Harlequin Love Inspired September 2016--Box Set 2 of 2 by Arlene James

Harlequin Love Inspired September 2016--Box Set 2 of 2 by Arlene James

Author:Arlene James
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488023019
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-02-15T00:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER TEN

“Car-o-line…?”

She clutched the cell phone to her ear. “Izzie, what’s wrong?”

“Daddy burned the c-cookies…” Sobbing hard, Izzie hiccuped.

“I’m sure it was an accident. He didn’t mean—”

“You don’t understand,” Izzie wailed. “Now I don’t have anything to bring. Church ladies are s-supposed to bring something to the baby shower.”

A fresh round of sobbing. “I’m a church lady, too.” Further crying commenced.

“Izzie?” No response. “Isabelle.” Caroline used her sternest professorial voice. “Let me talk to your daddy.”

More hiccuping. “H-he can’t come to the phone right now. He’s running up and down the stairs in the lighthouse.”

“Why in the world is he doing that?”

“Because he’s mad at himself, he said.” Izzie hiccuped. “And so he won’t cuss.”

Caroline held the phone away from her mouth so she could laugh.

“Izz—?” She regained control of herself. “You listen to me. You tell your daddy to bring you to the cabin. We’ll whip up something before the party starts. How’s that?”

The waterworks ceased as abruptly as the wind in the eerie calm in the eye of a hurricane.

“Really?” Izzie’s voice quivered.

“You’d be doing me a favor. I’d completely forgotten about bringing hors d’oeuvres to the baby shower.”

“We don’t have to bring those oar-things. Just food.”

Caroline smiled into the receiver. “Good to know, Ladybug. You’ve saved me from a Southern faux pas.”

Izzie sighed. “I don’t know exactly what that is, but I think Daddy made me try it once, and I didn’t like it.”

Tears of merriment rolled down Caroline’s cheeks in her effort to preserve Izzie’s dignity.

“I think you’re absolutely right, Ladybug. No faux pas for us. But I have a great recipe we can make together. I’ll text your dad the ingredients if you guys can stop at the grocery store on the way.”

“Roger that, Caroline.”

Caroline imagined the redheaded little girl saluting her in the smoky haze of the cottage kitchen. “See you soon.”

“Thanks, Turtle Lady.”

As Izzie clicked off, Caroline laid her forehead on the countertop, free to give in to her mirth.

Thirty minutes later at the sound of knocking, she opened the cabin door to father and daughter on the porch. Izzie waved. A grocery bag in each hand, Weston just looked sheepish. And endearing.

Caroline ushered them inside. Izzie—being Izzie—strode toward the kitchen like she owned the place.

“Is that a new cologne you’re sporting, Weston?” Caroline sniffed the fabric of his shirt as he lumbered past. “I’ve got to say it’s certainly a new scent for you.”

She cocked her head and tapped her finger on her chin. “Smoky with hints of spice and overtones of…” She made a show of enlarging her pupils. “Oatmeal?”

“Ha-ha.” But a smile played at the edges of his lips.

“Recipe gone wrong? Don’t worry. It could happen to anyone.” She stopped in her tracks for dramatic effect. “Oh, wait. This only seems to happen to you, doesn’t it, Commander Clark?”

He moved so quickly she found herself pressed against the wall of the entryway, rimmed in on either side by grocery bags and his arms. A nervous giggle escaped from her throat.



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