Dreaming of His Snowed In Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,23

for the night. He wasn’t sure if, after six o’clock, he should start counting that as morning waking or was that still nighttime waking?

Another thing he didn’t think probably mattered to the rest of the world, but his world had kind of shrunk to his house, and the kids in it, and the woman on the bed.

And the sunshine at his door. He might have complained about her, but he could hardly wait to open it.

Setting Garrett down and adjusting the towel, he said, “Hold that for a minute. I’ll get you dressed as soon as Craz...” He wasn’t going to say that again. “Sorry. Soon as I let Miss Poppy in.”

There. He was setting a good example. He should get a gold star or something. Or five minutes to go to the bathroom without a kid knocking on the door. That would be better than a gold star any day.

Oh, the things he didn’t appreciate two weeks ago.

Opening the door, he said, “Good grief, Pollyanna. After the third time of ringing the—” He stopped midsentence.

The woman on his doorstep wasn’t Poppy.

Definitely not Poppy. His brusque tone had made the wide-open eyes and eager expression crumple, and worse than anything, the eyes had started to fill with tears.

He had sisters, and he knew that girls’ feelings could easily be hurt, but he hadn’t meant anything by it. He hadn’t even been talking to her. Hadn’t meant to talk to her anyway.

The girl’s eyes fluttered.

He recognized her from church, although he honestly hadn’t paid much attention to her before. Was her name Paula? He wasn’t sure.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you.” Her voice was timid, and she swallowed hard.

She was probably about his age. Maybe a little younger. Shy, he supposed, since she typically walked around with her head down, and he was pretty sure this wasn’t the first time she’d apologized to him.

Now it was his turn.

“I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

“You can tell by the doorbell ringing who it is?” Her eyes brightened. “That’s so cool! Is there like a video camera or something? I’d love to see it.” She gave a timid smile while brushing her hair back and smoothing her hand down her shirt.

He shook his head. “No. I’d...I just thought someone else was going to be here today. I don’t have a video camera.” Or anything of the sort. “And I can’t tell who’s at the door by the way the doorbell rings. Honest.”

Goodness. He felt like an idiot. Rather than being happy to see her, he found himself wondering how soon he could get her to go. Did he have to invite her in?

And where was Poppy?

“I brought the clothes the church collected for the kids. And...” She rocked her shoulders back and forth, her hands behind her back, and she shuffled a foot on the floor as her eyes went down. “I...I, uh, I can help you with the kids today. That’s what I’m supposed to do.”

“I don’t suppose there’s any pull-ups in that bag?”

Her eyes filled with panic, and her cheeks, already red, seemed to brighten even more. “I don’t think so. It’s just clothes.”

An idea, so brilliant he almost smiled, came into his head. “You know I think I have the kids under control, but it’s hard to get to the store. If I give you money, would you go get me a package of something called pull-ups? It’s like disposable underwear, from what I understand.”

Her eyes looked like open oil drums, and her mouth formed an “o” before she put her hand over top of it. She took a step back. “I had no idea you had problems like that.”

Yeah, that served him right. For all the uncharitable thoughts that he’d been having about her. Because she wasn’t Poppy.

“Not for me. For this guy.” He jerked his head at Garrett who had the towel clutched around him, thankfully, because he wouldn’t want to offend this lady’s sensibilities, which seemed to be rather delicate, and stood grinning up at her. Yeah, something about being naked in a towel made a male grin. Good to see Garrett not only refused to wear Barbie doll pull-ups but had the male propensity for loving nakedness. There was hope for the kid after all.

“Oh.” Now, not only were her cheeks bright red, her forehead had pinkened as well. “Oh. Of course.” She spoke around the hand that was still over her mouth. “Of course. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” Her head wagged