Three Boys and a Baby. Laura Altom Marie

      “And, Ella, I can’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been for you—with twins.”

      Ella chuckled. “Difficult is an understatement. There were times Todd and I wished we could send them back. But now,” her expression turned wistful, “I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

      “I feel the same,” Jackson said. “About Dillon.”

      Had Ella imagined it, or had the man’s statement been loaded with animosity? Ella had many times wondered how Todd could’ve left their boys, happily trotting off to start a new family. She could never even conceive of such a thing. Yet in a sense, Julie had done the same.

      “Where, ah, is your restroom?” Julie asked.

      Ella directed her to the powder room tucked beneath the front stairs.

      Though she’d been exasperated with Jackson that afternoon, Ella now softened. Jackson might be a bear on the outside, but on the inside, she suspected he was a spooked puppy, growling at what most scared him. And at the moment, what scared him more than anything in the world was love. Kindness of any kind. With Julie, he’d been happy. Complete. Then, like Todd, Julie had shattered that happiness, yanking the rug out from beneath him. Whether he knew it or not, strictly from a professional point of view, she suspected the man was emotionally floundering.

      Not that Ella was one to talk, seeing how since the divorce, her ice cream addiction had resulted in twenty extra pounds.

      “Tell me something,” she said after Julie had left.

      “What?” Jackson sat at the kitchen table.

      “Earlier today, in the woods, when you got all huffy with me. What about the phrase, for better or worse—aside from the obvious broken wedding vow connection—set you off?”

      Jaw clenched, hands fisted, he said, “Unless you’re deliberately trying to set me off again, kindly drop it.”

      Chapter Four

      “No,” Ella said, chin raised, hands on her hips. “I’m not going to just drop it. Jackson, you need to—”

      “Don’t tell me what I need to do, when—”

      “Ah, that’s better,” Julie said in a breezy tone, sailing into the kitchen. “Seems like the older I get, the more time I spend in the loo.” Snatching a carrot from a veggie plate, she eyed Jackson, then Ella. “Did I miss something?”

      “No,” Ella said, turning toward the sink, thankful to no longer be in the line of Jackson’s challenging stare. What had gotten into her even to care what his problem was? Obviously, the guy had a chip on his shoulder the size of Montana in regard to his ex.

      “I like what you’ve done with the kitchen,” Julie said, suddenly alongside her, reaching for the dishtowel to lend Ella a hand. “I’ve always loved a yellow kitchen. It somehow makes everything feel better.”

      “Do you own a home in Kansas City?” Ella asked, more out of a wish to be polite than because she honestly cared. For what the woman had so selfishly put Dillon through, Ella didn’t think she’d ever consider Julie Tate a friend.

      “Not yet. But lately, I’ve been thinking about it. The condo I rent is gorgeous, but bland. Very beige. I miss putting my own decorative touch on things.”

      “Sure,” Ella said, reaching for one of the boys’ dirtied salad bowls. One of these days, she really had to get around to buying a dishwasher.

      “With our house here, Jackson and I used to do projects every weekend. Remember, hon? That time we tiled the master bath floor, we got all the way through before we noticed the pattern was crooked.”

      From his seat at the kitchen table, Jackson grunted.

      Was Julie hurting him with her trip down memory lane?

      “Anyway,” Julie continued, “as big a pain as that was, in the end, the floor looked gorgeous. I miss that bathroom. The tall windows. My master bath in K.C. doesn’t have even one window. Makes me crazy not being able to see outside.”

      “I don’t blame you,” Ella said, handing her guest a freshly rinsed salad bowl to dry.

      Jackson asked, “Should I check on the boys?”

      “Why don’t I do it?” Julie set the dishtowel on the counter. “I’d like to spend as much time as possible with Dillon while I’m in town.”

      A few minutes after she’d left, Jackson cleared his throat. “That was fun.”

      “Sorry,” Ella said, not sure what else to say. “For what it’s worth, I feel your pain in suddenly finding yourself stuck with your ex. Todd and his blushing bride came in the clinic the other day with Ben.”

      “Is that their little boy?”

      “Yep.” Fighting past the lump in her throat, Ella returned to her dishes. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn’t gone dishwasher shopping. Scrubbing gave her something to do other than dwell on personal problems. “He was due for his one-year checkup. Todd never once went to one of the boys’ doctor appointments, yet that day, with Dawn, he was the very embodiment of fatherly perfection.”

      “Wow.” Jackson rubbed his jaw. “And here I thought I had it rough hearing my ex recalling home-improvement hell like it was time spent skipping through daisies.”

      Ella couldn’t help but laugh. “Daisies?”

      “You know what I mean.” Getting up from the table, he snatched the dishtowel and dried the plate she’d just rinsed. “The woman makes me crazy. She’s the one who ended our marriage, yet it seems like every time she blows into town to see Dillon, she’s filled with nothing but happy memories. She wears blinders when it comes to our last year. The hell she put all of us through.”

      “Not that it’s any of my business—” Ella said, draining the suds from the sink, then rinsing “—and, please, feel free to tell me to butt out, but why couldn’t she practice law here?”

      He snorted. “Said it was boring. She wasn’t being challenged.”

      “I suppose for her field of criminal law, defending the occasional jaywalker or underage drinker would get dull.”

      “But what about me and Dillon? Were we dull?”

      “Jackson…” Ella hefted herself onto the counter, letting her legs swing. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but did you ever think of moving to Kansas City to be with her? I mean, they do have firemen there, don’t they?”

      He exhaled sharply, then looked away.

      “What’s wrong? Another sore subject?”

      Posture defeated, he shook his head. “Don’t think I didn’t suggest the same thing. But she turned me down. Fed me some nonsense about how if we were with her, she’d feel honor bound to spend time with us instead of working her way up the proverbial ladder. Can you imagine?”

      Ouch. Todd had at least left her and the boys for lust. But to be abandoned for work?

      Ella pressed her lips tight, hopping off the counter to give Jackson a hug. “I’m so sorry. You deserve better.”

      “We both do,” he murmured into her hair.

      Ella had meant the hug to be comforting. Purely platonic. But something about the warmth of Jackson’s breath on her neck made her insides quiver. Awareness flooded her. A hypersensitivity to his size. His all-male smell. The way his hold wrapped her like a blanket—which was madness. She already had more than enough quilts in the upstairs linen closet, thank you very much. After Todd had left, she’d promised herself never again to turn to a man for emotional support. Sure, she might one day be in another relationship, but never again all the way. Heart and soul. Todd’s infidelity had come damn near close to destroying her, and for the boys’ sake, she had