Maggie dumped the case next to the folding chairs and the plastic tub of cookies she’d already unloaded. Treasuring the feel of Oliver’s little hand clutching hers, she surveyed the pretty fenced park.
The official opening of the Cedar Ridge Puppy Park was scheduled for 10:00 a.m., and some pet owners and their dogs had already arrived to wait for the advertised celebration. A small grandstand, festooned with red, white and blue bunting, had been set up for the mayor’s speech. The local vet was offering free rabies vaccinations, a photographer was setting up a backdrop to photograph people’s pets, and another vendor was busy unboxing colorful dog toys. At Maggie’s suggestion, Angelo’s had signed on to offer free bottled water and cookies to all comers.
For once, Angelo had given in without the usual fuss, agreeing that it would be good publicity and Oliver would enjoy watching the dogs. Then, in an all-too-casual tone, he’d asked if “that teacher fellow” would be going along, too. When Maggie had shot him a suspicious look, he’d hastily pointed out that the coolers would be heavy. She’d need help carrying them.
Well, that was true enough—the filled coolers weighed a ton. They were waiting in the van. Angelo had made her promise not to try to unload them herself.
In the meantime, she’d get the tent set up. The temperature was predicted to climb into the nineties, and they’d need the shade. Maggie loosened the ties of the vinyl pouch and pulled out the instructions.
Fifteen minutes later, when the green monster fell on her head for the fourth time, she dropped to the ground beneath it with a frustrated yell.
“Simple three-step process, my foot!”
“Maggie?” Neil lifted a corner of the collapsed tent and peered under it. “You all right?”
She stared grimly back at him. Oliver stood beside his hero, grinning from ear to ear.
“Tent go boom!” he announced. “Whoa!”
Neil grinned. “You said it, Oliver. Come on, Maggie.Let’s get you out of there.” Shoving the tangled metal supports and fabric aside, he reached to help her up from the damp grass.
Her heart gave a skip at his touch, which compounded her irritation.
Down, girl, she told herself firmly. None of that allowed. Remember?
“This tent is defective,” she announced with a frustrated grimace. “I followed the instructions to the letter, but it won’t stay up.”
“Then let’s forget the instructions and see if we can figure this out on our own.” Neil examined the collapsed tent. “Looks like we just need to get the legs positioned and push the top up.”
“I tried that.”
“Really? Well, let me take a shot at it.” Quickly, he pulled the four legs into position and ducked under to fiddle with the center of the tent.
Oliver started to follow, but Maggie snagged the straps of his little overalls and held him still. “Stay out here, sweetie,” she murmured when he protested. “The tent’s about to go boom again.”
“I heard that.” Neil’s answer was muffled under the droopy canopy. “Actually, I think I’ve got it. I just have to push this center piece straight...”
“Be careful with that one,” Maggie warned. “It—”
“Ouch!”
“—pinches,” she finished.
“This is a two-person job,” Neil said. “If we push all of these joints straight at the same time, it should pop right up. I need an extra pair of hands.”
“The ad promised this was a one-person job. Wait till they see the review I leave on this useless thing. Hang on a minute, Neil.” Maggie tugged over the plastic tub of cookies and patted its flat top. “Sit on this, Oliver, and you can see Neil and me make the tent go up. Or boom. Either way, it’ll be fun to watch. Okay?”
“Okay!” Oliver plopped his bottom obediently on the lid of the tub, his eyes wide with anticipation.
“Stay right there, sweetie. Neil, I’m coming in.” Maggie ducked beneath the fabric.
The space inside the half-collapsed tent was dim and smelled overpoweringly of new vinyl. Neil stood in the middle, his head poking against the top of the fabric as his hands explored one of the folding hinges. The sunlight filtering through the fabric gave his skin a greenish tint, and his glasses had slid to the end of his nose. He squinted through the lenses, his perspiring brow wrinkled with concentration.
Not anybody’s best look, so there was no logical reason at all for Maggie’s heart to be doing all kinds of gymnastics as she edged closer.
It did them anyway.
“I owe you an apology.” He cut her a sideways glance, a corner of his mouth tipping up ruefully. “I don’t know why I thought I had a better shot at getting this up than you did. When they passed out know-how on putting stuff together, I must’ve been camped out in the remembering-useless-historical-trivia department. I stink at this stuff.”
A man who’d admit when he wasn’t good at something. Maggie’s heart did another round of acrobatics, and her stomach added a slow flip and roll, sending an explosion of girlie flutters all the way up to her throat.
Neil Hamilton might be her kryptonite.
She’d spent the first half of her childhood dodging her mother’s boyfriends—angry, insecure men who had plenty of weaknesses but never admitted to them. She’d spent the second half with three tight-lipped foster brothers, boys who’d come to Ruby’s house from unimaginably hard places. She loved each of them beyond reason, but more than once, their testosterone-fueled chest beating had driven her to spray them down with the garden hose.
And then run for dear life.
But this guy, who tossed off jokes about his lack of mechanical abilities and his absentmindedness? Neil, with his smudged glasses and his rumpled hair, who had a soft spot for stray cats? This quiet man with the pain etched deeply into his face, who’d open his door to women and screaming toddlers in the wee hours of the night?
