He snapped the stove vent back in place. “Yep.”
“Did she remarry?” After all, it had been almost eight months since she’d seen him.
“Nope.” He was pulling things out from the cupboard under her sink.
Laura leaned on her broom, watching him. “So who’s the father?”
“Michael.”
“Her ex-husband?”
“Yep.” His voice was muffled, coming from somewhere in the cupboard he’d just emptied, but not so muffled she couldn’t catch the disapproval in his voice.
“Are they getting married again?”
“Nope.”
“Wow.” She didn’t envy his sister, having a baby on her own. She didn’t envy her raising the child on her own, either. Laura knew all about being a single mother. And she didn’t recommend it to anyone.
“They went into this knowing Michael wasn’t going to have any part in raising the child,” Seth said. “It’s all been very friendly.”
“So he’s still in touch with her?”
“Some. Not a lot.” He moved farther into the cupboard. “He’s on the road a lot. Checks in with her occasionally. Mostly he calls me.”
“At least he cares.”
“Far more than I think he knows,” Seth said, poking around.
“So why don’t you tell him that?”
Half sitting up beneath the cupboard, Seth looked out at her. “There’s no point,” he said, as though he were making perfect sense. “Wouldn’t change a thing.” He lay down, reaching for something Laura couldn’t see.
“Nothing under here,” he said, turning to back out of the cupboard.
Momentarily distracted by the tight buns moving straight at her, Laura forgot what they were talking about.
But only for a second.
“Her ex isn’t the responsible sort, huh?” she said a little bitterly. She could really feel for the woman by whom Seth measured all other women. Even if she had spent the past eight months hating the woman’s guts. With Susan as an example, there was no way in this life, or the next, that Laura was ever going to measure up.
“That’s just it,” Seth said, frowning. “He is. Very. So’s she, for that matter.”
“He just doesn’t think being a father requires responsibility?”
Shrugging, Seth turned away. “He travels,” he said, like that was some kind of crime.
“Yeah?” So did Seth. So what?
“He can’t very well be a father if he’s not around, now can he?” he muttered and left, letting the screen door slam shut behind him.
Laura felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Couldn’t believe he’d just walked out on her. Again.
She also couldn’t go after him. She needed him to leave. Her children would be home soon. So she started to sweep, slow, methodical strokes, collecting her dust bunny bees into a nice neat pile. Picking the pile up was a little bit more of a challenge than she wanted to face, but maybe she’d leave it for Jeremy. He’d think it was cool....
“Just as I thought.” Seth came back inside, pulling off his gloves. “There’s a hole in the netting covering the outside end of your stove vent. The grease must have attracted them.”
Laura was so shocked that he was still there—so relieved—she teared up before she could stop herself.