Second Chance Dad

The dog, maybe. Heart pounding, she stared into Vince’s intense blue eyes and something inside her flipped. Hormones surging into high gear, she eased away from him. She wasn’t sure whether to be more fearful of man or beast.

Vince retained his grasp on the dog’s collar. “Come on, Boo. Let the lady settle in before you slobber all over her.”

“I…uh.” Eyeing the dog, she stood in the center of the living room and prayed for her voice to return. She didn’t even trust dogs behind fences, and this one was too close and too big. “I came to apologize to Mackenzie for jumping on her today.”

Vince turned the dog loose. “Lie down, Boo.”

Obediently, the dog walked a couple of feet away and stretched out in front of the rustic stone fireplace. But his ears remained perked, and his black eyes focused on Hanna as if waiting for Vince to leave the room so he could pounce.

“Kenzie is at my in-laws’ house for dinner.”

“Oh.” She was alone with Vince Keegan. On his turf! This had been a bad idea to begin with. “I’m sorry for not calling first. I just thought…” Trying not to look at the dog in case he might interpret that as an invitation to come closer, and avoiding Vince’s gaze because, well, just because, Hanna scanned her surroundings. Framed family photos on the mantel, including a family shot of Vince with one hand resting on the shoulder of a small brown-haired boy as they posed beside a woman holding a lacy pink bundle of frills and blond curls.

Quickly looking away, Hanna focused on a soft beige leather sectional sofa. A large wooden coffee table with drawers and shelves under it, scattered with books, magazines and a crystal vase of silk daisies. A white king lay on its side in the center of a chessboard along with various other pieces and the rest off to the side. “You play chess?”

Vince narrowed his eyes. “Surprised?”

She adjusted her purse on her shoulder and clasped her hands together, not sure what to do with them. “Oh, no. I mean, my father played chess.”

“Would you like to sit down? We could discuss the kids and figure out how not to be at each other’s throats.”

Sit? Okay. Sitting was good. She eased down on the end cushion of the sofa and placed her purse on the wood floor.

“Coffee is made or I have iced tea.”

Boo stood and she held her breath. Vince could not leave her alone in this room with that animal. “No, nothing for me. I can’t stay but a minute. I left Ashton doing his homework and my mom cleaning the kitchen. I have to get back soon and make sure Ashton brushes his teeth and gets his bath. His bedtime is nine o’clock.” She clamped her mouth shut in an attempt to stop babbling.

Vince shoved the chessboard and vase of daisies aside and sat on the edge of the coffee table, only a foot from her face, his knee bumping hers. Breathe, Hanna, breathe. Deep dimples bracketed his full lips. “So my daughter isn’t the only one in the family who makes you jumpy?”

The room closed in on her. The man was hogging all the oxygen. “I don’t like dogs.”

His dimples deepened as he rested his elbows on his knees and leaned closer. “I wasn’t talking about Boo.”

Instinctively she started to lean back from his nearness, but caught herself and held her ground. She gulped at his muscled forearms and large hands. “Look, Mr. Keegan…”

“Vince.”

“I…we need to come to an understanding about Mackenzie and Ashton. I am glad he has a friend, but I insist on maintaining more control over what he does. I can’t risk him getting hurt.”

“He’s going into middle school next year. If your goal is to keep him safe and out of fistfights, I’m not sure overprotecting him is going to work in your favor.”

“I can see the wisdom in that. But I do not condone fighting.”

“Me neither, unless the other kid throws the first punch. In which case, Kenzie will defend herself.”

Hanna twisted her hands in her lap. “She should tell a teacher.”

“And then the kid would pick on her the next day and the next because he’ll take her as weak, looking for someone else to fight her battles.” Vince’s eyes narrowed. “Give Ashton a chance to fit in. To be like the other kids. He might come out with a black eye or busted lip, but that’ll heal and his self-esteem will be stronger for having not backed down.”

The intense raw masculine aura that surrounded Vince Keegan consumed her. She pictured Ashton earlier, sitting in the living room, so alone and desperate for a friend. He could benefit from some of this man’s confidence. But too much physical activity caused his asthma to flare up. Richard might lack the down-to-earth, take-care-of-himself attitude Vince had, but he made up for it in polished courtroom expertise. If he learned about yesterday’s fight, he’d have one more reason to yank Ashton out of school and re-enroll him in the private school in Dallas.

