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I asked, “Honey, you looked like you were a little scared of Jaxon.  Do you think he’s scary?”
    “I did, mommy, but he’s really not.  He told me that Jake was his uncle, you know, like Uncle Eric is my uncle? Then he told me he was really glad he was here to help me get my line out of the tree.  He’s so tall, mommy.  He didn’t even hardly have to jump! Jaxon said he was sorry if his tattoos scared me.”  She leaned in and whispered, “They really aren’t scary at all, mommy, they’re kinda cool. Oh, and he told me I was really pretty just like you mommy.” Then Mags looked up at me with her beautiful blue eyes sparkling and said, “I think he likes you, mommy.”
    Holy hell. He told my daughter I was pretty, and now she thinks he likes me. There was no way that was true. I was sure he just told Mags that so she wouldn’t be scared of him. There was no way he thought I was pretty, but he did stare at me a lot.
    Watching Jaxon play with my kids was not making my thoughts about him go away. Even Sammy really liked him. And it was hard to get into Sammy’s good graces sometimes. He had a huge heart, but he loved to give people grief.
    I thought I might be starting to like him a little bit too. But I couldn’t stop the feeling of guilt from rearing up. Sammy and Mags were Declan’s kids. How could I enjoy watching them have a good time with Jaxon? It felt like I was betraying Declan just by thinking about Jaxon. But to think about him being around the kids felt like I was completely betraying him.

 
    Chapter 3
     
    Loralei
     
    It had been exactly two weeks since that day at the pond. I had only seen Jaxon once, and it was just in passing. I hadn’t made it to Sunday dinner last week because the kids had a stomach bug, but Mom told me I hadn’t missed anything.
    Today we went straight to my parents’ house after church for lunch. This time Jaxon went home and changed into jeans and a green Aerosmith t-shirt before lunch.
    I heard Jaxon tell my mom, “Mrs. Harper, I apologize for my appearance, but I couldn’t stand to wear that damn tie a minute longer.”
    My mom chuckled, “It’s okay, hon. That thing looked like it was strangling you to death anyway!”
    Of course, Mom didn’t have a problem with his appearance. She raised me to believe that it didn’t matter what someone wore or how they looked on the outside; what really mattered was what was inside. She definitely saw something in Jaxon, but for the life of me I didn’t know what it was. He was really sexy, but that better not have been what my mom liked about him… ewww.
    She had called me last night and told me to wear a pretty dress to church today. I always dressed up for church, but usually I would wear slacks and a blouse. She insisted I wear a dress. I relented and wore a white lacey dress with little pink flowers around the hem. I felt so girly - I hadn’t felt that way in a long time.
    I even spent a little extra time curling my hair, which now lays all the way down my back, and I wore a little eye shadow – I actually looked like a girl, instead of a farmer. It was almost like I was dressing up for someone. Subconsciously, I probably was. I knew Jaxon would be at church, and I enjoyed the thought of him liking what he saw.
    Lunch went by with no awkward questions from my children, which was really nice. Unexpected, but nice. I believed they were still a little weak from their stomach bug and didn’t have the energy to cause a scene. After lunch, my mom informed me that Jaxon and Jake were driving into town to pick up some supplies, and she wanted me to go with them.
    “Why do I need to go? They’re grown men who are perfectly capable of getting supplies without me.”
    “Honey, just go and have a good time. Maybe you and Jaxon can get to know each other a little bit better. Jake says great things about him. He’s had some problems, but he seems to be doing better here. Jake thinks he just needed to get out of the big