An Unexpected Match. Dana Corbit

blinked, her question startling him more than any observation. With her innocent question, Haley asked about far more than his thoughts on how his daughter spent her day. She had every right to ask him what his problem was, too, but he didn’t have an answer for her. At least not a good one.

      Unlike Renee, who’d dumped his child with him as soon as a better offer came along, Haley had dropped everything to help him. She’d given up her whole day to care for Elizabeth and even left the house passably neat. She’d done all that, and all he could manage was a banal thank-you. The least he could do was to be more grateful. A little humility couldn’t hurt, either.

      He cleared his throat. “No, that doesn’t surprise me. Elizabeth thinks you’re great.”

      Haley was putting away the last of the dolls, but she stopped and looked at him, lifting a brow. Her assumption that Elizabeth’s father didn’t think she was all that great couldn’t have been clearer.

      “I want you to know how much I appreciate you stepping in for us today. We were really in a pinch.”

      “I did it for Elizabeth.”

      Until then, Elizabeth hadn’t appeared to be paying attention to the conversation, but she looked up and announced, “Miss Haley did it for me.”

      The words Haley had spoken and Elizabeth reinforced rang as true in his ears as any statement a credible witness made during cross-examination. Haley had stepped forward for the child’s sake even though she understood she wasn’t the candidate he would have chosen. Wasn’t that similar to what he tried to do with Elizabeth, always putting her needs ahead of anything else?

      “Well, thanks.” His throat felt tight as he looked from Haley to Elizabeth. He reached down and tugged one of his daughter’s braids. “How about we put in a video for you while Miss Haley and I talk?”

      “Okay.”

      He led Elizabeth into the family room and inserted an old video that he’d only recently come to hate because she watched it so often. When he returned to the living room, he gestured for Haley to follow him into the kitchen. He took a seat at the table.

      “Here, come sit with me.”

      Haley chewed her bottom lip, but she took the seat opposite his. She fidgeted with a ring on her left pinkie, slipping it on and off several times. Finally, she looked up at him.

      “What did you want to talk about?” She brushed at a piece of fuzz on her sweatshirt.

      “A job,” he blurted before he could think better of it. “I know you gave up yours when you left Michigan.”

      “I know.” She stared at her hands twisting her ring around. “There’s nothing left for me in Muskegon. Even Jenna lives on the other side of Michigan. I need to start looking for a new job, but I haven’t even decided where I’m going to live. Mom said I could stay with her until I figure things out, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

      “You don’t have to decide right away.”

      Her head came up then. “This coming from Matthew Warren, the king of advanced-planning-for-the-future? The expert of dotted Is and crossed Ts.”

      He shook his index finger at her. “Could we wait until later to denigrate my character? I’m trying to make you an offer here.”

      “I probably could wait until seven thirty,” she began, but stopped in the middle of her joke. She tilted her head and studied him. “Offer? You mean a job offer?”

      His hands went up in a reflexive move. “Just a temporary one. I would like you to watch Elizabeth until I find a suitable child-care provider.”

      Smiling, Matthew waited for her reaction. And waited. Her bland expression offered no hints about what she was thinking.

      “How could I resist an offer like that?” she said finally.

      It wasn’t the enthusiastic reaction he’d expected, given how taken Haley seemed to be with Elizabeth, but he pressed on anyway, so his own misgivings wouldn’t get the best of him. “So you’ll do it?”

      She nodded.

      “Oh, good. So do you think you could commit to the job for, oh, let’s say, one month?” Something seemed to cloud the blue sky of her eyes, but Matthew tried not to read anything into it. “I can even draft a contract to that effect. Then we’ll both know we’re on the same page.”

      Haley pushed back from the table, stood and crossed to the sink without looking at him. Turning on the faucet, she took out a glass, then filled it and took a sip. He’d offended her just as he had at church the day before. At first the contract had seemed like a good idea, even necessary given Haley’s work history, but now it felt mean.

      He was already out of his chair and approaching from behind her to apologize when Haley turned to face him.

      “I need you to know,” she paused as if weighing her words, “that what I said to you earlier was the truth but maybe not the whole truth. I did step in today for Elizabeth’s sake, but I also did it for you.”

      “I know that.” And because he did know it, he also recognized that one of them had grown up to be a nicer person than the other. “I’m sorry for suggesting the contract.”

      “It’s fine. I’ll even sign one if it will make you more comfortable.”

      He shook his head. “That won’t be necessary.”

      “Okay, then.” She poured out the water and put the glass in the dishwasher.

      “So we’re agreed on one month?” Maybe he was willing to forego the contract, but he was a lawyer after all, and he needed to come to some sort of official agreement.

      When Haley glanced over her shoulder at him, her smile suggested that she understood his need to have all the details at least signed on the imaginary line.

      “There’s one more thing you should know. I’m here for Elizabeth and you, and I’ll be here for as long as you need me.”