Second Chance Dad

by Pamela Stone

  “Oh. Hi. I… Just a minute and I’ll get the phone to Ashton before he goes to sleep. He just crawled into bed.”

  “I called to talk to you.”

  Still dressed for the cookout, Hanna’s mood was about as rank as her sweaty shirt. “Okay.”

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Hanna. I made a serious mistake. There is no excuse for what I did to you and to our family. I love you. I always have. I love Ashton. What can I say to get you to come home?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dropping onto the edge of the bed, Hanna could barely think. “Come home? After everything you’ve done? The things you said?”

  “It was a moment of weakness. Phoebe came on to me. She looked up to me like you hadn’t in years,” Richard said.

  Hanna honestly couldn’t imagine how to respond.

  “Are you still there? Please don’t hang up.”

  She should hang up. She should throw the phone so far across the room that it would shatter into a million pieces. But right this minute, the thought of putting all the changes over the past few months behind her and going back into her world sounded almost tempting. “I’m here.”

  “Did Ashton tell you that Phoebe is pregnant?”

  “Yes.”

  “Of course I’ll support the baby, but Phoebe’s moved home with her parents. It just isn’t working. She doesn’t know how to take care of herself, much less a baby or Ashton. She’s excited about having a baby, but not about raising one. She’s focused on finishing law school.”

  “Did she leave or did you ask her to leave?”

  “She was too emotional to discuss things rationally so I talked to her father. He’s a senior lawyer in the firm and it just seemed that it was best if we worked things out. I think Phoebe was relieved. She isn’t ready to be married and have a twelve-year-old stepson.”

  Hanna felt a slow burn in her chest. “So it didn’t work with her, and now you want me back? Well, screw you.” She disconnected. What she wouldn’t give for a good old-fashioned phone, one she could slam down. Punching the tiny green Off button didn’t give her anger nearly enough release. She paced, grabbed her old rag doll off the shelf and flung it against the wall. “Damn him!”

  The bedroom door opened and her mother peeped around. “Are you okay?”

  “No! That was Richard.”

  “And?”

  Hanna took a deep breath and let it out. Took another and finally stared at her mother. “He figured out that he doesn’t want to raise his young girlfriend and the baby, so now he wants me to come home.” She fought to steady her breathing. “How can he possibly think I’d just come back as if nothing had happened? As if he’d done nothing wrong?”

  “So you prefer to stay in Marble Falls? Make Bluebonnet Books work? Keep seeing Vince?”

  “Two out of three maybe.”

  Norma came fully into the room and sat on the bed. “Not a good day?”

  “What was I thinking?” Hanna scrubbed her face. “Men are too much work, and rushing into this thing with Vince is a mistake until I resolve my anger around Richard. At the moment, my feminine ego is still too bruised.”

  Hanna plopped down on the bed and Norma wrapped a motherly arm around her shoulders. “It’ll all work out.”

  “Even if I decided to take on Vince’s daughter, mother-in-law and the Marble Falls grapevine for his affections, I don’t stand a chance in hell against a ghost.”

  Norma kissed the top of her head. “You always have a home here. Take all the time you need to figure things out.”

  Hanna’s cell chimed again and this time she checked the display. “It’s Vince.” The phone bounced as she tossed it onto the bed unanswered. “I’m taking a long hot soak in the tub.”

  VINCE DIDN’T GET TOO worked up about Hanna not answering her phone on Sunday night until she still didn’t answer twice on Monday. But when she still hadn’t returned his messages Tuesday morning, he swung by Bluebonnet Books to see what was up. Obviously she hadn’t had much fun at the Maguires’ barbecue, but that didn’t explain why she was suddenly not talking to him.

  As he entered the store, he spotted her sitting in a short blue chair designed for children, helping a mother and little boy in the children’s section. She glanced up at him, but didn’t leave her customers. He snagged the latest copy of Field and Stream off the rack and thumbed through it.

