Winning Over Skylar

THE NEXT MORNING Aaron was driving Melanie to school when she cleared her throat.

“Uh...Aaron, Karin and I want to go to the movies tomorrow. There’s a Matt Damon flick playing. The Saturday matinee starts at 12:20 and afterward we thought we’d go for pizza before the baseball game starts. Is that okay?”

Instant refusal hovered on his lips. Aside from Karin Gibson’s mother, he didn’t have anything against the teenager, but Skylar was the problem, along with the general undesirability of his sister hanging out at a place like the Nibble Nook. On the other hand, he didn’t have any reason to think Skylar was still the outrageous troublemaker she used to be.

Aaron thought fast. “Actually, I’d like to spend more time with you and thought we could go to San Francisco tomorrow. It’s close enough for a day trip if we leave early in the morning.”

Melanie’s hopeful smile vanished. “But you’ve been planning to work at the office. You know, I could have gone to the movies without telling you that Karin was going to be there, too. But I asked, just like Mother says I’m supposed to.”

True enough. He ought to be grateful that his sister was being honest. And he was grateful. Taking her for the year had filled him with concern.... What if she got on drugs when she was in his care, or something equally bad, simply because he didn’t know the right thing to say or do? He’d never considered having children, much less how to deal with a teenager, so it was uncharted territory for him.

“Wouldn’t you like to see San Francisco instead?” he urged. “It’s a beautiful place and quite different from other cities you’ve visited like Paris and London. We could eat crab and fresh sourdough bread on Fisherman’s Wharf and get ice cream at Ghirardelli Square. Maybe we would even go out to Alcatraz Island and take a tour of the old prison. They say it’s haunted. You have all those DVDs of that Ghost Hunters television reality show, so I know you’re interested in that sort of thing.”

Melanie shook her head. “I’d rather see a movie with Karin. Please say yes, Aaron. I’ve never had a friend like her before. That’s better than San Francisco.”

Aaron glanced at his sister. Her eyes were wistful, and regret went through him. In one of their arguments Skylar had accused him of not caring about Melanie. He’d reacted angrily, maybe because he knew that it was partly true in the beginning—he had mostly looked out for his sister because it seemed the right thing to do. Now he was growing fond of her, and it was hard to think of her unstable childhood, being sent from one household to another. She had lived in a number of glamorous places, yet she’d never had a real friend.

“All right,” he said slowly. “You can spend the afternoon with Karin.”

Melanie’s delighted smile made him sigh—he would have agreed to practically anything after seeing that sad look on her face. Hell, maybe he should even consider keeping her until she graduated.

He stopped in front of the high school. “Have a good day.”

“You, too.” She gave him an impulsive kiss on the cheek and got out.

Aaron watched her disappear inside the old building. The high school hadn’t changed much since he was a kid. It was like everything in Cooperton, old-fashioned and tired. The whole town needed a facelift...or a funeral.

He drove on and as he passed the Nibble Nook, decided to stop and see if Skylar was available. She’d claimed she would call in a few days to set up a time to meet, but he didn’t want it turning into weeks or months.

At least two dozen customers were eating at the picnic tables, and more waited in line at the window. The scent of coffee and food wafted through the air and there was a babble of cheerful conversation. Yet as Aaron got out of the Mercedes and approached, the chatter faded into watchful silence. At a guess, a number of the customers were Cooper Industry employees—probably from the night shift, eating breakfast after getting off work. They must have recognized him.

Well, hell.

He didn’t intend to justify his decisions, no matter how unpopular they might be. They were necessary to keep the company afloat and to preserve jobs, though he wasn’t entirely sure why he cared if the business survived. At the same time, the hostile atmosphere heightened his concerns about Melanie being around people who so plainly disliked him. That was one of the problems with small towns: you couldn’t get away from the people who knew you.

“Good morning,” he said when he got to the front window. “Is Mrs. Gibson here?”

“No, sir. Skylar is picking up a load of produce, but she should be back soon.” The tall young man smiled, a pleasant contrast to the sullen customers in the eating area. “Would you like to order something?”

“Sure.” Aaron hadn’t gone to a hamburger stand since he was a teenager, but he looked at the breakfast menu and ordered the spicy breakfast burrito and a cup of “special brew” coffee, whatever the hell that pretended to be. The prices seemed excellent, and the amount of food the server passed through the window was generous.

