The Single Dad's Second Chance (15 page)

When she got back to the shop, Holly took one look at her and said, “Spill.”

The obvious concern in her friend’s eyes was Rachel’s undoing. She’d made a valiant effort to hold back her emotions all morning, but now the tears spilled over.

“Oh, Rach. I’m sorry.”

She plucked a tissue out of the box on the counter. “Why are you sorry?”

“Because I hate to see you cry.”

“I hate to cry,” Rachel admitted. “I hate knowing that I made the same mistake and let my heart get broken again.”

“Oh.” Holly’s eyes misted. “You broke up with Andrew.”

She nodded.

“Damn.” Her friend grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her own eyes. “I really thought he was the one. The guy certainly acted like he was head over heels for you.”

“He told me he loved me,” Rachel admitted.

Holly’s jaw dropped. “And then he dumped you?”

“No.” She swiped at more tears. “It was my decision to end things.”

“But why? You’re obviously as head over heels as he is.”

“Because me being with Andrew was making Maura miserable.”

“You broke up with him because his seven-year-old was a little miffed about having to share time with her daddy?”

“There was no way we could make a relationship work when his daughter was so obviously unhappy about it.”

“She’s had him to herself for the past three years—it’s natural that there would be some resistance.”

“Resistance I could deal with,” Rachel agreed. “Maura is downright hostile.”

Holly frowned. “What happened?”

She just shook her head, because she didn’t know for sure, and she didn’t feel comfortable sharing her suspicions about Maura’s grandmother with Holly.

Besides, the reason wasn’t nearly as important as the result.

* * *

Maura was sitting in a chair in the principal’s office.

Mrs. Barnhart wasn’t there, so she didn’t think she was in trouble. And she didn’t know why she’d be in trouble when she hadn’t done anything wrong, except that she’d started crying in class. Lotsa kids cried in kindergarten, but maybe when you got to first grade, crying got you sent to the principal’s office.

Now she was just sitting and waiting for her daddy to show up because Mrs. Patterson was “concerned” about her outburst.

Maura didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t understand why the teacher cared that she didn’t want to be in the stupid play. It was only for their class anyway, and a lot of the other girls had put up their hands because they wanted what Mrs. Patterson called “the starring role.”

Maura looked up when her daddy walked into the room and, for some reason, just seeing him started her crying again.

“What’s this about?” he asked Mrs. Patterson.

The teacher shook her head. “I’m as baffled as you are.”

He crouched down by her chair. “Maura?”

“I d-don’t wanna be in the p-play.”

He brushed her hair away from her face and wiped the tears on her cheeks. “Is that what has you so upset?”

She nodded.

He looked at Mrs. Patterson. “Is this a curriculum requirement?”

“Yes, it’s part of the drama component, and every student is expected to participate.”

He lifted Maura’s chin up, forcing her to look at him. “Why don’t you want to be in the play?”

“I don’t wanna be Cinderella,” she said, and burst into tears again.

* * *

Andrew went directly to his former in-laws’ house after he dropped Maura off at home with Sharlene. He found Carol on the back deck, watering planters filled with flowers. Of course, the sight of those cheerful blooms made him think of Rachel, and the pain that sliced through his chest was so sharp and swift it nearly staggered him.

His former mother-in-law looked up when he stepped onto the deck. She was obviously surprised by his unannounced visit, but she smiled. “Hello, Andrew.” She looked past him, hoping to see the little girl who was never far behind. “Where’s Maura?”

“She’s at home with Sharlene. I didn’t want her to overhear any part of the conversation we’re going to have.”

“Oh?”

“Is Ed around?”

“Right here,” Carol’s husband said, stepping out onto the deck. “What’s going on?”

“I need to talk to both of you.”

“What’s the matter?” Carol’s face went white. “Did something happen to Maura?”

“Maura’s fine,” he hastened to assure them. “Although she’s a very unhappy little girl right now.”

