Mistletoe Daddy

Her dreams hadn’t been overly realistic, she realized, but she wasn’t going to admit that. Not to Nick. It was just a slight hiccup in the big scheme of things. She wasn’t going to let that stop her.

“I’m not afraid of a little hard work.”

He leaned back on his hands and raised an eyebrow. “You know anything about carpentry?”

She shook her head. “Well, no. Not really. But I’m sure I can measure wood and hammer a nail as well as the next woman. And I’m a fast learner. Besides, that’s why I brought you in. Or bought you in.” She giggled at her own joke.

He snorted and rolled his eyes.

“I asked around town who might know a little bit about carpentry and your name came up once or twice. That’s why you were on my short list.”

“Well, that explains it, then,” he remarked cryptically.

“Explains what?”

He shrugged. “I was just wondering why you bid on me. Now I know. And you’re right. I know how to help you out. After my dad got sick, I remodeled my mom’s ranch house, where all three of us boys were raised. It gave me something positive to do with my anxiety and grief. And once I was done with that, I built cabins for Jax and me from the ground up.”

“See, I was right about you. An amateur expert. Or is that an expert amateur?” Vivian smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. With the way Nick had been hedging, for a moment there she thought maybe his skills had been overrated. She really did need someone who knew what he was doing, and Nick was that man.

He didn’t look convinced.

Why didn’t he look convinced?

He’d just told her he’d made a bunch of stuff, some buildings from the ground up. Remodeling her shop would be a piece of pie next to that. Surely he wasn’t second-guessing himself?

She stared at him a moment longer and then he shifted his gaze away from her and went foraging into the picnic basket as if it were a bottomless well of food.

He couldn’t possibly still be hungry. He’d eaten—

Oh.

The lightbulb in her brain flipped on at the very same moment she took a sucker punch to her gut. He was avoiding eye contact while he tried to think of how to phrase the bad news.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t build stuff. He just didn’t want to build stuff for her.

He might as well have taken a baseball bat to her fragile self-esteem. With the help of a therapist she was slowly crawling out of the tortuous abyss of being engaged to a verbally and emotionally abusive man. Derrick had fooled a lot of people with his public persona. His former best friend, Griff. Alexis.

And Viv most of all.

With Derrick, she’d always believed she wasn’t good enough for him. She’d tried to change to please him, to be what he wanted her to be, until she didn’t even recognize the woman in the mirror. But no matter what she did or didn’t do, it was never good enough for him. And when she’d discovered she was pregnant—

No. She wasn’t going to go there. Not right now. Derrick wasn’t the man she had to deal with right now—Nick was. He may not be the kindest or most tactful man, but she knew he was a good, decent person. He wouldn’t attack her deliberately. If anything, he probably thought he was helping her by pointing out the flaws in her plan. He didn’t know how much it hurt her to hear her ideas—her dreams, her hopes for the future—put down again. But no matter. If Nick didn’t want to help her, he just had to say so. If he was having second thoughts about doing the work, she’d even give him the out he needed, since he hadn’t made the most of the first one she’d offered.

“Just forget about it.”

His head jerked up. “What did you say?”

“I said forget about it. You don’t have to give me a hand with my remodel if you don’t want to. I’ll find someone else. Worst-case scenario I’ll have to hire a contractor. No big deal.”

“But the money for the auction—”

“—went to a good cause. No hard feelings.”

She didn’t want to be here at the auction anymore, hanging out on the community green with most of the rest of the population of Serendipity. She didn’t want to sit across from Nick acting like everything was okay when it wasn’t. She was tired of pretending.

She reached for the empty sandwich wrappers, stuffed them into the picnic basket and then slammed the lid closed. As closed as her heart felt right then.

She wasn’t lying when she said she would make it. Somehow, some way, she would. With or without Nick McKenna’s help. She shoved her hand forward, ready to shake his and be done with all of this.

Be done with him.

He frowned and stared at her palm as if it were an overgrown thornbush.

