“I know you,” Amelia said. “You’re a city person, right?”
“Sure am,” Evangeline told her.
“Well, it’s nice here,” Amelia said, shrugging. “You’ll probably like it.”
“Of course she will,” Sam said approvingly, as she held out Amelia’s jacket.
The three of them headed outside and began walking briskly down the street.
“The firehouse is down this way,” Sam explained. “The library is in the same building and there’s a little amphitheater out front. They have a farmer’s market in the parking lot when the weather’s better.”
“Wow,” Evangeline said. It sounded like something on TV, not a real town.
“There he is,” Sam said suddenly, pointing to a man with a stroller who was talking with someone in the parking lot. “That’s Grayson Ward.”
His back was to them, and in the dim light all Evangeline could make out was his impressive height, which didn’t really tell her anything at all about her prospective employer.
Please let him and his wife be good people.
As they reached the edge of the parking lot, Grayson let go of the stroller as he gestured toward the fire house.
Before Evangeline’s horrified eyes, the stroller began to slip backwards, down the slope of the lot toward the street.
Her feet were flying before she knew she had made the decision to act, but she wasn’t moving fast enough.
She threw herself to the ground, hitting the pavement so hard that all the air left her lungs with a whoosh, just in time for the stroller to catch on her outstretched arm and stop with a jerk.
She waited for the baby’s cries at the sudden jolt, but the only sound was Sam’s surprised gasp from behind her.
“Oh my gosh,”Amelia yelled.
Keeping her hold on the stroller, Evangeline scrambled to her feet and pulled back the blanket inside to check on the baby.
It took her a moment to register what she was looking at.
The padded interior of the stroller was filled with half a dozen wax paper-wrapped bundles.
It’s not a baby. It’s sandwiches.
I just threw myself to the ground to protect a stroller full of hoagies.
Evangeline just stared for a moment. She didn’t have the breath to talk, and she had no idea what she would say if she did.
“She’s a friend of mine from the city,” Sam explained to the man as Evangeline brushed herself off and wondered how she could possibly salvage this embarrassing situation. “She’s looking for work as a nanny.”
“With moves like that, you’re hired,” the man replied, his booming voice full of humor. “Grayson Ward.”
Evangeline looked up at the man who was approaching her. He was tall, she had gotten that much right. He had dark hair, blue eyes, and an adorable baby strapped to his chest.
When their eyes met, a little shiver went through her chest. It felt almost like sheknewthis man, though she had never seen him before.
“Evangeline Dunn,” she said softly, tearing her eyes from his to stop the weird feeling.
5
GRAYSON
Grayson’s heart thundered as the girl tore her eyes from his.