“Maybe we should go inside and sit down,” Ed suggested.

Andrew nodded and followed him into the house.

“Can I get you anything?” Carol asked. “Coffee? Beer?”

He shook his head. This wasn’t a social visit, and he didn’t want to give either of them the impression that it was.

“So tell us what this is about,” his former father-in-law said, when they were all seated in the living room.

“I want to clear some things up, and then I’m not going to talk about them again,” Andrew said.

“Okay,” Ed agreed cautiously. His wife nodded.

“I want to start by reminding you that I loved your daughter,” he told them sincerely. “Every minute of every day of our life together. I loved her so much that I was sure there wasn’t room in my heart for anyone else.

“Then Maura was born, and I realized that the human heart has an infinite capacity for love. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t have done for either of them.” He had to swallow around the lump in his throat. “If there had been any way to save Nina, I would have done so. I would have given my life for hers if I could have.”

Carol’s eyes filled with tears. Her husband took her hand, linked their fingers together.

“I grieved for a long time,” Andrew continued. “I’m not sure I would have got through the darkest days without Maura. She was my reason for getting up in the morning, for moving forward when I wanted to stand still.

“And then—” He swallowed again. “And then I met Rachel.”

“Maura said that you aren’t seeing her anymore,” Carol said, just a little smugly.

He ignored the emptiness in his heart that was an actual physical ache. He wasn’t here to talk about Rachel, except insofar as his relationship with her had affected Maura. “The status of my relationship with Rachel—or anyone else—shouldn’t be any of your concern.”

“I’m concerned about anything that affects my granddaughter,” she insisted.

“Your concern crossed the line,” Andrew told her.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she insisted.

But he wasn’t buying her innocent act, and the more he thought about what she’d done—using her own granddaughter as a pawn—the angrier he got. “Maura loved spending time with Rachel...until the weekend she spent with you in Myrtle Beach.”

“Just what are you implying?” Ed demanded.

“I’m not implying anything. I’m telling both of you that I won’t tolerate any more interference in my personal life.”

The older man scowled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maura had a wonderful time at the beach.”

Andrew focused on Carol. “Tell him—” He had to clear his throat. “Tell him about the bedtime stories you chose to read to my daughter.”

“They were classic fairy tales,” she said defiantly.

“Coincidentally the ones that included evil stepmothers.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ed blustered.

But Carol remained silent.

“She had a meltdown at school today,” Andrew told them, his own eyes blurring as he recalled the heart-wrenching sobs that had emanated from his little girl. “Because the class is doing a production of
The Fairy Godmother
and her teacher asked Maura to play Cinderella.”

His former mother-in-law pressed a hand to her lips and her eyes filled with tears, but Andrew didn’t let himself feel any sympathy for her. It was Maura who mattered—Maura whose innocent heart had been manipulated by her vindictive grandmother.

“Is she okay?” Ed asked.

“She will be,” Andrew promised. “But right now, she’s scared and hurt and confused. She doesn’t know how to feel or what to believe.”

A single tear slid down Carol’s pale cheek. “They were just stories,” she said again.

“I’ve done everything I can to ensure that Maura has a close bond with both of you,” he reminded them. “But I promise you, if you
ever
interfere in my personal life again, I will limit her contact with you.”

She gasped. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“I will if you push me, Carol,” he promised.

Then he walked out, confident that he’d made his point to Maura’s grandparents. He knew it was going to take a little more work to reassure his daughter, but he would do it.

As for the rest of his life, he didn’t have a clue.

Chapter Fifteen

B
uds & Blooms wasn’t even open yet when JJ called Monday morning to ask Rachel if she could squeeze in a consult around 10:00 a.m. Because she always enjoyed working with the event planner who was also a good friend, she immediately said yes. She didn’t know who the client was until Daniel Garrett walked through the door.

Her ready smile froze on her lips; Daniel looked equally startled to see her.

