Nobody But You: A Single Dad Romance

by Megan Green

  I sigh. “You and me both.”

  “It’s too bad we don’t play for the same team. We’d be perfect for each other.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to see how that dinner goes, won’t we?” I say, giving her a playful wink.

  I help her pack up her stuff and walk her to the back door. Morgan is pulling on her jacket as we arrive, and I send them both off with promises of hot coffee and warm doughnuts in the morning.

  After locking up the back, I do a final walk-through of the clinic before heading to my office. I sit at my desk and start in on some paperwork, not really feeling up to it, but knowing I also don’t really have a choice if I want things to get paid.

  Not even five minutes have passed when my eyes start to drift shut, my head bobbing on my neck as I fight to remain conscious. After reading the same line on the form half a dozen times and not registering what it says, I finally toss the document back on my desk and stretch.

  That hot bath I told Cami I was dying for sounds heavenly right about now. Too bad there isn’t even the chance of one in my foreseeable future.

  I walk over to the sofa in the corner of my office, looking behind me as if someone is just going to materialize in there, before unfolding the sleeper hidden inside.

  Nobody knows I’ve been staying here since my return to Harts Creek. Cami and Morgan think I have my own place, and my mother thinks I’ve been staying at a hotel until I find something more permanent.

  Truth is, I can barely afford this place as it is. I made good money back in New York, but the lifestyle I lived wasn’t exactly cheap. The monthly rent on my place in Manhattan with Jesse was almost as much as the mortgage on this place for half a year. The small savings I’d managed to acquire went toward the down payment for the clinic, leaving me with just enough for the plane ticket out here and a cheap car that is nearly as old as I am.

  Still, despite the hardships and adjustments I’ve had to make, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. That person in Manhattan … that wasn’t me. Sure, she might have looked like me. Sounded like me. But deep down inside, she was a shell. A hollowed-out vessel who was simply biding her time, unaware of the life she was missing.

  This, I think, turning around in a circle as I look around the room. This is where I’m meant to be.

  I grab some clothes from the suitcase hidden in the closet and head to the back room. I turn on the water in the small shower area usually reserved for dog grooming—don’t judge me; a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do— and am just about to undress when a loud noise comes from the front of the clinic.

  What the fuck?

  I silence the shower, panic rising in my throat when I realize the commotion is someone banging on the front door. I look around for something, anything, I can grab to defend myself, my eyes landing on a scalpel. I snatch it up, knowing it’s not going to do a whole lot if whoever’s at my door has a gun, but at least it’s something.

  I walk slowly around the corner, trying to catch a glimpse of the intruder before they can see me.

  A pair of blonde pigtails comes into view, and I immediately drop the scalpel and run to the door.

  A small girl stands, staring up at me, her cheeks flushed and tearstained. She doesn’t look any more than maybe five years old, and my eyes flick behind her, wondering where in the hell her parents are.

  I flip the lock on the door, and she rushes in before I can even pull it open.

  “Please, you have to help us!”

  I crouch down in front of her. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Where’s your mom?”

  She gestures over her shoulder toward the door. “My dad is parking the car. Please, my dog is hurt. Can you help me?”

  Every instinct inside me switches into high alert, and I stand and take the little girl’s hand. “Show me.”

  Before she can take a step, the front door swings open, and a man appears with a dog in his arms. “Sorry, she jumped out of the car as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. I hope she didn’t scare you.”

  It takes me a second to realize he means the little girl and not the dog he’s holding. I give him a dismissive wave. “It’s fine,” I say, never lifting my eyes from the animal. I step closer, my hands moving over the dog as I try to assess her condition. “What seems to be the problem?”

  The man shrugs, the dog shifting in his arms at the motion. She groans a little at the unwanted movement. “Don’t know. She just sort of collapsed.”

  “Do you mind?” I ask, taking the dog from him before he even answers. I settle her against my chest before jerking my head toward an exam room. “Feel free to take a seat in there. I’ll be back.”

  “Are you sure?” the man asks. “It looks like you’re closed.”

  “Have a seat,” is all I say as I rush through the door to the back.

  I set her down on an operating table, taking care to move slowly so as not to jostle her too much. I smooth her fur with one hand as I run the other over her stomach, trying to feel for anything obvious that might be wrong.

  The back door flies open, Cami rushing in on a whirlwind of chaos and panic. “What’s going on? I was on the phone with, uh … well, I was on the phone when I heard a bunch of noise. Are you okay?”

  I look up at her and then back at the dog. “A man and a little girl brought her in. Said she just collapsed.”

  Cami kicks into high gear when she sees the poor little animal in front of me. “Any idea what happened?”

  I shake my head. “No idea. I didn’t get a whole lot of history. She looks like she’s barely hanging on, so I didn’t want to waste any time.”

  “What do you need?” she asks, not squandering a second.

  I shoot her an appreciative glance, so happy she still happened to be here and can help me through this.

  “Get her started on an IV. Her heartbeat is thin and thready, so I’ll be back to draw some blood in a minute. I think I scared the poor people who brought her in. I shouted at them to sit in a room before rushing off with their dog.”

