Once Upon A Bet: A Grumpy Single Dad Romance, page 3
“I tried to warn you not to come help. We’re not staying permanently, so we only brought the essentials.”
He punched my shoulder. “You think I’d miss seeing my big brother’s charming smile?”
I chuckled. “It is good to see you, too. How’s the rehab center?”
Zack poured himself a coffee while he filled me in on work and what he’d been up to. He had a flying squirrel that kept escaping, even though it still needed to be nursed by hand. There was some asshole bow hunter who was shooting deer and leaving them wounded, and Zack had just rescued his second one this month yesterday. The girl working for him was driving him crazy, and so on.
Glass shattered from somewhere deeper in the house. “Billy!” I shouted.
“You were right, dad!” he called.
I sighed. “How’s grandpa?”
Zack set his coffee down, his expression falling. “Ask him and he’ll tell you he’s doing great, just taking a break. But the doctors took all kinds of scans. He’s got advanced arthritis and a number of joint problems. The doctor said he must be in a lot of pain, and if he keeps trying to be on his feet all day running this place, it’s only going to get worse. There’s no way he can keep this up, and he’s got pneumonia on top of it all.”
I nodded. “Well, he’s got three months to find a permanent replacement, then. I’ll do my best to make sure everything is running smoothly and ready for a hand-off.”
Zack watched me, not saying anything.
“What?” I asked.
“You realize he wants you to take this place over, right? It’d be perfect. I’d be just down the road. You could help me kick this bow hunter’s ass when I find him. I could watch the kids when you need some help.” He gave my shoulder a punch. “The Ashford brothers back at it again. Kings of Fairhope.”
“Two of them, at least.”
Zack gave a little shrug, as if to imply our youngest brother, Patrick, would come around some day. I wish I was as optimistic.
Everything Zack said had some very obvious appeal. But I knew Kate was rooted in D.C. Right now, I got the kids on weekends, and she had them during the week. She’d be perfectly happy to keep them longer and let me only see them every few months when I could fly them out. But fuck that. I wanted more time with them, not less. Moving here would essentially be moving away from the kids. I also enjoyed my work in D.C. I was good at it, too.
“I’m going to do what I can,” I said, hoping my tone made it clear that I was done talking about the subject.
I hefted a box and took it to the downstairs bedroom where I’d be staying. Zack followed behind me, stopping in the doorway with his hands on the frame while he watched me unpack some of my things.
“So I’d say I gave you enough time to fess up and tell me who clocked you. If you’re not going to offer it up, I’m going to ask.”
I unconsciously lifted my fingertips to touch the welt below my eye. “It’s nothing.”
“Nothing looks like it hurts. Does the other guy look worse than you?”
I thought back to the encounter and was surprised to feel myself grinning. “It was a purse.”
My brother’s eyes narrowed. “A purse? Wait. Someone hit you with a purse? Like one of those man purses?”
I took my laptop out of a box and fought the urge to pull it open and check my work email. For the sake of my kids, I never set my phone up to receive work emails. “She said her name was Harper Halloway.”
An unreadable look crossed his face. “Ah,” he said slowly. “Her.”
“Why do you say it like that? Does she have a reputation?”
“For being beautiful and the girl all the young guys in town wish they could date? Yeah, she does. And she just got back from a two-year stint in France studying culinary arts. To say she has been the talk of town would be an understatement. You got yourself smacked in the face by a local celebrity, bro. What’d you do to her?”
I quickly explained. Zack let out a quick laugh. “That’s kind of hilarious. The kid reminds me of you, honestly.”
“Yeah. We’ll see how hilarious you find it when it’s your face getting tenderized.”
“Consider it karma. Think of all the shit you got me and Patrick into at his age with stunts exactly like that.”
I walked back to the front counter and froze. A familiar figure was standing there in a pair of short jean shorts that showed off impressively toned legs. She had on a cropped top that revealed a sliver of equally tanned skin. She wore a flour-smeared apron over all of it and her face was speckled with bits of white dust as well.
