July 18, 2009 by admin
Filed under Contemporary Romance, Looking for Home, Nan Donahue
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Jonathan led the way out to the garage. The four car garage. “I’ll have to get her car seat out of my car and put it in the Beemer for now. I’ll pick up another one tomorrow, so you have a permanent one here.”
M glanced at Alicia before asking, “Why didn’t Summer have a car seat in here already?”
“Because Summer…ah, because Summer liked the limo, remember?”
Judging from the look that crossed her face he didn’t need to explain that Summer had done her best to pretend that Alicia didn’t exist. Playing mommy hadn’t been her thing.
A few minutes later, after he deftly buckled his sister into her car seat, M pulled out of the garage.
“Do you need directions?” Jonathan asked.
“Um, I’m pretty sure it’s a straight run down to the lake from here, right?”
“Right. I’ll guide you out of the neighbourhood. Once we get onto Avenue Rd, stay on it. It’ll turn into University, then York, then we hit Queen’s Quay. We’ll find somewhere to park along the Quay, then get the ferry.”
“How often does the ferry run in the summer?”
“Every half hour, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long when we get there.”
He settled back in his seat and tried not to be too obvious as he monitored her driving. She was a prickly one, and he didn’t want to fire her ire again. To the extent possible, he’d like this to be a relaxed afternoon. Alicia needed a chance to get to know her, and he wanted to see how Em managed her.
His sister had been surprisingly reticent with Em, and that unsettled him a bit. Generally, she bubbled with enthusiasm for new people and new things. Sure, the last few months had been hard on her, hard on them both, but her reaction to Em — Emmanuela? — puzzled him. Alicia and Summer had never been close, largely due to the fact that Summer had kept her at arm’s length, but why shy away from her sister like that?
He sighed. This wasn’t turning out like he’d expected. Somehow Em continually slipped under his guard. He refused to be like his father, so easily swayed by a pretty face. Okay, that was a little unfair and made his father sound shallow. His father had spent the years after his mother’s death looking to replace — or at least come close to — the love they had shared.
Jonathan respected the bond that had held his parents together. He wasn’t so lacking in emotion and common sense that he couldn’t recognize and accept the fact true love existed.
It was the way some went about finding it that he questioned. People today were looking for love in the oddest places, and as far as he was concerned, they needed to rethink that. He didn’t need to look too far to see what a bad match could mean. Sure, people went into relationships with the best of intentions — for the most part — but the divorce rate was staggering. Obviously, couples were doing something very wrong. Right from the get go, in his opinion.
He planned to follow in his parent’s footsteps. It was a rational, logical thing to do. It had worked for them and it would work for him. If — when — he married, it would be permanent. For his sake, for his sister’s sake, and for the sake of any children he would have.
Jonathan returned his attention to her. She handled the car competently, completely at ease. He noticed the way she occasionally glanced back at Alicia. She said she didn’t know much about children, but he’d bet she was a natural caregiver.
“When I pick up the car seat tomorrow, I’ll get you one of those little add-on mirrors for your rear-view mirror.”
She wrinkled her brow. “Add-on mirror?”
“Yes. You clip it on to the rear view and adjust it so you can see the back seat. That way when you want to see what she’s up to, you don’t need to turn around. I have one in my car.”
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Alicia. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll be able to see you, and you can see me too.” She let her eyes drift over him before returning them to the road. “Thanks.”
He mentally patted himself on the back. Yes, this was a good idea. He had few misgivings that things would work out between Em and Alicia. Whatever doubts he had — and he was honest enough with himself to admit he had them — were about how she would ultimately impact him.
As a teenager he’d plotted a course for his life. A life where he kept all aspects of his personality resembling his father locked away in a vault. He knew — beyond a shadow of a doubt — that his natural tendency was toward right-brain thinking and reactions. After two decades of forcing his left-brain into dominance he’d become complacent.
He restrained a sour laugh. Both intuition and impulse — right-brained characterises — had played a large part in his decision to hire her.
No matter how much he’d like to ignore it, a niggle of fear plagued him. He had a premonition that Em — Ember? — could shake up a life he’d neatly stirred. That she could force the spontaneous, touchy feely side of him out of hiding, and make him forget that he preferred to be rational, logical, analytical.
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Thanks to Nan Donahue for sharing one of her manuscripts.
