Second Chance Dad

by Pamela Stone

  The waitress grinned as she placed their menus on the Formica-topped table. “Hanna Creed. I wondered how long it’d take you to wander through here.”

  Vince tried not to laugh at the blank expression on Hanna’s face. She had no idea what the woman’s name was. “Hey, Penny. What’s the special today?” he asked, hoping to help Hanna out.

  “Chicken-fried steak and homemade mashed potatoes.”

  Hanna grinned. “Penny Jones. It’s been a long time.”

  Penny laughed and patted Hanna’s hand. “Dave Barkley told me you’d moved back. I wondered when you’d get around to stopping by and saying hello. Lots of people leave and return, but I figured you would be the last person to move back.”

  “I should have kept in touch.” Hanna tried to not take Penny’s remark personally, but she was right. She and Penny had been friends; but at eighteen, while Penny had been planning a wedding, Hanna had been counting down the days until she could trade in small-town U.S.A. for an exciting life in the big city.

  Penny placed napkin-rolled flatware on the table. “My daughter said your boy and Kenzie had become fast friends.” She looked between Vince and Hanna as if wondering if it was only the kids who’d gotten close.

  Vince was fascinated by Hanna’s baffled expression. She moved her glass to the other side of her place mat, then back. “They are. Kenzie has done wonders helping Ashton adjust.”

  “And how are you adjusting to living back in Marble Falls? I’m sure we must seem pretty boring after living in Dallas.”

  Hanna’s gaze shifted to Vince. “I’m settling in quite nicely, thanks. And that chicken-fried steak sounds wonderful. Do you have baby carrots?”

  “We do.” Penny didn’t even write the order down, just turned and grinned at Vince.

  “I’ll have the same, plus a glass of iced tea.”

  “Make that two,” Hanna said.

  As Penny bustled off to place their order, skillfully dodging another waitress balancing a tray of desserts, Vince chuckled. “Well, it’s all but official now.”

  “Oh my gosh, I sure hope we know what we’re doing here.” Hanna’s cheeks blushed an adorable rosy pink.

  “Now that you mention it, there is one thing I’m trying to figure out. How the hell are we going to get any time alone with two kids?” Vince wasn’t willing to have Hanna sleep over with Kenzie in the house any more than she was willing with Ashton in town. Spring break only came once a year and that wasn’t going to cut it. “Does Ashton go to his dad’s this weekend?”

  She sat back and smiled as Penny placed two glasses of iced tea on the table. “We swapped weekends, so Ashton isn’t going until the weekend after. It’s Richard’s birthday and he wants Ashton there.”

  “Is it getting any easier to let him go?” Vince took a drink of tea. He knew it had torn her up in the beginning.

  Her jaw set as she squeezed lemon into her iced tea. “How would you handle another man interfering with raising Mackenzie?”

  “I’d have to kill him.”

  Hanna took a drink and chuckled. “No, you wouldn’t. If anything went wrong, Mackenzie would cause a ruckus…be in his face so fast he’d never want to have any part of raising her again.”

  He laughed. “True. But you might underestimate Ashton. He can stand up for himself.”

  “I hope so. He’s a smart kid, just keeps his emotions buried.”

  Probably way too buried for his own good. “Kenzie doesn’t bury anything, except maybe the bodies.”

  “A person knows where she stands with that girl.”

  “Just like her mother.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Thanks for making the effort to get along with her. She can be a challenge.”

  Hanna twirled a dark curl around her finger. “I’m hoping she’ll come around. And if she does, maybe I’ll have fewer issues with Ashton.”

  “Ashton will settle in.”

  The waitress plunked their food in front of them, and Hanna picked up her fork and focused those dark eyes on him. “Are you really so sure of everything?”

  Jake Watson clapped Vince on the shoulder as he and Dave Barkley walked by on their way to a table. “How goes it, Vince? Keeping out of trouble?”

  “Where’s the fun in that?” Vince asked the older men.

  Jake tipped his worn, straw cowboy hat at Hanna. “Ma’am.” He rolled the rim of the hat in his hand and cocked a crooked grin at Dave. “The boy might have a point there.”

