Diagnosis: Daddy. Gina Wilkins

school applications then, Duncan had called the house an inheritance from his late wife, who would be so proud of her son for finally pursuing his dreams. Put that way, Connor had been unable to refuse the generous gift, although he’d worried about whether his dad had put enough aside to fund his retirement. Duncan had brushed those concerns aside, saying his future was taken care of, and now it was time for Connor to concentrate on his own.

      Of course, neither of them had known at the time that Connor would soon become fully responsible for someone other than himself.

      “How’s your spaghetti, Alexis?” Mia asked to keep the conversation moving when Connor found himself with little to say.

      “It’s good. I like the meatballs.”

      Mia smiled. “I’m glad. They’re my mother’s recipe.”

      “Is your mother in heaven, too?”

      “No, sweetie. My mother lives in Hot Springs. That’s a little over an hour’s drive from here.”

      “Oh. What about your daddy?” the child asked with a quick glance at Connor.

      “He lives there, too. And I have a brother named Paul who lives near them with his wife, Carla. He has two children, an eight-year-old boy named Nicklaus and a nine-year-old girl named Caroline.”

      “I’d like to meet them sometime.”

      “I’m sure they would love to meet you, too,” Mia assured her. “I’ll take you to Hot Springs sometime soon. It’s an interesting town.”

      “Okay.”

      Connor realized that in the years he’d known Mia, he’d never met any of her family. Now he wondered why that was. Had she deliberately kept her friendship with him separate from her family life? Their mutual friends were all associated with their jobs—well, his former job—as teachers.

      He wondered what she had told her family about her current living arrangements. How they had felt about what she’d done. He’d been so caught up in his own problems during the weekend that he hadn’t even thought to ask her.

      “Tomorrow,” Mia said, still talking to Alexis, “I’m taking a day off my job as a teacher, and you and I will work in your room. Your dad has classes to attend in the morning, and then tomorrow afternoon he’s going to take you to enroll in school. You’d like to get back into school and start making some new friends, wouldn’t you?”

      Alexis nodded. “I’m in the first grade. I can read a little. And I’m good at math.”

      “I can already tell you’re a very bright girl,” Mia said approvingly.

      “My teacher’s name was Miss Albertson. She said I was a very good student.”

      Connor heard a touch of wistfulness in Alexis’s voice when she mentioned her teacher. She was probably going to miss her school and her friends there more than she wanted them to know. He hoped she would settle in quickly to her new school, and that she would make new friends there.

      Mia looked at him, as though wondering why he’d grown so quiet and so somber. He forced a smile and tried to think of something worthwhile to contribute. “I’m in school, too, Alexis,” he said. “Did your aunt tell you that? I’m studying to become a doctor.”

      Tilting her head, the child eyed him questioningly. “You’re kind of old to be in school,” she said after a moment.

      He winced. “Well—”

      Looking suddenly stricken, she added quickly, “You’re not too old, though. Probably everyone’s like you in doctor school.”

      “It’s okay,” he assured her with a laugh. “You didn’t hurt my feelings. It’s sort of cool that we’re both going to school, isn’t it? And Mia’s a teacher, so we’ll all be at school every day.”

      Reassured that she hadn’t said anything wrong, Alexis relaxed and took another big bite of her spaghetti. Connor concentrated on finishing his own meal. So far, he wasn’t exactly proving to be a natural at this. If he could barely carry on a mealtime conversation with the kid, how was he going to handle all the other millions of responsibilities that came with this job?

      He thanked his lucky stars that he had Mia to help him.