Page 76 of Rocky Mountain Home

Dare would’ve climbed into the back seat, but Mike was holding the front passenger door for her.

“Ladies ride up front,” he insisted.

Take the path of least resistance. “Thanks.”

Blessed silence hung in the air until they hit the highway. Then it was a relief to have the questions they tossed her way be things she could easily answer.

“You have some great recipes on your blog,” Marion started with, erasing all questions and doubts about whether they knew about the baby. Only she didn’t delve into that topic, sticking to safer areas. “Do you find them online, or are they from a family cookbook?”

Dare didn’t question her luck in avoiding the other topic while Jesse wasn’t around. “A bit of both? My mom and her best friend liked to cook, and between them they collected a ton of recipes. My friend Ginny and I started sorting them out a few years ago, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”

“I’ll have to pick your brain about that. I wanted to make a formal family cookbook some time, but organizing it is beyond me.”

“I can take a look.” Dare hesitated to offer more. They were only there for a few days, and she wasn’t about to get inexorably tangled up with the Colemans.

She was not allowed to fall in love with the family, remember?

Mike shifted position in the back seat. “I was looking online at the Silver Stone operation. You’ve got a lot of quality bloodlines.”

Another area she could speak on with confidence. “Caleb and Luke have been trying hard, and they’ve been lucky, but it’s a work in progress.”

“Always is.”

For a few moments things were comfortable, and Dare forgot a little about being on show and having to make a good impression.

That moment of peace vanished when they pulled into the hospital parking lot to find Jesse waiting for them, leaning nonchalantly against his truck, immobile until his mom parked.

Mike spoke up as Marion pulled to a stop beside his truck. “Now don’t you go crying all over him, woman.”

Marion hurried to undo her seatbelt before shoving open her door. “You worry about your own tears, Mr. Coleman, and I’ll worry about mine.”

Dare was getting out of the car, so she missed the actual moment Jesse was enveloped by his mom, if a five-foot-three woman could envelop a man six foot plus.

Jesse wrapped his arms around his mom and hugged her back, his eyes closed, face twisted with emotion.

A moment later Marion had released him and Jesse held out a hand to his father.

Mike ignored it completely, pulling Jesse against his chest and patting him firmly on the back. “Good to see you again, son.”

They were clearly emotionally wrought over the reunion, and Dare promised herself to give Jesse another firm thunk upside the head for not warning her more about his family dynamics.

She was so focused on their interaction she was caught by surprise when Jesse slipped an arm around her and turned to face his parents.

“It’s not quite the introduction I had planned,” Jesse began.

“We should get inside,” Dare interrupted. She didn’t want him to make some cocky, dramatic announcement at this point, and her discomfort was enough to give her the drive to be outright rude. “I need to make a stop.”

The awkward moment passed as her unspoken demand was understood quickly—these people were used to dealing with pregnant women in a hurry.

Jesse kept hold of her hand, walking at her side silently as they headed into the hospital, Marion one step short of a dead run. Mike had a basket in one hand, and Jesse carried the other as the four of them made their way rapidly toward the elevator.

“We’ll be right up,” Jesse offered as he paused on the main floor outside the public washroom.

His parents waved as the elevator doors closed, and Jesse turned on her but she was already escaping into the washroom.

Maybe she could hide there for the remainder of their trip.

Dare didn’t even have to go, but she took advantage of the opportunity to wash her face, wondering how it was possible her reluctance and uncertainty weren’t etched into every line of her expression. She looked—normal. Far too normal for the riot of emotion in her gut.