“If this is awkward for you, I can go somewhere else,” he said.

“If you need flowers, I’m happy to help,” Rachel assured him. At the same time, she reminded herself that she wasn’t in the habit of turning away business.

However Daniel had found JJ, it wasn’t surprising that her friend had recommended Buds & Blooms. It was just a coincidence—and sheer bad luck for Rachel—that his presence made her think about his brother, and that even nine days after she’d last seen him, just thinking about Andrew still made her heart ache.

“We’re having a party to celebrate my parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary, and since they’re going to renew their vows, JJ suggested that you might be able to replicate my mother’s wedding bouquet.”

She pushed aside her personal feelings and focused on the job. “Do you have pictures of it?”

JJ immediately opened the folio she carried and removed a couple of photographs.

It was a traditional cascade style of white roses, daisies and chrysanthemums. Simple. Elegant. Beautiful. Her gaze shifted from the flowers to the bride holding them. Jane’s head was tilted toward her groom, and a forty years younger David Garrett looked so much like his eldest son that Rachel’s breath actually hitched.

“Rachel?” JJ prompted gently.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I can do this.”

“We need centerpieces for the tables, too,” JJ continued. “And I thought it would be nice if we could use the same—or similar—types of flowers.”

Rachel nodded again as she made her own notes. “How many centerpieces?”

“Ten tables for guests, plus something for the cake table and maybe a couple of baskets for the pedestals that flank the main doors.”

She jotted down the information. “When do you want them?”

When the response to her question wasn’t immediately forthcoming, she looked up and saw JJ nudge Daniel. Obviously she wanted him to be the one to answer that question.

“Saturday.”

“Date?” she prompted.

He cleared his throat. “May twenty-fourth.”

She looked up. “
This
Saturday?”

“Yeah.”

Her disbelieving gaze shifted to JJ.

“I told him that if you were able to accommodate his last-minute request, there would be a premium added to the bill,” her friend said.

“It’s five days away,” Daniel noted. “I didn’t think that was last-minute.”

“Last-minute and the start of wedding season,” JJ told them. Then to Rachel, “He called me yesterday, and he knows I’m adding twenty-five percent to my usual fee.”

Rachel pulled up the calendar on the computer, looked at the orders she already had to fill for the weekend. If it had been anyone else, she would have turned him away without regret or hesitation. But this was Jane and David’s celebration, and she wanted to do this for them. It would mean asking Trish and Elaine to put in some extra hours, but she didn’t think either of them would mind.

“If you can only do the bouquet, I’ll settle for that,” Daniel interjected. “The centerpieces aren’t as crucial. I can probably just pick up some fresh cut flowers at the grocery store to stick in vases on the tables.”

Both JJ and Rachel gasped in horror.

“I didn’t think that was such a bad idea,” he mumbled.

“I’ll do it,” Rachel said. “If I have to work through the night on Friday, I’ll make sure you have your bouquet and the centerpieces.”

“Thanks,” he said.

JJ made some notes. “Okay, now we have to go sweet-talk Gabe Beaulieu to try and get a cake.”

Because Rachel knew Gabe, whose shop The Sweet Spot was on the next block and whose disposition was anything but sweet, she said, “Good luck with that.”

Daniel paused at the door. “Do you want to come?”

“To face the wrath of Gabe? No thanks.”

“I meant to the anniversary party,” he clarified. “I know my parents would love to see you.”

She shook her head. “That would be awkward.”

JJ, sensing that they were talking about something outside of planning the celebration, slipped out the door to give them some privacy.

“I know that whatever happened between you and my brother is none of my business,” he said. “And I don’t usually interfere in things that aren’t my business, but Andrew’s been miserable since you split up.”

The revelation that he was suffering did nothing to lessen her own pain. Even if Andrew wanted to be with her, even if he loved her, it didn’t—couldn’t—change anything. Not so long as Maura remained opposed to them being together.

