“Did you like your dinner, Mama?” Jennifer eagerly asked as she looked up at her.
“Yes. Yes, of course. It was delicious. Did you like yours?” The girls nodded and enthusiastically exclaimed how much they loved their dinner out with Tim. Jessica pulled some wipes out of the diaper bag and handed them around the table, asking everyone to clean their hands and faces.
“Can I have one too?” Tim asked lightheartedly.
Jessica passed one across the table to him before wiping down baby Jo-Jo and the mess she made on the highchair. The waiter brought the check, and they made their way to the restaurant entrance where he paid Maria with cash.
“Espero que hayan disfrutado su cena.”
“Yes, we enjoyed it very much. Gracias,” Tim replied.
“Su familia es muy Hermosa,” she added.
Tim glanced nervously at Jessica and hurriedly shoved his wallet into his back pocket. “Gracias, Maria.” He opened the door and swept his arm in a grand gesture. “After you, ladies.”
Jessica eyed him as he held Julia’s hand. “What did Maria just say to you?”
“Huh?” Tim had a guilty expression on his face.
“Just now, what did Maria say?”
Tim bit his lower lip and shook his head, his expression marked with chagrin. He hoisted each little girl up into the automobile while Jessica stood waiting with Jo-Jo on her hip. As the girls were getting settled in the back seat, he held his arms out to take the baby. When the tiny child was nestled in his muscled embrace, he paused and stared right at Jessica.
“She said I have a beautiful family.”
Chapter Eight
Jessica didn’t say much to Tim for the rest of the evening. She seemed reserved, especially when they stopped for ice cream on the way back to her house, and politely declined a sweet treat of her own. The Kaufman girls were rowdy from the sugar-high and ran around the green space across the parking lot from the ice cream shop.
Tim held one of baby Jo-Jo’s hands while Jessica held the other, and they let her teeter around on her little bare toes while her sisters skipped and jumped about them. Joanne was starting to learn how to walk, her mobility something her sisters encouraged energetically. Her baby hand wrapped around Tim’s index finger and she held on for dear life. She plopped on her diapered bottom several times but was determined to get back up.
The sun was starting to set, and the evening night critter orchestra was loud in the lingering heat. Tim wiped perspiration from his brow and watched as Jessica instructed her older daughters on how to help Jo-Jo walk around in the grass. A faint breeze wafted through the air, blowing tendrils of hair that had come out of her ponytail. Tim sighed as he watched her put her hands on her hips, refereeing her daughters at play. She was achingly beautiful, his desire to kiss her again strong and commanding.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked as he stood next to her.
“Nothing. Just watching my girls.” She nervously tucked her loose hair over her ear. “Thanks again for dinner, and for the ice cream. The girls loved it.”
“No problem.” Tim shoved his hands into his board shorts, not sure what to say. They continued to watch the girls innocently play.
“What are we doing, Tim?” she asked in a low voice. When she turned to look at him, her blue gaze was penetrating, and the look on her face held resolve. “I mean, you’re my gardener. What were we thinking?”
“What do you mean?” He nervously shifted his tall stance as he looked down at her.
Jessica chuckled. “Come on, Tim. Do you really think we could make a go of this? I’m newly divorced with four children, and you’re…you’re my yard guy. What will the neighbors think? What will myparentsthink? I owe you an apology.”
“An apology for what?”
“For letting you in too soon. For not asking the questions I should have.” She swallowed hard and looked at her feet before she whispered. “I don’t know anything about you, Tim. When you spoke in Spanish at dinner and told me you were from California and left it at that, my mind started going crazy. I have children to think about.” When she looked up at him, her eyes had turned a shade darker. “My daughters are my whole world now. I have to think about them, not myself.”
Tim’s heart was heavy, but he understood where she was coming from. She had children to protect, which was a noble act. He reached out to touch her hand in reassurance, and she flinched.
“I told you, I’d like to talk when the girls aren’t around. Can you wait a little bit longer? I’ll tell you everything,” he kept his voice low.
“Everything? Oh, god…”
He chuckled. “For the record, I’m not an ex-con or anything like that. And I’ve never been near a psych ward.”
“How reassuring,” she teased. The light in her blue eyes was back, her gaze intentional.
