Mummy in the Making

“‘Nother cookie?” Ash suggested hopefully then.

“Nope, you and I are gonna leave Issa alone and go downstairs so you can have your bath and get ready for bed.”

“No bath, no bed!” Ash protested once more.

“Yes bath, yes bed,” Hutch Kincaid countered, reaching out to palm his son’s buzz-cut, sandy-colored head like a basketball.

“I doan wanna,” the toddler grumbled.

“How about if I let you take one more cookie home with you and after your bath, you can have it with your milk while I read your Thomas the Train book?” Then as an afterthought, Hutch said, “If Issa is willing to let you have another cookie.”

“Sure,” she said for the third time. “He can take the whole—”

“Shh,” Hutch cut her short, holding a long index finger to his lips to stop her before she went on.

“I wan chock-it,” Ash announced by way of conceding to the deal.

“Chocolate it is,” Issa said, going to the dish on the bookshelf and choosing the chocolate sandwich cookie with the white cream center.

As she gave it to Ash, his father said, “What do you say?”

“S’ank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Issa responded.

“Okay, why don’t you go downstairs and put your cookie in the kitchen, and I’ll be right there. Remember how much you like to dunk it, so if you eat it before you get your milk, you’ll miss that,” Hutch said then, opening the door to let his son out.

“‘Bye, Itta,” Ash said without prompting.

“‘Bye, Ash,” Issa answered, wondering why Hutch Kincaid was hanging back.

His son had just begun the slow descent down the stairs when Hutch turned his attention to Issa again to say, “The dinner tomorrow night at Meg and Logan’s? I talked to Shannon late this afternoon and she said you’re going, too. She pointed out that we might as well go together? That it’s silly to take two cars?”

Issa hadn’t really thought about Hutch Kincaid going to dinner at her half brother’s house Monday night, but now that he said it, it made sense that he was. It was a barbecue at the Mackey and McKendrick compound that would include Hutch’s brother Chase, nephew, Cody, and Chase’s wife, Hadley, who was Issa’s half sister. Hutch’s twin, Ian, and Ian’s fiancée, Jenna, would also be there. Plus Hutch’s sister Shannon and Issa’s brother Dag were also going.

Hutch’s invitation to share a ride, though, was worded a little oddly—it was Shannon’s idea and Hutch had delivered it as if he wasn’t completely sold on it.

Maybe he didn’t want them to go together.

“It doesn’t matter. If you hadn’t planned to go from here, if you were going straight from your store or something, I can get there on my own.”

“No, I actually planned to bring Ash home for a late nap so he’ll be rested before we go—he’s more likely to behave that way—so I’ll be leaving from here. But it’s up to you. I don’t want you to feel like you have to go anywhere with me because we live here the way we do. But it does make sense to carpool….”

Still not an enthusiastic sales pitch.

“Are you sure you want me?” Oh, that hadn’t come out right. “To ride along,” she added as if that would make it better.

But it was already too late because there was a hint of a smile on Hutch Kincaid’s lips. Then, as if he’d decided to confess something, he said, “Dag told me you were kind of shy, that you aren’t comfortable around most people until you really get to know them. I just don’t want to push you and have you do something you don’t want to do.”

Damn Dag. He was still her little brother giving away things about her that she didn’t want out in the open—like when he’d announced her shoe size at church one Sunday.

“It’s okay,” Issa felt as if she had to say. “We’ve kind of gotten to know each other today—I know you’re an ex-football player turned sporting goods store owner, you know I’m a ninth-grade chemistry teacher and accidental inventor….”

Hutch Kincaid’s slight smile went full-on. “We’re practically old friends,” he said facetiously. “Does that mean we can drive over together?”

At that moment Issa didn’t know what they would talk about again and that made her nervous. But so far he hadn’t been difficult to be with because he was good at making conversation himself. And riding to the dinner with him tomorrow night would give her the opportunity to remind him not to spill the beans about her pregnancy….

“I think we could probably drive over together,” she decreed. “But you don’t have to drive. I mean, I can drive. We can take my car if you want.” She was nervous and cut herself off before it went too far.

“I don’t suppose you’ve had any experience with the car seat issue yet,” he said like an old sage. “It’s easiest to take whatever vehicle it’s already strapped into.”

“Does that leave room for me?”

“Plenty. I have a fairly big SUV and car seats have to be in the back. You can have my passenger seat all to yourself.”

“Okay, then. I guess if it’s all right with you, it’s all right with me.”

“We’ll be doing our small part to save the environment,” he concluded. “Tomorrow night, shortly before six?”

“Sure.” Couldn’t she say anything else? That was four times! She hoped he wasn’t counting. “I can meet you downstairs.”

“I’ll see you there and then.”

“There and then,” Issa echoed, wishing after the fact that she hadn’t.

That was when Hutch Kincaid should have left, but he didn’t. He stayed where he was, standing in her doorway, staring at her, studying her.

“Okay, then,” he muttered after a moment, as if his mind was somewhere else. “And if the lock gives you any trouble, you know where to find me.”

Somehow that had sounded a bit awkward on his part, although Issa couldn’t imagine why Hutch Kincaid would feel at all ill at ease saying goodbye to her.

“I do know where to find you,” she confirmed.

“Anything else you need, too.”

“Thanks.”

He really was having trouble leaving. She didn’t know why, but it made her want to smile.

Then he seemed to jolt out of his reverie. “Okay, see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

But another split second still went by before Hutch Kincaid followed his son out her door and, without another glance in Issa’s direction, went down the stairs.

And yet just the fact that he seemed to have been even a touch gawky at the end made her feel so much better.

It even made it easier for her to think about riding over to her half brother’s place with him the next night.

Which she suddenly found herself looking forward to.

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