The cold, wet touch at the back of her knee shocked a soft squeal out of her. Startled, she practically jumped into Nick’s arms as she glanced over her shoulder at the dog who’d crouched almost flat to the floor at Darcy’s sudden movement.
Nick’s warm chuckle against her ear made Darcy realize she’d practically climbed him like a kitten up a tree in her need to escape. “Well, I wanted you back in my arms, but I can’t say this is what I had in mind.”
With fear giving way to embarrassment, she hid her face in the crook of his shoulder and thought she just might stay there until he asked her to move. “I’m sorry.”
She took another moment to memorize the feel of Nick’s arms around her waist, his chest pressed to hers and their legs tangled together in a closer embrace than if they’d been slow dancing on a darkened, intimate dance floor. Finally, she took a cautious step away, keeping Nick between her and the dog still watching warily from a few feet away. “She startled me.”
“I think that goes both ways.” He knelt down again by the dog, reaching out a hand to let her sniff him before glancing back up at Darcy. “You haven’t named her yet?”
“Not yet. With the puppies, it was easy. They didn’t already have names. But you said she’s around two, right? Somewhere along the way she had to have had a home, a name.”
“I always thought a new name was fitting. New name, new start.” He’d lowered his voice to a deep, mesmerizing murmur as his fingers disappeared into the dog’s thick fur, and Darcy could see the tension start to flow away as the animal’s two-tone eyes watched Nick with a look of complete trust.
“I’d like to keep her, but I don’t know if it would be fair.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, look at her. She’s ready to melt.” Not that she blamed the dog. If Nick sank his hands into her hair and massaged her scalp, she’d be ready to sink down to the floor at his feet, too. “She deserves someone like you. Someone who isn’t afraid.”
“Here.” Nick held out a hand. “You’re perfectly safe.”
Had anyone else urged her closer, Darcy’s first instinct would have been to take a huge step backward. But his open palm and outstretched arm drew her toward him without even touching her, and when she was close enough for him to take her hand, she knew. She was safe.
As she sank down to her knees beside Nick, he quietly said, “See how still she is now? Like she’s braced for something bad to happen?”
Looking closely, Darcy nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Well, that’s all coming from you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Can’t you feel how tense you are? You arms? Your shoulders? I think you’ve left a permanent imprint on my hand.”
Good thing she kept her nails short, or she might have drawn blood. Darcy forced her grip to relax. “Oh, my gosh. I am so sorry.”
“I know you’re afraid. But you’ve been carrying that fear around for years. Don’t you think it’s time to let go?”
She didn’t know if she heard a hint of challenge in Nick’s words, but there or not, she accepted it. She could do this. Reaching out a trembling hand, she touched the dog’s back. She felt the flinch of muscle and her breath caught on a silent gasp.
Only...nothing happened. The dog didn’t growl or snap or bite. She didn’t even move as Darcy explored the short, smooth texture of her coat. After a few minutes, the dog turned her head and before Darcy had a chance to be afraid, took a quick, wet lick of her wrist. And Darcy laughed. A little shakily, maybe, but it was a laugh all the same.
Nick grinned at her. “We might make a dog lover out of you yet.” He rose to his feet and pulled her with him.
Maybe it was the nerves still jumping through her stomach at taking the small step at conquering her fear or maybe it was the sight of that easy, relaxed smile on Nick’s face, but Darcy was feeling somewhat invincible. It was the only reason she could come up with for charging so boldly ahead.
“You know, it’s funny.”
“What?”
“Everything you just said about being afraid and letting go of the past... It’s kind of what I’ve been wanting to say to you.”
His recoil might not have been as obvious as hers, but Darcy could still sense that she’d caught him off guard. Rushing ahead before she lost her nerve, she said, “I’ve been afraid, too, you know. Coming here was about making a new start, but that also meant making some mistakes. Still, I’m willing to keep trying. Are you?”
