A Match for the Single Dad
GINA WILKINS
Pint-sized matchmakers on the loose!Responsibility is not something Maggie Bell has ever wanted. Sure, she’s never felt the need to leave her family business, but she can’t give up her freedom, even for someone as cute as Garrett McHale.The former Air Force pilot turned single father knows his family life filled with two sprightly little girls isn’t much to offer someone as lively as Maggie, but he can’t help feeling attracted.But when Maggie gets a good look at parenting, will she take fright? Or will Garrett show her that, when love’s involved, anything is possible?
“I never thought you were the type to play with fire, Maggie.”
She chuckled softly, her heart racing now in response to that all-too-brief kiss. “I’ve been known to scorch my fingertips a few times.”
His hands settled at her hips before she could move away. “My fingers are still feeling a little cold.”
What the hell. She wrapped her arms around his neck, momentarily abandoning caution. “Then maybe we should heat them up.”
“Maybe we should.” He settled his mouth against hers, their smiles meeting then melding into a kiss hot enough to scorch much more than her fingertips. She felt the heat surging all the way through her, simmering deep inside her. This buttoned-down, ex-military single dad definitely knew how to kiss.
About the Author
GINA WILKINS is a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than seventy novels for Mills & Boon. She credits her successful career in romance to her long, happy marriage and her three “extraordinary” children.
A lifelong resident of central Arkansas, Ms Wilkins sold her first book to Mills & Boon in 1988 and has been writing full-time since. She has appeared on the Walden-books, B. Dalton and USA TODAY bestseller lists. She is a three-time recipient of a Maggie Award for Excellence, sponsored by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of RT Book Reviews.
A Match for the Single Dad
Gina Wilkins
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Patience Bloom, a dedicated editor, fellow romance fan and genuinely nice person.
Chapter One
“He’ll say no. Daddy always says no,” almost-eleven-year-old Kristina McHale said glumly. She was known to her family and friends as Kix, a nickname bestowed on her by her slightly older sister, Payton, who’d had trouble as a toddler saying her baby sister’s formal name.
With the wisdom of her thirteen years, Payton waved a hand dismissively. “We can talk him into it. You know how he’s always nagging about ‘family time.’ Well, a week together in a cabin would count for that, right? Besides, that week includes both your birthday and the Fourth of July. How can he say no?”
“He’ll find a way,” Kix predicted.
Payton sighed in response to her sister’s pessimism. “We can at least ask. You ask. Give him the look. You know, puppy-dog eyes. I’ll act like I think it’s sort of a dumb idea, so he won’t figure out we’re conspirators.”
“Con—cons—?”
“Working together,” Payton explained impatiently.
“Oh.” Kix practiced widening her already-big blue eyes. “You think this will help?”
Eyeing her critically, Payton shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt. Lower your chin a little and maybe poke out your bottom lip. If you could make it kind of quiver a little, it would be even better.”
“Like this?” Kix gave her sister a limpid look from beneath thick dark lashes, her rosy mouth pursed in a hint of a pout.
“Not bad. I bet he’ll say yes. Once we have him at the resort for a whole week, we’ll make sure he spends time with her.”
“How are we going to do that?”
Payton sighed impatiently and pushed an auburn strand out of her face. “I can’t think of everything all at once, Kix. We just will, okay?”
“Okay.”
Pacing the length of her bedroom, Payton continued her scheming. “Once Dad spends more time with Maggie, surely he’ll get around to asking her out. I mean, we know he likes her because he always smiles when she’s around, right?”
Sitting cross-legged on her sister’s bed, Kix nodded enthusiastically, her brighter-red hair tumbling into her freckled face. “He has to like her. He’d be crazy if he didn’t.”
“Well, it is Dad,” Payton muttered, making Kix giggle. “Still, maybe he’ll finally do something right and ask her out. And maybe we’ll finally have someone on our side for a change who’ll tell Dad he has to stop treating us like dumb little girls. Maggie always looks so pretty. I bet she’d convince Dad and Grammy that we’re old enough for makeup and double-pierced ears and cool clothes. At least, I am.”
“Hey!”
“Well, you’re almost old enough,” Payton conceded. “And there are other things she could take your side about.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“So we’re agreed? You’ll tell him tonight at dinner that you know where you want to spend your birthday week?”
“Agreed.”
They exchanged a complicated handshake to seal the deal.
Early on a Sunday morning in June, Maggie Bell shifted on the wooden picnic table bench beneath the big pavilion at Bell Resort and Marina. The newly risen sun glittered on the rippling waters of southeast Texas’s Lake Livingston ahead, making the lake look like liquid silver streaked with veins of gold. Even this early, the air was already quite warm, though she was comfortable enough in her scoop-neck, cap-sleeve yellow T-shirt dress and wedge-heeled sandals.
Seated around her at long wooden picnic tables and in folding chairs beneath the big pavilion at Bell Resort and Marina, a small crowd sang the chorus of “Amazing Grace,” most of them even in the same key. In a long-standing tradition at the resort owned by Maggie’s family, nondenominational sunrise worship services were held year-round for guests and any area residents who chose to participate. Attendance had always been good, but especially during the past few months. Specifically, since good-looking and personable Jasper Bettencourt had started leading the services.
Golden-haired, blue-eyed, male-model handsome, always casually dressed in jeans and cotton shirts, Jasper, known to his friends as Jay, hardly fit the stereotype of a small-town minister. Longtime locals remembered him as a hell-raising teen from a dysfunctional family who had escaped the area more than fifteen years before. It had been quite a shock when he’d returned with a theology degree, founded a little nondenominational church and dedicated himself to community service and caring for the aging, former-pastor uncle who was his only living relative. He was a compelling speaker, a talented singer and a genuinely nice guy who drew people to him with his mix of humor, kindness and compassion. Each Sunday he led the sunrise service attendees in a few well-known hymns, accompanied on guitar by his friend Garrett McHale, before presenting a brief but always moving sermon.
Seated in a folding chair beneath the pavilion with the morning’s printed program gripped loosely in her hands, Maggie sang the familiar song without needing to refer to the lyrics. She chose instead to watch the accompanist.
Dressed in a green shirt and neatly pressed khakis, Garrett looked like the ex-Air Force officer he was. Tall and lean, he wore his brown hair in a crisp, short cut that emphasized the few gray strands at his temples. His posture was impeccable, his movements measured and efficient. His eyes were the same clear gray-blue as the early-morning sky. Garrett, too, had grown up in this area, leaving to join the military at about the same time his lifelong best buddy, Jay, had struck off for parts unknown. Garrett wasn’t as strikingly handsome as Jay, yet for some reason Maggie’s attention was always drawn to him. She wasn’t sure of his exact age, but she’d guess he was maybe ten or eleven years older than her own twenty-seven. The age difference didn’t bother her. The fact that he was a single dad to two girls just heading into their teens was a different matter altogether.
She glanced at the auburn-haired thirteen-year-old at her left, then at the almost-eleven-year-old redhead on her right. Garrett’s daughters, Payton and Kix, always sat near her during services. A few months ago, she’d filled in part-time for a few weeks at the local country club for a tennis instructor recuperating from emergency surgery. She’d gotten to know Payton and Kix in the kids’ class. She was hardly a tennis pro, but the club owner was a family friend who’d been in a bind and who knew Maggie had played competitively during high school and college. Somehow, Maggie had allowed herself to be persuaded to fill in.
At about the same time Maggie had taught his daughters, Garrett had started joining his friend Jay for Sunday sunrise services, bringing Maggie and his girls together even more often. She was fond of both Payton and Kix, but they were a handful. She couldn’t imagine being responsible for their full-time care and well-being.
Jay closed the meeting with a prayer and an open invitation to the little church in town where he would hold services later that morning. He made himself available to shake hands and speak with guests afterward while Garrett packed away his acoustic guitar. Payton and Kix started chattering the moment the service ended, telling her about their activities since they’d seen her last Sunday, talking over each other in attempts to claim her full attention.
“… and I love your red leather sandals with the cork wedge heels so much, but Dad won’t let me even look at heels yet because he says they aren’t practical for someone my age …”
“… and my friend Kim my got her own smartphone, but Daddy says no way can I have one …”
“… and there was a really great party at Nikea’s house, but of course Dad wouldn’t let me go just because most of the kids were older than me …”
“… and I wanted to play video games with my friend but Grammy made me clean my room, and it could have waited until later, but she …”
Laughing, Maggie held up both hands. “Girls, girls! I can only listen to one of you at a time.”
