The Last Man She Expected

by Michelle Major

“It’s okay, Mommy. Anna’s uncle found me.”

  Mara blinked, and glanced up to see Parker and Anna watching her.

  “Parker?”

  He gave her a tiny half smile, and Anna popped out from his other side.

  “Hi, Mara,” Anna said. “The gym roof broke. It was really loud.”

  “I bet it was scary, honey,” Mara said, giving Evie another squeeze, “but it’s good you girls were together. I’m glad no one was hurt.”

  “We can’t go to school the rest of the day,” Evie said softly. Now that Mara knew her girl was safe, she turned her attention to the school. Her breath caught as she took in the destruction. Debris littered the school playground, and she could see where the gym roof had caved in on itself. She sent up a silent prayer no one had been hurt.

  “We should do something fun.” She smoothed a hand over Evie’s braids. Right now, she wanted to take her daughter’s mind off what had happened and how bad it could have been. She needed to distract them both. They’d figure out the rest once the officials assessed the damage. “We can have a picnic lunch out at Meadow Creek if you’d like.”

  “Can Anna come with us?”

  “Of course.”

  “And her uncle?”

  Mara blinked, unsure how to answer. “Give me a minute to work things out.”

  She straightened and turned first toward Brynn, who held the hand of her ten-year-old son, Tyler. “What exactly happened?”

  The petite brunette shook her head, her big blue eyes wide with concern. “They haven’t told us anything yet. Thank heavens no one was in the gym at the time of the collapse.”

  “I’d guess water damage,” Parker offered from behind Mara. “I heard the principal say the art room was destroyed, as well.”

  Brynn made a face. “There’s going to be a lot of work ahead of us.”

  “Us?” Mara asked.

  “I’m PTO president this year,” Brynn told her with a grimace. “I agreed to it before...” She bit down on her lip then shrugged. “Obviously we have no idea the extent of the damage. The school has insurance, but I can guarantee we’ll need to do fund-raising to help cover some of the costs.”

  Mara nodded, amazed by the other woman’s immediate focus on helping. She’d met Brynn through her friend Kaitlin Carmody and had the feeling they could be close even though Brynn had lived in Starlight her entire life and Mara was new to the community. Brynn was another single parent, widowed after a car crash killed her husband over the summer. She’d heard the gossip about Daniel Hale, that he’d been driving with his mistress and his car had gone off the cliff, the fiery crash taking both their lives. Mara’s struggles paled in comparison to the tragedy Brynn and her son had faced.

  “I’ll help,” Mara offered without hesitation, earning a smile from the other woman. She’d managed to keep herself closed off from most of the community for the better part of a year and now she couldn’t seem to stop herself from volunteering where she saw a need.

  “I appreciate it. I’m going to take Tyler home now, but I’ll call Principal Watkins tonight and figure out the most urgent needs.” Brynn glanced over Mara’s shoulder. “Good to have you back in town, Parker. I’ll see you both later.”

  “Thanks for the wardrobe help,” he said, earning a small chuckle from Brynn before she led away her son.

  Mara looked around to see the crowd quickly dispersing as more parents were reunited with their kids. Keeping a hand on Evie’s shoulder, she turned to Parker.

  “Thanks for being here,” she said stiffly, then frowned as she registered the too-small Starlight Elementary T-shirt stretched across his broad chest. “What’s with the shirt?”

  He tugged at the hem, which barely covered the waistband of his faded jeans. She hadn’t noticed the ill-fitting piece of clothing earlier, her attention solely on Evie and assuring her daughter’s safety. But now she couldn’t seem to wrench her gaze away from the strip of hard abs revealed every time he shifted.

  “I puked on him,” Evie said before Parker could answer, fisting her fingers in the fabric of Mara’s cotton pants.

  “No big deal,” Parker added with a gentle smile. “I sort of felt sick to my stomach in all the chaos, as well.”

  “Evie throws up a lot,” Anna explained, wrinkling her nose. “She gets scared and pukes. She’s good at making it to the bathroom.” They all studied Parker’s shirt. “Usually.”

