A Father's Gift Page 8

  “We’re ready,” Jack said, hurrying down the stairs. His daughters trailed along behind, as eager as a pair of puppies going to the vet. “Let’s go.”

  Cassie felt her heart suddenly lift and a smile break out on her lips. “We?” She laughed. “Do you need swimming lessons, too?”

  Jack stopped, lines of confusion wrinkling his brow, while his daughters giggled. Cassie grinned at them, then shook her head at Jack, a strange lightness coming over her like the strings of a hundred balloons had been let go.

  “Sorry,” she told him. “Union rules. No parents allowed while swimming lessons are in progress.”

  “I thought I could wait in the lobby.”

  “We’ll be all right, Daddy.”

  “Yeah. And we’ll tell you all about it.”

  A smidgen of uncertainty remained in Jack’s eyes, and she wanted to reassure him. She wanted to ease those worries and bring his smile back. And most surprising of all, there was no panic in the realization.

  “They’ll be fine,” Cassie told him. “I promise.”

  His eyes met hers and a bond seemed to form between them. A slow dance, a waltz where they moved in time to the same sensuous beat. A delicate lace woven of hopes and dreams and desires. Time seemed to stand still for one sweet moment when all things were possible and all fears disappeared as easily as dew in the morning sun.

  “I know,” he said. His gaze was somehow saying other words, though, singing other songs. Then he slowly, reluctantly, looked back at the girls. “I’ll carry your bag out to the car.”

  “That’s okay, Daddy.”

  “We can take it.”

  “You guys sure know how to make a guy feel wanted,” he said.

  “We’re not guys,” they chorused.

  “Don’t worry, they want you. They just want you where they say.” Cassie smiled at him. Something was happening here; something unexpected, something she ought to be fearful of.

  “Hard being a guy in the nineties,” he said.

  Aunt Hattie came down the stairs, bringing reality in her wake. “You girls be careful,” she said.

  The woman was talking to the twins, Cassie knew, but there was a warning there for her, too. Why was she suddenly getting all wimpy and weak, and forgetful of all the lessons she’d learned the hard way?

  “Come on, gu—” Cassie quickly swallowed the end of the G-word. “Let’s go. My truck’s out front.”

  “A real truck!”

  “Wow!”

  The girls ran out, the carryall bag swinging awkwardly between them. Cassie looked back at Jack.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  It was suddenly stuffy in that big old foyer, like all the air had been sucked out. Thunderclouds rolled and twisted in Jack’s eyes, making them seem almost black.

  “We’ll be back in an hour,” she said, grasping at the last tattered remnants of her common sense as she hurried out the door.

  “This is gonna be fun,” one of the twins said.

  “Yep,” the other one agreed.

  “How do I tell you two apart?” Cassie asked as she helped them up into the truck.

  “Mary Alice has a loose tooth,” the one near the door said, pointing to her sister who demonstrated the tooth’s looseness.

  Cassie climbed into the driver’s side. “Great,” she said. “So all I do is reach into your mouths and wiggle your teeth. Sounds easy.”

  The girls dissolved into giggles and Cassie laughed with them. The evening air helped her heart slow down and her breathing return to normal. Teaching the girls to swim would be fun, and seeing Jack occasionally would be no problem.

  She smiled over at the girls. “I know you’re scared of swimming and I’m not going to make you do anything,” she told them. “But sometimes, if you try what you’re scared of, you might find out there’s nothing to fear. If you never try swimming, you could be scared of it all your life and miss out on all sorts of fun.”

  Suddenly the words seemed to echo in her heart. She saw herself in a mirror and knew that she was just as guilty as the girls of running away. But instead of running from swimming, she was running from love. From friendship, even.

  She was thoughtful as she coaxed the girls to the edge of the pool and into the water, and quiet as she took the girls home. Once they ran off to tell Aunt Hattie about their swimming lesson, Jack walked out to her truck with her. It was just starting to get dark and there was a stillness in the air that said the night was waiting. Maybe the way she was waiting, poised to let her life begin again.

