Yesterday's Embers (Clayburn Novels Book 3)

by Deborah Raney

  She leaned around him to look for Dad. She spotted him in the middle of the dance floor. He was dancing with Miss Valdez. They were standing kind of far apart and not talking, but still, it made her feel funny seeing him touch her like that.

  “Who are you looking for?”

  She looked back at Seth. “My dad. I was gonna dance with him.”

  Seth followed her gaze to the dance floor. “Hey, he’s dancing with that daycare teacher. Man, she’s hot.”

  “Seth!”

  “Well, she is.”

  “She’s like, old enough to be your mother.”

  Seth raised an eyebrow. “Or yours.”

  She didn’t like the way he said it. Like Dad had a thing for Miss Valdez or something.

  Seth put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on. You wanna dance?”

  “Okay.” Her tummy felt a little fluttery as she followed him to the edge of the dance floor. It was crowded now and she lost sight of Dad.

  The song was a slow one. Seth put a hand on her arm. “Ready?”

  She nodded and as he moved his hands to her waist, she placed her hands on his shoulders, almost around his neck, the way she’d seen the high school girls do. His collar was damp. Maybe he was a little nervous too.

  They turned a slow circle, staying in one spot. She kept her eyes glued to the floor, scared she’d step on his feet. But after a few minutes she didn’t feel so nervous. She even looked up a couple times to see Seth smiling at her. She liked the way it felt to be dancing with the cutest guy here.

  Looking over Seth’s shoulder, she scanned the crowd for Dad. She wondered what he would do if he saw her with Seth. She would dance with Dad on the next song. It wasn’t so scary once you were out on the floor. Besides, almost everybody was dancing now, and nobody was paying any attention to them.

  The song ended and another one started. She pulled away. But Seth grabbed her in a one-armed hug. “Let’s dance one more.”

  “I promised my dad I’d—” She saw him then, dancing with Miss Valdez again.

  “Okay.” She let Seth pull her back into his arms. He held her a little tighter this time. But even though she almost had to tiptoe to see over his shoulder, she couldn’t help watching Dad and Miss Valdez.

  They were dancing closer together on this song too. And they weren’t only dancing. They were talking to each other, putting their mouths close to each other’s ear because the music was so loud. They were laughing. A lot.

  She’d never seen Miss Valdez look so pretty. Instead of the ponytail or bun she usually wore at the daycare, she had her hair down long and smooth, skimming her shoulders. She was laughing in that flirty way Lisa Breck laughed when she was trying to get some boy to pay attention to her.

  The DJ had put on Natalie Cole’s “This Will Be.” Mom used to play that song on the CD player all the time. Kayeleigh knew the words by heart. “An everlasting love… together forever…” Counting down to the last verse, she tried to catch Dad’s eye. But even though it was a fast song, he was dancing close to Miss Valdez, whispering close to her ear and laughing with her. The only time she’d seen Dad laugh like that was—when he was with Mom.

  She kept dancing with Seth, but she wasn’t thinking about him so much now. She felt torn up inside. She wanted Dad to be happy. She’d hoped this wedding would remind him how to smile again. But she hadn’t counted on this sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. In all her daydreams about this night, she’d pictured Daddy dancing with her, not Miss Valdez. He wasn’t really doing anything wrong. They were only dancing and talking. But for some reason, she felt like she should look away—pretend she hadn’t seen them laughing and smiling with each other.

  And Dad seemed to have forgotten all about his promise of dancing with her. She was going to sit down when this song was over. If Dad kept dancing with Miss Valdez, she’d come up with some excuse to go out on the dance floor and get him. Maybe she’d tell him she was sick. Her stomach was feeling kind of funny.

  Before she could rehearse an excuse, the song ended. She pulled away. “I’m…going to go sit down for a while.”

  Seth’s face fell. He shuffled his feet. “Okay. But maybe we can dance again later…after you’re rested up?”

  “Maybe.” She turned and hurried over to where she and Dad had been sitting. She saw him making his way back through the crowd. She smiled, but then she saw that Miss Valdez was right behind him, smiling that great big smile.

