Single Dad Sheriff (Harlequin American Romance) by LISA CHILDS Page B

he’d been the one to leave her. “You really think I should have told him?” Jessie swallowed hard. “Do you think I should tell him now?”
    â€œI don’t know,” her cousin admitted.
    â€œHe didn’t want me to be pregnant eight years ago. He was relieved when I lied and told him I wasn’t.” So relieved that he’d dumped her.
    â€œHe was eighteen years old,” Belinda reminded her.
    She shrugged. “But maybe he still doesn’t want kids. Then what do I tell Tommy? That his father rejected him twice?”
    â€œAre you afraid of him rejecting Tommy or afraid that he’s going to want him?”
    Nerves flipped her stomach. Her cousin knew her too well. “That’s the other thing. What if he’s so pissedthat I lied, that I kept him from his son all these years, that he sues me for full custody?”
    â€œNo judge would take that boy away from you,” Belinda assured her. “You’re a great mom. But you might have to share custody. Then you could wind up like me, spending every Wednesday and every weekend alone when Ed and his new bride have my kids.”
    Jessie had had Tommy all to herself for so long that she didn’t know if she could share him. But sharing was the least of her concerns. Despite her cousin’s assurances, she wasn’t convinced that she wouldn’t lose custody of her son.
    She shook off her own fears to comfort her cousin, reaching out to pat Belinda’s jean-clad knee. “You’re always welcome over here.” In fact, to keep Belinda from going crazy, they had a standing date every Friday night—until one of them started dating seriously.
    â€œWhere’s Tommy tonight?” her cousin asked.
    â€œHe’s sleeping over at his friend Christopher’s.” Jessie bit her lip, wondering now if that was a good idea. Seeing his friend with his father was what had inspired Tommy’s latest quest for information about his own dad.
    â€œThe Johnsons, right?” Belinda asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThey’re a nice family.” Belinda emitted a wistful sigh. While she was too proud to admit it, she missed her own family.
    â€œThat’s what Tommy wants,” Jessie said with a sigh of her own. “A family.” She wasn’t enough for her son anymore. He wanted a father. His father.
    â€œDon’t we all?” Belinda asked. She’d thought she had it when she’d married her high school sweetheart, butit hadn’t lasted. Even though Ed had strayed, Belinda blamed herself for trapping him into marriage when she’d gotten pregnant with the twins.
    If Jessie had told Keith the truth, he probably would have insisted on marrying her, too. Then he would have come to resent her as Ed had Belinda. Even when guilt over lying to Keith often kept her awake, Jessie was convinced that she had done the right thing for both of them. But what about Tommy and his longing for a father?
    With a sigh, she shrugged off her own problems and focused on her cousin, who was also her best friend. “You should start seriously dating again, Bee,” Jessie urged her, squeezing her cousin’s knee again.
    â€œI should,” Belinda heartily agreed. “Maybe I should go after our new sheriff.”
    Jessie’s stomach flipped. She wanted to blame the greasy, take-out food, but she had a feeling that it was jealousy instead as she imagined Chance Drayton with her beautiful cousin.
    â€œUnless you’ve already called dibs on him,” Belinda said, that brow arched again as she studied Jessie over the rim of her wineglass.
    â€œI—I—of course I haven’t…”
    Belinda laughed. “Really? Everybody’s still talking about you driving his police car. You know what everyone thinks when a man lets a woman drive his car.”
    â€œThat he just had an allergic reaction and couldn’t see to drive himself