I briefly imagined how soft and warm she’d feel under my hands. I tried to purge that line of thought from my brain as soon as I caught it and only partially succeeded.
“Oh, there you are,” Harper said cheerily. She lifted a pan of baked goods like a peace offering.
6
HARPER
Greyson Ashford was standing in the hallway with Zack Ashford. I knew Zack, just like every woman in town with a pair of eyes did. He was a sweetheart, even if he’d left a trail of broken hearts in his wake. He just never seemed to care more about a relationship than the animals he worked with. Sooner or later, he always chose the work. And yes, this was all common knowledge because there were almost no secrets in Fairhope.
Greyson had on the same white t-shirt and jeans from when I’d seen him earlier, but he’d put on a beat-up blue baseball cap that made him look boyish and athletic. For thirty-six, the man was fighting off Father Time impressively. Or maybe it was more like he’d bribed Father Time and he was getting more attractive every year.
I smiled at both of them, holding up the tray of cookies. “We saw you guys working hard and decided to bring over a little tease of what you can expect tomorrow night. This was a test batch. There were supposed to be a dozen, but Lin ate two of them.”
Greyson looked at the cookie tray. “There are eight cookies.”
I blushed. “The chef should always taste her work. Twice,” I added a little less confidently.
Zack took one and popped it in his mouth, smiling and nodding. “Fucking delicious.”
Greyson approached me and paused. Our eyes met for an instant and I swore I could feel an electric spark shoot straight from my head all the way down my spine. I sucked in my lower lip, biting hard to stop from saying something stupid.
He cleared his throat. “I’ll go get the kids.”
I was only able to let out the breath I’d been holding once he walked away. God. The man was so intense.
Zack was watching me while he licked the sweetness from his fingers.
“What?” I demanded.
He pursed his lips. “Nothing. Just wondering if you know my brother is thirty-seven.”
“He’s thirty-six,” I corrected, then immediately blushed and regretted it. “Billy told me,” I added in a quiet voice.
Zack’s grin widened. I hated how knowing it looked. He didn’t know anything. Hell, I didn’t know anything. I’d just come over here because we had extra cookies and I knew there were kids right across the street. The fresh air wasn’t bad either after being around the hot ovens for the last two hours. That was all.
Molly came stumbling and scrambling toward me like a dog who heard food being poured in its bowl. She knocked over a box, somersaulted into another, and then got to her feet and popped up perfectly straight in front of me. Her blue eyes went wide as full moons. “Can I have one?” she asked.
“Of course you can,” I said.
Billy followed close behind her, but with a little more restraint than his sister. He lagged back, apparently too embarrassed to ask so I plucked one from the tray and handed it to him.
Greyson gave him a gentle pat on the back of the head and made a noise.
Billy muttered “thank you.”
“You’re both very welcome. Are you going to have some, Daddy?” I looked straight at Greyson, then replayed what I’d just said and suddenly wished there was a black hole nearby to jump into.
Zack put his fist to his mouth and choked on laughter.
Greyson was staring with a completely blank expression.
“I meant like–” I stammered. “I was thinking of you as their dad. Like does your daddy want some?” I set down the tray with a metallic click that seemed louder than it should’ve been. “I’m not one of those weirdos with a daddy kin–” I trailed off, remembering Billy and Molly were watching me with wide eyes full of curiosity. “Okay,” I said. “Bye!” I did an about-face, and marched straight out of the inn.
Dear God, I thought. If you’ve ever wanted to smite me for something I’ve done, please feel free to do it now. If you’re struggling to think of my most smitable moments, there was that time I sucked all the chocolate off peanut M&M’s and left just the nuts in a bowl by the couch. And then my Uncle Curtis had apologized later for eating all the peanuts I left out.
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the thunderbolt. I looked up at the pure blue sky and sighed. “No?” I asked.