  “I’m sorry.” Mara’s chest tightened at Evie’s apology. The stress vomiting had started in the midst of the divorce. Their pediatrician had sent them to a therapist, who’d given Evie coping strategies to deal with the nausea. Mara also had a prescription for antinausea medicine, but sometimes accidents still happened. She knew her shy daughter hated attention on her, especially for her sick stomach, and wished she had a foolproof way to calm Evie’s nerves. And her own, come to think of it.

  “It’s okay, sweetie,” she said, cupping Evie’s head against her leg. “Today was stressful and—”

  “I was happy for an excuse to get some merch from my alma mater. Starlight Elementary Bobcats forever.” Parker traced his fingers over the big cat emblem on the front of the shirt.

  The urge to hug him blasted through Mara like a tornado. He looked ridiculous in the shirt but somehow even more irresistible. She wouldn’t have expected this type of effortless kindness and hated to admit how much it warmed her cold heart.

  “What’s an almer otter?” Anna asked, and Evie giggled.

  “It means I went to school here,” he explained. “Brynn tracked down a shirt for me since mine...” He trailed off then quickly added, “Shirts are easy to replace, but not so much silly nieces.” He ruffled Anna’s hair, the gesture all the more endearing for how uncomfortable he looked making it. “I’m glad everyone is okay and...um...happy to have the afternoon to spend with you.”

  Mara suppressed a sigh at how sweet he was acting. Acting, she reminded herself. The real Parker was the one she’d seen in court, the one who’d dragged her name through the mud without batting an eye. At least that’s what she wanted to believe. Seeing him outside the courtroom made it more difficult.

  “Where’s Josh?” Mara asked, needing a buffer between her and the unbidden attraction she felt for this man. “Maybe he’ll want Anna with him this afternoon? It’s been a chaotic morning.”

  “He’s meeting with the county building department.” Parker shrugged. “I called him to let him know everything’s fine, but I’m the designated adult for Anna today.”

  “Uncle Parker let me have cookies for breakfast,” Anna reported cheerily. “He doesn’t know much.”

  “You said it would be okay with your dad.” Parker narrowed his eyes at the precocious girl.

  Mara couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips. “You really don’t know much,” she said, echoing Anna’s assessment. The school’s principal, Gary Watkins, hurried by with the fire chief, looking harried and stressed. “We should head out. They’ve got a lot of work to do to assess the damage, and we’re not helping.”

  “I hope they fix it quick.” Anna fell into step next to Evie.

  “I don’t,” Evie muttered. “I hate gym class. Mommy, are Anna and her uncle coming to our picnic?”

  “Can we, Parker?” Anna tossed a pleading smile over her shoulder. “Otherwise, I might not have a healthy lunch.”

  “I could manage healthy,” he protested even as he shot a questioning look toward Mara. “But we happen to be available.”

  “You’ve gone from big-shot attorney to blue-collar worker and backup childcare. Quite a step down for you, huh?” As soon as the petty words were out of her mouth, Mara cringed. Luckily, the girls seemed occupied in their own conversation, but that didn’t excuse her rudeness. It would be easy to blame the outburst on the adrenaline of the past thirty minutes but she knew it had more to do with trying to keep her de
fenses up around Parker, even when it wasn’t warranted.

  To her surprise, he seemed unfazed by the criticism. “It’s a change, but not a bad one. I don’t think I realized I needed a break until Josh’s predicament forced me to take one.” He drew in a breath. “I may not know much about kids, but I like spending time with my niece.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mara said. “I understand you’re helping your family. It’s kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that the guy I only met as Paul’s jerk of an attorney has an actual heart.”

  “It’s probably at least two sizes too small if that helps,” he said with a wink.

  Mara giggled then quickly clamped shut her mouth and bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. She wasn’t a woman who giggled and flirted, especially not with Parker, despite his newly uncovered redeeming qualities. She hadn’t even considered dating since her divorce and this man absolutely wouldn’t make a good candidate for a boyfriend, even if she wanted one. Which she didn’t. Not even one teensy bit.

