One corner of his mouth turned up. “Thank you. I wanted to be sure you were satisfied.”
“I am. Completely. Totally. In every way possible.”
His gaze locked with hers. “I am, as well.”
“That is very good to know.”
* * *
Sunshine tried to think of a polite way to say no.
“Come on,” Phoebe cajoled over the phone. “It’ll be fun. We’ll get dressed up and then go have drinks. A girls’ night out. Say yes.”
Sunshine really didn’t want to. She preferred her girls’ nights out with her sister. With Margot she could totally relax and be herself. With Phoebe, she was less sure. Did the other woman actually want to spend time with her or did she want to grill her about Declan?
She knew he’d taken her advice and had gone to coffee with Phoebe so he could tell her where he stood, which made it very likely that Phoebe’s overture of friendship was more about Declan than wanting Sunshine to be friends with her.
“I’m begging,” Phoebe told her. “Say yes, or I’ll be devastated.”
“Devastated seems strong,” Sunshine murmured, feeling herself start to cave. “But all right. Drinks would be fun.”
“Great. I’m in my car and can’t get to my calendar. Let me text you later and we’ll set something up. Bye.”
And with that, she was gone. Sunshine dropped her phone onto her bed and groaned. She should have just said no, she told herself. It wasn’t a hard word. According to her great-grandmother, it had been the first word she’d ever spoken.
“I’ll deal with that later,” she murmured, heading to the kitchen. She had a busy day planned. Her math class had been canceled which gave her more time to get ready for Connor’s birthday party tomorrow. While she felt organized, there was still a lot to get done. Declan had insisted on taking the day off to help her and if she was going to be honest with herself, she was way more excited about hanging out with him than prepping for the party. Not that she had to admit that to anyone. Still, the thought of being together for the day made her feel just a little squishy inside.
Declan met her in the kitchen. He looked strong and capable and more than a little sexy.
“Ready?” he asked.
“I am.”
They walked to the spare bedroom and he unlocked the door. Inside were all the party supplies including the items for the goodie bags and equipment for the games. There were also wrapped presents including the custom-made ant-patterned comforter Sunshine had ordered for Connor on Etsy.
It took four trips to carry what they needed to the kitchen.
“I want to save the game setup until the morning,” she said, grabbing the goodie bags along with the tote containing her craft supplies. “It’s not going to rain, but there’s still morning dew to contend with and I don’t want anything getting wet.”
“Not a problem. I’ve already turned off the sprinklers so they won’t go on tomorrow. That way the grass will be dry.”
The birthday party would be held outside. Sunshine had ordered long tables and plenty of chairs. She had game areas, a giant ant piñata and separate tables for presents along with food and drinks.
She pulled out her party to-do list.
“Today we’re going to cut out the ants for the goodie bags and glue them on, then load them up. I want to cut out the ants for the flashlights, run through the supplies for the games, confirm the backyard layout and get started on some of the food.”
“That’s a lot.”
She smiled. “Not with you helping me. Margot is coming tomorrow and she’ll help with serving the food and generally run interference.”
“Won’t the other parents be sticking around to help?”
“Oh, Declan, seriously? A kid’s birthday party is a chance to have a few hours without worry. That’s the deal. Trust me, the parents are going to drop off their kids and bolt.”
“I guess I hadn’t noticed that before.” He frowned. “Actually, I think we never bothered with much of a party for Connor before. Iris wasn’t the party type, so we kept it mostly family.”
Sunshine knew there was nothing she could say that wouldn’t be considered snarky so she offered him a smile and said, “My love of planning parties is only surpassed by the thrill of throwing them. So thanks for letting me do this.” She waved her papers. “Let’s get started.”
They cut large ants out of construction paper and glued them onto the bags. Nine boys were coming to the party, giving them an even ten. Sunshine had ten bags, the last of which she would tuck away until everyone was gone and the postparty letdown had started. Then she would give Connor his bag.
While Declan applied bug stickers to the bags and filled them with the toys and candy, she put a fresh blade into her X-Acto knife and went to work on the heat resistant tape she’d found. Her plan was to cut out an ant silhouette and apply it to the lens of the flashlight, thereby creating a custom beam. She’d just finished two of them when the knife slipped and the sharp blade sliced through the edge of her left palm.
In the nanosecond that followed, Sunshine tried to figure out what she’d done. Nothing hurt and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. Then blood began to gush onto the table and nerve endings lit on fire. She started to stand, only to realize that might be a bad idea.
“Declan!”
He glanced at her, swore and jumped to his feet. “What happened?” he asked as he grabbed a dish towel and wrapped it around her hand. In seconds, the towel was red with blood.
“I cut myself with the knife.”
She felt sick to her stomach and the pain was intense.
Declan grabbed three more towels from the drawer and hustled her into the car. He ran back to the house for her bag so she would have ID, then quickly drove out of the neighborhood and to the local hospital. Quicker than she would have thought, she was in a small room in the ER, sitting upright in a hospital bed. Her nurse, who had introduced herself as Nikki, put on a pressure bandage that hurt like hell, while Declan hovered.
