He’d also been working long hours. How many nights had he put Heather to bed since Verity had arrived and started caring for her?
Apparently not enough.
“Let’s go with Daddy,” Verity murmured to the little girl.
Leo looked at Verity again and found himself thinking how pretty she was, even though she was sloppily dressed. He found himself liking the sound of her voice. He found himself…getting stirred up in a way a man shouldn’t around a nanny.
Their gazes connected and, in a flash, he saw the same man-woman awareness in her eyes that he was feeling. Then she glanced away, and he was glad. He certainly didn’t want to delve further into that.
In his SUV, driving toward the doctor’s office, an awkward silence surrounded them.
Leo headed north on Lonestar Way, Avon Lake’s main thoroughfare, leading toward the college side of town. The college housed about 10,000 students, and the town itself had a growing population of more than 7,000 now. But Leo knew Avon Lake would always keep that small-town flavor. At least, he hoped it would.
Heather’s pediatrician was located in one of the old houses near the college. Leo knew Verity took a course at the campus once a week, though he didn’t know much else about her, except what she’d given on her résumé. She’d attended college at the University of Texas and had been born and bred in Galveston.
Maybe because of his reaction to her for those few moments, maybe because her silence made him wonder what she was thinking, he asked her, “What course are you taking this semester?”
As she shifted in her seat, he felt her gaze fall upon him. “I’m not taking a class officially. When I accepted the position with you in November, I was too late to register for the term. But I’m auditing a class on children’s play techniques.”
“You’re working on your master’s?”
“Yes, I hope to. I have an advisor now. I’ll be meeting with him soon to choose courses for next term.”
“It’s hard to believe Christmas is less than a month away. Did you have an enjoyable Thanksgiving?”
They hadn’t talked since then, and Leo didn’t even know where she’d gone. She’d left early in the morning and come back late that evening after he and Heather had returned from dinner at Jolene’s.
Quiet for a few moments, Verity finally answered, “It was fine.”
Casting a sideways glance at her, his interest was piqued, maybe because of everything she wasn’t saying. “Did you spend it with family?”
“No. I went to Freeport for the day.”
“And met friends?”
Again, that little silence, and then she shook her head. “No, I had dinner, then I drove to the beach for a while.”
Now he was even more intrigued. Didn’t she have family? Why would she spend the holiday alone? If he asked those questions, he’d become more involved than he wanted to be.
Heather suddenly called from the back in her superfast baby voice. “Vewitee. Vewitee. I wanna feed duckee and go for ice cweam.”
Verity gave her full attention to Heather as she turned. “Not today, honey. We have to go to the doctor’s so he can look at your head.”
“No doctor. I wanna feed duckees.”
Peering into the rearview mirror to see his daughter, Leo caught sight of her lower lip pouting out. He hated to see her cry. “What if we go feed the ducks after the doctor looks at your head?”
After thinking about that for a few moments, she returned, “Ice cweam, too?”
“It’s going to be close to supper. Maybe we could stop at the Wagon Wheel and get that chicken you like so much. They have ice cream for dessert.”
“Chicken and ice cweam!” Heather said gleefully.
Verity laughed, a pure, free sound that entranced Leo, as she commented, “Ducks, chicken and ice cream all in one day. She’s going to hold you to every one of those.”
“Like an elephant never forgets?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Something like that. I can’t believe how her vocabulary is growing, just in the few weeks I’ve been here. Each day she’s becoming more coordinated, too. I’ve seen it before, of course, with the children I’ve worked with, but just caring for one child, and seeing her change almost daily, is absolutely amazing.”
“I know Jolene probably mentioned it, but I don’t remember how you heard about the position with me,” he prompted.
“I have a friend in the career counseling office at UT. She knew I was looking for a change, called me and told me about it.”
“A change from what you were doing or where you were living?”
“Both.”
That concise word was the end of the conversation unless Leo wanted to pursue it. He didn’t.
Sitting beside Verity, smelling the floral scent of her shampoo or lotion, very much liking the sound of her laughter, he felt as if he were awakening from a long sleep. It was disconcerting. He’d gotten used to his life, and although Jolene often told him he was in a rut, ruts were damned comfortable.
Activities in the town of Avon Lake often revolved around the small lake. After Leo unfastened Heather from her car seat and lifted her to the ground, she took Verity’s hand and ran toward the black and gray ducks on the grassy shoreline.
In a few quick strides, Leo caught up to them, the bag of crackers he’d bought at a convenience store in his hand. “Wait a minute. You forgot something. You can’t feed them if you don’t have the food.”
When Heather stopped short, let go of Verity’s hand and ran back to him, he crouched down. “Do you want me to open the bag or do you want to try it?”
“Me try.”
He handed it to her. But after jabs and pulls and a few squishes, she shook her head, curling tendrils along her cheek bobbing all over the place. “Can’t do it. You open, please.”
Leo knew his daughter’s face was as close to an angel’s as he’d ever see. Taking the bag between his two large hands, he pulled and a corner popped open. “There you go. Break up each one so they have lots of little pieces.”
After Heather nodded vigorously, she took the bag and ran for the lake.
“Wait,” he and Verity called at the same time and ran after her.
As he caught one of Heather’s hands, Verity held her elbow. “Don’t spill the crackers,” she warned with a smile.
The sun’s brilliance was fading into long shadows, though the air was warm and the day was still above 70. Standing by a tall pecan tree, Leo watched Verity as she and Heather sat on the grass and two ducks waddled closer. Heather crushed a cracker in her hand and opened her little fingers, waving her arm in the air. The crumbs blew this way and that. One of the ducks quacked and ran after a piece and she laughed like only a three-year-old could.
The doctor’s exam had gone smoothly and quickly, mostly thanks to Verity. She seemed to be able to read his daughter’s mind…seemed to know what to say to coax her into acquiescence. He didn’t have that knack. He was learning negotiation was the highest skill a parent could master.
As he watched his daughter, he felt removed and didn’t like it. After taking a few steps closer, he sat with Verity and Heather.
Heather offered him the bag. “You feed duckees, too.”
How long had it been since he’d taken time to do just that? Taking one of the crackers from the bag, he broke it into a few pieces and tossed them so Heather could watch the ducks waddle after them.
“I