Sure enough, Zack soon sent a guy to collect some ice.
“Did they find his finger?”
“Yeah.”
Good! Lacy handed off the full cup to the guy who always bought the Ham It Up wrap, saving a few precious moments—thanks to her thinking ahead—and receiving a look as if she were a mind reader.
Queasy or not, she’d kept her presence of mind and done the right thing.
Thirty minutes later, the emergency medical services team had put Ben inside the rescue vehicle and prepared to leave. They’d asked for more ice and filled a large specimen bag for his finger transport. She caught a glimpse of Ben on the gurney. It was good to see him alert and responsive, though stoic as always. But with his arm misshapen from being broken and his hand apparently missing a finger, who could blame him for not being chatty. The poor man! Lacy stayed out of the way, but sent him good thoughts, though worried about his welfare and the extent of his injuries. She was also concerned about his wife. This was not at all the kind of news the spouse of a construction worker ever wanted to hear.
Lacy thought of the alternative—the kind of news no woman ever wanted to receive after an accident—the kind she’d once gotten—and welled up. This could have been so much worse. What was wrong with her, wearing her feelings on her sleeve and acting unpredictable? She was usually the cheer-up girl, not the overly dramatic.
Maybe that was what discovering at thirty-one that she’d been adopted did to a person. It’d thrown her off balance, made her question her identity. Or maybe the cause of her raw emotions was that dark, haunting dream, and big Ben’s accident was the trigger.
Just after the ambulance left, as Lacy tried to get her mixed-up thoughts in order, Zack showed up, setting off another crazy cocktail of reactions. Concern. Anxiety. More worry. Love. Fear. Wait, love?
Lacy jumped to her feet doing her best not to let on what a vulnerable mess she’d turned into. “Is Ben going to be okay? Are you?”
“Yeah, he should be okay. We’re all shaken, but please stick around and serve lunch. The guys need a break.”
Of course, Zack would put his men first, and the request only made sense.
“For sure,” she said, glad to have a purpose on the day that had been turned on its ear.
Zack stood, arms folded, serious. “Listen, I need a favor.”
“Of course!” No need to think. She’d do anything to help him.
“I’m going to the hospital to make sure Ben’s okay and that his insurance is in order, and to be there for him until his wife comes. But I usually take off early on Tuesdays to pick Emma up after school.”
“I can pick her up. No worries.”
His knit brows immediately relaxed. “Thanks. Don’t know when I’ll get home.”
“Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll make her tag along with me on my errands and I’ll see to it she gets fed. You do what you’ve got to do. Don’t give us a second thought.” All she wanted to do was hug him and ease his responsibility in this one small way.
He cupped her arm and squeezed. “Thanks.” Relief was obvious in his tense eyes, though he looked paler than usual. Why wouldn’t he? He’d just gone through an emergency. “Don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Let me make a sandwich to take with you. You need to eat, too.”
“Not hungry. But thanks.”
As Zack strode to his car, Lacy wondered how often something like this occurred in his world. He’d handled the ordeal valiantly, willingly taking on the burden, decisive, unflappable and, being the owner of the company, without regret. The way any truly good man would.
From what she could tell, the last thing on his mind was a lawsuit, because only Ben’s welfare mattered.
When she fed the guys, making sure they all knew lunch was on the house today, she looked at each of them in a new light. Any day they showed up for work a freak accident could happen to any of them. Even when utilizing the safest techniques, which she knew Ben did because he was that kind of man, it was simply the risk of the trade.
As the men filtered through collecting their wraps, she watched for any others with missing fingers. Gross, but true. Fortunately, all ten digits were present and accounted for with this group. For some reason, that eased her mind.
She happily fed the crew coffee and dessert, too. They were her Santa Barbara crew, and she was glad to be of assistance. As she watched them chow down, there was new respect in her heart for all of them. Especially Ben.
And, most of all, for Zack.
Chapter Eight
“I hope you don’t mind shopping with me,” Lacy said to Emma Tuesday afternoon as they approached the warehouse-sized grocery store in nearby Ventura.
She’d picked up the surprised and delighted Emma at school in Little River Valley, as promised, and handed her a bottle of water and one of her French apple hand pies. As the child gobbled up the goody, Lacy explained why she’d come, that Zack was at the hospital.
“Is Daddy okay?” Those were her first words, which made sense to Lacy since it was just the two of them, her and her father. Against the world, as it were. And she should’ve explained more.
“Yes. One of your dad’s employees was injured and he’s making sure the man’s getting the best care. So he’s fine, just gonna be late.”
Once inside the big-box store she grabbed a cart.
“If you’d like, you can stand here.” Lacy gestured. She’d seen other people let their kids stand on the small vehicle-sized carts before, feet on the under tray and hands on the push handle. Now, with temptations on every aisle to drag the girl’s attention away, Lacy saw how it saved time to add kids to the cart rather than let them roam free.
“Okay!” Emma was apparently thrilled by the unexpected field trip and everything it entailed. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail today, and she wore navy blue track pants with a bright pink T-shirt, looking cute as always and ready for anything. Lacy noticed Emma only had two styles for her hair, down or in a ponytail, and she figured it was because she didn’t have a mom around to try special things. Maybe sometime she’d try French braids on Emma or the double fishtail thing she could never do on herself.
