Six Hot Single Dads. Lynne Marshall

are you okay to stay with Kristi?”

      “Yes!” they chorused.

      The telephone rang, interrupting their conversation. “I’d better take that,” he said.

      “While you’re still here, I’ll bring in the bins I use for sorting.”

      Kristi followed Nate as far as the foyer. From there he went into the kitchen to get the phone and she let herself out the front door.

      Several minutes later she returned with as many plastic bins as she could carry. She set them on the floor inside the front door and went in search of Nate. She hoped he would agree to pare down some of the toys, especially the stuffed animals, but she hadn’t wanted to ask in front of the girls.

      The dog, still doing a bear-rug imitation, gave her a lazy blink. Nate stood by the patio doors in the family room, his back to her, phone to his ear.

      “Mom, I’m sure your friend’s daughter is very nice,” she heard him say. “And I’d be happy to meet her some other time, but it’s Britt’s birthday so this should be about her.”

      He paused to listen to his mother’s reply.

      Kristi cringed. His mother was obviously trying to set him up with someone, and it was just as clear that he didn’t want to be set up. Poor guy. She could relate. Yesterday’s call from her mother still echoed in her head, and remembering the story she’d made up brought on a fresh wave of guilt. And she shouldn’t be listening to Nate try to wriggle out of a similar situation. This was way too personal.

      “Here’s the thing,” he said. “I’m sort of seeing someone.”

      Okay, you really need to get out of here, Kristi told herself. But curiosity kept her rooted in the doorway.

      “Oh. Ah, her name is Kristi. She’s—” He turned around and stopped talking.

      Their gazes locked and held.

      He ran a hand through his hair. “Mom, I’ll call you back. I have to check on the kids.” He ended the call without waiting for a response.

      The room was suddenly warm and much smaller.

      “Oh, God. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to hear that.” He spiked his hair again. “It’s just that my family has this thing about introducing me to women. I was trying to figure a way out of it this time, but I shouldn’t have mentioned you.”

      “A blind date?” Kristi laughed. She couldn’t help herself. “Trust me, you do not have to apologize. My family does the same thing to me all the time.”

      “Really? So…you’re not seeing anyone?”

      “No, I’m not.” Although she was surprised he asked. “A fact that makes my mother a little crazy. Yesterday she called about my aunt’s Fourth of July barbecue. She was going to invite this guy who used to live across the street when I was in high school.”

      “How did you handle it?”

      Should she tell him? If she did, it might make him less uncomfortable. “I did the same thing you just did.”

      His eyes narrowed.

      “I told her I’d met someone, and your name kind of slipped out.”

      There was no humor in his laugh. “So your family thinks you’re taking me to your aunt’s barbecue.”

      “I guess so. I’ll have to come up with some excuse why you won’t be there but—”

      “And my mother will expect you to be at the cocktail party she’s throwing for my sister’s birthday.”

      She didn’t respond, but then he didn’t really seem to be talking to her anyway.

      “This could work. You come to my sister’s birthday party. I go to your aunt’s barbecue.” He sounded calm and rational, as though he was laying out the steps in a lab experiment. “What do you think?”

      She was pretty sure he didn’t want to know what she was thinking. “I don’t know. I used to lie to my mother about some of the guys I was dating, but I’ve never lied about someone I’m not dating.”

      He shrugged. “So you’d rather spend an afternoon at a family picnic with the guy who lived across the street?”

      God, no. “I’d rather go by myself.”

      “That’s how I feel about my sister’s birthday party. But unless I come up with an alternate plan, I’m going to be paired with my mother’s bridge partner’s daughter.”

      “So I heard.” And she would suffer the same fate if she didn’t make plans of her own.

      “What is it with families?”

      “They mean well,” she said. “At least mine does. My mom was a single parent, too, and it was hard for her. I think she always wished she’d find someone but never did, and now she’s shifted that focus onto me.”

      “My family wants to find a new mother for Molly and Martha.” His voice was thick with resentment. “They seem to think I’m in over my head.”

      “Oh, I’m sure they don’t. Your girls are great. They’re happy. Anyone can see they’re well cared for.”

      “Thank you.” The tension around his eyes softened.

      “You’re welcome.”

      “So, how about it? You come to my sister’s birthday party, I’ll go to your family barbecue, and we’ll call it even.”

      Say no. “Sure,” she said instead.

      He offered his hand to seal the deal. “It’s a date.”

      She shook it. “A fake date.”

      “Make that two fake dates.” He smiled and her insides turned to Jell-O.

       Chapter Four

      Kristi tugged her hand out of Nate’s and hiked a thumb over one shoulder. “I’ll just go and start sorting.”

      “Sure, good idea. And I’ll run out to the market but, ah, first I have to make a call.”

      Kristi made her escape, collected her things from the foyer and headed down the hallway to the children’s bedroom.

      He was going to call his mother. There’d be no turning back after that. What were they thinking? What was she thinking? Her mother and Aunt Wanda would be happy, but how was she going to explain this to Jenna? Only time would tell if this fake-date idea was brilliant or ill-conceived.

      The giggling emanating from Molly and Martha’s room was like music to Kristi’s ears. Such sweet kids. Each girl was wearing dress-up clothes over their pajamas. Molly’s black spaghetti-strap cocktail dress bunched on the floor around her. Martha had a messenger bag slung crosswise over her shoulder and a floppy-brimmed hat all but covered her eyes. Scattered around them were toys and clothes and the largest collection of stuffed animals Kristi had ever seen.

      After agreeing to the fake dates, she had completely forgotten that she’d gone into the kitchen to ask Nate about the toys. For now she and the girls would sort them and make decisions later. She looked around for a place to set up the bins and ended up having to clear a space near the door.

      “How would you girls like to play a little game?”

      “I’m going to a party,” Molly said. She twirled, got one foot tangled in the hem of the black dress and collapsed onto a pile of what appeared to be even more dress-up clothes.

      Martha giggled. “I’m going on a safari to look for dinosaurs.”

      “You both look very cute,” Kristi said. “Do you like playing dress-up?”

      “Yup!”