She opened her eyes. “Oh, God. I’m going to get pregnant.” She sprang to her feet, as her chest tightened and her heart rate zoomed into triple digits. “I can’t breathe.”

He came around the desk, took her hands in his and held on tight. “I’ll help.”

“This has nothing to do with you.”

“I want to help. Be your…” He seemed to be searching for a description of what he was offering. “Pregnancy buddy. I’ll drive you to the doctor, go get you pickles, whatever you need.”

“I don’t need pickles,” she told him, ignoring the warm feeling of his skin against hers. This was not the time to indulge in weakness. “I don’t really like them. Not enough to binge on them.” A pregnancy buddy? “Maybe you took too many hits to the head when you were playing football.”

Despite her tugging on her hands, he didn’t release them.

“Pia, I’m serious. You don’t have any family here. You have friends, but they all have lives. You need someone to depend on for the next nine months. I’m offering to be that guy.”

Did kissing come with the offer, she wondered, before pushing the thought away.

She managed to free her hands and take a step back. “You can’t know what you’re saying. Why would you give up nine months of your life to help me?”

“Why would you offer to have Crystal’s babies?”

“That’s different. She was my friend.”

“Fair enough. I didn’t know her, but I did know Keith. These are his kids, too. The man died in my arms, Pia. I was there. I owe him. Helping bring his children into the world seems like the least I can do.”

That almost made sense, she thought. Given that everything about their conversation was beyond believable.

“Okay, maybe,” she conceded, “but maybe you could just donate something to charity instead. You’re a rich, famous guy. You have a life. Probably a girlfriend.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend. I wouldn’t have kissed you if I did.”

Which begged the question of why he had, but she would deal with one weird incident at a time. “Raoul, you’re really sweet, but no.”

“Why? Don’t you trust me?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not going to offer this, then change my mind. I’m not going to leave.”

She did her best not to wince at his words. He knew enough about her past to guess that being left was one of her issues. Slowly, she returned to her chair and sank down. After drawing in a breath, she looked at him, as if she could find the answer in his handsome features.

There was nothing new there—just the same large, dark eyes, high cheekbones, perfect mouth.

He pulled up a chair and sat facing her. “I mean it, Pia. I want to help. For you and for Keith. You should let me try. I’m good at getting stuff done. All that quarterback training. What you’re doing is important. Let me help.”

She might not be willing to accept a man she barely knew would do this for her, but she could almost get that he would do it for Keith.

“What does being a pregnancy buddy mean?” she asked cautiously.

“Whatever you want it to mean. Like I said, I’ll drive you to the doctor, go on craving runs, listen to you talk about how your ankles are puffy.”

Something passed through his eyes—a dark, scary emotion that made her wonder about his past. But before she could ask, the emotion was gone.

“I’ll be there for you, Pia. In whatever capacity you want. No expectations, no rules. You won’t have to go through this alone.”

That sounded perfect, she thought wistfully, wondering if it was possible. Could she really depend on him, trust him, know that he would be there for her?

Leaning on other people hadn’t been a big part of her life. Not since high school, when both parents had left her—in one way or another. As she and Raoul weren’t involved emotionally, the situation was completely different from what it had been with her boyfriends. If he chose to leave, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Right?

Which was what it came down to. Depending on someone she wasn’t sure would come through for her.

“It’s an interesting idea,” she began. “And I appreciate it. But why would you do this? What’s in it for you?”

“I’ll be there,” he said firmly, “because I like you. And because you’re doing a good thing. Maybe because there are things in my past that didn’t work out the way I wanted them to, and this will make me feel better about them.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

“I just do, and I’ll be there.”

A part of her wanted to believe. Being able to depend on someone, especially while she was pregnant and worried about giving birth to three kids and raising them, would be heavenly. But the rest of her knew that leaving was what most people did best.

“Look at it this way,” he said. “Use me shamelessly. Then if I do walk away, you get to be right. A win-win.”

An interesting point. He sounded really sincere. Not totally sane, but sincere.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “Maybe.”

“I’ll take it.” He leaned in and brushed his mouth against hers.

Again, the light kiss had her entire body reacting. She wanted to haul him against her and have him put some back into it. Instead, she contented herself with remembering to breathe.

He stood. “Let me know when it all starts and I’ll be there.”

She wasn’t clear on the implantation process, but she was pretty sure it was something she didn’t want him to see.

“In the waiting room,” he amended at her look of squeamishness.

“Okay. That would be fine. I’ll let you know.”

He left.

She continued to sit on her chair, feeling both stunned and a little relieved. Maybe this would be for the best, she told herself. Having someone else to help. Having someone else looking out for Crystal’s babies. And if he got bored or distracted and walked away, so what? She’d been abandoned in ways Raoul couldn’t begin to imagine. He couldn’t possibly hurt her. So she was safe. And being safe was really what mattered most.

RAOUL TRIED TO BE UP at camp nearly every day. He timed his visits for recess or lunch so he could spend time with the kids on the playground. It was fun to toss a ball around with them. For the most part they were a little small to throw or catch a football, but a baseball worked well and Josh’s sporting goods store had donated several balls and mitts.

When he arrived, the kids were still eating lunch. He went to see Dakota.

