by Gina Wilkins
Seth wondered what it was about Meagan that turned his normally somewhat-reserved-with-outsiders daughter into such a chatterbox. Even if Alice were looking for someone to fill in for her absent mother, Meagan bore little resemblance to Colleen, either physically or in mannerisms.
Colleen’s appearance was a bit more striking than Meagan’s, a slightly exotic attractiveness she played up deliberately with makeup and fashions. Meagan was more girl-next-door pretty, a look he found more appealing these days. Colleen spoke in a mile-a-minute, no-nonsense tone, all traces of the South deliberately scrubbed from her accent. Meagan’s voice was softer, her speech slower, the slight hint of Southern drawl soothing and charming, in his opinion.
Both women projected intelligence, competence and independence—at least, from what little he’d seen of Meagan—but Meagan was less…well, stressful was the first word that popped into his mind. Maybe Alice focused more on the few qualities her mother and her neighbor shared rather than the differences. Or maybe she just enjoyed having the attention of any encouraging adult, he thought with another little ripple of guilt.
He could sort of understand Alice’s fascination. As the meal progressed, he realized he wouldn’t mind having Meagan Baker’s attention, himself. Granted, it had been a while since he’d spent an intimate evening with an attractive woman, considering how busy he’d been with work and his daughter. But he thought it was more than that, that drew him to his appealing neighbor. Maybe he was falling under the same spell that seemed to have affected his daughter.
He wasn’t sure whether to be more intrigued or unnerved by the possibility.
“Did you hear me, Dad?” Alice asked with an exasperation that made him suspect he’d momentarily tuned her out.
“Sorry, Roo, I was concentrating on this delicious dinner you prepared. What were you saying?”
She rolled her eyes in response to both the childhood nickname and the blatant flattery. “I said I need you to take me shopping tomorrow. You know, for the class party tomorrow night? I tried on the dress I was planning to wear—the really pretty one Mom bought me before she left for Hong Kong—and it’s gotten too little. I guess I’ve grown a little taller in the past six months.”
He heard both pride and disappointment in her tone. She’d worried about being a “late bloomer,” shorter and less developed than some of her classmates, and he suspected she was relieved by the recent growth spurt but he knew she’d wanted to wear that fancy dress. She’d worn it only once, at a Christmas party with her maternal grandparents.
He’d thought when she’d first shown it to him that the expensive garment had been a frivolous purchase at her age. She didn’t attend that many dressy parties, and she was growing too fast to invest too much in clothes that wouldn’t fit her in another couple of months. Colleen wasn’t usually so impractical, but he suspected she’d been suffering from a guilty conscience at her impending move so far from her daughter. She’d given Alice several lavish gifts before her departure.
And speaking of guilt….
“I’m sorry, Alice. I have to work tomorrow. I’ll ask Nina to take you shopping in the morning.”
“But, Dad.”
Uh-oh. He knew this tone. “Alice—”
“Can’t you take just a couple of hours in the morning before you go to the office? I’ll choose fast, I promise.”
Wishing fervently that she’d waited until they were alone to start this particular argument, he shook his head in regret. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I have a meeting that starts at nine, before most of the shops even open. It will last most of the day, and that would be too late to find you a dress and get you to the party on time. You should have tried the dress on sooner, rather than waiting until the last minute. Surely you have something else you can wear. You went shopping with your grandmother just last month.”
“We bought new school uniforms and some weekend clothes. I just won’t go to the party,” Alice finished with a melodramatic sigh. “I’ll stay home and play with Waldo or something.”
He winced in response to her long-suffering, self-pitying tone. Great. Could she make him look like a worse parent in front of her new friend? “Okay, maybe I can—”
“I’d be happy to take you shopping, Alice,” Meagan volunteered unexpectedly—or had that been his daughter’s hope all along? “If it’s okay with your father, of course.”
Finding himself the focus of two pairs of feminine eyes, Seth reached for his tea glass to wash down a bite of enchilada that seemed to have caught in his throat. How was he to say anything but yes when his daughter and their pretty neighbor were both looking at him so expectantly?