  Dave didn’t seem to hear Jake’s remark. “Aren’t you Norma Creed’s girl? The one that scooted out of here for Dallas when you was still wet behind the ears? Heard you were back.”

  Hanna swallowed her bite of chicken-fried steak and nodded at Dave. “That’s right, Mr. Barkley. I used to buy candy and pop at your grocery store.”

  Dave beamed. “You were fond of those chocolate sodas, weren’t ya?”

  “Wow, I can’t believe you remember that. Couldn’t get full of them.” Her eyes sparkled.

  “I’ve still got some cold ones in the chest. You just stop on by.”

  Vince frowned at the older man. “You trying to make time with my lunch date there, Dave?”

  “Smart boy shouldn’t turn his back on ol’ Dave with a beautiful lady around.” Jake winked at Vince, then shuffled off toward the table where the waitress had placed their menus.

  “Small towns.” Hanna shook her head as Claire Maguire suddenly bustled through the front door, a huge turquoise-and-silver hobo purse hanging off her right arm.

  “Hello, Vince.” Claire hugged Vince’s shoulder. Her smile faded into a wrinkled brow. “Hanna.”

  “Mrs. Maguire.”

  The older woman flashed a motherly grin at Vince. “I ran in for some groceries. Thought I’d pick up a big apple pie for dinner. You and Kenzie are coming over tonight, right?”

  “Sure.”

  “And the monthly family BBQ on Sunday? James and Jen are coming in from Austin with the kids.”

  Vince glanced at Hanna. He’d rather spend the day with her and Ashton, but he hated to hurt Claire’s feelings. Besides Kenzie would be ticked if she missed seeing her cousins.

  Claire stared at him, then across the table at Hanna. “You’re welcome to bring guests.”

  “Um, that’s up to Hanna.” He didn’t know how not to put her on the spot, but he was pretty sure she’d rather not go. “Do we have anything planned Sunday?”

  Hanna put down her fork. “No. It’s up to you.”

  “Then it’s settled. We’ll expect you around noon.” Claire hugged Vince, waved at Hanna and walked over to the counter to order her pie.

  Hanna did not look pleased. “I’m sorry about that,” Vince said.

  Both eyebrows rose and she blew out a breath. “It’s okay. I’d sort of hoped we could put that off until we were a little further along.”

  “They’re nice folks and there’ll be a crowd. Gray for one, and you like him. The kids will have fun fishing and swimming.”

  Hanna forked a carrot. “Yeah.”

  HANNA WASN’T LOOKING FORWARD to the afternoon at the Maguire house, but at least she’d get to spend time with Vince. Still, it was going to be awkward at best. Ashton was certainly psyched. He had his swimsuit and towel packed. He’d called Mackenzie to remind her to bring him a fishing rod and the life jacket for the boat Mackenzie kept at her grandparents’ dock. The Keegans were becoming his personal social directors.

  The quick kiss from Vince when he picked them up was about as close to intimacy as the day presented. Vince unloaded a huge chest of iced-down sodas from the truck, and Kenzie and Ashton hauled it around back to the deck. Hanna picked up the spinach salad she’d made and followed Vince up the walk. The flower bed overflowed with bright multicolored impatiens—red, purple, white and pink. The one closest to the porch sported a bunch of daisies. Perfect picture of a family home.

  A group of boys tossed a Frisbee across the manicured front yard. “Hey, Uncle Vince!” one yelled, tossing him the fluorescent-ora
nge disk.

  Vince snagged it out of the air and tossed it back. “Hey, guys. This is Hanna.”

  “Hey, Hanna,” one said, spinning and tossing the Frisbee to one of the others from behind his back.

  Hanna stepped onto the porch of the ranch-style home. A couple of men waved from two of the rockers on the porch that extended the full length of the house. “Vince, you need to get out back before Wayne burns the burgers.”

  Vince grinned. “And you guys weren’t man enough to keep him away from the grill?”

  “Supervising the grill is your job.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Vince held the door open for Hanna.

  Hanna set the spinach salad on the dining table already laden with a host of other dishes. The house was full of women, all working together like ants in a colony. Everyone moved around the huge, country-style kitchen, dodging as drawers and cabinet doors were opened, balancing dishes as they zigzagged about the room.

