Destined To Be A Dad (Welcome To Destiny Book 9) by Christyne Butler

carrying his printouts.
    “Don’t listen to him, boss man,” she said. “It was a great idea.”
    “How did you hear me out in the hall?” Nolan asked.
    “Your voice carries. A whisperer you’re not.” She waited while Liam cleared a space by shoving aside a pile of folders.
    “I know that was a last-minute call,” he said, taking the paperwork from her, “but please tell me you had time to record it or listened in to take notes.”
    “I listened. The transcript is already in their online folder.”
    Katie stood there, hands clasped, and Liam grinned, knowing the mess on his desk was driving their anal-retentive office manager crazy. Neat and orderly should be the woman’s middle name—she kept the inner workings of Murphy Mountain Log Homes just that.
    “You sticking around for dinner?” he asked, knowing his mother probably already made the invite.
    Katie shrugged and headed for the door. “Sure. I’ve got nothing else planned.” She stopped and then turned around, her expression pained. “I’m sorry. That was terrible of me.”
    Liam looked at his brothers. Bryant seemed as surprised by her words as he was, but Nolan’s gaze was glued to the Persian rug beneath his feet as if he was memorizing the pattern.
    Liam swung his gaze back to her. “You’re always welcome, you know that, but you don’t have to stay for dinner.”
    Katie’s smile lacked its usual brilliance. “I know, but seeing how I’ve got nothing in my kitchen but leftovers from Sherry’s Diner and a half dozen moving boxes, I’ll stay.”
    She left the room, the clinking of her fancy shoes echoing behind her.
    “Moving boxes?” Liam turned to his brothers again, but Bryant only shrugged. “Nolan? What’s going on?”
    “Katie moved out of Jake’s place this weekend,” his brother said, his gaze now on the empty fireplace. “She’s back in an apartment in town.”
    Liam knew she’d been seeing one of the local sheriff’s deputies for over a year and had been excited about moving in with him and his two young girls. “Didn’t she give up her place a month or so ago to be with him and the kids?”
    Nolan nodded. “Yeah, but I guess Jake and his wife decided to reconcile just before signing the divorce papers. The house is on the market and the man was smart enough to move himself and the girls to wherever his wife went after she first took off.”
    “What a lousy thing to do.” Bryant finished his drink and headed for the bar. “No wonder Katie was in such a bad mood last week, not to mention absent from the barbecue on Saturday.”
    The anger burning in Liam’s gut slowly morphed into guilt. He’d been so busy with the rodeo preparations last week and then with Missy and Casey showing up, he hadn’t noticed anything was wrong. Or Katie’s absence this weekend—she, Jake and the girls had often joined the family in the past.
    “Is she going to be okay?” he asked.
    “Oh, you know Katie,” Nolan offered dryly. “She always finds someone new.”
    True, she had dated a number of men over the years, but this time it had seemed pretty serious. Serious enough that she’d moved in with the man. “Maybe she needs some time off.”
    “I offered. She turned me down.” Nolan sat back, leg bent, propping a foot on his knee. “Asked if she needed any help moving, too, once I managed to get her to tell me what was wrong. She said she was all set.”
    Liam nodded, making a note to keep an eye on her as he stared at the latest contracts, mentally calculating how many he could get through after dinner. “So, is Adam here yet? I’m guessing he went home to get Fay and the baby after work.”
    “Haven’t seen him, but what’s with this family dinner?” Nolan asked. “We were all just together two days ago.”
    “Maybe Mom pulled it together for Katie.” If anyone knew about the goings-on in Destiny, it was their mother. She had the town wired, her roots deep in the local gossip, especially now that she’d