A Sweetheart For The Single Dad (The Camdens Of Colorado Book 8) by Victoria Pade

now.”
    “I guess I took what I was taught seriously.” Lindie finished her hamburger and picked at her fries. “I know sometimes I go overboard. I just want to make sure everything and everybody is taken care of and has what they need, what they want. It’s what I do. I’m uncomfortable thinking that anyone might be unhappy or not feel safe.”
    “Because you didn’t?”
    “I did.”
    “Not at first. How could you have?” he said as if he’d seen through her. “At first you were just a six-year-old who lost both of your parents. No matter what your last name was, that would shatter any kid’s world. And then, as if it wasn’t enough to be one of six at home, you had to move and become one of
ten
.”
    His insight was spot-on.
    “I did have to compete for adult attention and my place in the sun,” she admitted. “Actually, I can remember worrying about my place in the family and thinking that I had to be good, that I had to help wherever I could and make myself useful and not rock the boat or GiGi might wash her hands of me to make things easier.”
    “Wow! That had to be a scary thought for a tiny kid! And somehow that turned into you wanting to become the help and salvation and safe haven for whoever might feel the same way?”
    Lindie laughed. “I never considered that, but maybe that’s true. Only now it’s kind of gotten out of hand and my family wants me to tone it down. Which I’m honestly trying to do,” she said. “I’m trying not to always swoop in to rescue everyone. In the past few years it’s made trouble for me with friends and with men in my life. Three months ago it got me hurt and put me in danger, so my whole family wants me to put some brakes on it now.”
    “Hurt and in danger?”
    “I can’t say no. I can’t pass a donation jar without putting something in it. I can’t not give to a charity or buy the stuff kids sell to support their schools or teams or scout troops. I haven’t ever
not
signed on for anything that seemed like a worthy cause. And when it comes to panhandlers on the street or in parking lots—”
    “You open your wallet,” he interrupted with a note of ominousness.
    “Three months ago I did that and it turned into a mugging. The guy grabbed my wallet and then wanted my purse, too. In the process of yanking it off my shoulder he knocked me down. I hit my head and got all bruised and scraped up.”
    “That’s bad.”
    “Luckily another man came around the corner about that time. The panhandler ran off and my good Samaritan called for help. I ended up in the emergency room that day, too.”
    “How hurt were you?”
    “A minor concussion, cuts and bumps and bruises. Nothing big.”
    “Big enough,” he said as if convinced she was understating, his handsome face pulled into a frown.
    “Well, yeah, big enough and sort of the frosting on the cake of some other things that my urge to fix and rescue have caused in my personal life. Anyway, what started as a kid has gone a little too far. My family has been telling me for a long time that I can’t save the world and I’m starting to think they’re right so I’m trying to control it some.”
    “By almost taking four kids home with you tonight?”
    Lindie shrugged.
    “What would have happened if you had?” he asked, watching her closely. “If you had done that and then regretted it, would you have just kept them and resented it? Resented them?”
    That seemed like an odd question. “Is that why you didn’t want me to do it? You thought I’d sign on for it and then regret it and resent them?”
    He took a turn at shrugging.
    “When I commit, I commit,” she declared. “Don’t you?”
    “Yeah,
I
do. But...” He shook his head and seemed to concede to something. “Okay, maybe that came out of my own stuff. Maybe you
would
have been fine instantly becoming the mother of four for an indefinite amount of time or maybe even forever. But I guess the same way you’re trying to control some excessive