A Second Chance for the Single Dad

by Marie Ferrarella

  She knew it was silly and the height of superstition to believe that the penny had been deliberately placed there rather than that it was just a random occurrence.

  Picking up the coin, she folded her fingers over it and held it tightly. She could have sworn she felt a warmth against the palm of her hand.

  Kayley smiled to herself for a moment, then whispered, “Hi, Mom. Still watching over me, I see.”

  Kayley took the rest of her mail out of the box. From the looks of it, there were a few random ads, an appeal for a charitable contribution and two bills, along with her weekly copy of a popular magazine. She tucked all of it under her arm.

  “Made any new friends, Mom?” she asked as if she were carrying on a conversation with her mother the way she used to. She walked to her front door. “I’ve been trying to move forward just like you told me.” She unlocked the door and turned on the light even though it was still daylight outside. And then, unable to keep the words bottled up inside any longer, she said, “I met someone, Mom.”

  Kayley walked over to the side table against the wall and put her mail there. She also deposited the penny she’d picked up and placed it in a small ceramic bowl where she put all the pennies she found.

  Lately she’d found more than she thought was her share, which was why part of her was certain that her mother was watching over her. It wasn’t anything that she would admit to anyone else, except for possibly her godmother.

  Maizie, she knew, believed in things like that, just as she did.

  “But I guess you already know that,” she went on with a smile. “He’s a doctor and I think he needs me, Mom. Not like a doctor needs a physician’s assistant,” she hurried to explain, as if her mother were standing right there, listening. “He needs me to help him get over the hurt he’s feeling. His name is Luke and he lost his wife. I think he also lost his way. There’s a little girl involved. Lily, his daughter. You would have loved her, Mom. He was having trouble relating to her, but I hit it right off with her. In a way, that opened the door for him to relate to her. Or at least, to start to. All in all, I think that’s going along pretty well.”

  She sighed, gazing off into space. “I miss you, Mom,” she whispered, feeling her eyes sting a little. “You would have made everything right right away.”

  * * *

  “She’s here! She’s here!” Lily called out. The little girl had been keeping vigil at the living room window that faced the driveway for what clearly seemed like forever to her. “Daddy, she’s here!”

  “I heard you, Lily,” he answered, walking in from the dining room. “I think that the whole block probably heard you.” He saw Lily throwing open the front door. Belatedly, he realized what she was doing. “Lily, don’t run out!” he called after her, but it was too late.

  Lily had dashed out of the house to greet her new best friend, forgetting all the rules that she’d been given.

  Luke ran out after her, envisioning the little girl darting out in front of the car before Kayley had a chance to bring her vehicle to a full stop. Possible consequences haunted him.

  His heart was in his throat as he got to the driveway. “Lily!”

  Standing in the middle of the driveway, his daughter looked over her shoulder and gave him what had to qualify as one of the world’s most innocent looks.

  “Yes, Daddy?”

  He’d reached her side by the time Kayley got out of her car. Her eyes swept over the beaming little girl and the ashen-faced doctor, two very opposite ends of the spectrum.

  “Is something wrong?” Kayley asked, sensing she had just walked in on something possibly volatile.

  “Yes, something’s wrong,” Luke retorted, struggling not to show just how much his daughter had frightened him. “Lily ran out of the house the moment she saw your car pulling up. She knows that she’s not supposed to do that.” He turned toward his daughter. “What if that wasn’t Ms. Quartermain?” he demanded, barely able to restrain his anger.

  “But it was,” Lily replied, obviously bewildered by her father’s reaction.

  Kayley decided to step in and referee before things really escalated.

  “What your daddy is saying is that lots of cars look alike and you need to make sure you really know who the person is before running out to meet them. Also, it’s a good idea to wait until the car that’s approaching comes to a full stop. Sometimes brakes don’t work as well as they should. You can wait a few extra seconds. Your daddy loves you and he doesn’t want anything happening to you,” Kayley explained.

  It was evident that Lily was doing her best to digest everything that was being told to her. A completely contrite-looking little girl turned her face up to her father.

  “I’m sorry, Daddy,” she told him. “I didn’t know I was making you worry.”

  The wind totally taken out of his sails, Luke had no recourse but to place his arm around his daughter and accept her apology.

  “That’s all right, Lily. Just make sure that doesn’t happen again,” he said.

  “I won’t,” she promised solemnly. “The next time Kayley comes over, I’ll wait until she knocks on the door before coming out.” She punctuated her statement with a beatific smile. Then, looking back at her idol, she asked, “Is that okay, Kayley?”

  “That’s perfect,” Kayley said, and kissed the top of her head.

  Kayley beamed, completely unaware of the fact that her words had just launched Lily’s father into a total quandary.

  Lily had said “the next time,” which meant that she fully expected to have her idol come by more often, possibly on a regular basis.

  Just what had he gotten himself into, Luke couldn’t help wondering.

  And why wasn’t he more upset about it?

  Chapter Fourteen

  “So are we all meeting out here in front of the house instead of inside again?” Barbara asked, referring to the first time Kayley had come over to dinner. “Why didn’t someone tell me?” she quipped, coming out to join the others on the front step.