Hoping to keep Vince from noticing her shaking hands, Hanna stuck them beneath her thighs, sandwiching them between the cushions. “How about this? I’ll loosen up on Ashton if you’ll meet me halfway and make Mackenzie understand that Ashton has to ask permission before trying new things.”

“Okay, and about the bike.” Vince took a deep breath. “I realize you don’t want me or anyone telling you how to raise your son. But Kenzie said Billy Baer and his group of misfits always wait for Ashton after school and torment him. Riding home with Kenzie saves him from getting into a fight.”

Hanna closed her eyes. “Why wouldn’t he tell me something like that?”

“Because he’s trying his damnedest not to be a sissy! Not to run to his mommy to solve all his problems.”

“Maybe I’ll ask Mom to pick him up on days I can’t.”

“Oh yeah, his nana picking him up in a blue Chevy sedan every day is going to make him not look like a sissy. There’s just a couple of blocks between Bluebonnet Books and the school. Give him some space to handle this himself.”

“I want him to fit in, have friends. I guess as long as they’re only on neighborhood streets and come straight home. I certainly don’t want Billy Baer tormenting him.”

“Fair enough.” He grinned. “Now that we’ve resolved that, do you want to talk about what it is about me that makes you so skittish?”

Chapter Four

Hanna broke down a box and tossed it onto the growing stack, turning as the bell over the door clanged. A lady in jeans and a loose white blouse entered the shop, closely followed by an uncharacteristically docile Mackenzie.

The woman ran her hand through her short salt-and-pepper hair, actually more salt-and-cinnamon, and adjusted her enormous hobo-style purse on her arm. She was probably one of those perpetually prepared women who could produce anything from that monster purse from a wet wipe to a Swiss Army knife.

Eyeing Hanna, she extended her hand. “You must be Hanna Rosser.”

Hanna smiled and shook her hand. Tiny brown freckles dotted every exposed inch of the woman.

“I’m Claire Maguire, Kenzie’s grandmother.” She turned to Mackenzie. “Don’t you have something to say to Ms. Rosser?”

One corner of Mackenzie’s mouth turned up, but the other maintained her scowl. “I won’t make Ashton do anything without asking your permission first.”

Claire cleared her throat and arched an eyebrow.

Mackenzie yanked off her pink cap and twisted it. “I’m sorry.”

The apology was obviously coerced, but it was a start. Hanna extended her hand. “Apology accepted. And I apologize for getting so angry yesterday. Can we start fresh?”

Again Mackenzie shrugged. “Okay.”

Claire patted Mackenzie’s shoulder. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“I guess not.” She looked around the store. “Is Ash here?”

Ash? Nobody had ever called her son that. “He’s at home with his nana doing his homework.”

“While it’s still light out?”

Hanna raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, why waste time indoors when everyone else is playing? I do my homework after dinner.” Mackenzie looked at her grandmother. “I mean, that way Daddy is home to help.” She grinned as if proud of her conjured-up excuse. “Can I wait outside now?”

Claire nodded, and Mackenzie dashed for the door, adjusting her pink cap back into place.

“Vince seldom has to help Mackenzie with her homework,” Claire said with a grin. “He dotes on her, but she’s a smart girl.”

“I’m sure she is, a tad precocious maybe, but I can see the intelligence.”

“Sharp like her daddy and book-smart like her mom. She whizzes through school with very little effort and maintains As and Bs.” Claire picked up a copy of Charlotte’s Web and thumbed through it. “Vince is a good son. I’m not sure how I’d have survived without him and Kenzie in our lives.”

Son? Vince was her son-in-law. The woman’s daughter had been gone nine years. Hanna wasn’t sure what to say. “I was sorry to hear about Belinda.”

“Thank you. Do you remember her?”

“We were only a year apart in high school. She was a sweet girl.”

“Her family was the world to her.” Claire swiped her hand across her freckled cheek. “I’d better get Kenzie home. Vince insisted she come by and apologize.”

Really? “I want Mackenzie and Ashton to be friends. It’s just that Vince and I have very different parenting styles.”

“Vince is an excellent father.”

Being his daughter’s best buddy didn’t qualify him as an excellent dad, but Hanna did envy the close relationship he had with Mackenzie. Richard had always been too busy earning a living to have time to bond with Ashton.

