“Thank you.”
“Addie…I…”
She turned around and looked up at him, knowing he was going to say he couldn’t have a woman in his life but not wanting to hear him say it. “Sometimes I think…I think you’re a really nice man who needs to concentrate on rebuilding his life with his daughter.” Her voice came out sounding breathy, and for some ridiculous reason, she kept looking from his eyes to his mouth.
He took a step closer to her, and her heart pattered faster than what should be a healthy tempo. “What do you think the other times?”
She swallowed hard and looked him directly in his forest green eyes. “I think you should tell me what you think first.”
“All right. I think I came back home to get away from women and the kind of life I’d been living for the last ten years. I came back to try and fix my relationship with Bella and to give her a childhood closer to the one I’d had. I came back, determined to stay single. But then Bella ran into your store, and the minute I saw you, I knew I was in trouble.”
He was maybe an inch or two from her now, surely close enough to see that she was on the very of hyperventilating. His voice had dipped low and seemed to scrape against all her nerve endings and stir that part of her that had been dormant forever. “But I can’t go back, Addie. I can’t trust someone with my daughter again. I can’t have another woman walk out on her.” He backed up a step, his strong jaw clenching and unclenching, regret stamped across his handsome face.
Addie forced a bright smile, one she’d perfected over the years for moments just like this. This one just stung the most.
Chapter Nine
“Hi, thanks for coming to meet me, Dr. Barrett,” Haley O’Leary said.
Drew shook Bella’s teacher’s hand and followed her into the second-grade classroom. “You can call me Drew,” he said.
She sat behind the teacher’s desk and smiled at him. “Thanks. I know my brother, Luke, speaks very highly of you.”
He smiled. “We’ve become good friends,” he said.
“I know you must be wondering why I called you in. I’m filling in for Mrs. Bell, who needed to take the month off for a personal matter. Your daughter is a wonderful little girl, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know her these last couple weeks. But today there was a situation that came up.”
He sat up as she pulled out a stack of what looked like his Rx pads. “Do I want to know?”
She winced and slid the papers across the table. He leaned forward and picked up the papers, his eyes widening as he read his daughter’s handwritten prescriptions for…two gulps of nasty juice for being mean…two glasses of, um, fart juice for being so stinky…two bottles of mud for being a jerk. He stared at the notes, wondering what was worse, her spelling or the fact that it seemed like his daughter had stolen his prescription pad—which was a definite forbidden item—or that she seemed to be handing out mean punishments for people…or that her penmanship was atrocious. He looked up at Haley, hoping for some kind of clarity. “I don’t even know what to say.”
She smiled sympathetically. “When I kept Bella in at recess to ask her, it took her quite a while to open up, but from what I gather, some of the kids haven’t been welcoming to her. This was her way of retaliating.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “I had no idea there were issues here. She seemed so happy at home.”
“I think she’s a really optimistic child. Even when she was sitting here explaining all of this to me, she seemed pretty confident that she would solve her own problems.”
He nodded, still feeling badly that his little girl wasn’t fitting in and she hadn’t told him. She’d resorted to…writing prescriptions to kids. One day he’d laugh about this. Not today, but one day. “I, uh, I’ll talk to her tonight about this. What about the kids who are bothering her?”
Haley folded her hands in front of her. “Apparently, it’s three boys. I pulled them out into the hall and spoke to them. They won’t be going out for recess for a week, and they are all writing an apology letter to her. I really do think I got through to them. I have also phoned their parents, and they are aware of the situation. I will monitor things carefully now that I know what is going on.”
“Do you know what they were saying to her?” He didn’t like the idea of a group of boys bothering his daughter.
Haley winced. “I think it has something to do with a skating class they’re all in together. I think they were teasing her about not having a mother skating with her during the Christmas performance.”
So much for parenting being easy. Drew took a deep breath and gathered…the prescriptions. There was nothing he could do about that. He could give his daughter anything she wanted, except a mother who wanted to be in her life. Dammit. “Okay, thank you. Can you follow up with me next week for an update? I’ll speak with Bella when I pick her up.”
