by Caroline Lee
Maybe she didn’t, but she was beginning to think she’d like to know him very well, indeed. Maybe too well.
She sighed and uncrossed her fingers. He had a daughter. Wow. Not what she would’ve guessed, and she’d never been attracted to guys with kids before…but something about the way he spoke about Violet made her chest tighten, in a good way. She liked the pride she heard in his voice and the wonder. He truly loved his daughter, and that made Sadie feel all…squishy inside, for some reason.
“Hey, wait up,” she called, when she realized how far ahead of her he’d stalked. “Tell me about Violet.”
He slowed to a stop, and then turned slightly, as if inviting her to join him.
“What are some of the things she likes to do?” Sadie called as she strode towards him on her much-shorter legs.
“Read.” His answer was curt.
“Oh yeah? I did too, when I was her age. What kinds of stuff does she read?”
When his jaw softened and those delicious crinkles around his eyes slackened, Sadie knew she’d won and he was thinking happy thoughts again.
They both turned towards the lovely meadow and the walking trails that bordered the Old West Town, and Shawn’s shoulders visibly relaxed as he began talking about his daughter. Sadie asked careful questions, and even answered some of his when he asked, and soon they were chatting like old friends.
Sadie owed Julia a big banana split for arranging this “break”, because it was the nicest time she’d had in a long while.
All because, she suspected, she was spending her walk with Shawn McAllister, Mr. Hottie and Dad Extraordinaire, himself.
Wow.
CHAPTER THREE
Geri Nolan threw a hissy fit ten minutes into her lesson when Shawn asked her why she hadn’t practiced her scales. He should’ve known better than to ask her outright like that—Geri was a spoiled, delicate little thing—but he’d been thinking about something else.
A petite, nicely rounded, something else who looked gorgeous in that long lacy skirt and who was passionate about ice cream and who talked to him like he was normal.
So Geri started screaming, and her mother started accusing him of being too tough on her, and Shawn just managed to keep his patience intact. He was a teacher, after all, but he’d found that many of the kids responded to his no-nonsense military bearing. Since he was a man, they weren’t expecting him to be a warm and cuddly teacher. Sexist sure, but it was convenient, so he took advantage of it.
Unfortunately, that didn’t work so well with Geri or her mother. By the time the eight-year-old had calmed down enough to finish her lesson, a good thirty minutes had been wasted. Not a big deal, except Mrs. Nolan then insisted he provide the full hour of service, threatening to tell all of her friends that he was a poor teacher who couldn’t be trusted to keep his appointments. It was galling, but Shawn knew that if he didn’t agree to the popular woman’s terms, he was unlikely to gain any new clients in Riston.
Better to just pander to her. He’d left D.C. to get away from people telling him what to do, but it looked like he was stuck dealing with politics once again. Luckily, his years in the army had taught him how to suck it up and deal with people like Mrs. Nolan.
The upshot was, that by the time he finished little Geri’s lesson, said his goodbyes, and packed his keyboard into his truck, he was a good forty minutes later than usual. Violet had gotten off the bus almost two hours ago, and he could only depend on Jaclyn’s goodwill for so long.
So he pushed as close to the speed limit as he dared—he couldn’t afford a speeding ticket—on his dash back to the ranch. Two months ago, when Jaclyn Hardy, the kind old lady who ran the RV Park, found out Violet was coming home from school three times a week to an empty RV, she offered to watch the little girl. Shawn had hesitated, knowing he couldn’t pay her, but Jaclyn had insisted. In return, Shawn did what he could around her house, even though she kept shooing him off and telling him that the “fairies” would help her if needed.
It was difficult to trust a woman who claimed to speak to fairies, but Violet adored Jaclyn’s rabbits and gnomes, so Shawn had swallowed down his misgivings. Today though, he was far later than usual. Maybe once the Kids’ Korral in the Old West Town opened, he could afford to enroll Violet there, and not worry about being late. But for now, who knows how much trouble he’d caused Jaclyn?