  “Everyone, this is my friend Hanna Rosser.” Vince flashed a grin and hugged a couple of the women.

  “Remember Hanna Creed?” Grayson arrived just behind them. “She was a year younger than me and Belinda in school.”

  Hanna smiled at the tiny white-haired woman by his side. Gray took the dish out of the older woman’s hand and placed it on the sideboard. “Hanna, this is our grandmother.”

  Shaking the frail hand, Hanna smiled. “Nice to meet you. That peach cobbler smells wonderful.”

  The large sprawling house oozed with the four Maguire boys and their families. Hanna was introduced to so many people, she couldn’t keep track of them. Belinda’s three older brothers were all tall and dark-haired. All were married and had kids, although she wasn’t sure who had how many and which kids belonged to which family. Some of the women who introduced themselves to her or to whom she was introduced, didn’t even appear to be family members. But like the other women, they all seemed to be used to the routine of the Maguire kitchen.

  Vince left her to the crowd and made his way to the grill on the back deck. The Maguire’s manicured lawn sloped gently down to the wooden boat dock, crowded with people, yet tranquil and oozing family camaraderie. Hanna watched as Vince’s father-in-law clapped him on the back and handed him the tongs for the grill. Kids fished off the dock while others pedaled around the lake in two paddleboats. An older boy glided up to the deck on a Jet Ski.

  The routine appeared to be that the men kept an eye on the kids and manned the large smoker and grill while the women hung out in the kitchen and caught up on family happenings.

  Other than that, Hanna wasn’t exactly sure how the kitchen organization worked. Everyone else obviously felt right at home as they pulled dishes out of the various cabinets and flatware out of drawers. One woman peeled potatoes and another buttered and wrapped corn in foil for the grill. It was like a well-orchestrated, chaotic play as each woman took care of business. Every time Hanna tried to help, someone else was already on top of it.

  Wandering into the homey family room, Hanna browsed the pictures on the mantel. Belinda in a pep-squad uniform. A family portrait when the four boys and Belinda were in high school. A framed snapshot of Vince, Belinda and the kids at Sea World. Wedding portraits, including Vince and Belinda’s.

  “He’s a good man. One of us,” Grandma said from behind her shoulder. “He and Belinda were an interesting match. Good parents.”

  Hanna smiled, her gaze landing back on Vince’s wedding portrait. Belinda was holding a bouquet of yellow and white daisies. “Belinda carried daisies at her wedding.”

  “From the time she was little, Belinda loved the yellow and white daisies that grew in my yard.” Her grandmother said. “Always picking a bouquet and bringing them inside.” Grandma kissed her finger and touched it to the photo. “I think they represented her happy, sunny personality.”

  Hanna’s heart hit bottom as she smiled at the older woman, then glanced back at the pictures, many of which showed Vince. The reality of how much of Belinda was infused into every aspect of Vince’s life stung. This was the Vince etched in Claire Maguire’s mind.

  Hanna ran a finger down the smooth silver picture frame of Vince’s past. She smiled at Belinda’s diminutive grandmother when what she really felt like doing was having a good cry. “Vince is a good guy.”

  Grandma nodded. “Rather attentive to that boy of yours, too.”

  “He is.” Hanna turned away from the pictures and faced her. “And Ashton is one of his biggest fans.” Which probably wasn’t good. As fond as Vince was of Ashton, Hanna would never penetrate the strong hold Belinda’s memory still had on him. And she wasn’t willing to play second fiddle.

  Scrutinizing her, Grandma looked back at the pictures on the mantel. Hanna waited for her to speak, but she just shook her head and wandered out of the room as quietly as she’d wandered in.

  Uncomfortable, Hanna returned to the kitchen and finally found a job helping haul paper plates, plastic dinnerware and huge bowls of food out to the picnic tables on the patio and lawn.

  Hanna smiled at Ashton tossing a Frisbee with Mackenzie and another boy. She could only wish she was doing half as well with the women. They smiled and were genuinely friendly, but they all were in sync with the family dynamics. At any given time at least three conversations were fighting for air space around Hanna, leaving her at loose ends. Not that it seemed intentional, but she was odd man out.

  Vince and three other men were sitting on lawn chairs beside the grill, laughing and carrying on.

