After two interviews the following morning, Justin decided to offer the position to the grandmother looking for a part-time job. He wanted someone trustworthy and reliable and since he knew his chances of finding someone as perfect as Allena were impossible, those qualities would need to be enough.Someone as perfect as Allena…Funny, but he’d only just come to realize how true that was. She’d accused him of treating her as though she was invisible. He’d denied it at the time, but since then he’d had days to think about, and now he realized she might be right.He’d taken her for granted and now he was paying the price. She was on the verge of leaving and would soon have a different life. With someone else. With the fireman. She’d fall in love with him. Marry him. Have children with him.And he couldn’t bear thinking about it.“She was nice,” Allena said when he returned to the office after the last interview. “You were right.”“Sometimes that has been known to happen,” he said and grin
The last thing Allena wanted to do was think about Justin getting married. Second, she corrected. The very last thing she wanted to do was spend an hour or so at the pizza parlour and pretend that she wasn’t dying inside.Of course, the kids quickly pulled her out of her funk, and once they were seated and had ordered, she listened as Jayden spoke about the latest book on dragons that he was reading. Jayden usually didn’t say much—he was like his father in that way, but she’d sensed his need for quiet conversation and reassurance for days. And Cassie clung to her, holding her hand, demanding hugs and kisses before bedtime.Determined to make the transition as easy as possible for the children, Allena realised she needed to spend lots of time with both of them over the ensuing weeks, so they both understood why she was leaving in a way that made them feel safe and loved.As she watched the kids munching on breadsticks, Allena’s logic blurred. She’d always known how hard leaving them wo
“What?”“Marry me!” Justin groaned. Not sure if he said it loudly.“What did you say?” Allena stepped back and pulled her hand free, staring at him, thinking she had just misheard... or that he had suddenly lost his mind.“Marry me,” he said again.It was official. He was insane.Jesus! What the hell is he doing? She thought to herself.“That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever—”“It’s not crazy,” he said quickly, cutting off her protest. “Think about it. It makes perfect sense. The kids—”“It’s not about the kids,” she said, mortified by the mixture of feelings surging through her blood, like disbelief and shock and something else—something she wasn’t prepared to admit.“They love you,” he said flatly. “And they need you.”“They love me,” she shot back. “Exactly. But you don’t,” she said and couldn’t bear how much saying the words hurt her. “And I don’t—”“I know that we don’t care about one another in that way, Allena,” he said and sighed heavily. “But sometimes, marriages start out for
On Wednesday afternoon, Justin got home to find Mitchael’s horse trailer by the tables, and Allena bringing Star through the corral gate. “I didn’t expect you today,” Justin said as his cousin approached and shook his hand.“I’m boarding Allena’s horse for a while,” Mitchael explained. “I thought you knew.”“I forgot,” he replied, his stomach sinking.As he spoke, Allena noticed him and immediately averted her gaze, loading her horse up the ramp. Once she was done, Mitchael closed the tailgate and bolted it securely in place.“Thank you,” she said to his cousin, ignoring Justin.“No problem,” Mitchael replied. “I’ll take good care of him. I’ll get him settled in andcall you later to know how he’s doing.”She thanked him again, glancing briefly towards Justin. “I’m going to see the kids,” she said. “They want to watch the kittens play.”She walked off towards the stables, her hips swinging and her head at a tight angle. “Things a little frosty around here, I take it?” Mitch said and g
Justin met her gaze and saw the awareness in her expression. There was no denying it, no hiding it, and no way, he suspected, of trying to diffuse it. He couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been there between them—if it had been there all along and was just waiting to be fanned into life. “I should go.”She nodded, stepping back. “Did you want to see me about something? I know I’m officially still on duty, but Cassie wanted to help Leah and Mittie with the baking, and Jayden was with you, so I—”“I don’t watch your clock-in and clock-out times, Allena,” Justin said, dumping the shoeboxes on the bed. “I thought you might want to spend some time with the kids tonight, that’s all. Maybe watch a movie.”“I should keep packing," she said, her words trailing off.Justin saw the boxes scattered around the room. It added another layer of finality to the situation. The mood between them was tense and uncomfortable, and his foolish proposal was an elephant in the room. And they both knew i
Once she ended the call with her sister, Allena took a shower and changed into her favourite jeans, a bright silky blouse, and her boots. She was meeting Leah for a drink at the bar in the hotel that evening and was about thirty seconds into their conversation when she asked about the kids.“They’re fine,” her friend said and sighed. “But they miss you. We all miss you.”“I miss you, too.”“Justin’s unbearable at the moment,” Leah said, grinning as she sipped her pineapple aiquiri.“Worse than we expected. My brother is an idiot.”Allena wasn’t going to disagree, but she also didn’t want Leah to imagine something was going on between them. Because it wasn’t. One brief kiss and a marriage proposal aside, she and Justin were not any kind of thing.“He likes his life in order, not chaos,” she reminded Leah. “Once he gets a new routine, it will be situation normal.”“He’s in love with you, Allena,” Leah said bluntly. “Everyone can see that. I mean, everyone but my stupid brother.”Her hea
Justin headed into town and found a parking space near the hotel entrance. It was just before sixthirty when he spotted Allena standing in the hotel foyer, looking so beautiful in a mid-length black dress and heeled black boots that he almost buckled at the knees. Her hair was down and fell across her shoulders. She half smiled when she saw him and walked across the foyer, her hips swaying.“You look lovely,” he said, and touched her elbow, frazzled by the shot of electricity that raced uphis arm when his skin connected with hers. “Nice dress.”“Thank you. Where are we going?”“The honky-tonk place just out of town. Unless you’d prefer to stay here?”“No,” she replied. “I’ve never been there and I hear they do barbecue ribs to die for.”Justin grinned. “I’ve heard the same thing.”She looked at him curiously. “You’ve never been there, either?”Justin’s gaze lingered on her. “Nope.”She waited until their eyes met before replying. “I thought you might have taken hat’s-her-name.”Just
“Have you thought about what you’re going to say at the christening tomorrow?” Allena asked, trying to keep the conversation neutral. “Tess did ask us both to say a few words.”He nodded. “It’s quite the responsibility. My late wife was an atheist, so we never got Jayden or Cassie baptized. I figured they could get it done when they’re older if they wished to.”“I never knew that about her,” Allena mused, then decided to dip her toe in a bit further. “You know, you don’t talk about her a lot.”Justin shrugged. “It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, I suppose. If I say too much, it can upset the kids. If I don’t say enough, well, that can upset them, too. Since Cassie has no memory of her, it’s difficult for her to understand that Jayne is her mother. The truth is, the only mom my daughter has ever had, Allena, is you.”In her heart, Allena knew his words were true. “I never planned on loving them so much,” she admitted.He nodded. “I know. I guess, after her death, I never planned that