Her whole life she’d dreamed of finding a man like that. Just one. If only to prove to herself better men than Tony and her father existed. Fathers who loved their daughters instead of putting them down. Men who loved their wives and sisters, who protected them instead of hurting them. Could Nic be that man?
She’d never know unless she tried. He’d been kind to them. At the very least, he deserved a chance to prove himself. She also wanted more for Lacey. Living with Nic, Lacey would have Ella have to play with, and it would give Anna a real shot at getting back on her feet. A shot at creating the life she wanted for Lacey.
Shaking, she drew a deep breath, met Nic’s gaze, and set her palm in his. “Okay.”
His face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Thank you.” He brought her hand up and pressed a kiss into her palm, once, twice, then flashed another one of his ever-present smiles. “Thank you. Now, go take a shower. Use all my hot water. I’ll keep an eye on the girls.”
Chapter Four
Nic sat at the kitchen table an hour later, nursing a cup of coffee. Anna shut the shower off a half hour ago, but waiting for her to come downstairs tied his stomach into a thousand knots. Despite trying to keep his focus on what he needed to accomplish for the day, his mind kept backtracking to the look on her face when she’d walked into the bathroom. Of all things he’d expected to find on her face, desire hadn’t been one of them.
Anna appeared in the kitchen entrance, but instead of coming in, she once again stopped there. She clasped her hands in front of her, her gaze wide and wary, clearly uncomfortable. Wanting her to smile and relax, he tossed her his friendliest grin. “Feel better?”
She nodded, but her gaze skirted away as quickly as it made contact. “Much. You have a terrific water heater.”
“I’m glad. We’ll be heading over to my brother’s house this morning. Since Nonna died, his wife watches the girls while we’re at the restaurant. Liz brings them in every once a while. Ella likes seeing me at work. I’ll see if Liz wouldn’t mind watching Lacey, too. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to tell Luc the truth. About you, I mean.”
Her gaze searched his for a moment. “Do you trust him?”
He nodded. “With my life.”
She drew her lower lip into her mouth and stood gnashing it between her teeth. Unbearable silence filled the room as he waited her out. If he wanted her trust, he had to play this at her speed.
Finally, she gave a decisive nod. “All right.”
Another step in the right direction. Her acceptance meant she was relaxing at least a little. Maybe someday, she’d actually smile at him.
“Thank you.” He stood and crossed the kitchen, grabbing his keys and wallet off the counter. “Come on. We can take my car.”
Anna’s eyes widened, something akin to panic flitting through her gaze. She gave an emphatic shake of her head and stepped back.
“No.” Just as suddenly as the panic had come, she drew her shoulders back and hiked her chin a notch. “I’d rather drive myself. Lacey and I will follow you.”
As far as they’d come in the last fourteen hours, he still had a long ways to go. He nodded. “It’s not far. Other side of town.”
• • •
“Hello, hello!” Nic pushed open Luc’s front door and stepped across the threshold. Behind him, Anna waited with Lacey on the covered porch. She looked around her, turning her head left and right, as if she expected someone to jump out of the bushes at her.
“We’re in the kitchen!” Luc called out down the hallway. Nine-month-old Samuel’s hearty giggle followed. Luc laughed.
On any other morning, the familiar sights and sounds would have filled Nic with purpose. This was as close to home as they’d get without their grandparents. Despite what he’d told Anna, he wasn’t looking forward to explaining her and Lacey to Luc. Luc had been there through his entire relationship with Jen. Had been his confidant when she left. If he knew Luc at all, his big brother would have hard questions about Anna. Ones Nic wasn’t sure he wanted to look too closely at yet.
Liz’s golden retriever bounded down the hallway, his nails clipping the hardwood floors.
“Hey, Bruce.” Nic reached out a hand, but the dog ignored him and bounded toward Lacey and Ella.
The girls giggled as Bruce greeted them by lathering their cheeks with kisses, his rear-end swishing back and forth with his excitement.