  “I’m going to get some punch for Mickey—for Miss Valdez.” Dad seemed a little breathless. “You want some, Kayeleigh?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Sure enough, he’d totally forgotten about the dance he promised her.

  He came back a minute later, juggling three plastic cups of peach-colored punch. But Dad and Miss Valdez barely took two sips from their cups before they were back on the dance floor again.

  When that song was over, the DJ said something about the next song being for young lovers. Before she lost her courage, Kayeleigh drained her punch cup, set it on the chair beside her, and threaded her way through the dancers to where Dad was. Some slow, mushy song started playing, and Dad and Miss Valdez stood facing each other, looking like they weren’t sure if they were going to dance this time or not.

  When Miss Valdez saw her, she brightened. “Hi, sweetie. I’m going to turn your dad over to you while I go see if they need any help in the kitchen.”

  Dad put out a hand like he might try to get Miss Valdez to stay, but she was already sidestepping the other dancers and heading over to the counter where people usually ordered. Kayeleigh turned to watch her.

  She felt a tap on her shoulder. She felt Dad’s warm breath on her neck, and his aftershave tickled her nostrils.

  “Excuse me, miss. May I please have this dance?”

  She giggled, then tried to make her face serious. “I’m not allowed to dance with strangers.”

  That made him laugh. He scooped her into his arms and twirled her around. Her cheeks flushed. If Seth saw her, he’d think she was a baby. Daddy brought her down until her feet found his shoes and she forgot about Seth. Just like when she was a little girl, Dad led her in a circle around the floor. Holding him tight around the waist, she buried her face in his chest.

  She closed her eyes and pretended Mom was sitting in one of the chairs along the wall. She pretended that when the song ended, Dad would escort her off the floor. Then he and Mom would dance the rest of the night while she watched them smile into each other’s eyes the way he and Miss Valdez had.

  Chapter 12

  Doug looked over Kayeleigh’s head and scanned the chairs along the far wall. They were mostly empty now and the dance floor was full. He spotted Mickey slow-dancing with a man he didn’t know. His stomach knotted. Had she come with a date? And here he’d been hogging her on the dance floor.

  But when her partner twirled Mickey, he saw her face and the way she held herself––stiff and a little apart from him. Then he knew, somehow, that she wasn’t with the guy.

  She waved over her dance partner’s shoulder at Doug and smiled down at Kayeleigh, giving him a thumbs-up.

  Part of him was grateful for her graceful exit before the “young lover’s dance,” but he hoped this guy wouldn’t horn in on his chance to dance with her again later.

  He was glad Kayeleigh had talked him into coming. It was good to not be sitting home alone. Good to be among friends, laughing, celebrating life. The winter had seemed like an eternity, but tonight he could finally believe there might be a spring to come.

  The dance ended and he kissed Kayeleigh on top of the head and guided her over to the chairs where they’d left their punch cups. Mickey’s cup was gone, and Tom Bengstrom had plopped his ample backside in the seat where Doug had left his wedding program, hoping to save a place for Mickey. He looked around for her, but she’d disappeared in the mash of dancers.

  They were breaking all kinds of fire codes here this evening. As a former volunteer firefighter, he probably should do somethin
g about it, but Blaine Deaver, the fire chief, and Sheriff Hayford were both standing by the refreshment table and obviously turning a blind eye, so he let the thought go.

  With Kayeleigh tagging behind him, he worked his way through the crowd to the front door. He put a hand to the window and shaded his eyes. The afternoon’s clouds had grown heavy and now spilled out rain. The gutters on Main Street ran swift with it. Thunder rumbled in the distance. He made his way over to where Blaine and the sheriff were standing. “We’re not in a storm watch, are we?”

  Blaine waved a beefy hand. “Nah. They’ve got some weather over in Ellsworth County, but nothing too severe on our radar.”

  Doug looked around again for Mickey. Not seeing her, he gave Kayeleigh a sidewise glance. “Maybe we ought to get going. You know Grandma. She’ll be worried.”

  “Daddy…no! We just got here. I only got to dance with you one time.”

