A Little Bit Engaged

“You’re welcome. She’s adorable.”

“Oh…she’s not mine,” Ben said, happy to have an excuse to clear that up, just in case. “I’m just the official door holder.”

“I’m here to get a big sister,” Allie said. “Are you gonna get a little sister?”

Good girl, Ben thought, altogether pleased with the turn of events.

He’d let Allie interrogate the pretty blonde, and then maybe he could casually work into the conversation the fact that he had no wife and no children and then… Who knew? He might even get a lunch date out of the deal.

Ben couldn’t remember the last time he had a date.

He checked to see if he had his clerical collar on, then remembered he didn’t. Mrs. Ryan, with a very disapproving look, had reminded him of that this morning, but he’d gotten distracted and hadn’t put it on.

Okay. This was not a bad thing.

The collar made people uncomfortable.

Especially women.

Not that he was all that good with women even without the collar.

“I already have two little sisters,” the woman said. “Real sisters, I mean. But you can’t have too many little sisters, right?” She looked at Ben.

“Right,” he said. Could he interest her in a pregnant fifteen-year-old?

“So I came to get another one,” the woman said.

“Oh, good. I pick you,” Allie said, then turned and yelled back into the office. “Miss Grace? I found one all by myself! See?”

In the waiting room, a woman kneeling at the feet of the now completely shoeless toddler looked up and sighed. The little boy was trying to wiggle his way off the chair. A second woman was holding the baby, who was sucking on his fists.

“Allie, Miss Charlotte will find you a big sister. You can’t just grab one in the hallway.” Miss Grace grabbed the toddler by his left ankle, which kept him from sliding out of the chair, but he howled in protest. To top it all off, the baby started crying. The poor mother looked as though she might sit down and cry, too.

Ben had seen that exhausted-mother look before and stepped in. “Ma’am, would it be okay if I walked you and Allie and the boys to your car?”

She gave him a look that said she would have kissed his feet, if need be, to get help to the car with Allie and the two squirmy, crying boys. Allie came to his side and put her hand trustingly in his. Miss Grace handed him the toddler, whom he held against his shoulder.

“Thank you so much. I’ll get the shoes, the baby and the diaper bag—”

“I’ve got the diaper bag,” said the pretty blonde who was a whiz with ribbons.

Ben, this might be your lucky day.

If he could just get her phone number. And find the time to have lunch or something, and if she was willing… If he could sneak away from Mrs. Ryan for a few more hours, and if this woman actually liked him and wanted to see him again, he might manage to have a life outside the church.

People said he needed one. They warned about getting completely caught up in his work and forgetting to have a personal life.

Ben held the toddler, who was studying him with distrusting eyes. Grace had the baby. The blonde had the diaper bag. Allie was close by. They were ready.

“Thank you both so much,” Grace said.

“We’re having one of those days.” Allie sounded six going on twenty-six.

After a few more moments of confusion over misplaced car keys, a lost sock and a small battle of wills with the toddler over his car seat, the little blue station wagon was loaded up and on its way, leaving Ben alone with the blonde and trying to remember how to flirt. He’d never been that good at it, and for the past few years, he hadn’t had time, even if he did remember how.

She saved him by sticking out her hand and saying, “Sorry. It was so hectic back there, I didn’t have time to introduce myself. I’m Kate Cassidy.”

He took her hand in his. “Hi. Ben Taylor.”

“Nice to meet you. Are you going back to the office, too?”

“Yes.”

They turned and walked together.

Kate said, “So, are you a big brother?”

“No, I’m in the highly precarious position of owing the director a favor, and I’m not sure yet how she’s going to collect. I hear she can be brutal. I could have six little brothers by lunchtime.”

“Charlotte does seem to know how to take advantage of every opportunity.”

“She twisted your arm, too?”

“No. I can’t say that. It was more like…” They’d gotten back to the office door, and Ben held the door open for her. Kate nodded in the direction of his hand. “…like opening a door in front of me and knowing I’d walk right through it. You know what I mean?”

“Oh, yeah. Those get me every time,” he said, thinking the door metaphor could really be a sign. He believed in signs. And phone numbers. He had to get her phone number before she disappeared. He was trying to picture his calendar through the end of the week, to see if he had a day open for lunch, when they walked into the Big Brothers/Big Sisters office one more time.

“Kate,” the receptionist said. “It’s so good to see you. I’ve been waiting to see an announcement in the paper, but I must have missed it. You and Joe have picked a wedding date, haven’t you?”

Ben barely managed not to growl.

Chapter Two

“Not yet,” Kate told the woman, whose nameplate read Melanie Mann.

Was it Ben’s imagination or did she seem upset by the question? Ben stood behind her, eavesdropping shamelessly.

“Oh. Well, I understand,” her friend said. “No time to plan, right?”

“Right,” Kate agreed. “Not yet.”

Ben thought if she really wanted to marry this man, surely she could find time to plan a wedding.

“Sorry about your mom,” Melanie said. “I know you must miss her terribly.”

“Yes, I do,” Kate said.

Okay, so he was a cad. A truly terrible person. It sounded as if she’d lost her mother recently, and here he was, hoping there was something wrong between her and her fiancé, just so Ben could maybe have lunch with her.