The Instant Family Man

by Shirley Jump

  Before Luke could say anything, Jeremiah had wheeled out of the garage and down the sidewalk. Luke watched him go and felt that same stinging slap of guilt resonating in his chest.

  “Luke, are you gonna come on our picnic?” Maddy asked, drawing his attention back to the little girl in front of him. To his daughter, who was asking him to leave work, and to go along with her on a picnic. Luke might not have a lot of experience being a dad, but he knew a lot of guys would give their right arm for a kid who wanted to spend time with them.

  “Of course I want to go,” Luke said, and he was rewarded with a thousand-watt smile from Maddy. His heart damned near burst.

  “I can pick up the salads and meet you at the park,” Peyton said.

  Maddy made a face. Luke pinched up his nose and echoed Maddy, which made her giggle. “Salads are no fun for picnics,” he said. “We need fried chicken and potato salad. And icebox cake.”

  “What’s icebox cake?” Maddy asked.

  “Something the ladies down at the Sip and Chew make every single Thursday. They also make the best fried chicken in the county, so I think we need to zip on over there and pick up dinner. Then head on down to the lake for a picnic.”

  Peyton started to protest, but then Maddy started jumping up and down, and talking about cake and chicken and swimming. Peyton’s protest died on her lips and turned into an indulgent smile. “Okay, we’ll have fried chicken and cake. But just this once.”

  “I have to run home and change,” Luke said, waving a hand at his grease-splattered shirt. “How about I pick up the food and then come get you two? Bring your swimsuits. The water at the lake is still warm.”

  He told himself he hadn’t suggested the lake because he was hoping to see Peyton in a bikini again. Or that the thought of spreading out a blanket, then lying back with Peyton in his arms, seemed like the best way to close out the day.

  “I was thinking we’d just picnic at the park,” Peyton said. “Something easy, healthy and not too far away. It’ll be bedtime before we know it, and the getting back from the lake can take some time.”

  “What’s the worst that can happen? We stay too long and somebody falls asleep in the car?” He grinned. “Come on, Peyton, the lake will be awesome. And while we’re there, we can tell the peanut,” he replied, tapping Maddy’s nose, “all the stories about how we hung out at the lake when we were kids.”

  Maddy turned and looked up at Peyton. “You used to go there, Auntie P?”

  She smiled at her niece. “Yup. Me and your mom, when we were little girls.”

  “I wanna go,” Maddy said softly. “Can we?”

  “Okay,” Peyton said. “Let’s go get our swimsuits. I’ll see you in...”

  “Thirty minutes, tops,” Luke said. “I’ll call ahead to the diner, order the food and be over at the hotel in a little bit. You go back, chill for a while and let me do the heavy lifting.”

  Peyton laughed. “I don’t chill, Luke. I’d have no idea how to do that.”

  Luke took a step forward and brushed a tendril of hair off her forehead. “Then let me show you. Starting tonight.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Indulging.

  It wasn’t something Peyton did often. Heck, at all. But ever since she’d come to Stone Gap, she’d done exactly that. Indulging in a kiss with Luke—not once, but twice. Indulging in a lazy evening at the lake. Indulging in fried chicken.

  And right back to indulging in Luke. Ever since they’d arrived at the lake and he’d taken off his shirt, her mind had gone blank. Despite promising to “chill,” she’d intended to do some work while Maddy played with Charlie. But the notepad she’d tucked into her bag remained where it was, the design job far from her mind.

  “Sure you want to stick to the all-grass diet?” Luke said, holding out a drumstick.

  The spicy coating tempted her and seemed a hundred times better than the greens with balsamic vinaigrette that she’d insisted he pick up for her. “It does smell good.”

  “Then have a bite.”

  She put up a hand. “I shouldn’t.”

  “One bite won’t hurt you, I guarantee it.” He grinned. “Take it from Dr. Luke.”

  That sent a little shiver through her, along with a mental flash of how exactly he could take her temperature. “Dr. Luke? Since when?”

  “Since you could buy a degree on the internet.”

