The Baby Trail

“That would be great,” he told her, handing her his card. “We appreciate all the help we can get.”

Fluttering her lashes at him a few more times, she encouraged him, “You be sure to sit at my table next time you come in.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Garrett returned with a smile.

Gwen hadn’t said a word during the interchange and as they stepped outside, she muttered, “Talk about charm.”

“She probably does that with every man she waits on. Better tips.”

“You didn’t do anything to discourage her.”

Unreasonably, Garrett felt a bit of male satisfaction at Gwen’s comment. “She could have had information I needed, and she still could find out something. You just never know.”

Stopping, he took Gwen’s arm. “Why would it bother you if she was flirting with me?”

“It didn’t bother me,” Gwen protested quickly. “But she’s an impressionable young girl and if you give her hope…”

“The Silver Dollar doesn’t hire anybody under eighteen so she’s not so young—not the way you mean, anyway. And…I never encourage anything more than answers to my questions.”

When Gwen studied him for a very long time, he asked, “Are you involved with anyone?”

“No.”

“Did you have a marriage that went south, too?”

After a brief hesitation, she answered, “No, I didn’t get that far. My fiancé stood me up at the altar.”

“On your wedding day?” Garrett was truly astonished by that piece of background.

“On my wedding day. And I don’t intend to ever let that happen again. I’ll never again depend on a man to make me happy or trust a man the way I trusted Mark.” Moving away from him, maybe embarrassed because she’d said too much, she pointed to the decal on his SUV. “What’s that for?”

“I belong to a network of pilots who help with search and rescue. That’s our logo.”

“You’re a pilot?”

He nodded.

“Do you have your own plane?”

“I inherited my dad’s.”

“You lost him?” she asked so sympathetically he was reminded she’d known loss, too, albeit in a different way.

“Yes. Seven years ago. In some ways it seems like yesterday and in others it seems like forever.” When his parents divorced, he’d gone to live with his father. College had only been two years away and the judge had acceded to Garrett’s wishes to move to L.A. with his father rather than to Wisconsin with his mother. Losing his dad to cancer had been a blow he hadn’t expected.

“Do you still have your mom?”

“I sure do. She lives in Wisconsin now, and if I don’t faithfully call once a week, she worries.”

His gaze on Gwen, he watched as a wave of sadness passed over her face. Was it the reference to motherhood? But before he could probe a bit, she said, “You’re a complicated man.”

“No more complicated than you are.” Knowing that their conversation would soon lead to more personal territory that was better left unexplored, he asked, “Where are you going now?”

“Back to the hospital. I want to hold Amy for a bit.”

Immediately, he could envision Gwen holding that precious child and the turmoil inside him was too stormy to analyze. “I’ll follow you there. A nurse was going to see if she could find the clothes Amy was wearing the night she was brought in.”

“I wonder why the sheriff didn’t take them. He looked at them, but didn’t take them.”

“I don’t know what that was all about, but then Sheriff Thompson is near retirement age,” Garrett noted. “I’m not sure how much effort he puts into his work. We’ve butted heads a couple of times so I stay clear of him if I can. But I might have to pay him a visit.”

They stood at Garrett’s SUV by the side of the building. Nobody came and went. Once in a while a few cars traveled up and down the street as the wind whipped Gwen’s curls across her cheek. Without fore-thought Garrett reached out to stroke them away.

He should have known better than to touch her.

Her eyes became luminescent and softly deep. The urge to kiss her was so strong, he could taste it. He could feel it in every part of his body, especially the ones that mattered. He stepped even closer…bent his head…

The sun, which had been hiding behind a cloud, suddenly shone brightly and illuminated Gwen, sending firelight through her hair, giving him clarity about what he should and shouldn’t do.

As if the sun had cleared up things for Gwen, too, she took a step back and gave him a weak smile. “Amy’s waiting for me. Maybe I’ll see you at the hospital.”

While she was opening the door to her van and he was opening the door to his SUV, he realized it would be better if he didn’t see Gwen at the hospital.

It would be better if he found Amy’s mother on his own.

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