She was one of those neat people who had trays and color-coded, arranged files. Sort of like Pia’s office, but without the huge calendar or the posters proclaiming Founders Day and Kissing Booth—$1 a kiss.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Great.” She motioned for him to enter.

He took the chair next to her desk.

“All the classes are in place and the kids are settled. We’re okay on desks, still a little short on blackboards and books. So there’s some creative sharing going on. It’s probably good for the students to see that life means being flexible.”

He chuckled. “Disaster as a teachable moment.”

“Sure. Why not?” She pulled out a folder and glanced through it. “We should have an estimate on the cost to repair the school by the end of the week. If you hear a collective groan about ten Friday morning, it’s the school-board-and-city-council joint meeting, where they get the actual numbers. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

“Isn’t there insurance?”

“Sure, but it’s unlikely to make the school whole again. I’m sure there’s state money, too, but I see a lot of fundraising in our future.”

He remembered the fun Saturday afternoon in the park. “Pia puts on a good party.”

“She has a lot of experience.”

A group of yelling kids raced past her open office door. “Lunch must be over,” he said.

“Apparently.”

More kids ran by.

“Does the noise bother you?” he asked. “Do you want an office somewhere else?”

Dakota laughed. “I’m one of six. I’m used to noise.”

“Loud, happy childhood?”

“Absolutely. The boys came a couple of years apart, but when we were born, Mom got smacked with three babies at once. I can’t imagine how she did it. I know my dad helped and the neighbors pitched in, but triplets? Somehow she managed.”

He thought of Pia. She would have the three embryos implanted at the same time. If all of them survived, she would be looking at triplets, as well.

“So you’re used to the chaos,” he said.

“I don’t even notice it. There are complications with a lot of kids, but as far as I’m concerned, the positives far outweigh the negatives.”

“Planning a big family?” he asked.

She nodded and laughed. “I should probably get started, huh?”

“Is there a guy in all this?”

“I’d prefer it that way.” She wrinkled her nose. “I know—how boring. I want to be traditional. Get married, have kids, a yard, a dog. Not anything a famous football guy would find interesting.”

“What makes you think I don’t want the same thing?”

“Do you?” she asked, tilting her head as she studied him.

“It would be nice.”

“You were married before.” She made a statement rather than asked a question.

“It didn’t take.”

“Is there going to be a next time?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. Like Pia, he found it difficult to trust people. In his case, it was specifically women that were his problem.

“It can be different,” she said. “Better.”

He was less sure. “What about you? Any prospective husbands on the horizon, or are you waiting for the perfect guy?”

“He doesn’t have to be perfect. Just a regular guy who wants an ordinary life.” She shook her head. “Finding that is harder than you’d think. We have something of a man shortage here in town.”

“I’ve heard that.”

“You could ask some of your single football buddies to visit. As a gracious gesture to the lonely women in town.”

“Donating the camp was my good deed for the week.”

He stood and glanced out the door. A group of boys walked by, including Peter.

Raoul turned back to Dakota. “There’s a kid in Mrs. Miller’s class. Peter. He got scared during the fire. I went to take his hand, to lead him out. But when I stretched out my arm, he flinched, like he thought I was going to hit him.”

She frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that.” She wrote the name down on a pad of paper. “I’ll talk to his teacher and do some quiet investigating.”

“Thanks. It’s probably nothing.”

“It probably is,” she agreed. “But we’ll find out for sure.” She glanced at the clock. “You’d better go. Your fans are waiting.”

He shifted uncomfortably. “They’re not fans.”

“They worship you. You’re someone they’ve seen play football on TV and now you’re on their playground, throwing around a baseball. If that’s not fan-worthy, what is?”

“I’m just hanging out with the guys. Don’t make it more than it is.”

“Caring and unassuming. Be still my heart.”

“I’m not your type.”

“How do you know?”

Because from the second they’d met, there’d been no chemistry. Besides, Dakota worked for him. “Am I wrong?”

She sighed theatrically. “No, you’re not. Which is why I’m very interested in your football friends.”

“I doubt that. You’re going to find your own guy.”

“Want to tell me when?” she asked with a laugh. “So I can put a star by that day on the calendar?”

“When you least expect it.”

PIA SAT ACROSS FROM Montana Hendrix in Pia’s small office. She’d known the Hendrix triplets her entire life. The family had always been a prominent one and could trace its lineage back to the founding of the town.

People who assumed that the three sisters acted alike because they looked alike had obviously never met the triplets. Nevada was the quietest, the one who had studied engineering and gone to work with her brother. Dakota was more like a middle child—wanting everyone to get along. Montana was youngest, both in birth order and personality type. She was fun and impulsive, and the one Pia was closest to.

“So everything sold?” Montana asked, folding a letter and putting it into an envelope.

“Yes. The auction was a huge success. Despite the fact that there weren’t any minimum bids, we made nearly twice what we’d hoped for.”

The letters were going out to the successful bidders at the school fundraising auction. It provided information on how to pay and when to claim the prize.

“Everyone wanted to help,” Montana said.

“Like you today.” Pia grinned. “Did I thank you yet?”

“You’re buying me lunch.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”

They talked about what was happening in town and with their friends.

Montana picked up another letter, then put it down. “I’ve been offered a full-time job at the library.”

Pia raised her eyebrows. “That’s great. Congratulations.”