  He didn’t see Norma, so hoped that when Hanna finished with the customer, they could actually talk in private. The beauty of being self-employed meant he didn’t have to punch a clock. So until she talked to him, he wasn’t leaving.

  Finally the lady selected some books for their trip to Houston. The boy was stepping high and smiling when they left, swinging the bag with his new books in one hand and holding his mom’s hand with the other.

  Vince waited for the door to click shut before he spoke. “Cute kid. Now, care to tell me what’s wrong?”

  Hanna twisted a curl and avoided his eyes. Not a positive sign.

  “Hanna, talk to me. Did I do something wrong?”

  “No.” Those sad, dark eyes closed. “You did everything right, maybe too right.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means I’ve been divorced only a few months and you’re Mr. Perfect. Your charm is quite disarming. I needed to feel desirable, like I wasn’t a loser in the romance department, and you waltzed in with all that slow Southern cool and voilà.”

  His throat tightened. “We’re back to that old timetable thing?”

  “I have to get myself straight before I’m going to be in any shape to contribute to a relationship. There are things I’ve got to deal with on my own first.”

  What the hell wasn’t she saying? Something had happened. “Was it the barbecue?”

  “The Maguires are nice people. The bazillion of them. They love you and Mackenzie, and that’s fantastic.”

  “They’ll love you, too.”

  “No, they won’t. I don’t belong there any more than I belong in a relationship right now. I don’t know what I was thinking. Or maybe I just wasn’t.”

  “Hanna, you know what they went through losing Belinda. What I went through.” He’d opened his heart to this woman. Shared his darkest moments with her. Was that it? Did that scare her? “Give them time.”

  “You need to give me time. It took you nine years to get here. To work through your issues and be open to a relationship. It’s just been a few months for me. My wounds are still bleeding. I have to figure out…”

  Suddenly it hit him. “Richard back in the picture?”

  “I would never go back to Richard.”

  “Really?”

  “I have a son to think about. The last thing he needs is to start relying on you and then have you reject him like his father did. He couldn’t handle that.”

  Vince’s head spun. “First off, your son is stronger than you give him credit for. And second, the one being rejected here is me. You’re throwing away a good thing on the offhand chance that it might not work out. And that makes zero sense.”

  Tossing the magazine on the rack, Vince was so angry he was almost vibrating. “If you ever get ready to tell me what’s really going on here, you’ve got my number.”

  “Vince, I’m not trying to hurt you.”

  “Hurt me?” Turning, he was tempted to shake her—or kiss her—until she came to her senses, but who was he kidding? For whatever reason, she’d made up her mind. “I’m fine! Hell. That’s just the way us country boys roll, right?”

  He’d never been one for slamming doors, but he’d have liked nothing better than making the windows rattle when he left the bookstore. Of course, Hanna had one of those springs on the door that closed it slowly, and he would have had to break the contraption to get a resounding slam out of it. So he got in the truck and slammed that door instead.

  Whatever the hell was eating Ms. Rosser, he could only hope it would pass in time. Maybe he’d rushed things. Whatever it was, he’d
gotten one message loud and clear—she didn’t want him in her life.

  AFTER WORK, HE RAN by the house to pick up Kenzie and treat her to pizza. He’d been on his own a long time and he refused to brood over Hanna Rosser.

  But as he pulled into the drive, Mrs. Haythorn stood up from working in her flower bed. She waved, sprinting toward him before he even got out of the truck.

  “Hi, Vincent. Hope you had a good day. Mackenzie’s in the house. Said she had math homework. How is Hanna today?”

  He did not need Mrs. H. fishing for any juicy details she could spread around town. “Hanna is fine. Was that Dave Barkley’s red pickup I saw in your drive this morning after Mr. Haythorn left for work?”

  “Well, uh, y-yes.” She stammered and looked slightly off center at having the tables turned. “This old house has shifted and he’s working on the doors.”

  The stammer in her voice was just what he was going for. Busybody. He was tired of everyone knowing his business. Maybe he had sold out by moving here. Maybe it was time to consider a change. “Hope Dave takes care of everything for you.”