Haley stood and smiled. “I definitely will. I think this will blow over. Just a case of teasing the new girl that got a little carried away. But I don’t like the idea that Bella is feeling hurt, so I’ll make sure this gets shut down right away.”
Drew reached out and shook her hand. “Thank you for taking this seriously.”
She gave him a nod. “Of course. Have a good night, Drew.”
“Thanks,” he said, leaving the room, feeling completely unsure of himself. What the hell did he do now? He walked to his car, trying to process the information. The idea that a group of boys was bothering his daughter filled him with rage and remorse. Why hadn’t she told him? Why hadn’t she trusted him enough to confide in him? She’d had to come up with her own solution. He drove to Addie’s store and pulled up in the last empty spot in front of the shop.
The place was aglow, Christmas lights twinkling, and he could see her store was packed. He had no idea how she juggled the busy Christmas crowd and his daughter. Somehow, she managed, and she never looked frazzled. Since last week, conversation between them had been strained, the attraction between them palpable. Even though he knew Bella adored Addie, he couldn’t take the risk. Addie was much younger than he was. How would she even feel about being with someone who already had a kid? She might not want kids for years. Hell, look at Jill. She was his age and still hadn’t matured enough to want her own biological child. There was no way he could put Bella through that again, no matter how attracted he was to Addie.
He made his way into the store and weaved through the busy shoppers, pleased that people seemed to be buying and not just browsing. He spotted Bella behind the cash counter with Addie and paused for a moment, emotion making him still. His daughter was smiling and packing up people’s orders, looking as happy as can be. She beamed up at Addie, who praised her for her great packing job. People buzzed around him, some of them sipping hot apple cider, but all looking like an ad for small-town Christmas.
Addie looked up at him, making eye contact over the crowd of people, as though she’d sensed he was there. For a second, the craziest image of them, that this was their life came over him. What would it be like to come home to Addie every night? As she turned from him, leaning down and laughing at something Bella said, he knew what it would mean to have Addie in his life. Addie was everything he needed, everything his daughter needed. Addie was everything good in the world, wrapped up in a heartbreakingly vulnerable and beautiful package that he desperately wanted. She was his past, the present, and she was the future he didn’t deserve.
“Daddy’s here!” Bella yelled, rounding the corner and inadvertently knocking into customers. He crouched down to receive her exuberant hug, holding her close.
“How are you, sweetie?” he said, smoothing her hair away from her face and looking into her sparkling eyes.
“Great! Especially now. Look how busy it is in here. Addie said she’s never seen it so busy and that it must be me bringing good luck. I think she’s going to be rich.”
He swallowed his laugh and put his index finger to his lips. “Do you want to get your bag and coat? We can go out for d
inner tonight instead of having the, uh, stir fry I was going to make.” It’s not that he wanted to encourage what she’d done, but he also wanted to know why she hadn’t come to him and tell him what was happening at school. There was also the fact that he desperately needed to learn how to cook something other than stir fry. Even he was getting sick of it.
He waited for Bella, and the crowd thinned out, so he approached Addie at the cash counter. “How are you?” he asked feeling like an idiot. He didn’t know what to do with Addie…or his feelings toward her.
She smiled brightly at him. “Great. I can’t keep up with the crowds, but I’m not going to complain.”
He stepped a bit closer and lowered his voice, once he made sure Bella wasn’t standing around. “Has Bella seemed different to you this week?”
She frowned, and he saw the worry creep into her eyes. “Different how? She seems happy. Did something happen?”
He ran a hand over his jaw. “I just came back from a meeting with Haley, and apparently some boys were bothering her and teasing her.”
Addie’s eyes filled with tears. “What? No, no, she said nothing to me. Oh my goodness, Drew. You can’t let this happen to her.”
