Stay far, far away from them.
“What’s going on? What’s his name? Talk to me.”
She stares at me. “His name is Campbell Evans.”
I flinch in surprise. “What?”
“This conversation is about you.” She rolls her eyes like the champ she is. “I know you like Mackenzie.”
I start to speak, but she makes a shushing motion with her hand. “Don’t speak. I have things to say right now.”
I hold up my hands in surrender.
She slides the plate to me. “Take a cookie.”
Refusing her is not an option, so I bite into one, and it’s delicious.
“I know you like her a lot. It’s kind of been obvious from day one. I can also tell you broke up with her.”
I try to speak around the cookie.
Samantha shakes her head. “No. You need to listen right now, because I’m worried you’re going to make a silly choice. And that’s why I need to speak. I can tell the two of you split up. I can tell based on the fact that you’re moping around. I’m a woman. I have intuition and I can sense these things. I know she likes you too.”
I try to rein in a grin, but it’s a futile effort.
“Listen, Dad. Here’s the thing. Kyle and I have talked about this.”
“You have?” I point to my chest. “Oh wait. Am I allowed to speak?”
“You’re allowed one question. The you have question. Yes, we have spoken about it. We’re very mature, and we know how to handle this.”
“You do? Know how to handle this?”
She nods, looking solemn. “We want you to know if you were to get back together, you’d have our blessing.”
I smile and laugh. “Are you serious? Because I was coming home to talk to you about this, Sam.”
“You were?” She lets down her tough-girl guard.
“I was. You’re right about everything. I’ve been moping, and I’ve been sad. I’m crazy for Mackenzie, but I wasn’t sure if it was a bad idea to get involved with someone who’s wrapped up in us already. Only, I’ve missed her so much, I wanted to talk to you about it.”
“Dad, that’s so sweet,” she says, a grin stretching across her face. “I’m honored you wanted to ask. But it’s your life, and I want you to be happy. This is the happiest you’ve been. And even though I don’t remember Mom, I’ve never seen you care this much for a woman. I think it would be silly if you didn’t take a chance with her.”
A lump forms in my throat, and I swallow it. The almost-tears aren’t for Sam’s mom, and they’re not even for Mackenzie. They’re for this amazing girl of mine and how deeply she loves the people in her life.
She makes me realize I didn’t do too bad at all raising her on my own. In fact, I’ve raised an incredible kid who’s becoming a fantastic person. I tug her close and wrap my arms around her. “You turned out pretty great, do you know that?”
She rests her cheek against my shoulder. “That’s because I have a great dad.”
When we separate, she swipes her hand across her face. I run a hand down her hair. “I love you, Samantha.”
“I love you, Dad,” she says, then grins at me and punches my arm. “And stop worrying. Everything is going to be okay. The kid’s all right, and so’s the dad.”
I smile wider than I ever have. “That is the best thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“Okay, goofball. Let’s go get your woman.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Also, the look on your face right now is priceless.” She holds up her phone and snaps a picture then shows it to me. “This is the image of a guy who’s falling in love.”
I shake my head. “You’re wrong, Sam. This is a guy who’s already in love.”
She points to the door. “Good. We have someplace to go, then.”
Chapter 30
Mackenzie
* * *
“I thought the music store was two more blocks up Lexington?” I say when Kyle turns on Thirty-Sixth Street.
He shakes his head. “The one I like is down this street.”
I shoot him a look like he’s gone mad. “I’m not so sure. This block is full of restaurants and dry cleaners and—”
I stop when I realize what else is on this block.
A diner.
“Kyle? Are we actually going to a music store?”
His eyes twinkle. “What do you know? It’s Willy G’s. I had no idea the music store was right next to the diner. And look who’s there.”
He points to the door and the two people standing in front of it: Campbell and his daughter.
Kyle smacks his forehead. “Oh, Mom, I remember where the store is. It’s two more blocks up. See you later.”
Kyle pivots and takes off, running to the corner. He’s joined by his partner-in-parent-trapping as Sam bolts too, racing down the street and away from her dad.
“Whoa. Where are you guys going?” Campbell calls out in a loud, authoritative voice that’s kind of weirdly hot.
Sam waves at him. “Don’t worry. We’re getting ice cream. Be right back.”
They’re gone. Just a couple of New York kids, making their way around the city.
I close the distance to Campbell, drinking up the sight of him in his jeans and pullover fleece, his stubble as sexy as it was the night I met him. His face is even more handsome, since I know the man behind the beautiful exterior.
I stop at the door, butterflies flapping inside me, hummingbirds beating their wings. “Hi.”
The one-syllable word comes out breathy but full of meaning.
He greets me with a gorgeous smile that lights up the cloudy afternoon sky. “Hey, Sunshine.”