  KENZIE PILED HER PLATE with pizza from the buffet and slid into the red vinyl booth facing him. “So today when I dropped Ashton off, Ms. Rosser was in a tiff. She barked at him to get right on his homework and didn’t even speak to me.”

  “Does she typically speak to you?”

  Biting into a slice, Kenzie shrugged and swallowed. “Yeah, she’s been offering me a cookie or brownie or whatever they have for the customers.”

  “Maybe it was a busy day.”

  “There was a plate of sugar cookies beside the coffeepot.” Kenzie stared him in the eye. “Something’s wrong or she and Ash would be here with us.”

  Great, he was being quizzed by a twelve-year-old. If Kenzie had picked up on it, the grapevine would, too. Who the hell cared? “We’re not going to hang out with Hanna and Ashton for a while.”

  Kenzie narrowed one eye. “Uh-oh.”

  “Hanna just needs some time. No big deal.” Like hell, but he wasn’t about to tell Kenzie that.

  “That’s cool. It’s always been just you and me, kid.” She winked as she quoted his stock line every time life dealt them a blow.

  He reached over and tweaked her nose. “Think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?”

  “Grandma said that you should always put me first anyway. So this works out.”

  What? He’d always put Kenzie before anything and everything. “Why would she say that?”

  Kenzie slurped her soda. “Oh, she always says that. She thinks you’re an awesome father because you always want what’s best for me.”

  “Of course I want what’s best for you, but why would you or Grandma ever think Hanna or anyone else would change that?”

  “I don’t. Just saying.” She pushed her empty plate aside. “I need more pizza. Want me to bring you another slice of pepperoni?”

  Vince ate so much he practically had pizza sauce coming out his ears as they headed toward the truck. Kenzie wrapped her arm around his waist and jabbed her left foot in front of his.

  He returned the favor and they continued on their way as they always had. Just him and the kid. That wasn’t so bad. It was simple. But one of these days he was going to end up alone. One lonely rocker on the damn front porch.

  If there was ever a time he needed the Harley, it was now. First thing tomorrow he’d call Mariah and see if it was ready. Maybe after school finished next weekend he’d drop Kenzie at his folks and just take off somewhere. Anywhere. Hell, maybe he’d take her with him. Call it a graduation trip.

  Women! How could he have been so wrong about Hanna? There was one element of relationships he did not miss and that was their total unpredictability.

  He started the truck and turned to Kenzie. “When you grow up and get a boyfriend, if you have a problem with him, just tell him straight out what you think. We don’t know how to fix things if you don’t tell us what’s wrong. Got that?”

  The cutest little wrinkle formed between her eyes. “Got it, Dad. Wow, you’re really hung up on Ms. Rosser, huh?”

  “No.” The kid should not be this smart at twelve. “I just do not understand the workings of women’s minds.”

  The corners of her mouth threatened a smile, but she held it in check admirably. “Gotcha. Trust me, I say what I think. If someone is too dense to get it, I spell it out in simpler language again and again until I get down to their level.”

  “You saying I’m dense?”

  “Never.”

  Reaching over, he tugged her ponytail. “You are not going to play games like other women do or I’ll have to take you down a peg or two.”

  Laughing, she buckled her seat belt. “Whatever guy tangles with me is going to know exactly where he stands.”

  FIRST THING THE NEXT MORNING, Vince called Mariah and she promised to have the bike ready by close of business. The freedom of the road was sounding better and better.

  On the way to one of his job sites, Vince stopped at a florist, then made a side trip and pulled into the cemetery. He hadn’t been there in a couple of months and for some reason today he needed the sanity.

  He parked under the sprawling pecan tree and squatted down to face Matt’s headstone. “Hey, kid. Just wanted to check in. Been thinking about you a lot lately. Kenzie’s been bringing another kid around to play ball and stuff and he reminds me of what you and I never had a chance to do. Hope you don’t mind. Nah, you wouldn’t mind. You’d be a couple years older than him, but you’d get along. I miss you, Matt.”