  This family obviously felt that Vince Keegan was one of them, and from what she’d observed, he shared that sentiment.

  She leaned against the deck railing to check on Ashton and Grayson came up beside her. “Hey, Hanna.”

  “Quite an impressive operation you have here,” she said.

  “You look overwhelmed.” Without the ball cap Gray usually wore, he looked more like the boy she remembered from high school. Dark-brown hair and smoky eyes, chiseled features. Not bad at all.

  “Want me to track down Vince to save you from the insanity? They’re almost too much for me and most of ’em are family.” He flashed white teeth and pointed to a scrawny kid in a lime-green swimsuit who jumped and snagged a Frisbee. “That one belongs to my cousin Charlie—or my other cousin Dan. I’m never sure.”

  She laughed. “So you’re not exactly a family guy?”

  “I love ’em all, one at a time.” He raised a dark eyebrow. “But all at once?”

  “I can relate.” At Grayson’s age, it was funny he wasn’t married. He could have been through a bad divorce, but then again, she might just be equating his loneliness to her recent situation.

  Ashton and Mackenzie sat on the edge of the dock, dangling their feet in the water and fishing with the boy they’d been tossing the Frisbee with earlier.

  Hanna studied Vince and the other guys and how they laughed and joked. Grilling ribs, hot dogs and hamburgers. Taking turns carousing with the kids. Vince was just as much a part of this family as if he’d been born into it.

  Loaded down with yet more food, Claire Maguire approached the kitchen door. Hanna rushed to hold it open for her. “Here, let me take one of those bowls.”

  Claire continued to balance the food. “I’ve got it, but thanks for getting the door.”

  Not giving his mother any choice, Gray reached for the bowl of green beans. Claire smiled and relinquished her hold. “Thanks, sweetie.”

  Again, Hanna was left at loose ends. Gritting her teeth, she went back inside and offered to help one of the sisters-in-law scoop potato salad into a serving dish.

  Maybe after lunch she could find an excuse to escape.

  But later, Ashton wanted to go swimming and refused to leave before getting wet. Vince took all four of their plates and tossed them into a plastic garbage sack, then started gathering up more trash. Hanna smiled at him and helped clear off the tables.

  He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ve got to help the guys clean up the gril
l. Relax and watch the kids.” He had no clue how uncomfortable she was in Belinda’s mother’s home. And the Maguire home was truly a home full of love, just not for the new girlfriend of their late daughter’s husband.

  By the time the afternoon festivities finally wound down, Hanna was done. She’d tried to fit in and some of the other women were friendly enough, but Claire tended to stay in another room or talked to someone else. Trying to put herself in the woman’s place, Hanna didn’t push it. Claire Maguire was probably just as uncomfortable as Hanna was.

  Vince didn’t seem to notice Claire’s reluctance to include Hanna. He pulled her into a game of Frisbee and on a boat ride around Lake Marble Falls with Mackenzie, Ashton and two of the nephews. Vince took it easy, just cruising around the lake on the pontoon boat. They stopped in a cove and let the kids swim. That part of the day was enjoyable at least. Hanna was so intent on watching the kids swim that when Vince sat beside her, she jumped.

  “You having fun?”

  She shrugged. “It’s so peaceful out here. The kids love it.”

  Leaning around, he gave her a sweet kiss. “Sorry if I’ve ignored you today. I get so tangled up in everything going on, I forget you aren’t used to all the chaos.”

  The chaos wasn’t what bothered her. What Vince couldn’t see was that Claire still considered him to be Belinda’s husband. The woman was cordial, but the thought of accepting a new girlfriend into Vince’s life was tearing Claire apart. Hanna received the nonverbal message Claire sent out loud and clear. The Maguires were his family in spirit if not in fact. And Hanna couldn’t ask Vince to choose between her and his family. It was a no-win situation.

  By the time Vince dropped her and Ashton off at home, she was drained. Vince kissed her, but she pulled back. “It’s late and I need to get Ashton into bed.”

  He narrowed one eye. “Okay.”

  Ashton finished his shower and she’d just kissed him good-night when her cell phone rang. Assuming it was Vince, she didn’t even look at the display. “Hey there.”

  “Hey,” Richard’s voice answered.