Next Door Daddy by Debra Clopton Read Free Book Online Page A

step Gil took, his eyes glued to her son, ready to catch him if he should slip. When Gil climbed safely into his bedroom window, Nate actually heaved a sigh of relief and met her gaze.
    â€œHe made it. Just like he said he would.”
    If she hadn’t been so distraught, Polly might have sighed herself from the sweet way Nate had handled the situation, but as it was, she frowned. “My son is going to give me gray hair before I reach thirty!”
    â€œAre you okay?” Nate turned his full attention on Polly, his eyes full of concern.
    She gave him a weak smile. “I should be used to stunts like this. He takes after his father, a born daredevil. I almost didn’t buy this house because of the multiple levels.” She bit her lip. “But it was so perfect for a bed-and-breakfast. Now I think maybe I should have passed—”
    â€œHe’s a boy.”
    Like that said it all, Polly thought. Of course, he was right. Marc had said the same thing, she’d just overreacted. Like any mother would do, she added on in her defense. But then again, he was on the roof! At least, she would have made Marc proud, because she hadn’t totally lost it. She sucked in a lungful of fresh air. “I’m doing my best not to coddle him, but it goes against my nature,” she admitted. “Since Marc died, I’ve really had to fight not to overprotect him. Marc always balanced my worries with comments like the one you just made. ‘Rite of passage,’ he would have said.” She met Nate’s eyes, her lip curving up on one side. “You helped.”
    â€œDon’t sell yourself short. You’d have done fine on your own.” His dark brows knitted together above serious eyes.
    â€œRight. And I guess you missed my near hysterics. Gil would have been totally mortified for his new hero to see his mother lose it. You being here made me dig deep. I’ve been working on handling things more like a man would—like his father would have. I have to learn to do that. I have to.” Polly shut her eyes. Gil was a little boy who was going to need her to be strong, not to coddle him. She couldn’t make him afraid of life. Once more, as it had at least twice an hour for the past two years, Polly felt the enormous weight on her shoulders of being a single parent.
    Her admiration had tripled for single parents when she’d suddenly found herself one.
    Nate patted her shoulder. “You did fine.”
    Gil’s footsteps pounded to the floor, after yet another trip down the banister. Now he came running through the doorway and skidded to a stop in front of them with Bogie pouncing along behind him.
    â€œC’mon on, y’all,” Gil said, dashing down the steps.
    â€œLet’s take my truck,” Nate offered, turning away.
    Polly watched him, Gil and Bogie charge across the yard to the truck. Nate yanked the back door of the cab open and helped Gil and Bogie scramble in. “You coming?” he called to Polly as he closed the door and reached for his own.
    Only then did Polly realize she hadn’t moved, absorbed watching him with Gil. A wave of loss washed over her for Marc, seeing him pick up a much smaller Gil and place him in his car seat. “Y-yes, sure.” Unsettled, she hurried to the passenger’s side and within moments they were speeding across the pasture toward the stand of trees. Fighting hard, she regained a semblance of her composure. Even though it had been two years, moments of grief hit like that, swift and sharp, triggered by the smallest of things. But she had other things to worry about right now. If Gil lost Pepper it would devastate him in more ways than she wanted to think about. Loss was not an easy thing. Maybe she’d surrounded her son with all these animals in the hopes that if one died the others would ease his pain. But it was a lie and she knew it….
    She pushed the thought away. They would find Pepper.