Loe raamatut: «This Baby Business»

CHAPTER ONE

LEVI LAMBERT HAD piloted many birds during his service in the United States Air Force. He’d gone on missions he still regretted and some he never would. Made plenty of mistakes in his twenty-nine years. Some of them irreparable.

But this. Well. This might just kill him.

“Please. Please go to sleep.” Levi gently rubbed his six-month-old daughter’s back.

Moonlight spilled through the cracked blinds in Grace’s bedroom. It was two o’clock in the morning, and she wasn’t interested in sleeping. She didn’t need her diaper changed, had just had a bottle of formula—warm...he’d checked—and he’d located her pacifier under the blanket and stuck it in her mouth. She spit it out with a face that said, “Nice try, sucker.”

Levi was no stranger to zero dark thirty, but this was plain cruel. No sooner had he calmed her down and gently set her in her crib than she screamed bloody murder again. A few nights of that would have been fine, but after six straight weeks of it, he was beginning to feel the strain. Strange, but the only thing that kept her quiet was being held. Held and walked around the house, as if it were the middle of the day.

Weren’t babies supposed to sleep 24/7? What was wrong with his baby? She didn’t seem to like him very much. Still, he’d known she was his the minute he’d seen her blue eyes, so much like his own. Just for kicks he’d asked for a DNA test. Yep. His. No doubt, even if he’d had the pleasure of being with Grace’s mother, Sandy, only once. Only one night of mutual, temporary pleasure during a two-week leave in Atlanta, Georgia, he’d now officially never forget.

When he’d received the news of Sandy’s accidental death, it had taken Levi a minute to remember her. Talk about life changing and rearranging. He’d assumed he would die in the air force. His plan was to stay until he retired or was killed in action. It wasn’t like he didn’t have friends who’d left earlier than planned, among them his two best friends in the world, Stone and Matt. But Levi was a lifer. Supposed to be, anyway. He’d been raised for service. Until Grace had come along and changed all that. It would have been too much of a hardship as a single father piloting long missions. At the time he’d been located and informed of Grace, he’d been flying the U-2 spy plane and gone for months at a stretch.

She’d quieted down again with his swaying and rocking, so Levi tried to lay her down in her crib. Grace scrunched up her little pixie face and wailed, as if the very idea that she would go to sleep was an insult to her intelligence. He picked her up again. Definitely not suited for this, although some people had thought it would happen to him eventually if he didn’t settle down and stop sowing his wild oats.

The first thing his mother, Gemma Lambert, had said upon hearing that Levi had become a father was “Bless your heart. I told you so.” His father, retired General Lambert, had decided to address the situation in his usual way: he ignored it. Easy to do, since both of his parents were on their latest mission trip to save the children of the world. Didn’t matter, though, because Levi could do this on his own. Like he’d done so much else in his life.

Grace was now his responsibility, and he never shirked his duty. He’d followed the work, and one of his friends, Stone Mcallister, had a charter flight business and aviation school in Fortune, California. So he’d wound up in this little Podunk, bedroom community deep in the bowels of Silicon Valley. Everyone here gave him a patient look the minute he opened his mouth and out came the Texan drawl he’d grown up with.

Levi took a seat on the rocking chair he’d purchased from Buy, Baby, Buy—bye, wallet, bye, it should be called—and tried again. He’d been given most of Grace’s baby stuff by Sandy’s father, Frank, and stepmother, Irene, in a tearful exchange at the airport in Atlanta. It had helped, since he didn’t actually know a stroller from a wheelbarrow. A rookie, he’d basically had a crash course in all things baby related for the past few weeks. He realized he’d never be father-of-the-year material, but still, this shouldn’t be so hard.

“Is this personal?” he now asked Grace.

She had no response other than to blink twice and gurgle. Yeah, just his luck. She was wide-awake. At least it was better than all the screaming. Levi rocked because he didn’t know what else to do. He’d never thought of himself as a daddy. When he’d first told Stone and Matt about his situation, you would have thought he’d dropped a missile on them for the absolute silence in the room.

Levi was grateful that Sandy had trusted him. Or maybe she’d just done the right thing. Either way, he’d been named the father on the birth certificate. He had a daughter, and he couldn’t regret it. At least, not since the moment the social worker placed Grace in his arms, and she focused her wide, blue eyes on him. He was determined to raise her as a single father, even if Sandy’s parents had other ideas.