I guess I was just going to have to live with that moment for the rest of my life.
“How’d it go?” Lin asked.
I tightened the strap on my apron and checked my short ponytail. I’d just recently cut it after years of it being nearly to my ass. I still felt a momentary surprise every time I reached back and felt how little hair there was now. “I think we will use a little less sugar in the next batch,” I said.
Lin smiled faintly. “That bad?”
I picked up a bowl of dough and started whisking in eggs. “It was normal. I dropped off cookies and got out of there.”
“Yeah? Because you look flustered.”
“I’m catering food for the entire town tomorrow night. My future may very well depend on getting a single cupcake just right. Think about it.” I set down the whisk, planting my palms on the counter. “One bite tomorrow may be all it takes for someone to develop confidence in me. If they believe in my cooking, they’ll believe in my dream. Right?” That’s how it happened for my mom, at least. She kept making bagels for anything she could around town until a tourist happened to try one and asked who made them. A few days later he had pushed her to start her own shop. He funded everything and she gave him a small cut of the profits.
“Hey,” Lin reached out and gave my hand a squeeze. “Even if tomorrow doesn’t change your life, you’ve still got a lot of road ahead. Okay? Some people have to crash into the bushes and get a few flat tires before they reach the promised land.”
“I don’t want car trouble,” I muttered. No. I wanted my own little fairytale. I wanted the kind of story that started with “once upon a time.” I wanted to live the sort of moments that would make other women sigh and clutch their chests with both hands–to make them wonder if maybe love is all anybody really needs. Was that so much to ask?
Sure, maybe some cynical people would say it was way too much to ask. They’d say people didn’t get their happy endings. The real world is cruel, and it doesn’t care. But me? I didn’t see the harm in hope. So I was damn well going to keep on hoping with all my heart, and nobody could stop me.
There was a knock at the door. I jumped, then stuck my palm out toward Lin and bulged my eyes. “Don’t answer that,” I hissed.
She frowned. “What? Why?”
“It could be him,” I added, still whispering.
“So? Did you poison his cookie or something?”
I took a steadying breath. Relax, dork. Even if it was him, so what? The worst that could happen was he’d growl at me or look at me like I was crazy again.
“Stay there,” I said, jabbing a finger when Lin moved to follow me to the door.
I opened the door to find Molly standing there with her hands clutched in front of her. She twisted her body from side to side restlessly, big puppy eyes pointed up at me from behind her dark curls. She was painfully cute. I wasn’t sure how parents managed to ever say no to these little things.
“Hi,” I said. I stuck my head out to look from side to side. “Where is your dad?”
“He’s yelling at the filing cabinet for not letting his key work right now.”
“Does he know you’re here?”
She lowered those big eyes for just a second, but then looked back up at me hopefully. “No, but you said we’re not strangers anymore. Can I come in and play?”
I grinned. “Um, I think we should probably take you back to your daddy. Your dad,” I corrected. I did not have a daddy kink. I was just talking normally to a kid the way adults did.
“Aww.” Molly stuck out her lower lip, pouting with expertise.
“Wait,” I said. “How did you know where I live?”
“Daddy asked Uncle Zack and Uncle Zack told him. Apartment three,” she said, holding up her small fingers. “I can count to one hundred,” she added with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. “I looked both ways before I crossed the street. People here drive slow, don’t they? Do you have more cookies in there? It smells yummy.”
“Okay, speed racer. Let’s slow it down for a minute. How about I give you a muffin and we walk back over together?”
“You don’t wanna play with me?” she asked, bringing back the pout.
“We can play ‘I spy’ on the walk over. How’s that?”
“Okay!”
I heard two loud voices calling Molly’s name when I crossed the street with Molly’s hand in mine and stepped up to the front porch of the inn. She gave me a significant look, like she knew she was probably about to be in trouble. She consoled herself with another big bite of the blueberry muffin in her hand.
