Chapter 19

After two interviews the following morning, Justin decided to offer the position to the grandmother looking for a part-time job. He wanted someone trustworthy and reliable and since he knew his chances of finding someone as perfect as Allena were impossible, those qualities would need to be enough.

Someone as perfect as Allena…Funny, but he’d only just come to realize how true that was. She’d accused him of treating her as though she was invisible. He’d denied it at the time, but since then he’d had days to think about, and now he realized she might be right.

He’d taken her for granted and now he was paying the price. She was on the verge of leaving and would soon have a different life. With someone else. With the fireman. She’d fall in love with him. Marry him. Have children with him.

And he couldn’t bear thinking about it.

“She was nice,” Allena said when he returned to the office after the last interview. “You were right.”

“Sometimes that has been known to happen,” he said and grinned a little when he saw she was smiling. “Doesn’t look like I’m going to be getting back to town today.”

“Two days this week working from home,” she said. “That must be a record.”

“Am I that much of a workaholic?”

She nodded. “Sometimes.”

She was still smiling and looked so pretty that Justin had to remind himself to not stare at her like an infatuated teenager. She wore a short denim dress, ballet flats and her hair was up in a loose ponytail. She had nice legs—smooth and athletic—no doubt from the yoga and running and horse riding. In fact, everything about her was breathtakingly sexy. He liked her curves and the way she moved was incredibly alluring.

“Justin?”

Her voice jerked him from his foolish trance and he met her gaze. “Yes?”

“Everything okay?”

“Perfect,” he said and smiled. “I thought we’d head into town around six. Does that work?”

“Sure,” she said, watching him curiously for a moment before she turned and left the room.

He spent the next hour checking references for the woman he planned on hiring, and when they came back without a hitch, he called her and offered her the position. She accepted immediately and Justin worked out a start date. He finished up in the office around four. The kids were home from school by then so he spent some time with them before Allena got them bathed and dressed.

He showered, changed into jeans, a black button-down shirt and boots and then headed back to the kitchen just before six o’clock. His grandmother was making tea and the kids were seated at the table, dressed and ready to go. Mittie looked up and grinned. “Big date?”

Justin frowned. “Don’t start. You’re welcome to come with us.”

His grandmother shook her head. “I have a busy weekend planned. I’m playing in the mah-jongg tournament at the veterans’ home tomorrow, so I’ll be needing an extra early night.”

Justin was about to respond when Allena appeared in the doorway and his jaw almost dropped to his feet. She wore a peach nice dress, knee length and buttoned at the front, and a pair of sparkly orange-and-peach cowboy boots. Her hair was loose, tumbling down her back and the dress highlighted every lovely curve. Justin caught the appreciative sigh from his lips before he gave it a sound and he swallowed hard.

“Ready?” he asked, ignoring the twitch in his limbs.

She nodded, avoiding his gaze. “Let’s go, kids.”

The children were out of their seats in a microsecond and a couple of minutes later were buckled in the rear of his SUV. “You look really nice,” he said as he started the ignition.

She took a moment to respond. “Thank you.”

Once they were on the road and driving into town, he spoke again. “Is there somewhere you’d like me to send your things?” he asked evenly. “I know you have several pieces of your own furniture in your room.”

“Tess said she’d store them at the Triple C until I get settled,” she replied.

Justin shrugged. “I guess you could, but I can’t see the point hiring anyone to move your stuff for such a short time. You may as well leave them here. The new nanny won’t be a live-in. No point in moving the stuff twice. I mean, if you decide to go to Texas, you can just get it moved directly there.”

She didn’t respond and Justin turned his gaze toward her briefly, hoping she’d contradict his comment. But she didn’t. “Or not,” he added.

“I think I’ll just replace it when I figure out my next steps. You can take it down to the cabin, if you want. You said the place needed a few things to make it more livable.”

“So,” he continued. “So where will you go once you leave? To stay with Tess at the villa?”

“No, I’m going to stay at the town’s hotel for a few days,” she replied. “Just to get my bearings. After that I haven’t made any firm decisions.”Justin was pleased to hear it. At least she wasn’t racing off to London immediately. “Do you plan on working somewhere?”

“Of course,” Allena replied. “I thought I’d try to get a position back in office admin. I have a couple of applications to send out.”

“If you need references, let me know.”

She nodded her head, “Oh, I will,” she said. “I must say, you’ve become very agreeable all of a sudden.”

“It’s not sudden,” he replied. “I’ve simply realized that trying to talk you out of leaving is futile.”

“What does futile mean, Daddy?”

Jayden’s quiet voice cut through their conversation. Justin glanced at his son in the rearview mirror. “It means there’s no point.”

“Like when I don’t want to eat brussels sprouts?”

Justin grinned. “Something like that.”

“Or peas!” Cassie said, chiming in.

“You love peas,” Allena reminded his daughter.

Cassie giggled. “I forgot. Daddy, will our new mommy make Jayden eat brussels sprouts?”

Justin sucked in a breath. New mommy? Of course…because in many ways Cassie regarded Allena as her mother. And probably Jayden did, too. “Say something to them,” she whispered in a stern tone, glaring at him.

Justin cleared his throat and spoke. “Kids, you know that even though a nanny takes you to school, and tucks you in at night and reads you a bedtime story, she’s not your mommy, right?”

Cassie looked puzzled, and her lip began to tremble. Justin looked at his daughter in the rearview mirror and his heart dropped. “Someday, you’ll have a mommy again, honey,” he said, desperate to comfort his children.

“They will?” Allena asked, her voice so low he knew the kids couldn’t hear her.

He shrugged and turned off toward town. “Sure.”

“You know, that means you’d have to get married again?”

“I know what it means,” he replied quietly. “I’m not antimarriage. I liked being married. In fact, I think I was pretty good at it.”

She made a slight huffing sound. “I didn’t realize you were open to such a commitment.”

“I wasn’t,” he said and jerked his gaze sideways for a second, getting a clear view of her tightly wired jaw and unblinking eyes. “But who knows what the future might hold?”

What on earth was he thinking? He thought to himself.