His beat-up truck screeched to a stop in front of her cottage, but he made sure to park well back from her fence and her gnomes. The very first time he’d met her, she’d taken him into her garden and “introduced” him to a statue—a statue!—she’d called Gorgeous George, and explained that he was a replacement for a gnome who’d been “unfortunately lost” due to an “accident” involving a golf club in the middle of the night. So Shawn was particularly careful when he drove around her house, not wanting to meet the wrong end of her golf club.
He took the steps three at a time, and pounded on the front door, bouncing anxiously. The last thing he needed was a ticked-off old lady refusing to watch Violet. She really was a sweetheart—albeit a little odd—and Shawn couldn’t afford to alienate any of his “neighbors” here at River’s End Ranch.
As much as he used to think that he hated being tied down, living here—with actual neighbors—had taught him it was helpful to have a support network. If he could manage to win that Chamber of Commerce contest, leverage the publicity into more enrollments for the camps, and stick around through next summer, then maybe he and Violet could get to know the other neighbors better too.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the little cottage’s door swung open. There stood Jaclyn, holding a bowl and a spoon and looking supremely unconcerned while two rabbits hopped around her feet. Shawn peered over her shoulder for Violet, trying to be surreptitious. Where was she?
“Hello, Corporal McAllister.”
The use of his rank dragged Shawn’s attention back to her. He’d never told her that. Had Violet? Violet knew better than to talk about his time in the army. She knew he wasn’t proud of anything he’d done. How had Jaclyn found out?
He raised a brow, silently asking for answers, but she only smiled smugly. There was something off about this interaction—something more than just him being late—and that was worrying.
Usually, by this point, Jaclyn would’ve invited him in. More often than not, she’d rush him inside, complaining about him letting all the heat out, then sit him down on one of her over-stuffed chairs and hand him a plate of snickerdoodle cookies. He always ate one so she wasn’t offended, but it made him uncomfortable to accept more of her hospitality when he couldn’t repay it.
Today, however, something was wrong. Jaclyn just stood there in the doorway, looking at him. Shawn ran his tongue over his lower lip, a stupid nervous habit he’d picked up years ago, and tried to think of how to respond. He settled on an upfront apology. “I’m really sorry I’m so late, Jaclyn. My lesson went longer, and I didn’t feel like I could just leave. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble?”
“Oh, no trouble.” Leisurely, the old woman scooped a big spoonful of what looked like chocolate ice cream out of the bowl and brought it to her mouth. She sighed—maybe with pleasure?—as she ate the bite, and Shawn anxiously shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
This wasn’t the normal routine at all.
“So…” He tried smiling at her, but Jaclyn just ate another bite of ice cream, and blinked innocently up at him. “Is Violet ready to go?” Best to just get them both out of here and back home, so he could dig out the hot dogs for dinner.
“Oh, dear no. She’s not here.”
She’s not here. Shawn’s heart climbed up his throat. “She’s not here? Where is she?” He whirled in place, as if he’d be able to see her. Where was his daughter? Why wasn’t she where she was supposed to be? “Did she go back to the RV? She’s got the key still, right?”
“No, she didn’t go back home, Shawn.”
Where’s my daughter?
He clenched his fists when he turned back to the open door and the batty old woman standing just inside it. “Where is she, Jaclyn? Where’s Violet?” He did his best to keep his voice calm, to hide the threat he knew was there, but also knew he wasn’t entirely successful.
Still, all she did was smile. “I don’t know.”
“Jaclyn—” This time he didn’t bother hiding his threatening tone. He was tired of her stupid fairy-driven games.
“I don’t know, but…you might consider asking Sadie.” Jacklyn lifted her spoon to point behind him. “The two of them left together about an hour ago.”
Sadie? Shawn blinked. Why would Sadie take Violet? “Is she alright?”
“Sadie’s fine, I imagine. Oh, you mean Violet? Yes, she’s completely happy and thrilled to have Sadie’s undivided attention.”
Shawn forced his fists to loosen inside his gloves. “How do you know? Why did Violet go with her?”