He stifled a yawn. The rocking chair was damned well about to put him to sleep. He’d have to get up in a few hours and Grace looked no closer to closing her eyes than she had an hour ago.

“I’m just going to close my eyes for a minute.” He snuggled Grace closer to his chest and leaned his head back.

* * *

LEVI WOKE WITH a start. It was morning, the first rays of early autumn sunlight flooding throughout Grace’s bedroom. She was fast asleep. He’d fallen asleep with her in his arms and by some miracle she hadn’t slipped out and landed on the floor.

“Are you a vampire?” he whispered, laying her in the crib. “Please don’t be a baby vampire.”

This time, of course, she stayed asleep. But Levi would still be late if he didn’t kick it into high gear. He took an enlisted man’s shower and dressed in the Mcallister Charters uniform of a white button-up and black cargoes within minutes. He hurried through his usual morning routine, prepping formula bottles like a pro and swallowing a Pop-Tart practically whole. He inhaled his morning coffee and glanced at the digital kitchen clock. Oh seven hundred and Annie wasn’t here. He hated being late and people who were late. And Annie was perpetually late.

She was his third babysitter since he’d landed in Fortune a month ago. Bobbie Ann had left when Levi had turned her down, explaining he didn’t date anyone under twenty. Ellen had left because of all the screaming, and Annie’s only fault so far was her unreliability. Which, given the situation, was huge.

He looked out the window. Nothing. Dialed Annie’s cell phone, hoping she’d be driving over and unable to answer it.

She answered. “Hey, Levi. I can’t make it today.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

He should have never hired one of the former baristas from the Drip. Even if she’d come highly recommended by Emily Parker as being a generally kind woman who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“I had a little trouble with the reception out here in Lake Tahoe.”

“What the hell are you doing in Lake Tahoe?”

Levi heard a distinctly male voice in the background.

“Oh, sorry. I meant Reno. I’m all turned around.” She giggled. “I’m getting married.”

“Getting married? Since when?”

“Since Drew asked me last night. I’m sorry, but I forgot to call you.”

Yep. Never should have hired her. “Great. Now what am I supposed to do about Grace?”

“I’m sorry. But hey, why don’t you ask your next-door neighbor? I’m sure she would do it.”

“You mean Cute Stuck-Up Girl?”

“Her name is Carly. I know her personally, so I’ll vouch for her. We used to work together, and then her mother died and left her a business. I hardly see her anymore she’s so busy, but I did see her last week when I was taking Grace for a walk. She came out to get a package and waved hello.”

Levi glanced out the window, and there was Cute Stuck-Up Girl, bending down to pick up another UPS package. About the only times he’d seen her she was either signing for a package or hauling diapers into the house by the box. A couple weeks ago, she’d glanced in his direction. He’d smiled and nodded. She’d looked right through him. Hence the stuck-up part.

“You think she’d do it?” He glanced at his watch. If he didn’t want to miss his flight this morning and risk looking like a damned fool who couldn’t handle both work and being a father, he’d have to leave in fifteen minutes.

“Carly is supersweet. I’m sure she would help you out for the day.”

“And after that?”

“Again, I’m sorry. But I’m getting married, and you really don’t pay me enough anyway.”

“Might have said something sooner.”

He was going to have to get a handle on this sitter business. Next time hire someone highly qualified and serious about the job, not just someone between gigs. Levi hung up and glanced at his watch.

“Okay. Plan B.”

A few minutes later, Levi had carefully and skillfully moved a sound-asleep Grace from her crib to her car seat. When the girl slept, she meant it. Too bad she couldn’t mean it at two in the morning. He carried the car seat by the handle to Cute Stuck-Up Girl’s front door. Probably should start calling her Carly from now on.

“Wish me luck,” he said under his breath. “Just keep right on being adorable. And quiet.”

Grace continued to snooze. He rang the doorbell. Once. Twice.

Levi was about to abort mission and launch into plan C when the door flew open. Cute—uh, Carly—stood behind it, blond hair sticking up in four different directions. She wore yoga pants, a pink-and-white Minnie Mouse T-shirt that fell past her hips and fuzzy slippers in the shape of the Tasmanian Devil. He tried not to laugh.

