Montana Cherries (The Wildes of Birch Bay Book 1)

by Kim Law

  She shoved the pink fluff out of her face once again when Ben silently held out his arm, and decided it was time to broach the subject. She nudged her head in the direction of Haley, who’d finally taken more than two steps away. She’d squatted down to look at a toy box made to look like a giant cherry, and was actually talking to the woman manning the booth.

  “Do you worry she’s building too close an attachment to me?” Dani asked quietly.

  Ben stopped eating and bunched his eyebrows together. “She knows you’re leaving.”

  “Yes, but she’s a child. I’m not sure she really understands. I worry it’ll hurt her when I do go.” She stepped closer to ensure only he could hear. “Like her mother did, you know? I don’t want to make things worse.”

  Concern slipped quickly over Ben’s features, and the cotton candy was forgotten. He tossed it into a nearby trash bin and took his time wiping his hands. Dani suspected he was delaying in order to think over what she’d just said. Because she had a point. Haley was sensitive to people leaving, even if she “knew” up front they would be.

  Dani really should have thought of that sooner.

  To help matters, she voiced a suggestion. “I could spend less time with her. Distance myself a little.”

  Not take her for manicures and fix her hair every morning.

  “No.” The answer came fast and harsh. “You’re good for her, even if you are leaving. And . . .” He paused. “You’re good for me too. You’ve already done more for both of us in a matter of days than I’d accomplished in three weeks.”

  “It wasn’t all me. You would have gotten there.”

  He took her hand in his. “Don’t lie to either of us. It was you, and we both know it. No,” he said again, and she struggled to focus on his words instead of the heat from his palm. “We’ll talk to her. Make sure she understands that you won’t be here forever. We’ll find her more friends to fill the void. But right now, you’re bringing a life out in her that I didn’t know she was capable of. Certainly more than I’ve seen since Lia left her standing there staring up at me.”

  Dani couldn’t bring herself to argue. Because she didn’t want to pull back yet.

  They stood in the middle of the street, both watching Haley, each deep in their own thoughts, and in her heart, Dani knew she needed distance. From both of them. She kept finding herself making excuses to spend more time with Ben. And she loved Haley to death.

  The little girl wasn’t the only one who would be hurt when Dani had to leave.

  Yet, she said nothing.

  She did tug at her arm, though, intending to free her hand. But Ben’s grip tightened. He didn’t say anything, didn’t even glance her way. He just didn’t let go.

  Fine. She’d hold his hand.

  Mostly because she liked it.

  But also because she didn’t want to cause a scene. She was not a fan of drawing unwanted attention to herself.

  With a squeal, Haley left the booth and skipped back to them. “Do you like it?” She held up her hand. On the back was a tiny butterfly tattoo. “The lady gave it to me. Isn’t it beautiful?”

  Haley went into an excited jump, and relief rushed through Dani. Ben’s daughter seemed to be getting back to her earlier self.

  “Absolutely,” Dani and Ben said in unison.

  Dani smiled her thanks at the mom of three she recognized who’d put the temporary tattoo on Haley, and without additional comment, she and Ben each caught one of Haley’s hands and the three of them continued down the street.

  A lively bagpiper passed them, his music entertaining the crowd, and his “funny skirt” making Haley laugh. It was a good day—a beautiful day—to live in Birch Bay.

  Ten yards later, Ben stopped at the booth for The Cherry Basket, and Dani watched him study the assortment of items. Quilts, cookbooks, jams, and jellies. All spread out before them, each displayed in either red, cloth-lined handmade baskets, or on cases a local carpenter had built for the store. The manager had done a beautiful job setting up the booth as if a section of the store had been plucked up whole and plopped down in the middle of the street.

  “This is your store?” Ben asked.

  Dani smiled with pride. “Not my store. But the family’s, yes.”

  Haley’s eyes widened. “You have a store, too? Will I be able to eat cherries there like I will at your house?”

