he’d closed himself off, but he certainly had enough on his hands right now without adding romance or a relationship or even another one-night stand.
Although he really, really would like to see that rust-colored hair down….
But he was always sort of a sucker for a redhead, so that didn’t mean anything, either.
He didn’t want to talk any more about Heddy Hanrahan or her looks with his grandmother, though, so he raised his chin in the direction that Jonah had taken Carter and shouted, “Carter! Come on, we need to get home!” Then, wanting to give his grandmother a little of what she’d dished out, he said to GiGi, “We’d better get going so you can have your evening alone with your old high school squeeze. Seems like he might as well move in, he’s here so much.”
“It’s in discussion,” GiGi said.
“Really …” Lang countered with raised eyebrows. “Is that why you won’t babysit for me? You’re too busy getting busy with—”
“I am not going to talk about that with my grandson!” GiGi said with a laugh, echoing what he’d said to her earlier about one-night stands.
“Ooo-hoo, GiGi’s gettin’ busy …” Lang teased. And he actually thought his grandmother’s ordinarily pink cheeks might have turned a shade pinker.
Sliding out of the breakfast nook, he went around to the other side where GiGi was sitting and leaned close to her ear. “It better be more substantial than a one-night stand,” he goaded playfully before he kissed her on the cheek.
She swatted his arm and said just as playfully, “Mind your manners!”
No chance. Lang decided to be incorrigible. “Shall I have a talk with him? Make sure his intentions are honorable?”
“What makes you think mine are?”
Lang laughed and straightened. He did love the old bird even if she had taken him to task tonight.
“Come on, Carter,” he shouted again just before Jonah Morrison herded the toddler back into the kitchen. “Let’s go. We have to pick up some dinner so we can eat fast and get you a bath and wash your hair. I’m thinking pizza tonight.”
“Wis ‘napple!” Carter contributed.
“Only on your part. I don’t like pineapple on my pizza.”
“Look how good you’re getting—you knew what he was saying,” GiGi praised.
Lang merely rolled his eyes and shook his head before he put on Carter’s coat and they all went to the front door.
“Let me know what happens tomorrow with the beautiful Heddy Hanrahan,” GiGi called after him as he led Carter out, clearly getting Lang back with a jab of her own.
“I will,” he answered just before he hoisted Carter into his car seat.
But the mere mention of Heddy was all it took for the picture of her to pop back into his head—and there was no denying that she was beautiful.
It just didn’t have anything to do with anything.
And neither did the small feeling of eagerness that ran through him at the thought of seeing her again tomorrow.
Because while he would never admit it to his grandmother or any of the rest of his family, even if he didn’t have learning to be a father to Carter on his plate right now, he wasn’t ready to let another woman in.
Not even one with red hair.
And he wasn’t sure he ever would be….
“I’ve gone over your books backward and forward, Heddy, and I wish I could tell you something else. But the honest, ugly truth is that you’ve been open for fifteen months and this shop is not making it.”
Heddy had called her cousin Clair on Monday night after closing up to tell her about the visit from Lang Camden. Clair was a certified public accountant and she did Heddy’s books as a favor to Heddy. Now, late on Wednesday afternoon, Clair had showed up with those books to present to Heddy on paper how her business was going under.
“You used the lion’s share of Daniel’s life insurance money to start the business,” Clair continued. “You’ve had to draw on the rest for working and living expenses because you haven’t made a profit a single month since you opened last year, so what’s left is just about gone. Is there any reason to think you’ll have a turnaround and business will pick up?”
“I hoped that the article would do it but it hasn’t. So no,” Heddy admitted.
“Then I say take the deal from the Camdens,” Clair concluded. “Protect yourself but take it. Clark can draw up papers or look over anything the Camdens come up with to make sure everything’s to your advantage. You know how competitive my husband is, and he’s dying to go head-to-head with the big-boy Camden team of attorneys. But, sweetie, it’s either that or go back to nursing.”
Heddy shook her head. “I can’t do that,” she said with the same edge of near-panic that the idea had given her since she’d left pediatric nursing after that awful night that had cost her so dearly. “I can’t even stand the thought of going back to working with kids—of being close to any kids, sick or well. No way.”
“You know the fact that you were a nurse and on duty that night isn’t to blame. And whether or not it’s the way you want it, working that night actually saved you,” Clair said compassionately.
It was the same thing her cousin had said numerous times in the past five years.
“You could go into some other area of nursing—you were so good …”
More fierce head-shaking. “No. Maybe it doesn’t seem logical or reasonable—or even sane—to you, but I can’t go back to doing what I was doing that night. These stupid cheesecakes were my salvation.”
Clair sighed. “Then take the Camden’s offer,” she reiterated as if there was no other advice she could give. “Clark and I will keep an eye on your side to make sure what happened to your mom and your grandfather doesn’t happen to you. If it’s set up the way it was laid out to you, even if the Camdens do bail, what Lang Camden said is right—you can sell to grocery stores or restaurants. That still puts you in a better position than you’re in now.”
That was how Heddy saw it, too. Despite trying to talk herself out of it since Monday when she’d watched the hauntingly handsome Lang Camden leave.
“But there’s still Mom,” Heddy said direly. “I haven’t told her anything about this yet. You know she’ll hit the ceiling.”
“You can’t blame her. But still—”
Heddy and Clair were sitting at one of the tables in the shop—Heddy with her back to the door, Clair facing it—when the shop door opened.
“My second customer of this whole day,” Heddy muttered to her cousin, wondering why Clair’s jaw dropped when she glanced at whoever had just come in.
When Heddy got up to tend to the customer, she saw it was
