Michelle's Marriage Deal: A sweet marriage-of-convenience romance (The Talmadge Sisters Book 2) by Barbara McMahon

Author:Barbara McMahon [McMahon, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Talmadge Sisters, Book Two
Publisher: Barbara McMahon
Published: 2020-08-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Michelle changed, feeling odd. It’d been a long time since anyone had worried about where she was. There was obviously more to this marriage than she originally anticipated. But it felt nice. At first she thought Josh had been concerned solely about Penny. Not so. He’d been worried about her as well.

When she went to the kitchen, she saw the two of them in the backyard again. The weather had cooled and it probably felt good to play outside. And Penny sure had enough energy for it. If Josh could run some of that excess energy off, the child would sleep well tonight.

As Michelle prepared a light supper, she tried not to dwell on the kiss Josh had given her when she arrived home. But it was impossible. It had been quick. Over almost before it registered. She wondered what it meant.

Probably relief from the worry that he’d experienced when they hadn’t arrived when expected.

Or had there been more in it?

When dinner was ready, she went to the door that led to the yard. For a second she watched Josh and Penny play. Michelle longed to run out and join them, but they looked so in tune with each other she felt like an outsider. Would they want her to join them?

“Dinner’s ready,” she called.

Josh looked up and waved, scooping up his daughter and jogging toward Michelle.

“We’re starving, right Penny?”

The little girl laughed as she clung to her father and nodded. “Starving!”

“Well then it’s a good thing I made lots of dinner, isn’t it?” Michelle said as they swept past her and headed to the downstairs bathroom to wash up.

For the first time in years, Michelle felt she was part of a family as the three of them sat at the table to eat. Penny told her father all about her first day at the day care and then about their adventure in the park. Josh asked lots of questions and paid close attention to every word.

His gaze met Michelle’s on more than one occasion. He’d smile and wink, as if they had a special code. She hadn’t enjoyed a meal so much since she’d been a little girl having supper with just her two sisters.

“I’ve brought a ton of work home. The records and billing are a mess. After Penny’s in bed, I’ll take you up on your offer of some help, if you’re not too tired,” he said as they finished eating.

Michelle nodded, feeling even more included. “That’s fine, I don’t feel tired at all.”

Full of energy and excited described how she felt.

Michelle loved organizing things. She’d already rearranged a few items in the kitchen to make it more efficient. While Josh was bathing Penny, she plunged into the stack of papers he'd shown her. Everything was mixed up and she had to skim each sheet to get an idea of what it was. But soon she had several distinct piles of reports, invoices, correspondence and legal papers.

“Michelle?” Josh called from upstairs.

“Yes?”

“Can you come tell Penny good-night?”

Jumping up, she hurried to the stairs, a warm glow beginning to spread through her.

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