The Husband Recipe (7 page)

After Mary’s death, women had come out of the woodwork hoping to take her place. It had made him so angry that they’d thought his wife, the mother of his children, the woman he’d loved since he was sixteen, could be so easily and quickly replaced. It hadn’t helped matters at all that many of them had been groupies, women who wanted nothing more than to be a major leaguer’s wife. None of them had loved his children; none of them had even known them. Hell, they hadn’t known him, either. It was no wonder he’d withdrawn so completely from the opposite sex.

Lauren was trouble because she was different. There were prettier women in the world, there were women who didn’t look at him as if they half expected him to take their heads off. He was sure there were women who could cook as well as she did—though he hadn’t ever met them—and many of them filled out their tank tops more generously than she did.

So why was he lying in bed awake after midnight, thinking about her? Why was the image of her holding his kids in the E.R. permanently implanted in his brain? Why had he felt such relief, such comfort, just to share a sandwich with her at the end of a very bad day?

Why did he have the urge to get up, go to the window and look out to see if any of her lights were still on?

Cole went to sleep thinking that he really needed to stay away from Lauren Russell, but in spite of his determination to keep his distance, he dreamed of her. And his dreams were most definitely of the X-rated variety.

Meredith turned over, punched her pillow and fought back new tears. She was so stupid! For a little while she’d actually believed that Lauren Russell might be a friend, a woman who could help with girly things. Not a replacement for her mother, but…something different.

But she’d been right all along. Miss Lauren was just using her—Justin and Hank, too—to get to their dad. And Meredith was horrified that the schemer’s plan might be working.

They’d pulled into the driveway so late, the rest of the neighborhood had been sleeping. Miss Lauren had called her friend Summer as they’d left the hospital, to let her know that Justin was okay. Summer was supposed to spread the word through the neighborhood.

Miss Lauren had acted like she was so relieved, like she actually
cared
about Justin, but Meredith knew better. She’d seen the truth when she’d gotten up for a drink of water and had spied her dad and Miss Lauren saying good-night. Neither of them had said anything mushy, and they hadn’t kissed or even shaken hands, but Meredith wasn’t blind.

Her dad had never looked at a woman that way, as if everything else had ceased to exist, as if the world had stopped and there was no room in it for anyone but the two of them. There was a new look in his eyes, something she’d never seen before. It hadn’t lasted very long, but Meredith knew what that look meant. It was, like, from a movie. The next step would’ve been for them to run toward one another and kiss. With tongue. Yuck.

If they got married, what then? No woman wanted someone else’s kids underfoot all the time. Miss Lauren would want babies of her own, brats who would take the place of the old kids. Meredith knew how this worked. She had two close friends in Birmingham whose parents were divorced and remarried, so she’d heard the horror stories about stepmothers and half brothers and sisters. Maybe she and her brothers would get sent off to boarding school, or worse. Maybe her dad would send them to Birmingham to live with Aunt Janet so he could have a new life with a new wife and new kids.

Maybe it was a lot to take out of one quick, mushy look, but it all came together in Meredith’s head and she could see where this was leading. There was only one thing to do, only one thing she
could
do. She was going to have to put a stop to this before it went any further.

Cole woke to the smell of coffee. He’d thought the kids would sleep late, but apparently Meredith was up, at least. He opened one eye and found his daughter standing by the bed, steaming mug in hand. Justin slept on, with his pillow tossed to the floor and his head halfway under the covers. His breathing was deep and even.

Meredith kept her voice low. “I thought you might be in a bad mood this morning, so I decided to bring your coffee to you so you’d, you know, feel better.”

Cole swung his legs over the side of the bed. He’d gotten accustomed to the pajamas he’d once refused to wear. As the sole parent responding to all late-night calls, they’d become a necessary addition to his wardrobe even though he’d once believed that real men didn’t wear pajamas. “Thanks, Mer. Justin’s accident did put a damper on the evening.” He took the coffee, cradled the mug, sipped.

Meredith’s eyes widened. “I wasn’t talking about the accident.”

Cole glanced up. “What, then?” Was there something going on he didn’t know about? Another disaster looming?

“I thought you might be in a bad mood about Miss Lauren.”

The name alone was enough to make him perk up. “What about her?”

“You like her.”

He made a point of not lying to his kids, even when he knew they wouldn’t like the truth. “Maybe a little.”

Meredith shuffled her feet, looked down at the floor, then cast her eyes to his. “Last night when y’all were talking, she did tell you that she has a boyfriend, didn’t she?”

“She does?” Why was he surprised? Women like Lauren didn’t stay single for long. If ever.

“Two of them. One travels a lot, so sometimes she dates the other one when he’s out of town. She said something about keeping all her options open.”

Had he misread the occasional interested look Lauren had cast his way, the spark of interest he’d noticed last night? No, he was pretty sure he hadn’t. At his kitchen table she’d seemed friendly enough; more than friendly. Talk about wishful thinking! Though she’d said she didn’t “date,” if the woman had two boyfriends, maybe she wasn’t opposed to taking on a third. Huh. He never would’ve taken Lauren Russell for a man-eater.

“How did you end up talking about her boyfriends?”

