Just One Kiss (Fool's Gold)

by Susan Mallery

  She sipped her soda. “I thought about it for a long time and finally realized he wouldn’t be there for her. He didn’t want a child and, sure, I could have forced him to pay and have visitation, but to what end? So he could make her feel she wasn’t important? On my good days, I tell myself he realized he was too much like his dad to commit to his daughter. On my bad days, I think he was a bastard. In the end, I signed everything. I moved back with my mom, went to beauty school and you know the rest of it.”

  He reached across the table and took her hand in his. His fingers were warm and comforting. “You never saw Steve through all this?”

  “No. Never heard from him or anything. Yesterday I turned around and there he was, saying he wanted a relationship with Lillie.”

  “I’ll find out everything I can before I go.”

  She pulled back her hand before she could stop herself. The temperature in the restaurant seemed to drop about fifteen degrees, and any hunger she’d had disappeared. She shouldn’t be surprised, but she was.

  “You’re leaving?”

  “For a couple of weeks. I still—” He leaned toward her. “Patience, no. I’m not leaving town. I’m still under assignment for the company I used to work for. I have one last job with them. I’ll be gone about ten days. No longer.”

  “Oh.” Relief washed through her. She cleared her throat and hoped she’d managed to maintain an expression somewhat close to normal. “Right. What kind of job is it?”

  “Typical bodyguard assignment.”

  She smiled. “What does that mean? I’m not sure I know a single person who has ever needed to use a bodyguard.” She held up a hand. “I take that back. My friend Charlie’s mother has used them in the past, but she was a famous ballerina. You were here with her last year, right?” When he hadn’t bothered to come see her.

  Why couldn’t she make sense of Justice? He was so supportive and friendly and sexy, but he’d stayed away. What did that mean? She really needed his help with Steve and she liked being around him, but was she paying too high a price for that?

  Stay on topic, she reminded herself. “So, the bodyguard thing. You know, most of us manage to get through our day without protection. So, who’s this guy?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  She waited, but he didn’t seem to be kidding. “Okay. Does that also mean you can’t tell me where you’re going?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow.” She wasn’t sure what to do with the information, although she knew she didn’t like it. “Do they speak English in this mystery place?”

  “No.”

  “So it’s dangerous.”

  “Not every non-English-speaking place is dangerous.”

  “I know, but if you were going to a place where they spoke English, it probably wouldn’t be dangerous. I can’t see there being a lot of perilous moments on the Great Barrier Reef. Unless you count the sharks.”

  She did her best to keep her tone light, which was more for his benefit than hers.

  “You don’t have to worry about me,” he told her.

  “I’m not. Maybe a little. I don’t want you to disappear like you did before.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  Was that promise for this specific trip or did it include all of eternity? She had a feeling that asking that would change her from charming friend to scary, overintense nonfriend.

  Wilma appeared then and placed their lunches in front of them. Patience thanked her and reached for a fry, all the while wondering if she could trust Justice to keep his word. She wanted to say she knew the man, but he was still a mystery to her. She knew who he had been, but that was a long time ago.

  She knew she liked him and adored his kisses and would, perhaps foolishly, jump into bed with him, should he ask. But that wasn’t the same as trusting him. Trust had to be earned. She just hoped she wasn’t at risk of falling for a man who didn’t deserve her heart.

  * * *

  JUSTICE WAITED ON the sidewalk outside the elementary school. Kids streamed past him, a few climbing into waiting cars, but the majority walking home with friends. It was that kind of place where children were safe walking around on their own.

  He scanned the crowd, then spotted Lillie. She was talking to a couple of other girls. She looked up and saw him, then waved enthusiastically. She said something to her friends and hurried over.

  “Hi! You’re here.”

  “I wanted to talk to you about my research.”

  They walked together toward her house.

  “Zack’s been different lately,” Lillie told him. “I knew you’d said something to him.”

  “We had a talk.”

  She gazed up at him expectantly.

  “He’s not stalking you or acting weird,” Justice told her. “He likes you.”

  Two days before Justice had met with Ava, the school counselor, Zack’s parents, the kids’ teacher and Zack himself. What everyone had quickly discovered was that Zack liked Lillie. He wasn’t trying to be stalker-guy. He was a kid with a crush.

  His parents had been understanding and promised to teach him that staring at the object of his affection wasn’t the best way to win her over, and Justice had agreed to share the results of the meeting with Lillie.

  “I don’t understand,” Lillie said. “Why doesn’t he just talk to me?”

  “He likes you.”

  “But he’s a boy. Boys are strange.” She wrinkled her nose. “This isn’t like TV, is it? With kissing?”

  “There’s no kissing.”

  “Good. Mom keeps saying that one day I’ll look at boys different, but I don’t think so.” She looked up at him. “Thanks for helping me. I guess I just need to stay out of his way.”

  “He should be better now. Less intense.”

  “That’s good.” She smiled. “Are you going to send me a bill? I’ve never had a bill before.”

  “No. I did this one because I know your mom.”

  “That’s nice. Thank you.”

  They had reached her house. He paused on the sidewalk.

