Harlequin Special Edition July 2013 - Bundle 2 of 2: The Widow of Conard CountyA Match for the Single DadThe Medic's Homecoming

by Rachel Lee

  Carl Jr.—nicknamed C.J.—and Sarah had three children, Steven, Shelby and Lori. Steven had worked for the resort until recently, when he’d left to fulfill his lifelong dream and train as a firefighter. Lori had quit college and eloped with a musician early in the summer, to the shock of her entire family. Of those siblings, only Shelby, a C.P.A. and business manager for the resort, was still fully committed to the family business, along with her new husband, Aaron Walker, who’d taken on Steven’s responsibilities helping Bryan keep up the grounds and supervise part-time seasonal workers hired to assist them.

  Bryan and Linda’s two daughters, Hannah and Maggie, still worked for the resort, though Hannah, who handled marketing, now telecommuted from the home in Dallas she shared with her husband, Aaron Walker’s twin brother, Andrew, and their baby daughter. From what Garrett had deduced, Maggie was in charge of hiring and supervising the housekeeping staff for the cabins and the sixteen-unit motel on the grounds.

  It was all very efficient, as far as he could tell. The family seemed to get along quite well, considering they lived and worked in such close quarters—Lori’s rebellion notwithstanding. Yet he wondered if Maggie ever felt the urge to try her hand at a different career, like Steven, or take off on a reckless adventure, like Lori. No one understood better than he the constraints of family obligation, even when those shackles were donned willingly.

  “Be sure and let us know if there’s anything at all you need during your stay with us,” Maggie said, every inch the gracious hostess.

  She tossed back a lock of hair that a playful breeze swept into her face and Garrett felt his chest tighten. She really was attractive. He’d bet her thick, shoulder-length, gold-streaked brown hair felt as soft as it looked. Not to mention her silky, peach-dusted skin....

  He cleared his throat. Hard. He’d neglected his social life badly during the past year, since he’d left the Air Force and become responsible for his girls. He really should find time to date again—though that would involve actually meeting someone he wanted to go out with. Present company excluded, of course.

  She pulled a card from her pocket and extended it to him. “This is my cell phone number if you need to contact me. I’m not aware of any maintenance issues with your cabin, but if you have any problems, just give me a call and I’ll send someone immediately.”

  Their fingers brushed when he accepted the card. He blamed static in the air for the resulting ripple of awareness, though there hadn’t actually been a shock.

  “Thanks,” he said, drawing his hand away to tuck the card in his back jeans pocket.

  “So, I’ll see you around.”

  “Yeah, about that. We’re having a birthday cake for Kix at about seven tomorrow evening. She’d love it if you joined us.”

  Though they’d met most of the Bell family in passing, the girls were particularly attached to Maggie because of the tennis classes she’d taught them. Neither of his daughters seemed to have a particular affinity for the sport, but they’d certainly taken to their instructor. Couldn’t say he blamed them for that.

  “I’d be happy to join you for cake,” Maggie said with a bright smile. “Can I bring anything?”

  “Trust me, we have more than enough. For that matter, you can bring your whole family and there would still be enough.”

  She laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Enjoy your evening.”

  “I’ll certainly try,” he murmured, watching her buzz away in the cart, her hair waving lightly around her shoulders. He suspected that image would linger in his mind for a few hours tonight.

  Chapter Two

  Carrying a large box of red, white and blue decorations she’d retrieved from an upstairs storage room, Maggie descended the stairs carefully into the lobby of the main building later Monday afternoon. She could have used the small elevator they’d installed last year for her grandparents, but it was such a habit to take the stairs that she’d started down without considering how much the box limited her vision. She was almost to the bottom when she missed a step with her foot. Had her reflexes not been quicker, she might well have taken a tumble.

  Someone took the box from her hands from below. She blinked in surprise when she saw Garrett standing there, frowning. Even his stern expression looked too darned appealing for her peace of mind, never mind what his rare full smiles did to her.

  “You very nearly fell,” he chided, bringing her attention back to the moment.