Chapter Two
Meagan couldn’t help but take pity on Alice’s dad. Alice had certainly put him on the spot with her last-minute plea. Now a near stranger had offered to take his daughter shopping.
Meagan knew all about work obligations, and she didn’t blame Seth for not being able to change his plans on such short notice. As he’d pointed out, Alice should have tried on the dress earlier in the week. But Meagan could offer assistance this time. It wasn’t as if she had anything more pressing to do, she thought with an increasingly-familiar impatience to get back to her own busy life.
“We couldn’t ask you to do that,” Seth protested politely. “You’re still recovering from surgery.”
She figured he was remembering her momentary spell of weakness after she’d delivered Waldo, and it galled her that he’d seen that. She didn’t like being perceived as sickly or frail. “Chasing down Waldo and wrestling him over here was a little strenuous, but I’d be fine to watch Alice try on clothes. I’m cleared to drive now, no longer on any prescription pain meds. It would actually be good for me to get out and get some light exercise.”
“We won’t overdo it, Dad,” Alice added eagerly. “We can go to the mall, that’s not far. I’m sure I’ll find a dress really fast, so we won’t be gone long. I bet Meagan could help me pick the perfect outfit for the party. Please, Daddy?”
Meagan thought Seth still looked uncomfortable with the impromptu plan, but he was unable to resist his daughter’s hopeful expression. “Okay, if you’re sure you don’t mind, Meagan. I’ll give you my cell phone number. Feel free to call if you need anything, even if you have to interrupt my meeting.”
“We’ll be fine,” Meagan assured him.
She’d never taken a teenager shopping for clothes before, but she thought it might be fun. “Maybe I’ll call Madison and see if she wants to join us. She’s the fashion expert in our family and I think you and she would enjoy meeting, Alice. We could have lunch at the Chinese restaurant downstairs in the mall—do you like Chinese?”
“I love Chinese!” Alice almost bounced in her seat in excitement.
Laughing, Meagan nodded. “Then we’ll make it a girls’ day out. I’m not sure Madison can join us. She has a very busy schedule. If she can’t, we’ll have fun, just the two of us.”
“I’m sure we will,” Alice agreed with a grin that made her braces flash in the light of the dining room chandelier.
Seth cleared his throat, and Meagan wondered if he was feeling a bit left out. “Did you and Nina make any dessert to go with this meal, Alice?”
Alice jumped out of her chair. “We made flan! I’ll serve. Do you like flan, Meagan?”
“I love it,” she replied honestly.
Seth rose a bit more leisurely. “I put on a pot of decaf just before we sat down to eat. Would you like a cup with your dessert, Meagan?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Insisting she remain seated, he carried her plate and utensils into the kitchen with him. He was obviously handy around the house, she mused with a slight smile. She supposed that had developed from being a single dad. Alice had told her Nina worked weekdays until five and half days on Saturdays, taking care of the household duties and cooking, but Alice grumbled that she was expected to do quite a few chores, herself. Her dad, she’d said, took care of meals on Saturday evenings an
d Sundays. He was a pretty good cook, she’d added proudly, but sometimes they ate out when the hardworking attorney was too tired or busy to prepare meals.
Meagan had gotten the impression of a well-run, tightly scheduled household. Alice seemed generally satisfied with the routines, though perhaps a bit lonely at times. She was obviously crazy about her father, and seemed to have little resentment about her mother’s absence, though Meagan had heard occasional undertones of wistfulness in the girl’s voice when she’d spoken of her mom. All in all, Alice seemed to be a happy, well-adjusted girl, which spoke well of her busy father’s parenting skills.
