Jake laughed shortly. âIâm not even in a relationship. How am I supposed to find someone to marry me?â
Calista looked from the baby to him and, without hesitation, said, âYou could ask me.â
Jake stared at her, stunned. The woman his daughter took to so readily couldnât possibly have meant what he thought sheâd just said.
âAsk you what?â he asked her, enunciating each word slowly.
âAsk me to marry you. Because I would.â
Dear Reader,
This is my first visit to Thunder Canyon, Montana. (Love that name. Canât you just see the cowboys heading them off at the pass?) A town, Iâve been told, that has been around for a while.
This is the place that Jake Castro turns to when the world as he knows it crumbles on him. A New Orleans cop who suddenly finds himself a single dad to an infant when his former partner, Maggie OâShea, is killed in the line of duty, he comes to Thunder Canyon and his family for the emotional supportâand help with diapersâhe needs. The latter is supplied, along with humor and understanding, by Calista Clifton, his sister Erinâs friend. A recent college graduate, Calista has her eye on a career in politics and to that end is already an intern working in the mayorâs office. Coming from a family of eight, Calista is an old hand at knowing exactly what babies need. She also, as the story progresses, intuitively knows just what emotionally shell-shocked Jake needs. A little TLC. Neither one of them expected to find love at this point in their lives, but that was the bonus that life in Thunder Canyon provided.
As always, I thank you for taking the time to read my book and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.
Love,
Marie Ferrarella
He was burning the candle at both ends.
More than that, both ends were closing in on him. Fast.
New Orleans police officer Jake Castro dragged his hand through his unruly light blond hair as if that could somehow help him drag his mind into some sort of optimal focus instead of the dazed fog it had been in for the last few weeks, ever since his life had taken this dramatic turn that had completely changed his life.
With a deep sigh that came from the bottom of his toes, he glanced at the clock on his nightstand.
Five minutes.
That was all heâd had. Five minutes.
Five minutes of sleep before Marlie had begun to cry loud enough to wake the dead. Or, at the very least, him.
Getting up, still more than half-asleep, he stumbled over to the newly placed crib at the other end of his heretofore bachelor bedroom. Bleary-eyed, he stared down at the small occupant.
âIâll buy you a car if you let me sleep just twenty-five more minutes.â His efforts at bargaining fell on completely unreceptive ears. If anything, Marlie cried even louder.
So much for bribery.
With another, now-resigned sigh, Jake reached into the crib and picked up his seven-month-old daughter.
For the moment, Marlie began to quiet down. Ordinarily, he might take some pride in that, that the baby was bonding with him, but he was way too worn out to take comfort in even that.
He was running on empty and had been for a number of days now.
âI canât keep doing this, you know,â he said as he made his way over to the rocking chair, also newly acquired, as was his status as a single dad.
Marlie responded best to the swaying motion of being walked around, but Jake was far too wiped out to pace the floor. Heâd pulled a long, draining shift today and had come home later than usual, a fact that had made the woman he paid to watch MarlieâMrs. Rutherfordânone too happy.
At this insane juggling act for less than three weeks and he was discovering, much to his chagrin, that he couldnât be Officer Castro, super-cop by day and then turn into super-dad at night. Somewhere in that time span he needed to get some sleepâdesperatelyâbefore he had a complete meltdown.
âItâs my own fault,â he acknowledged, addressing his words to the tiny human being in his arms. Oblivious to her fatherâs words, Marlie began to suck on her thumbâhardâas if it could give up some sort of sustenance if she sucked on it hard enough. âAll I had to do was say âno.â âNo, Maggie, I wonât do it,â and none of this would have happened. Hellâsorry.â
Jake came to a skidding halt in his self-examination. No more cursing, at least not in the house while Marlie could hear him. Heâd made up the rule himself, but it wasnât easy sticking to it, especially not when he was this punchy.
âHeck,â he amended, âwho am I kidding? Your mother was so pigheaded she would have found someone else to say yes to her. In a heartbeat.â Someone else to donate the male component that had gone into creating this tiny miracle of nature with the mighty lungs made of steel whom he was holding in his arms.