Free Surprised by Family: a Contemporary Romance Duet by Noelle Adams

absolutely no reason to feel so nervous.
    When Baron made a vague, affirming noise, she continued, “The girls are planning a birthday party for him. They’re doing the menu, the activities, and everything. And they’re also doing the invitation list.”
    “Ah,” Baron murmured, as if he finally understood the purpose of her call.
    “Yes.” Leila smiled faintly at the memory of her girls' happy faces as they announced who they wanted to attend their grandfather’s party. “So you’re invited.”
    There was a pause on the other end of the call that went on a little too long. Leila hurried on, “I know how busy you are. It’s totally fine if you can’t come. I’ll just tell them that you couldn’t make it.”
    She swallowed with an ache in her throat, as she visualized telling the girls that—not only was their dad not coming to visit—but also their favorite movie-star man didn’t want to come to their party.
    “Would you rather I not come?” Baron’s voice held an odd timbre, one she couldn’t understand at all.
    “No! I mean, of course you’re more than welcome.” She was glad her voice was convincing, even though she honestly wasn’t sure whether she wanted him to attend or not. “I just didn’t want you to feel any pressure to come. I know it’s not exactly your normal evening’s entertainment.”
    Afraid her last words might have implied something negative, she added, “I mean, I know how busy you are.”
    “What time on Thursday?”
    She blinked, hardly believing what was happening. “Six. It has to be early because of the girls’ bedtime.”
    “Believe it or not,” Baron replied, incongruously sounding like he might have been smiling, “my schedule isn’t booked up at six this Thursday, although I have a meeting scheduled for five, so if it runs late I might not be right on time. I can make it, if you think my coming would be a good idea.”
    She understood the implied question in his last words, but could hardly wrap her mind around the fact that he was asking it.
    She knew he’d had a kind heart when he was young, but she’d thought he might have grown too self-involved in the last decade to wonder about whether his presence would be a problem for a woman he wasn’t really close to and two six-year-old girls.
    “They would be thrilled,” she admitted, her voice warmer than she’d expected. The tone might have something to do with the tremor of excitement she felt in her belly. “It would be really nice if you could come.”
    “Then I will.”
    When Leila hung up the phone, she took off her glasses again and rubbed her eyes.
    What the hell was happening here?
    And why was she so excited about it?
    She blew out a few breaths and gave herself a lecture on being mature, responsible, and careful. Baron just wasn’t a man she could play around with, and anything serious with him was never going to happen.
    Which left... almost nothing.
    But she remembered the lost expression on his face as she’d talked to him in the park last Saturday, and she remembered the look his eyes when she’d told him she didn’t think he was all right.
    If nothing else, maybe she could be a friend to him.
    When she finally turned back to her pile of papers to grade, she couldn’t help but be glad that Baron wasn’t out of her life for good.
    ***
    “When will he get here?” Charlotte demanded, putting her little hands on her hips and striking a dramatically impatient pose. She wore her favorite outfit—a pale blue tiered skirt that swung and floated out as she moved, paired a pink t-shirt and her treasured pink tennis shoes.
    Leila had everything ready for the birthday party, but she opened the refrigerator again to check on the cake and the punch the girls had so carefully made. “It’s not six o’clock yet. I told him six.”
    “It’s just five more minutes,” Jane said, rearranging the pink gerbera daisies in a vase she’d already arranged four times. She had on a skirt that matched