Angel's Peak (Virgin River #10)(37)

“He sure is,” Franci said. “And he asked me not to tell Rosie about him till he gets his bearings. He’ll call tonight.”

“When did he turn up?” Viv asked.

“Actually, over a week ago, and I didn’t say anything because I wanted time to think about how I was going to handle telling him about Rosie. The past couple of days have been an emotional roller coaster.”

“Was there more than one way to handle it?” Vivian asked.

“Okay, Mom, let me be blunt—and I’m sorry if it hurts. I wanted to decide how I was going to handle it without any pressure.”

Vivian was quiet for a moment. Then she gave a sharp nod. “Nicely done. Blunt but not painful. You get that from me.” Franci grinned at her mother. Then she laughed. “Oh, good,” Viv said. “No crying. This is all going to work out, then?”

“Did you hear me?” Franci said. “I have no idea what’s ahead.”

“I just assumed your date last night was with T.J.,” Viv said with a chuckle. “But—”

“It was,” Franci whispered. “At dinner I told him that I’d run into Sean and explained the situation. He dropped me off early and told me to handle things and let him know when we’d worked out our single-parent issues. All the time he was saying good-night, I knew Sean’s car was parked across the street, the engine running. He was waiting for me to get home. I have a feeling T.J. isn’t going to approve of the way I worked things out. I let Sean stay the night…before I told him about Rosie…” She swallowed. “I don’t know who’s more upset with me—T.J. or Sean. T.J., because there’s another man in his territory, a man he didn’t know existed. Or Sean, because he thought he got his girl back, and he got a lot more than he bargained for.”

“Well, I’m sure you had your reasons…” Viv said.

“That’s just it—I had no sense of reason at all! I swear, all that man has to do is…”

“I’m okay with not knowing those details,” Vivian said. Then she fanned her face with her hand.

“I don’t know how it’s going to shake out,” Franci said. “I’ll work with Sean the best I can. I’ll give him time to think first. He made a point—he just found out I was pregnant while staring into the green Riordan eyes of a three-and-a-half-year-old.”

Once Vivian was caught up on all the news, she went back to her little house, leaving Franci and Rosie to their afternoon of chores and promised playtime. And when home alone, she placed a call to Carl’s cell phone and left a message. Carl, her significant other, was having a home day himself, catching up on chores and fixing a nice dinner for his kids, a boy aged seventeen and girl aged nineteen.

Carl and Viv were both ensnared in rather complicated family obligations that they balanced with a work relationship and romantic relationship, all with great care. Vivian had been widowed since Franci was seven, so it wasn’t considered weird or unusual for her to have dates; there’d been a couple of men in the past twenty-three years she thought might find a permanent place in her life, but they had not. Since Rosie’s birth, Vivian had been Franci’s partner in helping to care for and raise Rosie.

Carl, on the other hand, had been widowed for two years, and his children were still essentially teenagers, still grieving the passing of a beautiful, brilliant mother who had died too young from breast cancer.

Carl was fifty; Vivian was fifty-five. Both of them were fit and attractive and there was no reason they wouldn’t notice each other if the chemistry was right. He was a family practitioner in the practice that employed her; she was a family-practice physician’s assistant who worked for Carl and his two partners. She’d been with them for almost three years. First, Carl had been her boss and colleague, then friend, and for the past year, the man in her life.

They were a gorgeous couple, she thought. She was small and trim and blonde; he was large, solidly built and biracial. When she’d moved to the small town of Eureka, finding a man like Carl was the last thing she’d ever expected.

But because of Carl’s teenagers and Vivian’s commitment to a single daughter and granddaughter, they could only look forward to a time when they could concentrate on each other. Carl called it a rebirth; Vivian called it the blessed empty nest.

Of course, neither of them kept the other secret, but their kids being kids—even kids of thirty!—they didn’t think about their parents’ love lives. At all.

Her cell phone finally chimed at about three in the afternoon. It was Carl. When she picked it up, before saying hello, she said, “Carl! It’s happening!”

“What?” he asked, his voice quiet and maybe nervous about just what was happening.

“Rosie’s father is back in their lives! Half of me is overjoyed—they could make a family if they try, I just know it. I could end up with a grown-up life of my own one day. The other half of me is already grieving. He’s an air force pilot, Carl. He’s going to take them away from me.”

“I think you need someone to hold you.”

“Possibly,” she said. “But not just anyone.”

“After I shovel pot roast into the mouths of my kids—should they show up for dinner—I’ll step out for a while.”

“You are so lovely,” she said.