“And?” she prompted when his voice faded.
“And I like her,” Dean finally admitted, wondering again what it was about the females in this town that got him to speak so freely. “Not that it matters. She keeps turning me down. Says she’s busy.”
“Maybe she is.”
That was what Dean was afraid of. “Maybe she’s already got someone in her life keeping her busy.”
Rosey didn’t speak for a long moment, hesitancy playing across her features. His gut told him he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
“Well, I can tell you she is busy from now until the weekend is over,” she finally said. “I’m taking a road trip with my honey, which means Shelby will practically live at the bar.”
“Okay. That’s good to know.” But it didn’t explain why he had a sneaking suspicion she was going to say something else.
Rosey leaned forward, her voice a low whisper. “Don’t give up on her, Dean. For someone so young, Shelby’s been through...a lot. Tread lightly.”
Dean waited, but she just centered her helmet on her head and tightened the chin strap.
“That’s it? That’s all the advice you’re going to give me?”
Rosey gave him a bright smile. “You’re a smart guy. You’ll do just fine.”
She brushed past him and headed down the hall. Shaking his head, Dean went to Maggie’s office, giving a light knock on the door before entering.
“Dean!” Maggie Roarke, looking very lawyerly in a dark blue suit with her long blond hair pulled back in low ponytail, greeted him from a desk overflowing with paperwork. “Twice in one week. Must be something important to get you off the job site.”
Locking his thoughts about Shelby away for the moment, Dean concentrated on his reason for coming here. “Do you have a minute?”
Maggie waved at a nearby chair. “Sure. What’s up?”
“There’s a place in town called Country Kids. It’s a day-care center run by the Johnston sisters.” Dean mentally braced himself, knowing how Maggie loved to spew off facts about the local businesses.
“Yes, I know the place. The center is run by Suzie and Sara, twins who had seven kids under the age of five between them when they started the business. They decided an orderly setting was the best way to care for their kids and keep their sanity, especially after Sara’s husband was killed in a car accident when her youngest was just a few months old.” Maggie rattled off even more details than he’d known. “Thankfully, they’re north of the creek, so they suffered only the loss of their back fencing and a wet basement, but nothing drastic as they were in the process of a remodel anyway.”
Impressed, Dean decided to jump right in with what he was looking for. “That’s all true, and new fencing is in place, thanks to the parents who volunteered to help. Thankfully, the sisters were in the process of upgrading the fence and had the supplies on hand. But while they’ve got a big yard for the kids, I noticed there wasn’t a structure for them to play on.”
Maggie nodded. “I remember the assessment stated there were two swing sets out back, but they were washed away during the storm.”
“That’s what Sara told me when I stopped by Tuesday afternoon. Replacing them was part of the upgrade. They even have a new play set on order, currently sitting in a warehouse in Kalispell.”
“Dean, I know where this is going—”
“But they can’t pay the final invoice because they decided to waive any fees for the rest of the summer to help those in need,” Dean pushed on. “They know their kids’ families have enough to worry about without being concerned about child care.”
“Which is very commendable, but there’s no way we can justify that kind of purchase.” She rested one hand on the closest stack of folders. “There are just too many homes and businesses that need help first. Our biggest priority is the elementary school. You know how completely destroyed the building was by the flooding.”
Dean nodded. He and his family had spent their first two weeks here helping a large crew gut the brick building down to its steel interior framing. They’d had to empty the place of everything from damaged walls to desks to floor tiles. At the moment they were waiting on a structural inspection before any reconstruction work could begin.
That meant funding because the school needed new everything.
“The people here have been amazing about donating their time, resources and money,” Maggie continued, waving a piece of paper at him. “Rosey, the owner of the bar, just dropped off this personal check. No questions asked and no demands on how the money should be spent.” She tucked the check into a bank security bag. “Unlike some others.”
He knew exactly who she was talking about.
Nathan Crawford.
A member of the town council, he stepped in to lead the town after the mayor died of a heart attack during the storm. Dean hadn’t been too impressed with the man’s demeanor the few times they’d interacted. Nathan always seemed more interested in becoming the next mayor than helping. That and dictating how any private funds donated to the recovery were spent.
Not that Dean had a vote, but he figured Collin Traub was the better man for the job. Collin had been the only member of his large family around when the storm hit and had been instrumental in helping the town during the confusing days that followed.
It was only August, but the campaign was already causing a major power struggle in the town, because the Traubs and the Crawfords did not get along. Even more so now that Sutter Traub had decided to be his brother’s campaign manager.
Maggie leaned forward, her voice low. “Just between us, I’ve almost closed a deal with a national rescue organization called Bootstraps, where my cousin Lissa works. I’m going to have to head back to Los Angeles soon, but she is amazing and is trying very hard to get the town everything it needs, especially when it comes to getting the school back up and running.”
Dean remembered the school’s principal addressing the meeting on Monday with the news that the school year would start on schedule next month with the teachers agreeing to hold classes in their own homes because the high school, while not affected by the storm, was already overcrowded.
