This Time Around by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Anthology
ISBN: 9780373837403
Goodreads: 6962277
Publisher: Harlequin Anthologies
Published: 2010-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Jocelyn

After nine days of feeling restless and thinking about the date with Jax, I was beginning to regret telling him I needed some time. He had given it to me, and for some reason the fact that he listened and was nowhere around had bothered me more than it should have. I hadn’t seen him, but he was still there. I knew he was. I was aware of his presence in our daily texts and nighttime phone calls—and in the little gifts that showed up at the bakery for me. But the fact that I wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of him had me missing him more than it should have.

One day it was a handmade bracelet with a sailboat charm. Another was a refreshing peach lemonade, the one drink we didn’t serve at the bakery since our lemonade wasn’t flavored. I also came in to find a cookie from the same place on the pier that day at lunch. Another day, he left a postcard with a picture of the bay from where I loved to sit and have my first cup of coffee before heading to the bakery. On the back of the postcard, he had left a simple note—for when you no longer have this view. And this morning was flowers the colors of the sunset on the night of our cruise. Oh, he let me have time to think, but I was absolutely out of my mind if I thought he was going to let me do my thinking without his influence about what I should decide.

“Hiya!” The little voice behind me has me jumping and spinning to see who the voice belongs to. My breath stops somewhere in my lungs, and my heart falls somewhere around my knees. Wiping my suddenly damp hands on my apron, I take in the cascading brown curls and green eyes just a couple shades lighter than the ones I spent so much time admiring years ago. The rounded small chin and sharp nose give away who the little girl in front of me is. But if I hadn’t known Jaxon was a father, would I have ever thought this girl was the spitting image of him?

“Dad says it’s rude not to answer someone when they are talking to you.” Her little arms come up, crossing over her chest. That attitude is so much like Jax that I snort.

“You’re right. It is rude. Did your dad also tell you it’s not nice to scare people?” I laugh to let her know I’m only teasing her.

I slip my hands into my apron pockets, hoping the shaking is no longer visible. It was probably stupid of me to think I could make it to the end of my time here without seeing his daughter. It’s not her fault. It’s a matter of circumstance. The squeezing in my heart is a painful reminder that Jax told me he never wanted to have kids, and after all the times we talked about what it would be like to have a family, he dropped that bomb on me only to leave the next day.

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