They started again without noticeable success in being patient, but Maggie managed to follow along for the most part. A litany of complaints about their father was not-so-well buried in their babbling. She had already observed that he ran a fairly strict household, though it was obvious—to her, at least—that he was crazy about his girls. She suspected he was simply overwhelmed at times. His only assistance in raising them came from his mother and grandmother, who shared a house on the same block as the one in which Garrett lived with his daughters. From what little she had seen of the family, it seemed as though Garrett was almost as responsible for the older women as he was for his daughters.
This was a man encumbered by serious baggage.
Guitar case in hand, he approached with a faint smile. Why did she find the slight curve of his firm lips so much more appealing than Jay’s bright, beaming grins? She liked Jay very much, but there was just something about Garrett….
“Good morning, Maggie,” he said in his deep voice that never failed to elicit a shiver of reaction from her.
She liked to believe she’d become an expert at hiding that response behind a breezy smile. “Good morning, Garrett. The music was especially nice today.”
“I just play some chords,” he said with a little shrug. “Jay chooses the songs. But I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I was just going to tell her about my birthday plans, Daddy,” Kix said, bouncing up and down on her white sandals. “I’m so excited!”
Maggie smiled indulgently at the littlest McHale sister. As she almost always did, Kix wore her favorite pink, which clashed cheerfully with her flame-red hair but looked just right, somehow, on the adorable girl. “Sounds intriguing. What’s the plan, Kix?”
“We’re coming here,” Kix almost shouted in reply. “For a whole week! Isn’t that sweet?”
“Not quite a week,” her father corrected. “Monday afternoon through Sunday service.”
Kix waved off those details as unimportant. “Daddy rented a cabin and we’re coming a week from tomorrow. My birthday is that Tuesday and we’re going to have a party in the cabin—and you can come! And Grammy and Meemaw are coming, too. And we’re going swimming and fishing and hiking and boating and Daddy’s going to take the whole week off work and we’ll make s’mores and—”
“Kix,” her father interrupted firmly, “take a breath.”
“I hadn’t heard you were coming,” Maggie said in the brief ensuing lull. She wondered why the information shook her a little. After all, she saw Garrett—er, the McHale family—every Sunday, so why did the thought of him—er, them—being here every day for almost a week throw off her usual equilibrium?
“Kix just sprang this request on me last week,” Garrett admitted. “I was actually surprised a cabin was available on such short notice, especially considering it’s the Fourth of July week. I told Kix I couldn’t promise anything, but fortunately for us there was a late cancellation, so we were able to grab the reservation.”
“I’m glad we could accommodate you,” Maggie said automatically, then glanced at Kix. “So you wanted to spend your birthday week here, so close to home?”
“I wanted to go to the beach.” Payton looked and sounded utterly bored. “Like Padre Island or somewhere cool. But no, Kix had to come here where we come every single Sunday. Lame, huh?”
“But, Payton—Ouch!”
“Payton, did you just punch your sister?” Garrett demanded sternly.
“No, Daddy,” Kix assured him, innocently wide-eyed as she not-so-surreptitiously rubbed her arm. “She just sort of bumped into me.”
“There’s a bunch of geese swimming by the pier,” Payton said quickly. “Can I take Kix down to look at them?”
He hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Don’t get too close to the water. And we can’t stay long. I have things to do today.”
“You can talk to Maggie while we look at the geese,” Payton told him before turning to dash toward the lake with her sister.
Something in the teen’s voice made Maggie blink a couple of times. Surely Payton wasn’t trying her hand at matchmaking? But Garrett didn’t react, so she told herself she must have misunderstood. After all, why would Payton want yet another adult in her already oversuper-vised—according to her, at least—life?
“How have you been, Maggie?” he asked politely when they were alone.
“Fine, thank you,” she replied, equally cordial. “And you?”
He shrugged. “Busy. But fine.”
She knew that in addition to taking care of his daughters, his mother and his grandmother, Garrett taught flying lessons and piloted charter flights out of the small local airport. During the past few months, Payton and Kix had told her he’d left the military, in which he’d most recently served as a flight instructor at Laughlin Air Force Base, after the unexpected death a little more than a year ago of their mother, his ex-wife. He had moved back to this area to be closer to his mother and grandmother.
Garrett and the girls’ mother had divorced when Kix was only a baby. They had shared custody afterward, though the girls had lived primarily with their mother. Their home with her had been in San Antonio, a three-hour drive from the base, so they’d seen their father on alternate weekends and holidays for the most part, which had meant a huge adjustment for all of them when he’d become solely responsible for them.
In listening to the girls chatter about their lives, Maggie had gotten the impression that they had loved their mother but had spent as much time with nannies and babysitters as with her. “She was gone a lot,” Payton had said simply. “She was a lawyer, so she worked long hours and she had lots of professional clubs and parties and stuff she had to go to most evenings. She liked to hang out with her friends on weekends, because she said she worked so hard during the week that she needed down time.”
Time away from her children, Maggie had interpreted in a knee-jerk reaction of disapproval she’d tried to suppress. She told herself she had no right to judge a woman she’d never even met based on perhaps-exaggerated stories from two children.
“Maybe you need a vacation as much as the girls do,” she suggested to Garrett. “We’ll try to make sure you have a good time while you’re here.”
She spoke, of course, as a representative of the resort. No personal messages intended.
“Thank you,” he said.
She cleared her throat silently. Darn, but this man made her teeth tingle. How very inconvenient of him.
“So, um, your grandmother is coming with you for the week?” she asked with a lift of her eyebrows.
His smile turned rueful. “She is. She doesn’t want to be left out, even though she has given me an earful about how she’ll be spending six days in enemy territory.”
Maggie couldn’t help laughing. Her grandmother, Dixie Bell, and his, Esther Lincoln, were lifelong rivals who saw each other as mortal enemies. It had begun back when they were in junior high competing for the attentions of the same boys, though Esther was a year ahead in school. The rivalry had continued when they participated in county-fair cooking contests after they’d married, competing for blue ribbons and each bitterly accusing the other of underhandedness.
“I’m sure Mimi will be a gracious host,” she said, mentally crossing her fingers. “They probably won’t see each other much, anyway. Mimi’s usually in the offices or the store.”
“I’ve already told Meemaw that she has to be polite while she’s here,” Garrett replied with a chuckle.
She found it incredibly appealing to hear this serious-natured, somewhat stern-looking ex-military officer talk about his “Meemaw.” But then, she found entirely too much appealing about Garrett.
He glanced at his watch. “I’d better collect the girls. I’ve got some appointments this afternoon. Nice to visit with you as always, Maggie. We’ll see you next Sunday morning.”
“Actually, I’ll be out of town next weekend. I’m visiting my sister in Dallas to spend some time with her and the baby while her husband’s at a conference in Chicago. But I’ll be back Sunday evening, so I’ll be around if your family needs anything during your stay.”
Garrett nodded, then looked at her with a bemused expression. “I have to admit Kix’s request to spend her birthday week here caught me by surprise. It seemed to come out of the blue. She said she didn’t even need another present, just the time here.”
“Maybe she just wanted to spend a week with her family without the usual distractions at home,” she suggested.
Garrett appeared skeptical. “According to her and Payton, they spend too much time with family as it is. Payton wanted to go to Padre Island for our vacation, but Kix was insistent on coming here, so Payton agreed since it’s Kix’s birthday.”
“That was nice of her.”
“Yeah.” But she noted that Garrett still seemed perplexed by his daughters’ behavior when he bade her goodbye and walked away.
She wished him luck dealing with two girls of that age. It was certainly more responsibility than she’d want to take on.
“Let’s go to the playground!” Kix hopped out of the SUV immediately upon arrival at the resort just after noon on the Monday of their vacation week. “C’mon, Payton, let’s see who can make it all the way across the monkey bars without falling.”
“Whoa. Hold up there.” Garrett moved to stand in front of her. “We have a ton of stuff to carry inside, and you’re helping.”
“Okay,” she said cheerfully enough, changing course to head for the back of the vehicle. “We can go to the playground later.”
