He cut his gaze to her, quirking an eyebrow in question. Then he glanced back to Simone and then to the side. His eyes widened.
“April, did you know your kid is licking the wall?” he asked.
April turned to said wall. Rohan was, in fact, lapping his tongue at the wall like the handprint Lola had left there last week was a delicious variety of insect.
“It’s fine,” she said, waving it off. “He does that.”
It wasn’t fine, though. Not really. It just…was.
“Harmony,” Simone said. “Jack says he’s good at negotiations. Shall we see just how good he is?”
Jack returned his focus to her oldest. “What’s it going to take?”
Harmony seemed to consider his request. If April had to guess, she was wondering if Jack would finally buy her that real-life, needs-a-pasture llama that she’d been chattering about for months.
Simone, clearly grasping that Harmony was heading for a shakedown, not a negotiation, gave her that soft smile she should go ahead and patent, package, and market. She said but two words. “Chocolate chip.”
Cookies. She was using cookies as a bribe.
And Jack thoughthewas good at negotiations.
Chapter Six
“You are enough just as you are.”
—Maria, Oregon, United States
April
“That was easier than expected,” Jack said as Harmony did a two-step skip toward Simone.
April glanced at him. He was taking it all in, his expression impassive, but he followed the group to the door with a look. His mental note-making apparently engaged as he monitored Harmony and Simone. Don’t ask her how she knew, she could just feel his mind calculating scenarios and following their movement. He probably had a finger on the pulse of Lola and Rohan, too. Which meant he was probably also taking the pulse of—
He moved his gaze to April.
She cleared her throat. Simone and the kids bustled across the yard to the fence, letting themselves through the gate to Simone and Yelena’s three-story Victorian. The homes on the street had been original to Denver and dated back to the days when the city was founded. They’d all been updated and remodeled countless times. Modernized with an attentive eye to including the history of each home.
The moment April drove onto the street, she knew she’d call it home.
Kent had preferred the new-build community four streets over. Then again, he had a thing for new builds, apparently. In his case, the grass wasn’t just greener on the other side, it was straight-up artificial.
“Sorry about that.” April brushed her low ponytail back over her shoulder. “I’m sure Harmony really likes you, too.”
Jack’s grin stretched wide. “But she likes chocolate chips more?”
“Cookies.” April fidgeted with her hands, then dropped them to her sides. “She’s a total fiend for all things cookies. Last year at her birthday she even asked for a cookie cake. The kind with extra fudge frosting and buttercream accents. And llamas. Also otters. Don’t ask me why.”
“Can’t say I blame her. Cookies, llamas, and otters, all good things.” Jack put his hands in the pockets of his slacks, lifting the edges of his suit jacket at the movement. The hands-in-pockets thing was totally innocuous, but it had the unfortunate—or fortunate—result of pulling the fabric taut over his…
April ripped her gaze away. Because the bulge there was on display. Not like it was totally inappropriate or anything. She just caught a glimpse. Then she’d been super impressed. Then she’d averted her eyes like the totally rational woman she was.
Keeping eye contact was important because being the utmost professional while watching her career implode built character. That’s what she would’ve told her kids, anyway. “Do you want to sit? Can I get you something to drink?”
“I’m good.” He moved to an armchair alongside the sofa, sitting there. “Let’s have a chat, yeah?”
His eyes had a kindness to them, a dose of reality, that made her want to crawl inside them and stay for a while. Ugh. Just like that, she wanted to get comfortable in all that was… Jack.
“That’s why you’re here, amiright?” She sat on the sofa catty corner to his chair, propped at the edge, ensuring her posture was on pointe. “That, uh, grocery store event didn’t go well.”
