by Jen Gilroy
“She’s twelve. That’s old enough to remember summer camp and the first father figure who made her feel special. A man who showed her all men aren’t like her mother’s deadbeat boyfriends.” Mia remembered exactly what it was like to be twelve, and how she’d vowed to never marry a man like her dad.
“What if Kylie does remember? I can’t be part of her life.” Nick bent his head over one of the angels and tightened his jaw.
“Why not?”
“That’s not the kind of guy I am. I can’t change because Kylie’s got some crazy idea in her head.”
“You mean because she thinks you’re a hero?”
“Exactly.” Nick raised his head and his expression was blank. “I’d forgotten about these angels. Mémère Brassard gave them to my sisters and me one Christmas. They came from her family in Quebec.”
Typical Nick. Whenever Mia or anyone else got too close to something he didn’t want to talk about, he shut down, changed the subject, or both.
“This one’s yours.” Mia turned the angel over and pointed to his name on the base in a spidery script. “You should take it back to New York with you.”
Nick’s expression softened. “I want you to have it. Someday you can give it to Emma.”
“It’s a family heirloom. You should keep it. Maybe you’ll have children to share it with.”
“No, take it. I like you and I…care about you, so when you look at it, remember…” He stopped and dug in the box for tissue.
“I care about you, too.” After years of trying to live up to Jay’s expectations and never meeting them, Nick had accepted her for who and what she was and helped restore her faith in herself.
“Hey.” Nick set the tissue paper aside. “What is it?”
“I was thinking about Emma,” she lied.
“She’ll be fine. Remember what the doctor said? In a few days she’ll be back to normal. If she has a scar, it’ll fade and be covered by her hair anyway.”
“I could have lost her, and you…”
“I’m the reason she was at the beach in the first place.” His voice was gruff. “I’m surprised you aren’t mad at me. I’m mad at myself. I can’t forgive myself for what happened.”
“You have to. If it’s anybody’s fault, it was Emma’s.” Mia worried her lip. Jay had berated her for letting Emma go to the beach with Nick. He refused to admit Emma had made a mistake and laid the blame for the accident solely on Nick’s shoulders.
“Emma must have had a guardian angel watching over her. Which is all the more reason you should keep Mémère’s angel for her.”
“Thank you.”
Nick smiled at her, and Mia’s heart caught at the sweetness of it and the way it warmed his eyes.
“Mémère would have liked Emma. She was a spunky old lady, and she admired that quality in others.”
“Emma’s spunky all right.” Mia wrapped the angel and set it aside. “I think she finally understands Jay and I won’t get back together. She’s talking to me again more like she used to, but it’s still hard for her.” And it was hard for Mia not to give her daughter what Emma wanted most.
“It’ll be hard for a long time, but you’re a good mom and you’ll help Emma through.” Nick traced the curve of Mia’s cheek.
“Jay’s still moving to California, but with the mess he’s gotten himself into with Tiffany, he seems to have dropped the idea of wanting the girls there.” And Mia hadn’t mentioned it, grateful for the sudden business trip to Atlanta that had taken him away from Firefly Lake the day after Emma’s accident.
“What if he changes his mind again?”
“The girls and I will still stay here. Emma and I talked about how when you make a commitment, you stick to it.” Except when that commitment was to someone who broke it as often as Jay had.
“She’s okay with that?”
“Not entirely.” Mia’s breath hitched as Nick’s finger touched the sensitive spot on her neck. “All Emma sees is a California move would mean she’d get the pony Jay promised her, but I think she understands some of how I feel. At least as much as a girl her age can. Even in California, Emma wouldn’t see much of Jay because he travels all the time, and she’d have to compete with Riley for his attention.”
“Mmm.” Nick’s hand reached the neckline of her T-shirt.
Mia wiggled away from his sinful touch. “We can’t, not here, your mother—”
“Never comes up to the attic.” His hand slipped lower to graze her breast. “Besides, I locked the door behind me.” He fingered the hem of her skirt and, in one quick motion, slid his hand under it. His touch was warm on her bare thigh.