“Don’t you be running off without permission or supervision,” Garrett’s mom fussed to Kix. Sixty-year-old Paulette Lincoln McHale was medium height, broad-shouldered and hipped, with crisp gray hair and strong features. Yet despite her sturdy, rather imposing appearance, she was a compulsive worrier who tended to hover over the girls. “There are strangers in the campgrounds and the motel and the other cabins. One of us adults will need to go with you when you wander around the resort, you hear?”
Garrett watched as his daughters swapped exasperated looks and heaved long-suffering sighs before loading their arms with bags to carry inside the cabin.
Eighty-one-year-old Esther Lincoln, known in the family as Meemaw, was stronger than her daughter emotionally, though her body was going frail. Her hair was a cap of bright white curls around her soft face. Her shoulders were stooped and she relied on a walker to steady her gait, but her fiery spirit was undimmed. “Let the girls have some fun, Paulette. They’re not going to run wild around the place, and they know to be careful.”
“You can’t be too careful these days,” Garrett’s mother retorted darkly.
Garrett juggled two suitcases and a bag of groceries he’d removed from the well-packed vehicle. “Let’s just take the stuff inside and then we’ll make plans.”
Though it bore the number six, the cabin to which they’d been assigned sat in the center of five lakeside rentals numbered four through eight. The cabins ranged in size from the little one-bedroom A-frames at each end of the row to the four-bedroom cottage where Garrett’s family would spend the next six days. A long, welcoming front porch held rockers and a swing. Inside, the living area, kitchen and dining nook made up the open central floor plan. There was a separate bedroom for each adult and a sleeping loft for the girls to share. A big back deck furnished with wrought-iron tables and chairs invited guests to sit and admire the lake.
Kix looked forward to gathering around the fire pit in the evening to roast hot dogs and marshmallows, both of which Garrett had brought along. Between the groceries he’d purchased and the home-cooked goodies his mother and grandmother had insisted on preparing and bringing along, they probably had enough food for at least twice as many days as he’d booked for their stay.
He insisted the girls help put everything away before they played. He’d already launched the boat he’d towed behind the SUV, secured it into a slip he’d rented for the week and parked the trailer in the provided lot near the marina. The lot had been crowded; even this early in the holiday week, business was brisk at the resort.
He’d owned the fish-and-ski boat for several years. The girls always liked going out in it, one of the few things they seemed to enjoy doing with him these days. When their mother was alive, he’d spent many of his custody weekends taking them boating on waters near the base. They hadn’t considered him quite so lame back then, he thought regretfully. Probably due to a combination of them being younger and seeing him more rarely, making him less of a constant authority figure to be rebelled against.
Breanne had been more indulgent with them, spoiling them with material possessions to assuage her guilt for spending so little time with them. She hadn’t been a bad mother, just a distracted one. Breanne had been easily bored. Most especially with him.
Shaking off thoughts of his late ex-wife—and what had brought her to mind, anyway?—he nodded in approval when the girls reported that their things were all stowed away upstairs.
“Okay, what’s on the agenda?” he asked, having promised to leave the activities for the week to them—within reason.
Kix bounced around him. “We want to go out in the boat and have milk shakes at the diner and hike through the resort and play board games and cook hot dogs and—”
“Breathe, Kix.”
She giggled.
“Let’s go find Maggie and see if she wants to go out in the boat with us,” Payton suggested.
Both the girls had expressed disappointment that they hadn’t yet seen Maggie. A resort employee introducing herself as Rosie had checked them in at the main desk, and Maggie’s uncle, C. J. Bell, had assisted with the boat launch and slip parking at the marina. They had seen a few other faces familiar from Sunday services and Saturday boating-and-swimming visits to the resort, but there’d been no sight of Maggie.
“Maggie is working now,” he told his daughters firmly. “Remember you both promised not to bother her.”
Kix frowned in dissatisfaction. “She owns the resort. Can’t she take off when she wants to?”
“Her family owns the resort, and Maggie takes her responsibilities seriously,” he chided. “Just as you can’t ditch school whenever you want, Maggie can’t just stop her work.”
“Let’s go for a walk down by the water,” Garrett’s mother suggested. “I think I saw some ducks.”
Kix was already moving toward the door. “They’re geese, Grammy. Canada geese. There’s a whole flock of them who live here.”
“It’s a gaggle, not a flock,” Payton corrected her, heading more slowly toward the back door.
“Y’all go on for your walk, I’m going to sit here and rest awhile,” Garrett’s grandmother announced, lowering herself into an armchair. “Garrett, honey, hand me my yarn bag, please. Payton, sweetie, be a lamb and fetch Meemaw a bottle of that strawberry-flavored water we brought along.”
Because the chair looked comfortable and faced a nice view of the lake, Garrett figured his grandmother had found her roost for the duration of the vacation. She would be perfectly content to sit right there and be waited on hand and foot for the next five and a half days, though he and his mother would nag her into getting at least a minimum of exercise, as her doctors recommended.
“Are you coming with us on our walk, Daddy?” Kix asked from the back door.
“I’m going out to make sure we got everything from the car. I’ll catch up with you in a little while.”
“Tie your shoelaces, Kix,” he heard his mother say before the door closed behind the trio. “You’ll trip over them if they’re loose.”
A green utility golf cart emblazoned with the resort logo pulled into the driveway behind Garrett’s vehicle just as he was checking the door locks. He smiled when he saw Maggie at the wheel. Her thick, sun-streaked brown hair, a little tousled from the drive in the open cart, fell loose to her shoulders, framing her pretty face. She wore a short-sleeved lavender top with a deep scoop neck that just flirted with a tasteful hint of cleavage. Jeans and brown leather wedge-heeled sandals completed her casual outfit. She seemed to favor wedge heels, and he had to admit they did great things for her long legs. As she slid out of the cart, Garrett wondered how she managed to look so sleek and put-together even in casual clothing suitable for her work.
“Hi, Garrett. Are you all settled in?” she asked, leaning against the front of the cart. “Is there anything you need?”
He’d heard some say that Maggie’s older sister, Hannah, was the beauty of the Bell family with her dark hair and emerald eyes and near-perfect features. He’d met Hannah a couple of times and agreed that she was lovely. But there was something about Maggie, with her clear hazel eyes and not-quite-so-perfect face, her pleasant smiles and friendly manner. She radiated competence and efficiency, projecting a quiet calmness in the middle of occasional chaos. With his own life so often in uproar, he appreciated the serenity that seemed to surround Maggie.
She was too young for him, of course—at least a decade younger—though he had to remind himself of that fact often when he was with her. Of course he was attracted to her—what red-blooded single man wouldn’t be?—but he had no intention of doing anything about it. He doubted that a woman her age would be interested in an older man with his heavy responsibilities. Especially a man who’d been divorced by his wife because she found him too boring to make their relationship worth the effort required.
He didn’t think of himself as boring, but he could understand how his enhanced sense of duty—to his family, his job, his country—made him less appealing to someone who thrived on spontaneity and self-indulgence. Not that Maggie seemed to be that type, but being young, pretty and single, she was certainly free to live on impulse if she wanted. Unlike himself.
“We don’t need anything, but thanks for asking.” He patted the closed tailgate of his SUV. “I’m pretty sure my family would have brought along everything they own if I hadn’t set limits. You wouldn’t believe how full this thing was, especially considering we’re less than fifteen miles from home.”
She laughed. “I never mastered the art of packing light. My dad used to fuss whenever we loaded the car to go anywhere.”
Leaning back against his vehicle, he crossed his arms casually over his chest. “So where do resort owners go for vacation?”
She smiled ruefully. “Mostly we went to visit family in Shreveport and Tulsa. A few times we drove down to Galveston to stay in a beach cabin, and once we went to the mountains in Colorado. With a family-owned business, it isn’t easy to get away for vacations. We had to trade off weeks with my uncle’s family, usually during off-season here at the resort.”
During the past months, Garrett had learned that the Bell Resort and Marina had been founded by Maggie’s grandparents, Carl and Dixie Bell, on land previously owned by Carl’s parents. Carl and Dixie’s sons, Carl Jr. and Bryan, along with their wives, Sarah and Linda, had worked alongside their parents to build the resort into a successful vacation destination. Each member of the family had taken on a particular area of operation according to his or her personal interests. Carl Jr. ran the marina, his wife worked the grill, Bryan was responsible for grounds and maintenance and Linda ran the convenience store. Full-time and part-time employees were hired from outside to work the check-in desk, man the front gate and assist in other areas as needed.