I stepped inside with Molly and tried to gently pull my hand from hers. I honestly thought about making a run for it now that I knew she was back, but the muffin would probably give me away. I cleared my throat. “Excuse me?” I tried.
“Daddy says I can be super loud,” Molly said, noting that the men still hadn’t heard me. “DADDY!”
Her shriek was so sudden and so powerful that I forgot to breathe for a few seconds. I gave her a look, as if seeing her for the first time. “How did that sound come out of you?”
She smiled demurely, then shoved another oversized chunk of muffin in her mouth until her cheeks bulged.
“Thank fuck,” Greyson said, jogging into the room and reaching for Molly.
“That’s a naughty word, Daddy,” Molly said.
“You can tell your mom on me later. Where did you go?” He knelt down, taking her face in both his hands and checking her over for obvious injuries.
Molly seemed completely unfazed by this whole ordeal. She just popped another bite of muffin in her mouth, then pointed at me. “Miss Harper made me a muffin.”
Greyson stared at her. “Miss Harper lives across the street, Molly. You know better. You never go near the road without me.”
“I can run faster than the cars drive here, Daddy. I already tried it. It’s not scary, really.”
Zack came from the stairs with Billy at his side. “You got her? Where was she?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I promise I didn’t put her up to this. Unless feeding her baked goods in the first place counts.”
“Sorry for the bother,” Greyson said, but he was hardly looking at me. He was still looking over Molly as if he expected to find a missing limb at any moment.
“Well,” I said. “Maybe I’ll see you guys tomorrow at the Night of Lights?”
I wasn’t sure if he heard me, so I made an awkward, small sound and let myself out.
When I was crossing the road back to my place, I realized I was very much hoping to see Greyson tomorrow night. And why did I have such a strong urge to watch him eat one of my cupcakes?
I stopped outside my building and swallowed hard. The image of him biting into my cupcake wouldn’t leave my brain. I even saw a little spot of white frosting on his lower lip and imagined reaching up to flirtatiously wipe it away with–
No. Nope. I shook my head and yanked the door open. I definitely didn’t imagine him licking the frosting from my finger as I climbed the stairs. I absolutely didn’t hear the imaginary version of him tell me I was the greatest cook he’d ever laid eyes on.
I sighed. Right then and there, I needed to get this under control.
I closed my eyes and made a solemn vow to myself. I would not fall for the guy who was only in town for three months. That story only ended one way, and it definitely wasn’t the sort that began with “Once Upon a Time.”
7
GREYSON
I hated the way hospitals smelled. I lingered in the lobby, knowing the smell would only become more distinct the deeper I went. Zack was at my side and the kids were back at the inn with his lone employee, Crystal. He swore she was responsible, even if she was a pain in his ass.
Fairhope didn’t have a fully equipped hospital, so Grandpa was being treated at Colorado General, which was almost an hour’s drive from town.
Zack gave me a significant look, then squeezed my shoulder. “You good?”
“I’m fine,” I said, but my voice sounded wooden. I pushed down the flood of unpleasant memories that the smell dredged up and walked deeper. We told the woman at the desk who we were here to see and rode an elevator up to his floor.
Last time I’d seen our grandpa, he was portly, smiling, and bustling around his inn to get coffee for everybody who came through the door. So it was a shock to find him lying on the hospital bed looking gaunt and so tired.
He didn’t see us at first, and when he noticed us, he seemed to force some of his usual cheer into his features.
“My boys!” he laughed. Even his voice sounded more like a shadow of its normal self. His words brought on a fit of coughing, and each racking cough felt like it punched me straight in the heart.
I smiled, though. “Hey gramps. Zack told me I should come see you before you kick the bucket.” I tried my best to keep my voice light, even if my chest felt like it was caving in to see him like this.
He lifted his arm to look at the wires and tubes taped there. “You wish. They’ve got me wired up like the bionic man. I’m not dying, just getting stronger.” He stifled a few coughs that didn’t sound quite as painful as the first round.