  Lillie was bright, friendly and sweet. A great kid. The kind of kid who made people who didn’t want children second-guess their plans.

  “I need to get going,” he told her.

  “Okay. Thanks, Justice.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He walked back the way he’d come. Maybe Ford was right. Maybe Fool’s Gold wasn’t the kind of place either of them should settle. But leaving—he couldn’t. Not yet. The draw was too powerful, his need too extreme. He would have to remember to be careful and make sure he kept those who mattered to him safe.

  * * *

  PATIENCE SAT CROSS-legged on the sofa. She had a pad of paper and a pen. In front of her was a can of diet soda. She was walking that tightrope of needing the caffeine and slipping into jittery madness.

  “The equipment is ordered,” Ava said, holding up a folder. “I have all the receipts here. I’ve created a calendar with delivery dates. The plumber and electrician have to come in first, so we need to know where everything is going.”

  Patience drew in a breath. “Right. So we need to finalize placement. What do you think?”

  “I think you should get another opinion,” her mother told her. “Ask Justice what he thinks. He used to be military. He’s used to slipping in and out of places. He should have a good idea about room flow and what can get in the way.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought about that.” Not that she minded a reason to see Justice. “You’re right. He’ll bring a fresh perspective. I’ll call him later and set up a time.”

  “Perfect.” Her mother flipped open her folder. “Between the construction and the equipment, we’ve used up most of our budget.”

  “I know. We knew that was going to happen.”

  Decent, professional equipment didn’t come cheap. Then there were all the supplies that went with opening a coffee place. Cups, mugs, glasses, tables, chairs, napkins, cases, a dishwasher.

  “
We have the money to pay for staff,” Patience said, “and our reserve fund. I won’t be taking a salary for at least the first couple of months.”

  “Don’t worry about the bills around here,” her mother told her. “I’ll cover them. With the mortgage paid off, we have more than enough, plus a little extra to put into the store.”

  Patience nodded. None of this was new information. They’d been over their budget so many times before, playing out different scenarios. The difference was, this time it was real. They were doing this. The inheritance meant there wasn’t a bank loan to worry about. Talk about a miracle.

  “If nothing else, I have my fallback position,” she said with a smile. “I can go back to doing hair.”

  “You won’t have to,” her mother told her. “We’re going to take this town by storm.”

  “One cup at a time,” Patience added.

  “That’s right.” Her mother flipped through the paperwork. “We need to get together a work party. The contractor will install the built-ins and there’s the plumber and electrician, but what about the general cleaning and painting? It’s much cheaper to do it ourselves.”

  It would save a lot of money, Patience thought. “You’re right. We’re talking about what? Three weeks from now?”

  “The remodeling starts Monday and it takes a week. The equipment comes in the week after that. So about three weeks seems right.” Ava made a note. “I’ll pull out the phone tree.”

  One of the advantages of living in a place like Fool’s Gold was the community involvement. Neighbors stepped in to help each other. If the school needed classrooms painted, or a holiday production needed stage sets refurbished, people showed up and helped. Although Patience had been on the participating end of a lot of work parties, she’d never been one of the people doing the asking.

  “Do you think we should bother people?” Even as she asked the question, she knew what her mother was going to say.

  “Everyone who loves us will be delighted to help.”

  “I know. You’re right.” She drew in a breath. “Work now, freak out later.”

  “At least you have a plan.”

  They went over the rest of the details. In the next couple of days the local print shop would have the proofs of their logo ready. The logo would go on the signs, the aprons and eventually the mugs. She was even thinking of offering “Brew-haha” merchandise to sell.

  “And we’re done,” Ava told her.

  “Yay, us.” Patience put down her pad of paper and her pen and straightened her legs. “Lillie should be getting home soon.” Her daughter was at a friend’s house for the afternoon.

  “You heard the Zack issue was resolved.”

  Patience smiled. “Yes. Poor kid. He had to endure a whole meeting about his crush. That’s going to leave a scar.”

  “Justice handled the situation extremely well. I know I have nothing to do with it, but I’m still proud of how he turned out.”

  Patience was impressed as well, but didn’t think “proud” described her feelings. “He’s a good guy.”

  A good guy who confused her. If only she didn’t like him so much. She had thought to keep him far enough from Lillie that her daughter wouldn’t start to bond, only to have Lillie take matters into her own hands. Now Justice was her daughter’s hero. Kind of Patience’s hero, too, for helping out Lillie.

  He’d decided to start his business in Fool’s Gold, which meant he was staying. But he still hadn’t explained why he’d avoided her for years and years. Avoiding him until she figured it out seemed like the best option, only the town was small and in truth, she didn’t want to. Maybe she needed an intervention.

  At least being insanely busy with the store was going to help. She wouldn’t have time to play the what-if game right now.

  “It’s interesting he chose to settle here,” her mother said. “He could have gone anywhere.”

  “I think Ford had something to do with it. They’re still friends.” She laughed. “Or maybe it’s all Fool’s Gold. Once this town finds you, it doesn’t let you go.”

  “That sounds a little scary.”

