A Forever Kind of Family

“Part-time isn’t an option for me.”

“Then maybe you should think about taking some time off.”

“I did think about it,” she said bluntly. “I can’t.”

He pressed on anyway. “You went back to work only days after the funeral—when did you think about it?”

“In the time between learning about the accident and returning to work,” she told him. “I would have taken more time if I could, but there’s too much going on with the show right now. In fact, we’ve got Lucy Gibbs on the schedule for tomorrow morning, so I have to go in half an hour earlier because she likes to review all of the questions with me beforehand.”

“She can’t do that with someone else?”

“The last time she was on the show and I wasn’t there, she bullied and harassed one of our production assistants to the point that he almost quit.”

“She sounds charming,” he said drily.

She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter that she’s a prima donna when her name is money at the box office.”

“If you’re going in early, will you be able to leave early?”

“I’m going to try,” she said. “But there were a couple of day-care centers that I wanted to check out on my way back.”

He frowned. “You want to put Oliver in day care?”

“I don’t see that we have any choice.” She neatly folded the dishcloth and draped it over the towel bar inside the cupboard.

“Don’t you think we should talk about this—to see if we can’t figure something else out? For God’s sake, Harper, the kid just lost both of his parents and you want to abdicate responsibility for his care to strangers?”

“It’s not what I want. It’s what the reality of the situation demands.” She braced her hands on the edge of the counter behind her and faced him. “I don’t have the luxury of working for a company owned by my family,” she told him. “If I don’t go to work, I don’t get paid.”

“If the issue is money, I’ll pay—”

“No.” She cut him off sharply. “It’s not only about money.”

“I know how important your career is to you,” he said.

But Harper didn’t think he did. Because her career was more than important—it was what defined her.

She’d started as an assistant to the property manager at WNCC-TV fresh out of college and worked her way through the ranks to become an associate producer of the award-winning morning program Coffee Time with Caroline. In the process, she’d sacrificed weekends and vacations, missed get-togethers with friends, turned down more offers for dates than she’d accepted—and then skipped out early on at least half of those that she’d accepted.

Ryan, on the other hand, had been born a Garrett. He’d never had to make any sacrifices to secure his job at Garrett Furniture. Maybe he hadn’t started out as national sales manager of the company, but there hadn’t been a lot of obstacles in his path to the big office.

He didn’t have to worry that taking a few weeks off might jeopardize his position, but Harper knew that a leave of absence—even in the short term—could completely derail her career.

“I just don’t think we should rush into anything,” he continued, his tone conciliatory.

But she’d learned the hard way that if she didn’t take action, things didn’t get done. “How much longer should we wait? Another couple of weeks? A month?”

“More than three weeks,” he retorted.

She forced herself to take a deep breath before their discussion escalated into a full-blown argument. “I did some research and made some phone calls. I’m not suggesting we drop him off somewhere first thing tomorrow morning.”

He nodded slowly as he wiped Oliver’s hands and face. “What day cares are you considering?”

That he asked suggested that he might come around on the issue, and because she needed his cooperation to make it work, she answered in an equally careful tone. “First Steps and Wee Watch are the only ones that are on the short list so far. Little Hands looked good, too, but its location isn’t convenient for either of us.”

“Andrew’s daughter, Maura, went to Wee Watch.”

“So that would be your choice?”

“My choice would be to figure out a way to coordinate our schedules so that Oliver doesn’t have to go to day care.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Well, I work every day from six a.m. until noon, sometimes with production meetings afterward. Can you work your schedule around that?”

“Do you understand the word compromise?”

“Yes, I do. But I’m not willing to compromise my job.”

“I’m not asking you to. I’m only asking you to pause to take a breath, to give all of us—and especially Oliver—some time to come to terms with everything that’s happened.”

“That sounds great in theory, but the last three weeks have been complete chaos and I need to get things settled and get my life back on track.”

“Do you really think anyone at work needs you more than this little boy—” he picked Oliver up out of his high chair “—does right now?”

“No—but at least at the studio, I know what I’m doing.”

It wasn’t something she’d planned to admit, especially not to Ryan. But the truth was, even after only three weeks, it was apparent that he was much more comfortable with Oliver and much better at anticipating the little boy’s needs than she was, making her feel not just inept but dependent on him.

And that was why she needed to focus on her work: because it was the only place right now that she felt competent and in control. When she was with Oliver and Ryan, she felt overwhelmed and helpless and all kinds of other emotions she wasn’t ready to acknowledge, much less put a label on.

Chapter Four (#ulink_ff35e622-3be3-595f-9902-53994159772b)

Ryan wasn’t usually awake at 5:00 a.m.—and he didn’t understand why any sane person would be. But Thursday night, Oliver was even more restless than usual, waking at midnight, then 2:00 a.m. and again at 3:00 and 4:00.

As a result, Ryan fell asleep in the rocking chair with the little guy in his arms and heard Harper’s alarm go off forty-five minutes later. Then he heard the shower start, and there was no going back to sleep for him after that. Because thinking about Harper in the shower teased him with mental images of her sexy body naked and wet, and suddenly certain parts of him were very wide-awake.

Not wide-awake enough to want to get dressed and go into work, as Harper did at that ungodly hour five days a week. He didn’t know anything about television, but it seemed crazy to him that she had to be at the studio at six o’clock in the morning for a show that didn’t go on the air until ten. Even more surprising was the fact that she genuinely seemed to enjoy her job.

Coffee Time with Caroline was an hour-long program, but Harper didn’t leave the studio when filming was done. Instead she went back to her office to review any problems or concerns with the staff and prepare for the next day’s program.

He didn’t usually get to his office at Garrett Furniture before two o’clock, which meant that he was often in meetings or conference calls with other salespeople from then until five, when everyone else went home because their day had started at a normal hour. It was hardly an ideal situation, but so far it was working for them. Not seamlessly but satisfactorily.

Day care would simplify both of their lives—he couldn’t deny that. He also agreed that Oliver could benefit from an environment shared with other children and the exposure to alternate routines. But he still believed it was too soon. There had been too many changes in the little guy’s life recently to throw another one at him right now.

He’d never envisioned himself as a “Mr. Mom” kind of guy, but he found that he was enjoying his time with Oliver. They were establishing their own morning routines, which usually included sitting down in front of the television every morning at 10:00 a.m. to watch Coffee Time with Caroline. Though they didn’t see Harper on TV, it was fun to view the end product of her work.

The first fifteen minutes of the show were spent on casual banter between Caroline and her headline guest/cohost, which was followed up by various segments with other guests. Sometimes they were celebrities on tour to promote one thing or another; other times the guests provided a more local flavor.

Every Monday, there was an SPCA spotlight to show some of the cats and dogs that were available for adoption at the local shelter; the Tuesday program included a trivia game with contestants chosen from the audience; Wednesday offered some kind of cooking segment—either the chef of a local restaurant or tips from moms for quick healthy meals; Thursday there was a “book chat”; and Friday focused on home improvement and decor.