  That made her laugh. Her defenses lowered, and she leaned closer to Luke, wrapped up in those blue eyes, in the tempting honey of his voice. She took a bite of the fried chicken and nearly groaned. Her fingers went to her lips, as if she could hold the taste there. “Oh, my God, that is good.”

  “Told you so.” He nudged the container toward her. “Here. Have a whole piece. Hell, have two pieces. Really live on the edge.”

  She picked out a wing, leaving the bigger pieces behind. Maddy had already eaten as quickly as possible, then run down to the edge of the lake to toss a stick for Charlie on the muddy shore. Luke had brought a blanket—surprising her because he’d covered all the details—and spread it out for him and Peyton to sit on. He’d set up the food, leaving the plastic container holding the icebox cake in the thick paper bag the diner had filled.

  “I have to say, I’m impressed, Luke. You thought of everything,” she said. “Plates, forks—”

  “But not napkins. At least you had a stack of them in your purse.”

  She shrugged. “It’s part of raising kids. You learn to have napkins and wipes on hand at all times.” Peyton had figured that out pretty early on after Maddy was born. Susannah often left the house without a diaper bag, a change of clothes or even a bottle for Maddy. Peyton had become the de facto caretaker, the one who made sure to stash an extra set of everything in Susannah’s car and kept more supplies in her own purse.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” He chuckled. “Of course, I don’t have too many places to store extra wipes. Unless I get myself a murse.”

  “Murse?”

  “The man-purse. Might make me stylish.” He mocked draping a strap over his shoulder and gave her another grin.

  She laid her chicken on a plate and leaned back on an elbow. Maddy ran back and forth along the shore, Charlie bounding along at her feet, waiting for her to toss the stick again. “I’m serious, Luke. You surprised me. I just didn’t expect you to be so...”

  “Responsible?” He chuckled. “I’m not, believe me. I just...”

  “What?” she prompted when he didn’t finish.

  A sheepish grin filled his face. Of all the years Peyton had known Luke, she didn’t think she had ever seen him embarrassed or shy. “After forgetting to bring that stuff when I got the pizza the other day, I wanted to make sure this time that I...I impressed you.”

  “Me? But why?”

  “In case you haven’t noticed,” he said, leaning closer to her, lowering his voice, “I like you a lot.”

  She laughed, as if she hadn’t noticed how her pulse sped up when he got close. How the whole world around them seemed to get smaller and tighter, more intimate. “What is this, high school?”

  “Nah, if it was high school, I’d be the cocky football captain who was too full of himself to notice the beautiful girl a few grades behind him.”

  Her cheeks heated and her stomach did a little flip. In the distance, she heard the putt-putt of a boat motor, and some birds calling to each other. Now it was her turn to feel shy. “I wasn’t beautiful in high school.”

  “You were always beautiful, Peyton. I just never noticed. I was clearly dating the wrong sister. And if I could go back and change that, I would.”

  “But then you wouldn’t have Maddy.”

  “True. And that is something I wouldn’t change.” He brushed the hair off her forehead and let his touch linger on her cheek. “But now I want what I missed out on before. With you. Because you, Peyton, are the one who makes me want more. Makes me want to be more.”

  She caught his hand with her own. God, how she wanted to lean int
o that touch, to let it go wherever it would go, to fall down the rabbit hole with Luke Barlow. “Don’t. Please.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m not staying in Stone Gap. Because my priority is Maddy, and my job. Because I don’t have time or room for one more thing in my life.” Because she didn’t want to get hurt, because she didn’t want to screw all this up. Because this moment felt like a soap bubble, delicate, fragile, liable to burst with the slightest whisper.

  “Because you’re scared as hell to get involved with someone. With me.”

  “That’s not true. It’s just that I’m busy and overwhelmed and—”

  “Scared as hell.” He touched her face again. “I see it in your eyes, Peyton. I see it in the way you back away every time I get too close. And I see it because...because I feel the same way you do.”

  “You?” She snorted. “You were never afraid to date anyone.”

  “To date, no. But to get involved, to give someone my heart, and all that fall-in-love stuff, yes, I’ve always been afraid. Terrified, in fact. Men don’t need haunted houses, they just need strong feelings to make them run for the hills.”

