Page 13 of Fierce-Baker

Because he played with everything. The only time her kid stayed still was in sleep. And since he slept so well, it was worth letting him go nuts during waking hours.

Thirty minutes later, Micah was swinging plastic golf clubs and hitting a big ball. It wasn’t moving far, but her son didn’t know the difference. At first she thought the gift was silly from her father to his first grandchild, but then she realized it was a bond that Ron Robinson wanted. Something he hadn’t gotten having an only girl.

“Hi, Tasha.”

She turned her head to see Judy opening the door to her patio and stepping out.

“Hi, Judy. Micah’s not too loud, is he?”

“Nonsense,” Judy said, walking closer with a glass of wine in her hand. “He’s just a doll. My time has come and gone for a child unless I adopt.”

Oh, what she wouldn’t do for one of those glasses right now. But she limited alcohol. That was what got her into this mess. Meeting Shane out at a bar one night.

“You never know,” she said. “You might meet some man with kids.”

“I could,” Judy said, taking a healthy sip. “If I had the drive to even find a guy. Been there and done that. It seems they are all losers. I won’t try those dating sites anymore and I’m too old to cruise the bars. No one is in there my age and if they are my age, they want someone your age.”

“Or younger,” she said drily. She didn’t think thirty-two was old, but it seemed lately men in the bar thought that.

“So you know what I’m talking about.”

“Unfortunately, yes. And like you, I’ve got no time nor the patience for a man. Or any way to find one.”

“Who needs one when you’ve got that little guy for company?”

Micah swung again with all his might, missed the ball completely, twisted in a circle and then fell on his diapered bottom.

They both broke out into laughter. “You’re right. Who needs one?”

But the minute her son was in bed, she grabbed her phone and texted Margo. The conversation with Judy kept replaying in her head, mixed in with the visit and words from Jolene Fierce.

“I’m not bugging you, am I?” she asked when Margo answered.

“Nope. Just watching a movie for the tenth time with Dylan while he winds down before bed. I’m assuming Micah is out like a light.”

“He is.”

“I’m so jealous it’s not even funny. Dylan seems to have our night owl jeans. This is the only way to get him to sit still long enough to slow his body down.”

“It’s cuddle time for you and Dylan with Liam working.”

Margo’s son wasn’t in daycare for long each day. Margo worked ten to six, Liam from two until closing, and they were lucky that a neighbor ran a small home-based daycare that covered those few overlapping hours three days a week. Between shifting schedules and trading off days, they made it work.

A partnership. Something she didn’t have.

Even if she wanted Shane to know about Micah, it wouldn’t turn into that. She wouldn’t gain support; she’d just lose her son for a while so he could be with his father.

Maybe. Or maybe not.

Either way, it wasn’t a risk she could take. Not with him. Not with Micah.

“It is. I need to get it all in now before the baby comes.”

She smiled with the knowledge of her best friend being pregnant again. “How is Dylan about it?”

“He still doesn’t understand and since I’m just starting the second trimester, there is time for him to adapt. What’s going on with you?”

“Well,” she said. “I had a brief visit from Jolene today.”