“Stop.” But even as she protested, Mia’s breathing sped up, and she reached for the button on his polo shirt.
“Say it like you mean it.” With his other hand, Nick eased her toward the wall as he rained kisses along her jaw.
“I do mean it.” Mia’s back hit the wall with a gentle thud.
Nick’s laugh was low and sexy. “No, you don’t. You want this as much as I do. All I can think about is being inside you again. Not being able to touch you is driving me crazy.”
Like it was driving her crazy. “Nick, I…” He tugged on her panties, and she arched against his hand.
He captured her mouth in a blistering kiss, sensuality mixed with the subtle sweetness of the maple sugar cookies she’d baked earlier.
Although she wasn’t about to admit it, she’d never had sex anywhere but in a bed and never been anything but conventional. “I…uh…”
The faint echo of the bells from the church at the bottom of the hill blended with the rasp of the zipper on his jeans. He pulled off her panties, and she gasped as cooler hair hit her skin.
“Nick.” His name came out in a moan. “We have to be quick. And quiet.”
“I can be quick.” He undid his belt one-handed and continued his sensuous exploration. He slipped one finger inside her, then another to stretch, twist, and intensify the sensation. “And I can be very, very quiet.”
Mia’s head lolled against the wall. “Don’t stop,” she whispered as she gave in to his touch and the sensations he aroused.
“I won’t. I’ve only gotten started.” He dropped to his knees. And gave her a whole lot more to fantasize about.
From the home team’s bench beside Firefly Lake’s ball diamond, Nick scanned the crowd and zeroed in again on the little group in the front row of the stands. Naomi and Emma flanked Mia, who was in jeans, a white T-shirt, and red flats. Kylie sat between his mom and Ward, and Pixie was perched on Kylie’s lap. When she spotted him, Kylie waved and then stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled.
Mia glanced at Kylie before she waved at Nick, too. The setting sun turned her hair russet brown, and although he’d seen a lot of women in his life, women dressed for work in sharp suits and killer heels, and women dressed to impress in thigh-high dresses with plunging necklines, in her simple outfit, Mia was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
The crowd erupted into cheers, and Nick tore his gaze away from the stands to look back at the field in time to see Ty slide home.
“Good one.” Nick tossed Ty a towel.
“Thanks.” Ty’s face was red and his chest heaved beneath a Firefly Lake Eagles baseball shirt as he dropped to the bench beside Nick and mopped his forehead. “Even without Dad, we still won.”
Nick slapped Ty’s back. “Your dad’s not the only good ball player. You earned your place on the men’s team tonight.”
Ty grinned and grabbed a bottle of water before scanning the stands in his turn. “That Kylie’s sure something else. Mia took all of us out for creemees to celebrate Naomi’s belated birthday, and from how Kylie went on, you’d think soft ice cream drizzled with maple syrup was better than Disney World.” He waved at Naomi.
Nick lifted his sports bag onto his shoulder and his good mood slipped. He’d talked to Kylie’s social worker earlier, and her new family could take her in forty-eight hours. A wake-up call to
stop pretending his life over the past week was something it wasn’t. With Kylie, as well as with Mia and her girls.
“The doctor says Dad and Charlie can bring Lexie home in a few days.” Ty fell into step beside Nick and headed toward Naomi, like a homing pigeon. “My mom traded weeks with Dad so I can stay here and help Lexie get settled. I bought her this elephant toy like I had when I was little. What did you get her?”
“A bond. It’s never too soon to start to save for college.” He was a practical guy, but he hadn’t wanted to go into a store and be surrounded by baby things, had he?
“For real? Money’s fine and all, but you have to get her something else. Naomi helped me pick out my gift and wrap it. Girls are good at stuff like that. Maybe Mia can help you. Since you two are friends…and everything.” The tips of Ty’s ears reddened.
