“I need to ask a favor of you,” she said, pulling at the straps of her baby carrier.
He shrugged. “What do you need?”
“To go to the bathroom. I’d prefer to go without Piper. Can you take her for a bit?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said, feeling lame for not offering sooner. “Can I have one of those cupcakes in exchange? Half?” he added when he saw her frown. He needed some sort of consolation for how much he wanted her and couldn’t have her, although he suspected a cupcake wasn’t going to do the job.
“Half,” she said, and eased the carrier from her shoulders. “You want to put her on your back?” she asked.
“That sounds good,” he said, and turned around so she could help strap the carrier on him.
“I’ll put her so she’s facing away from you. That way she’ll keep her fingers out of your hair. I’ll be back soon,” she said.
“We’ll be here,” he said.
Piper made an indistinguishable noise, but she didn’t cry, so he figured he was good. He continued to sell pies and cupcakes, although the cupcakes were growing scarcer. “I need to put this cupcake in a protective place,” he murmured and hid the treat behind his cup of coffee at the back table.
He smelled a peculiar odor, but was too busy to focus on it when a rush of attendees bought pies. Thank goodness, the pies were popular. Colton couldn’t deny, however, that he was ready for this to be over. He’d rather be driving posts in dry ground than this.
Stacey returned, appearing breathless. “Sorry. The restroom was on the other side, and there was a line.”
“There is always a line for the ladies room,” he muttered and turned his back so Stacey could help disengage him from Piper.
“Oh, no,” she said. “Oh, no.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is she okay? She’s been quiet for a while.”
“That’s because she fell asleep,” Stacey said.
“And that’s bad because?” he asked.
“That’s not the bad part,” Stacey said. “Piper pooped all over your back.”
“Oh, great,” he muttered. Now he understood the source of the strange odor. “I’m glad someone feels better.”
Colton and Stacey shut down the booth until the next volunteers were scheduled to appear. They were mostly sold out, anyway. Stacey helped Colton out of the baby holster, and she took Piper to the restroom while Colton headed home. This was one of the rare instances that Colton didn’t have a fresh shirt in his car, so he drove with his windows open due to Piper’s stink bomb.
He headed straight for the shower, stuffed the shirt in the washer on rinse, then fixed himself a bowl of soup from the Crock-Pot on the kitchen counter. Colton parked himself in a chair in the den to watch an action movie. He wanted to think about anything except Stacey and Piper, and it wasn’t just because Piper had cut loose on him. He had been trying to dodge his feelings for Stacey since they’d been together, and seeing her today had felt like a slap in the face. Even though he saw his orderly life veering out of control when he was with her, he’d missed her terribly, and now he didn’t know what to do.
A knock sounded, and Colton rose from his chair and opened the door. Stacey stood on the front porch holding a small covered plate. “I’m really sorry about what happened with Piper. It doesn’t happen that often, but, well, babies can be messy. I kept back a couple of the cupcakes for you. I hope you’ll accept them along with my apology.”
His chest tightened at the kind gesture. “That was nice of you,” he said. “Would you like to come in?”
She bit her lip. “I have Piper in the car.”
He hesitated. “Bring her in. There’s chicken noodle soup in the Crock-Pot. I’m just watching a movie.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, her gaze searching his.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said.
Stacey returned to the car and pulled Piper from her car seat, along with a diaper bag. Colton rushed to take the bag for her. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he was still a little gun-shy with the baby.
Stacey pulled a blanket from the diaper bag and spread it on the floor in the den while Colton ladled soup into a bowl for her and poured a glass of water. Colton returned to find the baby propped against some kind of pillow thing that kept her from falling over.
“Does she like that?” he asked.
“She can actually sit by herself, but she eventually topples. She didn’t get much of a nap today, so I thought she could use a break,” she said, and placed a couple of toys next to the tot. “I’m hoping for an early night.”
“I’ll say,” he said, and set Stacey’s soup on a tray on the end table.
“Thanks,” she said, taking a seat on the sofa. She took a spoonful of soup. “This is good. It’s nice eating someone else’s food for a change.”
“Yes, it is. That’s probably why my mother does most of the cooking. She’s good at it, so we just let her do it,” he said.
“My brothers don’t cook either. I got more interested in cooking when I went to nursing school,” she said. “Then, after I got engaged, I wanted to take my mother’s recipes with me when I got married. But that didn’t work out,” she said, and took another spoonful of soup.
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call,” he finally admitted. “I wanted to.” How could he tell Stacey that he feared he was a rebound man for her?
She looked up at him in surprise. “You did?”
“Of course I did,” he said. “I didn’t exactly hide how I felt with you when you were in my bed.”
She looked away. “Well, I have a previous experience with someone who wanted to go to bed with me, but then left.”
His gut clenched. “I don’t want you to feel that way, but it just seemed as if everything was moving fast. It was out of control.”
She nodded. “I wanted you, but I didn’t want to want you.”
“Exactly. I wasn’t ready for what I was feeling,” he said.
She gave another slow nod and took another sip of her soup. “Does that mean you want to forget what we did and go back to being friends?”
“That might be like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube,” he said. “I always want to be your friend, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t want to be more.”
Stacey met his gaze. “Then what do you want to do about it?”
The sexy challenge in her green eyes felt like a velvet punch in his gut. “Maybe we could spend some more time together. Go to Vicker’s Corners, see a movie, take some walks when it’s not freezing. Go for hot chocolate,” he said, and wondered if she would find his suggestions lame.
She gave a slow smile. “That sounds nice, but people are gonna talk. I’m used to gossip, but you’re not.”
“I can handle it,” he said defensively, although Colton had never liked people getting in his business. “I’m just probably not as nice about it as you are,” he said and chuckled.
At that moment, he heard his parents walk through the front door. “Yoo-hoo,” his mother called. “We’re home.”
Piper, who had been surprisingly quiet, looked up from playing with her toy.
Colton’s mother