  Peyton chuckled. “Isn’t that the truth.”

  He leaned back and propped his head on his hands. The touch was gone, the moment broken, and she told herself she was glad.

  “Then it’s settled,” he said. “We’ll both stay in our safe little corners and not get involved.”

  Maybe he was kidding. Maybe he was serious. Either way, a little ribbon of disappointment went through her. The fried chicken no longer looked appetizing, and the sight of her salad made her stomach turn. She wanted space and air, and room to think. To reorient herself on the smart course of not-falling-for-Luke-again. “I’m going to go check on Maddy.”

  She got up and walked down to the lake, pretending it didn’t bother her that Luke hadn’t pressed the issue. This was what she wanted—to not get involved, and not get involved with Luke Barlow, of all the men in the world. Whatever she might have felt as a lovesick teenager was dead now, and the adult Peyton knew better than to fall for a heartbreaker with a charming smile.

  Except every day that she spent with Luke eroded her own arguments. He was no longer the irresponsible playboy she used to know. He was a man who remembered the plates, who showed up on time and, most of all, who made Maddy laugh.

  That was when she wanted Luke the most. When she saw him bend down to Maddy’s level to say or do something silly, something that coaxed a smile to her lips. When he’d stomped around the zoo with her, pretending to be an elephant, Peyton had been totally, utterly enchanted.

  It hadn’t been about the kiss, or the way he touched her, or how he made her heart skip a beat whenever he was in the same zip code. It was how he stomped his feet and made a mascot into a long-lost uncle and made a little girl giggle.

  “Auntie P! Look at Charlie! He loves me!”

  Peyton smiled at Maddy, who was sitting on the muddy bank with the dog, her arms wrapped around his furry body. He licked at her face, tail wagging, sending more mud flying over both of them. “You’re getting all dirty. You’re going to need a bath.”

  “Or a dip in the lake,” Luke said.

  His voice behind her sent a tremor through her veins. She wanted to turn around and turn into him, to finish what they had started with those kisses, to find out what being with Luke would really be like. But she didn’t move, didn’t turn around. “Maddy won’t go swimming. I forgot her water wings and I know she won’t even stick a toe in the water without them.”

  “You and your rules.” He let out a low chuckle. “Learn to let go, live by the seat of your pants.”

  She gave him a grin. “I’m not wearing pants.”

  “I noticed, Peyton, I noticed.” His voice was deeper now, the tease lighting his eyes. “Being at the lake is all about letting go. Which means you can...improvise.”

  “Improvise?” Peyton shook her head. “This is Maddy’s biggest fear. I don’t think improvising is going to work.”

  Luke watched Maddy, sitting on the bank beside Charlie. “Maybe, maybe not. Let me talk to her anyway, see what I can do.”

  “Good luck. I’ve tried every logical, reasonable argument I can think of,” Peyton said, “but Maddy is firm on not wanting to swim.”

  “Maybe the key is to not be logical.” He shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”

  She thought of the elephant steps and the finger painting and realized that she trusted Luke. A week ago, she hadn’t, but after she had seen him with Maddy, and seen how, despite his fears, he had so effortlessly shifted into fatherhood, her feelings had begun to change. He might not be the strictest parent in the world, but he wasn’t reckless with Maddy, and that was important. And he wanted to get closer to his daughter, which was the best thing for both of them. He couldn’t do that if she didn’t give him a chance to let the two of them bond more. Then maybe they would both tell Maddy the truth and give her the one thing she hadn’t had in her life—a daddy. “Okay.”

  Luke loped down the hill and stopped beside Maddy. The mud covered her shirt and coated her legs, drying now into a crusty brown second skin. “Lord almighty, kid, you are muddy. How about we go swimming and get you cleaned up? You don’t want to get into my car like that. By the time you get home, you’ll have a garden growing on the floorboards.”

  Maddy shook her head. Charlie sidled up beside Maddy, and she bent down to give the dog a hug. “I don’t wanna. I don’t have my floaties.”

  “You don’t need floaties. You have me.”

  She shook her head again and clutched Charlie tighter.