“You’re going to need stitches,” Nikki told her. “Let me get the paperwork started. Are you right-handed?”
Sunshine nodded, trying to ignore her wooziness.
“That’s good because you won’t be able to use your left hand for a while. Still, have your husband fill out the paperwork. You can just sign it at the end.”
She handed a clipboard to Declan before stepping out of the room.
Sunshine leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “You should tell her we’re not married,” she said quietly, wondering if she really was going to throw up. Blood wasn’t her favorite, but it didn’t usually bother her. Of course she could be in shock or maybe she’d lost a lot of blood. Either way, her hand was throbbing something fierce.
“I think that’s kind of the least of it,” he said, taking a seat. “Let me get this filled out.”
He wrote in the basic information, then asked her if she was allergic to any medications and about any past medical conditions.
“There’s nothing,” she said, her head spinning a little. “And no family history of anything.” Not that she knew about. Her great-grandmother had been well into her nineties before she’d died quietly in her sleep. As for Sunshine’s father, well, they didn’t know anything about him. Which was a stupid thing to be thinking about right now, she told herself, even as she tried not to cry.
Nikki returned with several pillows so Sunshine could keep her hand elevated. She put in an IV.
“Fluids and something for the pain,” she said. “Do you remember your last tetanus shot?”
“No. I think I was a kid.”
Nikki smiled. “You want to keep up with that. The guidelines are for every ten years. We’ll get you a booster.”
Great. A shot and stitches. Of course she already had an IV in her arm, so maybe that was the worst
of it. She looked at Declan. “What about the party?”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s get you fixed up and then I’ll deal with the prep work.”
“You can’t do it all yourself. This is Connor’s birthday party. It’s huge.”
“I’ll manage.”
He sounded confident, but she was less sure. “Margot was going to help tomorrow anyway. I can call and ask her to come early or even today,” she began.
“Stop,” he told her. “Let’s get you through this first and then we’ll assess, okay?” His voice was gentle but firm. “Sunshine, you’re my main concern. If Connor were here, he would completely agree with me. The party will happen. Let it go.”
Nikki smiled. “Honey, you’ve got yourself a keeper.”
Sunshine turned to the nurse, ready to correct her. Declan shook his head, then winked.
“You’re right,” he said cheerfully. “She is one lucky lady to have me.”
Before Sunshine could respond or even acknowledge the sudden and powerful wish that she really was that lucky, the sliding door to her room opened and a tall, attractive, dark-haired woman stepped in, a tablet in her hand. She smiled and said, “Hello, Sunshine. I’m Dr. Kumar. You seem to have had a bit of an accident.”
“I’d wave but it would get messy,” she said, hoping she didn’t look like she was about to cry.
Dr. Kumar laughed. “We don’t want that. Let me take a quick look, then we’ll fix you right up.”
* * *
Several stitches, a prescription for mild painkillers and some discharge papers later, Sunshine found herself back at home. Her hand was still numb from the local anesthetic, but she had a bad feeling it was going to hurt like crazy once that wore off.
“You should go lie down,” Declan told her as they walked into the kitchen. “You need to take it easy.”
“I cut my hand. I didn’t get in a car accident. I’m completely fine.”
“You have no color in your face and you look like you’re going to pass out any second. Lie down for a couple of hours and then we’ll see how you feel.”
“No. We have to get ready for the party. We have nine kids arriving at eleven tomorrow morning. There’s too much to do.”
“You wrote out a master list. I can follow it.”
“No. My notes won’t make sense to you.”
She had more to say but suddenly felt a little light-headed. She swayed in place, thinking she should probably sit down. She’d barely taken a step toward the stools by the island when Declan jumped to her side and put his arm around her waist.
“Thank you for demonstrating my point,” he said, his voice gentle. “Come on, Sunshine. You have to take care of yourself.”
“I’m fine.”
He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? You’re fine?”
He was standing so close, she could see all the colors in his irises. He was a lot taller than her, and strong, and having him hold her felt really good. Like she was safe and taken care of. She wanted to lean against him, she wanted to have him just hang on forever and...
She pushed away the ridiculous thoughts, telling herself she was injured and not at her best and any warm fuzzies were simply the result of the trauma and not the least bit real. She had to get a grip.
She turned and sagged onto the stool.
“Please bring in one of the lounge chairs from the patio,” she said. “You can move the kitchen table to the side and put the lounge chair next to it. Once I’m settled there, you can bring in a couple of pillows from my bedroom so I can prop up my hand.” She shrugged. “It’s a compromise. You need me to help you figure out what to do and you want me to rest. This way we both get what we want.”
Something hot and fiery flashed in his eyes. It faded as quickly as it had flared but not before she felt an answering jolt way down low in her belly.
“You promise not to do anything but supervise?” he asked, his voice skeptical.
“I promise.”