He blinked, staring at her, understanding she was worried for his daughter but sensing something more. Like her reaction was even worse than his. “Haley said it’s being dealt with. The boys are being punished. They are writing apology letters.”
Addie shook her head. “Still. Schools don’t always know what’s going on. You’re going to have to follow up.”
“I will, Addie. I really think it will be fine,” he said, feeling bad for her.
She nodded, her face turning red, and she looked down at the counter. “I, uh, she’s just special to me, and I know she’s been through a lot. The last thing I want for her is to deal with bullies.”
He cleared the lump in his throat. “She’s sort of taken things into her own hands. It appears Bella isn’t one to hide or shrink away from bullies.”
“What do you mean?” she whispered, leaning forward. Her gorgeous eyes were filled with concern, her full mouth open slightly, and hell, he actually had to take a step back from her and remind himself what they were talking about.
“So she stole my prescription pad and wrote out a bunch of mean prescriptions for them,” he said, amusement slowly flowing through him.
Addie’s eyes widened. “What?”
He nodded, handing her the pieces of paper. She flipped through them and then looked up at him, her eyes dancing with laughter and fondness. “I love her,” she whispered. He stopped breathing for a moment, knowing she was being serious, knowing that she wasn’t the type of woman who threw I love yous around like confetti. Knowing that somehow Addie had fallen in love with his little girl in a few short months. “She’s so courageous and brave. You have to protect that in her, Drew,” she whispered.
He stood there, learning lessons, learning about life from a woman almost ten years younger than him, who’d never been married before, who’d never had a child. She was teaching him about generosity and love and…God, how he wished he’d met her years ago.
“Daddy, I’m ready!” Bella ran up to him, breaking the moment. He quickly stuffed the paper into his coat pocket.
“Can Addie come with us for dinner?” she asked, looking at Addie instead of him.
Addie winced. “I, um…”
“It’s closing time, Addie,” Bella said.
“We’d love it if you could join us,” Drew said, knowing she was thinking that it was just Bella doing the inviting. If Bella was around, he’d be forced to keep things platonic. He couldn’t get enough of Addie, and if he couldn’t have her as anything more than a friend, he’d take what he could get and be happy with it.
…
Addie settled in her seat at The Chocolatiers, pleased she’d secured a table right by the window. It was the best seat in the house, and considering how packed this place always was, she’d just achieved a huge victory. She had a few hours off thanks to her new employee, who was working out great. She loved her, and she was happy to help her out since she was one of the women from the Shadow Creek Women’s Shelter that had burned down a couple of months ago. All the women and children had been taken to different shelters in the city, but Faith was planning on moving back to Shadow Creek when she had enough money saved. She was working part time at the Chocolatiers and part time at Addie’s store.
Addie took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the work in front of her and not on the man she was infatuated with. It had been a week since the night at Drew’s house. They had seen each other every day. They went out for dinner, they went to skating class with Bella, they watched Bella’s ChristmasFest rehearsals…they were acting like a family, even though they weren’t.
Addie stared at her colored pens, trying to decide how to color-code her December calendar. Not that she needed to, but she liked the idea of having some fun with the schedule for the next two months. She also needed to do something to take her mind off Drew. She peeled off a candy cane sticker and added it to the corner of the first page and then chose a holly sticker for the second page. She opened up her day timer and began writing in her plans for the shop over the next two months. So far business had been going even better than expected, and she needed to keep gaining momentum, especially with the holiday season being the best in the retail year.
She took a sip of her eggnog-flavored cappuccino and leaned back in her chair slightly, taking a moment to people watch. This place was doing steady business, and even though the Chocolatiers had only been around for a couple of years, they had already firmly entrenched themselves as one of the go-to places for coffee and sweets. They had even extended their evening hours during the holiday season. Maybe next year if she had another employee, that could be in the cards for her as well.
She took another sip of the rich coffee and focused on her calendar. The dates were quickly filling up with all the events she’d planned—holiday story nights, free gift wrapping, and apple cider during ChristmasFest.