  And then she smiled at Kayley. “Hello, dear, so nice to see you again.” Glancing at her son-in-law, Barbara went on to add, “It’s been much too long,” as she embraced the younger woman.

  A familiar scent swirled around her when they made contact. When Barbara released her, Kayley commented, “I like your perfume.”

  Barbara smiled fondly. “Thank you. My husband first gave it to me on what was to be our last anniversary. It became a favorite of mine.”

  “My mother used to wear that same perfume,” Kayley told her.

  Barbara nodded with approval. “Your mother had good taste.”

  “Can we move this along?” Luke urged. Without thinking, he placed an arm around each of the two women’s shoulders, ushering them toward the opened front door. “I’d really rather not stand out here where the neighbors can hear everything we say,”

  “He’s a very private man,” Barbara pretended to whisper to Kayley.

  Kayley suppressed a laugh as she responded in a stage whisper, “Yes, I know.”

  Luke wasn’t amused. “Inside, ladies,” he said forcefully. “We’ll talk about me inside.”

  Both women laughed in response, as if they were sharing a joke. Not to be left out, Lily joined in even though Luke was fairly sure his daughter had no idea what was going on or why her grandmother and Kayley were laughing.

  The whole scene, intimate in nature, had a familiar feel.

  Almost too familiar, he warned himself.

  He was going to have to be careful that he didn’t complacently slip into an overall accepting mode of behavior. Yes, he was growing more comfortable again with Barbara and Lily—which was good—but he had to remember that Kayley was not part of the family unit. She was just a woman who got along well with his mother-in-law and his daughter, nothing m
ore.

  He had to remember that, Luke silently repeated.

  * * *

  “I brought you something,” Kayley told Lily just before they walked into the dining room to eat dinner.

  Lily looked all around Kayley before she finally said, “Are you teasing me? I don’t see anything.”

  “That’s because it’s little,” Kayley told her. She took a shining gold-foil box out of her purse and handed it to Lily.

  Excited, Lily opened the box and found a small gold pendant inside.

  “It’s a leprechaun,” Kayley told her. “At least, it’s a leprechaun charm. I thought you might like to have it until you finally catch a real leprechaun with your dad.”

  Lily’s eyes were shining. “I love it!” she declared. “Put it on me,” she begged, directing the plea to Kayley rather than to her father.

  “Okay,” Kayley told her. “Now lift your hair up and hold still.”

  The moment the clasp was closed, Lily ran to the mirror hanging over the sofa in the living room and inspected her appearance.

  “It’s beautiful,” she cried. “Isn’t it beautiful, Daddy?” she asked, showing it off to him.

  “Beautiful,” he agreed.

  He looked on as Lily threw her arms around Kayley and hugged her to show her appreciation.

  The display of his daughter’s unabashed joy got to him. He tried his best not to appear moved, but it wasn’t easy.

  * * *

  Despite his unspoken warnings to himself, dinner turned out to be filled with laughter, shared stories and an overall good feeling. He completely forgot to be on his guard and wound up just enjoying the evening. Between the laughter and the company, Luke felt like a different man. Or, more accurately, he felt like the man he used to be. The man who had existed before tragedy had gutted him, removing his heart and just about everything else that Jill had loved about him.

  Everything that had made him human.

  Luke chalked up his transformation—temporary at best—to the way Barbara and Lily were acting, lighthearted and happy. But if he was being honest with himself, he knew it wasn’t just them—it was him.

  And it was Kayley.

  * * *

  After dinner, and partially against his will, Luke found himself recruited to play not one but two different board games with all three women. He grumbled for form’s sake, but that, too, had a comforting, familiar feel to it, and just for the evening, he decided to go with it.

  Lily’s bedtime seemed to arrive all too soon, even though he’d allowed the exact time to be moved back by half an hour. Twice.

  Finally, he had to remain firm so that his daughter didn’t think of him as a pushover. Forcing himself not to look down into the pouting little face, he announced, “Lily, it’s way past your bedtime. Time to put the game away.”

  Lily sighed, knowing there was no more bargaining over this point.

  “Can Kayley read me a bedtime story?” Lily asked hopefully.

  Kayley felt her heart being tugged. But she didn’t want to trespass any further into Luke’s territory than she already had, and glancing at him, she could see that he actually wanted to read to his daughter.

  “I think maybe your daddy would like to read to you, honey,” Kayley tactfully pointed out.

  He was about to demur, yielding the task to her, when Lily came up with her own solution. “Both of you can read to me. You can take turns.”

  Kayley laughed. The child was a natural peacemaker. “Well, that’s an offer I certainly can’t refuse,” she told Lily, then looked up at Luke. “How about you?”

  “Please, Daddy?” Lily pleaded, turning her electric-blue eyes on him.

  “How can you say no to those eyes?” Kayley asked her boss.

  A joint venture. His back was against the wall. Luke knew he couldn’t turn his daughter down without coming across like an ogre. “I can’t.”

  Kayley affectionately ruffled Lily’s silky hair. “Looks like you have yourself two storybook readers tonight, Lily.”