He went to the Mercedes to eat, and his first surprise was the coffee. He’d figured it would taste like pencil shavings, despite being billed as a “special brew.” Instead it was rich and boldly flavored.

As for the burrito...Aaron took a bite and his eyes widened. It was stuffed with bacon, cheese, eggs, green chilies and potatoes and was absolutely delicious. The flavor reminded him of the breakfast burritos he’d eaten in Santa Fe where he and Matt had managed to meet up one weekend. Aaron liked Matt; he just wished his brother hadn’t followed in their father’s playboy footsteps.

When he finished eating, he phoned Peggy and told her that something had come up and he would be later than expected. He settled back with his coffee, keeping an eye on the traffic from the road. Customers came and went, and it wasn’t long before the old truck he’d seen Skylar driving the previous night arrived and pulled around to the rear of the building.

He followed and found Skylar putting down the tailgate of the truck. The cashier who’d helped Aaron earlier had come out and was talking to her.

“Here he is,” said the young man.

She looked up and her expression turned chilly. “Did you need something, Mr. Hollister?”

Suddenly Aaron’s plan to push for a meeting time to discuss Cooper Industries didn’t seem like the best idea. Antagonizing her wouldn’t help his cause, though he suspected he was already screwed after their clashes over his sister. Skylar wasn’t likely to put her personal feelings aside to make a rational decision.

“Melanie mentioned she has plans to see a movie with your daughter tomorrow afternoon. Sharing a pizza was also discussed.”

Skylar nodded. “They’ve been talking about it.”

“I thought you should know that I told her she can go.”

“You’re okay with it?”

Aaron could tell that Skylar had expected him to refuse and felt like a fraud. He’d tried to talk Melanie into a trip to San Francisco instead of going with her friend—essentially a bribe. It spoke well of his sister that she’d chosen Karin, even if it wasn’t what he had wanted.

“I’d prefer her spending less time at the Nibble Nook, but a movie sounded all right,” he replied frankly. “And I could see how much it meant to her. I’ll make sure she has cash for both the movie and food.”

“Oh, that’s something I’ve been meaning to bring up... Stop giving Melanie fifty-dollar bills to use. It makes her conspicuous. If she needs to carry so much money, give her tens or twenties and have her tuck most of them out of sight in different places in her wallet or purse so it isn’t obvious how much she’s got.”

Aaron didn’t appreciate the obvious being pointed out to him, but she was right. Somebody might get tempted by the idea of easy cash.

“I should have thought it through better,” he admitted grudgingly. “I’ve just been giving her whatever’s in my wallet, and I know my father sends her cash in large bills. I’ll tell Melanie to have me change it into smaller denominations.”

Skylar lifted a crate of lettuce and handed it to her employee. “Thanks, Peter. You should get back inside. I heard more cars arrive out front.”

When they were alone, she dusted her hands. “Why didn’t you just call and leave a message about okaying the girls’ plans? Aren’t you too busy for this kind of personal contact?”

Was that a subtle criticism, or was he just being overly sensitive?

“I was driving past on my way to the office and decided to stop. I’m not familiar with the appropriate protocols for dealing with a teenager.”

“Whatever.” She hopped back into the truck bed and shoved a stack of boxes closer to the tailgate, a healthy flush of color in her cheeks.

One thing Aaron had to say for Skylar, she worked hard. He just wasn’t sure of anything else when it came to her—while she may have changed since her disreputable high-school days, he had a hard time trusting people in general, and women in particular. Ironically, his father seemed to be the opposite. S. S. Hollister was an eternal optimist, always on the lookout for romance.

It was his children who’d learned to be wary of marriage and relationships.

“Don’t you have employees to handle the heavy lifting?” Aaron asked, resisting an impulse to help. She must do this sort of thing every day; she didn’t need him.

“They’re busy. When things are quieter midmorning, I’ll have them slice the onions and tomatoes and wash lettuce for the lunch crowd. We want our ingredients to be fresh.”

“We?”

Her expression went blank. “Saying we is a habit. I ran this business with my husband for more than a decade, and he’s only been gone a year.”

Aaron wasn’t sure how to respond. He’d been noticing how well Skylar filled out her jeans and T-shirt—slim, yet sweetly curved in all the right places—only to be reminded she was a widow.

“I see,” he said awkwardly. “Well, I’ll go, since you’re obviously busy. You’ll call when we can get together to talk about my expansion plans?”