Cora still wasn't sure how she'd been talked into going to the playground with Eliot and Dash. It was the child's puppy dog eyes, if Sophie knew about children with puppy dog eyes and their powers of persuasion, she'd probably be adopting one post haste. She knew that the invite was a positive thing, it meant that the plan was working.

But she felt awful about it. The whole plan just didn't sit well with her and it was getting worse the more time she spent with the Spencers. She liked Eliot. Legitimately liked him, even though he was nothing like the persona from the blog. Not that she'd let on to him in any way that she'd read the blog, that had been one of Nate's cautions.

"It wouldn't make sense for you to know who he was, you don't have any children, so reading his blog wouldn't be something you'd normally do."

Things were really going successfully. Eliot had even asked her out for dinner, though she'd regretfully declined, citing having dinner with Nate. She'd found herself suggesting they get coffee tomorrow and that was that. Both Sophie and Nate would be overjoyed by the whole thing but Cora's stomach was twisting.

Dating him was not supposed to be part of the plan. Nor was the fact that she was pretty sure once he got her on that date, she'd not be able to stop herself from saying yes to another one.

Hardison was sitting on his couch, laptop open, frowning at something on the screen. He went to take a swig out of his open bottle of orange soda when his wife suddenly appeared beside him, causing him to nearly spill the soda everywhere.

"Mama! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? Give a man a heart attack."

Parker shrugged, turning to her bowl of cereal. "Eliot called and invited us to dinner."

"So you're eating?"

"Yeah, so?"

Hardison just shook his head and went back to his computer. After a few moments, his wife spoke again.

"Isn't that that girl from the store?"

"Yeah," Hardison said, "Eliot seemed to like her."

Parker frowned, taking a contemplative chew. "Isn't doing that something that Eliot would be all growly about?"

Her husband shrugged. "Look babe, I'm just checking out her Facebook and stuff. Things people do these days."

"Hmm, I'm gonna tell him you did this."

"Hey, go ahead, I'm just looking out for our boy."

Parker was quiet for a long time, eating. She finished her cereal. "Find anything?"

"Nah, not really. Her LinkedIn had something that might make Eliot paranoid, but I don't think it's a problem. Otherwise, she's really really normal."

Parker made a face, "boring. Shame, because I liked her."

Hardison stared at her, mouth open.

"What?"

"You know what? Never mind. Let's go get ready for dinner since you already had your appetizer."

It was after Dash was in bed before the subject of Cora came up that evening. The adults were sitting in Eliot's living room, supposedly watching a game on tv. They were mostly talking, well Hardison and Parker were and Eliot would interject when it suited him.

"So how was the playground with Cora?" Hardison finally asked, a little bit of a teasing tone to his voice. Parker opened her mouth but he tapped her arm and she let him continue.

Eliot grinned, taking a swig of beer. "Got a date for tomorrow afternoon. Momma's got Dash, so no problems. I asked her out for tonight but she's got plans with her uncle."

Parker clapped her hands. "I liked her! But Hardison was checking her out."

Eliot raised his eyebrows and gave Hardison a pointed stare. Hardison caught on and rolled his eyes.

"Not like that, man! Jesus, what do you take me for? I'm a happily married man."

"Then what is she talkin' about?"

Hardison sighed, "look man, I did what any ordinary person would do when their bro-in-law is smitten with a girl he just met."

Eliot glared at him. "What . . .did . . .you . . .do?"

"Hey, man, don't get all ragey with me. I just Googled the chick. Social media, that kinda thing. Heck, little man Dash could have done the same thing."

Eliot took a deep breath, rolling his eyes. "Alright, what did you find?"

"Well, start off, what did she tell you?"

Eliot paused, thinking about it. "She's from Indiana. She works in New York City but stuff got weird with her job and she's spending some time here with her uncle trying to figure some stuff out. Doesn't want to go home, home yet. Suppose I wouldn't blame her, I got the impression it's a small town and she was supposed to be 'girl who makes good.'"

Hardison leaned back and nodded. "That checks out. All her social mentions her town in Indiana. Family seems to own a bar and grill given that it's called McRory's and she used to be a manager there until last year. Found an instagram post about who is probably the uncle. Nathan Ford, he's some sort of novelist, lives in the next town over."

"The Nathan Ford?" Eliot jumped up and headed to the bookcase and pulled down a couple of books. He held up one where "NY Times Bestselling Author Nathan Ford" was highlighted. "Crime novelist, actually really good. So basically you invaded this girl's privacy to find she's just a girl from Indiana visiting her uncle?"

"Hey raging bull! She doesn't have any of her accounts on lock down, so it's hardly invading her privacy. She ain't much of a poster anyway. But you may wanna know that according to Linked In, the job that's gone weird is with a literary agency in New York City."

"Literary agent? Damnit Hardison, lead with that!"

"Oh come on man, she's a personal assistant. She probably got sick of lying to her boss' wife about his mistress."

Eliot started pacing. "Hardison, you know why this damn book thing ain't happenin'!"

"Bro, calm down! Has she mentioned the blog at all?"

"No," Eliot said. "She didn't appear to recognize me at all."

"Well, of course not! Why would little miss single no kids be reading a daddy blog? She's a low man on the totem pole, out picking up dry cleaning and picking out the wife's Christmas present. She ain't closing deals. Just relax, okay? She's just a corn fed Midwestern girl who had a bad time in the big city and is looking to regroup. Nothing to worry about."

"She seemed nice," Parker offered. "She was nice to Dash."