  Peyton took a step forward, but Luke put a hand out, stopping her. He kicked off his shoes, then stepped into the water so he could bend down in front of Maddy. Charlie wriggled out of Maddy’s grasp and came to stand beside his master. “You know, when I was a boy, I was scared of the water, too.”

  “You were?”

  “Yup. My brothers and I came to this lake, and they all went swimming, but I always stayed on shore. I didn’t want to go in, because I was afraid I’d sink like a stone. But you know who got me to go swimming?”

  Maddy shook her head. Her fingers worked the edge of her shirt, something she did when she was scared. Peyton wanted so badly to go over there, scoop Maddy up and tell her not to worry, but she held her ground, waiting to give Luke a chance.

  “Your mommy did,” Luke said. “She used to come to the lake, too, in the summer, her and your aunt Peyton. Your mommy was my...my good friend.”

  “She was?”

  “Yup. And she was one of the bravest girls I knew. Both your mommy and your aunt Peyton are really brave girls.” Luke ran a hand down Charlie’s neck. The dog’s tail thwapped against the water, spraying a little bit on both of them. “Do you want me to tell you the story of how your mommy got me to swim?”

  Maddy hesitated, then very slowly, she nodded.

  Luke came out of the water and turned to settle onto the bank beside Maddy, heedless of the mud. Maddy dropped down into the space on Luke’s right, the two of them looking out over the lake, while Charlie waited on Luke’s left. Peyton stood just behind them, her heart in her throat.

  “Your mom was one of those girls who would climb trees and ride bikes and do whatever the boys did,” Luke said. “It was one of the things I liked best about her. She loved this lake, loved it more than any other place in Stone Gap.”

  “She did? How come?”

  “Because she knew the legend behind the lake.”

  Legend behind the lake? Now even Peyton was entranced, and she took a few steps closer, settling onto an overturned log a few feet behind Maddy. Peyton had never heard any such legend, never heard Susannah tell a story like that.

  “A long, long time ago, there used to be a fisherman who lived in a cabin on that tiny little island in the middle of the lake.” Luke pointed to the small bump of land sitting in the distance. As far as Peyton knew, the island had been formed when the la
ke was dredged decades ago, to make it deeper. No one lived on it, not then, not now. “He loved his little cabin, loved how quiet it was, how the birds would sing to wake him up every morning, but one day, he realized he was lonely. So very lonely.”

  Even Charlie was wrapped in the story. The dog laid his head on his paws, pressing his shoulder against Luke’s leg.

  “The fisherman was in love with a beautiful woman named Annabelle, but she lived in town, here in Stone Gap. And that meant to see her, he had to leave his little island.”

  “Did he have a boat?” Maddy asked.

  “He did, but it was broken.”

  “Did he tape it up? Cuz Auntie P always tapes up my toys when they break. ’Cept sometimes she has to glues them up.”

  From her perch behind them, Peyton smiled. Tape and glue and sometimes a quick trip to the store for a replacement for a favorite toy that an unsuspecting Maddy accepted as repaired.

  “He couldn’t tape it or glue it,” Luke went on. “His boat was too broken for that. So he only had one choice if he wanted to see Annabelle. He had to swim. The only problem was—” Luke leaned in, lowering his voice “—the fisherman was scared to swim.”

  “Like me.”

  “Like you, and like me when I was little.”

  “What did he do?” Maddy’s eyes were wide. The entire lake seemed to still, the water smooth as glass. The birds were quiet, the boat from before now long gone. Even the sun seemed to hold its position, waiting for the story to continue.

  “Well, this fisherman had a dog, a goofy yellow dog.”

  Maddy grinned. “Like Charlie?”

  “A lot like Charlie. And this dog, he loved to swim, loved it like he loved playing fetch.”

  “Like Charlie?” Maddy asked again.

  The dog’s ears perked up, and his attention swiveled between Luke and Maddy. He clearly knew they were talking about him. Luke gave the dog a tender ear rub, then went on.

  “Exactly like Charlie. So the fisherman sat his dog down and talked to him. He told the dog he was scared of swimming, but he really wanted to get across the lake to see Annabelle so he could marry her and they could live in that little cabin. He asked the dog to do something special for him.”