I'm not so sure I like where my muse took this...You'll have to let me know....I'm sort of stuck at the last two chapters.....which, sadly, is the sexy part.....
Gillian would have hid in her room to read but the fire place down stairs in the living room was so much bigger and cosier. And since she hadn't planned on being snowed in at a B&B she hadn't packed anything more comfortable to wear than her usual work clothes. The fire helped to smudge the comfort lines.
She was extremely grateful that Shirley was baby-sitting Cal so she wouldn't have to worry about him being an ass. But she knew it was only a matter of time before he did something stupid. He was bound to get cabin fever, he couldn't even sit still on a good day in the office.
She finished her book and was about to go find Cal when the young mother came in with her crying baby girl. The young woman looked so tired and on the verge of tears. Gillian's heart went out to her. She put down her book and went over to the woman,
"Hey, here, sit down." She led the woman to the chair she had just left, "I'm Gillian." She introduced herself. The woman sniffed, rubbing her nose with her hoodie sleeve.
"I'm Lana and this is Zoey." She said over the crying.
"May I?" Gillian asked holding out her arms for the child and Lana nodded handing her over, "How old is she?"
"Four, almost five months. She's usually better than this, I think it's the strange surroundings. We were on our way to my mother's by Niagara Falls but the roads were too bad last night so we had to stop." She shrugged. Gillian had the feeling Lana was lying about how 'good' Zoey was but didn't call her on it. "We were supposed to leave this morning but…" she flung an arm at a snow covered window. She looked so tired.
Gillian nodded as she shifted the baby to she was cradling her. She stood up and rocked back and forth from one foot to the other, making shushing noises. In no time Zoey had burped and quieted down.
Lana burst into tears. It wasn't the reaction Gillian had been expecting. She used one hand to place on Lana's shoulder,
"Oh, it's ok."
"No, I know. It's just I try, you know?" Lana said. She cried for a few more minutes then tried to compose herself, "How old is yours?"
"She'd be two and a half by now." Gillian closed her mouth, she hadn't meant to say that. She meant to say she didn't have one.
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"No, her birth mother took her back before the adoption was final." She explained and she had no idea why. She hid her sadness by glancing down at the sleeping baby.
"That sucks." Gillian almost laughed. Yeah, that sucks. "At least you don't have stretch marks, though."
Gillian really hated it when women said that. She would gladly give up her flat stomach for the chance at being a mother. There really wasn't much she wouldn't give up.
"There, now that she's sleeping we'll set her down and you can get some rest." She whispered. "Lead the way."
After she closed the door to Lana's room Gillian stopped to lean against the wall. It felt great to hold that small, soft, sweet smelling bundle. She knew she should stop doing that to herself. But every time she saw a child, held one she couldn't help but wish it were hers. It wasn't healthy. As a psychologist she knew that.
She felt the tear run down her cheek and wiped it away before she pushed off the wall.
"Are you ok?" Paul was standing at the top of the stairs, he was in her path to her room and the lower level.
"I'm fine, I was just helping Lana with her baby." She gestured behind her and put on a smile then made to walk past him but he blocked her. She had to stop or she would have been pressed chest to chest with him. Knowing what his mother said about him, she knew he wouldn't have minded. Knowing what his mother said about him, made her mind.
He moved forward, reaching out as if to offer comfort. She suddenly didn't want him to touch her but there was no where for her to go. If she backed up she would end up hidden and alone with him.
"I heard what you said earlier." He replied and she paled thinking he was talking about Cal's teasing, "About your baby." He continued and she sighed. "I'm sorry. That must have been really hard."
Gillian blinked, she couldn't actually believe that the kid was using her pain as a means to pick her up. Her polite smile turned to something close to scorn,
"Look, I'm not interested. And using that as a pick up was low. Excuse me." She out stretched her arm to push past him but he took hold of it and stopped her.
"No, that's not what I meant to do…"
"Paul!" Shirley called up the stairs and by the look on her face she hadn't missed the altercation. "You get down here right now!"
As soon as he let her go she got past him and went down the stairs. She didn't even have a chance to thank Shirley because the woman was already scolding her son.
Gillian found Cal in the living room, he was slumped in an over stuffed chair across from the young woman they had seen before at breakfast. The girl didn't look much older than Emily, which surprised Gillian, considering the body language she was giving off.
Cal looked up when Gillian got close enough.
"Foster, meet Sasha Brassard, Shirley's granddaughter." He gave her a once over and she knew when his expression changed from a playful smile to a concerned seriousness that she was more shaken by the Paul encounter than she had thought. "What happened?" he didn't bother excusing himself to Sasha. He just stood up and ushered Gillian across the room.
"It's nothing." She didn't feel like telling him. She didn't even feel like being mad that he was reading her. "I'm hungry, lets get some lunch." She tried to pull away but he held her by the elbow.
"Like hell, Foster." He lowered his voice, "Gillian?" her name came out like a plea. It warmed her that he cared so much.
"It's fine. I'll tell you later?" she smiled and asked him with her eyes to trust her.
"Alright Luv." He rubbed her arm. She tried to figure out if he had always been this physical with her or if that morning some how given him unspoken permission to touch her more. She was starting to like it. A lot.
To Be Continued…