“For what?’
“I don’t know actually. Maybe something to do with Christmas,” she whispered and nodded toward the girls, who were being very quiet.
Dylan got the picture. Darcy showed up, they knew what time he would be home, and Mom thought this was an opportunity to show him what it would be like to come home to a real family of his own. He got it. He longed for it. But Darcy wasn’t the one. They’d decided together that a relationship between them was fruitless.
“Right. So,” he said turning to the girls. Both sets of eyes shot from him to Darcy and back to him. “Why are the two queens of noise so quiet?”
Darcy placed the spoon on the caddy and wiped her hands on the filthy apron she wore. “Well, Lilac asked me to stay for dinner.” Her brows knitted together. “I hope it’s okay. I said yes.”
“Sure.”
A smile bloomed on her rose-colored lips. “Thanks. I hate eating alone. Anyway, I told these two if they do their homework, maybe, after dinner, we’d bake some cookies.” She crossed over and smoothed a hand over both girls’ hair. “If it’s alright with you?”
It was definitely all right by him. When he dropped her off at Tom’s last night, they hadn’t set a time to see each other again until Saturday when they were all going out to Mini-Moose Point to cut down the Christmas tree. He had to work today and tonight the Skype-call with Elizabeth was scheduled. He’d had a long list of things he needed to ask his sister-in-law and hopefully his brother. He hadn’t spoken to Bob in nearly a month. “Yeah. Sure.”
“Good.” She went up on her toes a little.
That attraction thing they had decided was not going to happen reared up. He could imagine himself, walking into this scene—with a baby cradled in a bouncy chair— gathering Darcy into his arms and planting a kiss on her full lips. A sampling of the dinner to come would be mingled with her sweetness. He could feast on her alone. Starting with the perfect ears she kept tucking a strand of hair behind. Then biting his way down her tanned neck and across her bare shoulders and lower—
He shifted his stance, feeling the effects below his belt caused by imagining Darcy wearing nothing but that apron. Naked.
His nieces were sitting right there. Quickly, he retargeted his thoughts, glanced away from the gorgeous woman in front of him and cleared the desire from his throat. “I’m glad they’re getting their homework done. Tonight, at eight, they have their Skype appointment.”
The girls cheered. “We get to see Mommy and Daddy.”
“Oh,” Darcy said. “I didn’t know. Maybe we should do cookies another night.”
“No. We want cookies,” Jillian started the singsong, tapping her pencil on the tabletop, and Katy chimed in.
Dylan splayed his hand toward his nieces. “The queens of noise.”
“Okay,” Darcy, chuckling, threw her hands up in the air. “I’ll bake a few cookies now, since you’re busing doing your homework and then if your uncle lets us, we’ll do a whole baking afternoon later this week.”
“Can we?” His nieces hopped on their seats.
“I do need someone to stay with the girls tomorrow night while I work at the lodge, if you’re free. My sitter’s mother called and Willa has come down with a sore throat. And, Mom and Dad are planning to go to that town meeting.”
“I’d love to.”
“Great.” He smiled down at her, mesmerized by her beauty.
The girls cheered in the background.
At that moment, Lilac and Gray pushed through the backdoor.
“Well, isn’t this nice,” Lilac rubbed her hands together.
“What’s that?” Dylan challenged his mother to spill her guts.
“Having dinner made for you.” She patted his forearm and crossed over to where Darcy retreated next to the stove. “It smells wonderful, dear.”
“It sure does,” Gray responded. “I’m starved. Shopping always does that to me.”
“Gray.” His mother spun around and shot a glare from his father to the girls and back.
“Oh. You know what I mean, son?” The older man clamped his shoulder, glancing at the girls. “Buying oil and gas and man things.” Dad pumped up his arms.
Dylan purposely creased his forehead. “Yes. Buying tools always gets me hungry too. Girls, are you almost finished with your homework?”
“I need help with my math,” Jillian said, wearing a frown.
“Gray, get on that,” Mom ordered and pointed to the empty seat next to Jillian.
The older man opened his mouth.
“Don’t waste the energy,” Dylan cut him off.
“Believe me—after thirty-six years, I know.”
“Dylan, can you get the man things your dad bought and put them in our room.”
Jillian jumped from her chair and put her hands on her slim hips. “We’re not allowed to keep gas and oil in the house, Grandma.”
“Right, Mom. Good catch, kid.” He winked at his older niece. I’ll put them out in the shed where they belong.”
“Then wash up for dinner,” Lilac ordered.
While finishing the job of drying the pots and pans for Lilac, Darcy noticed her sides still felt tender from laughing so hard. Dinner was fun. That was the only word she could use to describe it. Her family was so dysfunctional. She never remembered laughing this much at any family gathering.
She did notice that Dylan had been a little reserved at first, watching her, but apparently after seeing she thoroughly enjoyed herself and was not at all turned off by his family’s antics, he loosened up and played the comic partner to his dad or either of his two nieces.
Until the girls had been instructed to get bathed and changed into their PJs before the Skype call with their parents, she hadn’t thought all day about her life and her problems back home. It wasn’t until Gray asked her about the status of the situation, that she thought about Sweet Grass, and, surprisingly, for the first time since the fire, she hadn’t felt like bursting into tears. Dylan and his family had everything to do with that. They made her feel welcomed, and happy.
