Second Chance Dad

by Pamela Stone

  The way he looked at her warmed her heart, even though her common sense argued that she was on the rebound. Feeling undesirable. “It would—help, that is.”

  His intense gaze burned into hers, but she couldn’t break away. “You look relaxed. Happy. Beautiful.”

  So did he. But she couldn’t very well say that. “I appreciate you letting us crash your father-daughter adventure. Today’s been magical for Ashton. He so needed an escape. We both did. As good as my mom is to us and as much as I love her, sometimes…”

  He shook the ice in his glass and drained the last drop. “I love my mom, too, but if I had to live with her one of us would kill the other within a week. Tops.”

  “But you’re close to them.”

  “Yeah, they’re in Austin. And they idolize Kenzie. They’re taking her to Disney World over spring break. My brother owns a large animal clinic a couple of hundred miles south, so we only see him two or three times a year.”

  “I’m an only kid,” Hanna said. “Siblings would be good. Mom just has me and Ashton to fret over.”

  “Brothers mostly look for any excuse to pound each other senseless those first few years. Leo is still a self-absorbed ass most of the time. Has more sympathy for animals than people, but I haven’t been tempted to take a swing at him in…I don’t know, a month or two.”

  “Leo?”

  “My parents have a strange take on baby names. Leonardo and Vincent. What’s up with that?” Vince kicked back and laughed. “In middle school, we got it in our heads to take them to court for cruel and unusual punishment.”

  Hanna smiled. “How’d that work out for you?”

  “We knew a lot of lawyers, but we couldn’t come up with one strong enough to go up against our mother. A good mom, but a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom.”

  “Your mom is an attorney?”

  He nodded. “My mom is a hell of an attorney.”

  Mackenzie and Ashton returned, sans the cat, and sat down. Ashton slurped the last drop of his pop through the straw. “We don’t have cool places to eat like this in Dallas.”

  “Dallas does not sound like my kinda place,” Mackenzie chimed in. “No way I could wear a dumb uniform and look like every other kid, including dweebs like Bully Baer, every day. I’d wear striped sneakers or something so as to not be like them.”

  Probably very little danger that Mackenzie would not distinguish herself in any situation. If not with her trend-setting attire, with her outgoing personality.

  The lights around the restaurant came on, and Ashton’s eyes sparkled. “Can we come back this summer? We can do everything exactly like we did today.”

  “We’ll see. I don’t want to impose on Mom by expecting her to run the bookstore alone all the time.” Hanna wasn’t sure what the summer would bring, she was so busy trying to get through the now. Bookstore. Single-parenting. Living with Mom. The Keegans.

  As they made their way out of the restaurant, the old dance hall was lit and a few couples danced as the jukebox crooned George Strait. The music filtered through the screen windows and created an ambiance of a gentler, more carefree time in Hanna’s life.

  Vince put his hand on the small of her back. “Ever been dancing in the Gruene Dance Hall?”

  Hanna fought a blush at the warmth of the gesture. “Are kids allowed inside?”

  “They’ll be fine as long as they’re with us. Looks like a sedate sort of crowd. No band tonight.”

  They wandered in and took a seat watching the couples as they stomped and swayed to the Texas two-step.

  Ashton grabbed Mackenzie’s hand. “Come on.”

  Mackenzie watched him dancing the two-step a few minutes, then held up her hands and grinned at Vince, nodding toward Ashton. “Who’d a thunk it?” She started mimicking Ashton’s steps. “How do I look?”

  A little awkward on the steps, but she seemed to be feeling the music as they strutted.

  “Lookin’ good,” Vince said, then took Hanna’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to let a couple of sixth-graders show me up.” He fell into step beside Ashton. “Is this right? Show me again.”

  Delighted, Ashton assumed the role of instructor for the other three. Hanna hadn’t country-danced in years, but she’d made sure that Ashton took lessons in all styles of dance. She’d always loved to dance, to lose her inhibitions and let the music move her. Tonight, Ashton’s lessons were paying off as he beamed from ear to ear, leading Mackenzie and Vince through the steps.