The kid might play ball with the men, but it didn’t mean he was one of them. The friends with benefits thing, or whatever was between him and Mia, was none of Ty’s business. “I can pick out something else for Lexie, no problem.” That’s what online shopping was for.
Nick’s heartbeat sped up as Mia came across the field. She smiled when he met her halfway, like he was her man, and her T-shirt hugged those little breasts he loved to touch. While he’d never been a big fan of flat shoes, the red ones with bows on the toes were as sexy as any of the heels she usually wore.
“Great game.” Her smile included Ty. “Your mom and Ward have invited all of us for milkshakes at Simard’s Creamery store.”
He should say no. He should put up some of those barriers he planned to, but it was only milkshakes. “Sounds good.”
The full force of Mia’s smile turned on him, and Nick slipped a little more into something with her. Something he didn’t want to put a label on but he’d felt for a while, which had intensified after they’d been together in his mom’s attic. When he’d been as close to her as a man could get to a woman, and he’d looked into her eyes and the raw emotion there had winded him and ripped a protective strip off his heart.
“Mom?” Emma’s pink sneakers pounded into the dry grass of the ball diamond as she darted toward them. “Did you tell Nick?” Her blue eyes sparkled, open and friendly again.
“I haven’t had a chance.” A flush crept over Mia’s cheeks.
Emma let out a breath and turned to Nick. “You know the article about us in the Kincaid Examiner?”
“Yeah.” Nick tensed. The front page article had made him out to be some kind of hero. Which he wasn’t.
Emma skipped, and the ruffles on her pink top caught the breeze. “The principal at Firefly Lake Elementary read it and remembered Mom was on the sub list. One of the music teachers is really sick and just got signed off, and since school starts soon, the principal hired Mom to fill in until next spring.”
“Congratulations.” Nick stretched his mouth into a smile. The job was perfect for Mia. Of course he was happy for her. Except, it was another reminder she had a life and roots here, while he didn’t.
Mia patted his arm. Her touch was gentle and right, like coming home after a long day, but not to any home he’d ever had. “The principal only interviewed me this afternoon. It was last minute, and there’s a lot of paperwork before the offer’s official. I’ll still start off as a substitute teacher. Emma got a bit ahead of herself.”
“It’s good news.” He studied Mia’s face as Emma ran back to his mom.
“The best.” Mia’s smile was so sweet and full of affection his heart ached. “Although I’m sorry the regular teacher is sick, this job is more security for the girls and me, and to be in the same school every day until next year is a dream come true.”
Nick looked at his baseball shoes. “I’m happy for you.”
“I lost sight of what I wanted for a while, but I’ve found it again.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being my friend and helping me remember what I wanted.”
As Mia talked, unfamiliar emotions churned through Nick, and his heart pounded more than it had when he’d rounded third base and headed for home as the crowd cheered. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“Are you okay to walk to the creamery store from here? It looked like you twisted your knee when you slid into third base on that home run.”
She’d noticed and was concerned for him. “It was nothing.”
“You limped when you walked across the field. Do you need an ice pack?”
“I already iced my knee. I’m good.” His breath caught at the tenderness in her face.
“I know you’re good,” she murmured, even though Ty had gone ahead with Naomi, and his mom and Ward were with Emma and Kylie. “But I still think we should take my car and meet the others there.” Mia licked her bottom lip, slow and teasing, and Nick went from soft to hard in a second.
He glanced at the bulge in his tight baseball uniform and shifted his sports bag, but not before her mouth quirked in amusement. “You see what you do to me, angel?”
“Me?” She gave him a naughty grin before she called to Emma that she’d see her at the creamery in ten minutes and then dug in her bag for her car keys.
“Yes, you.” He pulled her close and caught his mom’s smile of approval. He liked how Mia’s head fit into the curve of his shoulder. He liked lots of things about her, especially sex with her, but most of all he liked the way she got him, at least the parts he’d chosen to share.
“Nick?” She stopped by her blue Honda. “What is it? Should I take you to the hospital to get your knee checked out?”
