Vicki snorted a laugh. “That’s gratitude for ya.”
Jenna ignored her as she pushed the kitchen door open and grabbed the coffee pot before heading for Noah’s table.
Chapter Two
Noah stared at the child in the high chair. Alice. She was staring in the direction Lillian Calvert had gone and her chin was starting to quiver.
“Mama?” she asked before turning wide blue eyes onto Noah.
His gut twisted. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? Fucking Sally. Fucking Lillian Calvert, who’d shown him the documents, went to her car to fetch a small suitcase and a car seat, wished him good luck, and left him sitting in a diner with a toddler.
“More coffee?”
Noah jerked his gaze to the waitress who’d appeared at the table. Jenna. She smiled at him and he swallowed because he was at a loss. A big fucking loss.
She glanced at Alice. Alice turned big eyes on her. “Want Mama,” the little girl said. Or at least that’s what he thought she said because he wasn’t so good at understanding the kid-speak.
Before Noah could formulate an answer, Alice burst into tears. “Mama,” she wailed. “Mama.”
Jenna looked at him, but he couldn’t move. Couldn’t respond. Didn’t know what to fucking do. Jenna’s expression changed from sympathetic to alarmed in a heartbeat. She set the coffee pot down and leaned over to hug the child. “Oh, honey, I’m sure she’ll be back soon. Are you hungry? Do you want some cheese? How about a cracker? Would that help?”
“Mama,” Alice wailed. But she clung to Jenna, who tugged her up and into her arms.
“Sorry,” she mouthed to him.
“It’s okay,” he said, forcing the words past the giant knot in his throat. “Thank you for helping.”
He didn’t know why she was apologizing to him. He was grateful that somebody knew what to do.
“Hey, sweetie, do you want to see what’s behind the counter? Let’s go have a look over there, okay?”
Noah watched Jenna bounce Alice as she carried her over to the counter and started pointing at things, naming them as she went. He knew he should be the one holding the little girl, soothing her, but he didn’t have a fucking clue how to do it. He was utterly numb. How the hell could Sally have left him her kid? And how could a lawyer waltz in and hand the child off to him as if he was qualified to take her?
Hell, he’d never even had a puppy, much less a kid. What was he supposed to do with her? He’d asked Lillian Calvert that, but she’d reiterated that he needed to rely on the support he’d get from the military for a dependent child. Except Alice wasn’t his dependent, and he was pretty sure the military wasn’t going to make her so without a formal adoption.
Noah raked both hands through his hair and stared at the tabletop, trying to make sense of everything that’d happened. He needed to call his team leader, Cade “Saint” Rodgers, and tell him everything. Saint would know the steps to take next.
Noah couldn’t keep the kid. No matter that she was Sally’s, he couldn’t do it. His life wasn’t made for being a parent. Hell, he wasn’t so sure he was made for being a parent.
“If you want to give her up for adoption, you can do that,” Lillian had said. “She’ll be adopted quickly because of her age, but she’s also going to be in foster care for a little while first.”
The words had sent a chill through him. Foster care. Exactly what Sally would never want for her baby. The thing that had messed up Sally’s life was not something she would have wanted for Alice.
Jenna came back over with Alice in her arms. The kid clutched a cookie and wasn’t crying. Jenna shrugged apologetically as she tried to put Alice into her high chair. But Alice clung to her and made sniffling noises, so Jenna stopped trying to put the child down.
“I’m so sorry,” she said to him. “She seems to want me to hold her. I should have asked you about the cookie, but I couldn’t think of anything else.”
“It’s okay. Thanks for helping.”
Jenna glanced toward the door. She was pretty in that plain way some women had. Her long blond hair was scraped back into a ponytail, and she wore minimal makeup. She wasn’t especially curvy, or especially thin. She was something in between. Average, he guessed.
Right now, she was anything but average to him. She was holding Alice and she’d managed to soothe her. That was everything.
“Is she coming back? Your, er, the mother?”
Noah blinked in confusion. But then understanding dawned. “That was a lawyer. My sister died three weeks ago in a car accident. Alice is her child.”
“Oh.” Jenna nibbled her lip. “I’m so, so sorry.” She put a hand up to cover the child’s ear. The other was against her shoulder. “Poor little girl. Does she cry for her mother often?”
Noah felt like the worst kind of person at that moment. “I don’t know. I… I just met her. I didn’t know about her until today. My sister and I were estranged,” he finished quietly.
Jenna looked as if she understood, though how could anybody understand this nightmare? He certainly didn’t.
“Are you used to having a child around?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve never… I’m not prepared for this, but here she is and I don’t have a clue.”
Jenna glanced down at the toddler’s blond head. Alice’s eyes were drooping. “She’s been through a lot, I assume.”
“Yeah.” He blew out a breath. “I need to call my team leader, and I need to arrange child care. Can you watch her while I go out to my Jeep and make some calls in private?”
She didn’t hesitate. “I can do that. I’m so sorry for your loss, Noah.”
He stared at her holding Alice and his belly tightened. He didn’t spend any time examining why. He got to his feet. “Thanks. I appreciate it. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She waved him off. “It’s okay. Do what you need to do. We’ll be fine. The dinner rush doesn’t start for another hour.”
Jenna let Alice sleep on her shoulder as she took over the task of filling salt shakers from Vicki. It wasn’t easy with the child, but she managed it while Vic took care of the customers. Allison emerged from the back, saw Jenna, and stalked over to her.
“Whose kid is that? You know I don’t allow children at work.”
Jenna shifted Alice and poured salt into a shaker. “She belongs to a patron.”
Allison scanned the restaurant. “Which one?”
“He’s outside, making a phone call. He needed help and she likes me.”
Allison frowned. “Get rid of her as soon as you can and get back to work. This isn’t a free babysitting service for Christ’s sake.”
“I’ll hand her over as soon as he comes back in. Promise.”
Allison didn’t reply as she sailed into the kitchen and disappeared to her office again. Vicki swung by, a look of concern on her face. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Allison isn’t happy, but the child belongs to a customer so she can’t exactly complain about me not being helpful, right?”