I tip my forehead toward the kids, who clearly, no questions asked, plotted this get-together. I don’t know who texted who first, and I don’t know that it matters. “I think it’s safe to say this is the official parent trap.”
He grins. “Yeah, I think it is, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been given an official blessing to ask you out on a date.”
I laugh joyfully. So damn joyfully. “What do you know? I obtained my official blessing today too.”
He reaches for my hand and links his fingers with mine, and we grin like happy clams. “Would you like to go on an official date with me to Willy G’s? They have the best milkshakes and fries in all of New York City.”
“I would love to.”
He opens the door for me, and we head inside and grab a booth. We sit on the same side, and before we order, he cups my cheek and dusts a kiss across my lips. I shudder from that simple touch. “I’m looking forward to more of that.”
He kisses me again. “Good. I have an endless supply for you.”
We separate, and I can’t stop looking at him, can’t stop savoring this moment. “So we’re dating. I like dating you.”
“Actually,” he says slowly, “there’s something you need to know first.”
I tense. Is there some other obstacle we have to overcome? Another reason we can’t be together? “What is it?”
“We’ve already passed one of those milestones that happens when you date.”
I relax, laughing. “You mean orgasms?”
“Not that, Sunshine. A different one. Because this is more than dating. This is being together.” He runs the back of his fingers across my cheek, locking his eyes with mine. “I’m in love with you.”
My heart soars out of my chest. “I’m in love with you too.”
I lean closer and kiss his jaw, the corner of his mouth, his lips. I kiss him slowly, a torturous kind of kiss that makes him groan. He yanks me closer, whispering in my ear. “Now all I want to do is steal you away from here and take you.”
I laugh and pull back. “I better be a good girl, then, since now might not be the best moment for that.”
He slides his hand down my back, squeezing the top of my butt. “How about I buy the good girl I love a milkshake and fries?”
“Sounds like a reasonable consolation prize.�
�
A little later, our kids show up, grabbing the bench across from us.
“Are you two finally together?” Sam asks in an exaggerated huff.
Campbell wraps his arm around me, squeezing my shoulder. “We’re together.”
“Took long enough,” she says, pretending to be annoyed.
Kyle clears his throat. “It took us helping them along. What would they do without us, Sam?”
“They’d be so sad,” she says with a frown.
“Thank God for us.”
Samantha looks to her father. “Dad, do you think you should invite her to your show this week at The Grouchy Owl? Because I bet she’d love to go.”
“I see the parent trap continues, and I think this is what it’s going to be like dating you,” I say to Campbell.
Sam laughs. “We’re kind of a package deal.”
Kyle chimes in, “Same here.”
“You should just kiss,” Sam says.
Campbell shakes his head. “I’m not kissing her in front of the two of you.”
Kyle pretends to gag, and Sam laughs then holds up a hand and high-fives my son.
Somehow, that’s all I need to decide it does make sense to lean closer to the guy I love and give him a quick kiss in front of our kids.
A chaste kiss.
Even so, it’s all kinds of epic. Especially when the four of us enjoy our afternoon snack together and then head to the movies.
It’s a perfectly unexpected day.
Epilogue
Campbell
* * *
As I tune my guitar, Mackenzie aces another trivia question, nailing it when Big Ike herself asks which word goes before vest, beans, and quartet.
My woman looks to me and mouths string then bounces in her seat as she proceeds to write it on the paper in front of her. I’m willing to bet she’ll rock every question tonight, and I’m right when her team is announced as the winner before our set begins.
I cheer for her, then she cheers for me when I turn on the mic and the guys and I launch into one of our fans’ favorite tunes.
This time, the audience knows the song. We aren’t famous, but we have enough of a following that the crowd can sing along.
That’s because The Grouchy Owl feels a little bit like home, and I like that. I like having a place where I can play, a place where I can be myself. I’ve missed performing, and this band has given me an outlet for that deep and longtime love of mine.
One song into the gig, Miller shows up, giving me a tip of the chin as he wanders in. I invited him, so I’m not surprised to see him.
What surprises me, though, is that Ally’s here too.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. They’re the best of friends, and they hang out all the time. But something looks different between the two of them now, and I don’t know if it was that spark of jealousy I saw in her eyes at the brewery, or if I’m seeing in Miller a new awareness of the woman who’s been his best friend for a long time.
As he heads to the bar with her, I put them out of my mind.
I’m much more interested in the woman who’s dancing for me. The woman I’m going to take home tonight.
To my home.
Because my daughter is at a friend’s house, and her son is with his father, and after I play this set, I get to play Mackenzie’s body all night long.
In fact, it’s time to let her know that.
Well, not in those precise words.
But when we finish the tune we’re singing, I ask if the audience is ready for a new song.