  Laughter rose from Dani. She loved what children found important. Though Haley had eaten her share of fresh cherries throughout the day, she was certain they weren’t nearly as good as the ones that would come from Wilde Cherry Farm.

  Dani squeezed the small hand inside hers and winked. “Absolutely.”

  “But you started the store?” Ben prompted as if Haley hadn’t interrupted them. “It was your idea?”

  “Yeah.” Dani turned back to the setup. “I did. The idea began when I was a kid. I’d just talked my dad into my first cherry lemonade stand.”

  She pointed out the fresh cherry lemonade that was for sale at the stand, and Ben said, “You’re going to slay them in New York.”

  “Thank you.” The gravity of his statement affected her. It wasn’t that her family hadn’t expressed the same confidence, but they were her family. It was their job to say things like that.

  But to hear Ben say it helped soothe the fear that occasionally arose. She knew she could do a good job. She knew she had done well. But no matter how aware of that she was, no matter how many of her own awards she’d won, a consistent nagging voice sat inside her head, leading to worry that it might not be enough.

  She stepped to the booth and greeted the manager with a handshake. “How are you, Sara? Everything going okay today?”

  “Terrific. We just sold out of the new mixes that came in last week. I sent Brandi to the store for more, and to grab up a couple more boxes of brochures. We’re making sure everyone who stops by the booth walks away carrying something with our website printed on it.”

  “Good deal.” Thousands of tourists passed through the festival every year, and there were many booths set up along the walkway, all representing different orchards throughout the area. But Dani and her family had something they didn’t. A thriving store and online business. Ensuring that a large percentage of the attendees went home aware they could order additional product online was key to keeping that a reality. “The samples going over well?” she asked, and Sara laughed with enthusiasm.

  “You know they are. The team is continuously running fresh batches of the scones and muffins over from the store.”

  They talked for several more minutes, Sara offering a cup of cherry lemonade to Haley, before Dani and Ben moved on down the street. The afternoon slowly slipped away. They took in the boats bobbing out on the bay and the water-skiers off in the distance. The festival bumped right up against the water, and the way the sunlight glistened, the lake could look blue or green, depending on the time of day.

  Ben pointed out a group of girls about Haley’s age waiting in line by the carousel, and suggested they go over so Haley could talk with them. Haley wanted no part in it. So when they came upon the oversize bounce house, with loud shouts coming from inside, Dani instantly knew it would be too much for the girl.

  But she didn’t have time to warn Ben.

  “Look at that.” He pointed to the blow-up structure. “That looks exactly like a place you’d love.”

  Haley’s grip tightened and she took a step closer to Dani. “Is Jenna in there?”

  “I’m not sure,” Ben said. He craned his neck as though he were checking to see if the other girl had made her way to this end of the street. “But plenty of other kids are. Come on, let’s get you inside.”

  “Ben,” Dani tried to warn him.

  “It’s okay.” He took a step forward, Haley’s hand in his, but Haley leaned back and dug in her heels.

  He glanced behi
nd him, and when his daughter didn’t budge, he smiled down at her as if all was right with the world. “Dani and I will be right here the whole time,” he assured her. “I’m sure you’ll find a new friend in there. Don’t you want someone new to play with?”

  Ah. He’d apparently taken Dani’s earlier words to heart and was intent on resolving the issue right this moment. “Ben,” she tried again.

  Haley inched closer to Dani.

  When Ben pulled at the child’s arm once again, Haley released her daddy’s hand, and wrapped both arms tightly around Dani’s leg. “I already have friends,” she declared stubbornly. “Dani and Jenna will play with me whenever I want.”

  Crap. Wrong answer.

  Dani untangled the girl from her leg, but she could see the damage was done. The child had retreated into her shell. She was scared. Additionally, Ben seemed just as determined.

  Stooping to Haley’s height, Dani soothed with her voice. “You don’t have to go in if you don’t want to, Haley. That’s okay. But remember what I told you before? I won’t always be here. Making new friends might be a really good idea.”

