Project: Parenthood

‘No, they won’t.’ Teagan scowled down at him. ‘Something with bran in it would be much healthier.’

Brendan made a similar gagging face to the one Katie had made during the cauliflower discussion and Katie giggled at him. ‘Yuck.’

Leaning down towards his ear, Teagan snapped, ‘Not helping.’

She stood up abruptly as he rose to his feet, felt herself get shy as he examined her face. ‘You look wrecked. Tough day?’

‘You have no idea.’ She caved on the cereal with the book, soothing her conscience by at least believing that reading was educational, and vowing to balance it up by adding in some porridge oats. She’d worry about negotiations later. ‘And it’s only getting worse.’

Falling into step beside her, he reached a hand out and grabbed a box. ‘Worse how?’

With no idea whatsoever why she was doing it, Teagan started to spill her problems. ‘The deal I’m working on has been moved up, and I have this huge presentation to do in two days.’

Brendan nodded, adding more to his basket as they rounded the corner. ‘And you have the kids at the same time?’

‘Yes. And the daycare centre can’t take them.’

‘So, you’d say you were stuck, then?’

She stopped her trolley by the low refrigerators and glared at him. ‘I have a list of childminders to call when I get home.’

‘And if they can’t take them at short notice?’

Then she was in big trouble. Blinking at his calm face, she felt the headache thump harder at her temples. If it had been anyone else on the entire planet…

‘Then I’ll have to see if the meeting can be put back a couple of days.’ She just about managed to hide a grimace as she reached for frozen fish fingers and chicken nuggets.

Brendan stood silently until she looked back at him. ‘Did your sister understand how busy you are in work right now?’

She kept her face hidden as she examined the contents of the fridge. ‘She has some stuff that she has to deal with right now. It’s important.’

He watched as she aimed a brief smile at him.

‘Not cauliflower, Auntie Teagan.’

‘It’s good for us, Katie.’

‘But it tastes yucky.’

‘We’ll put cheese sauce on it and it’ll be grand.’ She ruffled Katie’s hair and then glanced at Brendan from beneath her lashes. ‘I better go get this lot fed.’

‘Sure.’ He nodded, then waited to speak again as she started to force her wobbly trolley away from him. ‘But remember the offer of help is still there if you need it, Teagan. Really.’

They couldn’t change the meeting. And none of the child-minders she’d been given numbers for had space for all three children. Which would mean splitting them up. Which Teagan couldn’t do. She had accepted responsibility for them and that was that.

So she had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask for help. From Brendan. Just for one day.

And he didn’t even take a second to be smug about it when he came to the house the next day. Which made her feel worse. She so didn’t want him to be around. Seriously.

Then and there Teagan decided it was time to track her sister down. It wasn’t that she didn’t want her nephew and nieces to stay. She did. It would be nice to spend more time with them. Really.

Just not right smack-bang in the middle of a big work deal.

When she got home Brendan had the world under control. Nothing appeared to have got stained, smeared or smashed since she’d left. And that in itself was a miracle she hadn’t managed in the last forty-eight hours.

She sighed as she sat down at the counter in the kitchen, and smiled at the coffee he handed her.

‘It’s official, just so you know. I’m going to kill her when I get her.’

Harsh words. But for a split second Teagan honestly meant them. Her responsibility for her younger sister’s problems should long since have ended. Somewhere around the time they both grew up and left the small hell they’d called home.

Brendan smiled from the other side of the room, ‘Couldn’t get through to your sister, I take it?’

‘Good guess.’ She managed a small smile in return, ‘It’s not that I don’t want them. It’s just that I can’t manage this right now.’

‘Yes, you can.’ His all too familiar deeply male voice sounded firm. ‘You don’t have a choice.’

‘Of course I have a choice. I can track her down and she can take them home!’

‘But that’s just it. You can’t, can you?’ His fair eyebrow raised a notch as he stared at her with eyes so dark a blue that from across the room they were almost black. ‘Where else can they go ’til you find her?’

She glared across at him. To add to her sister’s list of transgressions she now had the fact that she was being forced to spend time with the one man she’d spent nine years avoiding.

Up until he’d reappeared she’d managed to live by the ‘out of sight out of mind’ rule. Hadn’t ever bumped into him at a party, or made the mistake of attending any reunion-type thing he might have been at.

Now, thanks to her sister, she had no choice but to accept his help. Which had brought him into her house and directly into her line of vision. Up close and personal.

The best-laid plans…

‘Teagan?’ His voice sounded again when she went silent.

‘Sorry.’ She scowled down into her coffee mug and tried to find answers there. ‘I can’t keep looking after three little kids under ten. Not right now. And I can’t keep imposing on you either. I was only supposed to have them for a few days, and this contract in work wasn’t due to finalise ’til next week.’

‘It’s no big deal. I don’t mind.’

When she looked up again he was studying her, his eyes as warm as his voice was reassuring.

It was unnerving as all hell. ‘You may not, but I do.’

‘You can’t want to see them in the care of someone you don’t know? Not really.’

She scowled at his statement, admitting inwardly that that was probably the reason she got a headache every time she spoke to someone about childcare or daycare. It just didn’t sit well on her.

What she wanted was for her sister to get herself home so that Teagan herself could have her life back. She would even offer to babysit a night or two, so that Eimear and Mac could have time alone, and she’d reschedule for them to stay. That would be fair, wouldn’t it? And it would ease her guilt at not being able to help somewhat. Well, a little anyway.

It was kind of a moot point right that minute, though. She sighed. ‘I can’t bring them with me to the office. If I mess up this contract…’ The words trailed off.

Despite the serious tone of her statement, Brendan’s eyes sparkled with amusement. With her scowl as a response, he cleared his throat and forced a calm look on his face. ‘You’re right. Having seen what they can do to a living room in one afternoon, I guess the office is probably not a good idea mid-presentation.’