  Surprisingly, given Vince’s lankiness, he demonstrated decent rhythm as he followed Ashton’s direction. Hanna wasn’t so much trying to two-step as she was just feeling the music and letting her body move. She missed a step and realized she was watching Vince more than she was Ashton. Pure symmetry.

  After a bit, the adults sat and contented themselves with watching the kids. Hanna relaxed into the old wooden straight-back chair and turned to find Vince staring at her. He flashed those deep dimples and sauntered over to the jukebox before stopping by the bar for four sodas.

  Hanna was so parched from dancing that she gulped hers down even faster than the kids did. Mackenzie and Ashton didn’t sit, just finished their drinks and hit the little section of dance floor closest to Hanna and Vince that they’d been monopolizing.

  When the Bellamy Brothers catchy tune “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me?” cranked up, Vince tilted his head toward the dance floor and winked at Hanna. “This is more my speed. Whatta you say?”

  Hold her body against Vince Keegan’s long, tight, sexy frame? Probably not Hanna’s wisest move.

  Vince tugged her to her feet. “You can’t come to the country’s oldest dance hall and just sit. Where’s the fun in that?”

  “Come on, Mom. It’s not hard at all,” Ashton said, wiggling his little butt.

  Placing her right hand on Vince’s shoulder and her left around his waist, she tried to relax. When she was younger dancing had come naturally. But now? With Vince? “Song’s sorta cheesy, don’t you think?”

  He covered her hand and held it flat against his shoulder. “I don’t know. Seemed to serve the purpose.” She didn’t resist the pressure of his left hand secure against her waist. The melody filled her body and she allowed the rhythm to take control and flow through her. She leaned her head back to study Vince as he buried his long fingers in her hair. She leaned into the caress then nuzzled her head against his shoulder.

  God, her bruised ego craved the attention of this attractive male. She needed to feel attractive, desirable to the opposite sex.

  She closed her eyes and drifted around the scarred wood floor in Vince’s arms. The same dance floor where thousands of others had danced for over a century. But dancing with Vince was so different from dancing with Richard. Richard knew the steps, but Vince just moved to the rhythm and…to the lyrics. Even being five foot eight, she felt small and feminine within his arms. His heart beat against hers as they moved as one.

  Everything about Vince was different from Richard. His casual approach. His subtle come-on. Okay, not so subtle given his choice in music.

  “Daddy, dance with me now,” Mackenzie demanded. “Let’s trade partners.”

  The spell shattered and Hanna eased out of Vince’s arms. He seemed nonplussed as he took Mackenzie’s hands and flashed a smile, then spun her around and through the few couples on the floor.

  Oblivious to what was going on, Ashton happily grabbed Hanna’s hands. “I haven’t ever, ever had this much fun.”

  Hanna held Ashton’s hand and tried to follow his steps, but her gaze followed Vince as he twirled his giggling young daughter.

  By the time they walked to the truck, Ashton was yawning at every other step. He wasn’t accustomed to so much physical activity and it was ten o’clock, his bedtime. Vince took Hanna’s hand and steadied her as she climbed into the tall pickup. The kids buckled into the backseat and were both asleep before they even got ou
t of town.

  Vince was quiet most of the two-hour drive as they let the kids sleep, but every time Hanna dared a glance his way, he was looking back at her. Like those tentatively exchanged glances across the high-school lunchroom, only not so tentative. It was way too soon after her divorce and too early in this friendship to be thinking these thoughts. She should not be fantasizing about Vince Keegan’s long, lean body against hers. And that dimple-bracketed mouth conjured up all sorts of interesting ideas.

  She stared out at the stars, so much brighter out here away from artificial city lights. The air-conditioned cab, quiet and intimate, cocooned them in the night as they drove toward home. Kids sleeping peacefully in the back. Handsome guy driving. Oh yeah, way too much like a family.

  Yet, pulling into town, Hanna wished it wasn’t over. Her life of late was anything but romantic and peaceful. Vince swung the pickup into her mother’s drive, and Hanna smiled. “Thanks again for a fantastic day. Ashton had such a wonderful time.”

  He leaned forward and wrapped a curl around his finger. “So did I.”

  Staring into his eyes, her breath caught in her throat.

