Her Unlikely Family by Missy Tippens Page B

goofing off.”
    â€œIt was more than that this time. You’ve looked at him like that before. But now he’s all interested in you, too.”
    â€œLisa!”
    â€œHe’ll hang around for you, now.”
    â€œYour uncle is here for you. Totally.”
    â€œCome on, Josie. What does he truly want with me? He’s here because he has to be, and you know it.”
    â€œHe loves you.”
    â€œHe’s Mr. Responsible. That’s the only reason he bothered to find me.”
    â€œLook, your uncle and I are as different as night and day. Sure, we may cause a few sparks to fly. But that’s it. It’s all in fun.”
    Lisa slouched in the backseat, silent.
    â€œI promise you, Lisa, that’s all there is to it. Your uncle is an old stick-in-the-mud, and I couldn’t ever fall for him.”
    Hope shone in Lisa’s eyes. “You promise? ’Cause once he and Gloria started seeing each other, I never heard from him.”
    So he and Gloria had seen a lot of each other, huh? “I promise. We’ll all hang out together. But that’s it. No relationship between Mike and me.”
    A sigh escaped Lisa as Mike opened the car door and slid the cooler in beside her.
    â€œLet’s get home,” he said. “Or we’ll all have pneumonia.”
    Josie started the car and put the heat on high. Her teeth began to chatter. But it wasn’t one hundred percent from the dunking.
    Lord, help me here. I can’t afford to think of Mike as anything other than a business relationship. And our business is Lisa’s welfare.
    Â 
    The next morning, Michael sat in the diner drinking coffee that Bud had brought him. Josie seemed to be hiding in the kitchen.
    No wonder. He’d been a brute the day before. He’d practically dragged her to him to kiss her, right there in front of Lisa.
    Now Josie avoided him like a bad case of food poisoning.
    â€œG’morning, Uncle Michael.” Lisa climbed in across from him.
    â€œGood morning.”
    At least Lisa had greeted him. She’d even given him a tentative smile. And he could live with that.
    Forget Josie.
    Speaking of Josie …She walked out of the kitchen, grabbed a plate from Bud and plunked it down in front of him. “Here’s your breakfast.”
    She stalked away, bracelets clanging in time to the sway of her hips. Once she reached a table across the room—where the same construction workers sat every time he’d been in the diner—she parked herself right beside the bearded giant.
    After a few minutes, Josie went back to work and didn’t pay Lisa and him an ounce of attention other than to refill his coffee and to bring Lisa a plate of fruit with one hardboiled egg.
    â€œGo ahead and take your break,” Josie told Lisa without acknowledging him. “You can eat with Mike.”
    â€œIs that all you’re going to eat?” he asked.
    â€œI usually eat fruit, but Josie makes me eat an egg sometimes, too.”
    â€œWell, good for Josie. You need some protein.”
    Lisa worked diligently to crack the eggshell on the edge of her plate, avoiding eye contact. “So, you like her, huh?”
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    A repeat of the tension of yesterday stiffened her shoulders. “Josie. I saw the way you looked at her at the park. You like her. As more than a friend.”
    â€œI don’t have feelings for anyone.”
    â€œYeah, right. And you weren’t just looking jealous, either.”
    Michael still couldn’t figure out Lisa’s attitude change. All he knew was that the near-kiss had incited it.
    â€œI’m not jealous, either,” he said.
    â€œThen why were you scowling at Butch?”
    â€œButch?”
    â€œThe guy Josie sat by.”
    â€œHe seemed to be flirting with her.”
    â€œSo? They’re buddies. They went out once, but there wasn’t any oomph there.”
    â€œOomph?”
    â€œYeah,