Nic turned to smile at Anna. “This is Bruce. He loves kids.”
“Ah.” She gave a vague nod.
The awkward tension hadn’t let up yet. Why the hell it bothered him so much, he didn’t want to ponder.
He turned and focused instead on why they’d come in the first place. He had to work. The restaurant wouldn’t open itself. Okay, so it would, because Luc’s sous chef, Samantha Rhodes, would get there before everyone, but still. He had to be Anna’s boss today and a friend.
No sooner had he ushered them inside and closed the door than Liz poked her head around the kitchen doorframe, her auburn hair falling forward over her shoulder. “Morning, Nicky.”
He grinned. “You’re the only person who gets away with calling me that, you know.”
Liz smiled, mischief dancing in her eyes. “Good. Have you had breakfast?”
His four-year-old niece, Alyssa, came skipping around the corner. With shoulder-length brown curls and big, chocolate eyes, she looked like a smaller version of Luc. She threw herself against his legs and squeezed him tightly.
He laughed quietly and stroked her hair. “How you doing, sweetheart?”
She tipped her head back, flashing him a sweet smile. “Daddy made pancakes.”
She had them every morning for breakfast. They were her favorite, and Luc indulged her. When Luc had first gained custody of her, food had helped them bond. “Did you have ’em with bananas or chocolate chips today?”
“Peanut butter!” Catching sight of the girls behind him, Alyssa’s grin melted from her face. Her gaze darted to his, full of wariness. “Who’s that?”
Nic wrapped an arm around her back and turned sideways. “I brought friends. This is Anna and Lacey. Anna’s coming to work at the restaurant.”
Alyssa nodded and turned to study Ella and Lacey again. Apparently having made her decision, she moved around him and stopped in front of them. She regarded Lacey carefully for a moment before holding her hands out to both girls. When Lacey actually reached back, letting Alyssa lead her wordlessly up the hallway toward the kitchen, Nic released a breath he wasn’t aware of holding.
He darted a glance at Anna. “That’s my brother’s girl. She’s kind of shy and quiet. I hoped she’d take to Lacey, and I’m glad to see she did.”
Anna turned her head, studying him for a long moment, then nodded in the direction of the hallway behind him. “You and your brother are close. You didn’t knock before you entered.”
He shrugged. “They don’t knock when they come to my house, either. We used to do this with Nonna every morning. Luc and I would drop the girls off before work and sit and have breakfast with her.”
Anna’s gaze softened. “How’d she die?”
“Went in her sleep. She took a nap one day and never woke up. Finding her that day had been a fluke. She’d been sick for a while. That morning, she hadn’t seemed like herself. She was quieter than usual and looked tired. It bugged me all day. Something in my gut told me I needed to be home, so I went to have lunch with Ella. When I got there, I found the girls playing in the living room by themselves. I found Nonna in her room.” He tried to shrug it off, but the familiar ache clutched at his chest. “At least she went peacefully.”
“You miss her.”
He wasn’t sure he’d ever stop. The restaurant kept going, life went on, but there was a gaping hole in their family now he and Luc both felt. “She was the only mother I’ve ever known.”
Something flitted through Anna’s gaze, there and gone before he’d caught what it had been. She reached out as if to touc
h him, but her hand paused in the air and she pulled it back, clutching both together. “You never tried to find your mother?”
Her innocent question made the long familiar ache throb again in his chest. Even twenty years later, he still couldn’t seem to let go of the events. He had no desire to relive emotions he couldn’t do anything about anyway, but Anna was talking. That was something. So he’d give her an honest answer.
“We hired someone to find her after Nonna died, to let her know, but she never came to the funeral. Besides. If she wanted to be a part of our lives, she easily could have found us, because we’re in the same place she left us.” He jerked his head in the direction of the hallway and tossed her a smile. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to Liz. You’ll like her.”