“And I don’t think you’re much happier,” Daniel added.

So much for the radiant glow promised by the cosmetics company, she thought wryly, but forced a smile. “If there’s nothing else, I have flowers to order.”

“There is one more thing.”

She kept the smile in place and waited for him to continue.

“Andrew doesn’t do anything in half measures. When he falls in love, it’s wholly and completely. And he fell in love with you.” He held her gaze for a long moment, then shrugged. “Of course, if you don’t feel the same way, then his feelings are his problem, aren’t they?”

She felt the sting of tears, but she didn’t let them fall. “Love isn’t always enough.”

“I’m hardly an expert on the subject, but my mother—who is about to celebrate her fortieth wedding anniversary,” he reminded her with a smile, “always said that love is the only thing that matters.”

* * *

She was in the shop early Saturday morning when JJ came by to pick up the flowers for David and Jane Garrett’s fortieth wedding anniversary. Since Rachel was busy sorting through the morning delivery, Trish helped load the arrangements into the van.

Two hours later, JJ called.

“I forgot the bouquet.”

“You
forgot
the bouquet?” Rachel echoed incredulously.

As an event planner, JJ lived and died by her lists—every detail of every event was cross-referenced and programmed into her electronic organizer. There was no way she forgot anything unless it was on purpose.

“I’m sorry,” her friend said. “I know it’s an inconvenience to ask you to bring it over—”

“Actually, we’re not that busy at the moment, so I’ll send Trish with it right now,” Rachel offered.

“You would, too, wouldn’t you?” JJ muttered, confirming that her forgetfulness had been deliberate.

“Or you could come and get it.”

“You’re right,” JJ agreed. “That’s a better idea.”

Rachel thought she’d outsmarted the event planner until Andrew and Maura showed up at the shop instead of JJ.

She was grateful she was standing behind the lower part of the elevated counter so that he couldn’t see her grip the edge for balance when her knees started to quiver.

Maura skipped into the shop, but stopped several feet away, as if suddenly uncertain. “Hi, Rachel.”

She managed a smile. “Well, look at you,” she said. “Aren’t you pretty as a picture?”

“I got a new dress ’cuz it’s a special occasion.”

“A very special occasion,” Rachel agreed.

“Daddy got dressed up, too.”

Rachel had noticed—and the sight of Andrew in the dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt and blue-and-gray tie had made her heart pound and her mouth dry.

When he came closer, she could see that there were shadows under his eyes, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well. She knew the feeling.

“Your daddy looks very handsome, too,” Rachel noted. Then, to Andrew, “I’ll get the bouquet.”

She went to the back room, where Trish was making boutonnieres, and retrieved the box from the refrigerator. She desperately wanted to take a minute to catch her breath and steel her spine, but that would mean an extra minute that Andrew and Maura would be waiting out front. And more than she wanted that extra minute, she needed him to go—to get out of her life before he saw that her heart was breaking all over again.

She set the box on the counter, and he peered at the flowers through the window in the lid. “It looks just like the pictures,” he said, sounding impressed.

“That was the idea.”

“My mother’s going to love it.”

“I hope so.”

“I wanna see,” Maura demanded, so he picked her up so that she could look at the bouquet.

“You make really pretty flowers,” the little girl said to Rachel.

“Thank you.”

“Daddy says that what you do is like art.”

“I suppose it is,” she agreed.

“I’m not very good at art,” Maura admitted, when Andrew had lowered her back to the floor. “Daddy says that everyone needs to be good at different things or the world would be a boring place.”

Rachel nodded, wondering where the child was going with this conversation. She wanted to point to the clock, to remind them that they had an anniversary party to go to, but neither Andrew nor his daughter seemed to be in a particular hurry.

“But I had to draw a picture for school,” the little girl continued. “And I wanted to give it to you.”

