Harlequin Special Edition March 2019, Box Set 2 of 2 by Michelle Major

Author:Michelle Major
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Ethan didn’t realize how badly he’d needed to attend an AA meeting until he sat in that room at the community rec center on Monday night. Alcoholism could be a disease of loneliness and isolation—no matter how busy or social he was. Being with others who battled the same disease made Ethan feel a little less alone.

He and Commodore Russell were standing by the coffee machine in back when the older man removed the toothpick from his mouth and said, “You know what the Big Book says about shouldering the burdens and troubles of others?”

Ethan inhaled deeply and replied, “We find that we’re soon overcome by them. But aren’t Trina’s burdens also my burdens?”

“Yep. But you don’t want your burdens to become hers.”

The old guy had a point. Ethan’s sobriety was more important to him now than ever before. If that meant fortifying himself with more meetings, then that’s what he’d do. Trina deserved to have him be the best father he could be.

However, he didn’t want to overuse his goodwill with Monica—such as it might be—to ask her to keep babysitting Trina in the evenings. So before he left, he made a mental note to look into the AA sessions held during the day at Shadowview, the military hospital thirty minutes away.

Both Trina and Gran were yawning when he arrived at the Alvarez house to pick up his daughter and the gassy kitten. But neither one looked as exhausted as Monica. The circles under her eyes were faint, and her usually proud shoulders seemed to sag.

“How’d it go?” he asked her when she came out of the kitchen and met him in the entryway.

“Great. Gran taught Trina how to make flour tortillas and how to do Elvis’s signature hip shake. Trina read some of her book to Gran and kept her from feeding Tootie too many black beans while I made a few phone calls. That reminds me, I lined up a math tutor to come to the library tomorrow. He’s a graduate student down at Boise State, so he can only come on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.”

“You are incredible,” he said, reaching out both of his arms in praise. Actually, his instinct had been to lift her up in a celebratory hug, but Ethan had stopped himself just in time. A pink flush crept up Monica’s cheeks, perhaps from his compliment or perhaps because she knew that he’d been about to touch her again before he caught himself.

He hoped it was because she was also thinking about the last time he’d touched her and how both of their faces had filled with heat. Testing the waters, he softly placed a hand on her shoulder. “Seriously, Monica. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me these past few days.”

Her indrawn gasp was as abrupt as her glance at his fingers. Yep. She was thinking about their physical attraction, too.

“Well, technically, I was doing it to help Trina,” she said before dramatically lifting her own arms in a stretch as she yawned loudly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.