Meagan studied Seth when he returned with two cups of steaming coffee, setting one in front of her before returning to his seat. She had been a little surprised when he had opened the door to her earlier. Alice had talked about him quite a bit, of course, but Meagan’s mental picture of him had been rather different from the reality. He was younger than she’d expected, for one thing. She wasn’t very good at guessing age, but he looked to be thirty-five, thirty-six, maybe—which meant he’d been young when Alice was born. Definitely nice looking, with wide-set green eyes, thick, slightly wavy brown hair and a firm, faintly indented chin. Alice had gotten her coloring and facial shape from him, apparently, though her brown eyes must have come from her mother.
He seemed quite nice. Amusing, thoughtful, devoted to his daughter. The latter quality was the one that precluded him from being someone she might have been interested in getting to know more intimately. Meagan didn’t have anything against dating divorcées, but she’d made it a rule to steer clear of men with kids. She liked children, for the most part, but with her crazy schedule and rather poor track record with relationships, kids were a complication she hadn’t wanted to deal with. She’d always thought she’d have one of her own someday, she mused, resisting an impulse to press a hand to her slightly throbbing surgical scar, but she’d never wanted to risk hurting anyone else’s children by being only a temporary part of their life.
Fortunately, that wasn’t an issue here, she assured herself, accepting a dessert plate from Alice with a smile and a murmured thanks. She and Alice were the friends, with Seth merely a bystander. She’d done her best to warn Alice that she’d have little free time once she returned to work, but maybe Alice could still drop by on the occasional weekend afternoon for a swim. Meagan would probably hardly see Seth at all.
Not that she minded seeing him, she thought, casting a glance at him over her coffee cup. He was certainly pleasant to look at.
She didn’t linger after dessert. Following her father’s instructions, Alice began to clear away the dishes. She and Meagan said their good nights at the table, agreeing to meet at ten the next morning for the shopping outing. Leaving Alice to her chores, Seth walked Meagan to the door.
“You’re sure you’re up to the shopping trip?”
She gave a firm nod. “Very sure. Actually, I’m looking forward to it. I’d find an excuse to get out tomorrow even if I hadn’t volunteered to take Alice.”
His deep, rich chuckle made her swallow rather hard, for some reason. “Getting a little stir crazy?”
“Getting a lot stir crazy,” she admitted with a wrinkle of her nose. “If I hadn’t had Alice’s visits to look forward to, I’d probably have been climbing the walls by now.”
“She said you work at River City Medical Center?”
She nodded. “Yes, I—”
“Dad! Waldo’s knocked over a whole pile of stuff in the garage. You’d better come help me.”
Alice’s distant shout sounded more exasperated than frantic. Seth sighed heavily. “I guess I’d better go help her with the disaster dog. I’ve still got to find out how he escaped the backyard. It was very nice meeting you, Meagan.”
“Nice meeting you, too. Thank you for dinner.”
“I hope you can join us again sometime.”
He was probably just being polite. She smiled and replied vaguely, “That would be lovely. Good night, Seth.”
“Good night, Mea—”
“Dad!”
“I’m coming, Alice.” Giving Meagan a rueful smile, he closed the front door behind her when she stepped outside.
The short walk to her house was much easier without a squirming mutt in her arms. The air was cooling and deepening dusk cast purple shadows on the street around her. She had enjoyed the spontaneous dinner party, she thought as she pulled her keys from her jeans pocket to unlock her front door. She really had been suffering from cabin fever lately. The only time she’d left home this past week was for a couple hours that morning to see her doctor and then visit briefly with her mom and grandmother. She could hardly even remember the last time she’d spent an evening with an attractive, amusing man.
But no, that didn’t sound right. She’d shared a meal with Alice and her dad, hardly with Seth alone.
Maybe it had been too long since she’d been out for an adult evening, considering the little tingle still lingering inside her as a result of Seth’s parting smile.
“Honey, we have to do something with that hair!”
Alice lifted a hand self-consciously to her riotous mass of curls in response to Madison’s blunt assessment. “I guess it needs a trim.”
Madison laughed softly and patted Alice’s shoulder. “Sweetie, you need more than a trim. You need a good cut and style. The walk-in place upstairs is hit-and-miss, but I know which stylists there can be trusted. Let’s get up and see how long the waiting list is.”
