The Bad Boy's Baby (Hope Springs) by Cindi Madsen Page B

scoops her, my name will be mud.
    “As soon as Rod finds out he has a granddaughter, he’s going to want to meet her,” Quinn said, bringing the sober mood back, despite the fact that they were getting more unsober by the second. “Oliver will want to meet her, too. When you’re ready, I’m happy to go with you and help support you. Rod’s a bit prickly at first, but he’s working on it. My advice is to be firm, and instead of letting him intimidate you, stand your ground. Throw the sassy back.”
    Easy for Quinn to say. She had sassy to spare. Emma usually shut down in those situations and got walked over—again, it was the confrontation thing. Maybe it was because she’d heard too much yelling at home, or maybe it was just her personality, but either way, the thought of that meeting, of the townspeople and their never-ending questions…
    All of it overwhelmed her and she took a generous sip of her beer. This was why ducking her head and focusing on her life with Zoey and getting her career up and running was easier, and also why she’d disengaged from town events and distanced herself from most of the people in the town in general. But it’d left her a bit lonely. Honestly, when your grandmother had a better social life than you, it forced you to examine your life choices.
    “Dude,” Quinn said, her eyes on Emma, “once Sadie and Heath leave to go tour, I’m going to need more than one girls’ night a week, or I might seriously go crazy.”
    “It’ll just be for a month or so,” Sadie said. She was Dixie Rush’s lead singer, and Heath played the guitar. They’d recorded an album, and it was coming out soon, so they were going on a short tour, playing at venues across the country to promote the release.
    Emma rolled her bottle between her fingers. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I can manage more than one girls’ night a week. Madison can’t watch Zoey on a school night. Maybe now that Cam’s back, he can watch her once in a while. But I’m afraid I’ll still be parked at home most nights.”
    Quinn took the last swig of her beer and then set down the empty bottle. “I’ll just come over, then.”
    “You’re always welcome, but I’m not sure Zoey and I will be very exciting.”
    “Oh, knock that off. I’m looking for friends, not excitement. I have Heath for that,” she added with a grin, waggling her eyebrows and making them all laugh.
    Sadie had Royce, her strong, silent cowboy. But Emma had a two-year-old princess, and that was enough. For now.
    “Oh, by the way,” Sadie said. “Quinn says that architect guy you work with likes you.”
    “Pete? No.” Emma shook her head.
    “Uh, yeah.” Quinn swung her arms around as she talked, and the movements always grew larger when she wanted to make a point. “He checks you out when you walk, and he’s constantly making excuses to talk to you. Come on, you know what you’re doing and the job’s going so smoothly. There’s no reason for him to check in that much.”
    Pete was on the scrawny side, and if Emma was serious, he was dead serious . But in an admirable, driven way. He was smart and levelheaded, and he listened to her suggestions and gave fair input, always weighing the pros and cons before they made a decision together. She’d never thought about him as more than a business colleague she needed to impress, and thinking about the possibility of more now made a strange, unsettled feeling come over her.
    Or maybe the weird sensation was because she’d already finished her beer. Man, I’m such a lightweight.
    “He also says he loves kids,” Quinn said. Emma looked at her, and she shrugged, unabashed. “I did some checking. Sadie and I promised to find you a guy, remember?”
    Obviously Cam didn’t even register as an option, and Quinn knew him better than Emma did. Which was fine, because she’d decided crossing lines with him was a bad idea, and this was a good wake-up-and-stop-dreaming-about-Cam-Brantley call.
    But