• • •
“Sooo … how’s life?” Luc leaned casually against the kitchen counter beside him and sipped at his coffee. His seemingly innocent question suggested he was about to make idle chitchat about the weather, but his tone meant his brother was going on a fishing expedition.
Nic pulled his gaze from Anna and Liz, who sat at the table on the other side of the kitchen, having fun with the kids. He darted a sideways glance at Luc. “Don’t start.”
“Like you let me off the hook when you discovered Liz and I were seeing each other?” Luc laughed quietly and nudged him with an elbow. “You haven’t taken an interest in a woman since Jen left. What’s different about this one?”
This was the conversation Nic loathed having. He didn’t know how to explain this woman. Or even if he wanted to look too closely at it. It didn’t help that Luc knew him so well. They’d never kept anything from each other. He, Luc, and their baby sister, Gia, had always been that way.
Neither could he explain this away. Fortunately, Luc’s particular question had an easy answer. “Beth must have let her into the restaurant last night. Anna said she desperately needed a job. She had no money, and when I pressed her, she admitted she had nowhere to stay. The motel in town was full.”
“That writers’ convention must be in town.”
“Mmm. She had plans to sleep in her car. I kept thinking Nonna wouldn’t have let her leave the restaurant, and in the end I decided neither could I.”
Luc looked sideways at him, one corner of his mouth hitched upward. “She got to you. Why her?”
Nic sighed. This question was all too easy to answer as well, and he couldn’t deny it. “It was the way she looked at me. She’s terrified of me. So’s Lacey. I stood up and her eyes went so wide I thought she’d turn around and run. That just doesn’t sit right with me.”
Luc cocked a single, dark brow. “And you’ve decided you’re going to be the one to save her?”
He turned his head, glaring at Luc. “I’m not trying to save her. I’m just giving her a leg up. She has a daughter, and summer ended early this year. The cold is already setting in. I can’t let them sleep in a car, for crying out loud.”
Luc smirked, nudging him again. “Uh-huh, and I only gave Liz cooking lessons.”
Nic rubbed the back of his neck. Hell. Luc had him there. “I think someone hit her.”
Luc’s expression sobered. He turned his gaze to dining table, staring for a moment. “You can’t fix her, you know. Sometimes, you have to let go and hope for the best.”
He didn’t have to ask to know where Luc was going with this conversation. His brother had always known what to say to get to the heart of the matter. He’d picked that little nuance up from Nonna. It was every bit as annoying coming from him. Damn it, Nic didn’t want to dissect this.
“She’s not a repeat of Jen. They needed help, and I had what they needed. She’ll be out once she finds her own place. It isn’t any more complicated than that.” His gut winding itself into even more knots, Nic pushed away from the counter. He crossed to the table, stopping behind Anna, and offered what he prayed was a friendly smile. “We should go. I want to get you set up with a uniform and introduce you to everybody before we open at eleven.”
• • •
Anna’s hands shook as she stood at the waitress station, surveying the dining room. Clean white walls, round tables topped with red tablecloths. Each table had a candle set inside a wine bottle, the various colored waxes having dripped down the sides. The walls were decorated with pictures of food, of people who looked like family. The homey feel of the place warmed her from the inside out.
She swallowed hard. Doing this job right might mean the difference between earning a permanent place here and Nic deciding he needed someone else. He could decide to can her like he had the last girl.
Beth came to a stop beside her and offered a smile. “Nervous?”
“Extremely.” Anna wrung her hands and met Beth’s gaze with a worried frown. “I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.”
Beth hooked an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll give you a few tips. Start with two tables at a time. Check on them often and be friendly. Fast, courteous service for the most part will keep people happy.”
Anna released her held breath. “Thank you.”
Beth winked. “We all have to start somewhere.” She turned to walk away then did an about-face. “Oh. Mr. Lombardi. He’s a regular. You’ll know him if you get him. Really cranky old guy. He’s very picky, and he wants lightning-fast service. We usually try to let Luc and Sam know so they can put a rush on his order. If you get it right, though, he’s a huge tipper.”
