A Hero For Holly
Book 2 in the Coach's Boys Series
Kristy K. James
Copyright 2011 by Kristy K. James
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be copied or reprinted without express written permission from author.
With so many depending on her, she has no time for a personal life...
When her husband left her pregnant, with a four-year-old child and a restaurant on the verge of bankruptcy, the only things Holly McGinty had time for were her kids - and working hard to stay out of the poor house. Five years later, business is booming and her boys are happy, but she's still putting her own needs at the bottom of her priority list. That doesn't stop her from daydreaming about her oldest son's sexy scout leader though.
He never believed in love at first sight - until he met her...
Sam Jensen gets along great with kids, is a successful architect, and has the best friends a guy could ask for. But figuring out relationships with women has never come easy to him. He feels like a tongue-tied teenager around most of them. Except for Holly, and it's looking like things might work out with her. As long as one tiny little secret remains a secret.
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Other Works by Kristy K. James
Coach's Boys Series
The Daddy Pact, Book 1
A Hero for Holly, Book 2
A Harry Situation, Book 3
Her Best Friend Jon, Book 4
Code Red Christmas, Book 5
Darby's Dilemma, Book 6
The Detective's Second Chance, Book 7
Back to the Beginning, Book 8
Holding Out For Love, Coach's Boys Companion Story (should be read between books 6 & 7)
Cooking With the Coach's Boys
A Royal Sweethearts Romance Novel Series
The Casteloria Royals
A Prince on the Run, Book 1
The Physician to the King, Book 2
The Princess and the Bodyguard, Book 3
Hemisphere/Paranormal Romance
The Ripple
Haunted Depot: The Ghost Curse Series
The Secret, Book 1
The Depot, Book 2
A Merry Depot Christmas, Book 3
Special Wishes Time Travel Romance
His Only Love
Her Long Road Home
Other Fiction:
Enza
Josh
The Secret Admirer
Erin's Christmas Wish
A Fine Mess
Reluctant Guardian
CHAPTER 1
“I need to run into the office for a minute and scream,” Holly McGinty muttered as she strode past the harried man in the narrow hallway. Lyle Chambers just grinned, and headed back to the kitchen. But even as Holly made tracks for her office, she and Lyle both knew she wouldn’t scream. There were simply too many customers in the dining room for her to give in to her frustration, at least in such an audible way.
Once the door was safely closed, however, she did take a moment to run slender fingers through her auburn curls, hard enough that she actually pulled a few strands loose. Not that it mattered. Thanks to an early morning monsoon, followed by an unprecedented and endless stream of customers, there was no denying that it was just going to be a bad hair day all the way around. And it was only eleven-forty-five…in the morning. Some people weren’t even out of bed yet. Holly sure wished she numbered among the ranks of that privileged group.
With a sigh she collapsed in the chair behind her desk and started making a list. Ground beef, buns, French fries... One after another, more items were added, and she knew this shopping trip wouldn’t be a quick one. Thank God Meijer’s was open on holidays. At least every holiday except Christmas. And today was definitely not Christmas.
In the almost five years that she’d run McGinty’s Family Restaurant, Holly couldn’t ever remember running out of nearly everything on hand. Or nearly running out, as they were today. She couldn’t remember ever being quite this busy, with no letup…for more than four straight hours…either.
List done she let out a gusty sigh, grabbed the company credit card, her purse, car keys and the mile-long list, and dashed out to her Jeep Grand Cherokee, more grateful today than she’d ever been to own it. A mere car would be unable to handle the load of food that would soon be crammed into every available space.
“Doesn’t anyone stay home on the Fourth,” she muttered under her breath, as she watched an endless stream of cars flying by the driveway. She knew it would be futile to hope she could make a left onto Saginaw Street, but hope she did. Meijer’s was just a couple of miles down the road but, at this rate, it might as well be fifty.
Of all days for this to happen. She’d promised to accompany nine Boy Scouts on a trip to Battle Creek to watch what was promised to be an awesome fireworks display…after spending the entire afternoon at the fair. Among the kids were her nine year old son Zack and his baby brother, four and a half year old Billy. And Sam Jensen, their scout leader.
Their extremely handsome scout leader.
She felt her face flushing just thinking about the man. Unfortunately it wasn’t an unusual occurrence as Sam Jenson occupied her thoughts more often than not. Like a gorgeous, wealthy man would be interested in a divorced mother of two. One who spent more waking hours at her restaurant than she did at home.
Whipping into a parking spot about ten miles from the entrance of the store, Holly locked the jeep and sprinted inside, sweat trickling between her shoulder blades in the humid July heat. It was just as well she’d have a couple of shopping carts on the way out because no matter how late she was running, she wouldn’t be doing that again.
Her hopes of setting a speed record while in the pleasantly air conditioned store, however, were dashed. While she was convinced that fifty percent of the population was outside clogging up the roadways the rest, it seemed, were right here…blocking almost every aisle she needed to be in.
