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The Super
Mom
Karen Rose Smith
Talk of the Neighborhood continuity
series
Silhouette Special Edition
ISBN 0373247974
(this link opens a new browser window)
With three kids to care for and two jobs to make
ends meet, the last thing on Angela Schumacher's mind was a relationship. And
then Santa delivered the perfect man to her door.
Football coach David Moore agreed to be a "big brother" to Angela's
troubled older son, but he didn't anticipate falling hard for the boy's
beautiful mom. As the holidays approached and their romance heated up,
David knew Angela was torn between family duty and heart's desire--but was
he willing to wait for her to make up her mind? After all, love was
waiting under the tree, if only Angelas could reach out and grab it!
REVIEWS
THE SUPERMOM is a heartwarming tale
with appealing characters. David doesn't step in and immediately solve Angela's
problems, but he becomes a friend of the rest of the family while trying to help
Anthony. He also provides moral support for Angela when a new career opportunity
presents itself. All the while, a mutual attraction smolders in the background,
but Angela and David handle their feelings with maturity and care for the
children. THE SUPERMOM is a novel with many facets that should strike sparks
with a wide readership... SSEs are known for stories featuring home and family
and so is Karen Rose Smith; you can't go wrong with any book with her name on
the cover. ~ Jane Bowers, Romance Reviews Today
The author builds subtle tension between the heroine and hero. The love scenes
are sizzling, but sweet, too. The importance of the love of family plays just as
pivotal a role as romantic love in this charming tale. THE
SUPERMOM is a super story, which will appeal to all romance readers. ~
Roberta Austin, Romance Junkies
CHAPTER ONE
She was a fraud.
Everyone in the neighborhood thought Angela
Schumacher was a Supermom. That might have been true a couple of years ago.
But now, handling two jobs, caring for Olivia, Anthony and Michael as if
she were two parents, she was frazzled and on the edge.
After she parked in her driveway and leapt out of her van, she just
stared at the scene in front of her. Evening light was fading fast. Her
neighbor, Zooey, stood just outside Angela's front door holding Jack Lever's
toddler. Her hand was in a stay position to Olivia, Michael and her soon-to-be
step-daughter Emily as she called to someone around the corner of the house.
Concerned that her normally unflappable, beautiful neighbor seemed
hassled, Angela rushed forward. Although her blond hair was cut to a chic
chin-length bob, and she usually felt good about herself when she looked in the
mirror, next to Zooey she felt like a shrimp at five-foot-four. She'd never
understood why it had taken Jack Lever so long to fall in love with his
beautiful, willowy nanny. But he finally had, and everyone on Danbury Way had
cheered.
"Jack, be careful on that ladder," Zooey called around the corner of
the house, her breath puffing white in the early December cold.
"What ladder?" Angela asked, astonished. What in the heck was going on
here? Maybe a cat had climbed up onto the roof... "Why is Jack climbing a
ladder?"
Shifting two-year-old Jack, Jr. from one arm to the other, Zooey
replied calmly, "It's Anthony."
The fact suddenly registered with Angela that Anthony wasn't standing
in the doorway with the other kids. Her heart raced. Her mouth went dry.
Panic clamped her chest. "What about Anthony? What's wrong? Why do you need a
ladder? Is there a fire?"
Zooey gave her friend a hint of a smile. "No, no fire. Calm down.
He's locked in his room. We can't get him to open the door. He and Olivia got
into an argument. He took her rock collection, went into his room and locked
everyone out."
Seven-year-old Olivia came rushing to Angela now, and so did Michael.
"I hate him," she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. "He's got my rocks."
Olivia's rock collection was her most precious possession. That's
obviously why Anthony had taken it. From the Supermom front, she was failing
miserably with her oldest child. Anthony had been acting out in subtle ways for
the past few months, ever since Jerome had missed his last two dates to see him.
Little Michael, whose fifth birthday seemed to give him permission to
ask more questions than any other five-year-old in the world, gazed up at her
with certainty. "You can make him open the door. That's my room, too. He
won't let me in."
