Stuck in the Middle by Virginia Smith

Author:Virginia Smith
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Revell
Published: 0100-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Ken hovered over Jordan, not entirely sure the flimsy chair would withstand the toddler’s energetic squirming. Karen brought a booster seat with her, but even that didn’t provide enough height for Jordan to reach his food on the countertop, so they piled a few medical textbooks beneath it and secured the whole thing with bungee cords. So far the contraption seemed to be holding, but it looked way too easy to topple, and if anything happened to his nephew while in his charge, he’d never forgive himself. Where did Karen go, anyway? Her cryptic note, Be back soon, didn’t give Uncle Ken much to go on.

Lifting his mug to his mouth, he bolstered himself with a deep, coffee-scented breath before he drank. Jordan fished another handful of soggy Cheerios out of his bowl and leaned sideways to feed them to a delighted Trigger. The boy giggled with glee as the dog licked his fingers more or less dry.

With a sigh, Ken wiped Jordan’s hand with a wet dishrag for the fifth time. “Hey, kiddo, try to get some of those down your own throat too.”

At least Trigger had behaved himself admirably during this visit. Though when Karen and Jordan left, he wondered if he’d ever be able to stop Trigger from begging for handouts during mealtimes. He’d worked hard on that before Karen’s visit. But with two other dog lovers in the house, Trigger had taken advantage of the situation.

At the sound of the front door opening, relief wilted Ken’s shoulders. This babysitting stuff was nerve-wracking.

“Mama!” Jordan began bouncing up and down in his booster seat when Karen came into the room, the palms of both hands slapping the counter. Ken rescued the bowl of cereal before disaster occurred, and then scooped the kid up before he tumbled to the floor.

“There’s my sweet boy.” Karen took the toddler from his arms and cuddled him, grinning at Ken. “And how’s Uncle Ken doing this morning?”

“Great.” Ken topped off his coffee from the pot. “We had a few anxious moments when we first woke up and found you missing, but we made it. Even managed to get a clean diaper on.”

“Ah, diapering. Yet another skill I’m sure they taught you in medical school.” She buried loud kisses into Jordan’s chubby neck and then set him on the floor where he made a grab at Trigger’s tail. The dog had learned a painful lesson last night and executed a skillful maneuver to keep the fascinating appendage out of harm’s way.

“Where’d you go, anyway?”

“Oh, I decided to do a little shopping while you guys slept.” She flashed a grin at him as she went to the counter and filled a coffee mug. “Furniture shopping.”

Ken raised an eyebrow. Why wasn’t he surprised? She was as nosy as a little old lady and seemed to have made getting to know Joan her objective for the trip. “Did you find anything you couldn’t live without?”

She faced him, leaning against the sink as she cradled the mug in both hands.

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