Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

surface had something on it and I could see a
few cars hiding under the edge of the sofa and love seat, too.
                Carla Martinez and her husband Miguel lived one
floor below my apartment.  When I first moved in, Heather’s fiancé, John,
recommended her when I needed to find someone to keep Mia every now and then
when I needed to really focus on writing or had to travel, like today.  Miguel
had worked for John for many years and, now that their own kids were grown and
living on their own, Carla was overjoyed at the prospect of having a baby in
her arms again. 
    “Well, I’m going to take her to the
park for a little while before dinner – so maybe the extra dose of fresh air
will tire her out.”  I can’t help but smile at my daughter.  She is the best
thing that has ever happened to me.
    “Okay, Miss Mia,” Carla said.  Mia
looked up at her and smiled her biggest smile.  “Let’s clean up this mess and
you can go play at the park!”
    Mia looked at me and said, “Pah?” 
Uh-huh.  She knew that word. 
    “Yes, ma’am!  We can go to the park
as soon as we pick up all of your toys!  Gotta clean up, baby.”  All three of
us soon had the toys picked up and put away.  I grabbed her diaper bag and
strapped her into the stroller in the hallway. 
    “Tell Mrs. Martinez bye-bye,” I told
her.  We laughed as Mia waved with one hand and tried to blow kisses with her
other hand.  In no time, we were out of the building and soaking up the
sunshine.  I always made plans to get outside more with Mia when we do this –
but my job keeps me inside most of the time and it’s so easy to get caught up
in our routine. 
    We spent an hour at the park.  Mia
and another little boy, Billy, took turns dumping sand on each other, laughing
and squealing.  His mother, Sandra, and I had to remind them not to dump it
over their heads, knowing the dumpee would end up leaving the park screaming
when it got in their mouth or eyes.  Fortunately, they felt like listening this
time.
    Sandra and I had met before at this
park.  She’s a single mother, too, so we both enjoyed the interaction and the
small break of being able to sit and chat while our kids were safe just a few
feet away but entertaining themselves.  Sandra is a kindergarten teacher. 
Fortunately, her ex-husband pays his child support on time and actually tries
to stay involved in his life.  That’s something Mia will never have.
    When I told Mia it was time to go,
she cried.  And told me ‘no.’  Because, yeah, she’s my daughter.  She learned
that word early on and it was the third word she mastered after Mama and Hi. 
Lovely, isn’t it? 
    I was able to distract her with some
goldfish crackers from the diaper bag (thank you, Carla!) and got her back into
the stroller for our trek back to the apartment building. 
    As I was waiting for the light to
turn so we could cross at the crosswalk, a shiver ran up my spine and that
creepy feeling that you’re being watched kind of freaked me out.  I looked
around and noticed a dark blue car a few parking spaces down with someone in
the drivers’ seat.  The glare of the late afternoon sun kept me from seeing if
it was a man or woman – or if they were even looking at me at all – but the
icky feeling didn’t go away until after we hustled across the intersection and
had turned onto the street where our building was located. 
    Our last apartment was in a pretty
bad neighborhood – since that was all I could afford at the time – and Heather
had made me promise to carry pepper spray when I was out with Mia.  It made me
feel better back then, but I never felt like it was necessary here.  We had
good security in our building and there were always so many people out and
about on the nearby streets that I stopped carrying without even really consciously
making the decision.  But maybe now’s a good time to figure out where I put it
when we moved here. 
    When the doorman at our