Mommy Wanted

“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 or want.

“Do you think you’ll be making a decision soon? I have four years of experience as an office manager, although it was a medical office, but I do know word processing and can definitely stay calm in a crisis situation.”

Mitch had been looking for someone to help out in his office for over a month. A few high schoolers had applied, saying they wanted to work in the summer but then would need to head back to school. And they’d also wanted a couple of weeks off for family vacation, mission trips or cheer camp. No one over twenty had walked through his door, and no one had any experience. This lady had four years?

“You did stay calm when I bolted to the back with Emmie,” he said, thinking God may have answered his prayer...but also given him something he wasn’t ready to handle. He found himself glancing to the embroidered Bible verse his mother-in-law had given him on his first Christmas without his wife, framed and hanging directly behind his desk.

God is faithful. He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear.

“Yes, I did stay calm,” she agreed, and then smiled.

Her smile caught him off guard because it transformed her unique face into something beautiful. Fair skin, blue eyes, jet-black curls.

Mitch wasn’t so certain this was something he could bear. Could he push the bizarre attraction aside in order to hire someone who may be exactly what he needed to help him run this office...and have more time with his girls?

Her hands still rested on the computer bag, and Mitch waited until she moved them away. No need for another awkward physical contact toward his potential employee, because he was thinking about hiring her...and dealing with this whatever-it-was. If God had sent this lady as an answer to Mitch’s prayers, then God would also help him control this unusual response to her presence. The bottom line was that he needed help. And he wanted to be able to leave this place when Dee and Emmie needed him. “I’ll call your references tonight. If everything checks out, you could start tomorrow,” he said. “Would tomorrow be too soon? Like I said, I really do need some help.” A major understatement.

“Tomorrow would be great.”

“Dee, you ready to go? I need to get home and get some work done.” And put a little space between himself and his potential employee, for now.

She clamored up from the floor. “Just work? Or can we play some, too?”

“We’ll play something,” he assured her, hoping that Emmie’s tummy would stay settled and that he could somehow take care of her, play a game or two with Dee and also get all of today’s policies updated before midnight. He really did need some help.

They left the office, and he began putting Emmie in her car seat while Dee stood nearby waiting for her turn.

“Miss Kate,” Dee said, and the lady stopped walking toward her car.

“Yes?”

“You can help me get in my seat.”

Mitch had started buckling Emmie, but his hands fumbled over the fastener. He looked up in time to see the lady smile at his little girl and change direction to walk toward his car.

“I’d love to help you,” she said, her voice filled with so much compassion that Mitch thought she seemed on the verge of tears. He focused on her eyes, blinking more than normal and definitely fighting whatever emotion Dee’s request had evoked.

Mitch was fighting one himself, because other than their family members, Dee didn’t typically ask for help from anyone but her daddy. He kept his attention on securing Emmie, now snoring softly, into her seat, but looked up to lock gazes with Kate. Her dark, unruly hair framed her petite face as she focused on buckling Dee in and then gave his daughter a smile.

“How’s that?” she asked.

Dee examined the buckle on her car seat and nodded. “You did good.”

Kate’s face practically glowed at Dee’s praise. “Thanks.” Then she looked up, caught Mitch staring, and they both quickly got out of the close space and shut their respective car doors.

“I’ll call you after I’ve spoken with your references,” he said, attempting to sound as professional as possible given whatever had just passed between them.

It’d been eighteen months since he’d felt anything remotely near to this. Maybe it was because she was someone new, someone who wasn’t from Claremont and didn’t know him as the young widower in town, as Jana’s husband, or as Dee and Emmie’s dad. Those were the references to him nowadays, and rarely did he simply feel like Mitch. But he didn’t want to give up his new monikers because giving them up meant letting go of Jana.

Wasn’t happening.

“Can you tell me something before you go?” Kate asked.