  “It is a good idea.” This came from Ben. He’d apparently decided that coaxing wasn’t going to work because he lifted Haley in his arms without waiting for her to respond. “Come on. You’ll love it.”

  “Ben—”

  Dani started to protest once more, but stopped when Haley went into a screaming fit. Arms and legs stiffened, then flapped in the air as if she were fighting for her life. Her small face turned bright red, and fat tears streamed from her eyes.

  She reared back with all the strength one small child could muster, and Ben froze where he stood.

  “Don’t put me in there! Don’t put me in there!” Haley screamed.

  Everyone within earshot turned in their direction, looks on their faces like they were trying to decide whether to offer help or request that the three of them keep it down.

  In the next instant, Haley lunged for Dani. Without thinking, Dani pulled her from her daddy’s grasp. The child was terrified. She twined slim arms around Dani, her whole body shaking, and buried her damp face in the crook of Dani’s neck. Her sobs lowered in volume fairly quickly, but the tension in her body was slower to ease.

  Several moments and a couple of loud sniffles later, most everything had returned to normal. Except, Haley still clung to Dani.

  Ben stood in front of them, arms hanging at his sides.

  Everyone else’s attention had refocused on their own kids, and Ben’s gaze lifted from Haley to Dani. And that’s when she noticed there was more than shock lurking inside him. He was angry.

  And carrying not a small bit of pain.

  Dani studied him as she patted Haley’s back. Her taking his daughter away from him had hurt. Or better yet, Haley pulling away had more likely been the culprit. But whichever had caused the problem, Dani wasn’t sure what else she could have done. The child had been terrified. Dani couldn’t stand there and let it continue.

  That didn’t seem to matter to Ben.

  “You can get her back to the house,” he ground out.

  He walked away then, leaving Dani and Haley staring after him.

  chapter nine

  Dani peered over the pull-out map in the adventure book, and smiled down at Haley and Jenna. Nick and Jaden had already been in, and each read a book to the girls, but the excitement of having uncles in the house had led Jenna to beg for more. Haley had been right there with her, only her “excitement” had more resembled unease. All thanks to her daddy walking away from her at the festival earlier that day. And then not coming back to the house.

  “So you see,” Dani began, returning her mind to the map, “I’ll be way over here in this state.”

  “New York,” Jenna added.

  “That’s right, New York. And where will you two be? Haley, do you want to show me?”

  After running Nick and Jaden out of the room, Dani had finally gotten the girls to settle down, and the three of them had looked at the map and read about both states twice. Following the episode at the fair, it seemed a wise thing to find a way to explain the situation so Haley could better understand.

  The little girl lifted up off the mattress and pointed to the state of Montana. She gave a tiny smile when Dani praised her, and Mike joined in with his own congratulatory lick to her face.

  “That’s Montana,” Jenna filled in. Jenna and Dani had done this same exercise several weeks earlier when Dani’s plans had first come together. “And we’ll come visit you sometimes,” Jenna added, “and you’ll come visit us.”

  “Will I get to visit you, too?” Haley asked.

  That was a toughie. Because . . . probably not. Dani didn’t see Ben packing up his daughter and making a cross-country flight to see a girl he’d once had a one-night stand with.

  She leaned in and gave Haley a big hug. “I don’t know, baby. I think your daddy’s probably going to be too busy.”

  Tears welled up in Haley’s eyes. “But I wanna come see you.”

  Oh, geez. This really wasn’t going the way she’d planned.

  “When my daddy and I come to visit,” Jenna said, “we’ll bring you, too.”

  Thank goodness for Jenna. Except, Gabe and Michelle might not agree with the suggested plan.

  But Dani didn’t really care about that at the moment. “That sounds perfect to me.”