Carl Jr.—nicknamed C.J.—and Sarah had three children, Steven, Shelby and Lori. Steven had worked for the resort until recently, when he’d left to fulfill his lifelong dream and train as a firefighter. Lori had quit college and eloped with a musician early in the summer, to the shock of her entire family. Of those siblings, only Shelby, a C.P.A. and business manager for the resort, was still fully committed to the family business, along with her new husband, Aaron Walker, who’d taken on Steven’s responsibilities helping Bryan keep up the grounds and supervise part-time seasonal workers hired to assist them.
Bryan and Linda’s two daughters, Hannah and Maggie, still worked for the resort, though Hannah, who handled marketing, now telecommuted from the home in Dallas she shared with her husband, Aaron Walker’s twin brother, Andrew, and their baby daughter. From what Garrett had deduced, Maggie was in charge of hiring and supervising the housekeeping staff for the cabins and the sixteen-unit motel on the grounds.
It was all very efficient, as far as he could tell. The family seemed to get along quite well, considering they lived and worked in such close quarters—Lori’s rebellion notwithstanding. Yet he wondered if Maggie ever felt the urge to try her hand at a different career, like Steven, or take off on a reckless adventure, like Lori. No one understood better than he the constraints of family obligation, even when those shackles were donned willingly.
“Be sure and let us know if there’s anything at all you need during your stay with us,” Maggie said, every inch the gracious hostess.
She tossed back a lock of hair that a playful breeze swept into her face and Garrett felt his chest tighten. She really was attractive. He’d bet her thick, shoulder-length, gold-streaked brown hair felt as soft as it looked. Not to mention her silky, peach-dusted skin….
He cleared his throat. Hard. He’d neglected his social life badly during the past year, since he’d left the Air Force and become responsible for his girls. He really should find time to date again—though that would involve actually meeting someone he wanted to go out with. Present company excluded, of course.
She pulled a card from her pocket and extended it to him. “This is my cell phone number if you need to contact me. I’m not aware of any maintenance issues with your cabin, but if you have any problems, just give me a call and I’ll send someone immediately.”
Their fingers brushed when he accepted the card. He blamed static in the air for the resulting ripple of awareness, though there hadn’t actually been a shock.
“Thanks,” he said, drawing his hand away to tuck the card in his back jeans pocket.
“So, I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah, about that. We’re having a birthday cake for Kix at about seven tomorrow evening. She’d love it if you joined us.”
Though they’d met most of the Bell family in passing, the girls were particularly attached to Maggie because of the tennis classes she’d taught them. Neither of his daughters seemed to have a particular affinity for the sport, but they’d certainly taken to their instructor. Couldn’t say he blamed them for that.
“I’d be happy to join you for cake,” Maggie said with a bright smile. “Can I bring anything?”
“Trust me, we have more than enough. For that matter, you can bring your whole family and there would still be enough.”
She laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Enjoy your evening.”
“I’ll certainly try,” he murmured, watching her buzz away in the cart, her hair waving lightly around her shoulders. He suspected that image would linger in his mind for a few hours tonight.
Chapter Two
Carrying a large box of red, white and blue decorations she’d retrieved from an upstairs storage room, Maggie descended the stairs carefully into the lobby of the main building later Monday afternoon. She could have used the small elevator they’d installed last year for her grandparents, but it was such a habit to take the stairs that she’d started down without considering how much the box limited her vision. She was almost to the bottom when she missed a step with her foot. Had her reflexes not been quicker, she might well have taken a tumble.
Someone took the box from her hands from below. She blinked in surprise when she saw Garrett standing there, frowning. Even his stern expression looked too darned appealing for her peace of mind, never mind what his rare full smiles did to her.
“You very nearly fell,” he chided, bringing her attention back to the moment.
“Guess I got in a hurry,” she replied, “but I caught myself.”
“I was prepared to catch you if you didn’t.”
A sudden image of herself cradled in Garrett’s strong arms made her momentarily regret her own quick reflexes.
“Where do you want this?”
Ordering herself to stop being so foolish, she motioned toward the reception desk to her left. “Just set it in the corner behind the desk. We’re decorating tomorrow for the holiday weekend and I was just bringing down some of the supplies.”
Nodding to Rosie Aguilar, who manned the reception desk most weekdays since Maggie’s sister had married and moved to Dallas, Garrett set the big box in a back corner. “Do you have any more to bring down? I can help.”
“Thanks, but no. That’s the only one for now.” She glanced around the lobby, expecting to see members of his family. Though a few guests mingled in the large open room that was decorated with lush greenery, shiny trophy fish mounted on wooden plaques and displays of antique fishing lures, she saw no sign of Garrett’s daughters.
The reception desk lay straight ahead of the big double-entry doors. To the right upon entering was the Chimes Grill, done in red-and-chrome vintage diner style, and to the left the convenience store stocked with basic groceries, some prepared foods and fishing and camping supplies. Maggie’s aunt Sarah ran the grill, whereas the store was her mom’s domain. Neither was particularly busy on this Monday afternoon, though a few early dinner guests were seated in the diner. The back of the main building housed the marina that was her uncle C.J.’s domain, which included a bait shop, marine gas pump, fishing pier, boat slips and fish-cleaning station.
“Where are the girls?”
“Back at the cabin,” Garrett replied. “We were getting things ready to grill hamburgers for dinner when I realized that we forgot to bring the buns I bought specifically for this trip. Apparently, they’re sitting on the kitchen counter back at my house. I figured it would be easier to come into the store to buy some more rather than to drive back home. I’d just walked in when I saw you almost take the header down the stairs.”
She waved a hand toward the glass walls of the convenience store. “We happen to stock a good supply of hamburger and hot dog buns. Mom will help you with whatever you need.”
He shook his head in self-recrimination. “Can’t believe I forgot the buns I bought. It got a little hectic when we were leaving, with both girls wanting to bring a ridiculous amount of stuff, so I ended up leaving behind something we actually needed.”
She smiled. “At least it was something easily replaced.”
“Yeah.” His gaze seemed to linger for a moment on her mouth. And then he raised his eyes to hers. “If you don’t already have plans for dinner, maybe you’d like to join us? The girls would love having you. Kix has been asking about you all day.”
She hesitated a moment, reminding herself that she would be seeing the girls for birthday cake the next evening, which should probably be enough interaction with them—but then she heard words pop out of her mouth. “That sounds like fun, if you’re sure there’s enough.”
Garrett laughed, such a nice sound that she wished she could hear it more often. “Trust me, there will be plenty. My mom doesn’t believe in cooking just a small amount of anything.”
“Then sure, why not? My book club canceled this evening’s meeting, so I’m available. What time?”
“Come now if you’re finished for the day,” he suggested. “My grandmother likes to eat early, so I’ll start cooking the burgers as soon as I’m back at the cabin. Won’t take long to have them ready.”
“I’ll put away a few things and meet you in the store.”
Garrett was paying for bags of sesame-seed hamburger buns when she rejoined him. She plucked ajar of organic squash pickles off a shelf to take along, showing it to her mother, who nodded and made a note of the purchase. The pickles were made and distributed by a local grower and were a popular item in the resort store. It was the least Maggie could contribute to the meal, since she didn’t have time to make anything.
Garrett had walked from the cabin, but Maggie drove him back in one of the ubiquitous green resort golf carts. “So … book club, huh?” he asked on the way.
She grinned. “Well, it’s more girlfriends-getting-together-to-drink-wine-eat-ridiculously-high-calorie-desserts-and-dish-gossip club, but we think ‘book club’ sounds more intellectual.”
Garrett laughed. “Good call.”
“Yeah, we thought so.”
“What else do you do when you aren’t working?”
“I try to make it to the gym a few times a week for Zumba classes, and go out to clubs with friends sometimes on weekends for karaoke or dancing. Single life. You know.”
He grimaced wryly. “I hardly remember single life. Married too young, spent most of my life in the military, now a full-time dad. You know.”
She couldn’t say she knew his life any more than he did hers. Another reminder of how little they had in common, she told herself somberly.