“Now, wait a minute,” he said in a gentler tone of voice. Instead of shaking her hand, he laid his large palm over hers and held it. “Don’t jump to conclusions. I never said I wasn’t going to help you.”

She sighed. “You didn’t have to say it out loud. It’s written all over your face, not to mention in your attitude. I know you think I’m a dumb blonde who couldn’t find her way out of a plastic bag, but even I can take a hint.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Paper sack.”

“What?”

He just smiled and shook his head. “I’m thick as a tree trunk sometimes. And I know exactly what my mama would say about that kind of stubbornness.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?” She couldn’t help it. She was intrigued.

He twisted his free arm behind his back as if someone in authority were holding it there.

“She’d say,” he responded with a grin, “that I need an attitude adjustment.” He paused and flashed her a truly genuine smile. “And you know what, Viv?”

“What?” Despite everything, his smile lightened her mood. Maybe because he only smiled when he meant it.

“My mom would be right.”

He snorted and shook his head. “And, Viv? I don’t like to hear you beat yourself up. I don’t think you’re dumb—and you shouldn’t let anyone else tell you that, either. Besides, I don’t let anyone talk about me that way, and we’re in this project together now.” This time, he held out his hand, and she couldn’t help grinning back as she gave it a shake.

* * *

Two weeks following the Saturday of the auction found Nick standing next to Vivian in front of her property. He had tied up all the loose ends that would keep him from his commitment and wanted to get started on this project as soon as possible. Construction was already beginning on the senior center and he planned to volunteer as many hours to that as he could, especially since his uncle James would soon be a resident.

Just thinking of his uncle, an eighty-eight-year-old man with late-stage dementia, was an added weight on Nick’s already burdened heart.

His plate was full to overflowing, but he wouldn’t allow himself to complain. Ranch work kept him plenty busy on its own, and he couldn’t count on his brother Jax to lend a hand as much anymore, since Jax’s miserable harpy of an ex-wife had come to town the day of the auction and abandoned month-old twin babies on his doorstep. The baby girls were adorable and an absolute blessing through and through—but that didn’t stop them from being a lot of work. With the hours they kept Jax up every night, it was a struggle for him to get through his own horse training work every day, much less help with the ranching responsibilities. Slade had his family and his work at the sheriff’s department to keep him busy. So that meant it all fell to Nick.

With everything going on, his stress level was off the scale. The sooner he remodeled Viv’s quaint little beauty parlor, the sooner he could get out from under his obligation to her and go back to his primary concerns—his family, the ranch and the senior center.

He and Viv were both gazing up at the weathered wooden sign hanging directly over them from the eaves over the sidewalk. It was barely dangling by a thread. The thing was downright dangerous. He was surprised a good Texas wind hadn’t blown it off by now.

He pulled out the pencil he’d tucked behind his ear to scribble a few notes on his clipboard. The hazardous sign was the first item on what he imagined was going to be a very long list of things to do to get this place in working order. He couldn’t even imagine what the interior of the building held in store for him.

“I didn’t bring a ladder,” he said, his free hand resting on his tool belt. He’d known he’d eventually have to bring a truck full of heavy-duty tools to remodel this joint—from a planer to a circular saw and everything in between, but he figured evaluating the work and making a plan of action came first. “We’ve got to get that sign down. Today, if possible.”

He still had no idea what he was getting into, but he figured he ought to at least give Vivian her money’s worth in knowledge and labor. The outside of the place only needed a fresh coat of paint and it would be good to go, but he suspected that wouldn’t be true of the interior.

“I noticed the sign the first day I was here. I know it’s a potential hazard to people walking underneath. I can’t imagine why it hasn’t been removed before now.”

“Nor I,” Nick agreed. “You’d think the town council would be on top of something like that. They probably just overlooked it. No matter. You’ll need to hang a new sign anyway. What are you going to call the place?”

Vivian propped her fists on her hips and screwed up her mouth, chewing on her bottom lip. She stared at the old sign as if it was going to give her guidance.

“To be honest, I don’t know. I’m sure something will come to me once I get more of a feel for the place. It has to be exactly right.”