He flashed her a smile. “Okay then. We have ourselves a deal.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Saturday morning prep for the party couldn’t have gone more smoothly, Declan thought with relief. Margot arrived just before eight and declared herself more than ready to step in and do what needed to be done. By then Declan had already set up the rented tables and chairs on the covered patio and used construction caution tape to rope off the game area of the backyard. Sunshine, still pale but less shaky, supervised, while an excited Connor bounced from person to person, checking to see that all would be ready for his party. The third time Declan turned and nearly fell over his son, his patience reached the snapping point.
“You’ve got to stay out of the way,” he said, knowing he sounded exasperated, but unable to help himself.
“But Da-ad!”
Sunshine stepped between them. She hugged Connor. “I know you’re excited, but if you keep getting in our way, we can’t be ready for your friends and you wouldn’t want that. Why don’t you run into my room and look at what’s on the bed?”
Connor tore out of the kitchen. Declan turned to Sunshine. “What did you get him?”
“You’ll see.”
Seconds later Connor was back with a large, flat, wrapped package in his hands.
“It’s really heavy,” he said eagerly. “Can I open it now? Can I?”
There was a family dinner that night, something low-key, following the party. Connor would open Declan’s presents then, plus whatever Sunshine had bought him. Not that she was expected to buy his kid a present, but he knew she would.
“You can,” she told him.
He ripped the bug-themed birthday paper and shrieked when he saw the title of the book. The World of Ants. The book was thick, with lots of glossy pictures and more information than the average person wanted to know about ants. Connor beamed at her.
“This is the best! Thank you.” He hugged Sunshine, then clutched the book to his chest. “Can I go read it now?”
“You can. We’ll call you when your guests arrive.”
“Okay.” He ran out of the kitchen, leaving the ripped paper behind.
“Well played,” Margot said. “You knew he would be excited and in the way, so you planned on giving him the gift.”
“I thought it might help.”
“Imagine what you could do if you weren’t injured,” her sister teased.
Declan watched the exchange. Physically the sisters couldn’t have been more different. Oh sure, they were both blonde and had similar eyes and shared a smile, but otherwise, they looked nothing alike. Yet they were both kind and giving. He’d seen Margot eyeing her sister, as if making sure she was doing all right with her injury. Margot had given up a day off to help with a party for a kid she barely knew. The Baxter sisters were special, he thought, and whoever won their respective hearts would be damned lucky.
He allowed himself a brief moment to play a mental game of pretend, then pushed the thoughts away. Sunshine was in his house, under his protection. He would not repay her devotion and friendship by coming on to her like some sleazy asshole.
At ten-thirty there was a final meeting to make sure all the prep work was done.
“The ice-cream cake has been moved to the kitchen freezer,” Margot said, checking off an item on the list. “Plates and forks are ready to go for that. The sandwiches and finger foods are all prepared and in the refrigerator or in the pantry.”
Declan looked at his list. “Goodie bags are finished and safely behind closed doors. I’ll get them out at two-thirty. The hall bathroom is stocked with plenty of liquid hand soap and a stack of paper hand towels. I’ll check supplies every half hour and make sure nothing gross has happened.”
Margot looked sympathetic. “Good luck with that.”
“It’s the least I can do,” he told he
r, then winked at Sunshine.
She smiled at him, then read from her list. “Game supplies are all in place. You two have the rules of the games. Guests are due to arrive at eleven. We’ll go right into the What Am I? game, then have lunch with the movie Ants playing. After that we’ll do the sword relay followed by presents. We’ll wrap up with the piñata.”
She looked at them. “That’s all of it. I’ll be supervising from my chair, although there’s really no reason I can’t—”
“Please,” Margot said, rolling her eyes. “You have dozens of stitches in your hand, I know it still hurts and you barely slept. You may be the queen of all things child, but we can handle the details of the party.”
Sunshine looked at Declan. “She’s always been bossy. Sometimes you just have to go with it.”
“I can’t help it,” Margot told her. “I’m the firstborn. Responsibility is my middle name.”
“You’re firstborn by eight minutes.”
Margot sighed. “I did love being an only child.”
They laughed. Sunshine caught Declan’s gaze and smiled at him. Desire exploded, but he had plenty of practice ignoring the sensation. Instead he enjoyed their sense of connection. They were a good team and he didn’t want to do anything to screw that up.
* * *
Sunday, Margot decided to do some exploring in the monastery cellar. The area under the former church was huge. Part of the old root cellar had been converted into a large wine cellar with shelves and racks and good lighting. The rest of the root cellar was still intact and at first she’d thought that was as much underground as there was.
A couple of weeks before, Margot had found a small door at the back. She’d opened it and discovered dozens of small rooms and winding hallways with stone flooring and wooden support beams. Although there were electric lights in the hallway, there weren’t a lot of bulbs, so she’d brought along a bright flashlight.
The ceiling was low enough that she had to hunch a little as she walked. Despite there being no windows or obvious ways to get outside, the air was relatively fresh, so there had to be vents or something. The whole space was perfectly dry, which made sense. This was Southern California—a semiarid region of the country. There wasn’t much of a water table to dampen anything, and less than nine inches of rain a year wasn’t going to impact the cellar.
The Summer of Sunshine and Margot Page 27