  “So how did they really do?” he asked.

  “Just fine,” she said. “It’s going to take time, but they’ll be having fun in the water by the end of the summer.”

  “Hard to believe. They were so scared just last weekend.”

  She opened the door of her truck, but only leaned against it. “We probably should go swimming at least once a week,” she said. “Maybe more, if life ever gets less hectic for me.”

  “If you can spare the time,” he said, then put his hand on the truck to her left. “I’ve put some feelers out about your father, but I haven’t learned anything yet.”

  She nodded, trying to concentrate on his words. But he seemed close, too close, for her peace of mind. Her eyes kept lingering on his lips, her heart kept racing when his hands moved slightly.

  “I imagine it’ll take some time,” she said.

  “Doesn’t everything?”

  Moving into his arms would take hardly no time at all, she thought, the idea racing through her mind and catching her by surprise. She tried to stamp out the panic that followed in its wake and found her fears weren’t as strong as she’d thought they were.

  Jack took a deep breath. “So you’re busy this week,” he said.

  “Yeah,” she answered slowly, uncertainly. She searched his eyes for reasons, but the shadows of the night were creeping too close. “If you think the girls should go again this week, I guess I could rearrange some things.”

  “I wasn’t thinking about the girls,” he said. “I was thinking about me.”

  Her heart faltered. Her mind said to run, but her feet didn’t move. “Oh?”

  “I still owe you three decent meals,” he reminded her. “My conscience is bothering me about them.”

  She swallowed hard. This was one of those flirty, teasing situations she was so bad at. She tried to think of what Sam would say. Or Fiona, now that she had Alex and was able to flirt with him at the drop of a hat.

  “If we go out, will your conscience leave you alone?”

  “That mean you’ll find a time for me?” he asked.

  “Sure.” Having dinner with him didn’t really mean anything, she told herself. It sure didn’t mean they were going to have any more of a relationship than they had now—casual friends who did each other favors. “Maybe next week sometime.”

  “Great.”

  He leaned forward suddenly, like he was breaking free of some invisible bonds, and brushed her lips with his. Sparks seemed to shoot down her spine, sending out waves of energy that moved her closer to him. His arms slipped around her, pulling her nearer, into a place she found so warm and welcoming that her heart never wanted to leave. Her hands slid around his waist.

  There was a magic in the air that must have snuck up with the darkness. She felt no worry, no fear, no desire to hurry away and pretend life was fine. His lips on hers brought only wonder and surprise and delight. It was like being at the top of the Ferris wheel with the world spread out below her.

  When he pulled back slightly, she was barely able to breathe. She needed time to think, time to put things back in order.

  “I’ll give you a call,” he said. His voice was ragged and told her he was having the same trouble finding air to breathe.

  “Okay.” She climbed into her truck, relief mingling with regret. He closed the door for her. After sending a weak little smile his way, she concentrated on backing out the drive. Given her present state of mind, it was lucky she
only had to drive a few feet.

  Chapter Four

  “Do you think they’ll let us do that?” Fiona asked. “If all the guests want to feed the birds, that’ll make for a lot of stuff on the water.”

  “We’re talking about throwing bread on the water,” Cassie reminded. “What the swans don’t eat, the ducks and fish will.”

  Cassie leaned back on her sofa and took a long drink of her soda. The three of them were in her living room, going over the plans for her older sister’s wedding. As usual for these sessions, they were dressed in their grubbies, their feet were bare, and they were imbibing pizza and soda.

  “I don’t know,” Fiona said, shaking her head.

  “Trust us,” Samantha replied. “It’ll be a nice touch. And what’s the point of having the wedding at Clements Woods if we can’t have Romeo and Juliet there?”

  Reaching for another slice of pizza, Fiona just grunted. Ollie hovered near, as if he was hoping the pizza would get rowdy and need to be subdued.

  “Don’t worry about it, Fiona,” Cassie added. “If anybody’s nose gets out of joint, I’ll straighten it for them.”

