The Single Dad's Second Chance

The Single Dad's Second Chance
Brenda Harlen

The mommy projectDear Diary,Today I met my new mommy! Well, I wish Rachel would be my new mommy. See, I love my daddy a lot, but ever since my real mommy died I think he's been very lonely. Rachel is so pretty, and she has the coolest job–she owns the flower shop in town! She promised to show me how to make a bouquet!My best friend, Kristy, says Daddy should take Rachel out on dates, and then they hafta kiss, and then they can get married. Diary, I wish Rachel would like my daddy and me as much as I like her. Maybe if she did, she would want to be my mommy and join our family. Maybe if I close my eyes and wish hard, it will come true….

Andrew listened to the conversation.

While he went to the other room, Rachel gathered up the cards they were playing with his daughter. “Maybe we should play Candy Land next time,” he heard her say to Maura. “I’m pretty good at that game.”

“You really like Candy Land?” the girl asked.

“It was one of my favorite games when I was a kid.”

“I didn’t know it was that old,” Maura said so solemnly that Rachel had to laugh.

“Even my mother played it when she was a little girl,” she told the child.

“My mommy’s dead,” Maura told her.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Maybe someday I could get a new mommy. But she’ll have to be someone my daddy likes.”

“That would probably help,” Rachel agreed.

“Daddy likes you,” Maura said.

And that was Andrew’s cue. He stepped back into the room before his daughter proposed right there and then.

* * *

Those Engaging Garretts!

The Carolina Cousins

The Single Dad’s Second Chance

Brenda Harlen

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

BRENDA HARLEN is a former family law attorney turned work-at-home mom and national bestselling author who has written more than twenty books for Mills & Boon. Her work has been validated by industry awards (including an RWA Golden Heart

Award and the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award) and by the fact that her kids think it’s cool that she’s “a real author.”

Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her husband and two sons. When she isn’t at the computer working on her next book, she can probably be found at the arena, watching a hockey game. Keep up-to-date with Brenda on Facebook, follow her on Twitter at @BrendaHarlen (http://twitter.com/BrendaHarlen), or send her an e-mail at brendaharlen@yahoo.com (http://brendaharlen@yahoo.com).

To all of the readers who asked for more “Garretts”—

thanks for welcoming my characters

into your lives and your hearts.

Contents

Chapter One (#u601bed59-431f-541e-9fa7-96ee9ffd059c)

Chapter Two (#u30a92d3d-a075-5cee-a674-bbe420195203)

Chapter Three (#ud4fe69c4-0341-51f0-b853-506c0c7332d8)

Chapter Four (#u89921158-aca5-5267-88e1-051b43aa771e)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One

Rachel Ellis hated Valentine’s Day.

Not that she’d ever admit as much to any of the customers who had formed an almost-steady stream of traffic through the door of Buds & Blooms since about 11:00 a.m., but she had expressed the sentiment—more than a few times already today—to her best friend and business partner, Holly Kendrick.

“Can you tell me,” Rachel asked, when she went to the back during a rare quiet moment in the shop, “why so many men seem surprised to realize it’s Valentine’s Day when it falls on February 14 every single year?”

“Because they’re men,” Holly said simply.

“And is that why they also wait until the absolute last minute to buy flowers for their wives or girlfriends?”