  It would have to do, because Dani wasn’t prepared to argue the point. She was strung out from the afternoon. Haley hadn’t calmed down after Ben walked away from them, and after hunting up her brothers and Jenna, Dani had hurriedly strapped the girl into the car seat she kept for Jenna and headed home. Only to find that Ben hadn’t returned to the house.

  Dani had gone red-hot with anger. She hadn’t let it show, though. Haley didn’t need any additional stress to come from the afternoon.

  So instead of spending a few hours working, Dani had set aside her plans and taken Haley for a long walk. They’d checked on the cherries before heading down to the beach. Both of them got their feet wet along the shoreline, picking out the prettiest rocks, then practicing the fine art of skipping them across the lake. Sadly, Dani’s skill was at about the same level as Haley’s.

  The entire time they’d been out there, Ben had been remained absent.

  She stood and clicked off the top part of the lamp, leaving the smaller, bottom half on as a night-light. Haley had asked earlier if they could sleep with the light on tonight, so this had been the concession.

  “Will you tell my daddy I’m sorry I cried?” Haley asked from the bed. “I didn’t want to go in that thing, but I’ll try the next time.”

  Haley had been worrying about upsetting her father all this time?

  Dani was going to kick Ben’s butt.

  If he ever showed back up.

  She returned to the edge of the mattress and took Haley’s hand. Jenna and Mike watched in silence. “I’ll tell him, sweetie, but you know he didn’t mean to upset you, don’t you?”

  The night-light allowed Dani to see Haley’s nod. “He wants me to have friends.”

  “Yes.” Dani nodded encouragingly. She also tried to smile. “Because he doesn’t want you to be lonely after I leave, and because Jenna may not always be around to play with. But if it takes you a long time to be ready to go into the bounce house, then all you have to do is tell your dad you aren’t ready, okay?”

  “But it might make him mad.”

  “No, baby.” Dani hugged the girl tight, squeezing so hard Haley lifted up off the bed. “It won’t make him mad, and it didn’t make him mad today. He just doesn’t always understand little girls, so he didn’t know how bad you didn’t want to go in there. All you need to do now is tell him with words, okay? He’ll listen. I promise.”

  She would make sure of it.

  Ben couldn’t push too
hard or Haley would fight back every time. If for no other reason than so much of her life had been upended in the past month, and she needed to have some amount of control over it.

  But also, Dani had no doubt that still in the back of Haley’s mind lay the fear she’d felt when she realized her mother hadn’t wanted her.

  Dani stood once more.

  Her emotions were right on the edge, and she needed to get away. It was time for ice cream. After wishing them a good-night, she quickly stepped to the other side of the door. And as had happened several nights before, Ben stood there waiting for her.

  His gaze glanced off the closed bedroom door before coming back to hers. “Take a walk with me.”

  Not will you take a walk. Simply, do it.

  No concern for his daughter? No apology for leaving the two of them and disappearing for hours?

  Oh, hell yes, she’d take a walk with him. She was ripe to take a walk with him.

  Without saying a word, she moved quickly past him and down the stairs. In the living room were her three brothers and Megan, all watching a ghost hunter show. Gabe looked up as she entered the room.

  “Can you keep an ear out for the girls?” Dani asked. “Ben and I need to talk.”

  “Sure.” Gabe tossed a look at Ben, but no one in the room said another word.

  Continuing her controlled march, Dani exited the back door and headed down the stairs. When she reached the ground, she whirled. “You asshole,” she shouted, all the anger from the afternoon exploding out in the single word. She punctuated her point with a finger jabbed his way. “You ungrateful, selfish, good-for-nothing ass.”

  “Dani.” Ben grabbed her elbow and pulled her away from the house. She jerked out of his hold. “Calm down,” he urged.

  “Don’t you dare tell me to calm down,” she yelled. She did move her feet, though, because he had a point. They probably had four pairs of eyes watching them through the windows lining the back of the house. Every one of them was aware that she’d come home with Ben’s daughter—but without Ben—and that she hadn’t been especially pleased about it.