“It’s not so easy to forget about the past or to ignore the future when you have a child. I know I probably sound like a total hypocrite—”
“You sound like a father. Like a caring, loving father. I wouldn’t expect anything less. And I’m not a single parent, but I know a thing or two about being raised by one.”
“So did your mother manage to have it all? To raise a child and still have some kind of social life?”
“No. She just had me. She always joked that when she was in her golden oldies, she’d find her dream guy in a retirement home. A couple of gray-hairs madly in love.”
Instead Alanna had died before more than a strand or two of gray touched her dark hair. Her mother’s death had taught Darcy that she could plan all she wanted for tomorrow, but it was best to take advantage of today.
“I know Maddie will always be your first priority. All I’m asking is, do you think there could be room for something more? More than just being her dad?”
“Darcy—” The loud blast from the SUV’s horn interrupted, and Nick closed his eyes but not before she saw a hint of relief in his dark gaze. “We should go.”
Ignoring her own disappointment and the worry that his silence might be an answer in itself, she joked, “Saved by the horn.”
She stopped to grab her purse off the couch in the living room and met Nick at the front door. He paused with his hand on the knob and turned to face her. “I want to say yes,” he blurted out. “More than you can probably imagine. I want to say I can have more, we can have more, but it’s hard to do when my daughter’s leaning on the horn because I’ve made her wait five whole minutes.”
The simmering frustration just beneath the surface went a long way to easing Darcy’s disappointment. “It’s okay, Nick.”
“It’s not,” he argued, stubbornly resisting her efforts to let him off the hook. “You deserve better.”
“For now, I think it’s enough to know we both want more.”
Chapter Ten
Stepping inside the Pirelli home, Darcy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If the food tasted half as good as it smelled, dinner would be better than anything she’d had in the restaurants where Aaron liked to be seen. Already the atmosphere was an improvement over those trendy, overpriced places.
The front door opened from a wide, welcoming porch into a comfortable living room complete with floral couches and matching armchairs huddled around a rug spread over hardwood floors. Dozens of framed photographs lined a brick fireplace mantel and a large family portrait hung as a proud focal point above it.
This, she knew, was home.
Not the temporary fixer-uppers she and her mother had shared for a few months at a time before moving on, but a permanent, lasting home filled with history and memories and love. She wondered briefly if Nick knew how lucky he was to have such a solid, stable foundation, but a quick glance at his relaxed smile gave her an answer.
“Darcy!”
Sophia, Nick’s sister, appeared in the doorway and rushed toward her as if it had been years rather than weeks since they’d seen each other. Her short mahogany hair was tucked behind her ears and, in a white sundress trimmed in eyelet lace, she looked as happy as a bride-to-be should. Darcy didn’t know if it was a pregnancy glow or a “madly in love” glow, but her friend looked positively radiant. Her dark eyes glittered as she looked between Darcy and Nick. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Jeez, kid, guess you and I are chopped liver,” Nick muttered to his daughter, who shot him
a confused frown.
“Huh?”
“Of course I’m happy to see you, too.” Sophia stretched on her tiptoes to kiss her eldest brother’s cheek and then bent to hug her niece. “I’m just happy.” She beamed.
Darcy glanced at Nick, who spun his finger in a circle at his temple with a pointed look at his sister. “Bridal fever,” he mouthed silently.
Fighting laughter, she elbowed him in the ribs and asked Sophia, “Did you have a good trip?”
“I did! In fact, I can’t wait to tell you all about it.”
Latching on to Darcy’s wrist, Nick’s small but surprisingly strong sister started trawling her toward the living room doorway. “The guys are out back, Nick. We’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”
Darcy glanced back at Nick helplessly, but he simply shrugged and left her to fend for herself. They were barely out of earshot in the dining room when the other woman whispered, “Oh, my gosh! You and Nick! I never would have imagined that. You and Sam, sure. Even Drew but—”
“Sophia, stop! Please,” Darcy protested. “Nick and I ran into each other at the store, and I think I offended your family’s Italian heritage with my choice of frozen ravioli. Nick took pity on me and invited me to dinner.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sophia deadpanned. “Why else would he invite you to dinner? Pity, that’s gotta be it.” She crossed her arms over her expanding waistline and waited silently for Darcy to crack, but she held firm.