Frowning, Meagan followed in her younger sister’s wake, as she usually did when Madison took charge. “Um, Maddie? I’m not sure we should get her hair cut without her father’s permission.”
Alice looked over her shoulder with a frown. “I’m not a baby, Meagan. Dad lets me choose how to wear my own hair—well, as long as I don’t get a mohawk or dye it purple or anything,” she added with a little laugh.
Because Meagan had no intention of sanctioning either of those options, she decided maybe a simple haircut wouldn’t be so bad.
As she had expected, Madison and Alice hit it off immediately. No surprise. Everyone liked Madison, with her ebullient warmth and contagious laugh. A second year psychiatry resident, Madison wanted to specialize in adolescents. Their brother said it was because Madison had never really grown up, herself, an accusation with which Madison cheerfully agreed.
Slim and animated, Madison had shoulder length hair that was naturally the same rather mousy brown as Meagan’s. Like Meagan, she dyed it a more interesting shade, though Madison had gone even blonder than Meagan’s honey color. Madison’s eyes were a shade lighter blue and her features, at least in Meagan’s opinion, were a little more classically pretty. Madison never seemed to run out of energy or enthusiasm, which had come in handy during medical school and her first year of residency.
They were lucky enough to arrive at the walk-in salon at a lull in business. One of the stylists Madison knew and trusted just happened to be available. Madison and the stylist, Kiera, put their heads together for a lengthy and serious-looking consultation while glancing sideways at Alice, who shifted her feet self-consciously.
“You know you don’t have to let them do anything you don’t want,” Meagan reminded the girl.
Alice nodded resolutely. “Madison’s so pretty. She’ll know what I should do.”
And then she added quickly, “I’d trust you, too, of course. You’re pretty, too.”
Meagan laughed, patting Alice’s arm to show there’d been no offense taken. Meagan, too, thought her younger sister was beautiful. “Thank you, but Madison’s the one who knows all the latest styles and fashions. That’s why I asked her to join us today.”
They both looked at Madison, who had dressed in a trendy top and skinny jeans with wedge-heeled sandals for their shopping excursion. Typically, Meagan’s look was more classic—a crisp white shirt with jeans and comfortable loafers. The traditional style worked for her, but Alice needed a guide for younger fashion.
Leaving Alice in Kiera’s capable hands, Meagan and Madison sat side by side in the waiting area.
“So, how good-looking is Alice’s dad?” Madison asked with a grin.
Meagan lifted an eyebrow. “Why?”
Madison laughed. “He must be cute for you to agree to spend a morning shopping with his teenage daughter. You’ve never really liked shopping.”
“I was glad to have an excuse to get out of the house for a few hours, but mostly I just wanted to help Alice. She’s a very sweet girl. This has nothing to do with Seth.”
“Oh. He’s very cute.”
Meagan studied her sister in exasperation. “What brought you to that conclusion?”
Her expression mischievous, Madison replied, “I could tell by the way you said his name. Seth. My guess is that he’s quite the catch.”
Meagan sighed. “If you’re interested, I’ll arrange an introduction.”
“I’ve got no time for a fella right now, but there’s nothing holding you back. Go for it, sis.”
Meagan couldn’t help smiling in return. It was hard not to be amused when Madison teased so good-naturedly. “He’s just a neighbor. A busy single father, at that. You know how I feel about dating guys with children. Too many potential complications in my schedule that’s already hectic enough.”
“Chicken.”
“Cluck, cluck.”
“You’re hopeless, Meagan. What’s it going to take to make you pay a little attention to your own needs, for a change?” Madison’s smile disappeared abruptly. “You nearly let yourself die because you wouldn’t stop long enough to take care of your own health.”
Because she knew her illness had frightened her sister, Meagan replied patiently. “I didn’t almost die, Maddie. I went to Meilin as soon as I realized I needed attention.”