“I should probably warn you that Payton’s mad at me,” Garrett mentioned as she parked in the driveway of cabin six. “She was barely speaking to me when I left. Maybe I had an ulterior motive inviting you to join us for dinner. She’ll be on her best behavior for you.”
Maggie smiled sympathetically. “What did you do to get in trouble with her?”
“She met a couple of teenage brothers hanging around the tennis and basketball court this afternoon. She said their name was Ferguson—Trevor and Drake Ferguson. They started talking while I was shooting hoops with Kix. They invited her to meet them down at the lake tonight to ‘look at the stars.’” He made ironic quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke the phrase. “Needless to say, I told her she wasn’t meeting a couple of strange boys by herself at night. She hasn’t spoken to me since, other than to mutter about how I keep treating her like a baby.”
Maggie didn’t know all the guests registered at the resort at any particular time, of course, but she was passingly familiar with most of the occupants of the motel and cabins. Especially repeat visitors. “I know the family. Wayne and Melanie Alexander and her sons, Trevor and Drake Ferguson. They’re in cabin two, over by the motel. They’ve stayed with us several times before and they like being close to the pool. As I recall, Trevor is maybe fourteen, Drake a couple years younger, a little younger than Payton, I think.”
Garrett nodded to acknowledge her identification. “Payton thought knowing the boys’ names would be all I required to approve of her hanging out with them unsupervised. She was wrong.”
“The boys have always seemed reasonably well-behaved, but they aren’t supervised very closely. I don’t blame you for not wanting her to wander down to the lake with them alone at night.”
“Not going to happen. No matter how much she pouts. So maybe having you there tonight will ease the sting some.”
“In that case, I’ll do my best to cheer her up.”
“Hope you have better luck with it than I do.”
She smoothed a hand over her breeze-tossed hair. “I have an advantage. I wasn’t the one who told her no.”
He gave a little snort that might have been a laugh and climbed out of the cart with the hamburger buns.
“You are aware, I suppose, that Payton is a very pretty girl?” she asked as she accompanied him toward the porch. “You’re in for a lot of this sort of thing in the future.”
He nodded, his expression resigned. “She looks a lot like her mother.”
So his late ex-wife had been a beauty. She couldn’t help wondering what had gone wrong in the marriage, even though it was absolutely none of her business.
They entered the cabin together and Kix squeaked when she saw Maggie. “Are you going to have hamburgers with us, Maggie?” she asked, dashing to her side.
“Your dad invited me. I hope that’s okay with everyone.”
“You’re very welcome, Maggie,” Garrett’s mother assured her with a warm smile from the kitchen counter, where she was slicing tomatoes.
“That grandmother of yours isn’t coming, is she?” Esther demanded. She sat in a chair facing the view of the lake, surrounded by books, a knitting bag and a teacup, her walker nearby. It looked as though she had claimed that spot permanently for her own.
“Mother,” Paulette scolded, even as Garrett growled, “Meemaw.”
“My grandmother isn’t coming,” Maggie replied lightly. “Just me.”
“Good,” Esther muttered.
Garrett sighed heavily in exasperation with his grandmother’s rudeness, but didn’t bother to argue any further with her, saying merely, “I’ll start the grill.”
“The patties are ready to go on as soon as the grill is hot enough,” his mother informed him.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Maggie asked.
Paulette shook her head. “Everything’s almost ready. Why don’t you chat with the girls? They always enjoy visiting with you.”
“I love your top, Maggie.” Payton studied the casual blouse closely. “That scoop neckline is very flattering.”
“Thank you.” Maggie had noticed that Payton was increasingly into fashion these days, always taking time to examine and comment on Maggie’s outfits.
“Come upstairs and we’ll show you where we sleep,” Kix suggested eagerly. “We have a view of the lake from our window and it’s really pretty.”
“Maggie knows the cabin, Kix,” Payton said with a shake of her head. “She owns it.”
“My family owns it,” Maggie corrected, “but it’s been a while since I looked at the lake from that window.” Actually, she’d inspected the cabin thoroughly hours before they’d settled in, but she saw no need to mention that. “Lead the way, Kix.”
Kix dashed up the stairs and Maggie followed. Payton trailed them more slowly.
The loft had definitely been invaded by young girls, Maggie noted with a smile. Rather than the resort-furnished plain white sheets and coverlets, the two twin beds sported pink-and-green polka-dot sheets on one bed and yellow-and-green stripes on the other. From what she knew of their grandmother, she figured Paulette had been the one who’d insisted on bringing their own sheets rather than using the ones provided for guests. A shabby stuffed yellow bear sat on the polka-dot bed, which she figured must belong to Kix. Paperback books and teen magazines were strewn across the other bed. One of the drawers in the built-in dresser had been closed on the leg of a pair of ladybug-print pajamas.
“Look how pretty the shadows look on the lake now that the sun’s getting lower,” Kix said from the window.
Payton groaned. “Geez, Kix, she lives here. She sees the lake all the time.”
“But I never get tired of it,” Maggie replied, moving to admire the view. Dotted with boats and crisscrossed with rippling wakes, the lake glittered jewel-blue in the still bright, late-day sun.
Payton scowled. “Wish I could see the moon on the water with my new friends later. I met some really nice guys who are going down to the lake later to, you know, just throw rocks in the water and look at the stars and talk and stuff, and Dad acted like I asked if I could go to a bar or something.”
“They got into another one of their fights,” Kix confided. “Payton yells sometimes, but Daddy never does. He just says, ‘That’s final’ in a really quiet voice. And you know from the way he says it that he’s not going to change his mind no matter how much you beg or argue, but sometimes we do anyway, I guess, ‘cause we hope maybe just once he’ll listen. Like, Payton keeps asking for a red leather jacket like the one you wore last winter. She says she wants one like it for this next school year, but Dad keeps saying red leather isn’t practical for school. And I want to stay up an hour later to watch TV because all—well, some—of my friends stay up until ten o’clock, but I have to go to bed at nine, which is a bedtime for babies. And I’ve asked him maybe a million times for a kitten, but all he’ll say is ‘we’ll see.’”
“And you’re his favorite.” Payton tossed her head with a scowl. “He tells you yes a lot more than he does me.” Payton whirled toward Maggie then. “I’m thirteen years old and he watches me like I’m a little kid. Like Kix.”
“Hey!”
“All I wanted to do,” Payton went on, ignoring her sister’s indignant protest, “was to meet up with some friends. But just because they’re boys, he said no. I mean, geez, what does he think is going to happen? He’s here at the resort, their parents are here, a zillion other people are here, it’s not like we’re going to get into trouble. They’re nice guys, Maggie. Trevor and Drake Ferguson. Do you know them?”
Maggie repeated what she’d said earlier to Garrett. “I’ve met them a few times when they’ve stayed here before. They seem like good kids.”
“I know, right? Dad can be such a—”
“Payton!” Kix interrupted urgently, giving her sister a little shove.
For a moment it looked as though Payton might snarl at her sister, but her expression turned suddenly thoughtful. “Oh. Yeah, guess I shouldn’t be talking about him that way. Family and all.”
“Daddy’s not really mean,” Kix assured Maggie. “He’s just overprotective. Grammy says that makes him a good father, but she’s overprotective, too.”
“I bet you’d have let me hang out with friends at the lake tonight if it were up to you, wouldn’t you, Maggie?” Payton asked.
“Of course.”
The teen nodded in satisfaction. “I knew it.”
“As long as I was there, too,” Maggie added. “I’d stay back out of the way. Maybe check email and stuff on my phone. But for someone your age out at night with a couple of teenage boys you just met, I’d say you need a discreet chaperone.”
Payton rolled her eyes and fell backward on her bed. “Geez. I can’t believe this.”
Kix frowned at Maggie, who got the distinct feeling that she had just failed a test of some sort. But then the younger girl’s expression cleared. “You’re just trying to make Payton feel better about what Dad said, aren’t you? So she won’t be so mad at him.”
“No, that’s—”
“The burgers are ready,” Paulette called from the foot of the stairs. “You girls ready to eat?”
Paulette seemed to consider Maggie one of the girls, even though she was fourteen years older than Payton. Maybe it was hearing Maggie grouped with her and Kix that made Payton forgive her for agreeing even in part with their dad. “Dad does make really good burgers,” she conceded, climbing to her feet again.
