Make Your Move - By Samantha Hunter Page 0,9

the bakery. Ginger welcomed him cheerfully. All the while, as they talked about D.C., the bakery and what was happening in Chicago, his mind was working out his problem. He could hear himself conversing with Jodie and Ginger but his mind was miles away.

He had less than a day to prevent Jodie from making a terrible choice. One day to keep her out of Jason’s bed.

Dan’s eyes landed on the Passionate Hearts cookies. In less than a minute, his problem was solved.

3

THE NEXT MORNING, Jodie found herself in a replay of the day before.

Hustling back and forth from the kitchen, she looked at the clock and wondered where Ginger had gotten to. Again, she’d popped out to pick up Anna from Sunday school, but it was nearly eleven and it shouldn’t take her this long to get there and back. They were only open until one, but Ginger usually covered the counter while Jodie set up for Monday in the kitchen. Now, nothing was done and she wasn’t ready for her date with Jason, either.

Peevishness turned into concern. Ginger was not unreliable. Something had to be wrong. Jodie, who didn’t give into the impulse to worry too often, was very worried now.

She should call and cancel with Jason. She really didn’t want to give up her cherished Sunday night at home anyway. For whatever reason, her interest in taking him to bed had waned dramatically. She knew she was just seeing him out of guilt, for having walked out on him Friday night. Usually, when it came to guys, she didn’t do guilt.

Looking up as the door opened, she hoped it was Ginger but instead saw the handsome runner from the day before. He stopped in the doorway, checking around a bit, and then focused on her, smiling.

“Hi.”

“Hi. Can I help you?”

He smiled in a slightly bashful way. “I hope so. First, I’m not a stalker or anything, but I was hoping that other girl, the one who waited on me yesterday, might be here?”

Jodie quirked an eyebrow. “Why?”

“She was…cute, if a little on the serious side, but I was hoping maybe she’d meet me for a coffee or something. I wanted to ask her. I’m Robert. Robert Castilla.”

“Hi Robert,” Jodie said, moving out from behind the glass case and standing with her arms crossed, regarding him closely. It wasn’t her place to give him information about Ginger. That didn’t mean she couldn’t give information to Ginger about him. “What kind of work do you do?”

“I’m a physical therapist at St. Mary’s Hospital. Been there for four years,” he answered easily. That explained the shape he was in, the care he took with that lithe, athletic body. It also said he liked to help people, and he probably wasn’t wealthy, but money wasn’t everything.

“Sox or Cubs?”

“Sox,” he said immediately, maybe a little hopefully. It wasn’t completely a fair question, since while she was a Cubs fan, Jodie knew Ginger didn’t care a whit about baseball, being a devout Blackhawks fan.

“Do you like kids?” Jodie asked, remembering how Ginger said guys lost interest as soon as they found out she had a kid.

“Sure. Kids are cool. I work with a lot of them.”

“My friend…she’s a single mom.”

“I admire that. My sister is a single mother. Hard to believe someone that hot is a mom, though,” he said with a crooked grin, and Jodie’s heart warmed.

She smiled. “Okay, listen Robert, I can’t speak for her, but I can tell her you stopped by, and if you want to leave her your number or stop by Monday when she’s here all day, that’s fine. In fact, you can have coffee here, on the house,” Jodie added, making it both easy for him and safe for Ginger.

He appeared relieved to have passed muster but shook his head. “I have to work an extra shift this week, covering vacations, but I’ll leave her my number, and could you let her know I was here?”

“Sure.”

He wrote down his name, phone number and e-mail in strong, male script. Jodie took it, putting it up on their bulletin board in the back. This would be good for Ginger, in spite of her worries.

Jodie glanced at the clock and realized she would be working the ovens for the afternoon. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, either. She grabbed a few Passionate Hearts, as they were right in front of her, and walked to the back to get some milk.

Her pheromones could use some action, and maybe she could tell Jason