The Single Dad's Second Chance

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The Single Dad's Second Chance Page 19

by Brenda Harlen


  As for the rest of his life, he didn’t have a clue.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Buds & Blooms wasn’t even open yet when JJ called Monday morning to ask Rachel if she could squeeze in a consult around 10:00 a.m. Because she always enjoyed working with the event planner who was also a good friend, she immediately said yes. She didn’t know who the client was until Daniel Garrett walked through the door.

  Her ready smile froze on her lips; Daniel looked equally startled to see her.

  “If this is awkward for you, I can go somewhere else,” he said.

  “If you need flowers, I’m happy to help,” Rachel assured him. At the same time, she reminded herself that she wasn’t in the habit of turning away business.

  However Daniel had found JJ, it wasn’t surprising that her friend had recommended Buds & Blooms. It was just a coincidence—and sheer bad luck for Rachel—that his presence made her think about his brother, and that even nine days after she’d last seen him, just thinking about Andrew still made her heart ache.

  “We’re having a party to celebrate my parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary, and since they’re going to renew their vows, JJ suggested that you might be able to replicate my mother’s wedding bouquet.”

  She pushed aside her personal feelings and focused on the job. “Do you have pictures of it?”

  JJ immediately opened the folio she carried and removed a couple of photographs.

  It was a traditional cascade style of white roses, daisies and chrysanthemums. Simple. Elegant. Beautiful. Her gaze shifted from the flowers to the bride holding them. Jane’s head was tilted toward her groom, and a forty years younger David Garrett looked so much like his eldest son that Rachel’s breath actually hitched.

  “Rachel?” JJ prompted gently.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “I can do this.”

  “We need centerpieces for the tables, too,” JJ continued. “And I thought it would be nice if we could use the same—or similar—types of flowers.”

  Rachel nodded again as she made her own notes. “How many centerpieces?”

  “Ten tables for guests, plus something for the cake table and maybe a couple of baskets for the pedestals that flank the main doors.”

  She jotted down the information. “When do you want them?”

  When the response to her question wasn’t immediately forthcoming, she looked up and saw JJ nudge Daniel. Obviously she wanted him to be the one to answer that question.

  “Saturday.”

  “Date?” she prompted.

  He cleared his throat. “May twenty-fourth.”

  She looked up. “This Saturday?”

  “Yeah.”

  Her disbelieving gaze shifted to JJ.

  “I told him that if you were able to accommodate his last-minute request, there would be a premium added to the bill,” her friend said.

  “It’s five days away,” Daniel noted. “I didn’t think that was last-minute.”

  “Last-minute and the start of wedding season,” JJ told them. Then to Rachel, “He called me yesterday, and he knows I’m adding twenty-five percent to my usual fee.”

  Rachel pulled up the calendar on the computer, looked at the orders she already had to fill for the weekend. If it had been anyone else, she would have turned him away without regret or hesitation. But this was Jane and David’s celebration, and she wanted to do this for them. It would mean asking Trish and Elaine to put in some extra hours, but she didn’t think either of them would mind.

  “If you can only do the bouquet, I’ll settle for that,” Daniel interjected. “The centerpieces aren’t as crucial. I can probably just pick up some fresh cut flowers at the grocery store to stick in vases on the tables.”

  Both JJ and Rachel gasped in horror.

  “I didn’t think that was such a bad idea,” he mumbled.

  “I’ll do it,” Rachel said. “If I have to work through the night on Friday, I’ll make sure you have your bouquet and the centerpieces.”

  “Thanks,” he said.

  JJ made some notes. “Okay, now we have to go sweet-talk Gabe Beaulieu to try and get a cake.”

  Because Rachel knew Gabe, whose shop The Sweet Spot was on the next block and whose disposition was anything but sweet, she said, “Good luck with that.”

  Daniel paused at the door. “Do you want to come?”

  “To face the wrath of Gabe? No thanks.”

  “I meant to the anniversary party,” he clarified. “I know my parents would love to see you.”

  She shook her head. “That would be awkward.”

  JJ, sensing that they were talking about something outside of planning the celebration, slipped out the door to give them some privacy.

  “I know that whatever happened between you and my brother is none of my business,” he said. “And I don’t usually interfere in things that aren’t my business, but Andrew’s been miserable since you split up.”

  The revelation that he was suffering did nothing to lessen her own pain. Even if Andrew wanted to be with her, even if he loved her, it didn’t—couldn’t—change anything. Not so long as Maura remained opposed to them being together.

  “And I don’t think you’re much happier,” Daniel added.

  So much for the radiant glow promised by the cosmetics company, she thought wryly, but forced a smile. “If there’s nothing else, I have flowers to order.”

  “There is one more thing.”

  She kept the smile in place and waited for him to continue.

  “Andrew doesn’t do anything in half measures. When he falls in love, it’s wholly and completely. And he fell in love with you.” He held her gaze for a long moment, then shrugged. “Of course, if you don’t feel the same way, then his feelings are his problem, aren’t they?”

  She felt the sting of tears, but she didn’t let them fall. “Love isn’t always enough.”

