Hannah won the bet. At nine on the dot, a red Jeep sporting the Fresh Bakery logo on the side pulled into Boone’s drive. Sarah exited the vehicle carrying a bakery box. Petite with dark hair worn short, she had eyes that were a similar blue to Hannah’s. This morning, they sparkled. “Hello, Hannah. Don’t you make a pretty picture sitting on Boone’s porch with a baby in your lap? But I’m wondering, did I look at the schedule wrong? Is today not my day for day care?”
Hannah smiled and shifted Bree to her shoulder to be burped. “You’re not wrong. Not about today being your babysitting day, anyway. The pretty comment, I don’t believe. I didn’t even take time to comb my hair this morning, and my socks don’t match.”
She extended her sneaker-clad feet to display the truth of her claim, then summarized the situation for Sarah, who shook her head. “I knew that he’d claimed one of the pups and that they were ready to leave their mama. I never put that event together with Brianna’s arrival. Oh, wow. Well, better him than me. These are going to be an eventful few weeks, aren’t they?”
“I suspect so.”
Bree let out a big burp that had both women exchanging a smile. Hannah rose from the rocker, saying, “This is probably the best time to conduct a handoff. She’ll likely finish off her bottle now.”
“Cool. I’ll trade you a cinnamon roll still warm from the oven for one little bundle of love.”
They did the switch, then Hannah peeked inside the box. “Oh, Sarah, that smells sinful. Boone is in for a treat when he comes looking for breakfast.”
“I say you snooze, you lose. You should have it, Hannah. Now, while it’s still warm.”
She was tempted. Sarah must have read it in her expression because she encouraged her by saying, “Tell you what. I admit to being partial to my own cinnamon rolls. Why don’t we split it?”
“Deal. How do you like your coffee?”
“Black, please.”
The two women went inside, and Sarah settled into the rocker with the baby in the sunroom facing the lake while Hannah made fresh coffee. Hannah cut the roll in two, plated the halves, placed the plates and two cups of coffee on a serving tray, and carried it to the sunroom. By then, Brianna had sucked her bottle dry. Once she gave another good burp, Sarah placed the baby in the bouncer, which sat in the middle of the sunroom’s table.
“I had one of these when my son was born. We both loved it. Baby stuff has seriously improved in the years since I had Lori. Of course, that was many years ago.”
“My youngest was born eight years ago, and I thought her baby swing was pretty spectacular. The one Boone bought makes it look like a horse and buggy compared with a Ferrari.”
“How many children do you have?” Sarah asked, her smile friendly as she speared a bite of roll with her fork.
It was a natural question to ask. After all, Hannah had introduced the subject by mentioning Zoe—something she couldn’t believe she’d done. Telling Boone was one thing, considering the circumstances under which they’d met, but to mention her so casually to Sarah?
Was Hannah’s broken heart truly beginning to heal?
Well, Sarah was watching her expectantly, so now was not the time to explore that question. Instead, she summoned up her strength and stated, “I had two daughters. I lost them both along with my husband in an accident three years ago.”
“Oh, honey, no.” Sympathy welled in Sarah’s violet eyes. She reached across the table and touched Hannah’s arm. “What a tragedy for you. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you.” She signaled the subject was closed by licking her lips and then asking, “This roll is either heaven or the most sinful thing on earth. If I were to settle here, I’d need to establish some firm boundaries about how often I’m allowed to visit Fresh.”
Sarah picked up her coffee mug and grinned over its top as she quipped, “Many have tried, few have succeeded. So you’re thinking of staying in Eternity Springs permanently?”
What? I blabbed that too? “No. No. I have no plans. Still trying to figure life out.”
“Hmm. What about Boone? Is something—”
Crash. “Yelp. Yelp. Yelp.” In the great room, Ranger darted away from the brass table lamp, now lying in the middle of the floor, giving Hannah an excuse to hop up from the table and evade Sarah’s interrogation.
Startled, Brianna let out a wail.
Instinct had Hannah immediately turning back to the baby, but once she realized that Sarah had Bree, she focused on the lamp disaster.
The lightbulb had broken, the lampshade bent, but the base appeared undamaged. Hannah retrieved a broom and dustpan from the kitchen and set about cleaning up the mess, a challenging task since Ranger had decided he needed to help and kept tangling himself around her legs, yipping and nipping at the cord. “Stop that, Ranger. Down. Stay down.”
Boone walked into the house just as Ranger managed to knock the dustpan from Hannah’s hand and send the glass shards flying. “Ranger!” the man snapped. “Bad dog.”
Unfazed, the puppy ran to him to say hello by jumping and nipping and yipping. Boone let out a long, heavy sigh, bent down, and scooped him up.
“Uh … hello, ladies.”
“Hi, Boone,” Sarah said. Then she waved Brianna’s arm and added in high-pitched voice, “Hi, Daddy.”
Hannah folded her arms. “Gotta love a man who manages to squeeze a half-hour nap into three full hours.”
“Guilty as charged, and I humbly beg your pardon.” He eyed the lamp and then winced. “It’s been that bad, has it?”
Hannah sniffed. “Brianna is an angel. Ranger hasn’t been bad. He’s just a puppy. It’s not his fault that you don’t have the sense God gave a goat.”
“I know. I know. Ranger and Bree at the same time is a bit too much.”
“Ya think?”
He flashed that boyish grin that lately seemed to make Hannah’s heart give a little flutter. “No worries, though, because I figured out what to do to fix it.”
Hannah sent Sarah a droll look and stated, “Now, why am I not surprised?”
Sarah asked, “Are you sending the puppy back to Mac?”
Hannah shook her head and said, “No, he won’t do that.”
Simultaneously, Boone said, “No, I wouldn’t do that.”
Sarah settled Brianna back into her bouncer. “So how are you going to fix it?”
“He’s cooked up a scheme,” Hannah said. She had a sneaking suspicion that she knew exactly what it was too.
“It’s not a scheme. It’s a solution to a problem. I’m going to hire a night nanny for Ranger.” He turned a puppy dog look toward Hannah. “Want the job?”
Bingo.
When Hannah didn’t immediately respond, Sarah scoffed. “A night nanny for a dog?”
“Why not? It makes perfectly good sense. These first nights away from his mother are hard ones for Ranger, and he’s going to require attention. I physically can’t give him the attention he’ll need because I’m already sleep-deprived thanks to Bree. The last thing I want is to stretch myself too thin and have an accident of some sort. Last night I scared myself. A night nanny takes care of that problem. And since I have help with the baby during the daytime, I’ll be able to work with Ranger on the training he needs.”