Jaclyn shrugged and turned her attention to one of the rabbits that was being a little too rambunctious. “Shoo, Buttercup.” She pushed the animal with her foot, making clucking noises. “She brought me ice cream.”
“The rabbit?”
“No, silly. Sadie.”
He blinked, feeling a little lost. This was surreal; he was standing on the woman’s front steps, letting all the heat out, and she wouldn’t give him a straight answer? “Why?”
“Oh, she always brings me a bowl of her new flavors to try. I’m a big fan of this one.” She lifted the bowl slightly, as if showing off what she meant. “I’d offer some to you, but I’m terribly selfish, apparently, and I’ve eaten it all.”
“And Violet?” Shawn all-but-growled.
“Well, Sadie brought me a bowl, met Violet, and sat to chat for a little while. They became fast friends.” Jaclyn leaned in a bit, as if imparting a secret. “I think that your daughter appreciates having a young woman to talk to, Shawn, and Sadie is a wonderful young woman. They have a lot in common.”
He tried to ignore that comment about Sadie being a wonderful young woman, and concentrate on the part about her wandering off with his daughter. “So she took Violet?”
“Well, of course she offered your daughter some ice cream, and of course I wasn’t going to share what she’d brought me, was I?” Jaclyn waved towards the Old West Town once more. “So off they went to get her some. I’d look for Violet at the Saloon, if I were you. Better get started before you freeze my bunnies to death! Goodbye!”
And with that, she stepped backwards and slammed the door in Shawn’s face.
He stood, staring at the little peephole for a long moment, wondering if any good would come from knocking on the door and demanding reasonable, non-convoluted answers.
Eventually, he took a deep breath and decided he’d gotten everything he needed to know out of her, and he needed to go find Violet. He stormed off towards the Old West Town, and his daughter.
His daughter, hanging out with the really cute, fun “young woman” who’d been haunting his dreams lately.
Why would Sadie offer to watch Violet like that? He thought he knew her well enough to know she wasn’t going to hurt Violet, but why go through the trouble? Sadie had to know he couldn’t pay her, right? So why was she going out of her way for his daughter?
As he stomped through the sprinkling of snow, he thought about what Jaclyn had said, about how Violet needed someone like Sadie. Did she? He thought the two of them had done just fine together, for the last few years. He understood Violet, and he could give her everything she needed. So why did she “need” someone like Sadie? And why would Sadie give her whatever it was?
His brain was all jumbled by the time he made it to the old-fashioned-looking buildings, and took the stairs to the boardwalk in one bound. It wasn’t until he’d pulled open the door to Sadie’s Soda Saloon and stepped inside that he stopped short.
It was dinnertime for most of the ranch, which meant that a coffee shop was mostly deserted. There were a few customers, and that brunette waitress—Julia?—smiled and waved from behind the counter. But two years of recon learned on foot patrols already had Shawn scanning the tables, looking for his daughter and—there!
Sadie sat with her back to him, in the far corner—next to his favorite table, actually—and Violet sat across from her. Some of the tension eased out of Shawn’s shoulders, knowing she was safe and warm and apparently happy, judging from her gap-toothed smile as she bent over something.
In fact, they were both bent over something, and neither had noticed him come in. He peeled off his coat to hang it with the others by the front door, opposite the Estey, and stalked across the room. He moved quietly up behind Sadie, slightly out of Violet’s line of sight and tried to determine what they were working on.
They were coloring. With markers. Not just any markers, but glitter markers.
The thought made Shawn suddenly, irrationally angry.
The only people who colored with glitter markers were little girls! Therefore, the only reasonable explanation was that Sadie had done this just for Violet. She’d gone out and purchased glitter markers just to impress his daughter…and it was working.
What was her game? Why would she want to impress Violet so badly? Was she using his daughter to get to him? Did she… He couldn’t even put the vague feeling into a coherent thought. All he knew for sure was that he couldn’t stand the thought of a woman trying to manipulate his daughter, in any way.