“I’m sure he is, but—” Hanna caught herself. “We just have different approaches.”

POSSIBLY BECAUSE THE KIDS were in ISS, the rest of the week progressed without serious incident. Each afternoon when Hanna picked Ashton up at school, he had some story about Mackenzie’s escapades, escapades that typically involved him.

Friday afternoon was no different, except they had to drive two hours to Waco to meet Richard so Ashton could spend the weekend with his father.

Ashton tossed his backpack on the floorboard and buckled his seat belt. “You should have been at school today, Mom. The teacher left the library to go to the restroom and Billy started being a jerk, called me a nerd, and then Kenzie called him a scum reptile. I thought they were going to get into it, but Kenzie didn’t want to get expelled so she ripped a sheet of notebook paper out of her binder, wadded it up and threw it at him instead. World War Three broke out and we were winning, but then she saw Ms. James coming.”

Geez. “Ashton.”

He laughed. “Dumb Bully Baer was so busy pummeling us with paper wads that he didn’t notice we’d stopped. So it looked like it’d snowed around our table when Ms. James came in, and paper was just flying one way so Bully Baer got in trouble, not us. And the best part was that he was really ticked that he’d wadded up his report and threw it, too, so when he was picking up the paper he had to unwad each one to find his report, then he had to copy it over.”

The tendons in Hanna’s neck threatened to snap. “Not getting caught is not the same as not misbehaving. You two were just as guilty.”

Ashton huffed and glared at her. “Mom, you are so lame. You’re never fun.”

“There are many ways to have fun without misbehaving.” Well, okay, that did sound lame. “Have you made any other new friends besides Mackenzie?”

Ashton let out a deep, exasperated breath. “Bully Baer, does he count? Why do you hate Kenzie? She’s cool.”

Mischievous and undisciplined was now cool? Following basic classroom rules and good behavior was lame? She’d hoped Ashton would avoid buying into the whole rebellious game. And he had, until he’d moved to Marble Falls. “I just think that next week when you’re out of ISS, you might meet some other nice kids to hang around with. It’s good to have more than one friend.”

“Kenzie is the only one I have since you made me move to dumb Marble Falls.” Ashton flipped down the DVD screen and snapped his headphones on. “Let me know when we get there.”

Great. The first weekend Ashton was spending with Richard in Dallas and the boy was going to leave angry at her. Just peachy. Wonderful start to an already stressful weekend.

Hanna drove in silence while Ashton sat in the backseat, headphones isolating him from further conversation. He laughed at the movie, but didn’t even acknowledge her. Waco was approximately halfway between Marble Falls and Dallas and where she’d arranged to meet Richard. This was the first time Ashton would be so far away from her since the divorce. What if he had an asthma attack? Would Richard know what to do? She wouldn’t relax until she had Ashton back with her.

Richard’s silver Lexus sat in the McDonald’s parking lot, but he wasn’t alone. That college student who had broken up Hanna’s marriage sat in the passenger seat, her hair twisted and stuck to the back of her head with one of those huge finger clips, blond sprigs sprouting out at odd angles. She stared straight ahead and avoided looking at Hanna. Good! The little home wrecker should feel guilty.

Hanna gulped as Richard opened his door and came around to collect Ashton’s suitcase. As always, Richard was dressed to the height of style. Gray slacks she’d bought him last Christmas and a white button-down. Both starched and pressed, courtesy of the Highland Park Cleaners. Short brown hair freshly trimmed every third Tuesday at five-thirty. Every detail attended to.

This whole situation was surreal. What had happened to their family? How had they gotten to this point? She glanced at the little blonde in the front seat. Hanna’s stomach threatened her with nausea. Suddenly this girl had Hanna’s family and Hanna was the outsider.

At least Hanna had primary custody. For now. She could take Ashton anywhere in Texas as long as she contributed half the expense of his transportation for designated visits with his dad.

But what if Richard didn’t bring Ashton back Sunday afternoon as agreed upon? When she’d announced her intention to move home to Marble Falls to be close to her mother, Richard had insisted that Ashton would be better off remaining in Dallas with him. He’d argued that the divorce had been hard enough on their son and it would only make it harder if they uprooted him from the home and school he was accustomed to.