As Lacy pushed, she loaded the cart with bags of onions and other vegetables, meat, chicken and ham in twenty-pound increments, three-foot-high stacks of wraps, which the child had clearly never seen. Emma watched, her feet and hands solidly in place, totally fascinated.
“Wow, that’s a lot of food!”
“I know. I literally serve a small army.” Lacy smiled, enjoying the company and how easily Emma was impressed.
Throughout the other chores of the afternoon, involving multiple stops, Emma didn’t complain once. After arriving home, as Lacy finished unloading everything she’d purchased, placing the items into the refrigerators and storage shelves in the garage, she showed her little friend around her house.
“I like it here,” Emma said, at the end of the tour.
“I’m so glad.” Surprisingly, it meant a lot to Lacy that Emma liked her home and felt comfortable with her. “Oh, and this is Daisy Mae.” Who’d come out of hiding for the clear purpose of snooping. New voice? Must check out.
“You have a cat?” Virtually everything in life excited Little Miss Sunshine.
“Sure do,” Lacy said through her smile.
“I keep asking dad for a pet, but he says no.”
“Maybe we can work on getting him to change his mind.” This risk could get Lacy in big trouble since she hadn’t discussed it with Zack first, not to mention the fact she’d insinuated herself into his life more than she had the right to at this stage.
Emma clapped, then threw her arms around Lacy’s waist and hugged tight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Lacy couldn’t help responding to the hug and loved how holding the delighted child felt, how her ha
ir smelled fresh and her little neck looked clean beneath the ponytail. Would now be a good time to offer to experiment with her hair?
Time stopped for two long seconds until a deep chill reminded her how dangerous getting involved and caring could be. It took her aback, and she let go of the girl quickly, pretending to have a sudden need to straighten a doodad on the nearby shelf. Emma noticed.
“I don’t want Dad to get ticked off at you, though,” said Emma, who was intuitive on top of every other sweet quality she possessed.
“Well, all we can do is bring up the subject, and the rest will be up to you and your dad.”
“I think he’d listen to you.”
“You think?”
“I know.” She said with such certainty Lacy was inclined to believe her.
Did Lacy have some influence over Zack already, and did he really care what she thought? Well, he certainly did in the bedroom, that she knew for sure. Her cheeks went warm and she needed to change the subject. Why did the man have such power over her reactions?
“Want to see my bedroom?” Gah! Not nearly enough of a subject change!
“Yes!” As predicted, Emma was thrilled to see Lacy’s room, even though it was without a single drop of girlish pink in it.
“Aww,” Emma said. “I like your stuffed cat.”
The tattered and worn stuffed cat was something Lacy had never been able to part with. Her mother had given it to her, and even now when she made her bed, it was the finishing touch after all the decorative throw pillows.
“I’ve had that since before I was your age.” She opted to leave off the part about who had given it to her since moms could be a touchy subject with Emma.
“Wow!”
Oh, to see the world through a child’s eyes again. Lacy smiled and led Emma gently out of her room.
“Is this your bathroom?” Emma asked on the way out, as though she’d never seen one before.
Later that evening, at Zack’s house, after making a quick and easy dinner, Lacy and Emma passed the time waiting for him to get home by crocheting. Of course, that was only after Emma had done her homework. No way would Lacy mess up on that, because Zack was one conscientious father.
She couldn’t help enjoying herself around Zack’s kid. Emma was only ten, still oblivious to the hormones that would soon invade her prepubescent body, and she had a naturally sweet disposition. For now, anyway. Zack was a lucky guy where kids were concerned.
As they crocheted side by side in contented silence, besides enjoying the added bonding while working on a project with someone she liked, Lacy heard a faint whistle. A quiet but noticeable nose whistle—like a distant squeaky squeeze ball emitting one pattern on inhale, another on exhale—made itself known with each breath Emma took.
“Are you stuffed up, kiddo?”
“I have allergies sometimes.” Emma gave the infamous allergic salute, using her palm and wiping upward from the tip of her nose.
“I hope it’s not to cats.” What if she’d set off an allergy attack by introducing Emma to Daisy Mae? The horrible thought went right to her chest and squeezed. Because she cared. About Little Miss Sunshine.
“I don’t think so.”
An odd sensation came over Lacy, an urge to nurture, and she spoke before she understood what the force was. “Ever use mentholated rub?”
“What’s that?”
“Stuff you can smooth on your chest and under your nose. It has eucalyptus oil in it that helps open your nostrils so you can breathe better.”
“No. I just breathe through my mouth at night.”
Why did that response kick Lacy in the heart? Like everything else she’d learned about Emma, the girl adjusted to the imposition without a complaint. The tiny nose whistle and the thought of little Emma out to the world sleeping with her mouth agape touched Lacy deeper than she knew was safe. The kid was precious, not a griper. And she seemed extremely well adjusted for someone who’d been through her parents’ divorce at a young and impressionable age. Lacy was struck with an overwhelming need to mother her. Simply couldn’t help herself.
