by Renee Ryan
“Olivia. These are my daughters.” He angled his head to the right, “Molly, and—” he hitched his chin to his left “—Megan.”
“We’re twins,” Molly told her with no small amount of pride.
Olivia nodded. “I noticed.”
She gave the girls a warm smile, but Connor noted she wasn’t as calm as she appeared. Her breath was coming a little too quickly. She seemed nervous.
Because of him?
He cleared his throat.
“And this scoundrel—” he jiggled the puppy, earning him a happy yip “—is Samson, the newest member of the Mitchell household. He slipped out of his collar, which, as you can see, is still attached to this.” Connor lifted the leash in his other hand. “Apparently, I failed to cinch the buckle tight enough.”
“Ah.” Olivia reached out and scratched the puppy behind his ears. “I’ve never seen an animal this short and...um...round move quite so fast.”
“He’s fat but has lots of hidden moves.” Most of which Connor could live without.
The puppy had been his daughters’ idea and an added responsibility to his already full life, especially now that he and Ethan had discussed expanding their practice to include Saturday hours and two evenings a week.
Even without the added workload, as much as the girls tried to take care of their new dog, and they did try, they simply had no experience with pets. The bulk of the responsibility fell on Connor.
Dropping her hand, Olivia studied the puppy with laughing eyes. “I can only imagine what this little guy is capable of when you turn your back.”
Connor could give her a dissertation on the topic. “You have no idea.”
They shared a smile solely between them. For a brief moment, Connor felt the tension drain from his shoulders and the ache in his heart loosen just a bit. The sensation left him oddly shaken, as had this entire meeting.
He cleared his throat again.
Although the shyer of his two daughters, Megan moved in close to Olivia and tugged on her arm. “You’re very pretty.”
“Well, thank you. So are you.”
“What about me?” Molly asked, squirming in next to her sister.
Eyes crinkling at the edges, Olivia pretended to consider the question carefully. “You are easily as pretty as your sister.”
Both girls laughed.
Connor did, too. For the first time in days—months—he wasn’t worried about tight schedules, or running late, or forgetting something important. The girls were safe. The puppy found. And Olivia Scott was back in town.
Chapter Two
Standing close enough to make out the warm blend of bronze, amber and gold in Connor’s eyes, Olivia quietly studied him. Sure, he was good-looking. Really good-looking. But that wasn’t the reason for her sudden silence. It was the inexplicable desire to offer him comfort, as if she could somehow provide him with a place of rest from the outside world.
That made no sense.
The man was in the prime of his life. Strong, athletic, capable. Yet Olivia detected a hint of sorrow in him, a sorrow she understood all too well.
The slight sting she felt in her heart she attributed to missing her parents. Even now, over ten years after their car accident, the pain was still with her, would probably always be with her.
Did Connor suffer something similar?
How could he not? He’d lost his wife to cancer.
Olivia wished she could soothe away his grief, as he’d once done for her that day after her parents’ funeral.
Did he remember the momentary solace he’d given her with his kind words?
Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia could see his daughters watching her closely. She understood what they’d lost. But Olivia had enjoyed time with her mother for seventeen years. These girls had spent far less with theirs. The unfairness struck her. She smiled down at them.
They smiled back.
Shifting beside her, Connor drew Olivia’s attention back to him. He wasn’t looking at her, though. He was focused on his daughters. “Girls, it’s time to go.”
The arguments began immediately.
He shut them down with a look. “Say goodbye to Miss Olivia.”
A little grumbling ensued before Megan stepped close to Olivia and looked up. “Bye, Miss Olivia.”
Miss Olivia. Her heart tripped. Kenzie had called her that, too.
Olivia banished the thought, and focused only on the two girls staring up at her. They were at such a great age, when they still looked up to adults and chose obedience more often than not.
“It was nice to meet you, Megan.” Olivia circled her gaze to include the girl’s sister. “And you as well, Molly.”
Molly’s eyes rounded in response. “You can tell us apart?”
The surprise was understandable. On first glance the girls were identical. But on closer inspection, Molly held herself with more confidence. Her smile also came quicker, and with a mischievous glint in her eye. “Well, yes. I can.”
“That’s really...” Molly seemed to search for the right word “...cool.”
“Yeah,” Megan agreed. “Supercool.”
Connor set the puppy on the ground and reattached the collar. His elegant, efficient movements reminded Olivia of an artist’s expert strokes across a canvas. He had such nice hands, doctor’s hands. Steady, confident, yet gentle.
Still not looking at her, he gave the puppy’s collar a final check and then rose to his full height—all six feet two inches of casually clad male in those well-worn cargo shorts and a faded T-shirt. He was tall enough that Olivia had to tip her head back to look into his face. The shock of those intense amber eyes focused on her sent her heart stuttering.