Eliot grinned in spite of himself. "She was real good with him, wasn't she?"

"So relax!" Hardison said, steering his brother-in-law back to the sofa and pressing a beer in his hand. "You need to get out with an adult female type. It's time to move on. She ain't one of those fawning mamas you meet online. She's never been married, she ain't got baggage. And if it don't work out, well she'll be back to Indiana or wherever and you won't have to run into her all the time. Have a good time for a change."

"You took care of Aimee for a long time," Parker began and Eliot's face looked pained and he shook his head.

"You did! You just didn't . . . ."Parker took a breath, for once taking the warning looks shot at her by both brother and husband and changed direction. "Eliot, you take care of all of us. You take care of me and Hardison. And Dash. And Daddy when he was dying . . . ."she took another shaky breath, the family that had adopted her meant the whole world. Eliot and his father might not have always seen eye to eye but the older Spencer had somehow understood his adopted child better than his biological ones. "And our sisters when they're here. And even Momma though she hates it! But no one ever takes care of you Eliot and maybe Cora could."

Eliot smiled at her gently when she finished her impassioned speech and she curled up next to him on the couch.

"Fine," Eliot conceded. "I'm probably worryin' over nothing. That damn blog, more trouble than it's worth."

"That blog's what's allowing you to stay home with Dash like Aimee wanted to do herself," Hardison pointed out. "Think you need to pay it more respect."

"Yeah, whatever," Eliot grunted. "Let's just focus on this game."

"Uh-huh and Miss Cora?"

Eliot grinned. "I meet her for coffee and we'll see how it goes."

"That's my man!" Hardison high fived him and Parker rolled her eyes and then asked a question about the game.

"He asked you out?" Nate asked, "that's wonderful news. Isn't it?"

Cora looked downcast. "Technically I said no and then turned around and asked him out! What is wrong with me?"

"I don't follow. Isn't this what you're supposed to be doing? The fact that you hit it off with him so well should be excellent news. Have you told your boss?"

"I told her that I made contact and it's going well. I didn't add this to the texts. Uncle Nate, I just can't do this!"

"Well," Nate sighed and looked over at her. "I assume if you don't, you're going to lose your job. But you always have a job back home to go to."

"If I go home with my tail tucked between my legs," Cora flopped on the sofa. "And Ms. Deveraux seems to think that she'll lose her job."

Nate snorted. "That's a play. But she'll land on her feet."

"She said that. But she said that she wouldn't be able to help her staff. I mean if I have to go home, I will. But her secretary is pregnant. She needs that job for the baby. I can't . . . ."

"Hmm," Nate mused. "She really is a shark."

Cora wasn't quite sure if her uncle was appalled by her boss playing the firing the pregnant secretary card or impressed by it. Knowing Nate Ford, he was probably both.

"I probably am being played by her. But I can't really take the chance."

"Well, I suppose you could screw up the date. Go to your boss and say that you struck out with him. He's impossible, etc."

"Yeah," Cora sighed. "That's an option."

"Except," Nate chuckled as he sat next to her. "You don't want to screw it up. You like him. And if you hadn't been sent her on a mission and I hadn't told you how to best meet him, you'd be on cloud nine about this coffee."

Cora's laugh was self effacing. "Pretty much. God, he's good looking. And his son is the most adorable thing. He's such a good dad. The weird thing is, Uncle Nate? He's nothing like I expected from the blog. Honestly, after reading it on the plane, I expected him to annoy me and that I'd have to pretend to like him."

"Really? That's interesting."

"I mean I suppose maybe it's just how that niche works? I don't know that much about parenting blogs."

Nate shrugged. "Can't say that I've ever read one."

"Yeah, I've probably skimmed a mommy blog looking at a recipe from time to time, but his is the first one I've ever read. I wouldn't chose to, honestly. It's a bit too sicky sweet. Except for when he talks about his wife. Then that's the Eliot I met today. It's weird."

"Huh," Nate had an oddly contemplative look on his face. They lapsed into silence for a long time and finally he broke the silence to ask her a question. "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Cora groaned. "Part of me is thinking of researching plane fares to Indiana and slipping out of Tulsa before Sophie can text me. What would you do?"

"If I were you? I'd go out for coffee with Mr. Spencer and forget all about Sophie Deveraux."

Cora opened her eyes and sat bolt up on the sofa. "What? But the whole, what did you call it? Meet-cute setup? That was your idea!"

"Well," Nate chuckled. "Honestly from the file he sounded like a nice guy that maybe you'd hit it off with. Look, I know you've been hurt . . . ."

"Hurt? I think being dumped two weeks before your wedding is more than hurt."

"But it's been a couple of years now and I don't think running off to New York made you happy. This man's probably ready to move on from his own heartbreak. Just go out for coffee with him. If the silly book comes up, talk him into it. Then everyone's happy. If it never does, well tell Sophie Deveraux where to stick her job. I'll hire you to be my assistant. And we'll make sure your friend has something to take care of her baby if it comes to that."

"You . . ." Cora jumped up and ran over to his chair where she kissed his cheek. "You Nathan Ford are a hopeless romantic."

He snorted. "Don't tell anyone. Especially your mother."

"I won't. I'm gonna go to bed. I'm wiped."

"Alright, good night," Cora started to head out of the room. "Hey, Cora? What's this guy's blog's name again?"

"Newbie Blog Dad, why?"

"Just curious. Good night."

And when Cora left, Nate took his drink and went into his study and fired up his computer. He typed "newbie blog dad" into the search engine and sat back.