Page 53 of Second Chance for the Single Mom

And now I was standing here outside his office.

I expected him to be angry to see me standing there, clearly trying to publicly catch him in a lie. But his immediate reaction when he saw me was tosmile.

Lucas said something to the room, then hurried through the door and into the hall. “Hales! What are you doing here?”

“I…” Behind him, the entire conference room was staring at us. I had to fix this, not just for my own personal embarrassment, but for Lucas’s reputation. “I felt bad that you had to work through lunch, so I brought you a sandwich.” I held up the to-go box.

Lucas held it in both hands. “You brought me a BLT? You’re an angel.”

“I was going to leave it with the front desk, but nobody’s there. Sorry for interrupting. I’ll get out of your hair now!”

Before he could respond, I turned and walked away. As soon as I was out of sight around the corner, I began speed-walking as fast as I could in my heels.

On the way out, I passed by an office I hadn’t noticed the first time.

Lucas Hollister

Assistant Director of Product Strategy

Oh no.

Just like the other two, Lucas reallyhadgrown up.

28

Shay

“I’m heading out early,” I told Julie while packing up my bag. “I’m looking at condos down on the river.”

“With that woman you saved in court last week?” Julie asked, raising an eyebrow.

It was Monday afternoon, and I had spent the entire weekend thinking about Haley Mercer. How unbelievably low the odds were of the two of us running into each other in court. As someone who believed in fate, that was the equivalent of the universe putting up a big neon sign.

“Yep,” I said.

Julie put down her pen and leaned back in her chair, smiling at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You’ve had this nervous, excited energy all day,” she said. “Now I know why.”

“I’ll be even more excited if I can buy a unit in this condo before they begin public showings.”

“Uh huh,” Julie said. “She seemed nice. Haley, was that her name?”

I shouldered my bag. “Say what you really think.”

I liked Julie because we had the kind of relationship where we could be totally, completely honest with each other. Even when the information might be hard to hear.

“I mean it. She seems really nice. Attractive, too.”

“But…”

“But,” Julie said, “she’s a single mom. Is that the kind of woman you’re interested in?”

It was a good question. If I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t really sure. I had been too focused on my career to think about children, but I thought I wanted to start a family someday. That was different than getting involved with a woman who already had a son, though.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

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