What was wrong with her? Why this strange visceral reaction to the man? This was Connor Mitchell, for goodness’ sake. Her brother’s best friend since before Olivia was born. Ethan’s friend, she reminded herself, not hers. She hadn’t actually spoken to him for years before today.
“It was good to see you, Olivia.” He paused a moment, his expression easy. “I’m sure our paths will cross again while you’re in town.”
“I...” She tensed, started to tell him she was probably home for good, then thought, Why would he need to know that? “I certainly hope so.”
Even to her own ears, the words came out a little wistful.
And mortifying.
Hadn’t she learned her lesson when it came to single dads with demanding professions and adorable daughters in need of a woman’s love?
Having been ignored long enough, Samson gave a ferocious growl before initiating a vicious tug-of-war with his leash.
“Troublemaker,” Connor muttered, but obliged the puppy with a few hard snatches.
Samson hunched low, growled deeper in his throat, then whipped his head back and forth with fast, hard jerks.
A reluctant laugh escaped Connor.
Olivia gave in to her own amusement. The puppy was hard not to like. “That is one big, bad dog in the making.”
“So he wants us all to think.”
Samson suddenly let go of the leash, looked around and then pounced on Baloo.
Olivia reached down to pry the puppy loose.
Connor bent over, as well. Their hands connected atop Samson’s back. They both froze. Less than a heartbeat later Connor moved his hand and picked up Samson.
He passed the puppy off to Molly.
Holding the animal close, the girl divided a look between her father and Olivia. A speculative glint whispered across her gaze, but disappeared so quickly Olivia thought she might have imagined the whole thing.
She said goodbye to the twins, patted Samson on the head and watched as the entire family turned to go. A final wave in her direction from the twins, and they disappeared ba
ck over the hill.
Now that puppy teeth were no longer chomping on his ear, Baloo hopped to his feet with the agility of a dog half his age. Olivia absently scratched her fingernails down his back, earning her a canine sigh.
She sighed, too.
The Mitchells were such a beautiful family, yet she couldn’t help feeling a little sad for them. Cancer had left Connor to raise two young girls on his own. With three older brothers in the medical profession, Olivia knew the long hours he endured.
Not that it was any of her concern.
“Come on, Baloo. Let’s go home.”
On the walk back to the house, one thought kept running through Olivia’s mind. She’d come home just in time, putting her on the right path to finding her true purpose in life. A purpose she hadn’t considered when she’d been working fourteen-hour days.
The possibilities stretching before her were both exciting and terrifying.
It was nearly noon by the time Olivia guided Baloo into the mudroom at the back of their house. At this hour she wouldn’t run into any of her brothers.
Ethan was at the office seeing patients. Ryder was at Village Green Hospital where he shared E.R. duties with two other doctors. And Brody was out of the country working for Doctors Without Borders.
With the house to herself, Olivia could continue working her way through the list of Village Green businesses. She needed to determine if the type of tearoom she had in mind would be redundant or just what the town needed. No thoughts of single dads and or sweet little girls would be allowed in her head. Work, work and more work.
She’d just hung up Baloo’s leash when she heard a deep, masculine voice. “Olivia? That you?”
Her throat tightened. Of course Ethan would come home for lunch today, since he was the one brother she wanted to avoid most. Not that she didn’t adore him; of course she did. But he had a way of asking questions that struck at the heart of a matter. Questions she didn’t have answers for yet. Her emotions were too raw, and her plans too sketchy.
The fact that she hadn’t heard his approach was a bit annoying, but not entirely her fault. Ethan still moved with that creepy stealth he’d learned as an Army Ranger.
She turned and smiled at him. Dressed in navy blue dress pants and a white button-down, he looked very much like the successful doctor he was. As with all her brothers, the stark contrast of his black hair and light blue eyes turned more than a few female heads, including most of Olivia’s friends.
“Hey,” she said, hoping she’d caught him on his way out. “I took Baloo for a walk. I’m assuming that was okay.”
“Sure.” He nodded, smiling. “He needs more exercise than I can give him.”
Now that the pleasantries were over, she grabbed her laptop with the sole intention of heading somewhere else—anywhere else—to continue her fact-finding expedition. “Well, now that I brought him home, I’m heading out again.”
“You just got back.”
“I know, but—” she glanced over his shoulder, her gaze landing on the refrigerator “—we need groceries.”
His eyebrows pulled together. “We have food in the house.”
She rolled her eyes. Ethan was such a man. “Bottled water and cold pizza do not qualify as food.”
He ignored this observation and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Olivia. Come into the den. We’ll talk and—”
“I really should get going.” She shrugged out from under his grip, trying not to think about all she’d lost. The job. The perfect ready-made family that had seemed within her reach.
So she’d been downsized. So she and Warner hadn’t worked out. Maybe her breakup and job loss had come at an opportune time. Maybe even Divine Intervention, God working good out of the bad in her life.
“Stop worrying about me, Ethan. I’m simply between jobs.”
