A Match for the Single Dad

“The weekend sounds like fun. I know the girls will get a kick out of it all.”

“I hope so.” She turned to him when they reached the golf cart. “Thank you for inviting me for dinner, Garrett. I enjoyed it very much.”

“Payton seems to be in a much better mood now.”

Was that really the only reason he’d wanted her to have dinner with them? To entertain his daughters? But then again, why else? She reminded herself that she wasn’t looking to get personally involved with this overtaxed single dad, anyway.

“Well, good night,” she said, putting a hand on top of the cart in preparation for climbing behind the wheel. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the birthday party, if not before.”

She thought his gaze focused momentarily on her lips. Had they been parting after another type of outing—say, the type of date she would never have with him—the evening might well have ended with a kiss. She found her thoughts wandering into forbidden territory as she looked at his firm mouth and imagined how it would feel covering her own. Abruptly clearing her throat, she almost leaped into the golf cart.

“Good night, Garrett,” she blurted again.

She barely gave him a chance to reply before she was buzzing away.

Maggie was so busy Tuesday she didn’t have a chance to eat lunch until after two that afternoon. In addition to her usual responsibilities supervising the cleaning staff, the extra holiday-week business added quite a bit of work. She was training two new employees that week. One was an older, experienced maid; the other, a young woman named Darby Burns, had never worked in housekeeping but seemed very eager to learn.

Later, Maggie spent a couple hours inventorying and ordering supplies. She’d even hung some bunting at the motel. There was no lobby for the sixteen-unit lakeside inn—all the rooms opened to the outside, with a covered breezeway separating the two wings—so she had draped bunting on the concrete walls, adding a cheery pop of red, white and blue for guests on their way to their rooms or the ice maker and vending machines in the breezeway.

Finally taking a break, she left the motel and walked briskly to the main administrative building. Pushing through the double doors, she stepped into the big foyer, her nose twitching in response to the delicious scents of grilled sandwiches and simmering soup-of-the-day wafting from the diner.

The box of decorations and a stepladder still waited for her in the corner behind the desk, but she would resume decorating after she ate. In addition to what she and her staff had done at the motel that morning, her dad and Aaron and their small crew had been working outside, preparing the grounds for the fireworks show, concert and carnival. Her dad would fret all week about any potential damage to his immaculate landscaping.

She turned right to enter the diner. Few people were eating lunch this late in the afternoon, though three older couples probably staying in the RV grounds were chatting over soup at a large back-corner table. Two tanned, middle-aged men in Western boots and hats and faded denim sat at one end of the bar drinking coffee, probably just in from fishing.

Sarah Bell smiled from behind the counter when Maggie entered. “What can I get for you, hon?”

Sliding onto a bar stool at the other end of the counter from the fishing cowboys, Maggie replied, “I’m starving. I’ll take whatever is fast.”

“Chicken corn chowder today.”

“Perfect.”

Moments later, her aunt set a steaming bowl of soup and a square of jalapeño corn bread in front of her. Maggie dug in gratefully. She had eaten about half of her meal when she heard her name squealed from the doorway in a familiar soprano.

“It’s Maggie. Hi, Maggie!”

Swiveling on her stool, Maggie saw Garrett’s entire family entering the diner. Kix was followed by her sister, grandmother and great-grandmother. Garrett brought up the rear.

Wearing denim shorts and a pink T-shirt with pink flip-flops, her bright red hair barely confined to loosening braids, Kix dashed to Maggie’s side. “We went swimming this morning and then we had lunch and then we went for a ride in the boat and it was fun and then I said I wanted to come to the diner and Daddy said okay but I can’t have a milk shake because we’re having cake and ice cream at my party tonight and that’s too much ice cream in one day. But he said I can have a soda and maybe I can get a milk shake some other day while we’re here.”

Maggie was accustomed enough by now to Kix’s breathless, stream-of-consciousness style of conversation to follow along fairly easily. She reached out to give the girl a hug. “Happy birthday, Kix.”

Kix nearly strangled her with her enthusiastic return embrace. “Thanks, Maggie. It’s been the best birthday ever! I’m eleven now. Almost a teenager!”

Garrett gave a heartfelt groan.

“I’m sure my aunt Sarah can arrange for you to have a soda. I recommend the cherry Italian soda. It’s my favorite,” Maggie said with a smile, gently disentangling herself from Kix’s arms.

Sarah agreed cheerily. “Have a seat and I’ll fix you right up.”