She finished drying the last pot and stored it away when Dylan entered the kitchen, looking all so yummy in a gray Henley thermo-shirt, faded jeans and wool-stocking feet. His presence made the warm room that much cozier.
“You didn’t have to do the dishes. I could’ve done them after the girls went to bed. That’s when I normally get them done— when I’m not working. My sitter, Willa, usually does them the nights when she’s watching the girls.”
“I didn’t mind, really.” She hung the tea-towel over the oven’s door handle. “Willa is a pretty name. It’s good you have someone like her to help you out.”
He leaned against the counter. “For now. She’s a senior and plans to head off to college next fall. So she’ll watch the girls during the summer, if Mom and Dad are traveling.”
“Wouldn’t your brother and sister-in-law be back by then?”
He shrugged. “We have no idea. I hope so, but you know how these situations are. I read or watch the news every day and get so sick thinking my brother and Elizabeth are near the hot spots.”
His hand rested on the countertop and she reached out and covered it with her own. Her skin felt cool against his, even though she’d just had them in hot water. “They’ll be fine.” She looked up, reassuring him.
“I keep telling myself that.” His gaze burned a trail over her face. His chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath and slowly he pulled his hand out from under hers and stuffed both hands into his jean pockets. “I appreciate you watching the girls for me tomorrow night.”
“No problem. I have nothing else to do.” She laced her arms over her chest, protecting herself from the attraction between them, just like he was doing by stepping back. “We’re going to have fun.”
“Dylan, it’s almost eight,” his mother called from down the hall. “We have your laptop set up on the dining room table.”
“That’s fine, mom,” he replied. “Be there in a minute
.”
Darcy licked her suddenly dry lips. “I better go.”
Dylan stepped in front of her and grabbed her hands. His rough fingers brushed against the back of her hands, electrifying every nerve in her body.
“Stay.”
“I feel like I’d be intruding on something very personal.” She shook her head.
“Stay,” he said softly.
Her pulse quickened.
“Why?” She searched his eyes, wondering if he was considering reneging on his friendship position with her. Tom’s words kept echoing in her mind and she was definitely having second thoughts.
He glanced toward the kitchen window. “Because it started to snow. I want to follow you, to make sure you get back to Tom’s okay.”
Her heart would’ve plumped to the floor, if she’d believed his reason was true. But her gut told her neither snow nor her inability to drive in it were the causes for him asking her to stay. “It’s a light snow. Flurries actually. I think I can handle flurries.”
He squeezed her hands while lifting his eyes to the ceiling for a quick glance, like he was asking for courage, or something. “Okay. I’d like to show you something.”
She tilted her head to the side and slanted her eyes up at him. “What?”
“My art.”
His work was at his house. His home. His empty home, where they could be alone.
She nodded once.
Attraction sizzled in the inches separating them.
He leaned toward her.
She leaned toward him and closed her eyes, anticipating his lips brushing across hers, softly, wantonly like they had just a few days ago.
“Dylan,” his mother called. “Thirty seconds.”
She blinked and saw the distance grow between them.
“Come on.” He pulled her along with him.
“No.” She tugged back. “I’ll wait in the living room.”
He nodded his understanding of her desire to give their family privacy. With his hand on the small of her back, he led her down the hall toward the front rooms. She went right into the living room and he went left to join his family who edged the large table.
Darcy sat in the room, flipping through a Christmas shopping catalog from the local country store and trying not to eavesdrop in on the conversation occurring in the next room.
She had to stifle a giggle when the girls announced to their mother that their Uncle Dylan had a girlfriend and her name was Darcy and that Darcy was from far away and talked funny. Her joy fell when Dylan quickly explained that she was a friend of Tom’s who was visiting and helping him out a little with Christmas preparations. She tried to reason that he was indeed telling the truth, but still her heart had hoped for something more. Maybe a confession that he did indeed like her.
About fifteen minutes later, Lilac led the girls from the dining room. They stopped to say goodnight and thanked her for the cookies, before Dylan’s mom ushered them up the stairs to bed. Assuming the Skype visit was over, Darcy pushed off the couch and walked out into the foyer. Dylan and his father still sat at the table, staring at the laptop’s screen. Both of their faces were etched with tension and slightly pale.
She heard a woman cry. “I know I shouldn’t be worried,” the voice coming from the laptop said. “But no one will say anything. I haven’t spoken to Bob in over three weeks. I don’t know where he is. Every time I hear of action, I panic and wait for someone to come and tell me that—”
The woman, whom Darcy assumed was Elizabeth, didn’t have to say the words. The meaning was loud and clear. Elizabeth was worried over her husband’s safety.
“I thought you spoke to Bob last week?” Angst pitched Dylan’s tone.
“I lied. I didn’t want you and the girls to worry too.”
She hurt for Elizabeth and the two angels upstairs. Their whole lives would change if something happened to Bob. Not only them. Gray and Lilac, Bob’s parents, would suffer the unspeakable, losing a child.