  “Got it, boss lady. Go see if you can find anything else out, and I’ll get the IV going and start prepping her for blood work.”

  “You’re the best, Cami. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  She waves me off with one hand while the other gets to work on the dog, her brows deepening in concern when she realizes how lethargic the poor thing is.

  I jog back to the exam room to let the man and girl know we’re going to start running some tests and see if they can give me a little more history on the dog’s condition. Grabbing a pen and paper from a table, I swing the door open, and my eyes fall instantly on the little girl.

  “Is she going to be okay? Please tell me she’s going to be okay!”

  I hate lying to anyone, let alone a child, but I can’t bring myself to tell her the truth—that I just don’t know. So, instead, I say, “Of course she is, sweetheart. Now, why don’t you run out front and grab a candy from the bowl on the desk while I talk to your dad?”

  The little girl looks like the last thing she wants right now is candy, but at the urging of her father, she complies. I watch as she somberly walks from the room, her feet dragging slowly as her head falls forward against her chest.

  “Sorry about that,” the man says, pulling my attention back to him. “She tends to be a little overdramatic about things when she’s worried.”

  And in that second, everything I found great about this town since my return evaporates, leaving behind all the forgotten reasons why I left.

  No, not reasons.

  Reason.

  Mason Cooper.

  3

  Mason

  “Sorry about that,” I say as Hannah trudges from the room. “She tends to be a little overdramatic about things when she’s worried.”

  The vet stares up at me, something darkening in her eyes as she looks at me, and for the first time in my life, I can definitely say it’s not with interest or lust.

  That’s n
ot to say I think I’m this unbelievable catch that women can’t help but throw themselves at. It’s just that, over the past few years, I’ve come to understand one thing. Being a semi-decent-looking dude with a daughter I adore and no ring on my left hand … well, that empty finger seems to emit a sort of Bat-Signal into the sky. But instead of the Caped Crusader flying in to the rescue, my signal calls out to every single woman within a ten-mile radius.

  Which would be great, if I were even remotely interested in the opposite sex. But the day Stephanie walked out of my life, she took all my desire for a partner with her.

  I refuse to give anybody else the power to hurt my little girl. I’ve made damn sure she’s wanted for nothing over the past four years, and the last thing I need is for a woman to come into our lives and fuck up the dynamic I’ve so carefully constructed between us.

  But as the veterinarian’s eyes narrow further, the scowl deepening between her brows as she glares at me, I think it’s safe to say the last thing on her mind is trying to get me to ask her out on a date.

  I clear my throat, my eyes shifting uncomfortably between her and the door Hannah just disappeared through. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to send her out of the room. I didn’t want her to hear if there was bad news about the dog, but the look this woman is giving me makes me think having my daughter in the room as a buffer might be the only thing that stops her from taking a shot right at my face.

  I have no clue what I’ve done to upset her, so I start with the obvious. “Look, I’m sorry about intruding after hours. We didn’t know where else to go.”

  Her eyes stay locked on mine, and a shiver runs down my spine at her icy stare.

  I shift my weight from foot to foot, hating how this tiny woman is making me feel like I’m two inches tall. “Do you know where there’s another vet? Maybe one of those twenty-four-hour clinics.”

  This seems to break her out of whatever trance she fell into. She blinks a few times, her head shaking as she finally speaks, “The closest animal ER is more than an hour away. She’s not stable enough to transport.”

  I blow out a breath. “Okay, so what do we do now?”

  Hannah walks back into the room then, a fun-size Snickers in her hand, unopened. Normally, I’d have to pull the candy bowl out of her hands before she could shove nine pieces into her mouth at once. Which only further proves how upset my Nana is about this dog.

  “We’re going to have to keep her overnight at least. My tech is back there, getting her started on an IV, and we’re going to have to do some tests to see if we can find out what’s wrong.”

  “Can we stay with her?” Hannah asks, her little voice full of fear.

  I shake my head at the same time as the vet speaks, going down to her knees as she squeezes Hannah’s shoulder, “No, sweetheart. I’m sorry, but the best thing for your dog right now is to get some rest. I promise, she’ll be in good hands.”

  “Actually,” I say, bringing the woman’s attention back to me.

  Her eyes are cold, the anger from earlier still present, only slightly muted now. I briefly rethink my words, not wanting to upset this person further. But she needs to know the truth.

  “She isn’t our dog. We just found her in the park.”

  “She is, too!” Hannah cries from beside me. “She is, too, our dog, Dad!”

  I crouch down beside her. “No, Hannah. She might belong to someone else.”

  Hannah yanks her arm out of my reach before I can grab her. “No! She needs us, Daddy! She needs us.”

  The vet stands, crossing her arms and grumbling something under her breath as she looks down at me. It’s not lost on me how drastically different she reacts to both Hannah and me. When she’s looking at Hannah, her eyes are nothing but empathy and reassurance. When they turn to me, they’re fire and ice.