  Fiona was the worrier, Samantha always made sure that everyone was happy, and Cassie was the enforcer. She was the muscle for the three of them; it had been that way for as long as she could remember.

  “Want to split that last slice?” Samantha asked her.

  Cassie frowned at it. The last time she’d had pizza, she’d been with Jack. Now, why had that thought come to mind?

  “No, thanks,” she said.

  Samantha took it with a definite smirk on her face. “Cassie just doesn’t want to be the old maid,” she said to Fiona. “She’s got a guy and doesn’t want to jinx it.”

  Cassie felt as if she were tooling along the highway and a rock had suddenly fallen in her path. Her mouth opened and she fought for air Not a lot of air, just enough to scream.

  “Oh, yeah?” Fiona turned toward Cassie. “Who is he?”

  “I don’t have anybody,” Cassie protested.

  “He’s a lawyer,” Samantha said. “A new professor at the law school.”

  “Wow,” Fiona said.

  Cassie finished her soda and stood, feeding a pizza crust to Ollie before she picked up the empty pizza box. “Let’s not go spreading any rumors. Especially ones that aren’t true.”

  “Is he handsome?” Fiona asked Samantha.

  “Pure, one-hundred-percent stud,” Samantha replied. “At least, so I’ve been told. He lives next door, though, so we could go over and check for ourselves.”

  Fiona turned and grinned up at Cassie. “Think we ought to, Cass?”

  Cassie just rolled her eyes and took the box into her kitchen. Ollie trailed along behind her. “Go over if you want, but you’ll just be wasting your time. I am not going with anyone,” she called over her shoulder. “He came into my place and I sold him some plumbing parts.”

  “She had dinner with him at that pizza joint on McKinley,” Samantha said. “You know, the one with kids’ games and stuff.”

  “Uh-huh,” Fiona said.

  “She went there with Jack—his name’s Jack Merrill—and his twin girls. They’re about six, aren’t they?” Sam called this last out to Cassie.

  “You’d think I never went out with a guy,” Cassie grumbled to Ollie. She fed him another crust just to ensure his loyalty, then grabbed up a couple more cans of soda and went back into the living room.

  Samantha and Fiona were watching her, goofy smiles on their faces. “It wasn’t a date,” Cassie told them. “I did some plumbing work for him and he bought me dinner.”

  Her sisters blinked at her, like two cats watching a mouse. Cassie felt like squeaking. She put the extra cans on the table, opened one for herself and flopped onto the sofa. “So, who’s going to double-check with the rental place about chairs?”

  “What about that picnic you went to with him?” Samantha said.

  “What are you doing, spying on me?” Cassie opened her eyes to glare at her little sister.

  “The sister of one of the women at the library works for the catering firm that did the law-school picnic.” Samantha turned toward Cassie, flashing that sickeningly sweet little smile of hers. “You were wearing that red-and-black bathing suit of yours.”

  “Oh,” Fiona said knowingly. “That one.”

  Cassie glared at her sisters while they just laughed. “Aren’t you supposed to be meeting Alex at the tux shop?” she asked Fiona pointedly.

  Fiona just kept on laughing as she stood. “I think it’s just great,” she said. “And really nice that he has kids. Now it doesn’t matter if you can have any or not.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Cassie snapped. What did that mean? That Jack wouldn’t care that she was less than perfect? But Cassie didn’t ask the question aloud, knowing Fiona hadn’t meant it that way.

  But it reminded Cassie of all the old problems. All the reasons for staying apart, for staying safe. No one got hurt that way, especially herself.

  It reminded her of all the old doubts, all the old fears that she was lacking—as a woman. She’d never admitted any of that to anyone; not to Fiona or Sam, certainly not to anyone she dated. But suddenly all the fears were here again, swirling around and daring her to find someone who wouldn’t care. Someone who wouldn’t find her wanting.

  Samantha opened herself a new can of soda once Fiona had gone. “You think she suspects about the shower?” she asked.

  Cassie tried to shake her gloom. “Since you were so busy making up stories about me and Jack, she probably never gave it a thought.”

