“Sorry, Juan. I’m not looking for a daddy. I’m looking for sperm.”
“So am I, honey. So am I.” Juan high-fived Cara as he passed.
“You keep being picky; your clock isn’t just going to quit ticking. It’s going to fall out of your uterus onto your yoga mat.”
Yoga mat? “Now I know you’re mental. You have me confused with Becca. When I get into yoga pants, it’s because I opened a five-gallon carton of ice cream.”
Cara’s sister, Becca, was a nature child. She loved everything organic, including stretching her body into a pretzel. She’d make some guy happy one day.
“Enough chitchat. You know the drill. You’ve got the far end of the bar, and I’ll take the orders from the waitresses.”
Cara did know the drill. Betty had taught her nieces at an early age how to mix drinks while Betty was still in the bureau. If she hadn’t been the law, they would have arrested her for child endangerment.
Two hours later, Cara was still batting down advances quicker than melting ice cream on a Florida beach, when Aunt Betty disappeared through the back door and returned carrying a diaper bag covered with cute farm animals.
Talk about toppings before the ice cream scoops. “Isn’t it a little early to give me a diaper bag?”
“It’s not for you, and the one I buy wouldn’t ever be as bland as this one.”
Cara smiled at the thought. The one Aunt Betty gave her would probably have flashing breasts acting as a bottle from which the baby could feed.
“I can handle the bar by myself for the rest of the night, but would you make like a call girl and make a house call?”
Laughter erupted from Cara’s lips. “It’s the outfit, isn’t it? It screams streetwalker. You should really think about classing the joint up.”
“Sex sells, doll. I need this dropped off at a friend’s house on the way home.”
“Sure.” Cara slipped the diaper bag over her shoulder and watched as an approaching man’s eyes widened. The color drained from his face as he slowly backtracked away, making Cara’s smile widen. The diaper bag worked like man-whore repellant. She should have had this bag slung across her body all night. “What’s the address?”
Aunt Betty grabbed a napkin and wrote down the address. “It’s an old Victorian house. You can’t miss it.”
Cara parkedon the road in front of an old two-story house. One car was parked in the driveway. Light seeped through the small opening in the closed curtains covering the living room window. The upstairs part of the two-story house was dark. Creepy places like this scared most people, but to her, it was history, andwhatever ghosts were haunting the place were normally friendlier than the owner. She slipped out of her car and pulled at the hem of her skirt. Heat seared her cheeks from embarrassment. She should have gone home and changed first. Cara shoved the thoughts aside. Who cared. She’d never be seeing these people again, and they had to know she was coming from Aunt Betty’s bar. That alone would explain everything. Cara slipped the strap of the bag over her head as she walked up the drive.
The front door flew open, stopping her in her tracks. A woman emerged from inside the house. Her scream pierced the hot night air. The color of her face was whiter than Cara’s ass cheeks. The woman ran down the street, flailing her arms like a teen chasing her favorite band. Who taught that girl how to run? Cara’s fingers tensed around the bag’s strap as she slowly approached, ready to flee if a knife-wielding maniac should appear. She knew better than to go rushing inside. Momma hadn’t raised the dumb chick in a horror flick. Uh-uh, not this girl.
Cara peeked inside the open door and froze. A baby was floating in mid-air. Normally, people wouldn’t be able to see the ghost that was holding it, or the other three ghostly presences in the room. Cara wasn’t normal. No wonder the chick hadrun off. To her, the baby probably looked possessed.
Cara shook her head as she walked to the open door. A man stood with his back to her, jumping to try and grab the baby as it was lifted out of his reach. Poor guy.
Cara stepped inside. “Put that baby down, or so help me, I’ll have this house blessed and salted to drive your asses out and prevent you all from ever coming back.”
All of the ghostly eyes turned toward her, as did the man. Cooper Cruz. The last man on Earth she’d ever thought to see again. Cooper’s gaze travelled down her body before meeting her gaze. He spun back to the baby as the baby was lowered to the blanket.
He was quick to grab the baby and cradle it against his chest. “What was that?”
“Strong, mischievous ghosts. I’m sure it takes a lot of energy to move things, and I can only imagine the energy it took to play a game of Keep Away.” She walked into the house and shut the door. “You should think about tossing their asses out.”
The living room was a mess. Toys were strewn across the floor. Blankets and empty bottles lay nearby. The baby had a T-shirt around his bottom, knotted at the stomach and being held by rubber bands.A spit-up stain traveled the length of Cooper’s shirt in the back.
Laughter burst from her lips, warming her body from the inside out. This explained the walking zombie look from her office.
Cooper glared. She tried to stifle her laugh. Really she did.
“Bad night?” she asked, clearing her throat to hide the humor.
Cooper sighed and kissed the blond peach fuzz on the baby’s head. “The worst.”
Cara strolled across the room and took the baby from his hands, suppressing the baby’s images that formed from the touch.