What if Ashton decided he missed Dallas and didn’t want to come back to Marble Falls? Especially given that Hanna didn’t seem to be at the top of his favorite-person list at the moment. In a couple of weeks, Ashton would be twelve and the judge would probably go along with his wishes.

Engulfing Ashton’s slender shoulders in a tight hug, she breathed in his playground scent and forced back her tears. “You have fun with Daddy, and I’ll see you Sunday. Do you have your inhaler?”

Rolling his eyes, he dug the tube out of his pocket and held it up as proof. “I have it, Mom.”

She managed a cheery smile and prayed it reached her voice. “I love you.”

“See you in two days.” Ashton gave her a quick squeeze then crawled into the backseat of the Lexus and switched on his Game Boy. Was he trying not to cry, too, or was he just angry? Was this what they had to look forward to every other week for the next six years? A hundred and fifty more weekends!

Richard closed the car door and turned to Hanna. “Don’t look like I’m torturing you. You just can’t let him go without making him feel guilty for leaving you, can you?”

Her jaw dropped, but Richard only smirked. “You aren’t totally innocent in all this, you know.”

Snapping her mouth closed, she glared at him. “You’re blaming me? I honored my vows, fulfilled my duties, took care of the home and family, remember?” She took a deep breath. “Ashton has an extra inhaler in his bag and the doctor’s info is on a card in the side pocket just in case.”

“I’m still his father, Hanna. He’ll be fine.”

She crawled back into her car and slammed the door before he could notice her shaking. Maybe their marriage hadn’t been the most passionate, but she wasn’t the one who’d strayed, and she’d be damned if she’d take the blame.

The Lexus purred to life, and Hanna waited to start her own car until Richard had pulled out of the lot and out of sight. She stared up at the giant yellow M and blinked back tears. Families and small kids inside the window gorged on chicken nuggets slathered in ketchup while others climbed in and out of the colorful playground tubes. Okay, so Ashton was too old to enjoy crawling through tubes, but he still liked McDonald’s burgers.

At the thought of food, her stomach growled and she swiped the tears out of her eyes, took her sunglasses off the top of her head and put them on. Nostalgia wasn’t going to buy her anything tonight. She started the car and pulled into the drive-through lane behind a dirty white pickup with ladders sticking out of the bed. A person had to eat and who wouldn’t feel better after a bag of hot, salty fries?

On the drive home, she tried to think about anything rather than the fact that for every mile she drove one direction, Richard was driving one in the other and Ashton was two miles farther from her.

This was insane! Ashton was almost twelve years old and he’d been away from her before. Summer band camp. Weeks with his grandparents. But never a weekend with that other woman while Hanna was over two hundred miles away. It made Hanna’s blood boil to think about that home-wrecking co-ed taking care of her child. It wasn’t insulting enough that she’d stolen Hanna’s husband, now she had her son. And the three of them would spend the weekend in Hanna’s house! The Highland Park house she’d loved and spent years and a fortune remodeling and decorating.

Bluebonnet Books. Grand opening Monday. Think about all the things that had to be done this weekend. She needed this time to take care of all the final details. Ashton would be fine. It wasn’t as if he was a baby. He was perfectly capable of making himself a sandwich even if the woman was helpless. And he’d be comfortable in his old room.

Books. Coffee. Pastries. Her life was certainly in a big mess, maybe the bookstore could be successful enough to take her mind off the fiasco Richard had made of all their lives. Other than an occasional call from her friend Tiffany, there was nothing left of her life in Highland Park.

SLEEP AT LEAST WAS SOUND once Hanna got home. She woke up early Saturday morning ready to plow into all the last-minute details at Bluebonnet Books. If she kept busy, maybe she wouldn’t think about that girl in her house with her husband and son.

She left a note for her mother, who was still snoring like the little engine that could in the next bedroom, and walked to the bookstore. A late-April chill filled the air as the sun crept over the trees, turning the sky to pink and orange. Today Hanna was relieved her mother wasn’t an early riser. She relished the sanity time.

By nine-thirty, when her mother strolled through the front door, cell phone to her ear, the rich aroma of coffee filled Bluebonnet Books. Hanna had arranged copies of the latest magazines on the front rack. She quickly replaced the entertainment magazine she’d been thumbing through.