Maggie smiled at her. “Then let’s go get them while they’re hot, shall we?”
After a leisurely dinner, Garrett walked Maggie out to the cart. “I’m glad you could join us. The whole family enjoyed having you.”
She pulled her keys out of her pocket. “I had a nice time, too.”
“The front-desk clerk told me when we checked in that it’s going to be crazy busy around here this week.”
Maggie chuckled. “For the rest of the summer, actually, but especially after Wednesday. A lot of people take a long weekend at the lake for the Fourth of July.”
“I understand there’s quite a celebration being planned here this weekend.”
She nodded. “A fireworks show Thursday evening. A concert in the pavilion Friday evening. Carnival rides and inflatable bouncers in the pavilion area Saturday, with free cotton candy for the kids.”
“That’s a full schedule.”
“Now that we’ve hired Rosie to take over reservations and check-ins, Hannah’s had more time to develop marketing programs. She decided we should expand our traditional Independence Day celebrations. She’s advertised it on social media and our webpage and with some flyers posted in local stores. We’re charging a small admission fee for nonguests to help with the expenses and keep down the crowds a bit. We hope the effort will pay off in future business for the marina and the diner as well as the lodgings and campgrounds. I’ve been a little late getting to the holiday decorations, but I’ll take care of that tomorrow.”
“The weekend sounds like fun. I know the girls will get a kick out of it all.”
“I hope so.” She turned to him when they reached the golf cart. “Thank you for inviting me for dinner, Garrett. I enjoyed it very much.”
“Payton seems to be in a much better mood now.”
Was that really the only reason he’d wanted her to have dinner with them? To entertain his daughters? But then again, why else? She reminded herself that she wasn’t looking to get personally involved with this overtaxed single dad, anyway.
“Well, good night,” she said, putting a hand on top of the cart in preparation for climbing behind the wheel. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the birthday party, if not before.”
She thought his gaze focused momentarily on her lips. Had they been parting after another type of outing—say, the type of date she would never have with him—the evening might well have ended with a kiss. She found her thoughts wandering into forbidden territory as she looked at his firm mouth and imagined how it would feel covering her own. Abruptly clearing her throat, she almost leaped into the golf cart.
“Good night, Garrett,” she blurted again.
She barely gave him a chance to reply before she was buzzing away.
Maggie was so busy Tuesday she didn’t have a chance to eat lunch until after two that afternoon. In addition to her usual responsibilities supervising the cleaning staff, the extra holiday-week business added quite a bit of work. She was training two new employees that week. One was an older, experienced maid; the other, a young woman named Darby Burns, had never worked in housekeeping but seemed very eager to learn.
Later, Maggie spent a couple hours inventorying and ordering supplies. She’d even hung some bunting at the motel. There was no lobby for the sixteen-unit lakeside inn—all the rooms opened to the outside, with a covered breezeway separating the two wings—so she had draped bunting on the concrete walls, adding a cheery pop of red, white and blue for guests on their way to their rooms or the ice maker and vending machines in the breezeway.
Finally taking a break, she left the motel and walked briskly to the main administrative building. Pushing through the double doors, she stepped into the big foyer, her nose twitching in response to the delicious scents of grilled sandwiches and simmering soup-of-the-day wafting from the diner.
The box of decorations and a stepladder still waited for her in the corner behind the desk, but she would resume decorating after she ate. In addition to what she and her staff had done at the motel that morning, her dad and Aaron and their small crew had been working outside, preparing the grounds for the fireworks show, concert and carnival. Her dad would fret all week about any potential damage to his immaculate landscaping.
She turned right to enter the diner. Few people were eating lunch this late in the afternoon, though three older couples probably staying in the RV grounds were chatting over soup at a large back-corner table. Two tanned, middle-aged men in Western boots and hats and faded denim sat at one end of the bar drinking coffee, probably just in from fishing.
Sarah Bell smiled from behind the counter when Maggie entered. “What can I get for you, hon?”
Sliding onto a bar stool at the other end of the counter from the fishing cowboys, Maggie replied, “I’m starving. I’ll take whatever is fast.”
“Chicken corn chowder today.”
“Perfect.”
Moments later, her aunt set a steaming bowl of soup and a square of jalapeño corn bread in front of her. Maggie dug in gratefully. She had eaten about half of her meal when she heard her name squealed from the doorway in a familiar soprano.
“It’s Maggie. Hi, Maggie!”
Swiveling on her stool, Maggie saw Garrett’s entire family entering the diner. Kix was followed by her sister, grandmother and great-grandmother. Garrett brought up the rear.
Wearing denim shorts and a pink T-shirt with pink flip-flops, her bright red hair barely confined to loosening braids, Kix dashed to Maggie’s side. “We went swimming this morning and then we had lunch and then we went for a ride in the boat and it was fun and then I said I wanted to come to the diner and Daddy said okay but I can’t have a milk shake because we’re having cake and ice cream at my party tonight and that’s too much ice cream in one day. But he said I can have a soda and maybe I can get a milk shake some other day while we’re here.”
Maggie was accustomed enough by now to Kix’s breathless, stream-of-consciousness style of conversation to follow along fairly easily. She reached out to give the girl a hug. “Happy birthday, Kix.”
Kix nearly strangled her with her enthusiastic return embrace. “Thanks, Maggie. It’s been the best birthday ever! I’m eleven now. Almost a teenager!”
Garrett gave a heartfelt groan.
“I’m sure my aunt Sarah can arrange for you to have a soda. I recommend the cherry Italian soda. It’s my favorite,” Maggie said with a smile, gently disentangling herself from Kix’s arms.
Sarah agreed cheerily. “Have a seat and I’ll fix you right up.”
Garrett and the girls had been into the diner during summer swimming and boating visits, but this was the first time the older members of his family had joined them at the resort. Maggie wasn’t sure how much that had to do with the long-standing rivalry between her grandmother and Garrett’s.
On Maggie’s recommendation, everyone requested cherry sodas except Garrett, who ordered coffee. They settled at a table near the bar, pulling up an extra chair so Kix and Payton could crowd together on one side. Sarah served glasses of fizzy pink soda topped with dollops of fresh whipped cream and cherries. Garrett chuckled when she slipped him a cherry to accompany his plain black coffee. He bit the candied fruit off the stem, then set the stem aside.
Maggie turned sideways so she could visit with the family while she finished her lunch. She didn’t actually have to stop eating to talk. Hyper with excitement about her special day, Kix rattled on almost without stopping to take sips of her soda. Her upper lip dotted with whipped cream, she told Maggie about the special breakfast they’d had—her favorite cinnamon-apple French toast—and about the wildlife they’d seen during their cruise around the lake. Payton managed to break in a few times to talk, and the older women chatted a bit with Sarah.
Maggie listened to it all, keenly aware of Garrett quietly sipping his coffee while his family talked. It seemed that every time she glanced at him he was looking back at her. Probably just coincidence, but each time she looked away quickly, making an effort to appear casual about it. She was entirely too drawn to him, especially considering he was sitting there with his daughters, two of the primary reasons that nothing was likely to come from her attraction to him. She and Garrett were unlikely ever to be more than casual friends. Which didn’t mean she couldn’t fantasize a little….
“Are you working this afternoon?” Kix asked her a bit too casually. “Daddy said we can’t bother you if you’re working, but if you aren’t, maybe you want to play games with us or something? We brought our tennis rackets and a basketball and a volleyball and some board games for if it rains but it’s really nice today and not rainy at all, so …”
“Kix,” Garrett murmured.
“I know.” She sighed heavily. “Breathe.”
“Right.”
Maggie couldn’t help laughing. “I would love to play with you, Kix, and I promise I’ll try sometime while you’re here, but this afternoon I’m helping decorate the lobby for the festivities this weekend. We’re starting in just a few minutes. I’ll be there this evening for your birthday cake, though.”
Though she’d initially looked disappointed, Kix’s face lit up. “I love to decorate. Can I help? And Payton, too?”
“Kix,” her dad said quickly, “you’d be in the way. Why don’t we shoot some hoops instead?”
“I wouldn’t get in the way,” Kix argued, looking at Maggie with hopeful eyes. “I’d do everything Maggie said and I’d help a lot.”
“They’re both welcome to help decorate if that’s how Kix wants to spend part of her birthday,” Maggie assured Garrett. “I’ll keep a close eye on them if you want to let them stay for a while.”