He was a different matter altogether.
Since the minute Oliver had entered her life, she’d been determined to keep her focus on him. She had no time for romance, but right now she was finding Neil... What was the word her fuddled brain was looking for?
Irresistible.
God, please. I can’t fall for Neil Hamilton. I know Ruby’s been pestering You about my love life, but let’s be reasonable. He’s all bookish and serious and brilliant, and I cry over sappy commercials and bake cookies for a living. Besides, he’s obviously carrying a lot of baggage, and my chances to adopt Oliver are shaky enough as it is. The last thing I need right now is a fixer-upper boyfriend. Help a girl out here.
“Let’s give this a shot,” Neil said, interrupting her frantic prayer. “You push those two hinges straight. I’ll get these two, and we’ll see what happens. On three. One...two...three!”
Maggie pushed up with all her might. She heard a snap, and then the entire tent collapsed completely around them. The folding supports whopped her firmly on the back, propelling her forward. She stumbled against Neil’s chest, and his arms went around her, steadying her.
“Well,” he murmured, “that did not go according to plan.”
Maggie blinked at him. She was standing way too close, so close she could smell the spicy scent of his shampoo. For the life of her, she couldn’t think of even one reasonably coherent thing to say.
“Sorry.” His mouth quirked up at the edges. “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
She didn’t answer. Her brain had spiraled into full-blown overload. She and Neil were enclosed in a misty green envelope, and the rest of the world had just... vanished. She looked up at him mutely.
His eyes crinkled behind his crooked glasses, but then, as their gazes held, the humor ebbed from his face. As the seconds edged into a long moment, the friendliness in his expression was replaced by something that made her hammering heart shift into an entirely different gear.
“Maggie.” The las
t functioning bit of her brain registered that his voice sounded a little ragged around the edges. “Maggie, I—”
A wash of blinding light made both of them blink. Maggie’s brother Logan peered under the edge of the sagging tent.
“You all right, Mags?” Logan’s sharp gaze shifted between Maggie and Neil. “I saw the tent go down, and I came over to check on you. Don’t just stand there. It’s like an oven under this thing. Come out before you have a heatstroke.” He grabbed Maggie’s arm and tugged her into the open.
Neil followed, batting the heavy material out of the way. Once both of them were clear, Logan released the tent, which toppled onto the grass.
“Whoa!” Oliver observed from his seat on the cooler. The little boy’s eyes were as big as saucers.
“I’ve got to agree with you, buddy. That was definitely a whoa-worthy moment.” Neil’s eyes met Maggie’s, and for a split second, she wondered if he was talking about the tent collapse or something else. He turned to survey the crumpled canopy. “I think I broke it.”
“Looks that way.” Logan scanned Neil from head to toe with what the family called his law-and-order look on his face. In another minute, he’d be asking to see some ID. Maggie cleared her throat. Logan’s gaze cut to her, and his right eyebrow lifted.
What’s going on here? She heard the question as plainly as if Logan had spoken aloud.
Caught between Neil and her brother, Maggie felt annoyingly flustered. She forced a smile. “I think it was broken when I got it.”
“If it wasn’t, it is now,” Logan drawled. She sent him a dirty look, but her brother paid no attention. He crossed his muscled arms over the tan sheriff’s uniform. “You must be Hamilton.”
“Neil.” He extended his hand. Maggie’s eyes narrowed when Logan waited a few seconds before accepting the courtesy.
“Logan Carter. I’m Maggie’s overprotective big brother. One of ’em, anyway.”
“And the county sheriff,” Neil observed. Maggie gave him credit. Unlike most people, he didn’t seem intimidated by Logan.
“That’s right.” Logan’s expression didn’t soften. “What are you doing here today, Hamilton, besides knocking down tents on top of my sister’s head?”
“Helping,” Maggie said clearly. Judging from the look on Logan’s face, she’d better get back in this conversation before he challenged Neil to an arm-wrestling contest or something equally foolish. “Speaking of that.” She rummaged in her purse and pulled out her key ring. “Would you mind bringing the coolers of water over from the van, Neil?”
“Sure.” He took the key and started toward the parking lot. Oliver jumped up and followed. Maggie watched as Neil took the toddler’s hand, slowing his pace so Oliver could keep up.
“Tent went boom,” Oliver said cheerfully.
“Yep,” Neil agreed. “Turns out I’m not so good at tents, buddy.”
“That’s okay,” Oliver reassured him earnestly, and Neil tousled the little boy’s hair.
They looked awfully sweet together, and Maggie’s heart did another round of somersaults. She glanced up to find Logan studying her.
“Uh-oh,” he murmured. “I smell trouble.”
She shot him a warning look. “Didn’t Ruby tell you about Neil helping me with Oliver?”
“She told me, yeah. She also hinted that something else was brewing. I figured that was just wishful thinking, but looks like maybe she was right.” He glanced toward the parking area and frowned. “Isn’t he some kind of professor? Not exactly the kind of guy you usually get gooey over.”