~~~~~
“Holly, just go,” Lyle said firmly, about ninety minutes later. He and a bus boy had unloaded the jeep in record time, and were now stuffing two huge coolers in the back. “We’ve got everything covered. You need to get moving. You’re over an hour late already.”
“Everything I need is in those?” she asked, nodding toward the coolers. Lyle managed to look amused and offended at the same time. Holly smiled apologetically.
Hiring Lyle Chambers three years ago had been the smartest thing she’d ever done. He’d taken to the job of manager like a duck to water. In fact, she wasn’t sure how she ever got along without him.
“You’ve got enough drinks, side dishes and meat to feed a small army. Sound about right?”
“It does. I’m sorry for doubting you,” she sighed. “This has just been such a hectic day that I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.”
“And it’s going to get nothing but worse if you don’t get a move on. Billy’s going to be beside himself if you don’t get yourself home.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it. And poor Sam is stuck in my yard with nine bored boys. Thanks again, Lyle,” she said, sliding in behind the steering wheel. “And don’t forget. I want everyone out of here by four. No later.”
“Four on the dot,” he promised.
Most holidays Holly closed the restaurant. Of those when she remained open, it was never for the full day, unless the holiday was something like Valentine’s or President’s Day. In her opinion, that kin
d didn’t really count. But picnics and fireworks mattered. Most of her staff had families and if she had any say in the matter, they would enjoy them.
“See you tomorrow,” she promised, glancing at him one more time before easing out of the parking spot.
“Drive carefully,” he called out after her.
It seemed to take forever to get out of the city, but once she got on the freeway, and was cruising along at seventy, Holly relaxed a little. But only a little. She hated not being able to keep her word, and she’d promised to meet Sam and the boys at noon. It was going to be well after one-thirty before she even pulled into her driveway.
~~~~~
“Sam, when can we leave?” Tommy Sinclair whined for the fiftieth time. Sam’s patience was running out. Of all the boys in his troupe, Tommy was the one he had the most trouble liking, an admission that caused him no end of shame. While the rest of the boys were taking the delay in stride, playing an impromptu game of flag football in Holly’s yard, Tommy refused to join in.
“Just as soon as Mrs. McGinty gets home,” he said kindly, because no matter how annoying Tommy could be, there was no way he could be impatient with a child. “I just called her manager at the restaurant, and he said she left about fifteen minutes ago. It won’t be long. Now go play with the other boys. The time will pass a lot quicker if you’re busy.”
He’d hated to phone her at work, but had begun to worry when she was more than an hour late. He knew holiday traffic could be brutal and hated to think of her out in it alone. Anything could happen, a thought that made him cringe.
It seemed like he’d been smitten with Holly McGinty forever, but it was actually just over a year since they’d first met. It had been the evening she’d come in to sign eight year old Zack up for Scouts. He remembered it as clearly as if it had been yesterday because, until then, he’d never believed in claims of love at first sight.
Well, he was a believer now. Not that it had done him a whole lot of good. Though he used every excuse he could come up with to spend time with her and the boys, nothing had really changed romantically. At most he could say they were friends. Sort of. Maybe something like a cross between a friend and an acquaintance. There was probably a word for it but he’d be hard pressed to figure out what it might be.
Whatever it was it certainly wasn’t girlfriend, fiancé, or wife. And those were the only important words when it came to Holly.
“Sam?” He felt a tug on his pant leg and looked down to see Billy standing there. He squatted down and put a hand on his shoulder.
“What’s up, buddy?”
“Where’s my mom?”
“On her way. She should be home any time.”
“You sure? I don’t wanna miss the fireworks.” Sam chuckled. So much for thinking he might be worried about his mother.
“We won’t miss the fireworks. I promise. We’ll have time for our picnic, and for visiting the fair long before they start.”
“An’ I can ride the ferri sweel?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay.” With that he ran back and joined the older boys.
Sam stood back up, grinning. Sometimes he was overwhelmed with his feelings for the McGinty’s. And someday, soon he hoped, they would be a family.
“Mom’s here!” Zack shouted, darting toward the driveway, and away from the game that had held his interest for the past forty-five minutes.
“Zack, stop!” Sam shouted, sprinting after the boy, and catching him before he reached the blacktop. Heart in his throat he said, “Son, you never run toward driveways or streets if a vehicle is moving.”
“I was gonna stop in the grass,” he muttered, paying him little mind. His attention was on his mother, who was climbing out of her jeep. “We were getting worried, Mom. Why are you so late?”
“It’s a long story, sweetie.” She hugged him to her, and Sam could see that she looked distressed.
“Zack, why don’t you round up the boys? You should all use the bathroom before we leave.” After he’d gone, Sam looked at Holly and asked, “Are you all right?”
“It’s just been a long day,” she said, trying to smile…and failing miserably.
