Page 4 of Swooning for the Summer Manny

Amelia nods. “Roger that. She does.” She climbs up onto one of the kitchen stools and peers into the grocery bag. “Did you get anything fun from the store?”

“Hmm. Let’s see.” I start to unpack the paper bag. “Bananas. Those are fun, right?”

Amelia scrunches up her nose. “They’re okay.”

I pull out a box of crackers. “How about this?”

“Did you get anything sweet?” Amelia asks impatiently.

“You mean…like this?” I ask, pulling out a carton of ice cream.

“Yes!” Amelia’s eyes sparkle with excitement. “Can we have a little?”

“Before dinner?” I give her a skeptical look. “As tempting as that sounds, I think we should wait.”

She sighs. “Okay. Fine.”

I start to put away the groceries. “Do you know if your mom had something planned for dinner?”

Amelia shrugs.

“Maybe we should start cooking, then. Do you think she’d like that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“I think it will be a nice surprise. Come on. Put on your chef hat and let’s get cooking.”

Amelia giggles. “I don’t have a chef hat.”

“No? We’ll have to make one real quick, then.”

“Okay. I’ll gather supplies.” She hops off the stool and starts to run off, then halts and spins around, her hands flying to her waist. “Don’t start cooking without me!”

“Yes, Chef,” I say, giving her a salute.

3

KARIN

Why does it smell so delicious in my house?

I blink in confusion as I close the door behind me and step out of my shoes. In all my time as a single mom, I’ve never come home to someone cooking for me. In fact, it’s not even something I think about missing out on. But as I walk further into my house, drawn toward the kitchen by the enticing smells of a homemade meal, I realize how amazing it is to come home to something like this.

When I reach the kitchen, I’m met with a scene that stops me in my tracks in awe. My daughter is standing on a step stool in front of the sink, washing cherry tomatoes, a handmade chef’s hat perched on her head. Ryan is standing a few feet away from her, stirring a pot on the stove, a towel casually flung over his shoulder.

I watch as he grabs a spoon from my silverware drawer and dips it into the pot. A warm feeling rushes through me as I watch the spoon disappear into his mouth, his lips sliding slowly over it as he pulls it out.

Oof. That shouldn’t have been as sexy as it was.

Maybe it was a bad idea to hire a hot manny.

It’s not like I hired Ryan because he’s hot, though. I hired him because he’s qualified and experienced. And, most importantly, I could tell that he was going to be great with Amelia. I mean, just look at them together. My daughter has never shown much of an interest in helping me in the kitchen, but right now she looks as happy as when she’s playing with her toys.

“Hi, Mom!” Amelia exclaims, noticing me. “Guess what? We’re making dinner.”

“I can see that. It smells delicious.” I walk up to my daughter and kiss her cheek. Gazing over her head at Ryan, I smile and say, “You really didn’t have to do this.”

He shrugs and returns my smile. “I enjoy cooking.”

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