Norma Creed’s eagle eyes glanced at that exact spot in the display. She put her hand over the phone. “I can’t believe you’re planning to sell those gossip rags in our wonderful community bookstore. They’re nothing but trash.”

Hanna fought to keep a straight face, at least until her mother talked her way to the back office to stow her purse. Norma was the ringleader of the town gossip grapevine. The woman knew everyone’s little secrets and, although she professed to hate gossips, delighted in sharing whatever she knew with anybody she ran across. That was just one of the reasons Hanna had taken the first road out of Marble Falls as soon as her high-school diploma was in her hand. Thanks to good grades and a college fund, she’d headed for SMU and a degree in English and never looked back.

So much for her great escape.

Her mother’s cell phone rang again as she reentered the room. Hanna listened to a five-minute ramble about some poor woman whose husband was evidently having trouble making babies. It seemed that the only change in the grapevine in the fifteen years Hanna had been absent was that it had become turbo-charged thanks to cell phones.

Norma hung up, poured herself a cup of coffee and selected a Danish from the small box Hanna had picked up on the way in. “So, have you heard from Ashton this morning?”

Thanks, Mom. I really needed to be reminded. “Ashton is fine. He has my cell number if he needs anything.”

“I was just concerned, as I know you are. How was Richard? Did you two talk?”

“Richard had his new girlfriend with him. I wasn’t in the mood to stand around a parking lot and chat.” Hanna picked up the empty boxes and toted them to the back. It was going to be a long day.

About the time Norma settled into organizing the tourism and travel section and Hanna thought she might get a moment of peace, who should pull up to the curb on her red bike and slink into the store but Mackenzie Keegan. Helmet in hand, she spotted Hanna. “I was just wondering if Ash is around.”

Hanna stood and stretched. “Good morning, Mackenzie. Ashton is spending the weekend with his father. He won’t be home until late tomorrow evening.”

Shrugging, Mackenzie selected a comic book off the shelf and studied the front cover. “I knew that. But I thought maybe he’d come home early.” Mackenzie placed the comic book precisely where she’d picked it up, even straightening the arrangement. “Yeah, well, he wasn’t too thrilled with going so I just figured he might’ve gotten out of it.”

Sudden warmth bubbled up inside Hanna. “Dallas is four hours away. Unless something unforeseen happens, he’ll spend the entire weekend. But just for the record, I wasn’t too happy he left either. I miss him.”

Mackenzie jabbed the helmet on her head and buckled the strap. “I figured. So, just tell him to call my cell if he gets back early.”

Hanna’s day brightened. Not that she wanted to deprive Ashton of time with his father, but it was certainly a boost to know he hadn’t been eager to go. She poured another cup of coffee and hummed as she arranged the children’s section to accommodate the little wooden table and benches that had arrived.

She opened an adorable book of bedtime stories and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” chimed from one of those tiny embedded music boxes. Putting thoughts of Ashton out of her mind, she snapped the book shut just as the bell on the front door clanged again. She hoped they’d have this many patrons next week when the store actually opened.

“May I help you?” she asked, standing up from behind the low bookshelf and coming nose to shoulder with Vince Keegan’s Henley T-shirt.

His blue eyes twinkled as he noted the tiny children’s book in her hand. “Kenzie said she stopped by. I wanted to make sure she was on good behavior.”

Hanna carefully placed the book back on the shelf and gave her heart a second to stop fluttering. Why did she let his presence do that to her? “She did stop by. Looked bored.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Now there’s a dangerous combination. Kenzie and boredom.”

“The town should be put on alert, I’m sure.”

Hanna was still grinning as Norma came out of the back room, wiping her hands down the front of her navy knit slacks and leaving streaks of dust. “Did I hear someone come in?”

“Good morning, Norma.” Vince twisted his cap in his hands and turned back to Hanna. “Kenzie tells me Ashton’s in Dallas this weekend. I thought maybe I could persuade you to join me for lunch at the Falls Diner.”

To discuss the kids? Hanna blinked. Lunch with a friend? Lunch as a—gulp—date? He didn’t elaborate. Just lunch.

Remembering the scene the other night at his house when Vince’s knees bumped hers still made her break out in a sweat.

Although her feminine ego was pleased by his invitation, she just wasn’t ready. Her heart still felt numb toward anything that remotely resembled romance. Besides, half the town gathered at the Falls Diner every day for lunch.