"Jack just wanted to peek in the window to make sure he was okay,"
Zooey assured her.
At that moment Jack rounded the house and smiled at Angela. "He's as
stubborn as any nine-year-old. He won't look at me or talk to me. He totally
ignored me when I rapped on the window. But he's okay. He's sitting on his bed
with his earphones on, playing with his GameBoy."
"I don't know what to do with him," Angela murmured. "I can't make up
for what Jerome won't do."
After she shooed the other kids into the house, Zooey bounced Jack, Jr.
a bit. "Maybe it's time you look into the Big Brother program at the community
center." She glanced at Jack for support.
He shrugged. "You'd get a positive, male influence that way. Then you
wouldn't have to worry about finding a husband to do it." As usual, Jack's
voice was full of mischief and Angela knew he was just trying to make her
smile. But right now, the idea of finding a husband ranked right up there with
wanting to find a snake in her basement. She wasn't looking for one, didn't
need one, and would rather dismiss the whole scenario.
One thing she did know was that she had to take Anthony in hand. Up
until now she'd been too lenient. She'd felt guilty because Jerome had left
their Rosewood, New York, home without a backward glance. Disappointed he
didn't understand what gems he had in his kids, sorry that they didn't feel his
love, she'd over-compensated. That had to stop. Anthony had to understand
reality and she was going to explain it to him.
Turning to Zooey, she asked, "Can you stay for a few more minutes until
I talk to Anthony?"
"No problem."
As Jack took Jack, Jr. from Zooey's arms, he gave her a fast but
resounding kiss. "Emily, are you coming with me?"
His daughter, the same age as Olivia, shook her head. "Olivia and I
have stuff to talk about."
Jack raised his brows at Angela to ask what she thought.
She could imagine what stuff the two girls had to chatter about. But
they were great friends and Angela didn't mind Emily being around. "She can
stay for supper if she'd like. I'm just going to make grilled cheese sandwiches
and soup."
Jack whispered to Zooey, "Maybe we can convince Jack, Jr. to go to bed
early."
On a mission, Angela headed through the dining room to the kitchen,
realizing how happy Zooey and Jack seemed. Planning their wedding for
Valentine's Day, they were the picture of what a couple was supposed to be. She
didn't believe she'd ever been that happy with Jerome.
They'd married because...
Because Angela had wanted a husband and a family. Her parents divorced
when she was sixteen and her adopted sister, Megan, was fourteen. The split-up
had hurt them both deeply. They'd turned to each other and were still best
friends. Angela didn't know what she was going to do when Megan got married and
moved out of the garage apartment after New Year's. Her sister had found love,
too.
Maybe Angela had married Jerome because she'd wanted to believe in
love...wanted to believe a man could stick better than her father had...wanted
to believe in happy endings. But she'd learned the hard way that all men were
alike. Well, maybe she was rethinking that a little because of the goings on in
the neighborhood. Not only Megan and Greg seemed happy. Zooey and Jack
couldn't take their eyes off each other. Her neighbor Carly and her husband Bo
were opposites but seemed to fit together like two puzzle pieces. Neighbors
Rebecca and Joe seemed content, too, and the buzz said they were going to get
engaged any day.
Sometimes Angela felt as if she were operating in an alternate
universe.
In the kitchen, Angela searched in the silverware drawer for a
shish-kabob skewer. Then she hurried upstairs, trying to figure out what to say
to her oldest child.
At his door, she put the tip of the skewer in the small hole in the
knob. The lock popped.
Anthony's room had been messier than ever the past two months--another
aspect of his acting out. Although Michael was untidy in his
little-boy-getting-older way--socks on the floor, toys not put back on the
red-and-blue shelves--Anthony's messiness was different. It was deliberate.
Candy bar wrappers lay strewn about. Half a banana sat on his nightstand.