  “Guess I got in a hurry,” she replied, “but I caught myself.”

  “I was prepared to catch you if you didn’t.”

  A sudden image of herself cradled in Garrett’s strong arms made her momentarily regret her own quick reflexes.

  “Where do you want this?”

  Ordering herself to stop being so foolish, she motioned toward the reception desk to her left. “Just set it in the corner behind the desk. We’re decorating tomorrow for the holiday weekend and I was just bringing down some of the supplies.”

  Nodding to Rosie Aguilar, who manned the reception desk most weekdays since Maggie’s sister had married and moved to Dallas, Garrett set the big box in a back corner. “Do you have any more to bring down? I can help.”

  “Thanks, but no. That’s the only one for now.” She glanced around the lobby, expecting to see members of his family. Though a few guests mingled in the large open room that was decorated with lush greenery, shiny trophy fish mounted on wooden plaques and displays of antique fishing lures, she saw no sign of Garrett’s daughters.

  The reception desk lay straight ahead of the big double-entry doors. To the right upon entering was the Chimes Grill, done in red-and-chrome vintage diner style, and to the left the convenience store stocked with basic groceries, some prepared foods and fishing and camping supplies. Maggie’s aunt Sarah ran the grill, whereas the store was her mom’s domain. Neither was particularly busy on this Monday afternoon, though a few early dinner guests were seated in the diner. The back of the main building housed the marina that was her uncle C.J.’s domain, which included a bait shop, marine gas pump, fishing pier, boat slips and fish-cleaning station.

  “Where are the girls?”

  “Back at the cabin,” Garrett replied. “We were getting things ready to grill hamburgers for dinner when I realized that we forgot to bring the buns I bought specifically for this trip. Apparently, they’re sitting on the kitchen counter back at my house. I figured it would be easier to come into the store to buy some more rather than to drive back home. I’d just walked in when I saw you almost take the header down the stairs.”

  She waved a hand toward the glass walls of the convenience store. “We happen to stock a good supply of hamburger and hot dog buns. Mom will help you with whatever you need.”

  He shook his head in self-recrimination. “Can’t believe I forgot the buns I bought. It got a little hectic when we were leaving, with both girls wanting to bring a ridiculous amount of stuff, so I ended up leaving behind something we actually needed.”

  She smiled. “At least it was something easily replaced.”

  “Yeah.” His gaze seemed to linger for a moment on her mouth. And then he raised his eyes to hers. “If you don’t already have plans for dinner, maybe you’d like to join us? The girls would love having you. Kix has been asking about you all day.”

  She hesitated a moment, reminding herself that she would be seeing the girls for birthday cake the next evening, which should probably be enough interaction with them—but then she heard words pop out of her mouth. “That sounds like fun, if you’re sure there’s enough.”

  Garrett laughed, such a nice sound that she wished she could hear it more often. “Trust me, there will be plenty. My mom doesn’t believe in cooking just a small amount of anything.”

  “Then sure, why not? My book club canceled this evening’s meeting, so I’m available. What time?”

  “Come now if you’re finished for the day,” he suggested. “My grandmother likes to eat early, so I’ll start cooking the burgers
as soon as I’m back at the cabin. Won’t take long to have them ready.”

  “I’ll put away a few things and meet you in the store.”

  Garrett was paying for bags of sesame-seed hamburger buns when she rejoined him. She plucked a jar of organic squash pickles off a shelf to take along, showing it to her mother, who nodded and made a note of the purchase. The pickles were made and distributed by a local grower and were a popular item in the resort store. It was the least Maggie could contribute to the meal, since she didn’t have time to make anything.

  Garrett had walked from the cabin, but Maggie drove him back in one of the ubiquitous green resort golf carts. “So...book club, huh?” he asked on the way.

  She grinned. “Well, it’s more girlfriends-getting-together-to-drink-wine-eat-ridiculously-high-calorie-desserts-and-dish-gossip club, but we think ‘book club’ sounds more intellectual.”

  Garrett laughed. “Good call.”