Tammi had done that enough and made all three of them miserable.
The thought of his ex-wife, and the pain she’d put them all through, caused a growl to rise in his throat, and he reached over Sadie’s head to snatch up the piece of paper—covered in pink sparkly hearts and purple flowers, of all things—she was working on.
She let out a little yip of surprise, but he ignored it to growl out, “Just what is going on here?”
Even Violet’s squealed “Daddy!” didn’t calm Sadie’s pulse when the man’s arm reached over her head to snatch up her silly doodles. In fact, knowing it was Shawn who’d caught her acting like a middle-schooler just made her heart beat faster.
Slowly, Sadie turned in her chair and forced a smile up at the gorgeous man frowning down at her scented artwork. He didn’t notice her smile because he was too busy turning the paper in different directions, as if he could make sense of it.
How humiliating, that he would see this side of her. This silly side of her that still loved stickers and scented glitter markers and unicorns. The side of her that she was happy to share with Violet.
The side that Violet was happy to share, too.
“You’re coloring.” Shawn’s growl matched his glare when he finally made eye contact with her, and Sadie had to swallow down the burst of the something that particular growl made her feel. He was dangerous in a way he hadn’t been all those other times…and Sadie didn’t exactly hate it. There was something in her stomach—something very much not middle-schooly—that thought his growl was kinda exciting.
“We are.” She pushed away from the table, and stood up. She still only came up to his nose, but she felt better being able to look at him without getting a crick in her neck. “We just thought we’d have a little fun while we waited for you to join us.” It sounded like she was making excuses, and she didn’t want to, but she couldn’t help it.
His green eyes flicked over his daughter, who was still coloring, and then took in the empty ice cream bowls on the table. “You’re coloring with glitter markers.” It wasn’t a question.
Oh well…in for a penny, in for a pound. “Glitter scented markers.”
“Which you got for Violet.” Again, his voice sounded like he was accusing her of a crime.
“Um…” His stare was too much. Sadie dropped his gaze, focusing on the golden skin of his throat. Maybe not a good idea. “Actually, no.”
“No?”
“They’re mine.”
He inhaled. “You expect me to believe that you just happened to have scented glit
ter markers—something no one over the age of fourteen could possibly want—in your office? Waiting to be colored with?”
Sadie shut her eyes, hearing the scorn in his voice. She’d spent her high school years just like this—talking to boys in her usual, outgoing way, only to be insulted or shunned for her looks or her interests.
Yeah, she remembered this reaction. So why did it hurt so much this time? Was it because she’d spent years since then building up her social skills and learning how to charm customers—men and women alike? Or was it just this man whose approval she’d wanted so much?
Oh well. He’d discovered her dark secret, and all that was left was for Sadie to claim ownership. She forced her chin up, her eyes open, and said “Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, I have glitter markers in my office. I like them. I like to make notes on my spreadsheets with them, because they make me happy.” When he blinked, but didn’t respond, Sadie grew emboldened and took a step forward. “And you know what, Shawn McAllister? Sometimes I even use stickers to mark things like deliveries and receipts. Unicorn and kitten stickers. Because they make me happy too.” When she poked him in the chest with a finger, he actually took a step backwards. “And I don’t care what you or anyone else says about it.”
That last part might not be the complete truth, because she found herself caring very much what he had to say about it, but she couldn’t very well let him know that.
But now he was looking at her funny, like he couldn’t decide if she was telling the truth. Sure enough, after a too-long moment of quiet, he finally exhaled and asked gently, “You really had these already? And you were just coloring with Violet? Why?”
Sadie shrugged, suddenly a little embarrassed by her outburst. “Because it made her happy.” She glanced over her shoulder at the little girl, and Violet flashed a smile her way. “You should join us.”
Not waiting for an answer, Sadie swooped in to pick up the dirty bowls. She couldn’t look at him at that moment for fear of what she’d see in his expression. There’d been confusion, and something like hope in his eyes. “I’ll just pop in the back with these. Sit on down.”