“You’re not the UPS guy.”

“No. Sorry.” She was a lot prettier up close. Her eyes were amber, warm, with tiny flecks of green in them.

Those eyes took him in, doing fast work of assessing. When she fixated on the car seat, she did a double take. “What’s that?”

Huh. Not too promising. He forced a grin and a wink and tried to relax, because he had approximately twelve minutes left to work his magic. “A baby. Ever seen one before?”

“I know what a baby is.” Her eyes narrowed, and she pointed. “Is that your baby?”

He was beginning to resent the way no one believed he could be a father. “Yep. Mine.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Oh, I see. You must have heard about me, then. But all the advice is on my website. I’m thinking about adding Skype chats, but you’re a little early for that.”

“Excuse me?”

“Isn’t that why you’re here? You’d like some advice? Is she not sleeping through the night? Colic? Do you want to know the best diaper to use?”

He cleared his throat, because damned if he couldn’t use all of that and then some.

“No. I’m fine. Okay, let’s start over. I’m Levi Lambert, your next-door neighbor.” He stuck out his hand and shook hers.

“Carly Gilmore.”

“I’m in a bind this morning. My sitter, Annie, well, she ran off and got married yesterday and forgot to tell me about it. So...she’s not coming.”

“Annie. Yeah. That was not a wise choice.”

“You’re telling me. I’m new in town, and one of my friends recommended her.”

“Yes, she’s sweet but unreliable.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure how I can help you.”

A little worried that his cute neighbor might have been dropped on her head as a baby, and not encouraged by that possible fact, Levi took a deep breath. “Could you maybe just fill in for her today? I’m a pilot at Mcallister Charters, and I’m about to be late for a flight.”

“Me? You want me to watch your baby?”

“Don’t you hand out baby advice? So you have children, right?”

She had a ring on her finger, but that didn’t mean she had children.

At this, she went a little pale, then gave him a tight smile. “I...I know a lot about babies, yes, of course. I’m what you would call an expert.”

“Wow. This is my lucky day. If you could watch Grace just for a while, I’d be so grateful. I’ll try to come home early, too, right after my flight, if I can arrange it.”

“B-but where’s her mother?”

Levi always hated this part, and the pity that flashed across people’s faces. He didn’t want or deserve their pity. “She passed away.”

Cute Carly drew in a sharp breath, and sympathy flashed in her eyes right on cue. “I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you. It’s just the two of us.”

She shifted from one leg to the other. “Well, okay. I can help you, since I’m a baby expert and all. Plus, I don’t want you to think that I’m not neighborly, because I am. But just today!”

Levi let his shoulders unkink and carried Grace’s car seat inside. He set it down on the hardwood floor of the entryway and handed her the diaper bag he’d packed.

“Thanks. I owe you one.”

“Here.” She handed him a scrap of paper and a pen. “Write down your phone number so I can reach you.”

He gave her his cell phone number and also the number for Mcallister Charters and Magnum Aviation. And the local hospital. And poison control. He had all of them memorized. He also got Carly’s phone number, then with one last kiss on Grace’s sweet forehead, he headed out the door.

Levi climbed in his truck, where he studied his neighbor’s house for a moment. Like his rental, it was a small tract home. Unlike his house, she had rows of colorful flowers lining the front yard and several others in pots hanging from the eaves. Fit right in with this older residential neighborhood. He made a mental note that he should probably buy some of them flowers at some point if he was going to stay in the rental. Grace should grow up in a home that reflected some kind of femininity. Not that she wouldn’t play sports with the boys if that was what she wanted, and of course he prayed that she did, because he could help her with that.

Should he go back and get his baby and rethink this whole thing? He tended to reconsider every one of his decisions thanks to Sandy’s parents. One false move on his part, one mistake, and he might give them ammunition. The last thing he wanted was a long, protracted legal battle he couldn’t afford.

But the warmth in Carly’s eyes when she’d heard about Grace’s mother told him she was compassionate. Kind. Maybe he’d assumed too much and far too easily, but he had a good sense of people, and it hadn’t failed him yet. No. This was good.

He started his truck and headed to the airport.