Even with the dust and debris scattered about, walking into the new house was like walking into her dreams. With the demo work nearly done, it was now a clean slate. Light and airy, uncluttered. Brimming with potential. Naomi inhaled a deep, deep breath, holding it, letting it fill her. In here her problems didn’t seem so important.
Taking Gracie by the hand, she led her from room to room, pointing out where everything was going to go. Her daughter oohhed and ahhhed over the plan. Four suites upstairs and their two-bedroom apartment attached to the main level, but also completely closed off as its own unit. After they’d walked around the entire place, they sat out on the front porch eating Gracie’s favorite snack—peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
Right after she and Colton had arrived back in Topaz Falls, she’d gone straight to the school to pick Gracie up from camp early. It was time to tell her everything. Time for them to move forward together. That’s why she’d brought her to the Hidden Gem. The bed and breakfast was a change, too. An exciting change, and she hoped it would help Gracie get excited about the prospect of meeting her dad.
As soon as her daughter finished telling her about the game they’d played at camp, Naomi set her sandwich on a paper plate. “Gracie, honey. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Okaaayyyy.” A guilty look stretched her mouth. “It’s not about the cookies and brownies I ate at Lance and Jessa’s that one time. Right? Because, trust me. I learned my lesson.”
Naomi laughed softly, wishing it was that simple. “No. But that was a good lesson to learn.” A lesson in forgiveness would be much harder. “This is actually about your dad.”
The girl stopped eating mid-bite. “My dad?” she repeated with a full mouth.
“Yes.” Naomi inhaled slowly and deeply. She’d never told her much about Mark, simply that he had to leave because he couldn’t take care of a family. And whenever Gracie had asked any questions, she’d always quickly steered her toward remembering everyone who was there—Lance and Luis. Jessa. Darla and Cassidy. In the years since Gracie was born, Naomi had learned it took a village to raise a child, and she didn’t know how she’d survive without hers.
“What about my dad?” her daughter asked, dropping the sandwich to the porch.
“Well…he’d like to meet you.” She paused to regain strength. If Gracie detected any hint of sadness, she’d get worried.
But her daughter simply stared at her, eyes scrunched like she didn’t understand.
“He called me last week,” Naomi explained, keeping her tone even and neutral. “And he’s changed a lot. He has a good job and a nice house and he said he was very sorry he had to leave. He’s sad he never got to know you.” Even to her it sounded lame. One small part of her wanted to roll her eyes and call the whole thing ridiculous. But she couldn’t blame everything on Mark. She’d made choices, too. And back then they were both only eight years older than her daughter was right now.
“What did you tell him?” Gracie asked, picking at the crust of her sandwich.
“I told him I would talk to you. I’d like you to meet him, honey. Because if you don’t, you might always wonder.” Lucas was right. Gracie should know where she came from. As she got older, she’d want to know. Even if she wasn’t so sure right now. “So I thought maybe he could come to the ranch and have dinner with all of us.” She tried to make it sound exciting, like a party. “Then you could meet him and make up your own mind about whether you’d like to know him.”
The girl’s lips bunched like they always did when she wasn’t sure about something. “Do you like him?”
“I don’t know him all that well,” she admitted. Yes, it was the easy way out, but that was all she could offer at the moment. “We have to get to know him.” She patted her daughter’s leg, wishing she could offer her more reassurance. Wishing she could find it herself. They didn’t have a choice except to get to know him.
“Would he come to live with us?” the girl asked warily.
“No, honey.” God, how could she explain all of this? “We were already married once and it didn’t work out. He’s married to someone else. A very nice woman,” she said, even though she had no idea. Her heart lurched at the prospect of Gracie someday having another mom.
A strong breeze picked up, scattering her daughter’s hair. Naomi studied her, unable to believe how old she looked. Most days, she still saw her as a plump toddler who needed her to be everything—her whole world. But she was growing up.
“I don’t understand why he had to leave.” The first hint of anger broke through her words.
Naomi took her hand and squeezed it. “It wasn’t because he didn’t love you.” Whatever else she thought, she had to believe that. “I think he didn’t know what to do. We were very young. And that wasn’t what he thought his life would be like.” It was impossible to explain the mind and motivation of eighteen-year-old kids who were pretending to be adults.
“But you didn’t leave.”
She wanted to throw her arms around her daughter and tell her to always remember that, no matter how much they fought, no matter how much drama entered their lives. She leaned in closer. “The second you were born, I knew I could never leave. I couldn’t be apart from you,” she murmured. “A lot of things might change, Gracie. But that’ll always stay true.”
Her daughter climbed over the sandwiches and wedged herself into her lap. Naomi couldn’t see over Gracie’s head anymore—she was much too tall—but she snuggled her and held her tight the same way she always did when she had a nightmare.
“What if I don’t like him?” she asked.
“Then you don’t have to see him again.” Naomi smoothed her hand over that lovely red hair. “But you know what?” She tilted her head to see into her daughter’s eyes. “I think you’ll like him. He’s very nice.”
“Was he ever mean to you?” she asked as though afraid to know.
“No, honey. He was never mean. We just weren’t right for each other.” Because her heart had already belonged to someone else and she was never able to reclaim it. That was the sad truth.
Speaking of that someone else…His truck came lumbering down the street and pulled up in front of her house. How did Lucas always seem to know when her thoughts turned to him?
Gracie scrambled out of her lap as though embarrassed to be caught hugging her mother. “Hi, Lucas!” she greeted cheerfully as he got out of the truck. The girl was remarkably resilient, considering what she’d just learned. But that was the best thing about kids. They were much better at compartmentalizing than adults.
