006 release, Simple Gifts. Shelley attends several conferences every year and loves to meet readers. She also spends a lot of time online. Please visit her at eHarlequin.com or at www.shelleygalloway.com.
To my editor Johanna Raisanen,
who was instrumental in making
Matt and Minnie’s story come alive.
And of course to Tom, who one day introduced me
to a man named Matt—and, well, the rest is history.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter One
“Matt, you’re back,” Mrs. Wyzecki proclaimed, as though it was the biggest surprise of her life.
Matt knew better. After all, the elderly lady had called his cell phone at least eleven times over the past two weeks, just to double-check that he was still heading in her direction.
But there was no sense in reminding her of that. Surely things hadn’t changed all that much in the ten years since he’d lived in her house. “You’re giving me no credit. Did you really think I wouldn’t show up like I said I would?”
Wanda Wyzecki stepped back to allow him entrance. “It wasn’t that I didn’t think you’d come back…I just wasn’t sure you’d be able to.”
“Well, I was.” Matt carefully closed the door behind him, using the moment to steady himself. The Wyzecki home smelled exactly like he remembered—lemon-fresh Pledge, tart Pine-Sol, and underneath it all, Ivory soap. Mrs. Wyzecki had always been a big fan of crisp, clean scents.
And, for some unknown reason, him.
“You comin’ in or are you gonna stand there all day?”
Just so she wouldn’t realize how good it felt to be around her—and how guilty he felt about staying away for so long, he sassed her right back. “I knew it wouldn’t be long before you started ordering me around.”
She took his elbow and led him into the rear of the house, where the overlarge kitchen lay. Its space had nothing to do with gourmet cooking and everything to do with the number of people who could sit at the cereal bar.
Matt noticed that their pace was slower than he recalled, and Mrs. Wyzecki’s arm a little frailer than he remembered. He was glad things had worked out with SavNGo and he could return as promised.
“Have a seat, Matt. Would you like some water?” Before he could answer she was on the move again. “Sit down and let me get a glass for you.”
After she set the drink in front of him and he took a few sips, Matt supposed it was time to get to the heart of the matter. “So, you really are moving.”
Faded blue eyes told him a wealth of