Free Fortune Found by Victoria Pade Page B

taking on me and Anthony, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t think too kindly of somebody not wanting to be daddy to her nieces and nephews. I’ll just tell her the ‘no chemistry between you’ thing.”
    â€œWhatever it takes to keep the peace and still get Kelsey to give up the matchmaking so we can replace the shingles.”
    â€œI’m all for that!” Coop said as he grasped the wheelbarrow’s handles and rolled it out of the garage with Flint following behind, carrying one more bundle on his shoulder.
    But even as he did, Flint was thinking no chemistry, no clicking—it would be so much easier if any of that was actually true.
    But despite the fact that it wasn’t—that there was so much chemistry and “clicking” for him when it came to Jessie that being nothing but friends with her was going to be one of the toughest things he’d ever done—he knew he had to do it.
    It would be bad enough for him, for Jessie, if they got involved and it ran the same course he’d watched his mother run with all the men in her life—the samecourse his own marriage had taken. Dragging her four kids along for the ride would only make it worse.
    So, light and breezy it is, he told himself.
    And he was determined to make it stick.
    Even if he had lain awake for too long last night after leaving Jessie at her door, remembering the sweet smell of her hair and the softness of her skin under his lips when he’d kissed her forehead.
    And remembering, too, just how much he’d wanted to pull her into his arms, hold her against him and kiss her lips instead.
    The situation just wasn’t right for any of them. Jessie was a mother of four and he was not in any way, shape or form a family man.
    And that was all there was to it.
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    â€œOkay, pick one again!”
    â€œNo, Braden,” Jessie told her son. “No more ‘pick which hand the rock is in.’ It’s time to go.”
    â€œYou can see it anyway,” Bethany said. “You gotta use a smaller rock, Braden.”
    â€œThe fire is out, everything is packed up—now all of you get in the van,” Jessie commanded for the third time.
    Darkness was falling. They’d had a full afternoon of rock hunting, the cookout had filled everyone’s belly with hot dogs and beans and various other side dishes that Jessie had brought in plastic containers, and they’d roasted an entire bag of marshmallows to squish between graham crackers and chocolate bars.
    As a rule on these jaunts, Jessie left for home long before darkness fell. Because Flint was with them, that had added an entirely different element to the occasion,so she’d let things go on longer than usual. But now they really did need to leave.
    Ella alone had taken Jessie’s urgings for that seriously. The seven-year-old was already in her seat in the van. Clearly only too willing to put an end to this, she’d gone the first time Jessie had announced that they needed to go home. Now Ella was waiting with the disapproving scowl that she’d managed to maintain despite every attempt to get her to enjoy herself. But the twins and Adam were still fluttering around Flint, ignoring his futile attempts to get them to listen to their mother.
    They’d taken teaching Flint about rock collecting very seriously and tutored him during that portion of the outing. But since returning to the campsite for dinner Flint had become their audience for clumsy attempts to fool him with silly four-year-old tricks, bad jokes and—in the case of Adam—just plain showing off and periodically climbing onto Flint’s broad back and wrapping tiny arms around his thick neck in demands for piggyback rides.
    Which was how Flint finally got Adam to the van—offering a piggyback ride that got the three-year-old onto his back, legs wrapped around his middle, Adam’s arms choking the life out of Flint’s neck, at the same