“What did you call your spa in Houston?”

“Viv’s Vitality.”

“That’s clever. You could use that.”

She blanched and shook her head.

“No,” she stated emphatically. “No. I absolutely couldn’t do that. The salon in Houston is part of my old life. This has to be completely different, in every way.”

He lifted his hand as if toasting her with a glass of bubbly. “Here’s to new beginnings, then.”

Her breath came out in an audible sigh. “Right. To new beginnings.”

“Let’s take a look inside and then I’ll run over to Emerson’s and see if they’ll let me borrow a ladder.”

That was one of the many benefits of small-town living. Nick had gone to school with Eddie Emerson, who would one day inherit his father’s hardware shop. Since he’d known Eddie and his father all his life, he was sure it would be no problem to use one of their ladders to take down that sign.

Vivian shoved her hand into an enormously oversize pink-polka-dot handbag that sported a bow nearly as large as the bag itself. At least a good minute of fruitless searching went by before she smiled and shrugged apologetically before returning to digging. He was certain she’d forgotten the keys, but she determinedly continued to fish for them. “They’re in here somewhere.”

He smothered a grin. What could she possibly need to carry around with her that warranted such a big handbag?

“Ah! Here we are,” she announced triumphantly, waving her keys in the air like a flag. She sorted through a large mess of keys until she came upon the one she wanted, and then approached the door.

Nick stepped around her and reached for the key.

“Here. Let me,” he said, sliding it into the lock and stepping back, gesturing for her to enter first. “Welcome to your new home away from home.”

He blinked hard.

His new home away from home? More like his new nightmare.

He’d imagined the interior would take some work—okay, a lot of work—but this was even worse than he’d anticipated. There was nothing salvageable that he could see. At best the paint was peeling off the walls, and that didn’t count the numerous scratches and holes. Repainting wouldn’t be nearly good enough. They’d need all new drywall.

The ground was covered with rotting floorboards scattered with a huge amount of old junk. Besides ancient piles of feed, there was a rusty tricycle, an old end table that appeared to be cracked through the middle, random bricks and an ugly garden gnome that stared back at him as if he were the intruder.

It would take them a week working full-time just to clear the debris, never mind prepare the inside for remodeling. He hadn’t committed to this kind of labor.

But he was all-in now. And maybe that was for the best—at least for his social standing. Vivian knew nothing of his recent dating history, so she didn’t know that he was practically a pariah thanks to his vicious ex poisoning everyone against him. But Vivian had always been well liked. If he spent time with her, helping her, making sure he was seen with her, it was bound to give his reputation an upswing. It would show the rest of the town that he could be near a woman without having her run screaming in the other direction.

Or even worse, be screaming at him.

In public.

It wasn’t that he had any romantic intentions toward Viv, but he had to start somewhere in polishing up his public image if he ever wanted to get a date again. Besides, this project wouldn’t last forever. It would be a race to see whether he could finish the project before Vivian discovered the truth about him. His most recent pathetic excuse for a relationship wasn’t exactly a state secret, and he was sure Viv had plenty of friends who would be anxious to tell her the whole story.

Anyway, who else would help Vivian with this disaster of a shop if not he? She wouldn’t have bid on him if she had anywhere else to go, or anyone else to lean on. He suspected she hadn’t had enough money to hire a proper contractor, although she hadn’t said as much.

He didn’t blame her for her pride. In fact, he admired her for it.

Yes, he had a cattle ranch to run, but he’d figure out some way to be there for Vivian. She was probably only now realizing how long it would take to remodel, but he’d get it done for her.

And run the ranch. And help Jax. And volunteer to help build the senior center.

First, though, he’d have to dig through all this trash.

“Oh, my,” Vivian breathed from behind his left shoulder. “This is truly awful.”

“You haven’t been inside before today?”

Her face colored, staining her cheeks an alluring soft pink. “Honestly? No. The entire real estate transaction was done over the phone and on the internet. I haven’t been back in town for more than a couple of days, and I’ve been busy moving myself into a cabin on Redemption Ranch. Before I knew it, the day of the auction crept up on me, and at that point, I figured we may as well take a look at it together, so we could start making plans.”