  They’d come to where her car was parked, and she turned to Parker. “Meet at the picnic area by the Meadow Creek trailhead at noon.”

  He nodded. “It’s a plan. What can we bring?”

  “Drinks,” she said and hoped he didn’t notice she was looking at a spot just past his shoulder. Making eye contact was just a little too much for her senses to handle at the moment. Parker affected her on a lot of different levels.

  “Got it,” he said then took a step toward Anna.

  “See you soon, Evie-Stevie,” the girl said.

  Evie grinned in response. “See you, Anna-Banana.”

  Mara unlocked the car and watched her daughter climb in the backseat. It was only ten thirty, so maybe she could squeeze in a cold shower before their picnic. She needed something to calm her overheated hormones. All her doubts about working on the Dennison Mill project came rushing in again. The last thing she needed was more time with Parker, so she did her best to ignore how much she was looking forward to this afternoon.

  * * *

  A few minutes before noon, Parker pulled into the Meadow Creek parking lot. He hadn’t been to the picnic area since he was a kid, when his mom would take Josh and him on weekend outings so as not to disturb their father.

  Mac Johnson’s beloved hobby had been making model airplanes, and his study had been dedicated to the activity. The bookshelves were lined with the completed models, arranged to Mac’s exacting specifications. A table had been placed against one wall of the paneled office where he’d done most of the work. It wasn’t until he was older that Parker questioned why his dad never included either son in the work, but Mac had little interest in his family unless it involved making an impression on his constituents in town. The office had been off-limits, and the one time he and Josh had gone in and accidently broken one of his precious models, there’d been hell to pay. The sound of a cracking belt and Josh’s plaintive whimpers as he took the brunt of the abuse still made Parker’s skin crawl. His father knew that watching Josh be punished was worse than any physical pain Parker might endure, which was part of the reason Josh was such a target.

  It was still strange to think of the dichotomy between his dad’s public persona and private personality. How could a man who was so generous in his career be such a bastard at home? Parker’s two best friends, Finn Samuelson and Nick Dunlap, had an idea that things were rough in the Johnson household, but Parker had never shared the extent of the abuse. His dad’s viciousness went way beyond knocking around his kids and wife, although they all lived with the everyday fear of getting backhanded. The emotional trauma hurt the most—the constant stream of subtle insults and criticisms meant to undermine and chip away at a person’s self-esteem until there was nothing left.

  Parker had always feared he took after his dad and worked to find constructive outlets for his emotions. He exercised like a madman to exhaust himself physically and always kept his relationships casual and fun, not wanting anything heavy to potentially trigger him. Becoming a divorce attorney served him on several levels. For one, he never wanted any person to feel stuck in a bad marriage the way his mother had. But he could also channel some of his latent bitterness in court, doing his best to make sure his clients got most, if not all, of their stipulations met.

  Mara challenged what he understood to be certain in the world. He might not have liked her ex-husband, but he’d believed Paul Reed when he explained that Mara had been a shallow gold digger who wanted to use their child as a weapon for her own financial gain.

  Parker understood how a person could distort the truth to serve their own purposes. Unfortunately, he was coming to realize his client had been doing all the manipulating. How many other people had he misjudged in his career? He didn’t want to consider what it said about him that he’d been so willing to go after whoever sat on the opposite side of the courtroom, justified in his tactics based on what his mom had endured. Obviously, not every marriage went bad because of abuse, but for Parker divorce had been black and white...until he’d met Mara.

  “Why are you sad, Uncle Parker?” Anna asked from the backseat.

  His stomach pitched. He’d always prided himself on his stiff poker face, and now he was being called out on his emotions by a kid. If a few days in Starlight could affect him this intensely, what shape would he be in by the end of his stay?

  “I’m fine, Banana. Just thinking about stuff.” He gave himself a mental head shake and glanced in the rearview mirror. The girl stared solemnly at him, which was unlike his boisterous niece. “What’s wrong?”

