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He flattened his lips into a line as if attempting to suppress a smile. He failed.
“I figured you’d decided not to come.”
“I almost didn’t.”
She’d also parked down the street with the air-conditioning running long enough to blow through a quarter tank of fuel, but she wasn’t about to tell him that.
“You weren’t needed at the ranch?”
“I could step out for an hour or two. What about you at the center?”
“I checked in. The staff said it’s been an uneventful day. After I left anyway.” In fact, Candace Hill, her longtime employee and friend, had told her to take her time getting coffee after the harrowing morning she’d spent.
“Hello, darlin’.”
Willow blinked, and her arm jerked back, but Asher missed all of it, already crouching in front of Luna’s stroller. Her daughter beamed and lifted her arms for him to pick her up. The traitor. She would have to teach her to be more cautious around handsome men. If the test results gave her that chance to educate Luna about anything.
“We’re over here.”
Instead of lifting the child, he guided them to the table where Harper sat, holding a toy in her hands and guiding it to her mouth. A second high chair had been arranged near the first, and he’d pushed the next table over to allow for stroller parking.
“Thought you said you didn’t expect me to come.”
He shrugged, then pointed to the seats for the infants. “I thought Luna might prefer to sit in one of those.”
Good guess. She continued to frown instead of saying so.
“I hoped you would come,” he admitted finally. “Though I had time to change Harper and get her settled before you finally showed up.”
Neither said more as she shifted her squirming daughter from one piece of equipment to the other and lowered into a seat with the babies between them. She reached in her bag and handed Luna a teething ring, which her child quickly dropped on the floor.
“You’ve already learned the Parent Pickup Game, Miss Luna?” Asher chuckled.
“Oh, yes. She’s an expert at uh-oh.” She grinned. “Luna knows that Mommy will pick it up for her.”
Willow did just that, but she stuffed the ring in her diaper bag instead of handing it back to her daughter. She pulled Luna’s pacifier out and helped the infant guide it to her mouth, clipping its leash to her shirt, just in case. The baby sucked hungrily on it, hinting that she would need to be fed soon.
“Let me get you something to drink.”
Asher reached for his wallet, but Willow removed hers from the diaper bag. She handed him a five-dollar bill and an extra single for a tip.
“Coffee. Black. But if you’ll get both drinks, I’ll watch Harper for you.”
“Anything for Luna?”
“Double-sided tape for her hands?”
He grinned over her joke. “I’ll see what they have.”
Harper’s gaze followed her father as he crossed to the shop’s counter, but she didn’t cry out. Clearly, she was used to being left in another’s care.
Asher returned a few minutes later carrying a lidded paper cup and a large plastic one containing some frou-frou drink with chocolate and whipped cream.
At her lifted brow, he shrugged.
“I can get black coffee at home. Even great coffee. Our cook always makes sure there’s a fresh pot. But this?”
She shook her head and then stood to accept her drink from him, away from the babies so they wouldn’t risk spilling on them. When his