Finally Sophia lowered her arms. “Fine. But I really hope there’s more to the story because I think you’re exactly what Nick needs. Someone who can shake things up a bit, knock some of the rust off.”
It was a tall order, especially since Darcy wasn’t so sure Nick wanted all that shaking and knocking going on in his life.
“Somehow I doubt he’d agree with you on that.”
“Don’t be so sure. After Jake and I got engaged, Nick kind of hinted that he was ready to start dating again.”
“He did?” Darcy asked in surprise. How did that fit in with Nick’s “single father first” rule?
Sophia nodded. “Of course, I figured he’d try to find a woman from Clearville. Someone small town. Someone just like him, in other words.”
“That’s what Nick wants?”
A woman like Debbie Mattson? Darcy wondered, remembering Nick’s odd reaction when his daughter mentioned the blonde baker’s name.
“No. No!” Realizing how Darcy had taken her words, Sophia reached out and gave her arm an encouraging squeeze. “That’s what he thinks he wants.”
“I’m not sure I understand the difference.” Not when everything Sophia thought Nick wanted was everything Darcy wasn’t.
“He thinks he wants someone safe, someone who won’t go to his head or make him risk his heart. But he’d never be happy with someone like that. Not head-over-heels happy the way he deserves to be.”
Still mulling over Sophia’s words, she followed the other woman into the kitchen.
“I don’t think you’ve met my mom,” Sophia said.
Vanessa Pirelli stood at the island, cutting French bread into thick slices. Her brown hair was styled in a sleek bob with a strand or two of gray showing through. Faint wrinkles fanned out from her green eyes when she smiled, the expression lighting her whole face. She was lovely in a natural, welcoming way, and just as her house had spoken so clearly of home, Vanessa was a woman who embraced the word family.
“Mrs. Pirelli, it’s nice to meet you.”
It was silly to be nervous, Darcy told herself as she reached for the older woman’s hand. She had every reason to believe Mrs. Pirelli would be as gracious and welcoming as her daughter. But as Darcy met her gaze, she silently admitted how much she wanted Vanessa Pirelli to like her.
“Oh, please, call me Vanessa. I’ve been meaning to stop by and say hello and welcome you to town, but with Sophia’s engagement and the wedding to plan—” She cut herself off, almost as if she had too much on her mind to complete a whole sentence.
“Believe me, I certainly understand that you’ve had your hands full,” Darcy said, touched the woman would have even thought of reaching out to her at a time when her family had so much going on.
“From what I’ve heard, you’ve been pretty busy, too.”
Darcy’s good feeling evaporated like morning fog in the noonday sun. You’ve been busy. It sounded like an innocuous comment, but it was also the kind of vague, subtle remark her ex’s mother had excelled at. Those cool, polite comments would leave Darcy’s head spinning as she tried to figure out the meaning behind the words.
Aaron swore she was imagining things and that his mother was doing nothing more than making conversation. And Darcy had convinced herself Aaron was simply blind to his mother’s faults. Far too late did she realize how clearly he saw things through his mother’s eyes.
But Vanessa’s gaze was straightforward and direct as she added, “I’ve heard about the remodeling going on at the space you’ve rented, and from what our local mailman tells me, you have so many packages arriving each day, he feels like he’s in the middle of the Christmas rush.”
Darcy’s immediate sense of relief was followed by an equally powerful feeling of shame. What was she thinking to compare Vanessa Pirelli to Barbara Utley? The two women couldn’t have been any less alike!
“I have been busy at the shop, but I really want to become a part of this town. Thank you for having me over tonight.”