“So you bought it sight unseen.”

“Well, I saw the exterior, and I remembered the location from when I lived here before. The pictures the real estate agent gave me must have been from when the property was still a working barbershop. I had at least some idea of what I was getting into.”

Nick personally thought she had no idea what she was getting into. The real estate agent who talked her into buying this property should be shot, taking advantage of Vivian that way. And the worst part was she didn’t have the slightest idea that she’d been taken.

Whatever she’d paid for it, it was too much.

Vivian shook her head. “I apologize. This is all my fault. I should have come down and inspected the place before I got you involved.”

Nick heard the trip in her voice and realized she must have read the expression on his face. She looked as if she were about to cry. She pressed her lips tightly together as if trying to stem the tide of her emotions, which ebbed and flowed faster than Nick could keep up with.

But he could relate to her discouragement. On the work front, he’d recently lost several head of cattle to disease. Then there was his public breakup with Brittany.

Life threw everyone curves. It was how a man—or a woman—responded to those setbacks that showed what kind of person they were.

“Well, I suppose I should call for a Dumpster to be brought in so I can start cleaning,” Viv said, wiping her palms across the denim of her blue jeans. “I’ll put all the trash in one corner until I can remove it. Do you want to go see about that ladder?”

Nick’s gaze widened. He had to admit he’d fully expected her to turn tail and run. But she was just buckling down and pushing forward. Which either made her very brave or completely nuts. At this point he wasn’t sure which.

At least there was one problem that would be quick and easy to fix. As Nick suspected, Eddie was only too happy to loan him a ladder—on behalf of Emerson’s pretty new neighbor, of course. Eddie obviously saw it as an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the lady. Nick didn’t know how he felt about that, but he appreciated Eddie lending him a hand when it came to removing the signage—even if it was for ulterior motives.

By the time Nick brought the ladder back to Emerson’s and returned to the shop, Vivian had managed to create quite a large pile of debris in one corner.

“Did you see this?” she exclaimed, pointing to a bent-up red tricycle with missing spokes and flat tires. “Who would leave a tricycle in an abandoned shop?” she asked, folding her arms as if she were suddenly cold. “It kind of makes me sad to think about.”

“Are you making up stories in your mind about the poor little child who lost his bike?” he guessed.

Count on Vivian to be nostalgic over a rusty piece of metal.

Her eyes widened on him and then she laughed. “Yes, I suppose I am. You must think I’m a real airhead.”

“No, I don’t,” he immediately countered, then cleared his throat.

Heat filled his chest and rose into his neck. That was exactly what he’d been thinking, and honestly, she’d done little to prove otherwise. Still, it seemed to him that she cut herself down a lot, and it gave him cause to wonder why she was so hard on herself.

“Yes, you do,” Vivian scoffed. “And I suspect it’s going to take some real work on my part to change your opinion of me. You have the Mr. Darcy Syndrome.”

He tilted his head at her in confusion. He knew he’d heard the name somewhere, but he hadn’t a clue as to where. “The what?”

“Oh, you are so busted. He’s the hero of Pride and Prejudice, which you absolutely should already know. That book was required reading for every tenth-grader at Serendipity High School since the day the school opened.”

He grinned. “Are you going to tell Mrs. Keller on me? She still teaches tenth grade English, you know. I may have used CliffsNotes to get through. I’ve never been much of a reader, especially not gushy romance.” He didn’t mention why he didn’t care for reading. His dyslexia was a well-kept secret. Only his teachers and family knew about it.

“There’s a movie,” Vivian suggested with a laugh. “Several of them, in fact.”

“Eww. That would be worse than reading the book.” Nick cringed. “You’d have to tie me down to the chair to force me to watch that frilly, girly kind of stuff.”

“You have such a closed mind.”

“Opinionated,” he countered.

“Stubborn.”

“Okay, we can agree on that.”

“So you’re stubborn and I’m a complete ditz.”