  “I’m hardly an expert on the subject, but my mother—who is about to celebrate her fortieth wedding anniversary,” he reminded her with a smile, “always said that love is the only thing that matters.”

  * * *

  She was in the shop early Saturday morning when JJ came by to pick up the flowers for David and Jane Garrett’s fortieth wedding anniversary. Since Rachel was busy sorting through the morning delivery, Trish helped load the arrangements into the van.

  Two hours later, JJ called.

  “I forgot the bouquet.”

  “You forgot the bouquet?” Rachel echoed incredulously.

  As an event planner, JJ lived and died by her lists—every detail of every event was cross-referenced and programmed into her electronic organizer. There was no way she forgot anything unless it was on purpose.

  “I’m sorry,” her friend said. “I know it’s an inconvenience to ask you to bring it over—”

  “Actually, we’re not that busy at the moment, so I’ll send Trish with it right now,” Rachel offered.

  “You would, too, wouldn’t you?” JJ muttered, confirming that her forgetfulness had been deliberate.

  “Or you could come and get it.”

  “You’re right,” JJ agreed. “That’s a better idea.”

  Rachel thought she’d outsmarted the event planner until Andrew and Maura showed up at the shop instead of JJ.

  She was grateful she was standing behind the lower part of the elevated counter so that he couldn’t see her grip the edge for balance when her knees started to quiver.

  Maura skipped into the shop, but stopped several feet away, as if suddenly uncertain. “Hi, Rachel.”

  She managed a smile. “Well, look at you,” she said. “Aren’t you pretty as a picture?”

  “I got a new dress ’cuz it’s a special occasion.”

  “A very special occasion,” Rachel
agreed.

  “Daddy got dressed up, too.”

  Rachel had noticed—and the sight of Andrew in the dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and blue-and-gray tie had made her heart pound and her mouth dry.

  When he came closer, she could see that there were shadows under his eyes, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well. She knew the feeling.

  “Your daddy looks very handsome, too,” Rachel noted. Then, to Andrew, “I’ll get the bouquet.”

  She went to the back room, where Trish was making boutonnieres, and retrieved the box from the refrigerator. She desperately wanted to take a minute to catch her breath and steel her spine, but that would mean an extra minute that Andrew and Maura would be waiting out front. And more than she wanted that extra minute, she needed him to go—to get out of her life before he saw that her heart was breaking all over again.

  She set the box on the counter, and he peered at the flowers through the window in the lid. “It looks just like the pictures,” he said, sounding impressed.

  “That was the idea.”

  “My mother’s going to love it.”

  “I hope so.”

  “I wanna see,” Maura demanded, so he picked her up so that she could look at the bouquet.

  “You make really pretty flowers,” the little girl said to Rachel.

  “Thank you.”

  “Daddy says that what you do is like art.”

  “I suppose it is,” she agreed.

  “I’m not very good at art,” Maura admitted, when Andrew had lowered her back to the floor. “Daddy says that everyone needs to be good at different things or the world would be a boring place.”

  Rachel nodded, wondering where the child was going with this conversation. She wanted to point to the clock, to remind them that they had an anniversary party to go to, but neither Andrew nor his daughter seemed to be in a particular hurry.

  “But I had to draw a picture for school,” the little girl continued. “And I wanted to give it to you.”

  She didn’t know what to expect as she unfolded the paper that Maura offered to her. The first thing she saw on the top was the A minus in red ink, and she felt a surge of pride for the child who’d claimed she wasn’t very good at art. And then she looked at the three figures depicted in the drawing, immediately recognizing Maura, Andrew and herself—except that she was sporting a huge belly. “Oh. Wow.”

  Her initial surprise was quickly supplanted by an unexpected surge of longing, and tears filled her eyes. She’d always thought she would have children someday, but someday had always seemed a long time away. Looking at the child’s drawing, she realized that was why ending her relationship with Andrew had hurt so much, because she’d thought he was the one she would share that someday with.

  For the first time in her life, she’d felt ready to tackle all the wonderful and messy stuff that went along with being a mother. And then she’d realized it wouldn’t be with him, because Maura didn’t want her to be her new mother.

  “It’s the first time I got a A in art,” Maura told her.

  “I think you should have got an A plus.”

  The little girl smiled at that. “Mrs. Patterson told us to draw a picture of what we most wanted, and I wanted you.”

  Then she looked down at her feet, and Andrew put a supporting hand on her shoulder, wordlessly encouraging her.

  “And then I didn’t want you,” she admitted in a quiet voice.

  There were probably all kinds of things that Rachel could have said, numerous responses that would have assured the child she was entitled to her feelings and that she shouldn’t regret or be sad about what was in her heart, but she was incapable of forming any words.

  “I told you to go away, and when you did, I missed you.”

  Her throat tightened.

  “I really miss you, Rachel.”

  Rachel’s heart wouldn’t let her ignore the entreaty in the little girl’s words. “I miss you, too,” she admitted, “but sometimes—”

  “Sometimes people do the wrong thing for the right reasons,” Andrew interjected, pinning her with his gaze so that she knew he was referring to her actions rather than his daughter’s.