He let out a breath as sexual desire faded. “It’s not my knee.” For the first time in a long time he needed to talk to someone, and maybe Mia would understand. “My dad got in touch. He wants to catch up.”
“Will you?” Mia slid into the driver’s seat, and Nick got in on the passenger side and tossed his bag onto the seat behind.
“No.” Nick’s body tensed. “He walked out on Mom and us kids. He sent money, sure, but he never wanted anything to do with us.” Apart from once. He’d come to the hospital after the accident and stayed until Nick told the doctor to make him leave. “He’s more than twenty-five years too late.”
“If you talked, maybe you could make peace. I never had a chance with my dad. He had a massive heart attack and died before he even got to the hospital. Although I don’t think I could ever have forgiven him for how he treated my mom and Charlie and me, it would have been easier to let it go if we’d talked.”
“My sisters can talk to him if they want, but I won’t. After what he did, even his parents never spoke to him again, so why should I?”
“It’s your choice.” Mia’s brown eyes were tender and wise. “But you don’t want to regret anything.” She started the car, and her hair fell forward to hide her face.
“No regrets.” Except in name, he wasn’t Brian McGuire’s son. He’d left that guy behind long ago.
Nick leaned back in the seat and angled his knee in front of him as the car bumped along the rough track to the road. Mia hadn’t given him the answer he wanted. She hadn’t assured him it was the right thing to not contact his dad.
Instead, she made him want to be the kind of man who didn’t fail at relationships and who wasn’t so afraid of loss he could take a risk and let himself love again.
The kind of man who could head back to New York without regrets.
Chapter Fifteen
Mia paced the flagstone path around Gabrielle’s rose garden for the fourth time, all thirty steps of it, as Pixie ambled beside her. Where was Jay? He’d promised to have Naomi and Emma back straight after lunch, a brief visit on his way from New York to Dallas.
Pixie flopped in the shade under a tree, and Mia breathed in the scent of the roses, heavy in the warmth of the August afternoon. Harbor House drowsed in the sunshine, solid and safe. Gabrielle stuck her head out of an upstairs window and waved. Mia shook her head in answer to the older woman’s unspoken question.
>
She checked her cell for the tenth time in five minutes. No message.
A car door slammed, and Mia turned toward the house as Jay and the girls came through the side gate. After he hugged them and they disappeared into the house, he came across the patio and down the steps to the garden to meet Mia by a white rose of Sharon bush.
“Don’t you need to catch a flight?” Her palms got clammy.
“Yes, but I need to talk to you first without the girls around.”
Her heartbeat sped up. “What about?”
“I want us to get back together.” His voice was firm, decisive.
“What?” The words reverberated in her head and sunlight gilded his features. A golden god who’d turned out to have feet of clay. How had she ever loved this man and given him almost twenty years of her life?
“I want to marry you again and be a real father to the girls.” Jay took a step forward, and Pixie got up from under the tree to sit at Mia’s feet.
“You’re the one who left and who wanted the divorce. You’re the one who said you didn’t love me anymore.” Mia’s throat burned as bile rose. “What about Tiffany? And the baby?”
“Tiffany and I…it’s over.” Jay’s hair had thinned on top. He shifted from one foot to the other. “I’ll support baby Riley, of course, but Tiffany’s young, too young.”
Mia crossed her arms over her chest. “You dumped me and destroyed our family and all of a sudden you come here and say you think we should get back together? No.”
Jay gave her the easy smile she’d fallen for back in college. As if all he had to do was snap his fingers and she’d run to him. “I didn’t handle things right before. Of course you wouldn’t move to California by yourself, but if we’re a family again, where better to have a fresh start? I’ve already sounded out Naomi and Emma, and they’re all for it.”
“Even Naomi?” Mia forced the words out as heat flashed through her body.
Jay hesitated for a fraction of a second. “Sure. I told her Ty can come visit.” He gave her that smile again, urging her to believe him, trust him. “Of course, once she’s in a new school with new friends, she’ll forget all about him.”
