you go along with us to the shelter, you readily agreed. There’s nothing rigid in that.”
Daniel was looking down at her so intently that her breath caught. In fact, she had the vague impression that he was leaning toward her and she was leaning toward him. If she raised her head and he bent his—
“No.”
She hadn’t realized she’d said it out loud until Daniel asked, “No?”
She cleared her throat and prattled, “No parent knows if he’s doing exactly the right thing. But this is your family, and you are the one who decides how it’s run. And I want to make sure I follow your rules. So can you tell me what my duties are?”
Then she was going to run back to her room and lock herself in. There were too many vibrations between her and this man, too much chemistry, and she was not going to do anything impulsive. She’d promised herself that, the day she’d found herself in Spring Forest, North Carolina, with no place to go and no one to help.
Daniel didn’t step away but he did lift his hand with one finger raised. “Look after Paris, Penny and Pippa’s physical needs. If a problem crops up or you think there’s something to worry about, I do want you to tell me.”
“You didn’t appreciate me telling you about Paris,” she reminded him.
“I know.” He rubbed his fingers across his jaw—a very chiseled jaw, with a small cleft in the center. “I think I acted defensively because I’ve noticed the same things, but I don’t know what to do about her. She’s not eating as much as she should for a girl of her age. She wants to take part in summer swim-team activities so she doesn’t gain weight.”
“Are you going to let her be part of the team?”
“Yes, and that’s something I’d like you to schedule. I negotiated with her. She’s also to choose one of the camps at the community college. They have them for kids every summer. I’ll give you their website address and maybe you can set that up, too. So the second point on my list of your duties would be arranging activities and chauffeuring them back and forth from the camps to home.”
“When you say camps, do you mean like camping outside in tents?”
He chuckled. “No, not at all, though I suppose there is one that does that. These are educational camps. Someone qualified teaches them. The college accepts only so many children in each camp so the girls might not get their favorites. It’s late to sign them up. Just do the best you can with it. I’ll print out the info you need and give it to you in the morning.”
She pointed to her tablet, where she’d typed in what he’d said. “That’s only two duties.”
“Chauffeuring is going to take up a good bit of your time. The third duty would be to keep the house in order, but that’s a lower priority. If the girls would rather do some activity and you want to do it with them, I’d rather you do that than clean. They’re off school for the summer and have a few chores to do. But mostly I want them to enjoy it. If actually cleaning the house becomes a problem, I’ll hire someone to do that.”
She was close enough to Daniel that she could easily see the lines around his eyes. Were those lines from looking into the sun or from laughing with his girls? From working too hard, poring over legal papers? Or from his divorce? That was too personal to comment on so she thought about the next thing she wanted to ask him. “I’d like to still volunteer at the shelter, if you think that’s possible.”
“I want you to make time for that if that’s what you want to do. When I’m home, don’t feel you have to spend time with my daughters. If there’s something else you’d rather do, even if it’s just reading in your room, then that’s what you should do. I don’t want to be rigid with you, either, Emma.”
She felt her face getting warm because they were gazing into each other’s eyes. Her heart seemed to be beating so loud she wondered if he could hear it. He had a look on his face that made her want to move closer to him, but she didn’t. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
Starting tomorrow she’d ignore his attractiveness. She’d try to forget what she felt for him and his life here without his ex-wife and with his girls to raise on his own. Starting tomorrow, she’d truly be starting over. That’s exactly what she wanted.
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