In light of all that, Dean guessed a simple play set was pretty insignificant. But not to those kids. Or the staff. “Okay, I get it. No additional funding is available.”
“I really wish we could help.” Maggie reached for her pen and made a note in the leather folder in front of her. “I’ll add the request for the play set to the list. If I get any donations earmarked specifically for child care I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Dean left the office, a bit deflated. There had to be a way to get that play set out of that warehouse and to the day-care center where it belonged. And not just because he wanted a project to keep his hands and mind off a certain pretty bartender.
He liked kids.
He liked seeing them happy.
Maybe because as a kid he’d been pretty unhappy.
School recesses were spent off playground equipment and trailing after his brothers, unable to keep up with their active sports schedules. Even roughhousing with them around the ranch had been tough. He’d been the one to stay behind, taking care of the horses while Nick and Cade had gone riding for hours with their dad. He’d helped his mom around the house when he could until his body would give out and he’d curl up on his bed with his books.
Even after everything changed and he was one 100 percent healthy, he still kept an eye out for kids, volunteering at a sports center for kids while in college and mentoring the local teens back in Thunder Canyon at ROOTS, a community outreach program.
Seeing the kids in the backyard, kind of walking around with not much to do, at the day-care center made him determined to not give up on this idea.
Climbing into his truck, he thought back to what Rosey had said about— Rosey! Of course! If she could write a check, whipping out his credit card to take care of the problem would be ea
sy.
Dean grabbed his phone and called Nick, thankful when it went to voice mail. “Hey, bro, I’m going to be out longer than I thought. Need to run a few errands, including heading down to Kalispell. I’ll stop by the clinic when I get back into town.”
* * *
Four days later and his savings account a bit lighter, Dean inspected Nick’s precision mortise-and-tenon joint construction. A staple at Pritchett & Sons Fine Woodworking by all the men, he had to admit his brother had a way with a chisel and a mallet.
Not to mention the rest of the tools needed to put together the play set that sat amid a sea of rubberized wood chips in the backyard of the Country Kids Day Care.
A play set that would allow hours of climbing, swinging and sliding fun for the kids. Many of whom had their faces pressed against the windows on this early Monday morning.
After stopping by the center and convincing the sisters that he had a way to pay for the set, they’d handed over the invoice. He’d called the warehouse during the drive to Kalispell, explaining the situation. When he arrived, he found the manager had waived the storage fees that had accumulated for the last month and agreed to a Saturday afternoon delivery.
Because so many components came preassembled, Dean and Nick had built the set themselves in one day. Nick, who grumbled when Dean first told him he needed his help, caved when Dean played the “uncle” card, reminding his brother of the set they’d put together a couple of months ago for Sabrina, their three-year-old niece.
And Nick still made it to the bar in time to watch the Jets lose. All in all, a good day.
“You know, my sister and I still can’t believe you did this for us. For the kids.”
Dean turned and found one of the Johnston sisters standing behind him. Which one was anyone’s guess. “We were happy to do it...Sara?”
“Suzie.” She smiled and pointed to the top of her head. “You can tell by my hair. I always wear it pulled back while working—former bunhead, that I am.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I used to dance ballet and we always wore our hair— Never mind.” She waved a hand back toward the center. “You’ve got quite an audience this morning. They’re eager to give the set a test drive. My own kids were going crazy after you left yesterday, wanting to come out and play.”
“Give me thirty minutes to double-check everything,” Dean said, giving the kids a wave. “And clean up any extra items we might’ve left behind. We still have the platform with the attached fort to store after modifying the tower to take off the extra level.”
Sara nodded. “Yes, that was a good idea. My sister and I are planning to hold a ‘safety first’ lesson right now, but we were wondering if you wouldn’t mind saying a few words to the kids? About behaving themselves and playing nice?”
“Ah, yeah, I guess I could.”
“Thanks so much. I think it’ll hold a bit more weight with them coming from the person who gave us this wonderful gift.”
Dean continued with his inspection after Suzie headed back inside, happy to find everything as perfect as when he’d left last night around sunset.
Dead tired by the time he’d gotten into his truck to head home, he’d purposely avoided driving by the Ace so that he wouldn’t be tempted to stop in. In fact, he hadn’t been back to the bar all weekend. He’d thought a lot about what Rosey had said to him over the past couple of days.
Maybe some distance was needed.
Being knocked for a loop from the moment he met Shelby was something he’d never felt for any other woman.
The attraction that sizzled between them hammered at his common sense. It’d been seven years since he’d been so enamored with someone.
That relationship had been a slow build, a friend he’d met his first weeks at college who later became his first love, his first lover. Yeah, they’d been young, but he and Jane had three years together before things ended.
She’d made it pretty clear it was over between them when he’d been forced to leave college, but then she’d shown up in Thunder Canyon four months later, pregnant and asking for a second chance.
A chance he’d given her, even falling back in love with her and the idea of being a father at the tender age of twenty-one, until the night before their wedding. Through tears, she confessed she couldn’t go through with the sham, that he wasn’t her baby’s father, breaking his heart and his spirit.
