Harlequin Love Inspired November 2020--Box Set 2 of 2 by Jo Ann Brown

Harlequin Love Inspired November 2020--Box Set 2 of 2 by Jo Ann Brown

Author:Jo Ann Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-08-15T00:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER TEN

Some days Jake loved his job. Today was not one of them. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, and his patience was falling way short of demand these days. Construction was a Plan B business as Bo liked to say, meaning that things went wrong all the time and a builder’s true skill was how he pivoted to cope.

Jake wasn’t on Plan B, he was on D, E, F and maybe down toward X, Y and Z. Part of it was his own fault—he hadn’t been able to get last week’s news about how they might never know who fired the shots from that overpass out of his head. The injustice of it seemed to be eating at him in ways that couldn’t be healthy. He’d forgotten an appointment, messed up two orders at the hardware store and misplaced a vital set of blueprints in the last week alone.

Telling Emma he had all the materials for the stable was looking like it would be today’s only victory. Jake parked his truck in the house garage, taking a moment and a few deep breaths to try to wipe away the day’s frustration before he greeted Cole. How had Natalie managed to keep the hopeful, caring expression she always wore?

“He’s got you, and that will make all the difference,” Emma kept saying. But was that really enough? Caring for a five-year-old was feeling like an endless uphill climb, even with Emma’s huge help. Jake thought about Cole’s wide eyes, his wild hugs and his priceless giggles. That was what mattered, not uneaten vegetables or late bedtimes or tantrums. Sarah said she expected to be back on her feet by January—he just had to hang on until then.

Grabbing his workbag and commanding his attitude to improve, Jake pushed open the door that led from the garage into the kitchen. “Hi, honey, I’m home!” he called as a joke.

Emma glared at him. A sharp, hard glare that slowed his steps. “Okay, maybe not so funny,” he said as he cautiously laid his bag on the counter. Maybe her day hadn’t gone any better than his.

“Not funny at all.” Emma’s words were short and soft. “Cole is next door playing with their dog so we can have a conversation.”

“A conversation” sounded way more like “I’m about to lay into you about something.” Maybe ice cream on waffles wasn’t everyone’s idea of a nutritious breakfast, but this morning Jake had felt it a victory to have gotten Cole to eat anything at all. Still, even that shortcoming didn’t seem to merit the scowl she was giving him.

“Okay,” he said slowly, walking around the counter stools and into the kitchen as if land mines were hidden beneath the floor tiles.

“There will be no hugging. Ever again. No touching, no jokes, no friendly contact of any kind between us. Am I clear?”

So now would definitely not be the time to say how the memory of her in his arms was distracting him as much as the injustice of Nat’s unsolved case.



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