There were clothes on the floor--his jeans and a shirt. His bedspread,
patterned with soccer balls, baseballs and footballs, was thrown off and lay
sprawled over the footboard. She had a rule that the kids make their beds every
day, and he'd been breaking it.
She had to take back control. She had to teach him he couldn't act
however he wanted, that life wasn't always fair, that there were rules and
boundaries.
When she approached the bed, he didn't even look up. He was sprawled
there, one leg crossed over the other, headphones on, his fingers pressing
buttons on his GameBoy. Instead of trying to get his attention the usual way,
she simply went to him and removed the earphones from his head.
"Hey!"
"I don't answer to hey. It's Mom. And when I come into the room, or
when anybody comes into the room, you look at them."
His eyes went wide at her firm tone. Then he looked wary. He had
Jerome's brown eyes. The same jaw, too. But he was blond as she was. Even at
nine, he was already getting tall. He'd be six-feet before long.
She motioned to the bed beside him. "Can I sit? We have to talk."
Again, that wary look and a half shrug.
"Things have to change around here. Especially your behavior."
A defensive frown shaped his mouth and, remaining silent, he folded his
arms over his chest.
"I know you're upset because your dad cancelled your last two outings.
But you can't behave badly because of it. We can talk about it anytime you
want."
"You're never here."
She was at home a lot less than she used to be, but that couldn't be
helped right now. "I'm here as much as I can be. I have to work to keep this
house, to buy your clothes, to buy food. I'm working more now because with Aunt
Megan leaving and getting married, we'll have more expenses, and I need money to
pay those. I'm looking for someone else to move in above the garage, but until
I find that person, money's going to be tight."
His brows arched as if he'd never thought about all that.
"I don't want you to worry about it. We'll be okay. But that's why I
took the part-time job at Felice's Nieces. I guess I should have explained all
this to you before I did it. I forget that you're growing up."
When he lowered his eyes back to his GameBoy and didn't respond, she
remembered Zooey's suggestion and plunged in. "There's a Big Brother program at
the community center, and I'm going to look into getting you an older buddy who
can do things with you."
"I want dad to do things with me," he grumbled.
"I know you do. But I can't control what your dad does and neither can
you. Instead of just being unhappy because he doesn't come around, we have to
do something about it."
"I'm not going to hang out with some stranger!" Anthony exclaimed and
rolled over on his side, turning his back to her.
Angela sighed. Like everything else, this wasn't going to be
easy. She could bake a great apple pie, but her life was falling apart and she
had to do something about it.
#
Felice's Nieces, Rosewood's upscale 'tween and teen shop was always
loud, colorful and usually busy. Angela's full-time job as an office manager
for a pediatric dentist was methodical and paper-work oriented. Actually, she
enjoyed working here two nights a week, sometimes on Saturdays, and interacting
with the kids. Besides that, she received a discount on her children's clothes.
As she separated young mens' jeans, ringspun denim from sandblasted
finish, she was aware of the plasma screen TV flickering with the latest DVD for
the 'tween set. Surround-sound blared from every direction.
Finished with the jeans, Angela moved toward a table laden with red,
lime, lemon and royal blue sweaters. The kids picked at them and tossed them
back down, and they constantly needed to be straightened. As she folded a lime
one Olivia might like for Christmas, the buzzer on the glass door sounded and
she looked up.
Her heart beat faster as she examined the man who had just walked in.
Tall, blond and broad-shouldered, he looked like every cheerleader's
dream. Square-jawed, his face too rugged to be called handsome, he looked
totally out of place amidst giggling girls, tall displays of jewelry and
carousel racks filled with the latest styles. She couldn't quite gauge how old
he was. Her age, maybe?
Reluctantly she returned her attention to the sweaters on the table,
taking another peek at him as he went to the cashier's desk and spoke to the
manager. Those shoulders filled out the hunter-green sweater to perfection.
She could only imagine the muscles there. His grey stone-washed jeans fit his
backside even better. The cross trainers he wore were expensive, and she
wondered if he'd come in to buy somebody a Christmas present.