“She had to call one of them to cancel. She told him she was stuck in the hospital but she’d see him later. That’s why I figured she’d mention it to you, since she was probably rushing off to meet him.”

The word that caught Cole’s attention was
stuck.
Dammit, he hadn’t asked Lauren to come along. She’d insisted. She’d snatched the car keys out of his hand! Had Boyfriend One or Boyfriend Two come over last night, had one of them been there while Cole had watched her sashay home? Had she made some sucker wait while she shared a sandwich with her new neighbor or had she run home, changed clothes and gone out to meet him somewhere?

If she’d had plans, why had she insisted on going to the hospital with him? Why had she made herself at home in his kitchen as if she had no other place to be? Like he was going to try to figure out how a woman like that thought.

He took a deep breath, exhaled, then took a long drink of coffee, enjoying the taste before he spoke. “She can have a hundred boyfriends, for all I care. Miss Lauren is just a nice neighbor, that’s all.”

“You don’t want to, like, date her?”

Not anymore
…“Sugar, how many times do I have to tell you. I don’t have time for dating.” And even if he did, he didn’t share. Not where women were concerned.

“I’m going to make eggs for breakfast,” Meredith insisted, her voice lighter and brighter with the subject of Lauren behind them. “How do you want yours?”

It didn’t matter how he answered, he was going to get scrambled and burned. And he’d eat every bite. “You pick.” Cole drank a swig of coffee and stood. “I’m going to get a shower, then I’ll be ready for breakfast.”

“Dad!” Meredith called as he walked toward the hallway.

Cole turned and his heart almost broke. Meredith was so serious, so earnest. “We don’t need her,” she said.

“I know that.”

“We don’t need anyone.”

He winked. “You’ve got that right.” But inside, he felt a tiny sense of loss he couldn’t ignore. What on earth had made him think, for even an instant, that he could afford to get involved with a woman at this point in his life? His life was not his own, and it wouldn’t be for several more years.

Lauren had stopped by the drugstore and picked up a few teenage-appropriate cosmetics. A light blush, a natural lipstick, a brown mascara. She’d never had a sister to play dress-up with, had never really learned much about the application of makeup except by trial and error. So she’d bought a teen magazine that had tips on applying makeup.

She shouldn’t be so excited. She definitely shouldn’t wonder if she was excited about working with Meredith or about seeing Cole again.

Lauren was crossing the yard, heading for the Donovans’ front door, when Meredith stepped out of that door and onto the front porch with a spring in her step. The young girl sprinted across the lawn, a surprisingly determined expression on her pretty face.

“Hi,” Lauren called in a bright voice. She lifted the drugstore bag high. “I picked up a few things for us to experiment with. Is this a good time?”

Meredith glanced back toward her house. “Not really. Dad is expecting one of his girlfriends tonight, and we’re trying to get the house clean. I saw you headed this way, that’s why I came out to meet you. He is such a bear when we don’t do things the way he tells us to. You really
don’t
want to interrupt him when he’s like this.”

Lauren frowned. She hadn’t seen that side of him. And
girlfriends?
Plural?
She shouldn’t be surprised, but she was. She was also oddly disappointed. “I didn’t know your dad had girlfriends.”

Meredith nodded her head. “Lots. Women pretty much fall all over him. Tiffany? The woman who’s coming over tonight? She’s gorgeous. And she makes the best lasagna I’ve ever tasted.” Her brown eyes widened. “Not that your lasagna wasn’t good, too.”

Lauren’s spine straightened. Maybe this Tiffany was prettier than she was, but better lasagna? Impossible. “Well, we’ll do it another time.” She offered the bag of cosmetics to Meredith. “You can go ahead and take this, if you’d like.”

The young girl shook her head while she looked at the drugstore bag as if it might have a snake in it. “No, thanks. I’ll…I’ll call you when I have a chance to, you know, play.”

Lauren had never before gotten the “Don’t call me, I’ll call you” brush-off from a twelve-year-old, but she supposed there was a first time for everything. “Sure,” she said as she took a step back. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Meredith turned and ran back to her house, loping gracefully on coltish legs. Lauren spun around and headed toward her own front door. It was just as well, she supposed, that matters had been halted before they went too far. She didn’t want to get involved with a man who had girlfriend
s
. She really didn’t want or need a man at all! Good-looking or not, she didn’t need a complication like Cole Donovan in her life.

It wasn’t like they had anything in common. In fact, if she’d ever met a man who wasn’t right for her, it was Cole.

Lauren stored the cosmetics she’d bought for Meredith under the sink in the hall bathroom, then made her way to the kitchen. She’d put a lot of thought into decorating each and every room of her house, but it was the kitchen where she felt most at home. It was the kitchen she turned to when she needed soothing. She put the kettle on the stove and snagged her favorite porcelain teacup, chose a decaffeinated tea bag from the wide variety in the pantry and waited for the water to boil. Some people boiled water in the microwave, she knew, but Lauren had never been a fan of the microwave. She had one, because these days it was a requirement in any kitchen, but she didn’t use hers often. When she was in a hurry she’d use it to warm up leftovers, but otherwise… It seemed a little like cheating.