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“Good. You know that goose chase we were trying to talk ourselves out of taking?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I kind of caught one.”

“A goose?”

“No! Lolly’s mom. I know her name. And kind of what she looks like.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Her name is Tara and she’s a petite blonde teenager with pink tipped hair.”

“Wow. How in the world did you—Hey. Where are you right now?”

Surprised, she glanced at the intersection. “In town. Standing near the Graff Hotel.”

“Turn around.”

“Excuse me?”

“Turn around,” he repeated.

She did and saw him walking toward her, alone, with his cell phone at his ear. He was wearing a sexy camel-colored overcoat that came down to his mid-thigh, a scarf around his neck and a beanie that nearly covered those heartbreaker eyes of his. He was smiling at her. Her heart did that little fluttering thing in her chest at the sight of him.

“Hey!” she said into her phone.

“Hey, yourself,” he answered in her ear, still about twenty feet away. “Fancy meeting you here on a Sunday morning.”

“I was about to say the same thing.”

“You’re not in church?”

“Um. Nope. Neither are you.”

“Yeah. Not my thing,” he said, lowering his phone and shutting it off as he reached her. “But I dropped Ella off for Sunday school. She likes it.”

“Ah. I’m playing hooky, trying to get a bead on Lolly’s mother. Priorities.” She shrugged. “I’ll probably hear about it, considering I’m directing the Christmas pageant, huh?”

“Somehow, I’m not worried about you.”

His words warmed her. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I think.”

“As it was meant.”

His cheeks were ruddy with the cold, and he looked sexy as hell in his dark blue denims and square-toed cowboy boots. She wondered how long he’d been walking around Marietta waiting for church to let out? Her next thought caught her off guard.

I think I like him.

“If I’m not pulling you away from something important, want to get a coffee?” he said. “I have a few minutes before I have to go back for Ella. And it’s cold out here.”

“I’d love to. Honestly, I might be wandering aimlessly, trying to think of my next move in the Lolly saga. But I’m game for coffee if you are.”

That deep dimple reappeared in his cheek. “How’s Lolly doing today?”

She cradled the baby’s head and bottom in her baby sling. She was bundled up in a little snowsuit she’d bought her under the sling. “She’s the best thing. She hardly ever cries. Unless it’s two a.m. Or four a.m. Or five. I think she’s asleep now. This sling seems to soothe her.”

“Sorry. C’mon. Sounds like you could use some caffeine.”