  “Hickies,” she answered, and his jaw dropped.

  “Come again?”

  “I got hickies.” She held her hands to her neck, and it sounded like she was holding her breath. How had he not noticed one or more hickies when he’d picked her up at school?

  His niece was a handful, but before this moment Parker had assumed that was a good thing. Her formidable confidence had allowed her to survive both cancer and her mother leaving with her spirit intact as far as he could tell. Now he realized just how far out of his element he was, stepping in when Josh couldn’t reschedule his meeting. He had a vague awareness that kids matured faster these days but a kindergartner with hickies...

  Suddenly Anna drew in a deep breath and gave an exaggerated swallow. “I think they’re gone,” she told him with a toothy grin.

  He undid his seat belt and turned to study her unblemished neck as understanding dawned. “Hiccups,” he said.

  “I get them sometimes. I used to a lot more when I had chemo.”

  A lump formed at the back of his throat even as relief flooded through him. “You’re a very brave girl, Anna.”

  She tilted her head to one side as she studied him. “That’s what Daddy always says.”

  “Your daddy is a smart guy.”

  “I know.” She placed her hand on the window and smiled again. “Evie’s here.” She unbuckled the seat belt, opened the car door and then climbed out of her booster seat.

  Parker gripped his hands on the steering wheel, swallowing down his guilt at not being around to help Josh and Anna sooner. While he’d been wrapped up in the most superficial of first-world issues an hour away, his brother had been dealing with a divorce and a sick kid on his own.

  Parker still couldn’t believe his mom hadn’t shared Josh’s ordeal with him, even if Josh had asked her not to. As a member of the family, Parker had a right to know. At least that’s what he wanted to tell himself. The truth was if he’d been a better brother, he would have been involved regardless of the circumstances of Josh’s life. He wouldn’t have walked away from his childhood and never turned back. If he’d been a better brother—

  He startled at the knock on the car’s window, turning to see Mara staring at him. She looked confused, which made sense since he was sitting in the parked car by himself, deep in thought. Bad thoughts. Thoug
hts that did him no good and made him want to turn the key in the ignition and drive as fast as he could away from Starlight and all the memories this town held.

  Instead he opened the door and climbed out, running a hand through his hair as he glanced toward the path that led to the picnic area near a bend in the creek. Anna and Evie were climbing on an outcropping of boulders, engrossed in conversation. Both girls had been through difficulties in their young lives but neither seemed scarred by the sort of emotional trauma that had marked his childhood. Did that make him weak and cowardly?

  “You okay?” Mara asked, taking a step away as she watched him.

  “Yeah.” He opened the back hatch of the Audi and pulled out the small cooler he’d packed. “We came here when I was a kid. I forgot how pretty it is this time of year.”

  Her features softened as she nodded. “Fall is my favorite season. The leaves changing and the cooler temperatures make it perfect. We’ve got a few weeks until the height of color hits. It’s all so cozy.”

  Parker paused with his hand on the back of the SUV and glanced at the trees that edged the forest. The leaves fluttered in shades of gold and copper, bright against the green needles of the pines that made up much of the border. He liked that she’d taken the time to appreciate their surroundings and had pointed it out to him. Often in the city, Parker spent his days heads-down in cases or checking off his mile-long to-do list and forgot to notice the beauty of the world around him.

  Plus, those few sentences were the most conventional Mara had offered in their few conversations, and he couldn’t deny he wanted more. “I’ve grown partial to summer since I moved to Seattle,” he offered, walking with her to the trailhead. “There’s so much rain otherwise, and I like seeing the sun.”

  “That’s another reason why this valley is nice.” She adjusted the tote bag slung over her shoulder. “The weather is better than in the city.”

  “Drier,” he agreed. “Let me take that.” He reached for the straps, his fingers accidentally brushing the smooth skin on the back of Mara’s arm. He’d noticed the same thing that day in the bounce house. Once again he wondered at the paradox of her prickly nature and her soft body. He liked the contrast.