“Do you take requests?” Mackenzie shouts with a goofy smile.
I meet her gaze, giving her a knowing grin. “I might. What do you want?”
“‘Bring Him Home.’”
Cade scoffs from his spot onstage. “No way to Les Mis.”
Mackenzie rattles off some pop tunes, since she’s been shoring up her musical repertoire.
I shake my head to every request. “How about a new song I wrote?”
“Go for it,” Miller shouts from the bar, and I nod at him.
“It was your idea,” I tell him, since this is what Ally and Miller suggested I do at the brewery—write her a song.
“This is for a certain someone I like to call Sunshine.”
Then I sing a brand-new number.
It’s about falling in love unexpectedly. It’s about taking chances. It’s about realizing there’s always going to be a reason to stay apart, but there are so many more reasons to be together.
When the song ends, I extend my hand, and tug Mackenzie to the edge of the stage. I plant a huge kiss on her lips, one that says she’s all mine and everyone can know it.
“I love your new song,” she whispers.
“I love you.”
Later that night, when we’re alone in my home for the first time, I strip her down to nothing. I spread her out on my bed, savoring her body, kissing her everywhere. I make love to her, and it feels like the start of a fantastic new life together.
When we’re through, she snuggles next to me and runs her fingers down my chest. “I’m going to make you pancakes in the morning.”
I brush a kiss to her forehead. “I like that you like to feed me.”
“I like to feed you, and I like to listen to music with you, and I like to watch The Discovery Prism Show with you. Most of all, I just like to hang out with you.”
I bring her closer. “I think you’re pretty epic.”
“I think you’re pretty epic too.”
Then we watch an episode of our favorite show together. In bed.
It’s so much better than watching it on the phone, because once the credits roll, I have her again.
One more time.
Another Epilogue
Mackenzie
* * *
My mouth is watering.
“How much longer?” I ask Samantha, doing my best to rein in the begging in my voice. But can anyone in the free world blame me? The cherry jam thumbprint cookies she’s making for the Christmas party we’re throwing tonight smell like heaven.
So do the ginger sandwich cookies with caramel buttercream filling. Not to mention the chocolate-covered peanut butter balls.
“They’re almost ready,” Samantha says, checking the timer on the oven.
“I’m dying, Sam. Dying, I tell ya,” I say, swooning dramatically near the sink as if I’m going to faint in the kitchen.
“This is indeed torture of the highest degree,” Ally says, chiming in from her spot at the counter next to Chloe, where they’re sprinkling powdered sugar on top of the Nutella bread pudding. “You should try doing this without jamming your whole face into the bowl,” Ally says.
“I think we should consider making a quick getaway with the bread pudding,” Chloe suggests.
Samantha swivels around and points her whisk at Ally. “Do not ruin my Christmas treats. If you do, I will banish you from Samantha’s Treat Zone.”
Ally’s blue eyes widen in apology. “No! Not the banishing!” She presses her hands together in a plea. “I promise not to stuff my face into the dessert.”
As we work on finishing the baked goods, Ally starts humming. The pretty little tune is catchy, and it tickles my ear.
“Hey, Ally. What’s that you’re singing?”
“I like it. It’s totes hummable,” Sam says.
Ally doesn’t answer right away. She simply smiles, a little impish and a little naughty.
“What’s up your sleeve?”
She wiggles an eyebrow. “Well, you know how Miller finally decided to have auditions to find a new Garfunkel to his Simon?”
I nod, since Campbell filled me in on the basic details of Miller’s plan. Campbell finally convinced his brother to take a brand-new direction in his singing career.
Ally sets down the powdered sugar, glances side to side as if to make sure no one is nearby, then beckons us both to come closer. We oblige, crowding near, eager for her to spill.
“Here’s my pla
n.”
Then she tells us, and the first words that come out of my mouth when she’s done are, “That’s genius.”
Samantha squeals. “I can’t wait to hear how it all goes down.”
Later that night at the Christmas party, I steal a glance at Miller as he chats with Miles, who’s in town during a break from his tour. Briefly, I wonder how Miller will react to Ally’s plan.
Campbell comes up behind me to wrap his arms around me and brush his lips to my neck, and all my thoughts are for him.
I’m so lucky to be here, with the man I love and his family, who I also happen to adore.
No.
It’s not luck.
I made this work. Just like I did with Kyle, and just like I did with my job. Seems this is the true pattern of my life.
“Hey, Campbell?” I whisper.
“Yeah?”
“You’re a damn good track record.”
He laughs lightly and kisses me more. “Sounds like the title of a good song.”
Come to think of it, it does. The kind you want to sing not just all night, but all your life.
That’s the kind of track record I know we’re going to have.
* * *
THE END
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