  He slid his hand down her cheek and behind her neck, urging her closer. Closing her eyes to keep from drowning in the depths of his deep-blue ones, she gravitated toward his warmth, waiting, wanting.

  After an eternity, his lips touched hers. Warm and gentle as he deepened the caress.

  The taste and pressure of his lips moving over hers spun time away. As though she were being pulled, she tilted her head for a better angle. Scooting close, she adjusted her position to feel his heat and touched her tongue to his lips. His hand increased the pressure on her waist, urging her closer as he opened his mouth to hers, exploring and spinning her senses into a hot frenzy for more, faster, hotter.

  His ten-o’clock shadow scratched her palm before she slid her hand around his neck to hold him close. She squeezed her legs together and tried to squelch the building warmth. Her tongue met his, acquainting itself with his.

  The kids stirred in the backseat and Ashton sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Are we there?”

  Hanna shot backwards, away from Vince’s magnetic pull and toward reality. If Ashton had witnessed the kiss, he wasn’t letting on. “We’re home.”

  Chapter Seven

  Hanna couldn’t get last night’s kiss off her mind. Even as she walked to Bluebonnet Books on Sunday, she inhaled the scent of someone grilling outside and tasted Vince’s kiss, felt his sexy mouth on hers. And whether she wanted to admit it or not, it left her aching for more.

  She wasn’t a teenager and rebound romances were always a mistake, but that didn’t cool the warmth inside her. She glanced up each time someone came through the door wondering if it might be Kenzie come to see Ashton, perhaps with her father in tow. But Vince was probably with his family today. And it was too soon after Richard’s betrayal for Hanna to rush into anything.

  By Thursday, she’d convinced herself that the kiss had meant a lot less to Vince. Kenzie had brought Ashton home each afternoon on her bike right on time. But no sign of her father. Which was probably for the best.

  Hanna finished checking out the last of a group of tourists and glanced at the clock. Ashton should have been here fifteen minutes ago. She watched the second hand on the clock slowly tick another few minutes, but still no red electric bike.

  No need to panic or assume the worst. Except she did. Were the kids hurt? Had some sicko grabbed them after school? When Hanna was growing up here, crime was practically unheard of. But nowadays, even small towns had their share of perverts.

  Maybe they’d gotten into trouble again and had to stay after school. But the school would have called, wouldn’t they?

  Okay, deep breath. Maybe they’d gone to Mackenzie’s to play the Wii or practice softball. At one time she’d have felt confident that Ashton would call, but since meeting Kenzie, he’d become rebellious. A moody pre-teen had replaced her quiet, levelheaded, straight-A student.

  She didn’t have Mackenzie’s cell number. She did not want to call Vince. It was best if she extinguished whatever spark she felt before it got started. Yet she had no choice. She needed to know Ashton was safe, and calling Vince would be easier than driving over there and having to face him.

  Once the store started showing a profit, she’d get Ashton a cell phone. But for now, she had to watch every penny. Reluctantly she dialed Vince’s number, her worry for Ashton outweighing her need to avoid talking to Vince.

  “Vince,” he yelled over pounding and the loud zing of nail guns.

  “It’s Hanna!” she yelled in return. “Do you know where Mackenzie and Ashton are? They didn’t show up here after school.”

  “Just a second.” Heavy bootsteps on wood and the sound of the nail guns subsided. “The kids haven’t shown up?”

  Her heart plummeted. They obviously weren’t with him. “No.”

  “Let me try Kenzie’s cell. I’ll call you right back.”

  Hanna continued to watch the second hand on the clock. It circled four and a half times before her cell rang. “They’re out on the lake fishing. I told them to get home.”

  “On the lake? In a boat?” What next? “God, if it’s not one thing it’s ten with that girl. Mackenzie may be allowed to run amuck, but Ashton has to be where he’s supposed to be when he’s supposed to be there.”

  “Hanna, stop. They didn’t ask my permission either. They should be at the bookstore in fifteen minutes or so. You need to calm down.” The line went silent.

  Hanna stared at the dead phone. He’d hung up on her? Her hands shook as she slid the phone back into her pocket. Ashton knew better than this. He knew the rules. But because Mackenzie didn’t have rules, Ashton didn’t think he had to follow his either.