  “So,” she begins, “you found her in the park? You don’t know anything about her history?”

  “No. Hannah saw her under a bench. We were able to coax her out with a bit of jerky, but shortly after, she just sort of … fell over.”

  The doctor nods. “Okay. Well, at least you didn’t just leave her there; I’ll give you that.”

  I’m a little affronted at that. This woman clearly doesn’t like me for whatever reason. But to insinuate I’d ever be the kind of person to leave a poor, frightened animal out in the cold when it’s obviously unwell …

  “I’m sorry, but have I done something to offend you?” I finally ask, unable to hold back the words any longer.

  A humorless laugh barks past her lips. “You could say that.”

  I stare at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

  She lowers her head and clucks her tongue. “You seriously don’t remember me, do you?”

  At those words, my mind starts to race, my eyes scanning her face and body once again, trying to place where I might have seen this woman before. I think of all the times my buddy Reese has dragged me out to Pete’s or the few occasions he’s managed to talk me into driving the hour and a half to Billings to a couple of bars there while my mom watched over Hannah. As my best friend, Reese thinks it’s his sworn duty to try and get me laid every chance he can get despite the millions of times I’ve told him I’m not interested.

  I’ve chatted with a few women each time he drags my ass out, but I’ve never let it get further than just a drink and a friendly conversation. There have been a few women who’ve taken that as a personal insult to them, and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t ended up with several drinks to the face as a result.

  But surely, I’d remember the woman before me. With long, dark hair that hangs nearly down to her ass; dark brown eyes that are enticing, even as they glare daggers into my soul; and curves in places that ought to be a crime … well, even I have to admit she’s gorgeous. There’s no way in hell I’d forget a face and body like that even if I have no interest in taking her to my bed.

  No, I’m positive I’ve never seen this woman before. She must have me confused for somebody else.

  “I’m sorry,” I finally say. “I’m positive we don’t know each other. I’m—”

  “Mason Cooper. Yes, I know who you are.”

  Well, fuck. There goes that theory. If she knows my name, then she can’t be mixing me up with some asshole who pissed her off.

  “You know my daddy?” Hannah asks innocently, her voice lifting an octave with her newfound interest, the dog briefly put to the back burner in her mind.

  The vet turns her attention back to my daughter, her face once again softening as she smiles down at her. “No, sweetie. I knew your father. Or at least, I thought I did.”

  I squint my eyes as I try to place where this woman knows me from. And as my brain churns, running through face after face after face from my past, she does something that brings it all back into focus.

  It’s so simple, but it’s a gesture I must’ve seen a hundred times. First over a wooden library table, our Geometry books laid open between us as she tried not to smile at some stupid comment I’d made. Then, again and again as we formed a friendship neither of us had expected.

  The vet lifts a hand, running her index finger along the edge of her eyebrow before gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

  My mouth falls open because never in a million years would I have imagined the stunning woman before me is the same girl who used to tutor me in high school. The girl who became my best friend.

  And the first girl to break my heart.

  “Fatty Maddy?” The words slip out past my lips before I even have a chance to think about what I’m saying. I feel my brain catching up right as they roll off my tongue, and I cringe as I realize their damage has already been done.

  Madeline Woods stiffens, her back rigid as her jaw sets in a hard line.

  “Maddy, wait—”

  I’m met with only the sound of the door slamming behind her as she exits the room.

  4

  Maddy

  I storm into the back, slamming
my hands against the counter and letting out an angry growl when I reach my work area. Cami jumps at the sound of my fury, her hands fumbling with whatever she was doing when I interrupted. Even the poor dog slightly lifts its head to look and see what all the commotion is, though it quickly drops back down to the table from exhaustion.

  “So, uh, I take it, it went well in there?” Cami says, taking a tentative step toward me.

  Of all the ways he could’ve responded. All the things he could’ve said when he realized who I was …

  The sound of the cruel childhood nickname echoes in my head, hurting every bit as much today as it did back then. You’d think, in the decade-plus I’ve been away, some of the sting would’ve been taken out of those two words. I dropped more than fifty pounds during my first two years of college. And while I’m still not exactly supermodel thin, I’m not what anybody would call fat. At least, that’s what I’ve thought for the last ten years.

  Turns out, to Mason Cooper at least, I’m still that same fat girl he and his friends loved to torment.

  I shoot Cami a dirty look, and she holds her hands up in surrender.

  “Hey, boss lady, I didn’t mean anything by it. What’s up?”

  I blow out a frustrated breath, knowing I’m completely taking my anger out on the wrong person. “Sorry, Cam. It’s just … I went to high school with that guy.”

  This gets her attention. “Oh? Can he give me the dirty details on who Dr. Maddy was back in the day?”

  I shake my head. “He can definitely give you something. Anxiety and an inferiority complex are more like it though.”

  Cami’s brows furrow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

  I shrug. “I don’t want to get into it right now. Let’s just say, we weren’t exactly friends.”

  She looks like she wants to ask a million more questions, but I stop her, moving over to the dog and getting to work.