Stop it, she scolded herself. As if you'd consider getting involved
with anyone right now, let alone a hunk, who'd be scared to death of three kids
and a mortgage payment the size of the eastern seaboard.
Angela was stacking sweaters into an organized pile when a deep male
voice made her jump.
"Are you Angela Schumacher?"
Spinning around, clutching a sweater to her chest, she looked up into
the fascinating hazel eyes of the blond man who'd walked in a few minutes
before.
Flustered, she had trouble finding her voice. Finally she managed to
say, "I'm Angela."
He extended his hand. "I'm David Moore. I've been selected to be
Anthony's Big Brother."
"I see," she replied inanely, not knowing what else to say. His hand
was still extended and she slipped hers into it, immediately aware of the heat
shooting up her arm, the increased rate of her pulse, the giddy feeling she
hadn't experienced since she was a teenager.
Composing herself, she pulled her hand away. "The community center
said you'd give me a call before you stopped by the house."
"When I called your house and explained who I was, your sitter told me
you were working here tonight. Zooey, her name is."
"Oh, Zooey's not a sitter. I mean, she's my neighbor. She's watching
the kids for me while my sister's on a business trip and..." She trailed off
feeling foolish. "It's complicated."
"Life usually is."
His smile curled her toes. What was wrong with her? Her ex-husband
had taught her many lessons and she'd remembered them all. She wanted nothing
to do with another relationship.
A little voice she didn't recognize whispered, Who's talking about a
relationship? What about a torrid affair?
Feeling herself flush, Angela asked, "Do you live near here?" She
still didn't understand why he had just dropped in.
"No. But my store's across the plaza--Moore's Sporting Goods."
She hadn't made the connection. "That's you?"
"That's me. I coach high school football on the side. That's how I
got involved with the mentoring program."
His hazel eyes turned a bit greener, and Angela wondered how old he
really was, how he'd come to own a sporting goods store, and why he coached on
the side. Too many questions. She didn't care, did she? Well, she cared where
Anthony's well-being was at stake. She really didn't know anything about this
man...
As if he'd read her thoughts, he took a folded sheet of paper out of
his back pocket, unfolded it and handed it to her. "Here are my stats with
basic information and the names of parents of kids I've mentored. If you don't
like what you see there or you don't get the information you want to hear from
my references, you can choose another mentor. I know these days parents need to
check out anyone who will be spending time with their kids."
It seemed the opportune time to ask, "Do you have children?"
"No."
That's all he said, but he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. The absence
of one didn't mean anything these days, and she shouldn't even be looking.
"I thought I could spend some time with Anthony on Saturday."
She'd have two days to check out his references. That should be enough
time. "I work here in the morning, but afternoon would be okay. I have to tell
you, though, my son doesn't like the idea of a mentor or a Big Brother."
"He might change his mind once we actually do some fun stuff. We'll go
easy and take it a little at a time."
Her gaze fell to his lips and she felt that giddiness again. A little
at a time. Is that the way he handled women, too? Shoot. Something must have
triggered hormones she didn't even know she had.
Someone nudged Angela's elbow. "Ms. Schumacher? Does this go
together?"
Angela looked down at Denise, a twelve-year-old who often came into the
store without her mom.
"You're busy," David Moore remarked. "I don't want to take up your
time. "I'll see you Saturday afternoon."
"Saturday afternoon," she repeated, reminding herself she needed help
with Anthony, not a hot affair.
Then she laughed inwardly. Who could possibly have a hot affair with
three kids around?
Watch for Karen Rose Smith's next release--FALLING FOR THE TEXAS TYCOON--from
Silhouette Special Edition, Logan's Legacy Revisited continuity series, February
2007.
THE SUPER MOM by Karen Rose Smith, Silhouette Special Edition, December 2006,
ISBN:0-373-24797-4, Copyyright: 2006 by Karen Rose Smith
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