Baby Lessons

self-control he could muster to take a small backward step. But he still hadn’t finished telling her what he needed to say, and kissing her now would make him the worst sort of liar.
Madison blinked, clearly confused by his sudden withdrawal. For a brief moment her face crumpled, and then she cleared her throat and pasted on a smile.
“Sorry, I...” She shook her head and let out a nervous laugh. “We shouldn’t.”
“Wait. I just need to finish...”
“No explanation needed. Truly. I mean, you’re right, of course. This—” she gestured back and forth between them “—would never work.”
Jack’s mouth abruptly closed before he could manage to steer the conversation back toward his troublesome secret identity. He felt himself frown.
She thought they would never work?
“You know,” she continued. “Because of the whole nanny and boss thing.”
“Right,” he said. The fact that she was his night nanny was just the tip of the iceberg. Madison just wasn’t privy to that information...yet.
“Plus, you have a family to take care of. I’m not exactly mom material, as that horrible letter writer is so intent on reminding me over and over again.” Ouch. “Plus, I don’t even live here. Not really.”
She was stumbling over her sentences, talking a mile a minute, which he usually found adorable, if somewhat difficult to keep up with. But his mind snagged on one tiny, significant detail that wasn’t adorable in any way.
“What do you mean you don’t live here?” he asked in a wooden voice he hardly recognized as his own.
“Well, I do, but I don’t.” Her eyebrows squished together like she was trying to make sense of her own words.
Join the club. Jack’s jaw clenched. “I’m not following.”
“I’m a fashion journalist. I’m just here working at the Bee and staying with my aunt until I get an offer to move back to New York,” she said, sounding wholly unconvinced. Still, this news was an unexpected arrow straight to Jack’s heart. “I guess I thought you knew that. I mean, it’s no secret that I don’t exactly fit in here.”
His first instinct was to automatically agree since he’d had the same thought nearly every day he’d known her. But somewhere between nearly burning down her aunt’s barn, reading Vogue aloud to his six-month-old daughters and all her ridiculous listicles for the Bee, she’d made a place for herself in Lovestruck. He couldn’t imagine his hometown without her, but apparently, she had one foot out the door. Just like someone else whose departure had turned his life completely upside down.
Not all women are like Natalie, you know.
Wade had said those exact words to Jack on the very day he’d met Madison, and somewhere in the dark pit of his heart, he knew they were true. But he couldn’t think straight in the wake of the bomb Madison had just dropped. His chest felt impossibly tight all of a sudden, like he couldn’t catch a full breath.
She’s right. The realization hit him with the devastating force of a five-alarm fire. This would never work.
What had he been thinking? That one near miss of a kiss meant he could let his guard down? It seemed laughable now. He couldn’t do this. Ever. He couldn’t invite someone into his life—into his daughters’ lives—only to have her pull a disappearing act.
“I wish you would have told me you were only in Lovestruck temporarily back when I hired you,” he said tersely.
Hypocrite much?
She wasn’t the only one withholding information—he was still keeping the biggest secret of all. But what did it matter now?
It matters, you fool. You know it does.
“It’s not like I’ve got fashion editors beating my door down. I haven’t gotten a single job offer since I’ve been here, and lately I’ve been thinking that maybe...” Her voice drifted off as she studied his expression, and then she crossed her arms—a barrier between them. “Never mind. You’re right. I’m leaving the first chance I get.”
He nodded. “Great.”
“Great,” she echoed, and Jack wasn’t sure which one of them sounded more miserable.
“You know what? It seems nice and peaceful around here.” Madison cast a wistful glance toward Emma and Ella’s room, and Jack’s gut hardened because he knew exactly what was coming. “I don’t think you need me tonight. In fact, maybe it would be easier if I go ahead and quit.”
She stared daggers at him, but beneath the sudden fury in her gaze, her big doe eyes shimmered with hurt.
This was the moment for Jack to make things right, once and for all. If ever there was a time for honesty, it was now. He knew he was being unfair—dragging his past baggage around and dumping it at Madison’s stiletto-clad feet. If he had half a brain, he’d fall to his knees, tell her the truth and beg her forgiveness.
He definitely couldn’t let her resign. The last thing he wanted was for her to quit. He’d convinced her to stay once, and he simply needed to do it again.
But in the end, whatever ceremony of words would fix the mess he’d made simply wouldn’t come fast enough. Madison Jules wasn’t waiting around for him to talk her into staying this time. She grabbed her overnight bag, turned on her stylish heel and walked right out the door.
Down the hall, Emma and Ella began crying in unison, almost as if they knew.

Chapter Eleven
Dear Editor,
This is my final letter. Please let Queen Bee know she’s free to write whatever she likes, and I’ll withhold any future commentary. Any attempts by the Lovestruck Bee or a certain morning show to identify me are entirely unwelcome.
It’s over. I apologize for any hurt I’ve caused Ms. Jules.
Sincerely,
Fired Up in Lovestruck
“Do you want to talk about it?” Wade said as he tossed a wet, soapy sponge at Jack the following morning in the front drive of the fire station.
“Not particularly.” Jack slapped the sponge against bright red steel.
The two of them were on truck-washing duty while Cap and Brody had been tasked with the less envious job of household cleaning.