  He had a feeling he wasn’t the one Kayeleigh wanted to dance with. Seth Berger prowled at the edge of the dance floor, eyeing Kayeleigh like a hungry cat. All the more reason to leave. But across the room he spotted Mickey leaning against the wall talking to the man she’d been dancing with. Now he didn’t want to leave either.

  He sighed and slipped his cell phone out of his pocket. “Okay, just a while longer. Let me call Grandma, though.” Harriet was watching the kids at her house tonight, since there was a show on cable she wanted to watch. Kaye had never wanted cable in their house.

  Kaye. He’d hardly thought of her tonight.

  He looked up from punching in Harriet’s number to see Mickey coming toward them, her purse clutched under one arm. She gave a little wave and reached for the door. He waved back and started to ask if she was going home already, but Harriet answered the phone just then. He heard Harley crying in the background.

  “Harriet? Is she okay?”

  “Harley? Oh, she’s fine,” Harriet said quickly. “Landon accidentally knocked her down. Nobody’s bleeding. How’s the wedding?”

  Harriet must not be able to hear the thunder over the kids’ noise. “It’s all right. I just wanted to make sure things are going okay for you. We should be home before long.”

  He tousled Kayeleigh’s hair and turned to look out the window. Mickey was standing under the narrow awning outside Latte-dah. Like she was waiting for the rain to let up long enough for her to make a dash for her car. It didn’t appear that was going to happen anytime soon.

  “I need to hang up, Harriet. Call my cell if you need me.” He closed the phone without waiting for a response.

  “Stay here, Kayeleigh. I’ll be right back.” He opened the door and told Mickey the same thing—“Stay here.”

  He dashed to the back room that tonight was serving as a coat check, grabbed his suit jacket from the rack, and ran back to the door.

  Mickey was right where he’d left her, but Kayeleigh wasn’t there. He panned the room, looking for her. His breath caught when he saw her dancing with Seth Berger at the edge of the dance floor. He had her wrapped in his clumsy paws like prey.

  Doug didn’t know the kid that well, but the older Berger boy was trouble, and judging by the attitude Seth had sported that morning at the print shop, he was a tiger of the same stripe. Doug wasn’t a fan of the boy, and he for sure didn’t like the way the guy was clutching his daughter right now.

  He pushed his way through to where Seth and Kayeleigh were. When she saw him, she wriggled out of Seth’s arms. The look she gave Doug said, “Please don’t embarrass me.”

  He worked to keep his voice even. “Hey, kiddo. We need to get going.”

  “Da-ad…”

  He put a hand on her shoulder and gave Seth a dismissing nod. “Sorry, but we need to go. Come on, Kayeleigh.” He herded her toward the door.

  “I don’t have my stuff, Dad.” She shrugged out from under his arm and started back toward the row of chairs.

  “Well, run and get it quick, then meet me outside. And hurry up.”

  She turned and gave a little growl, but she must have seen the determination on his face because she quickly wove her way back to the chair where her jacket was.

  He sighed and went out to the sidewalk in front of Latte-dah. Mickey stood a ways down under the awning, looking out at the storm. “Mickey!” He had to shout over the rain hammering the awning.

  She smiled when she saw him. She was already soaked, her hair forming soggy ringlets around her pretty face.

  Slipping off his coat, he jogged toward her. He held the coat up over her head. “Where are you parked? I’ll walk you to the car.”

  Her expression turned sheepish. “Actually I…I walked.”

  “Good grief, you weren’t going to walk home, surely?”

  She shrugged. “I’ll wait till it lets up a little.”

  “Here.” He stepped from under the tent of his coat, transferring it to her. She raised goose-bumped arms and accepted his offering, and they walked back toward the door together.

  Just then Kayeleigh stepped from the coffee shop, wearing a scowl she made no effort to hide. Seeming not to notice, Mickey swooped in to take her under her wing, holding the makeshift umbrella over both their heads.

  Doug pretended not to see the disappointment in Kayeleigh’s eyes. “You two stay here. I’ll bring the truck around.”