  VINCE NO MORE THAN got out of the truck at Bluebonnet Books than Kenzie flew out the door. “She’s really, really ticked off this time.”

  Vince tossed his ball cap on the seat and slammed the door. “Did Ashton ask if he could go fishing?”

  “I don’t know. I just asked if he wanted to and he did.”

  “Well, you know better than to go out in that boat without telling me and you didn’t, so I’m figuring Ashton didn’t ask either.”

  Kenzie looked down. “Sorry.”

  “We’ll take that up at home.”

  Luckily there were no customers in the bookstore when Vince marched Kenzie in. Ashton sat in one of the chairs in the little coffee section, looking as if he’d lost his last friend. Which, if Hanna had her way after this, might not be far off the mark.

  When Hanna saw them enter, she walked up from the rear of the shop. “Mr. Keegan.”

  They were back to surnames? It was like Saturday hadn’t happened. Like she’d never let him kiss her. “Ms. Rosser.” Vince looked between the three angry faces. “Someone want to fill me in?”

  “Did I not make it clear enough that Ashton was not to try new things without first asking permission?”

  Vince forced his fists to unclench. “And I thought I made that clear to Kenzie. Obviously not.” He pegged Kenzie with a glare.

  Ashton stared at his sneakers and Kenzie tugged at her ball cap.

  Hanna looked as if she was going to blow a gasket as she turned her attack from him to her son. “You’re grounded, young man.”

  Ashton sneered. “For how long? I go to Dad’s for spring break this weekend, and you can’t ground me from that. It’s in the court papers. Besides, Saturday is my birthday.”

  “Maybe next time you’ll remember to ask permission.”

  “He’s not a baby,” Mackenzie interjected, yanking her pink cap off.

  “Mackenzie.” Vince shut her down.

  She jammed her cap back on her head and stood, sullen but quiet, to the side.

  Ashton jumped to his feet and kicked the chair. “I didn’t ask because I knew you’d say no. You always say no. You don’t know how to say yes to anything. I’m tired of you treating me like a bab
y! I hate everybody calling me a nerd! I hate it here! Why do you keep ruining my life?” He grabbed his backpack off the chair and slammed out the door, the bell clanging in his wake.

  Kenzie grabbed her helmet and started after him, but Vince took the helmet out of her hand. “Make sure Ashton’s okay, then meet me at home. I’ll put your bike in the truck.”

  An eerie quiet engulfed the store in the absence of the kids. “Where’s Norma today?”

  “It’s her bridge day. Then she’s stopping to make a deposit at the bank, and she and a certain teller she knows will gossip for at least half an hour.” She looked up at the ceiling and blinked, returning to the issue at hand. “Vince, I can’t tolerate this!”

  “Settle down. I very clearly told Kenzie the rules.”

  Clasping her hands, Hanna dropped down in the chair Ashton had vacated. “How am I supposed to keep him safe if he won’t mind? I’ve never been a single parent. My whole life is upside-down and I’m expected just to know instinctively how to raise an adolescent boy. I don’t understand guys. They’re weird.”

  “Women are a little weird from our perspective, too, you know.” Vince squatted down in front of her and attempted to capture her gaze. “Is something else going on?”

  She scrubbed her hands down her face. “Ashton emailed his father pictures of the tubing trip. Richard called this morning demanding to know who you were. You and Mackenzie are in most of the pictures. As you can imagine, Ashton was excited to tell his dad about all the fun he had, and evidently your name came up. A lot. So now Richard thinks you and I are…”

  Vince couldn’t hide a grin. “The guy fooled around while you were married, then divorced you for a younger woman. What the hell business is it of his who I am or what you and I are to each other? Tell him to f—mind his own business.”

  As she shook her head, Hanna’s lips curved up. “That is exactly what I told him. But he feels it’s his business if another man is spending time with his son.”

  “Male ego.” Vince figured the guy was probably having second thoughts now that he could no longer control Hanna. “It has nothing to do with Ashton and everything to do with you. It’s fine that he’s moved on, but he sure as hell doesn’t want another man to have you.”