“Planning on taking over the world?” Without looking up, she already knew who that deep voice belonged to. She didn’t want to look up. Having seen him already at Target was more than enough. She sighed and put down her red pen and looked up at Damien.
“Not yet,” she said, forcing a smile.
“So I tried calling you, but you must have made a mistake because the number you gave me was for Mayor Mayberry.”
She bit back a laugh. Too bad she’d never realized how obtuse he was in high school or she would have spared herself a lot of angst. “Oh, that’s strange. Well, I’d better get back to work.”
He sat down across from her. “You remind me of someone.”
She stared into his eyes. “Think really hard.”
His brow furrowed, but he didn’t say anything.
“Hi, Addie.”
Addie inhaled sharply and looked up in the direction of the only voice giving her the good kind of goosebumps these days. Drew was standing there, his hands tucked into the front pockets of his jeans, stubble lining his strong jaw, his eyes red because she knew he’d just spent the night at the hospital. He looked like everything she’d ever wanted and never thought herself good enough for. But the way he looked at her made her believe he thought she was more than good enough.
Before she could answer, Damien gasped and swore under his breath. “You’re kidding me. Addie Mayberry?”
Heat gushed through her body, and she didn’t look up at Drew. “That’s impressive. Good for you, Damien,” she said, trying to look calm and collected. She needed him to leave.
“Well, see you later,” he said, but he didn’t move; he kept staring at her in a way that made her want to run and hide because he was probably thinking back to every awful word and thing he did to her. She didn’t run and hide. She sat there with her head held high, her eyes steady on him.
“I think there’s a sale on Pringles next door,” Drew s
aid.
Addie shut her eyes and tried not to laugh.
Damien stood up slowly. “Wow,” he said under his breath.
She crossed her leg and flicked her hair over one shoulder, hoping he didn’t notice her hand tremble. So her secret was out and the guy that treated her like such garbage in high school was now in shock. It was sad and pathetic. None of this should mean anything to her. She’d been out of high school for a decade, so why should this bother her still? Because he hadn’t just been mean; he and his group of cool friends had been cruel, and it had scarred her for many years. Between what they had done and her mother, she’d had major self-esteem issues. “Say hi to your friends for me,” she said, smiling almost forgetting Drew was there.
“I feel like I just walked in on something,” Drew said, sitting down.
She tried to look normal because really, she didn’t want to think about that idiot. She wanted to concentrate on the man in front of her. “Uh, no.”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “I can’t even remember anyone from high school. I have a selective memory.”
She laughed. “That’s probably for the best when it comes to high school.”
“I wanted to tell you that Bella’s old babysitter can watch her for the night of your mother’s party.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, Drew. We don’t actually have to go to that. I mean, I wasn’t planning on it. Neither of my sisters are going.”
He frowned. “Oh, I was under the impression…”
When his voice trailed off, dread and mortification filled her body. “Omigod, you were under the impression I couldn’t get a date, I needed my mother to find me one, and you were going to spare me the humiliation of having to go alone.”
He blinked, looking completely out of his element. She’d ranted. She’d shown her hand. She was insecure, and she’d just given him a glimpse at the worst of her. Then he leaned forward and she was compelled to do the same, because his eyes were glittering and his jaw was set. It was a very mesmerizing look that had her holding her breath, anticipating…something. “I’m not going to that party because I think you can’t get a date. I’m pretty damn sure half the town would line up to get a chance at going out with you. I’ve wanted to take you out since the minute I met you, when Bella ran away from me and into your shop. There’s something about you, Addie, that is so sweet and so sexy at the same time, and I’m mad at myself for not being able to just keep things platonic between us. The last thing I’m in the market for is another relationship. I can’t go down that road again, and I’m sorry. But don’t ever mistake my not making any advances on you as disinterest. I’m just not the guy for you. You deserve so much more than I have to offer. All I have is my friendship.”
A Christmas Miracle for the Doctor Page 10
