quiet ride back here, during the distracted kiss she gave Nate before leaving him. She sighed. “Joe says he was dating my mom, and that she lied to him about me. He says he’s my dad.”
Monica’s face briefly lit up, then she seemed to control her reaction. “So . . . how does that make you feel?”
Emily had to chuckle. “You sound like a psychiatrist.”
“Well, I’d have to be blind not to be able to tell you’re upset. Aren’t you glad to know the truth?”
“It won’t be official until the DNA test.” She sighed. “But he thinks I look like his mom.”
Monica squeezed her hand.
“I only saw her briefly at the front desk last night, so who knows. As for glad? Relieved, maybe. He seems like a nice enough guy, and Nate likes the family, so they have to be okay.”
“Nate would know.”
Emily frowned at her but didn’t want to get into it about Nate.
“So what are you going to do now that you know?”
“Do? I—I don’t know. I’m not going to fall apart if that’s what you mean. I’ve had a couple weeks to come to terms with the fact that my dad . . . my dad wasn’t who I thought he was. But he considered himself my dad, and that’s good enough for me.”
“Of course it is!”
“As for Joe, I have to be a pretty big complication in his life. His wife will probably be upset, and maybe his kids, too.”
“Upset? Over something that happened when he was a teenager? I think that’s a little harsh.”
“Having a kid you never knew about? Some people could be pretty upset. And he’s angry at my mom for lying to him.”
“And probably sad that he got to miss out on helping to raise you,” Monica added gently.
Emily fought against the tears that filled her eyes. She couldn’t think about that. “I don’t want them to consider me some kind of responsibility now. They don’t owe me anything.”
“Emily, listen to yourself! You’re talking like there’s a balance sheet, and things have to add up. Life isn’t that easy. How would you feel if you had a child you didn’t know about?”
Just the thought gave her a painful squeeze through her chest. “Oh, Monica, I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do now,” she whispered.
“I’ll give you the cliché answer: Take it one day at a time. There’s no right or wrong here. Just a group of people trying to get to know each other.”
“A group—do you know how many kids he already has?” Emily asked with exasperation.
“You make five.”
Emily hastily stood up. “I can’t think about that now. Let’s talk about something—anything—else. Is Melissa still here?”
Monica groaned. “It’s been forever. She keeps saying she’s got all this vacation time coming, and she’s still able to do some writing from here, and I know she’s begun seeing some old friends, but—damn, I want my apartment back.”
Emily smiled. “I admire your patience. Are things . . . better between you?”
“A bit. I’ve given up hope that it’ll ever be what it once was, but if we can make the holidays less tense, I’ll be content.”
Emily’s cell rang, and she glanced at it. “It’s Nate.”
“Gee, he only just dropped you off, right? Guess he can’t get enough of you.”
“Or he feels sorry for me.”
Monica rolled her eyes. “Take the call. I think I have a customer.”
Emily stared at the phone, then sent it to voice mail. She couldn’t talk about this anymore. Ever since she’d arrived in Valentine Valley, she felt like the butt of everyone’s pity. She could handle this on her own.
The next day, after a lunch shift at the flower shop, Emily was painting behind the restaurant bar when she heard a knock at her front door. She popped up and saw a man outside, his face shadowed by the building. Wiping her hands on a clean rag, she came around and realized that Joe Sweet had come to call. Her stomach did a little spasm. She’d done a good job putting him out of her mind. Perhaps it hadn’t been so easy for him to do the same.
She opened the door and smiled tentatively at him. “Hi, Joe.”
He circled his cowboy hat slowly in his hands, even as he nodded at her. He studied her too closely, too eagerly, and Emily felt her shoulders stiffen.
“Hi, Emily. Mind if I see your place?”
She stepped back, and, as he came inside, she found herself relieved that no one else was with