“He’s a high school teacher, and I’m not—” Maggie stopped short. She’d been about to say she wasn’t going gooey over anybody, but as of a few minutes ago, that wasn’t technically true. And she never lied to Logan, not even about small things.
Never ever.
All of Ruby’s HTPs had scars, and over the years, they’d learned to step carefully around each other’s wounded places. Maggie’s sensitive spot involved food.
Logan’s had to do with the truth.
Dishonesty had destroyed Logan’s childhood, so as an adult, he was scrupulously truthful, and he demanded the same level of honesty from those closest to him. In his mind, there were no shades of gray when it came to lies, and he was better than a bloodhound at sniffing them out. Maggie had learned that the hard way, growing up, when she’d seen the hurt in her beloved brother’s eyes over a little fib she’d told him. It had taken three months before she’d been back in his good graces.
She’d never made that mistake again.
So instead of protesting, Maggie went silent. Logan watched her closely for a minute, then sighed.
“You know about this guy’s past?”
Maggie flashed him a warning look. “Logan, did you run some kind of police check on Neil?”
“Nope. Wouldn’t be right to use the county’s resources for personal business.”
“Good.”
“But I did call the sheriff’s office in the town where he used to live and asked a few friendly questions, off the record.”
“Logan!”
“You’re my sister, Mags. This kind of stuff comes with my job description. Anyway, you can relax. The guy’s clean as a whistle. He’s carrying some baggage, though. It’s bad, but it’s not criminal. He hasn’t talked to you about it?”
“No.”
“And you haven’t asked. Because if you did, then maybe he’d ask you some questions, too, huh?” Logan shook his head. “It’s no good putting stuff like that off. If this has any possibility of going anywhere—”
“It doesn’t.”
“Come on, Mags. I saw some pretty intense sparks shooting around under that tent. You can’t tell me you don’t feel something for this guy.”
“How I feel doesn’t matter.” When Logan snorted, Maggie lifted her chin and stared him down. “It doesn’t. Oliver’s adoption is my only priority right now, and I’m not going to run any risks of messing that up. I don’t have room in my life at the moment for any...complications.” She glanced toward the parking lot. The last thing she needed was for Neil to overhear this conversation. “Just drop it, okay?”
Her brother sighed. “I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“And I appreciate it. But I’m not sixteen anymore, and I don’t need your help managing my personal life.”
“Maybe not, but from the look of that tent, I’d say you could still use a little help from me, sis. Tell you what. Put me some of those cookies in a bag, and I’ll see if I can get this thing up for you.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
* * *
Neil set the ice chest down to unlatch the gate to the dog park. He ushered Oliver through, pondering the complicated mechanics involved in shepherding a two-year-old through a busy parking lot. How did parents figure out this stuff every day? The last ten minutes had caused him more anxiety than writing his thesis.
Oliver bounced impatiently on the grass as Neil picked up the heavy cooler. The toddler caught his eye and grinned.
Neil grinned back. Okay, there were some pretty impressive perks, especially when the kid was as all-around great as Oliver.
The toddler had insisted on “helping” and was clutching a bottle of water in each hand. A playful breeze ruffled his hair, standing it on end. For today’s excursion, Maggie had dressed him in denim shorty overalls with a blue-and-red-striped top. The bib of the overalls had a dog embroidered on it, and the socks peeking above the tiny tennis shoes sported paw prints.
Those details had Maggie written all over them. The woman loved a theme. He imagined her carefully coordinating Oliver’s outfit for today while puppy-shaped cookies baked in the oven. And then getting up this morning and taking the time to stencil a little paw print on her own cheek.
It was a cute touch, but it wouldn’t last the day.
After the tent had collapsed around them, when she’d been standing so close, he’d seen it was already starting to smudge at the edges. Of course, that was before she’d looked straight into his eyes. After that, everything had blurred and he’d been past noticing details. And when she’d stumbled against him under the fallen tent, when he’d reached out to steady her, for one moment, he’d come close to doing something profoundly foolish.
The truth was, if Maggie’s brother had shown up about two seconds later, he’d have found Neil kissing his sister. Neil hadn’t come that close to kissing a woman in a long while, and it had left him feeling unsettled.
And maybe a little disappointed.
Okay. A lot disappointed.
He had no idea what to do with that.
Back in the park, Neil set the cooler on the grass. Logan was fiddling with the metal tent supports and muttering under his breath. The sheriff made some mysterious adjustment, and the tent blossomed into its proper shape.
“Yay!” Maggie applauded. “You did it!”
Yeah, Neil thought wryly. No thanks to me.
Normally, his lack of manly mechanical abilities didn’t bother him, but he couldn’t help wishing he’d been the guy to put that smile on Maggie’s face.
Logan stepped back to survey his work. “I’ll tack it down so it won’t blow away, and hopefully it won’t fall on your heads. But get ready to order another one, Mags. This thing’s a piece of junk. If it survives the day, I’ll be surprised.”
Neil went to examine the tent. “What was I doing wrong?”
“Nothing.” The other man pointed to the center. “That hinge right there was bent funny, probably happened when they shipped it. I just straightened it, that’s all.”
Lost and Found Faith Page 12