A Sweetheart For The Single Dad (The Camdens Of Colorado Book 8) by Victoria Pade Read Free Book Online

the chess table and Marie kept Lindie occupied.
    It made her wonder if he’d set up the whole thing to make sure she
didn’t
get to him. And while that frustrated and concerned her since she was there expressly for the purpose of seeing him, it also disappointed her and struck a bit of a blow to her ego.
    He’d warned her that he spent Thursdays with the kids and wouldn’t be available to her. But she hadn’t taken that too seriously.
    Since she’d been so eager to get there today to see him, it was a little demoralizing to think that he hadn’t been as eager to see her; that instead he might have arranged for her to be intercepted by someone else to keep her away from him.
    In fact, it was more than a little demoralizing.
    But with no choice except to go through the new-volunteer orientation with Marie, that’s what Lindie did. When it came to deciding where her skills could be best used and she tried for the rec room, she was told that there were enough volunteers in the rec room today. Instead she was steered toward the kitchen where help was needed.
    Still, making the best of the situation and hoping to connect with him later, Lindie had jumped in in the kitchen and accepted the assignment of making a snack using what was available—several boxes of graham crackers.
    Since there were also the ingredients for frosting, Lindie made a suggestion and got the okay before she was left with the four Murphy girls to get to work.
    “This was our favorite afterschool snack when I was little,” she said as she taught the girls how to make a simple chocolate frosting. Then she and the two older Murphys spread the frosting on one side of graham crackers, handing them over to the younger girls to top with a second graham cracker and stack on plates.
    As they worked it didn’t take much for the girls to warm up to her—they were impressed with her hair and interested in how she twisted it in back and left curls to erupt out of the twist at her crown. They liked her simple twill slacks and the embroidery down the front of her blouse. They
loved
her shoes—ballet flats that were the same blue-black of her pants and had white polka dots all over them.
    The longer they worked together, the more they interjected information about themselves, too, letting Lindie get to know them. She concluded that they were lovely, polite little girls trying to cover up the fact that their mother had done something wrong.
    By the time they had several plates stacked with the graham cracker sandwiches, which the sisters were very impressed with, Lindie was beginning to feel like one of the girls.
    “Do we bring these around to everyone now?” she asked, hoping it would get her nearer to Sawyer.
    “Everybody knows to come in to see if there’s something when they want to eat,” Angel informed her just as Clara was motioning to Lindie to bend so she could whisper in her ear.
    When Lindie did, the seven-year-old said, “Could I bring one home to my gramma? She likes chocolate but we couldn’t buy any at the store yesterday because she had to buy so much other stuff for us to eat. We had to put her candy bars back when we didn’t have enough money at the end.”
    And that was as much as it took to break Lindie’s heart.
    She had no idea what the center’s policy was on sending food home. She’d used all the graham crackers available to arrive at the number of portions Marie had said she should have, and she couldn’t risk that other kids there might go without if she wrapped even one up for Clara.
    But during the tour she’d been shown the employee’s lounge and where to put her purse. And she’d seen a vending machine there.
    So, ruled only by her need to send something chocolate home with that child, she said, “I think we only have enough crackers for the kids here. But if you don’t tell anyone, I know where I can get a candy bar for you to take home to your gramma.”
    Clara beamed with delight. “She likes the ones with