  “Yay!” The little girl grabbed them each by the hand and tugged them in the direction of the staircase and her room, just beyond the landing. “Let’s go,” she declared.

  Luke found that it took a while to settle his daughter down. Once she had changed into her pajamas, brushed her teeth and crawled into bed, pulling up the covers, he and Kayley took turns reading to Lily, each taking a page—the suggestion had been Kayley’s.

  He was fairly certain that Lily preferred it when Kayley read to her because Kayley sounded far livelier than he did. For one thing, the woman did different voices and intonations when she read, while he could only be himself and read the story in his own voice.

  It felt like it took a while, but eventually, when he was reading to her, Lily finally fell asleep. Pausing, he watched the sweet face, expecting to see some sign that she was struggling to stay awake.

  But her eyelids remained closed.

  With a sigh, Luke closed the book that he was reading, nodding to himself. “Always knew I could put her to sleep.”

  Kayley raised her eyes to his. “She was tired,” she pointed out in a hushed voice.

  “You don’t need to sugarcoat it,” he told her, setting the book aside. “I’m perfectly aware that I sound monotone and boring. I can’t do cute voices the way you do.”

  She frowned. That was a cop-out and he knew it. “Anyone can do cute voices,” she informed him, rising to her feet. She paused to pull the covers up around the little girl. They’d slipped down slightly. “You just have to get out of your own way and not be so self-conscious. Let the inner you out.”

  She crossed to the bedroom door, then waited for him to join her. Very quietly, they slipped out and eased the door closed behind them, leaving a night-light on for the little girl.

  “I can teach you how to do it,” she volunteered as she went down the stairs first.

  But Luke shook his head, turning her down. “That’s all right,” he told her. “I’m perfectly happy being boring.”

  She stopped at the bottom of the landing. There was that word again. “Boring?” she repeated incredulously. “You are not boring,” she insisted with feeling. “You just have to have enough faith in yourself to let that inner you loose.”

  There was that term again. He didn’t know what this woman thought she knew about him, but she didn’t.

  “The ‘inner me’ doesn’t know any funny voices, either,” he said. “And he doesn’t want to ‘let loose.’ ‘He’ is just fine the way he is,” Luke informed her.

  For a moment they stood there, silently regarding one another, entertaining thoughts and feelings that at least one of them knew were way out of line and should be stifled.

  Kayley could feel her pulse beginning to accelerate, could feel herself growing just a wee bit warmer. She was afraid that if she acted on what she was feeling, there was a very strong possibility that she wouldn’t be able to find her way back.

  And worse, she just might frighten Luke off and lose any small ground she might have gained. Moreover, if things went badly and Luke wound up distancing himself from her, she wouldn’t be invited back. If that happened, she would really miss seeing Lily—and Barbara, too, she silently added. The woman did remind her a great deal of her mother, and although she knew Barbara wasn’t her mother, she had to admit that it was nice to have that faint sliver of a memory drifting through her head.

  “I understand totally,” she finally answered Luke, doing her best to sound cheerful. Time to go home, Kay, she told herself. “Well, I had a lovely time but I should be going home,” she said out loud.

  She walked away from Luke, then paused by the living room and peered in. “Thank you for the wonderful meal, Barbara—and best of all, for the company,” she added.

  “Are you leav
ing already?” Barbara asked, looking upset. “Can’t you stay a little longer?”

  “No, I really think that I should be getting home,” Kayley told the older woman with a smile. She turned toward Luke before saying, “Thank you both for everything.”

  Kayley picking her purse up from the side table where she’d deposited it and made her way to the front door. Without a backward glance, she opened it and let herself out. She did not realize that Luke was right behind her until she reached her car and unlocked the driver-side door.

  It took effort not to gasp when she saw a hand reaching around her to open the door for her. Swinging around, she saw Luke standing as close to her as a shadow.

  “Oh, you startled me.”

  “Sorry, I thought you had eyes in back of your head,” he quipped.

  “They’re not standard-issue for physician’s assistants,” she told him, recovering. Her heart, though, took a few seconds to return to its natural rhythm. “That doesn’t happen unless we become full-fledged physicians—or mothers,” she added fondly.

  For the most part, the evening had gone very well. But now she thought she detected a hint of tension coming from Luke. Maybe he didn’t like feeling obligated to see her off. Most likely, he wanted to be back in the house.

  She tossed her purse onto the passenger seat, then told Luke, “You really don’t need to do this.”

  “Do what?”

  She gestured toward her vehicle. “Walk me to my car.”

  He blew out a breath. Whether it was from exasperation or not, she had no idea. “As I recall, we had this conversation last time.”

  Kayley did her best to remain upbeat. “Still just as valid.”

  “If I didn’t come out with you,” he pointed out, “Barbara would think I was some kind of a boor.” Remembering what he’d said about boring his daughter to sleep, he specified, “The kind with no manners, not the kind that puts people to sleep.”

  He couldn’t believe that, Kayley thought. “I really doubt she’d think anything of the kind. Barbara seems to know you very well—and she holds you in high regard from what I can tell.”