The Baby In The Back Seat. Mollie Molay

eggs, ham and hash browns toward Sam. “Toast and coffee will be ready in a minute.”

      Sam studied his daughter. She’d spit out the last two spoonfuls of cereal and was hanging over the towel babbling at the mutt. Sam heaved a sigh of relief. Annie was obviously full.

      Laura joined him at the table with a plate of her own. “Room okay?”

      “Sort of,” he answered, debating the wisdom of complaining about the size of the bunk beds. “But to tell you the truth, I’m a little worried about where Annie is going to sleep.”

      Laura jumped up to turn off the coffeepot before it boiled over. “Not to worry,” she answered as she buttered wheat toast and placed it on a plate. “There’s always the dresser drawer.”

      Sam felt himself blanch. “The dresser? How is she going to breathe in there?”

      Laura smiled reassuringly and poured coffee. “You don’t have to worry. We’ll improvise. If you’re going to be traveling around with Annie, you’re going to have to find ways to make do, starting now. Although,” she added with a frown, “I don’t think traveling with an infant as young as Annie is a good idea.”

      Sam shrugged. “Don’t have a choice. At least, not for now. I’ll try to find a more permanent place to stay later. Somewhere I can bring in a nanny while I work.”

      Laura leaned over to make sure Annie was still securely fastened to the chair. “Sounds to me it’s not going to be easy.” She bit her lip, reached for her cup of coffee and met Sam’s gaze. “It’s okay to leave her here while you do your thing at the spa. That is, if you feel okay leaving her here with me.”

      Sam was agreeable to leaving Annie here all right, but only as long as the photography assignment would take. “I’m game if you don’t mind,” he finally answered. “It’ll only take me a couple of days of shooting at the spa, and I’ll be back here at night.”

      Laura was torn between offering him her ancient truck to get to the spa or withholding the offer to keep him from leaving. Until she noticed Annie’s drooping eyelids.

      “Let’s go upstairs, and I’ll show you where Annie can spend the night.”

      “Maybe I can help you clean up in here?”

      “Later,” Laura answered. She untied the sleepy baby and cuddled her in her arms. “Let’s get Annie to bed first. The dishes can wait.”

      Sam carried the diaper bag and trailed Laura up the stairs. Something told him the next lesson was going to be a zinger.

      It was. After Laura cleaned up the sleepy baby, she rummaged in the diaper bag for nightclothes and came up with a yellow fleece sleepsuit. “Looks as if her mother thought of everything Annie would need for today at least,” she murmured. “Any more of the baby’s things in the SUV?”

      “Don’t know. Frankly I didn’t take time to look around. All I could think of was getting Annie out of there before the deluge hit her.”

      Laura nodded. “Good thinking. Now, why don’t you pull out the bottom drawer of that chest over there and I’ll make Annie’s bed.”

      Puzzled, Sam pulled out the empty drawer, brought it over to the bunk bed and watched Laura stuff the drawer with linens. In minutes she had a sleeping Annie tucked into the drawer on her back. “Annie will be safe in here.”

      Sam was lost in admiration at the makeshift crib.

      He spent the rest of the evening and the night waiting for Annie to cry. And hoping that Laura wouldn’t come barreling in to rescue her. The last thing he wanted was to see Laura in a nightgown. He might have sworn off women for now, but he wasn’t a saint.