Page 32 of Special Agent Storm

Chapter Twenty

Molly pleaded for the second time, “You just got home, Kurt. I want to spend some time with you. Why won’t you come for lunch?”

Exhausted, Kurt couldn’t imagine anything he’d want to do less. “Aww, Ma, you know I’m crazy about you. But I just got back from a long flight, and I need some shuteye. I’ll take you out for dinner tonight and make up for it, okay?”

“Are you sure? I’m going to meet a new friend who wants to hire me as her nanny. She’s invited me to her mother’s restaurant. I can tell you all about our interesting meeting on the way.”

Kurt stiffened, “Did she happen to mention the name of the restaurant?”

“It’s called Jill’s I believe. Yes, here’s the card.”

Kurt looked down and handed it back. “Give me ten minutes to shower and change.”

While getting ready, Kurt couldn’t believe that circumstances had brought that crazy redhead back into his orbit yet again. What was wrong with the universe? Was he missing something?

Suddenly, it dawned on him that he’d made the choice to go along with Molly. So, it was his own fault if they crossed paths again. Finding his heartbeats quickening, he had to talk himself down. Ruby was married for Chrissakes. Married and pregnant.

Just like Amber. His mind wandered to the younger girl who he’d delivered to her parent’s home earlier that morning. They’d encountered a father who looked furious, and a relieved mother who scooted her baby chick off to another room.

“She okay?” The governor nodded in his daughter’s direction; his tone reeked with disdain. If Kurt hadn’t seen the glimmer of tears in the man’s eyes and the relief in his handshake, he might have worried about leaving Amber with him. But she’d assured him on the plane that though her father might growl, his bark was much worse than his bite, and she would be safe back in the fold.

In fact, she’d explained how she couldn’t wait to be sheltered again. Life was real and routine, and as a pregnant girl, facing the future alone, nothing appeared better to her than the security her parents would provide.

***

Later, driving to Jill’s restaurant, Molly relived the meeting with Ruby. “You know how I’ve mentioned before about encountering someone, and from the moment it happens, you feel like it was always meant to be. That they were to be a part of your life, and all it needed was for the universe to finally bring you together. That’s how it felt with Ruby.”

Tell me about it.

“Yeah, I get it. It’s happened to me a few times, especially lately.” He wasn’t about to admit it had been with the same girl.

Molly turned his way. “Who have you met that you wanted to keep in touch with?”

“Hey, quit changing the subject. Tell me more about this Ruby chick.”

“Kurt Storm. You hush your mouth… chick indeed. She’s a lovely woman, a firefighter if you want to know the truth, and she’s having a baby. Poor little thing is terrified of the whole idea, I could see it on her face. There’s something else there I couldn’t quite read, another mystery about the pregnancy.” Molly stopped talking for a minute as if planning her next words. When she finally spoke, those words stunned him.

“She snuck into my heart, Kurt, her and her big soft gray eyes and pretty smile.”

“Are you playing at your matchmaking again, woman? I told you that nonsense had to stop. I thought we made a deal after the last fiasco.”

Looking slightly shamefaced, Molly chuckled. “You mean you didn’t see my hairdresser in quite the same way I saw her?”

He laughed. “Maybe she was talented with hair, but her ideas about the secret underground government base run by aliens in El Paso is mind-boggling… just saying.”

Laughing loudly now, Molly added, “We don’t talk about conspiracies when she’s working.” Molly’s expression turned serious. “Ruby is different. I sensed a lot of trouble in her future, Kurt. It worried me. I know she needs help, someone to be supportive with her baby. Strangely, I felt driven to step in and promise to be there for her.”

“As her nanny.”

“And a friend. Call me crazy, but she needs a friend she can rely on right now.”

“Hey, she’s married. Can’t she turn to her husband?”

“How do you know that about her? I got the impression she would be alone dealing with this child.”

Kurt hesitated. Molly’s instincts were usually right on when it came to others. This situation had become curiouser and curiouser.

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