by Rachel Magee
As if she could hear the debate in his head, Millie laid a gentle hand on his arm. “You’ll be with her all the way up and I’ll be waiting for her at the bottom. Trust me. It’ll be okay.”
There was something about the optimism in her voice combined with her confidence that blew through his soul like a gentle breeze, easing some of the constant fear he carried around.
“You’ve got this.”
Braxton stared at the tall ladder, unsure. Letting go after all that had gone wrong in his life was infinitely harder than he ever imagined it could be. He stared at the inflatable in front of him. But it was only a slide, and Millie would be there to catch them—
Her. Catch her. She was there to catch his daughter at the end of the slide. And he did trust Millie with his daughter, a revelation he didn’t have time to look at closely right now.
“Okay,” he said before he could talk himself out of it. “Let’s do it.”
“Big swide!” Alice cheered and scrambled up the ladder. He followed her all the way to the top, letting his protective hand hover just behind her back, but she never even wobbled. In fact, she made it to the top with less of a struggle than he did. Before he could climb back down, she plopped herself at the top of the slide and pushed herself down.
“Weeee!” Alice held her hands up over her head, a wide smile spread across her whole face as she flew down the brightly colored nylon slope. Millie stood at the end, her arms out ready to grab the child if needed. But Alice stopped well before the end of the inflatable part and crawled the rest of the way to get off. Millie lifted her up and set her on the ground at the same time as Braxton joined them.
“Woo-hoo.” Millie pumped her fists in the air, her full attention on the little girl. “You were the fastest!” She turned to Braxton. “And you were pretty great, too.”
Braxton picked the little girl up and hugged her into his chest, feeling a bit euphoric. Yes, it was a small fear, but it felt like a big step.
“Again! Again!” Alice chanted.
“That was the last time, remember. It’s time for a rest.”
“No nap!” Alice swiftly shook her head, rubbing her droopy eyes as she did.
Braxton shot Millie a look to see if she’d caught the difference between Alice’s words and actions. She met his gaze and gave him a knowing half grin, then she yawned and stretched her arms over her head. “I’m pretty tired. I could use a rest, too. Maybe we should all take a rest.”
Alice stared at Millie as if trying to decide if this was some sort of trick or actually a good idea. “Millie’s nap time?”
Millie nodded. “Yep, Millie’s nap time, too.”
Alice studied her for another second and then she did something that both shocked Braxton and warmed his heart. She held her arms out for Millie to hold her.
“Oh.” Millie looked surprised by the little girl’s request and looked from Alice’s outstretched arms to Braxton. Braxton gave her a slight nod.
“Okay.” Millie looked the most out of her element that he’d ever seen her, but she held her arms out to accept his daughter anyway.
As soon as they made the transfer, Alice patted Millie’s face with her little hand. “Millie.” There was a hint of adoration in her little voice and her eyes sparkled as she looked at their new neighbor.
His heart surged into a gallop as Alice laid her head on Millie’s shoulder, and Millie, already looking more confident, hugged the little girl into herself, rubbing her back.
Braxton grabbed the stroller with one hand and pointed to a shady spot off to the side of the grandstand. “How about we head over there?” He whispered the words, not wanting to break the trance sleepy Alice was under.
Millie nodded, and instinctually Braxton settled his other hand in the small of Millie’s back to support her as she walked with the child. At the touch, a warm glow rolled through him as if someone had just turned on the lights in his soul.
He glanced sideways to try to gauge Millie’s reaction, and he wasn’t quite prepared for what he saw. There was a soft smile on her face, and she looked comfortable holding his daughter and walking with him. Even more shocking was that he felt the same way.
A flurry of emotions swirled through him—tenderness, affection, worry, hope—but he stomped them down to deal with later. His life was complicated. But right now, on this June afternoon with the sounds of a local band lazily drifting through the late afternoon air, he wanted to unwind and enjoy. It had been a long time since he’d felt like this, and he didn’t want to mess it up with a bunch of complicated emotions about life and love and loss.
When they got to the patch of grass under the big oak tree, Braxton pulled the picnic blanket from the stroller’s basket and spread it out.
“Is she asleep?” Millie twisted around so Braxton could see Alice’s face.
The toddler’s eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open, and her breathing had become slow and even. Yep. She was out.
Braxton nodded. “Apparently, you’re magic. Care to come over every afternoon around two o’clock?”
Millie chuckled quietly, which brightened the glowing feeling already pulsing through him.
He grinned and motioned to the blanket. “You can lay her down there. She should stay asleep.”
Millie’s eyes darted to the blanket, a look of concern crossing her face, and then glanced back at him. “What if I wake her up?”
The vast majority of the time, Braxton felt like he had no idea what he was doing when it came to being a dad. Alice had only been six weeks old and so tiny and helpless when they’d lost Jade, who had been a fantastic mother. Those weeks that followed were a hazy crash course of him and Henry trying to figure out how to take care of an infant. But they did it. Somehow he got from those long, scary nights—where he had to google everything from how to mix a bottle to what stores sold diapers at two in the morning—to here. And the look of fear combined with the newness on Millie’s face reminded him of just how far he’d come.
He gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “She’s a hard sleeper. If you move slowly, she won’t wake up.”
Millie bit her lip in concentration and stared at the blanket for a second before she slowly sank to her knees. She leaned over and gently laid his sleeping daughter on the blanket. But she didn’t stop there. She hovered over the little girl, gently brushing Alice’s hair out of her face, as she made sure she was going to stay asleep. The gesture was so gentle and sweet, it took Braxton’s breath away. Who was this fearless and compassionate stranger who had rolled into their lives?
“I think it worked,” Millie whispered, keeping her gaze on Alice.
Braxton nodded, trying desperately to think of something other than how his feelings for her were getting dangerously close to moving past the friend zone. “You’re a natural.”
Millie rocked back onto her feet and scooted over so she was sitting on the farthest corner of the blanket from the sleeping toddler. “I wasn’t so sure that was going to work out.”
Braxton chuckled. “Welcome to parenting. It’s one giant experiment. And you know what they say about experiments.”
Millie shook her head. “No. What?”
“You have to think like a proton and stay positive.” He chuckled at his own joke. “I’ll show myself out.”
Millie rolled her eyes, but at the same time, her lips curled up in an amused grin which made his own smile brighten. “You’re killing it with the dad jokes today.”
“Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, ignoring the swoop in his stomach at how easily the endearment had come out. “How about I get us some drinks? Ruthie’s makes the best frozen pineapple-mango smoothies.”
“Sounds great. I’ll hang here and hope she doesn’t wake up.”
He left them in the shade and headed for the food truck that made his favorite frozen
tropical concoctions, feeling lighter than he had in a long time. He was so consumed by this new emotion that he almost missed Sophia, who was leaning against a tree with her arms crossed in front of her chest, watching him.
“Look who finally remembered how to smile.” She gave him a knowing look.
Braxton pressed his lips together, trying to contain the goofy grin that had spread across his face. “We’re at a festival. Isn’t that what one does at a festival?”
Sophia shrugged, looking unconvinced. “Some people, maybe. But not you. You’re usually too busy calculating the risk assessment.”
He shook his head at his longtime friend and continued walking toward the food truck.
She followed him. “And I even spotted a confirmed Braxton Channing laugh.” She widened her eyes in a look of fake shock.
Braxton stepped into line, scanning the festival menu to make sure they were offering his favorite drink. “Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you. Too much sun can do that, you know. It’s important to stay hydrated at these kinds of events.”
She nodded. “Right? At first, I thought I was imagining it, but then there it was again, plain as day right in front of me.”
Sophia’s tone switched to something more serious. “It’s been a while, a very long while, since I’ve seen you laugh. It was nice to see you’ve found someone who can make you do it again.”
Braxton looked over at where they’d set up the blanket for nap time. Millie was bobbing her head to the beat of the music as she glanced down periodically at Alice sleeping next to her. The same complicated swirl of emotions twisted through him again.
The truth was, it had been a great day, one full of carefree fun and laughter. Braxton couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a day like this, but it had been a while. Sure, he’d had happy moments here and there, but entire happy, carefree days? Life just hadn’t dealt him one of those recently. Was the last time he felt like this before Henry went to live at Summer Island Memory Care Home? Or before the accident? Or had it been even longer than that?
But the fact that his first joyful day in years was with Millie had to be simply a coincidence. It was the same way when he shot a near-perfect round on his favorite course on a still, sunny day. It had nothing to do with the color of his shirt or who he was paired with. When the conditions are perfect, great things happen, regardless of who you’re with.
With a slight shake of his head, Braxton dismissed Sophia’s suggestion. “It’s nothing. I only offered to show her around the festival as a goodwill gesture after the whole HOA letter thing. Speaking of which, did you find out anything?”
He’d called Sophia and told her everything, enlisting her help in discovering who’d been sending out the warnings without approval from the board or him.
“Nothing that would be very useful.” Sophia switched to her serious businesswoman attitude that made her an excellent HOA secretary and his most trusted ally on the board. “I keep a record any time someone uses your signature, but anyone on the board could access it. They’d have to do some digging or know where it is, but it wasn’t password protected.”
“We should probably fix that.”
Sophia nodded. “Already done.”
“So you think it’s someone on the board?”
“It appears to be. But I can’t imagine who on the board would do something like this.”
Braxton couldn’t either. To be honest, the thought that a board member would do this was disturbing. Not only did they all take the same oath to protect their neighborhood and their neighbors, he considered each of the other eight members a friend.
He shook away the thought as he stepped up to the window to order. Today was much too pleasant of a day to get bogged down with that. “Well, thanks for checking.” He motioned at the window. “You want anything? I’m buying.”
“Anytime. And I’d love a pineapple-mango fusion.”
Braxton held three fingers up to the server. “We’ll have three of those. Thanks.”
The teasing glint returned to his friend’s eyes. “She makes you laugh and you’re buying her drinks? Doesn’t sound like nothing to me.”