  “Yeah, we thought so.”

  “What else do you do when you aren’t working?”

  “I try to make it to the gym a few times a week for Zumba classes, and go out to clubs with friends sometimes on weekends for karaoke or dancing. Single life. You know.”

  He grimaced wryly. “I hardly remember single life. Married too young, spent most of my life in the military, now a full-time dad. You know.”

  She couldn’t say she knew his life any more than he did hers. Another reminder of how little they had in common, she told herself somberly.

  “I should probably warn you that Payton’s mad at me,” Garrett mentioned as she parked in the driveway of cabin six. “She was barely speaking to me when I left. Maybe I had an ulterior motive inviting you to join us for dinner. She’ll be on her best behavior for you.”

  Maggie smiled sympathetically. “What did you do to get in trouble with her?”

  “She met a couple of teenage brothers hanging around the tennis and basketball court this afternoon. She said their name was Ferguson—Trevor and Drake Ferguson. They started talking while I was shooting hoops with Kix. They invited her to meet them down at the lake tonight to ‘look at the stars.’” He made ironic quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke the phrase. “Needless to say, I told her she wasn’t meeting a couple of strange boys by herself at night. She hasn’t spoken to me since, other than to mutter about how I keep treating her like a baby.”

  Maggie didn’t know all the guests registered at the resort at any particular time, of course, but she was passingly familiar with most of the occupants of the motel and cabins. Especially repeat visitors. “I know the family. Wayne and Melanie Alexander and her sons, Trevor and Drake Ferguson. They’re in cabin two, over by the motel. They’ve stayed with us several times before and they like being close to the pool. As I recall, Trevor is maybe fourteen, Drake a couple years younger, a little younger than Payton, I think.”

  Garrett nodded to acknowledge her identification. “Payton thought knowing the boys’ names would be all I required to approve of her hanging out with them unsupervised. She was wrong.”

  “The boys have always seemed reasonably well-behaved, but they aren’t supervised very closely. I don’t blame you for not wanting her to wander down to the lake with them alone at night.”

  “Not going to happen. No matter how much she pouts. So maybe having you there tonight will ease the sting some.”

  “In that case, I’ll do my best to cheer her up.”

  “Hope you have better luck with it than I do.”

  She smoothed a hand over her breeze-tossed hair. “I have an advantage. I wasn’t the one who told her no.”

  He gave a little snort that might have been a laugh and climbed out of the cart with the hamburger buns.

  “You are aware, I suppose, that Payton is a very pretty girl?” she asked as she accompanied him toward the porch. “You’re in for a lot of this sort of thing in the future.”

  He nodded, his expression resigned. “She looks a lot like her mother.”

  So his late ex-wife had been a beauty. She couldn’t help wondering what had gone wrong in the marriage, even though it was absolutely none of her business.

  They entered the cabin together and Kix squeaked when she saw Maggie. “Are you going to have hamburgers with us, Maggie?” she asked, dashing to her side.

  “Your dad invited me. I hope that’s okay with everyone.”

  “You’re very welcome, Maggie,” Garrett’s mother assured her with a warm smile from the kitchen counter, where she was slicing tomatoes.

  “That grandmother of yours isn’t coming, is she?” Esther demanded. She sat in a chair facing the view of the lake, surrounded by books, a knitting bag and a teacup, her walker nearby. It looked as though she had claimed that spot permanently for her own.

  “Mother,” Paulette scolded, even as Garrett growled, “Meemaw.”

  “My grandmother isn’t coming,” Maggie replied lightly. “Just me.”

  “Good,” Esther muttered.

  Garrett sighed heavily in exasperation with his grandmother’s rudeness, but didn’t bother to argue any further with her, saying merely, “I’ll start the grill.”

  “The patties are ready to go on as soon as the grill is hot enough,” his mother informed him.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Maggie asked.

  Paulette shook her head. “Everything’s almost ready. Why don’t you chat with the girls? They always enjoy visiting with you.”

  “I love your top, Maggie.” Payton studied the casual blouse closely. “That scoop neckline is very flattering.”