Kix bounced in excitement. Payton even forgot to look bored. “I like decorating, too,” she said.
Garrett’s mother frowned. “I thought we were all going to spend time together this week.”
Maggie wondered immediately if she’d made a mistake inviting the girls to help her decorate. Their grandmother looked so disapproving that she couldn’t help asking herself if she’d made a gaffe.
Garrett must have sensed her discomfort. He gave her a slight shake of his head, then addressed his mother. “You and Meemaw both said you’d like to take a nap this afternoon before the birthday party. You weren’t expecting the girls to watch you sleep, were you?”
His mother cleared her throat. “Well, no, but I thought you would be doing something with the girls.”
He turned to Kix. “You can help for a little while, if Maggie is sure you won’t be in the way, but I expect you to follow her instructions to the letter. I’m leaving my cell number with her and I want her to call me if there are any problems. I’ll be back to collect you in time for you to wash up and have dinner before the birthday party.”
“Don’t go wandering off,” their grandmother added, still looking anxious. “Stay in the building with Miss Maggie. And don’t be climbing any ladders or handling anything electrical. And—”
“Give it a rest, Paulette,” Esther ordered. “They’ll be fine.”
Garrett drained the last of his coffee and stood. “Come on, let’s get you two down for your naps. And I’m not talking to the kids.”
Maggie bit her lip to prevent a grin, which probably would not be appreciated by his mother. Garrett paid for the beverages, gave Maggie his phone number, reminded his daughters one last time to be good, then ushered the older women toward the door.
They had almost made it out when Maggie’s cousin Shelby and their grandmother entered. Maggie fancied that she could almost feel the tension settle into the room. The two cowboys at the other end of the bar glanced around as if sensing an impending shootout.
Telling herself not to be silly, she shook her head and stood with a bright smile. “Mimi, you remember the McHale family, don’t you? Today is Kix’s eleventh birthday. She and her sister, Payton, are going to help us decorate for a while.”
She congratulated herself on thinking to casually mention Kix’s birthday. Surely the older women could set their differences aside to avoid any unpleasantness on such a happy occasion. Mimi had always been gracious enough to Garrett and the girls on the few times they’d crossed paths, despite their connection to her enemy.
Her ploy worked. Both Mimi and Esther immediately forced their stern mouths into somewhat softer lines.
“Hello, Esther,” Mimi said coolly.
“Dixie,” Esther replied with a curt nod, her tone just as frosty.
“Happy birthday, Kix,” perky blonde Shelby said, characteristic warmth in her smiling blue eyes when she turned to the youngest McHale. “We’re going to have fun decorating. I’m glad you’re joining us.”
Grinning ear to ear, Kix expressed her eagerness to get started. Paulette was still fussing at the girls to be careful when Garrett finally ushered her out.
Mimi shook her head as she watched the trio leave. “That grandmother of yours is a worrywart, isn’t she, girls?”
“Mimi,” Maggie murmured in warning, dragging her attention back to the room. Maybe she’d gotten a bit distracted watching Garrett leave, but now she had to make sure her own tactless grandmother didn’t say anything to distress the girls.
“She’s right, Maggie,” Payton said with a heavy sigh. “Grammy worries about everything. She drives us crazy.”
“Crazy,” Kix echoed with a fervent nod.
“That just means she loves you very much,” Sarah said briskly, silently daring her mother-in-law to continue that particular conversation. “Kix, maybe you’d like to help me put up some decorations here in the dining room? I have some flag decals for the windows and some little flags in vases for the tables and some bunting to hang behind the counter. I can work with you now since there are no customers at the moment.”
Kix looked thrilled to work in the diner. Knowing her aunt would enjoy working with the girl, Maggie led Payton into the foyer to get started in there. She tucked Garrett’s phone number into her pocket before opening the first box.
Chapter Three
With his mother and grandmother napping and his daughters busy decorating, Garrett took advantage of the time alone and the nice weather for a brisk walk around the resort. It was a sunny afternoon but a nice breeze kept it from feeling too hot, and he enjoyed the outing. Usually he ran several miles a day, a way of staying in shape and working out some of his frustrations, but today he settled for walking at a fast clip around the perimeter of the resort, probably a couple miles in total.
Leaving the cabin, he veered right, in the opposite direction from the marina. After entering through the front gate, the main road formed a big rectangle within the resort. It passed the pavilion and playground, then the motel and the first three of the eight detached cabins before leading to the main building housing the diner, store, offices and marina. Next, one would drive past the boat launch and day-use picnic and swimming area, the row of cabins that included the one in which Garrett’s family was staying, and then into the campgrounds. RV pads with water and electricity lay along the lakeside and lined the two smaller roads that bisected the resort. Wooded tent-camping grounds were located in the center of the compound, still within view of the glittering water.
Even on this weekday the lake was filled with boaters, skiers, personal watercraft and swimmers. He spotted one distant sailboat, its sails white against the blue sky. The campgrounds weren’t yet full, but he passed quite a few elaborate RVs with hydraulic extensions and awnings and smaller vehicles that had been pulled behind with tow bars. Some had maybe stopped for a night or two on their way to the Gulf coast, he figured, noting license tags from Oklahoma, Nebraska and Arkansas. Others were perhaps regulars who came to fish and visit with camping friends and otherwise escape the daily grind.
A young couple on bicycles, the man with a toddler in a seat on the back of his bike, passed in the other direction, exchanging waves and casual greetings with Garrett. A large, barrel-chested man walking a Chihuahua on a sparkly leash tipped his ten-gallon hat when he and Garrett crossed paths. “How’s it going?”
“Good, thanks,” Garrett answered. “You?”
“Ridin’ high, thankee. Here for some fishing?”
Having been raised in Texas, Garrett was accustomed to garrulous strangers striking up conversation. “Here with my kids for the week.”
“Well, ain’t that nice. You have a good ‘un.”
“Same to you.”
“Let’s go, Prissy,” the big man said to his wandering little dog, giving a slight tug on the leash.
Smiling, Garrett continued on his way.
Looping around the end of the resort, he started up the other side toward the marina. The tent grounds were on his left now, woods on his right. On the other side of those trees, accessed by a private drive, were the homes of the Bell family. He’d never been into the private compound, but Maggie had once mentioned that three houses and four manufactured homes housed the various family members who worked in the resort. One of the mobile homes belonged to Hannah, who used it when she and her husband and baby were here. The others belonged to Maggie and Shelby and Steven, who’d held on to his place here even though he was pursuing career goals elsewhere.
Not for the first time, he wondered what it had been like for Maggie growing up here, and whether she had any professional goals beyond working for the resort for the rest of her life. Not that he considered that an unworthy ambition in itself. He was simply curious about her. Very curious.
Just as he reached the Private Drive sign, a heavy-duty green utility cart paused at the end of the drive. He nodded when he recognized Aaron Walker in the driver’s seat. He’d met Aaron a couple of times and he seemed like a decent guy.
Dark-haired, dark-eyed Aaron leaned out of the cart to shake Garrett’s hand. “Nice to see you,” he said. “Enjoying your stay?”
“Very much, thanks. We took the boat out for a while earlier. The girls saw a couple of herons and egrets and a raccoon at the edge of the water. Kix especially loves seeing wildlife.”
“Go out early and you’re likely to see some deer in the coves.”
“I’ll take her out tomorrow morning. Maybe fish a little.”
They dawdled a few more minutes, talking about the most likely nearby spots for Kix to catch a fish, then Aaron had to move on. He and Bryan were stringing red, white and blue lights on the pavilion this afternoon, he explained. The back of the cart was filled with supplies he’d brought from storage. “You need a lift?”
Garrett shook his head. “Thanks, but I’m enjoying the walk.”
Aaron pulled his green resort cap down on his forehead. “See you around.”
Garrett waited until the cart buzzed away before walking on. He figured he might as well go straight to the main building and get the girls. It had been almost two hours since he’d left them, and Maggie was probably ready to get them out of her hair.
He knew his girls would get a kick out of the upcoming festivities. They’d been in surprisingly cheerful moods so far today, despite Payton’s inability to resist the occasional dig at his excessive rules—in her opinion. Maybe Kix’s idea of a family retreat, while unexpected, had been a good one after all. He had to admit there had been too much tension in his house lately as the girls had rebelled in their own ways against his stricter expectations than they’d had with their mother. The methods he’d used as an air force major to supervise young airmen didn’t seem to work nearly as well with a couple of adolescent daughters.