An ache in his chest had Dean pressing his fingers hard against the scar from his long-ago surgery. It’d taken him a long time to get over her deception with dates being few and far between.
He just hadn’t been willing to risk it all again.
None of which explained why he felt the way he did now for a woman he’d known for only a week and a half.
The happy cries of the children spilling into the backyard yanked Dean from his thoughts. They raced toward him and the play set, but then stopped short when their teachers insisted they first thank Dean for his generous gift.
He accepted their enthusiastic gratitude with a smile and then gave a quick talk, using their attention to repeat what he guessed was the same basic safety measures the sisters had handed down. Their smiling faces told him he was right. Then they let the kids loose on the play set.
He stood back and watched as they swarmed over the set, a warm feeling settling in his chest. Checking his watch, he saw it was closing in on ten o’clock. Time to head out and meet up with Nick at the job site. He was going to get a kick out of hearing the kids’ reactions.
It was then Dean felt a slight tugging on his pant leg. Looking down, he found a little girl, dressed from head to toe in pink from her hair band to her sneakers. Even her pint-size backpack was covered in pink flowers.
“Hi, there.”
She craned her head back to look up at him. “Hi, Mr. Pritchett.”
Surprised she knew his name, then he remembered the sisters had used it when introducing him to the kids. “So, what do you think of the new play set?”
She looked over at the other kids playing, but her deep sigh told him she wasn’t all that impressed. “It’s nice.”
“Just nice?” Dean fought back a grin.
“The boys like it.”
Dean looked across the yard. Sure enough, a fight was underway between warring clans of what he guessed were pirates from the pretend swords and the “Argh, mateys” being tossed back and forth across two different levels. Clans that included quite a few female pirates.
Curious as to why she wasn’t with the rest of the kids, Dean bent on one knee so they were face-to-face. “I think everyone is having fun. How come you’re not over there?”
Her tiny shoulders hitched upward in a quick shrug. “I don’t know. I like to run around and stuff, but sometimes I like being outside and doing my favorite thing.”
Not sure if he should even ask, Dean couldn’t resist. “Well, what is your favorite thing to do?”
Her blue eyes shone with excitement. “Read!”
He grinned. A girl after his own heart. “Oh, yeah? That’s cool. Do you have a favorite book?”
Her head bobbed up and down in a quick nod, sending her blond curls flying around her face. She slid her backpack off one shoulder and unzipped it, causing several books to tumble to the ground at their feet.
Dean eyed the colorful assortment, noting the titles covered everything from a magic tree house to princesses. “Wow, you’ve got some great ones here.”
She bent down and grabbed the book about a princess. “This is my favorite. She likes pink.”
“So do you.”
The girl giggled and nodded, clutching her book to her chest. “We have reading time inside, but it would be fun to have a place out here where we could read, too.”
Dean immediately thought of the unused platform and fort with its canvas cover roof. It was big enough for three or four kids about this girl’s size with room left over for plenty of books. The large shady tree in the far corner of the yard would be a perfect spot
and the platform would keep it off the ground but not too high. He could even picture a pint-size railing across the front to create a porch and a readers-only sign out front to keep the other kids from commandeering it.
Dean helped her gather the books and put them back in her bag. “You know, I think you’re a pretty smart kid. How about I build a special place just perfect for reading?”
The girl’s eyes grew round. “Really?”
“Really.” Dean figured he’d need only a couple of hours to put the pint-size house together. “But remember, it’s important for you to run around and get some exercise, too. Don’t let those boys keep you from using the play area.”
“Oh, I won’t!”
“Okay, I need to make sure your teachers agree with me building this here—”
“Can I help? I’ve never built anything before.”
Unable to say no to that sweet face, Dean mentally added another two hours to his time estimate. “Only if Miss Sara and Miss Suzie say its okay and you promise to do everything I tell you.”
“Oh, I promise, Mr. Pritchett.”
Dean held out his hand. “Okay, first things first. You can call me Dean.”
She placed a tiny hand in his. “You can call me Caitlin.”
Chapter Six
“Did you have a good time?”
Shelby waited, but only silence came from the depths of the walk-in freezer. She knew her boss was in there, so why wasn’t she answering?
“Did you make it all the way to Calgary?” She tried again.
Still nothing.
Shelby had spent Monday morning double-checking the receipts from the weekend and then the last hour reviewing them with Rosey, along with everything that had happened at the Ace while the owner was gone.
It was now almost four o’clock and the two cooks were busy prepping for the dinner crowd, and other than the occasional waitress coming back to grab an order, it was just Shelby in the kitchen.
And Rosey, who apparently thought she could hide in the freezer until Shelby headed home.
Shelby stuck her head inside the unit and was met with the sight of her boss bent low to reach a bottom shelf, nothing visible but her backside.
The Maverick's Summer Love (Montana Mavericks: Rust Creek Cowboys) Page 7