The server passed him the first two frozen concoctions topped with little umbrellas and brightly colored paper straws.
“You’ve been known to crack a joke, and I’m buying you a drink. I’m quite certain there isn’t anything between us.” He handed her both cups for emphasis. “Besides, I thought we were finished with this conversation.”
Sophia took the drinks. “Simply calling it how I see it.” She flashed him a knowing smile and made a dramatic show of taking a long pull from one of the striped paper straws.
“Then maybe it’s time you get your eyes checked,” Braxton joked. He grabbed the last drink and turned toward the blanket where Millie and his daughter waited.
Sophia walked with him. “All I’m saying is that it’s nice to see you happy again. You deserve it.”
She flashed him a sympathetic smile just before they reached the blanket, then switched all of her attention to Millie.
“Hey!” She dropped her voice to an excited whisper as she squatted down next to Millie on the blanket. She handed Millie one of the cups and gave her shoulders a squeeze with her free hand.
“Thanks for this,” Millie whispered before she took a sip.
“It’s from Braxton. I just got the privilege of carrying it over.” She motioned to where he was standing behind them. “But I’ve been looking for you. I am totally free Thursday and Friday to help you with tiling the bathrooms. Tessa said she’ll be in and out with her tours, but she’s excited to help. With the three of us working on it, I bet we can knock out at least three or four of them.”
“The three on the south end are all ready to go, so that’ll be perfect. And Gus said we could use his tile saw.” Millie gave a small fist pump.
“Great.” She rocked back on her heels and stood. “I gotta run. The Sea Salt & Chocolate booth has been busy all day. But y’all enjoy. The band that’s coming up next is fantastic.”
Braxton took her place on the blanket. “A tiling party? You ladies know how to have a good time.”
Millie took another sip of her drink. “They’re just being kind to the new girl in town who never goes out because of the never-ending renos. Plus, I think they’re worried if I don’t get enough human interaction, I’ll turn into one of those lonely old ladies who doesn’t just talk to dogs but thinks they talk back.”
“I’ve met Bear. The way he looks at you, there’s a very high probability he might talk back.”
Millie nodded. “I keep telling people that, but they don’t listen.”
“But I resent the statement that Bear is the only one you talk to. I’ve rescued you from your roof and interrupted your peaceful twilight walks on the beach. How much more human interaction do you need?” He pulled a face to show his mock offense.
She grinned, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight. “And don’t forget driving me to the festival while singing carpool karaoke to princess songs.”
He shrugged. “You’re lucky to have such a great neighbor.”
“Great’s the adjective we’re settling on?”
“I’m not opposed to spectacular if you think it’s a better fit. Or maybe awesome?” He was fighting a losing battle with the smile tugging on his lips.
She raised an eyebrow.
“Or we could drop the adjective all together.”
“Yes, let’s go with that.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough.”
She held up her frozen drink. “To neighbors.”
He clinked his clear plastic cup with hers, meeting her gaze in a way that sent electricity racing through him. “To neighbors,” he echoed.
He took a drink, not even bothering to try to make the electricity stop. His already complicated life was about to ge
t more complicated if he wasn’t careful.
Chapter Twelve
On Friday night Millie and Sophia stood in the shower of one of her guest bathrooms, pressing the custom cut tiles that Tessa handed them into the thin-set mortar on the wall.
“I’m not going to lie. Tiling is kind of therapeutic.” Millie stepped back and examined the wall she was working on, breathing in the satisfaction of seeing all the shiny white rectangles lined up in perfectly spaced rows. “I think I’ve found myself a new hobby.”
Tessa pushed the safety goggles to the top of her head and looked at the wall, too. “If you like this, you should try helping Soph hand-pack her chocolates during her busy seasons. There’s nothing quite like making those perfect little rows surrounded by the scent of chocolate.”
“That sounds like a project I can wholeheartedly get behind.” Millie turned to Sophia. “Count me in.”
“I’m glad you find it therapeutic. Those seasons stress me out. Without fail, the tighter the deadline, the higher the likelihood of something breaking. Last Valentine’s Day, it was my wrist. Do you know how hard it is to whisk with a broken wrist?” Sophia let out a loud, exaggerated sigh.
Tessa nodded. “Why does it always work like that? Next week is one of my busiest weeks so far this summer. Almost every tour is fully booked, and now we have this dumb hurricane lurking in the Atlantic.”
At the word “hurricane” the hairs on Millie’s neck stood up. “Did you just say a hurricane is coming here?” There was no denying the hint of panic in her voice. She looked from Tessa to Sophia.
Sophia waved an airy hand as she reached for the next tile, as if the threat of a violent storm was inconsequential. “It’s nothing to worry about yet. Right now it’s way south and it’s only a tropical depression that’s predicted to become a hurricane. It’ll be almost a week before it makes it this far north.”
“But it’s coming here?” Maybe it was time she started watching the local news for the weather report. In the time that she’d lived here, the weather had been so consistent, she hadn’t been concerned about it. But now a big storm was headed their direction in less than a week?