Two insane hours later, Anna offered the brightest, friendliest smile she could muster to the old couple at her table, thanked them for coming, and turned to head to the next. Perspiration dotted her brow and coated her entire body like someone had lit her on fire. She’d been running nonstop since the first customer arrived. Nic hadn’t been kidding when he said lunch would be busy.
She picked up empty glasses from her next table and headed for the drink station. As she refilled a glass with Coke, she darted a glance across the restaurant. Nic had been a permanent fixture in the dining room all afternoon. He currently schmoozed an old couple seated in a booth—the fourth couple in an hour whose order she’d managed to screw up. Yet Nic looked like he was having a conversation with old friends.
Waitressing wasn’t as easy it looked. Thanks to Beth, she had some semblance of what to do, but customers weren’t patient with her. They all had questions she hadn’t been able to answer. What’s in the Alfredo sauce? Which dish would she recommend? What were the daily specials? Does the tiramisu have nuts? Customers who appeared to be regulars—this she’d figured out because they all smiled and waved at Beth—put her through her paces.
She didn’t blame them, but it had made for a hectic morning. The thought of the dinner rush exhausted her.
It would be a long week.
Nic smiled at the couple at the table, patted the elderly gentleman on the shoulder, and pivoted on his heel. He strode in her direction like a man on a mission. As he passed behind her, he darted a glance in her direction. “When the rush is over and things calm down, tell Beth you’re taking a five-minute break and come see me in the office.”
Crap.
An hour later, the lunch rush finally broke and the restaurant emptied out to only a few customers. She picked up her tip from her last table, then found Beth ringing up an order at the wait station. She liked Beth. She looked to be her age, twenty-five or so, and she had a smile for everybody. Bright and bubbly, the customers adored her.
Beth tossed her a smile as Anna came to a stop beside her. “You did it. You survived your first rush.”
Anna sighed, her shoulders slumping in exhaustion. “Yeah, but I think I managed to tick off every customer in the place. All I had to do was pick them up and bring them to the tables, but I still managed to screw up so many orders. Luc is probably back there having a coronary.”
Beth leaned toward her, a conspiratorial sparkle in her gaze. “My first day, I ended up getting Mr. Lombardi. I screwed up everything, right down to his long list of customizations. Let me tell you, the man
is loud when he’s not happy. I actually argued with him and told him where he could stuff his pissy attitude.”
Anna covered her mouth to stifle her giggle. “You didn’t.”
Beth let out a soft laugh. “Oh, I did. I thought Nic would fire me.”
Anna swallowed past the thick paste forming in her throat. Oh God. She was getting fired for sure. “I’ve been summoned to the office.”
Beth pursed her mouth and shook her head. “Don’t sweat it. Nic’s a nice guy. I promise. You’re new in town. Most of these people have grown up together. They tend to treat outsiders with caution. They’re feeling you out. Treat them like friends you’ve had forever, and you’ll have them eating out of your hand in no time.” She picked up her drink tray, now loaded with three sodas, tossing a smile over her shoulder as she walked away. “Chin up!”
Anna drew a deep breath and turned to head for the office at the back of the restaurant. Halfway up the hallway leading to the office, she halted. No. She’d come to Angel Bay hoping to find a home, a place where Lacey could have friends for more than a few months at a time. Where Anna might start to feel safe again. She hadn’t even been here twenty-four hours yet, but so far, she loved this quaint little town. From Main Street, she could see the waters of Penn Cove stretching out for miles. Small, privately owned shops lined the downtown streets, all two blocks of it. They looked as if they’d been a fixture forever.
Seeing the town as she’d followed Nic to the restaurant this morning had filled her with a sense of rightness. Of peace. Even these cranky people were being protective of each other. If she became a part of the town, would they protect her and Lacey, too?
By the time she came to a stop in the office doorway, the decision had made itself. The time had come to start taking her life back, and it started with owning this job.
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