“If you’re not up to the trip, I can probably handle it on my own.” Not a pleasant thought, especially since he’d been looking forward to spending the day with her. But he’d never do anything that might make her life harder.
“No. No, I want to go,” she said with a sigh. “I guess I’m feeling bad about messing up the plans. It’s just that Murphy got control of everything first thing this morning and it’s taken me until now to get it back.”
“Murphy?” Sam asked, brows raised.
“From Murphy’s Law fame.” Oh. Now he got it, and chuckled.
“So everything that could go wrong did?”
“Pretty much. I was beginning to think I’d never get home.” She gave him a condensed version of her day, and he was shocked to see tears in her eyes when she finished. “I really hate disappointing the boys.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it,” he said softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Nobody is disappointed. Trust me. As a matter of fact, getting a late start is probably going to be a blessing in disguise.”
“Oh right.” Holly sniffed, making a valiant effort to get hold of herself. Sam kind of hoped that it would take her a few more minutes because he was enjoying having her so close.
“Really. We’ll have our picnic, ride a few rides, and sometime between then and when the fireworks start, they’re all going to be bored out of their minds. You saved us an hour and a half of misery.” That drew a small laugh from her.
“You just got to experience it here instead.”
“Not really. They’ve been having a ball playing football. Flag football,” he hastened to add, knowing what a protective mother she was.
“Are you going to marry my mom now?” Billy asked, walking up to them with a puzzled expression on his face. While trying to decide the best way to respond to the question, he heard Holly make a choking sound.
“Billy!” she gasped. “Why would you ask something like that?”
“Well, Sam is hugging you.”
“What?”
“You hug me and you love me. So Sam must love you ’cause he’s hugging you.” Sam concealed a grin behind his hand. How right he was. “Me ’n Zack don’t mind. We want Sam to be our daddy.”
“Yes!” Sam wanted to shout, but restrained himself as he thumped Holly on the back when this newest fit of choking turned out to be a bit worse than the first.
“Lean over,” he told her, helping her to do just that. After a moment she finally caught her breath enough and looked up at her son, obviously mortified.
“Billy- Honey, I- Uh-” Much as it pained him, Sam figured he’d better intervene here and, once again, squatted down to talk to the boy.
“Billy, friends hug, too. That doesn’t mean your mom loves me though.” But he hoped very hard that she would. Eventually. Glancing up, he asked, “Do you need to get anything from the house before we go, Holly?
“I don’t think so. But I would like to change first,” she said, her cheeks a pretty shade of pink. “Can you get the coolers out of the jeep? On second thought, let me help you with those before I change. They’re pretty heavy.”
“No, you go on inside. If I can’t get them myself, we’ll move them when you’re finished.”
“I’ll hurry,” she promised, hustling into her house and away from the embarrassing situation. Sam took a moment to give Billy a big hug.
“I’m really flattered that you’d like me to be your dad, Billy. Know what?” Billy shook his head. “If I could pick any boys in the world to be my sons, I’d pick you and your brother.”
“You would?”
“I would.”
~~~~~
Holly could not believe those words had come pouring from the mouth of her son. Her baby. She’d known that both of her boys hero-
worshipped Sam, and she understood why they did. The man was a saint when it came to dealing with children. He was patient. He was kind. And he was generous with both his time and resources. But she hadn’t realized that they’d been looking at their scout leader as anything more than a friend.
Surprise.
She slipped out of the black slacks and white blouse she’d worn to work that morning and into a pair of blue jean shorts, a pink scoop necked tee shirt, pink socks and her white tennis shoes. As she relived the horror of hearing that he and Zack would like Sam for a father, she ran a quick brush through her hair and tied it back with a white scarf, finally ready to get this show on the road.
Maybe not ready to face Sam again so soon, though. He’d handled the situation with amazing tact. More so than she had, that was for sure. Unfortunately she had to admit to having thoughts pretty similar to her sons.
Of course the man wouldn’t be interested in her, she reminded herself again. What man in his right mind would?
~~~~~
Perfect. Utterly perfect was the only way Sam could describe the day. Sure it had been tiring chasing after a bunch of young boys, but even that had left him with a feeling of satisfaction. He couldn’t have been more pleased to have played a part of making them happy.
Well, except maybe for the Zipper. That was the only part that hadn’t pleased him. Not even a little bit. And it wasn’t that he was a coward or anything. He just didn’t like the sensation of spinning out of control. But he supposed even that had had been worth it since the kids had gotten such a kick out his obvious discomfort. Even Holly had been amused when he‘d climbed off the ride, a little green around the gills.
“I think he’s asleep,” he heard her whisper from where she sat on the blanket next to the one he was on. He glanced at her, saw the direction she was looking in and grinned. Billy had lain down at an angle with his head on Sam’s stomach as he played with a little toy he’d won at the fair. Now he was snoring softly.
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