  He turned to Belinda’s headstone and removed the bouquet of faded silk daisies he and Kenzie had brought for her thirty-fifth birthday back in February. He laid them aside and placed the bouquet of Texas wildflowers in the vase beside the monument.

  He wasn’t surprised to look up and see Gray’s truck bounce through the gate. It wasn’t the first time they’d bumped into each other here. Something about twins. At first Vince had kept the area clean, but since Grayson had returned from the navy and started the landscaping business, the gravesite had become his pet project.

  Vince ran a hand over Belinda’s headstone. “Hey there, babe. Our baby girl is growing into a beautiful young lady, in spite of me. You’d be proud of her. Me, I’m not sure I’m handling things so well, but what else is new, huh?”

  The old truck rattled to a stop behind Vince’s pickup, and Gray walked up and knelt down beside him. “She’d be okay with this, you know. With you finally finding someone.”

  Vince rubbed his forehead. “I know. Belinda isn’t the problem. Hanna is.”

  Gray got that “I knew it” look on his face, plucked a dandelion and looked around for any other weeds that might have popped out since he last visited. “Remember the first time you spent a Sunday at the house before you and Belinda worked out the whole baby thing? You hardly opened your mouth to anyone except Dad and Belinda.”

  “That was different.”

  Gray shook his head. “Yeah, you had a genuine goal in being there, but the chaos was pretty overwhelming, no?”

  Vince closed his eyes. “And that was even before there were so many kids. You don’t have to tell me that I sort of left Hanna hanging out to dry, but I was busy watching the kids, keeping Wayne from burning the burgers and generally doing what we do.”

  I didn’t pay enough attention to her at the folks’ house and she breaks it off? What’s up with that? If that was what had her panties in a twist, she could have said something while we were there instead of stewing over it.

  “Hanna wouldn’t let one afternoon mess things up,” Gray said, reading his thoughts. “I talked to her, but she said she didn’t need babysitting.”

  There were still pieces missing. “There has to be something else.”

  “Look. You seem pretty serious about Hanna. Try talking to her.”

  First Mackenzie and now Gray. Was it that obvious? “Got shut down. She broke it off. I’m not into groveling.” Hanna knew where to
find him if she got over whatever bee was in her bonnet.

  Gray straightened and tossed the dead daisies and weeds into the trash can beside the road. “Then I guess you’d just as soon spend your evenings playing video games with Kenzie.”

  Vince raised an eyebrow.

  “You sure Kenzie isn’t part of the problem? No jealousy? You two are tight and she might not like Hanna encroaching on her territory.”

  Vince winced. “Kenzie’s not really happy. Not sure she totally understands. I mean, how do you tell a twelve-year-old that her old man needs a woman in his life?”

  “Haven’t had that sex talk yet, huh?”

  “We’re both sort of avoiding it. Can’t you just hear that conversation? Kenzie will be grossed out.”

  “You might be amazed how much she already understands. Kids grow up fast these days.”

  Oh, God. “And I thought diapers stunk.”

  “You could ask Mom to talk to her.”

  “Thought about that. But Kenzie’s my daughter. I’m working up to it.” Vince grinned. “Want to assist?”

  Gray turned ashen. “I’d love to, but I have to scrub the toilet that evening.”

  Pretty much the response he’d expected. “Some uncle you are.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Vince had two crews working, and by the end of the day every last one of them was probably ready to quit. Today he wasn’t taking any crap from anyone. They either did the job the way it was designed or they were damn well going to hear about it.

  Gray pulled up to the site just as Vince was tearing into the foreman about not staying on top of the guy sawing the timbers. “You just cost me two hundred bucks. If he doesn’t know how to read the damn plans, put someone else on the saw.”

  “The kid made a mistake.”

  “Then the kid is back to using a nail gun and if he can’t handle that, he can try his luck sacking groceries.”

  Gray nodded toward the truck. “Ready to pick up the Harley?”

  Vince glanced at his watch. “I thought you were going to meet me at the house.”