  He’d have to do damage control with his daughter later, but she’d thank him in the long run, and he was not going to let Mickey Valdez walk home in this downpour. It would soon be dark.

  Jogging around the side of the building to where his truck was parked, he somehow managed to hit every puddle in the uneven sidewalk. His socks squished inside too-tight dress shoes. Climbing behind the wheel, he caught a glimpse of his reflection. A drowned rat in a dress shirt and tie. He raked his fingers through his thinning hair, but it remained plastered to his scalp.

  But in spite of the rain shower and his wet clothes clinging to him in the March chill, he felt elated. Truly alive for the first time in so long. And just a little guilty for having so much fun.

  For the first time it hit him that maybe he hadn’t behaved tonight in a way that honored Kaye. It had barely been four months. Maybe it was too soon for him to be smiling and laughing and dancing with other women—another woman.

  But he was sick to death of crying himself to sleep. Sick to death of being a single parent, of being alone everywhere he went. Tonight had been nice. And Kayeleigh enjoyed it. He’d mostly done it for her anyway. She was the one who’d talked him into going to the wedding in the first place. He winced inwardly, remembering the disappointment on her face when she realized they were leaving the dance. He’d only danced one dance with her.

  He pulled the truck around in front of Latte-dah and parked as close to the curb as he could. Mickey helped Kayeleigh over the running gutter and clambered in after her, laughing.

  She laid his suit jacket neatly over her knees and pushed the damp curls off her face. “I don’t know that I could have gotten much wetter walking home. And now I’ve made you get out in the rain and probably ruined your suit.”

  He flipped the heater on high. “Don’t worry about it. At least you won’t freeze to death.” He pulled away from the curb. “Let’s see…you live over on Pickering, right?”

  She nodded. “Last house on the left. Thanks. I really appreciate it. You didn’t have to leave early on my account.”

  “We––” He gave Kayeleigh a sidewise glance. She sat with her arms folded over her chest. His daughter was not a happy camper. “I needed to get home anyway. Kaye’s mom has the kids.”

  “Oh. I heard she was back from Florida. It’s nice she can be here.”

  “It is. I’m hoping she can move back here permanently––to help out with the kids. But we’ll see. She can’t seem to let go of her condo.” He knew Kayeleigh wasn’t missing a syllable they were saying, but he lowered his voice as though he could protect her from the pain in his words. “Kansas winters are tough on Harriet’s arthritis, and it’s not ea
sy for her to be here. There are a lot of…reminders.”

  Mickey nodded soberly. “I can understand.”

  He sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if she goes back.” He hadn’t let himself think about it. There were too many other things to worry about. But now panic moved into his chest. He had roughly ten days to find somebody…or change Harriet’s mind. And he hadn’t changed the woman’s mind once in the twenty years he’d known her. He turned onto Pickering Street and flipped the wipers on high.

  Mickey pointed through the windshield. “A couple more blocks. There…it’s that one right up there with the garden cart in the front.”

  The house was set back from the street. A high picket fence enclosed the backyard and the lawn in front was tidy as a pin. Already the grass was greening up with the day’s rain.

  Mickey unfastened her seatbelt and opened the pickup’s heavy door. “Thanks for the ride.” She laid his jacket on the seat between her and Kayeleigh and gave a little wave in the girl’s direction. “See you two later.”

  She started to climb out, but Doug motioned for her to wait. He grabbed the jacket, jumped out of the truck, and came around to help her out.

  “You don’t have to do that. Seriously, I’m fine.”

  “I don’t mind.” He spread the sodden jacket over their heads again and they huddled under it, making a run for the house.

  Under the cover of the front porch, she dug through her purse. “I know my keys are in here somewhere. You really don’t need to stay.” She gestured toward his truck. “Kayeleigh’s waiting. You go on.”

  Chapter 13

  Doug folded his jacket over his arm. He felt a strange sense of panic that his time with this woman was about to end. He glanced toward the pickup idling at the curb. “Kayeleigh will be fine. I’ll wait to make sure you get in.”

  Mickey squatted with her purse in her lap, searching deeper in the small bag.