  “I didn’t mean it that way.” She looked at her mother. “I’m glad Justice is okay. Even though we were just kids, I thought about him a lot—what might have happened to him.”

  Ava nodded. “I remember the mayor trying to find out. Alice Barns used her contacts, as well.”

  Then Deputy Barns, now Police Chief Barns, Patience thought. “We were dealing with the witness protection program. There was no way we could have figured it out.” Even now she had trouble believing someone had thought to keep a kid in danger safe in Fool’s Gold. Nothing like that had ever happened here. Which was probably the point, she thought.

  She reached for her pen, then straightened. A nagging thought reappeared and she knew she had to suck it up and tell her mother what was going on.

  “Mom, Ned’s father came by the other day.”

  Ava turned to her. “Steve?”

  “Uh-huh. He says he wants to have a relationship with Lillie.”

  Patience braced herself for the rant. Ava had dealt with men abandoning her more than once in her life. First her father had cut and run on his family; then her husband had played the same disappearing game. She’d had to watch the same thing happen to her daughter.

  No doubt Ava would have several not-very-nice things to say about Ned’s father. After all, Steve had also left his family. There was an epidemic of men who weren’t in it for the long haul.

  “How was he?” her mother asked instead.

  Patience shrugged. “He was quiet. Pleasant. He apologized for what he’d done to Ned and for how Ned had treated Lillie and me. He says he’s a changed man and wants a second chance with his granddaughter.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “I don’t know. I’d only met him once before. Ned never had anything good to say about him, but he’s hardly someone I’d trust as far as judging character goes. I asked Justice to check him out.”

  Her mother’s expression was unreadable. “That’s a sensible solution. Justice will find out if he has any issues we need to be concerned about.”

  Patience waited. “That’s it? You’re not going to call him an SOB or tell me to grab Lillie and run?”

  “People change.”

  “You think Steve has changed?”

  Ava shifted in her seat. “I’m not sure. I’m just saying he might mean what he says. Time has a way of making things more clear. For some people, that means dealing with regrets. If Steve is genuine, then you might want to take him seriously.”

  Patience was less sure. “I don’t want Lillie to get hurt. She never talks about her dad, but I know she thinks about him. Her friends have fathers. Even the ones with divorced parents still see their dads. She never has. He’s just gone and he’s not coming back. It would be different if he’d died—then his absence wouldn’t be a choice. What if Steve hasn’t changed? What if he sees her a few times and then disappears?”

  “Maybe he wouldn’t.”

  “You’re taking his side.”

  “I’m saying you need more information.”

  Patience didn’t understand. It almost felt as if there was something her mother wasn’t telling her.

  “I’m going to wait to hear what Justice has to say,” she told her mother. “If he clears Steve, then I’ll consider letting him meet Lillie. Otherwise, there’s no way he’s getting close to my daughter.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  JO’S BAR WAS one of those places unique to Fool’s Gold. Decorated in female-friendly colors, with TVs turned to shopping networks and fun reality TV, the place catered to the women in town. There were plenty of low-calorie choices on the menu, a play area for toddlers during lunch and a complete lack of single guys on the prowl. While men were welcome, they tended to avoid Jo’s Bar. If they did show up, they migrated to the back room where they could find a pool table and smaller TVs with professional sports playing.

  P
atience walked in and saw her friends at the table by the back wall. Usually they settled in one of the large booths, but with Annabelle due to give birth at any second, and Heidi about seven months along, sliding into a booth had become complicated.

  “How are you?” she asked as she approached.

  “Huge,” Annabelle said.

  The petite redhead did look uncomfortably large, Patience thought as she hugged her. Heidi was a little taller and carrying a bit less baby.

  “I’m good,” Heidi said with a smile.

  “She’s serene,” Charlie announced. “It’s kind of annoying.”

  “I’m in the Zen part of my pregnancy.” Heidi laughed. “Very one with the universe.”

  Heidi was a pretty blonde who lived on the Castle Ranch just outside town. Charlie was a local firefighter. Strong, tall and possibly the least girlie woman Patience had met. She was attractive, but had an air of competence that scared off most men.

  Last year the three friends had fallen in love with the Stryker brothers. As their friend, Patience had had a front-row seat to all the excitement, heartache and ultimately the happy endings.

  Now she took one of the remaining chairs and hung her purse on the back. “I invited a friend of mine to join us. I hope that’s okay.”

  Charlie leaned toward her. “You know that’s perfectly fine. We like a big crowd. It keeps the conversation lively. Who is she?”

  “Her name is Isabel Beebe. Her family has owned Paper Moon forever. She’s been living in New York for the past few years, but is back for a while. Her parents want to sell the store. Isabel is going to run it and get it ready for sale.”

  Annabelle’s eyes filled with tears. “She’s selling Paper Moon? But I was going to get my dress there. It’s a Fool’s Gold institution. I want to be part of an institution.”

  “More like you need to be locked away in one,” Charlie muttered, rubbing Annabelle’s back. “Come on. Take a few breaths. You’re very emotional. It’s the hormones. Nothing is really wrong.”