  Sam just gave her a look and pulled some papers out of her purse. “Well, I do think it’s really great that you found somebody,” she said, acting like Ollie when he had a squirrel treed. “Now you can have the family you’ve always wanted.”

  Cassie just sighed. “I have not found somebody. We are not dating.”

  Her little fantasy was over. Reality was back and it was time to call a halt to everything before anything started.

  Jack held out his hand and Cassie walked through the night toward him, the light of the moon bathing her in the softest of glows. She was exquisite. There was such life, such vitality about her.

  When her hand touched his, he swung her into his arms, laughing aloud with pure joy. She smiled down at him and his heart wanted to burst. Ever so slowly, he put her down but pulled her closer even as he did. His lips hungered, his body ached, his soul sought its mate. She would be everything to him.

  He bent down, the fire about to consume him, and let his mouth—

  Jack sprang up. He was alone in his living room, some late-night talk show was on the TV, and his book lay on the floor where it must have dropped when he’d fallen asleep. He felt foggy and disconnected and put his feet on the floor, rubbing his hand over his face.

  “Damn,” he muttered. This was getting ridiculous.

  He turned off the television with the remote control, put his book on the end table and got to his feet. The drapes on the side window were open and he saw the lights on in Cassie’s house across the way. It was late and he wondered what she was doing. Was she a late-night person like himself? Or were there lights on because something was wrong?

  But even as he toyed with the idea of walking over—just to check on her—the lights went off and the house seemed to disappear into the darkness.

  He closed the drapes and turned off the lamp. Darkness claimed the room, but a glow from the lamp lingered before his eyes for just a second. And in it he could have sworn he saw Cassie’s smile. He rubbed his eyes and the image faded.

  “You remember Daphne?” he asked himself. “Are you looking to repeat that?…”

  The night held no answer and he went through the darkness into the kitchen. The breeze rustling the trees outside seemed to carry Cassie’s laughter. He closed the back window with a thud.

  “I’m going to pay off those debts,” he assured himself. “That’ll put an end to all this.”


  “Jimmy Jack?”

  Jack spun even as the kitchen light was flicked on. Aunt Hattie was in the doorway, an old plaid robe wrapped around her and fuzzy blue slippers on her feet.

  “Who are you talking to?” she asked, even as her eyes looked around the room. “There ain’t no one here.”

  “Just myself,” he said. “I was just reminding myself of some stuff.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You fighting with your pride about Cassandra?” she asked.

  He made a face that he hoped expressed his impatience. “Come on, Aunt Hattie. There’s no reason for me to fight with my pride. Cassie is just a neighbor, that’s all.”

  His aunt’s lips were a tight, disapproving line. Her eyes were dark and frowning. “You’re asking for trouble, boy,” she said. “There’s things that just won’t be denied.”

  He would take his chances. “You must have read a different set of neighbor rules than me,” he said and reached for the light switch. “You going back to bed now? Or are you staying up?”

  She turned and headed back toward the stairs. “I’m going. I’m going.” She waved her hands in the air. “I can tell when you’re determined to be pigheaded.”

  “Sleep well,” he called after her, then turned off the light once she was at the top of the flight.

  The night swallowed him up but he strode briskly toward the stairs himself.

  “Good morning,” Jack said as he stepped inside Cassie’s plumbing-supply store early the next week.

  She was standing behind the counter, dressed in her usual jeans and T-shirt, but looking like sunshine come to life. She literally took his breath away and he was grateful when Ollie came running over to greet him.

  “Hey, Ollie,” he said, rumpling the beast’s fuzzy head. “How are you, boy?”

  “Ollie.” Cassie’s voice was sharp and the dog dropped down. “Bad boy. You know better than to jump on people.”

  “That’s okay,” Jack said. “I’m sure he knows that I have a treat for him.” He pulled a giant dog biscuit out of his back pocket and gave it to the animal. Ollie took it gently in his teeth and scurried over to his spot behind the counter.