“You’re welcome, and I’m sure you’re going to fit in just fine. But remember, we take things a little slower around here. Give it some time.” Vanessa glanced over at her daughter, who’d circled the island to slather garlic-infused butter over the pieces of bread she’d already sliced. “Sophia and I were talking earlier, and I realized that I knew your mother.”
“You did?” In an evening of surprises, this was yet another she hadn’t seen coming. As Vanessa said, time did go by more slowly in small towns, but it had been nearly thirty years since her mother had lived in Clearville, and somehow Darcy hadn’t expected anyone to still remember Alanna. Sometimes it felt as if she was the only one to remember her mother at all.
“I used to babysit her when I was a teenager and she was a little girl. I can see a lot of her in you.” Circling the island, Vanessa took Darcy’s hands. Compassion brimmed in her eyes. “Sophia told me that she passed away recently. I am so sorry.”
The unexpected touch and heartfelt sympathy brought the ache of tears to her throat. Losing her mother had been hard. So, too, was the fact that Darcy had so few people to share in her grief. In many ways, she and her mother were alike. With all the moving they’d done together, neither of them had searched outside their tight-knit mother-daughter unit for close friendships.
They’d always had acquaintances, but those casual relationships had fallen away during the long months when Alanna was struggling to recover from the accident and Darcy was spending as much time as she could by her mother’s side. How different life would have been if she and her mother had moved back to Clearville sooner!
“Thank you,” she said huskily. “I miss her every day.”
“You might not have been born here, but this is where you’re from. So let me be the first to welcome you home, Darcy Dawson.”
* * *
As Maddie ran over toward the swings where her grandfather had promised to push her “super high,” Nick joined his brothers and future brother-in-law at a weathered picnic table that had seen its share of family gatherings. His brother Drew and Jake Cameron sat on benches facing each other, while Sam leaned against the table, one foot braced on a cooler.
The three of them fell silent as he approached, but Nick doubted he’d be lucky enough for the reprieve to last. Sam kicked open the cooler and reached inside for a beer that he tossed to Nick.
“Damn, Nick. Ten years hasn’t slowed you down at all, has it? You still move fast.”
Nick frowned at his youngest brother. “What are you talking about, Sam?”
“Darcy! You’ve been seeing her how long and you’re already bringing her home to meet the parents?”
Meet the parents...
“No. It’s not— No! It’s just dinner.”
“Yeah, right. Just dinner.” Sam tipped his beer in Jake’s direction. “You were here how long before you and Sophia got engaged?”
“Couple of weeks,” he responded with a slightly apologetic shrug at Nick.
“See?” Sam said. “Your days are numbered.”
As much as Nick loved both of his brothers, from the time Sam had been born, he’d had the uncanny knack of getting under Nick’s skin. Even knowing his little brother purposely set out to annoy him didn’t keep him from being any less annoyed. “It’s one dinner,” he pointed out.
“Uh-huh. And how many family dinners did you and Carol have before you told everyone the two of you were getting married?” Sam challenged, his smug smile revealing he knew the answer as well as Nick did. By the time Nick brought Carol to meet his family, they were already engaged. Their announcement to his family after dessert had been only a formality.
“That’s not the same thing,” he argued. “Carol and I had been dating for a few months before I brought her home.”
With Carol in San Francisco and Nick in Clearville, seeing each other hadn’t been easy. He often thought the logistics of him spending weekends with her at her apartment or both of them traveling to meet at some midpoint location would have soon ended their long-distance relationship. But before their desire for each other had a chance to flicker out, the hotel where Carol worked had been bought by another company. Staying on would have meant a transfer to New Orleans and a sudden, unexpected end to their affair.
Not wanting to lose her, he’d proposed. Not wanting to move to New Orleans, she’d accepted.
Taking a swig of beer, Nick tried to wash away some of the bitterness. He didn’t think that was the only reason Carol had married him, but the loss of her job had certainly been part of it. Later on, she’d regretted giving up her career, blaming him even for being stuck in Clearville when she could have been letting the good times roll in Louisiana.
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