Almost a Family Read Online Free

supreme annoyance.
    “Sara’s favorite breakfast foods are toast with peanut butter and apple juice or toaster waffles and syrup. But she doesn’t like any butter on them, just the syrup.”
    “I’m sure we’ll manage just fine.”
    “She’s potty trained, so you’ll be okay there.”
    “Jason, stop it.” Molly put her cup on an end table and clenched her fists. “I can handle it. Sara can actually speak for herself, quite well for a girl her age, I think. I’m twenty-seven years old and have been looking after myself for some time now. I don’t need you to ride in on your white horse and save the day, got it? You’re free to get back to your practice. You’ve made sure we’re settled. Your duty to us is hereby discharged.”
    She cringed at her shrewish tone. She didn’t want to pick a fight or stir up recriminations. What was it about him that got under her skin?
    “You really haven’t changed, have you?” Jason put down his own cup and squared off against her. He was only inches away, close enough she could smell his cologne. He flexed his fingers, snapping the index ones with his thumbs. “You always had to do everything yourself. Had to prove yourself. Do everything your way, with no help from anyone.”
    “You know why,” she answered in a low, threatening voice. Their gazes locked and hers warned him not to dig too deep into the past. He knew the secrets she held inside, the ones that brought out that need for independence and her eyes begged him not to use them against her now.
    He snorted with derision but backed off just a little. “I thought that after all these years, you’d be over it. I should have known.”
    “And I would have thought that you’d have learned you can’t control other people’s lives and have everything your way. But I guess you haven’t changed either,” she retorted without thinking. She pressed a hand to her forehead, annoyed that she’d been goaded into responding. Six hours. Less than six hours home and they were arguing already.
    “So where does that leave us?” Agitated, he ran his hands through his hair, his eyes openly hostile.
    She smiled thinly. “Exactly where we were before today. You have your life. I have mine. Let’s keep it that way.”
    “Fine,” he bit out, glaring. “You’ll be begging for my help before the week is out.”
    He stomped to the door and she heard it slam behind him. “The hell I will,” she muttered to herself.
     
    *
     
    Molly was exhausted by the time Jason picked them up to go to the hospital the following evening. She’d broached the subject of going without him to Sara and had met with stiff resistance. The child was clearly attached to her “Uncle” Jason, and rather than rock the boat, Molly acquiesced. How one child could demand so much attention, she wasn’t sure. But she knew that keeping the house in order and entertaining Sara had filled her day, leaving her no time to even open her briefcase.
    The dinner mess was at least tidied up when he arrived. He looked big and outdoorsy-handsome in his thick brown coat and heavy boots. His hair had been whipped up by the winter wind, his cheeks were ruddy with cold. She opened the door, left it ajar and went to get her own coat, leaving him standing silently in the gap while the brisk air rushed into the foyer.
    “Come on, Sara. It’s time to go.”
    Sara came around the corner carrying a teddy bear and a folded piece of paper. Molly fluffed her hair over the collar of her coat and knelt to help Sara put on her winter boots.
    They still hadn’t spoken, and it was getting on Molly’s nerves—feeling his big presence behind her, knowing he was standing there. Close enough to touch. Close enough to be folded into those strong arms, enveloped in his jacket. How she could want to and still feel so hostile toward him confused her.
    “Why don’t you drive my rental?” she suggested, stuffing Sara’s arms into her jacket. “That way we don’t have to move the