Stepping through the entry door, he saw that the lobby was already transformed from when he’d left. Flags and bunting festooned nearly every surface. Payton and Kix, assisted by Shelby, seemed to be looking for places to add even more. Maggie’s mom stood in the doorway of the store, watching the activities with a smile while keeping an eye on the few customers browsing among her shelves. Patriotic decals clung to the glass walls of the diner and store. Through the decorated glass he could see that business was picking up as the early dinner crowd shuffled in.
He didn’t see Maggie at first. And then he spotted her behind the counter, precariously balanced on a stepladder as she stretched up to place one last bunting rosette high on the wall. Shaking his head, he moved to steady the ladder, wondering why no one else had thought to do so. She smiled down at him. “Your cheeks are flushed.”
“I’ve been walking. The wind is picking up a bit.”
He stood eye level with her breasts, something he was trying hard to ignore. Being the healthy male that he was, he wasn’t doing a particularly good job of it. They were so nicely outlined by her purple wrap top. He kept his eyes focused upward on her face instead—which wasn’t exactly a hardship. “You’ve gotten a lot done since I left.”
She straightened the rosette in the bare space she’d been trying to fill. “We’ve had some good helpers. The girls worked very hard.”
That didn’t surprise him. Once his daughters became enthused about something, they gave it their all. Maggie started down the ladder and he put a hand on the small of her back to steady her. It was an automatic gesture he made without thinking. Yet when he felt the warmth of her through her clothing, felt the curve of her spine beneath his hand, felt the ripple of muscle when she climbed down, his entire body reacted with a surge of awareness that caught him off guard. He dropped his hand almost too abruptly, stepping back quickly out of her way.
“Too bad we don’t hang mistletoe for Independence Day,” Kix said, wide-eyed and innocent as she gazed at them. “It’s fun hanging mistletoe at Christmastime, right?”
Garrett raised an eyebrow. Surely his daughter wasn’t suggesting he should kiss Maggie?
Maggie chuckled. “I don’t think we want to deal with mistletoe year-round, Kix. My grandfather would try to hang out here in the lobby and kiss all the pretty girls who come in.”
Shelby laughed musically. “You’ve got that right. Pop does like to flirt.”
Payton and Kix stood in the center of the lobby to look around critically. “Does it look good, Maggie?” Payton asked. “Miss Linda, do you see any empty places?”
Maggie and her mother made a show of studying the room from every angle, tilting their heads and narrowing their eyes. Both declared it to be perfect, an opinion solemnly endorsed by Shelby and Rosie.
“This must be the most patriotic resort lobby in all of Texas,” Maggie added, reaching for the two big boxes that had held decorations.
“Let me help you with those,” Garrett offered.
Maggie smiled at him over the armload. “I’m just taking them upstairs to the storage room.”
He relieved her of the stack without giving her a chance to protest. Shrugging, she turned and led the way upstairs.
It was the first time Garrett had been upstairs in the big building. He noted the tidy office spaces, the well-organized storage rooms filled with supplies and seasonal decorations and the sweeping view of the marina and the lake from big back windows. There was very little clutter and no dust that he could see; he’d bet Maggie was the one responsible for that. Cabin six had been immaculate when he and his family had settled in, and he’d once overheard two Sunday-morning resort guests agree that the motel was one of the cleanest lodgings they’d ever patronized. He suspected she supervised her staff closely but fairly. He already knew she didn’t shy away from hard work herself—just one more thing he found to admire about Maggie Bell.
His daughters were still admiring their handiwork when he and Maggie rejoined them downstairs a few minutes later. “Isn’t it beautiful, Daddy?” Kix breathed, spinning in a circle in the gaily bedecked lobby.
He smoothed the flyaway red hair she’d inherited from her mother’s family. “Yes, it is. Great job.”
“We had fun.”
“I’m sure you did. Maybe you should thank Maggie for letting you help.”
“We’re the ones in their debt,” Linda replied with a smile, coming out of the store. “They worked very hard. And to show our appreciation …”
She handed each of the girls a reusable green market bag emblazoned with the resort’s bell-shaped logo. “Here’s a souvenir water bottle for each of you. And Kix, because it’s your birthday I added a little something extra for you.”
Kix squealed in pleasure when she drew a little stuffed toy from the bag. The smiling, six-inch stuffed raccoon wore a green resort-logo T-shirt. Garrett felt a moment of gratitude that his little girl was still young enough to appreciate a toy. His daughters were growing up much too fast.
“I love him,” Kix said, hugging the raccoon. “I’m going to name him Belly after the resort. Thank you, Miss Linda.”
Maggie’s mom hugged Kix, wished her happy birthday again, then moved back into the store to relieve her mother-in-law at the register.
“That was very generous of her,” Garrett murmured to Maggie.
Maggie smiled. “Mom loves kids. She’s already started spoiling my niece terribly.”
He glanced at his watch. “We’d better head back to the cabin, girls. We have things to do there before the party.”
This would be Kix’s second birthday party. He and his mother had hosted a group of her friends at a local pizza parlor Saturday afternoon. His head had hurt for an hour after that giggle-fest. It hadn’t helped that one of Kix’s friends had a single mom who’d stayed for the party and determinedly hit on him at every opportunity. He hadn’t let it go to his ego; she’d flirted just as enthusiastically with the good-looking waiter. Garrett thought she’d have left the restaurant with whichever one responded first to her overtures, her daughter’s presence notwithstanding. While he would never punish a child for her mother’s behavior, he had made a mental note never to let Kix visit that particular friend at the girl’s home. They could meet at his or his mother’s house instead.
No one would be flirting with him at tonight’s party. Not that he’d mind so much this time, he thought, watching Maggie as she thanked the girls for their help and assured them she would see them later for cake. A guy could fantasize, right?
Maggie thought about walking from her mobile home to the cabin for the birthday party, but she was a little tired from her busy day. She decided to take a golf cart again instead. There were always carts around for the family’s use.
She’d showered and changed out of her work clothes for the party, dressing in slim jeans, heeled sandals and a drape-neck sleeveless red top. She wore her favorite earrings, tricolored metal dangles that her sister had given her. Climbing into the cart, she set her gift for the party on the seat beside her. She hoped Kix would like it.
It was just before seven when she stopped in front of cabin six. She was a bit surprised to see a couple of extra cars in the driveway. Having heard about the prior party, she’d thought this one was just for the family. She carried the brightly wrapped gift to the door, which opened before she had a chance to knock. Kix must have been watching for her. “Hi, Maggie! Come in.”
She couldn’t help laughing in response to the enthusiastic greeting—as if they hadn’t just parted a couple hours earlier. “Hi, Kix. Happy birthday yet again.”
Kix giggled. “Thank you yet again.”
Tugged inside by the girl, Maggie noted that a few balloons and streamers had been scattered around the main room and a cake with pink frosting and eleven as-yet unlit candles sat in the center of the bar. Esther sat in the armchair with the view of the lake while Paulette bustled around in the kitchen, chatting with another woman of about her own age. She spotted Garrett through the glass doors, standing outside on the deck talking to two other men. The lowering sun cast intriguing shadows across his face, and her heart fluttered in instinctive reaction.
His eyes met hers through the glass and she saw him say something to his companions before reaching to open the door. The three men entered just as Paulette noticed Maggie’s presence. She hurried to greet her.
“Kix, why didn’t you tell us Maggie’s here? Come on in, Maggie, and meet our guests. You know Reverend Bettencourt, of course. And this is my husband’s sister, Coralee, and her husband, Mickey Lovett. They’re here this evening to celebrate Kix’s birthday with us.”
Maggie shook hands with the older couple, then exchanged warm greetings with Jay, all the while aware of Garrett standing nearby watching her.
Paulette wanted to get the party started immediately. She snapped photos with a little digital camera when Garrett lit the candles and everyone gathered around the cake to sing the “Happy Birthday” song. Kix blew out the tiny flames with a big gust of breath, earning a round of applause. She responded with a giggle and a bow. “May I open my presents before we eat the cake?” she asked eagerly, waving toward a small, colorful pile of packages.
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