Page 50 of Second Chance Baby

Honestly, I wanted to see how far Bridget would go to save the hat for her daughter. The light of battle in her beautiful eyes was hard to resist.

Not to mention, I still kept thinking about how she’d starred in some kind of French sex movie. What the actual hell? Even if some other guy was touching her, it might be kind of hot—in the right light.

It was just a movie, right? Movies weren’t based in reality.

Just make-believe, which was what the whole twenty-four hours plus since the shoot felt like somehow. I kept expecting to wake up alone in bed after having this unreal dream, horny and pissed.

“Look, I got a big credit card bill to pay.” The woman’s gaze dropped to Bridget’s still open wallet. “How much dough you willing to shell out for the hat?”

Carrington tugged on Bridget’s sweater sleeve. “Mom, you don’t gotta pay extra. Just let the lady have it for her daughters. Maybe they need it more.”

“No, you don’t ask for much, Care Bear. I want you to have it.”

“But she has two daughters, and I’m only one.”

The woman’s mutinous expression softened as she gazed down at Carrington. “Well, if her nickname is Care Bear, she’s obviously not that old. My girls are teens, and this is probably the last Halloween they’ll even care much about it. They might not even care now. So, you know what? I’ll take the purple one, after all.” The woman handed the pink hat to Carrington and snatched the purple hat, looking around frantically as if she expected someone to demand that one next.

Especially since we’d drawn a small and growing crowd.

“Thank you,” I said softly, cupping Carrington’s shoulder with one hand. “I’m very proud of your thoughtfulness, young lady,” I added in an undertone as the other woman hurried off toward the checkout line.

Then I lifted both hands in the air. “Show’s over, folks. Everyone’s happy now.”

One by one, the crowd dispersed—a little disappointedly, if I wasn’t mistaken.

“Think they were hoping for bloodshed?” I muttered to Bridget, who couldn’t hold back her bawdy laughter.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked, rubbing her nose as if she had something on it.

“Because you don’t laugh like that anymore. At least that I’ve seen.”

“I haven’t had all that much to laugh over until recently.”

“Glad that you did today.”

“And yesterday,” she interjected. “Remember Barry?”

She did have a point there.

“Yeah. We’ll just have to find much more to make you laugh, hopefully not involving fisticuffs with the fine denizens of the Cove.”

“Fine denizen? She wanted to hose me for that cowboy hat. Did you see the gleam in her eyes before Carrington made her feel guilty?”

I smiled proudly. “Kid might just be a lawyer someday. She’s got a way with words.”

“Has she ever mentioned that?” Bridget questioned as we headed up the nearest aisle, following a bit behind our daughter. “Being a lawyer? Or any other career? I mean, she’s awfully young, but I wanted to be a teacher by her age.”

“Even younger, you were. You were always the one with her eye on the prize. And look how you’ve succeeded.”

“You, too.”

“Yeah, but this was never what I wanted to do. It just was a quick way to make some cash. And now I’m getting older, so it’s not as lucrative as it once was.”

“What are you talking about? You’re still just as gorgeous as you ever were.”

My grin was quick. “Look who’s talking.”

Her blush instantly made walking more difficult. Gorgeous didn’t even begin to cover how stunning she was. Especially when she was embarrassed.

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