He considered this, considered her. “So you’ve said already.” He lowered his voice to that soothing doctor octave he donned so well. “I know that’s not the truth.”
She opened her mouth to argue.
“Not the full truth, in any case.”
She thought about the tearoom of her dreams, the particulars still fuzzy, yet also thrilling, in her mind. “It’s a long story with a few twists and turns but eventually leading to a happy ending.”
She would make sure of it.
“Tell me more. I have time.” He checked the chunky wristwatch he’d worn ever since his days in the military. “I don’t have to be back at the office for another half hour.”
His tone was so calm, so reasonable, as if she could explain in thirty minutes or less why she didn’t want to take another job in banking. Why she wanted to try something that would require a leap of faith.
“How about I tell you everything tonight when you get home from work?”
“I’m not coming straight home. I have a meeting in Denver.”
“Tomorrow, then.” She patted him on the arm, relieved she would have more time. “I’ll stop by the office and catch you between patients.”
Giving him no chance to respond, she quickly exited the house, shutting the door on whatever response he’d been about to give.
* * *
Thanks to the tiny menace in a fur suit, Connor spent the rest of his day off in the emergency room, where he and the girls waited for news on Samson’s latest victim—their housekeeper, Carlotta.
The puppy had escaped his crate and had proceeded to bolt through the house. With the twins giving chase, Samson had eventually darted into the kitchen and slid directly under Carlotta’s foot, the one attached to her bad knee.
She’d gone down hard.
One look had told Connor he didn’t have the necessary equipment to treat her injury at home, or at the office. Hence this unexpected trip to Village Green Hospital’s E.R.
Connor would have joined Carlotta in the exam room, but she’d insisted he stay with the girls. He’d relented when Megan’s eyes had filled with tears and Ryder Scott, the doctor on duty, had promised to give Connor an update as soon as he knew more.
While the twins watched television, Connor retrieved his phone from his back pocket and thumbed through his contact list. If Carlotta’s injury was as bad as he suspected, he would need alternative child care.
“Daddy?”
He lifted his head.
Megan’s bottom lip trembled. “You’re not going to make us get rid of Samson, are you?”
“Not a chance, sweetheart.” He pulled her into a one-arm hug. “He’s part of the family now.” For better or worse.
So far, it had been mostly worse.
Eyes full of worry, Molly drew alongside her sister. “Samson didn’t mean to hurt Carlotta.”
Connor gave her a reassuring smile. “No, sweetheart, he didn’t.”
He wanted to say more, explain that the puppy needed obedience school stat, but Ryder joined them in the waiting room. The other doctor’s tight expression confirmed Connor’s suspicions. The news was bad.
He stood. Megan rushed past him and tugged on Ryder’s sleeve. “Is Carlotta going to be okay?”
Ryder glanced at Connor before answering, “Sure is.”
The other doctor smiled down at Megan. The gesture wiped away the tension on his face and relaxed his features, reminding Connor of the man’s younger sister. All the Scotts looked alike, but this one favored Olivia the most, right down to the blue-blue eyes, the color of the Colorado sky.
Connor had been thinking a lot about Olivia since their unexpected reunion this morning. Hard not to, since his daughters had chattered nonstop about her all the way home from the park.
She’d certainly made an impression on them.
The image of Olivia’s eyes crinkling around the edges when she smiled at them still hovered in the back of his mind.
Connor tried not to groan at the description. “How badly busted up are we talking?”
“Broken kneecap, torn ACL. The orthopedic surgeon is with her now. He’s suggesting immediate surgery.”
Translation: months of recovery time.
The girls’ summer break had barely begun. Connor stuffed his phone back in his pocket. “I’d like to see her now.”
Ryder hooked a thumb over his left shoulder. “Third room on the left.”
“Be right back.” He stayed only long enough to determine how Carlotta was feeling, promise he’d take care of any medical bills not covered by insurance and assure her she had a job when her knee healed.
As soon as he and the girls arrived home from the hospital, Connor went to work on his child-care dilemma. He made the first call to his sister Avery a recent college grad home for a few months before she started medical school in the fall.
She answered on the second ring. “Hey, bro. What’s up?”
After he explained the situation, she clicked her tongue in sympathy. “Ouch, poor Carlotta. Tell me what I can do to help.”
“Can you watch the girls tomorrow?”
“I can watch them all summer if necessary.”
“It won’t come to that.” He glanced out into the backyard. The twins were attempting to run off the puppy’s seemingly never-ending energy. Good luck with that.
“I mean it, Connor.”
“I know, Avery, and I appreciate it.” He tightened his hold on the phone. “But I promised you experience in the office before you start medical school, and I’m going to keep my word.”
Resolved to find a solution that would work for everyone, he ended the call.
Closing his eyes, he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. He was suddenly bone-tired, as if the long, endless days he’d endured since Sheila’s death were finally catching up with him.