Garrett and the girls had been into the diner during summer swimming and boating visits, but this was the first time the older members of his family had joined them at the resort. Maggie wasn’t sure how much that had to do with the long-standing rivalry between her grandmother and Garrett’s.

On Maggie’s recommendation, everyone requested cherry sodas except Garrett, who ordered coffee. They settled at a table near the bar, pulling up an extra chair so Kix and Payton could crowd together on one side. Sarah served glasses of fizzy pink soda topped with dollops of fresh whipped cream and cherries. Garrett chuckled when she slipped him a cherry to accompany his plain black coffee. He bit the candied fruit off the stem, then set the stem aside.

Maggie turned sideways so she could visit with the family while she finished her lunch. She didn’t actually have to stop eating to talk. Hyper with excitement about her special day, Kix rattled on almost without stopping to take sips of her soda. Her upper lip dotted with whipped cream, she told Maggie about the special breakfast they’d had—her favorite cinnamon-apple French toast—and about the wildlife they’d seen during their cruise around the lake. Payton managed to break in a few times to talk, and the older women chatted a bit with Sarah.

Maggie listened to it all, keenly aware of Garrett quietly sipping his coffee while his family talked. It seemed that every time she glanced at him he was looking back at her. Probably just coincidence, but each time she looked away quickly, making an effort to appear casual about it. She was entirely too drawn to him, especially considering he was sitting there with his daughters, two of the primary reasons that nothing was likely to come from her attraction to him. She and Garrett were unlikely ever to be more than casual friends. Which didn’t mean she couldn’t fantasize a little….

“Are you working this afternoon?” Kix asked her a bit too casually. “Daddy said we can’t bother you if you’re working, but if you aren’t, maybe you want to play games with us or something? We brought our tennis rackets and a basketball and a volleyball and some board games for if it rains but it’s really nice today and not rainy at all, so …”

“Kix,” Garrett murmured.

“I know.” She sighed heavily. “Breathe.”

“Right.”

Maggie couldn’t help laughing. “I would love to play with you, Kix, and I promise I’ll try sometime while you’re here, but this afternoon I’m helping decorate the lobby for the festivities this weekend. We’re starting in just a few minutes. I’ll be there this evening for your birthday cake, though.”

Though she’d initially looked disappointed, Kix’s face lit up. “I love to decorate. Can I help? And Payton, too?”

“Kix,” her dad said quickly, “you’d be in the way. Why don’t we shoot some hoops instead?”

“I wouldn’t get in the way,” Kix argued, looking at Maggie with hopeful eyes. “I’d do everything Maggie said and I’d help a lot.”

“They’re both welcome to help decorate if that’s how Kix wants to spend part of her birthday,” Maggie assured Garrett. “I’ll keep a close eye on them if you want to let them stay for a while.”

Kix bounced in excitement. Payton even forgot to look bored. “I like decorating, too,” she said.

Garrett’s mother frowned. “I thought we were all going to spend time together this week.”

Maggie wondered immediately if she’d made a mistake inviting the girls to help her decorate. Their grandmother looked so disapproving that she couldn’t help asking herself if she’d made a gaffe.

Garrett must have sensed her discomfort. He gave her a slight shake of his head, then addressed his mother. “You and Meemaw both said you’d like to take a nap this afternoon before the birthday party. You weren’t expecting the girls to watch you sleep, were you?”

His mother cleared her throat. “Well, no, but I thought you would be doing something with the girls.”

He turned to Kix. “You can help for a little while, if Maggie is sure you won’t be in the way, but I expect you to follow her instructions to the letter. I’m leaving my cell number with her and I want her to call me if there are any problems. I’ll be back to collect you in time for you to wash up and have dinner before the birthday party.”

“Don’t go wandering off,” their grandmother added, still looking anxious. “Stay in the building with Miss Maggie. And don’t be climbing any ladders or handling anything electrical. And—”

“Give it a rest, Paulette,” Esther ordered. “They’ll be fine.”

Garrett drained the last of his coffee and stood. “Come on, let’s get you two down for your naps. And I’m not talking to the kids.”

Maggie bit her lip to prevent a grin, which probably would not be appreciated by his mother. Garrett paid for the beverages, gave Maggie his phone number, reminded his daughters one last time to be good, then ushered the older women toward the door.

They had almost made it out when Maggie’s cousin Shelby and their grandmother entered. Maggie fancied that she could almost feel the tension settle into the room. The two cowboys at the other end of the bar glanced around as if sensing an impending shootout.