Dreaming of His Snowed In Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,8

with the other and the door with his foot as Garrett and Warren slipped by into the restaurant. He shouldn’t have had the opportunity to see that Poppy was standing at a table, notepad in hand, apron tied around her slender waist, and that perpetual smile that he could see even though she was in profile to him lighting up the world around her.

It was almost enough to make him want to turn around and go right back out, despite the fact that he was having a bathroom emergency with one of the kids.

Her eyes glanced toward him at the sound of the bells, and he wasn’t sure what the double take that she did meant. Then her eyes swept over all the kids and back to him before she focused her attention on the table in front of her.

He nodded at her, which she acknowledged with a jerk of her chin. Nothing more.

Man, he hated this feeling. The feeling of wanting to be away from her, wanting to be closer to her. The buzz of excitement of seeing her, along with the nervousness that he could do without if she weren’t here. But the idea of not seeing her was too disappointing, and he couldn’t wish for that.

He hated those tied up and unable to figure them out feelings.

He hated feelings in general. And would honestly prefer not to have any.

He definitely wasn’t going to think about them.

“Go on, boys. Straight ahead.” Thankfully, the restrooms weren’t hard to get to. He didn’t know what else to do with Gabriella except take her in with him and set her on the floor.

Minnie had mentioned changing stations, but they must have been a ladies’ restroom thing.

It made him think of a big table, with piles of diapers and wipes and soft cushions for babies’ heads and maybe even some kind of mobile dangling above their eyes to keep them from crying, which seemed to be the automatic reaction to a baby getting her diaper changed.

At least that was Gabriella’s reaction.

Maybe because the poor thing hadn’t had any stability in her young life, although after talking to Minnie just a bit more, he knew Gabriella would have a beautiful story to tell people when she grew older about how her mother had sacrificed her life for Gabriella’s.

She might not know her mother, ever, but she would know for sure that her mother had loved her.

Mistletoe wasn’t exactly a hotspot of crime, and it’s odd, since these weren’t his children, but he couldn’t stop the protective instinct that compelled him to say to Warren, “Stand here beside your sister and don’t let anything happen to her,” as he set her car seat on the floor in the bathroom.

He shifted Trevor on his hip and grabbed Garrett’s hand, leading him over to a stall, since the urinals were too tall for his short legs.

He hadn’t exactly gotten completely adept at working with one hand, but he was able to get Garrett on the toilet and was gratified to see that his underwear still looked dry.

Minnie had said something about pull-ups and that Garrett had been completely potty trained, but the recent upheavals in his life had caused him to regress.

Pull-ups were supposedly some kind of disposable underwear type things the kid could wear, but West hadn’t had time to look into anything like that. He’d been working on getting his equipment ready for planting, and as warm as it had been, he should already have seed in the ground.

He didn’t have time to go shopping for disposable underwear. It looked like it didn’t matter, and he would have to make time.

He did the best he could at getting everybody’s hands washed, including his, and managed to herd everyone out of the bathroom.

The lunch rush seemed to be in full swing, and there were no seats.

Just his luck.

“Hang on a second, boys.” He stood in front of the bathroom doors, scanning the restaurant, looking to see if anybody was getting ready to leave.

He couldn’t see a single table that looked like they were finished.

Man, he shouldn’t have tried to get up and get some work done out in the barn before he had to go to the appointment.

Minnie had been too weak this morning to cook anything, and he should have been in helping her.

He just hadn’t been prepared to have a family of five dropped on his lap ten days ago. And he’d been even less prepared to start taking care of them all