  “Thank you.” Maggie had noticed that Payton was increasingly into fashion these days, always taking time to examine and comment on Maggie’s outfits.

  “Come upstairs and we’ll show you where we sleep,” Kix suggested eagerly. “We have a view of the lake from our window and it’s really pretty.”

  “Maggie knows the cabin, Kix,” Payton said with a shake of her head. “She owns it.”

  “My family owns it,” Maggie corrected, “but it’s been a while since I looked at the lake from that window.” Actually, she’d inspected the cabin thoroughly hours before they’d settled in, but she saw no need to mention that. “Lead the way, Kix.”

  Kix dashed up the stairs and Maggie followed. Payton trailed them more slowly.

  The loft had definitely been invaded by young girls, Maggie noted with a smile. Rather than the resort-furnished plain white sheets and coverlets, the two twin beds sported pink-and-green polka-dot sheets on one bed and yellow-and-green stripes on the other. From what she knew of their grandmother, she figured Paulette had been the one who’d insisted on bringing their own sheets rather than using the ones provided for guests. A shabby stuffed yellow bear sat on the polka-dot bed, which she figured must belong to Kix. Paperback books and teen magazines were strewn across the other bed. One of the drawers in the built-in dresser had been closed on the leg of a pair of ladybug-print pajamas.

  “Look how pretty the shadows look on the lake now that the sun’s getting lower,” Kix said from the window.

  Payton groaned. “Geez, Kix, she lives here. She sees the lake all the time.”

  “But I never get tired of it,” Maggie replied, moving to admire the view. Dotted with boats and crisscrossed with rippling wakes, the lake glittered jewel-blue in the still bright, late-day sun.

  Payton scowled. “Wish I could see the moon on the water with my new friends later. I met some really nice guys who are going down to the lake later to, you know, just throw rocks in the water and look at the stars and talk and stuff, and Dad acted like I asked if I could go to a bar or something.”

  “They got into another one of their fights,” Kix confided. “Payton yells sometimes, but Daddy never does. He just says, ‘That’s final’ in a really quiet voice. And you know from the way he says it that he’s not going to change his mind no matter how much you beg or argue, but sometimes we do anyway, I guess, ’cause we hope maybe just once he’ll listen. Like
, Payton keeps asking for a red leather jacket like the one you wore last winter. She says she wants one like it for this next school year, but Dad keeps saying red leather isn’t practical for school. And I want to stay up an hour later to watch TV because all—well, some—of my friends stay up until ten o’clock, but I have to go to bed at nine, which is a bedtime for babies. And I’ve asked him maybe a million times for a kitten, but all he’ll say is ‘we’ll see.’”

  “And you’re his favorite.” Payton tossed her head with a scowl. “He tells you yes a lot more than he does me.” Payton whirled toward Maggie then. “I’m thirteen years old and he watches me like I’m a little kid. Like Kix.”

  “Hey!”

  “All I wanted to do,” Payton went on, ignoring her sister’s indignant protest, “was to meet up with some friends. But just because they’re boys, he said no. I mean, geez, what does he think is going to happen? He’s here at the resort, their parents are here, a zillion other people are here, it’s not like we’re going to get into trouble. They’re nice guys, Maggie. Trevor and Drake Ferguson. Do you know them?”

  Maggie repeated what she’d said earlier to Garrett. “I’ve met them a few times when they’ve stayed here before. They seem like good kids.”

  “I know, right? Dad can be such a—”

  “Payton!” Kix interrupted urgently, giving her sister a little shove.

  For a moment it looked as though Payton might snarl at her sister, but her expression turned suddenly thoughtful. “Oh. Yeah, guess I shouldn’t be talking about him that way. Family and all.”

  “Daddy’s not really mean,” Kix assured Maggie. “He’s just overprotective. Grammy says that makes him a good father, but she’s overprotective, too.”

  “I bet you’d have let me hang out with friends at the lake tonight if it were up to you, wouldn’t you, Maggie?” Payton asked.