And Dylan. She traced the outline of his face, tight with worry. He would lose his big brother. The man he idolized. The man he was trying so much to be like.
“Listen, Liz. Everything is going to be fine,” Dylan said calmly, shifting forward on his seat. “No news is good news, right?”
Elizabeth’s sniffle sounded in the room. Her ‘yes’ was weak.
“I’ll lay you odds that before the week is through, you’ll hear from Bob. He knows how much you’re probably worrying. He’ll find a way to get in touch with you.”
“You think so.”
“I know so. Right, Dad?” He elbowed his father.
Gray broke out of his own thoughts. “Yes of course. He’ll be in contact with you ASAP if I know Bob.”
Dylan glanced her way and caught her standing in the archway, hugging the wall, listening. He smiled and nodded.
On top of everything else he had to deal with, he had to be the strong one for everyone in his family.
Darcy understood when he’d begged off showing her his art after he’d finished talking to Elizabeth which was a relief. He couldn’t get his mind off of his brother and sister-in-law and she had enough problems with her restaurant. She didn’t need to hear any more of his worries.
After she’d driven off, his father mentioned he wanted to get his copy of the township by-laws which he still had stored at Dylan’s house. The old man wanted do some light reading tonight, and before the township meeting tomorrow night, meaning Gray Kincaid had every intention of checking the board’s P’s and Q’s. So, like a good son, Dylan offered to drive Dad over to the house. He wanted to check on the place anyway.
Pulling up to his rustic log cabin built by his father and mother thirty-seven years ago, Dylan thought how lifeless the structure seemed. There wasn’t a warm glow in any of the windows. No Christmas wreath hung on the door. No sign of energy. It didn’t feel… comforting.
“Are you okay?” Moonlight reflecting off the snow lit the vehicle’s cab enough that he saw the concern in father’s narrowing eyes. “Dylan, Bob will be fine. I know my sons.”
He kept the truck running to hold off the winter cold. Warm air circulated from under the dash, keeping their legs warm. “I wasn’t thinking about Bob. I was thinking about this place and how it doesn’t feel like home. It feels like… I don’t know, just a house.”
“Like it’s temporary. You’re not thinking of selling the place, are you?”
“No. I don’t think of this place as temporary.” He tilted his head back and forth in deliberation. He bought the place from his parents five years ago when they decided they wanted to spend their lives traveling around the country like nomads. Both he and Bob loved it the farm, but Bob had own house already. It had made sense for him to buy it. Unlike his brother who went off to college for six years and worked in an office as a civil engineer, he loved the outdoors. He loved maple tree farming. He loved the creativity working with the earth channeled into his artworks. He had every intention of living out his life here. “Well, maybe I do, but not that I’m going to move away from it. More in the sense that it has to change.”
“Ah. Now I understand.” Gray slapped his knee.
“You do?”
“Yup. My boy is growing up.”
He rolled his eyes. “I grew up a long time ago.”
“Physically, yes.” Gray poked his gloved forefinger to his head. “But life wise, you’re catching up.”
Dylan’s interest piqued. He shifted on his seat and folded his arms across his chest. “Okay. You want to tell me what you’re talking about?”
Gray stretched his legs out like he was settling in for a long tale. “My grandmamma had a saying. A house is house. But home is a family. Your home is with the girls right now. Watching over those two little ones has made you long for a family of your own.” He splayed his hands out in front of him like he was opening a curtain hung across the windshield. “And this here, the house, the land, is missing the energy only a family can provide.” His father sh
ook a finger at him. “You might think I’m crazy—”
“No. I don’t think you’re crazy. In fact, I’ve been thinking a lot about settling down.”
“Does Darcy have anything to do it?”
“I thought about having a family of my own before Darcy showed up.”
“But now that she has, you can’t imagine that family without her?”
“Something like that.” He nodded once. “Crazy. I know. I’ve known her what, four days?”
“No. Not crazy at all. Do you know how long I knew your mother before I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with her?”
Dylan shook his head.
“One night. I didn’t know her before. Her best friend had a date with my best friend and was nervous as hell. Ann, that was your mother’s best friend, insisted she come along, so Neil, my best friend, called me up. I wasn’t going to meet them, but I owed him a favor, so I caved and met them at the local dairy bar. I’ll never forget the moment our eyes met for the first time. It was magical.” He raised his hand to his chest. “I knew right then, she was the girl for me and we hadn’t spoken a word. So do I think you’re crazy thinking of Darcy as the woman to complete you? Hell, no.”
“My situation is a little different, dad.”
“How?”
“You and mom were what, seventeen, sixteen?”
“We were seventeen and age has nothing to do with it.”
“Sure it does. Both Darcy and I have our lives, careers and responsibilities. I have a life here and she has hers in South Carolina.”
“You can’t paint in South Carolina?”
“Sure.” The air in the cab became stuffy. He turned off the heater and cracked down his window an inch. “Yes, but I can’t milk maples there.”
“So you do something else,” Gray said matter-of-fact, like a life change was as easy as changing a pair of socks.
“You’re seriously telling me to give up the farm?” He pointed to the house. “I love this place. You love this place.”
PERFECT Page 10