  Obviously at some point over the past couple of weeks he’d figured out the truth—that she’d walked away from him not because she didn’t love him but because she did.

  But Maura wasn’t finished yet. “I understand if you don’t like me anymore—”

  Rachel could hardly speak through the tears that clogged her throat, but she couldn’t bear for the little girl to think such a thing for even another second. “I couldn’t ever stop liking you, Maura.”

  The tears that trickled down the child’s cheeks squeezed her heart.

  “What about Daddy? Do you still l-like him, too?”

  Like didn’t begin to describe the plethora of emotions that she felt for Maura’s father. She looked at him now and wished she knew what he was thinking, but his steady gaze gave nothing away. He’d made the first move, bringing Maura here today. And his daughter’s courage in owning up to what she’d done, and her willingness to admit her feelings, inspired Rachel to do the same.

  “Yeah, I still like your daddy.” She looked up and met his gaze across the counter. “In fact, I love him with my whole heart.”

  He shook his head, but she saw the tension in his shoulders relax and a slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I can’t believe that the first time you say those words is with three feet of granite between us.”

  “The first time I ever saw you, we were standing on opposite sides of this counter,” she reminded him.

  He took her hand and guided her around the barrier and into his arms.

  “Tell her you love her, too, Daddy,” Maura urged.

  He pulled Rachel into his arms. “I do, you know.”

  “And then you hafta kiss her,” the little girl said.

  “Well, if I have to,” he said, and lowered his head.

  It felt as if it had been months rather than weeks since she’d been in his arms, since he’d kissed her. But now, with the first touch of his mouth to hers, all the heartache of those weeks melted away.

  The chime of Andrew’s cell phone forced them apart. With obvious reluctance, he released her to look at the screen. “JJ wants to know the status of the bouquet.”

  “Then you better get it to her,” Rachel advised.

  “Come with us,” Andrew urged.

  “I wish I could, but—”

  “I just got off the phone with Holly,” Trish interjected, poking her head out from the back room. “She’s on her way and she said that you are officially banned from these premises for the rest of the weekend.”

  Rachel smiled happily and took Maura’s hand in hers. “In that case, we’ve got a party to get to.”

  Epilogue

  Two weeks later

  Gemma Palermo greeted Rachel, Andrew and Maura with wide-eyed dismay as soon as they walked in to Valentino’s. “You don’t have a reservation.”

  “Do we need one?” Andrew asked.

  “The entire dining room is booked for a conference group that’s coming in.”

  Maura’s face fell. “But I want p’sgetti.”

  Gemma glanced at her watch and then back into the dining room. She held up a hand. “Just give me a sec,” she said, and disappeared.

  “Why don’t we just go back to your place?” Rachel suggested to Andrew and Maura. “I can make something for us there.”

  He shook his head. “We wanted to take you out for dinner because you’ve been working all day.”

  “It’s not a big deal to make a pot of pasta,” she assured him.

  Before he could respond, Gemma was back. “We found somewhere to squeeze you in,” she said, then led them throug
h the mostly empty dining room, past numerous vacant tables with Reserved signs on them, and into the kitchen.

  Rachel smiled when she saw that one of the workstations had been covered with a linen cloth and set with three place settings, a bottle of wine, candles and a gorgeous bouquet of fresh lilies that she immediately recognized as Holly’s handiwork. Except for the third plate, it reminded her of the first night she and Andrew had shared dinner.

  She ordered her usual, the penne with sausage and peppers, and Andrew requested the same, with Maura voting for spaghetti and meatballs.

  While they ate, Rachel found herself thinking about how much her life had changed in the past four months since she’d first shared a meal with Andrew in this kitchen, and how very lucky she was. She wasn’t naive enough to think that there wouldn’t be other obstacles in their future, but she was confident that she and Andrew would overcome them together.

  “Is it time for dessert now, Daddy?” Maura’s question interrupted her musing.

  Andrew shook his head. “Rachel hasn’t finished her pasta yet.”

  “Actually, I don’t think I can eat another bite,” she told him, pushing her plate aside.

  It was immediately whisked away by one of the staff.

  “Dessert?” Maura prompted again, as Gemma returned to the kitchen.

  “Yes,” Andrew agreed.

  “Let’s go see what we can find,” Gemma suggested to the little girl.

  As Maura skipped off with the hostess, Andrew reached across the table and linked his hand with Rachel’s. “What were you thinking about?”

  “I was just thinking that I might not hate Valentine’s Day anymore.”

  His brows lifted. “Might not?”

  She smiled. “I’ll keep you posted.”

  Further discussion of the topic was curtailed by Maura’s return. Andrew drew his hand back as his daughter approached the makeshift table slowly, carrying in both hands a plate with a slice of chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

  Rachel was surprised by her choice. Maura wasn’t much of a cheesecake fan and she’d figured the little girl would want a sundae. She was even more surprised when Andrew’s daughter set the plate on the table in front of her.

 

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