Nick’s gaze narrowed on her. “You keep saying stuff like that. Sweeping generalizations and insults that don’t really apply to you. I don’t get it. Why do you do that?”

“I don’t know. You tell me. And do you really think the term ditz doesn’t apply to me? I bought this property sight unseen and then dragged you into the mess.”

Nick suspected it wasn’t just moving back to Serendipity from Houston that had kept Vivian’s mind busy. It sounded like she was getting over some big emotional hurdles, too. But there was no way he was bringing her past or her hurt feelings into the conversation.

“Like you said, it’s Main Street. It was a reasonable assumption to make that the property would be in workable condition when you bought it.”

“Yes, but I thought I was only going to have to modify it from a barbershop to a salon and spa. I knew I’d have to paint and wallpaper but I didn’t expect that I would have to fix a bunch of holes in the walls. Maybe I could just stuff bouquets of fake flowers in the holes and call it art.”

She frowned but her eyes were bright and it was clear from her tone that she was making light of the circumstances.

It was more than he would have done under the same conditions. It was more than he was doing. He felt frustrated, angry and discouraged for her and her crazy spa idea.

But somehow, he’d fix the problem. Because he was a man, and that’s what men did. His family had so many issues he was helpless to resolve: his father’s death, his uncle’s dementia, Jax’s single parenthood. It was almost a relief to face a problem—no matter how large—that he could actually do something to fix.

Chapter Three

It took two weeks putting in every extra hour he had to get the shop cleared of clutter. Finally, Nick was able to start tearing out the old drywall. He wasn’t surprised when Vivian showed up to help. Right on time, even though technically she had nothing to do at the shop until the construction was farther along.

Just what he needed—Viv underfoot again.

He had—wrongly, apparently—assumed that flighty Viv would quickly lose interest in the day-to-day construction part of the renovation and leave him in peace to finish off the terms of his obligation to her.

That wasn’t happening. Instead, she was always hovering over his shoulder like a bumblebee, asking billions of questions about every little thing and making annoying, if innocent, suggestions on how they—meaning he—might be able to move things along a little faster.

She was determined to have her spa open the week before Thanksgiving. Four months was plenty of time for him to get the remodeling done, even with Viv hovering around, and even if he was only working the odd weekend. But Vivian took it all so seriously, as if the world would end if the shop didn’t open as scheduled.

He wouldn’t have admitted it aloud, but Vivian amused him. She was so certain all the ladies in Serendipity would be anxious to avail themselves of her services for family get-togethers and holiday parties. He didn’t bother telling her that he thought if the ladies in town had managed up until now without the use of a beauty parlor, they’d probably continue to be fine without one.

Today Viv wasn’t hovering quite as much as she was staring at him—or rather, inspecting him, assessing him. Every time his gaze met Viv’s, pinpricks of premonition skittered over his skin, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was watching him with more than just an eye toward the carpentry work he was doing.

For some inexplicable reason, she was examining him—and he didn’t like it one bit. Whenever their gazes met, her impossibly blue eyes would sparkle and her pug little nose would twitch like a kitten’s. And she had the oddest expression on her face. He couldn’t help but wonder if her twin sister, Alexis, had filled her in on his very public breakup with Brittany.

He waited for her to ask, but she remained silent, which in itself was off the mark for Viv.

He turned his back, making it a point to ignore her as he focused on ripping out large chunks of the wall with a mallet and a crowbar. It felt good to be able to physically take a little bit of his anxiety out on the drywall. And while it was aggravating to have Viv hovering behind his shoulder, there was something pleasant in being around a woman, other than his mother, who didn’t treat him like he had the plague.

No single woman in Serendipity wanted anything to do with him. He couldn’t entirely blame them for thinking he wasn’t much of a boyfriend. He’d owned up to his mistakes, both to Brittany and to God. That hadn’t stopped him from getting publically humiliated at last year’s New Year’s Eve party.

Nick cringed as shame and humiliation burned through him. New Year’s Eve the prior year had been the night that changed everything for him, not only socially, but emotionally and spiritually, as well.