Page 248 of Cara & Gian: The Guzzi Duet

Jenny carefully maneuvered Marcus from his car seat. The baby peered up at the new, strange person in his world, but still grinned behind his soother. “I’m so glad you brought him in to the shelter to say hello. Everyone misses you so much. We were starting to consider you were never going to come back.”

Cara waved that off. “I’ll be back. Four months is all I agreed to take off, and I can bring him in with me when I do start back. No worries there.”

“Well, let’s go say hello to everybody, sweet boy.”

For the next hour, Cara strolled from office to office, and section to section, watching as yet more people fell head over heels for her boy. She had wanted to come to the shelter sooner, as her coworkers were just as much her family as her own brother, but things always seemed to get in the way. She had pushed it aside for far too long.

Cara was grateful she had made the time today.

“So, how’s it been with the new baby?” another one of her co-workers asked.

“Busy. Tiring. Wonderful.”

The woman smiled as she headed back into her office. “Babies will definitely do that.”

Cara stepped aside as the mail cart was pushed through the office wing. The man who delivered the mail stopped long enough to give the baby and Cara a quick hello, and then went about delivering the last bit of his manila envelopes to each office.

“We will be so happy to have you back,” Jenny said, “though I understand why you want to take as much time as you can with this beautiful little creature.”

Cara took her son when Jenny offered the still wide-awake baby back. “I do want to get back here, though. I feel like I’ll probably have way too much to catch up on, by the time I get back into the office.”

“Don’t worry, you haven’t missed a lot, Cara. We’ve just spent the last month working through what happened with the shooting, settling back in, and getting everyone settled. Nothing too strenuous.”

“Still …”

“Enjoy the time with your baby,” Jenny said.

Cara sighed. “I am, trust me.”

“And you are always welcome to come in just for conversation. No one is going to turn you away with little Marcus here.”

She laughed. “Yes, not because you want me here, it’s all about him, now.”

“Well, look at him!”

“Oh, my.”

The quiet exclamation from behind Cara gained both her and Jenny’s attention. The previous co-worker that had been admiring Marcus stood in her office doorway with a manila envelope in her hands. Her gaze darted from whatever she was staring at, to Cara, and then back again. A pink reddened her cheeks.

“Something wrong, Nancy?” Jenny asked.

“Um. Uh. Well—”

“Spit it out.”

An odd, heavy sensation settled in Cara’s stomach. She wasn’t sure why, but just the way Nancy looked at her again, and then back down to the item in her hands, it was unsettling.

To say the least …

“Whoa!”

Another shout from someone else echoed inside a different office.

“Did you get one of these?” Nancy asked, lifting the envelope for Jenny to see. She kept the items hidden behind it, though.

“I’m not sure.”

Nancy’s gaze darted to Cara once more. “You should probably check, Jenny.”