Toys and Baby Wishes Read Online Free PDF

somebody.  Who do you talk to?"
    "Lots of people."
    Josh gave her a considering look, not believing her.  It
seemed to him she was fairly independent.  If she wouldn't even take help from
her family to start her business...
    Their waitress brought their food.  Josh's sandwich was
enormous, at least two inches thick.  Potato chips were piled high in the
middle.
    He offered her a wedge.  "Go ahead.  I don't want my
jeans to get any tighter."
    The amusement in his voice brought a pink blush to her
cheeks.  "I'm sorry about some of the things I said."
    "Which ones?"
    "About you thinking only of yourself.  I don't know you
well enough to judge.  Your relationship with Clare is your business."
    "But you'd fight like a tigress to see her happy. 
Why?"  The question he'd been wanting to ask.  Yet it came out differently
than he'd expected.
    "Clare's the type of person I'd imagine my mother to be
if she'd lived."
    What the hell could he say to that?  Could he doubt the
brightness of Lexa's eyes, the sincerity in her voice?  What could she possibly
have to gain by befriending his aunt?
    Lexa ate the wedge of sandwich.  She couldn't believe she'd
told him that.  She never disclosed personal information indiscriminately.  But
something about the directness of Josh's blue eyes had gotten through her
defenses.  She looked down at her pink-tipped nails.
    She had seen male interest off and on in his gaze tonight. 
She wasn't immune.  When he'd helped her with her coat and his fingers brushed
her neck, the ripple of electricity had sent heat from her head to her toes.
    But none of that mattered.  Her life was in transition.  She
couldn't get involved with anyone now even if she wanted to.  And Richard's
rejection had hurt her deeply.  It had also opened her eyes.  If a man wanted a
family, she couldn't get involved with him.
    Lexa crossed her legs under the table.  Her knee brushed
Josh's.  The look in his eyes made her search for a safe subject to discuss.
    "Do you and Clare always have such a...volatile
relationship?"
    "If we can't talk things out, we shout them out." 
His grin spread across his lips.  "It's always been that way."
    She and her father hadn't had a meaningful conversation in
years and they'd certainly never shouted at each other.  Maybe the Flannigans'
Irish temperaments had something to do with it.
    "Why did you open a job counseling service?"  Josh
asked nonchalantly.
    Lexa could see through his questions.  He still wasn't sure
about her relationship with Clare.  Maybe if she answered them, she could put
his mind at ease.  "When I was in college, I worked as a girl Friday in a
social services office.  The system is overloaded, overworked, bogged down in
red tape.  But what I had learned for myself was reinforced--work gives dignity
and pride."
    "That's not merely a theory to you, is it?"
    His eyes caught hers, trapped them and compelled her to
answer.  "No.  My dad wouldn't let me work when I was in high school.  I
felt he was denying me a right."
    "Why didn't he want you to work?"
    "I don't know.  He said he worked hard to provide for
us, and we should take advantage of it...enjoy being young.  But I wanted a
job.  Anything.  The summer after freshman year at college, I took a
waitressing job."
    "How did your father react?"  Josh's interest
seemed genuine.
    "He couldn't or wouldn't understand my motivation.  He
couldn't understand why I didn't want to spend the summer at the country club
swimming and playing tennis like Dani–my sister.  But I didn't want to do
that."
    "Is your sister older or younger?"
    "Younger."  And she'd always been a handful.  Lexa
had seen her through more crises than she wanted to count.
    The strains of a popular ballad spilled from the speaker
over her head.
    Josh wiped his mouth with his napkin and pushed his plate
away.  Then he leaned back and asked, "Would you like to dance?"
    Lexa considered for a moment.  Dancing with Joshua Flannigan
could