“You know what? I’m going to bring you some the next time I come over.”
Emma scooted closer to Lacy, a big smile on her face, then she rested her head on Lacy’s shoulder. “I wish you were my mommy.”
Lacy froze. Things had gone too far. Had she inadvertently fed into this? How was she supposed to reply to that! Besides wanting to run for the hills, which every cell in her body was telling her to do, she was at a total loss on how to respond.
A key was shoved into the front door, immediately drawing Emma’s attention and saving Lacy from formulating a logical, coherent response. Thank heavens. Because she was baffled and completely ill at ease. She’d taken that fledgling mothering instinct too far and it had backfired. The child wished she’d be her mommy.
And I lose the people I love. Don’t go there.
“Daddy!” Emma rushed toward the door as he pushed through, and Lacy was relieved by the separation.
“Hi, Shortcake.” He looked tired. Wrung-out, to be exact. Probably hadn’t had a bite to eat since breakfast. Yet he was clearly happy to see his kid, because he was a good, good man. Lacy had half a mind to rush toward him and give him a hug, too. Instead, she tentatively put down her yarn and stood, giving Zack time to say hello to his daughter after the very long day.
“Lacy made me the best grilled cheese sandwich ever!”
“She did?” He hugged his daughter close and glanced across the living room with a grateful nod.
“Have you eaten?” was all Lacy could think to say.
He exhaled. “Haven’t had a chance.”
“Let me make you something.” Lacy started for the kitchen.
“That’s not necessary. I can’t thank you enough for stepping in today as it is. You don’t have to make me dinner, too.”
Something told her to back down on the meal and let the man take care of himself. “How’s Ben doing?”
Zack tipped his head. “The break was clean, it was his radius, and all he needed was to have the doctor set the bone with a cast. I’m later than I thought because his wife doesn’t drive, so I picked her up and it took a long time for Ben to be released. Then I took them home,” he said while kicking off his work boots and flopping onto the closest overstuffed chair. “I’ll have one of the guys drive his car back tomorrow.” He rubbed his left eye. “Unfortunately, the finger couldn’t be reattached. It’s his index finger, left hand.”
“Eww.” Emma made her presence known.
“Hey, Shortcake, you should go get ready for bed. I’ll be right in.”
“Okay.” Without being told, Emma came to Lacy, hugged her again and, lifting her face, pursed her lips.
A kiss? Lacy’s heart squeezed tight, causing her to squeak her response. “Night, honey.” She pressed her cheek to the child’s lips, and tender, happy images of sunflowers and moonbeams invaded her mind. Not good. She could fall so hard for this child if she wasn’t careful. Not to mention already falling for the dad.
And her overbearing life survey said, Watch out!
Emma rushed off for her room to Lacy’s relief, until she glanced at Zack and saw his admiration. Their gazes met and melded. Far more than gratefulness filled his stare, and tingles started at the crown of her head and trickled down her neck like tiny raindrops, then over her shoulders, eventually pooling behind her knees.
The man needed to wear a sign. Dangerous. Keep AWAY. Simply irresistible.
“So Ben will need to help out in the office for a while.” Zack must have sensed her discomfort and carried on with specifics. “He’s a newlywed, needs the money, and he refused to sign up for disability.” Zack also refused to set her free from his smoldering stare, even while discussing work.
“Do you have work for him?” Though she found it hard to think
, she managed to come up with one good enough question.
He scratched the back of his neck. “I’ll think of something.”
Zack Gardner was not only handsome, but decent, noble, and caring and fair and...
Lacy needed to leave. Now! “I should go,” she whispered, only because her voice was unable to engage while under his intense scrutiny. “Give you a chance to relax. Put your daughter to bed.”
She gathered her purse and started for the door. Zack stood, came to her, put his hands on her upper arms, leaned in and kissed her. A long, dreamy kiss that put all wrong thoughts in her head about a man she could love, a home and a family. A sweet kiss that turned scary, fast.
“I gotta go,” she said, breaking free.
“See you tomorrow,” he said, sure as the sun would rise.
“Don’t forget that mentho whatever!” Emma’s high-pitched voice was the last she heard, leaving Lacy to wonder if she’d also witnessed their kiss? Things were getting so complicated. No matter how Lacy claimed she didn’t want to get involved, because she couldn’t, Emma’s shout out made Lacy smile. Yeah, she’d come back for more tender torture. What else was she supposed to do?
* * *
Wednesday, after a couple of the crew had retrieved the car, Zack asked Ben to come to the Little River Valley site. The stubborn man refused to take even one day off. Zack had thought of a way to utilize Ben’s knowledge and expertise. In fact, last week he’d already decided to use Ben, with his respectful and nonintimidating way, in the new capacity. The accident only pushed things up. He’d send Ben out to do this week’s home visits to assess and give estimates. No time like the present to test him out. The plan had been, if Ben did well, he could pick up those extra hours he’d been asking for by working weekends making house calls for potential clients’ home improvement jobs. But since he couldn’t work the crew line due to his injury, Zack had decided to start him out in the new capacity today.
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