She didn’t know what to expect as she unfolded the paper that Maura offered to her. The first thing she saw on the top was the A minus in red ink, and she felt a surge of pride for the child who’d claimed she wasn’t very good at art. And then she looked at the three figures depicted in the drawing, immediately recognizing Maura, Andrew and herself—except that she was sporting a huge belly. “Oh. Wow.”

Her initial surprise was quickly supplanted by an unexpected surge of longing, and tears filled her eyes. She’d always thought she would have children someday, but
someday
had always seemed a long time away. Looking at the child’s drawing, she realized that was why ending her relationship with Andrew had hurt so much, because she’d thought he was the one she would share that
someday
with.

For the first time in her life, she’d felt ready to tackle all the wonderful and messy stuff that went along with being a mother. And then she’d realized it wouldn’t be with him, because Maura didn’t want her to be her new mother.

“It’s the first time I got a A in art,” Maura told her.

“I think you should have got an A plus.”

The little girl smiled at that. “Mrs. Patterson told us to draw a picture of what we most wanted, and I wanted you.”

Then she looked down at her feet, and Andrew put a supporting hand on her shoulder, wordlessly encouraging her.

“And then I didn’t want you,” she admitted in a quiet voice.

There were probably all kinds of things that Rachel could have said, numerous responses that would have assured the child she was entitled to her feelings and that she shouldn’t regret or be sad about what was in her heart, but she was incapable of forming any words.

“I told you to go away, and when you did, I missed you.”

Her throat tightened.

“I really miss you, Rachel.”

Rachel’s heart wouldn’t let her ignore the entreaty in the little girl’s words. “I miss you, too,” she admitted, “but sometimes—”

“Sometimes people do the wrong thing for the right reasons,” Andrew interjected, pinning her with his gaze so that she knew he was referring to her actions rather than his daughter’s.

Obviously at some point over the past couple of weeks he’d figured out the truth—that she’d walked away from him not because she didn’t love him but because she did.

But Maura wasn’t finished yet. “I understand if you don’t like me anymore—”

Rachel could hardly speak through the tears that clogged her throat, but she couldn’t bear for the little girl to think such a thing for even another second. “I couldn’t ever stop liking you, Maura.”

The tears that trickled down the child’s cheeks squeezed her heart.

“What about Daddy? Do you still l-like him, too?”

Like
didn’t begin to describe the plethora of emotions that she felt for Maura’s father. She looked at him now and wished she knew what he was thinking, but his steady gaze gave nothing away. He’d made the first move, bringing Maura here today. And his daughter’s courage in owning up to what she’d done, and her willingness to admit her feelings, inspired Rachel to do the same.

“Yeah, I still like your daddy.” She looked up and met his gaze across the counter. “In fact, I love him with my whole heart.”

He shook his head, but she saw the tension in his shoulders relax and a slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I can’t believe that the first time you say those words is with three feet of granite between us.”

“The first time I ever saw you, we were standing on opposite sides of this counter,” she reminded him.

He took her hand and guided her around the barrier and into his arms.

“Tell her you love her, too, Daddy,” Maura urged.

He pulled Rachel into his arms. “I do, you know.”

“And then you hafta kiss her,” the little girl said.

“Well, if I have to,” he said, and lowered his head.

It felt as if it had been months rather than weeks since she’d been in his arms, since he’d kissed her. But now, with the first touch of his mouth to hers, all the heartache of those weeks melted away.

The chime of Andrew’s cell phone forced them apart. With obvious reluctance, he released her to look at the screen. “JJ wants to know the status of the bouquet.”

“Then you better get it to her,” Rachel advised.

“Come with us,” Andrew urged.

“I wish I could, but—”

“I just got off the phone with Holly,” Trish interjected, poking her head out from the back room. “She’s on her way and she said that you are officially banned from these premises for the rest of the weekend.”

Rachel smiled happily and took Maura’s hand in hers. “In that case, we’ve got a party to get to.”