A Gift for All Seasons

“Perfect. We’ll see you then.”

We.

Replacing his phone, Patrick continued into his parents’ jam-packed living room where Lili sat in front of the brick fireplace, holding a one-sided conversation with a bevy of beat-up dolls. At his entrance, she grinned up at him, and, as usual, his heart swelled. God, he loved this kid.

For her sake, he’d forced himself to smile again. To laugh. To appreciate the good in life and not give the bad the time of day. Trying to set a good example, like his parents had done for him. He squatted beside her, cupped her head. “Gotta go, munchkin. Give me a hug?” She scrambled to her feet and threw her arms around his neck. “You be good for Grandma, okay?”

He saw the flash of sadness in her dark eyes when she pulled away, but she only nodded and said, “‘Kay.”

Patrick called his goodbyes to his folks, then let himself out the front door, where the cold wind wreaked havoc with his face grafts, even for the short sprint to his truck. Sure, the idea of being around April Ross produced a kick to the gut the likes of which Patrick hadn’t experienced in a long, long time. But after the hell he’d been through? A little lust was the least of his worries. Especially since this was a nonstarter. What with her being married and all.

And thank God for that.

Chapter Two

“That’s not what you had on five minutes ago.”

Shooting daggers at her cousin Melanie, April selected a coffee from the carousel on the gleaming, brand-new quartz counter and plopped it into the Keurig maker. The old kitchen, although huge, had been so outdated it nearly qualified for historical preservation status. And not in a good way. Now it was a chef’s dream, with miles of countertops and cabinets, double ovens and a massive, stainless-steel-topped island, and—the pièce de résistance—a six-burner commercial-grade stove … in pink. Just for Mel. Who, now that true love had brought her back to St. Mary’s after more than ten years away, had agreed—after much haranguing on April’s part—to bring her mad cooking skills to the inn.

“I was cold,” April said. “So I put on a heavier sweater.”

“And changed your pants. And your headband—”

“Shut. Up.”

“And that’s your fourth cup of coffee this morning.” The brunette grinned, her own mug of coffee nestled against her generous bosom, not so generously covered by a hot pink velour hoodie. Underneath long bangs, her gray-green eyes glittered. “That much caffeine and you’re gonna sound like a chipmunk on speed. Although I do like that shade of purple on you.”

Their other cousin, Blythe, an interior designer in D.C. who was there for a few days to check on the remodel’s progress, wandered into the kitchen, yawning, a study in drapey grays and silvers. Tall, blond and impossibly chic, she frowned at April.

“Weren’t you wearing something different at breakfast?”

Melanie poked Blythe as she bit into one of her own homemade cinnamon rolls. “I remember Patrick Shaughnessy. If vaguely. Dude’s definitely worth the wardrobe crazies.”

Her coffee brewed, April grabbed the porcelain mug, watching the sunlight dance across her rings before she turned and caught sight of the clock, a big, old-fashioned schoolroom thing Blythe had found in some antiques store. Ten minutes. Sighing, she leaned against the counter and looked at Mel. Time to reveal a detail or two she’d left out when she’d told them he was coming to give the estimate.

“I take it he was pretty good-looking back then?” she asked her cousin.

“In a craggy, Heathcliffian sort of way, yeah. All the Shaughnessy boys were.”

“So his face … it wasn’t scarred?”

“Scarred? You mean, like … a cut that didn’t heal properly?”

“No. Worse. Like … I don’t know. Burned, maybe?”

“What? Ohmigod, are you serious? Is it … bad?”

April nodded. “Although it’s only one side of his face, so I didn’t notice at first. But when I did …” She grimaced. “I sort of … freaked out.”

Mel frowned. “Freaked out, how?”

“I ran. Like some frightened little twit who thought she’d seen the bogeyman. And yes, he saw the whole thing.”

“Ouch,” Blythe said.

“Exactly.” April’s gaze drifted out the new kitchen window, widened to take advantage of the shoreline view at the back of the property, the private dock jutting out into the glittering water. Her dock now. Her property. For a moment the thought made her feel all sparkly inside, until the guilt blotted it out again. “He has the sweetest little girl.…”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Blythe and Mel exchange a glance. Deciding to ignore it, April faced them again. “I actually went back to apologize, but he’d already left. So that’s my first order of business when he gets here.”

Blythe’s eyebrows dipped. “To apologize? You sure that’s a good idea?”

“You got a better one?”

“Yeah. Act like it never happened.”

“Oh, right—”

“I’m serious,” the blonde said, her short, spiked hair like frosted glass in the sunshine. “Look, I get you feel like crap, but he’s probably used to it—”

“So that makes what I did okay?”

“No. But the last thing you want to do is make him more uncomfortable, right?”

Conflicted, April looked to Mel. “So what would you do?”

“Me? I would’ve hired another landscaper. Maybe. Hey,” Mel said when April rolled her eyes, “all you can do is trust your gut. Do what feels right.”

The doorbell rang. Straightening, she set her mug on the counter and swiped her suddenly damp palms down the front of her jeans. “If I don’t throw up first,” she muttered, then headed toward the door, which, after a lung-searing breath, she opened.

Only to run smack into that crystalline gaze, boring directly into hers.

He’d never in his life seen someone blush that hard. April kept swallowing, too, like she was about to be sick. Patrick took pity on her and held up his clipboard, to remind her of his purpose there. Except she shook her head, making her red-gold hair swish softly over her shoulders and Patrick unaccountably irritated. Although about what, he couldn’t have said.

What he could say, though, was that she was even prettier than he remembered. As in, short-out-the-brain pretty. If a trifle too put together for his taste, what with her sweater, shoes and headband all matching. She was also obviously broken up about what she’d done, even before she said, “Before we get started … there is no excuse for how I acted the other day. And I’m sorry.”

Frankly, he was torn, between wanting to let her off the hook and wanting to see her squirm. His face took some getting used to, no two ways around it. So taking offense was pointless. People were just people.

But something about this one especially provoked him. Maybe because he wasn’t entirely buying the whole innocent act she was trying so hard to sell.

Patrick slid his hands into his back pockets, narrowing his eyes even as he realized she’d kept hers steady on his face. Like she was trying to prove something, probably more to herself than to him.

“How you acted?”

She swallowed again. And somehow turned even redder. Had to give her props, though, for not sending out her husband in her stead. Then again, for all he knew this was one of those projects where the wife handled all the design decisions and the man just signed the checks. They got a lot of those. “Yes,” she finally said. “At the garden center.”

“Can’t say as I noticed anything.”

“And now you’re messing with me.”