He strode up the front walkway. “How’re you two lovely ladies this afternoon?”
“Great!” Gracie answered for her.
Naomi stood and brushed herself off. “We’re good.” She tried to say it casually, but her voice caught. He always had to look so sexy, wearing those tight jeans, and those T-shirts that fit snug against his broad shoulders.
“Guess what?” Gracie asked, hands on hips and eyes wide.
“What?” Lucas asked as if the anticipation was killing him. For someone who had not been around kids much, he had a gift. Once again Naomi felt a stab of regret that he wasn’t Gracie’s father. That they couldn’t simply pick up where they’d left off last night. But he deserved more than to be her escape from reality.
“My dad called my mom,” Gracie informed him. “And he wants to meet me.”
Naomi thought she saw a flash of pain behind his smile, but then it was gone.
“Wow.” He took a knee, lowering himself to her level. “What do you think about that?”
“Dunno yet.” Gracie gave a shrug. “But Mom says I don’t have to see him if I don’t like him.”
“I doubt that’ll be a problem.” Lucas stood. His eyes met Naomi’s and that one meaningful glance was enough to loosen her knees.
Everything she’d felt when they’d made out in her living room came boiling back up to the surface—the zinging hormones, the greedy hunger, the exquisite vertigo. Clearing her throat, she steadied a hand on the porch rail. “Gracie, why don’t you go pick some of those flowers?” She pointed to the gardens that had been overtaken by alpine sunflowers, blackfoot daisies, and purple aster.
“Really?” her daughter gasped. When they were out hiking, Naomi never let Gracie pick anything—we have to leave the wilderness like we found it, she always said. “Picking from a garden is different. You can get as many as you want.” They’d have to redo it anyway with how overrun it had gotten.
“Wow!” Her daughter shot off the porch and sprinted all the way to the flowerbed at the edge of the expansive lawn.
“She seems to be taking it well,” Lucas observed with a smile. God, she loved that smile, the way his lips curved all sexy and delicious. She knew for a fact they were delicious.
She looked away. Now was not the best time to be considering how delicious his lips tasted.
“She seems okay so far.” She sighed. “I don’t know how to prepare her for what it’ll be like to see him.” What would that feel like for a kid? To have a strange man walk into the room and say, “Hey, I’m your father.” Gracie was usually pretty easygoing, but that would be a shock for anyone.
Lucas rested his hand on her arm, making her quiver with a deep sense of longing. “We’ll all be there when she meets him. Hopefully that’ll make her more comfortable.”
He might have been talking about Gracie, but the way his kind eyes held hers so tenderly made it clear he wanted to be there for her, too. And who was she to argue? “Jessa said we could do dinner on Sunday,” she said, hoping he could make it. “I called Mark and he already said he’ll be there.”
“Sounds good.” He stared down at her, seeming to focus on her lips.
It was a good thing Gracie was right over there or she might drag him inside to pick up where they’d left off on the couch. “I feel so bad making them host a dinner with their wedding coming up, but Jessa insisted it wasn’t a problem,” she babbled, feeling shaky all the way to her bones. Her body was literally crying out to him. He could probably hear it. She could still hear the echoes from the other night—Make love to me, Lucas…
“Sorry for just showing up like this” His little smirk didn’t make him look sorry. It made him look like he knew exactly what his presence did to her. “But I got you something and I wanted to drop it off.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks got all warm and tingly. Much like other regions of her body…
“It’s in the truck,” he said, turning and swaggering that hot ass of his down the steps.
She watched him intently until he glanced over his shoulder. Busted.
“I’m coming.” She hurried down the steps after him, pretending she’d been watching Gracie pick flowers all along.
Lucas waited for her halfway down the front walk, standing there looking close to perfect the way he filled out those snug jeans. But she shouldn’t look at his jeans. Or his shoulders, she realized when the sight of his broad shoulders and muscular arms brought on another hopeful exhale. She raised her gaze to his face, but that proved to be dangerous, too. He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.
“You didn’t have to get me anything.” What could it possibly be? And why would he buy her a present after she’d run him off?
“I know I didn’t have to,” Lucas said, leading her to the truck. “I wanted to.” He leaned over the tailgate and lifted out a large, flat cardboard square. “Think of it as a congratulations gift. Something to help get this place started.” After setting it carefully on the ground, he ripped off strips of tape, then slowly opened the box.
“Oh.” A punch of surprise hit her beneath the ribs. She lowered to her knees, hovering to get a better look.
It was a sign. A beautiful custom sign made from an antique stained glass window. “God,” she breathed. “Lucas…” It was incredible. She touched the pattern of colorful Colorado wildflowers pieced together from different colors of glass. On the wide white molding that framed the sign, someone had hand carved the name of her new bed and breakfast in wooden letters.
Hidden Gem Inn.
She peered up at him, tears making the world look more like a watercolor painting. “Where did you get this?” She never could’ve even dreamed up something so wonderful.
“I know a guy in Denver,” he said, kneeling next to her. “From prison, actually,” he added, as if that made any difference to her. “He’s an artist now.” Lucas admired the sign. “I mean, I came up with a general idea, but I had no clue how to make it work.”
“I can’t accept this.” But she was desperate to. It could hang on the front porch—right above the steps. But…“It must’ve cost you a fortune.”
“My friend owed me a couple of favors, anyway.” He stood, not expanding on why an old prison buddy had owed Lucas something. Though she suspected he’d somehow gotten him out of trouble. He seemed to be good at that.
“I don’t even know how to say thank you.” The wobble in her knees made it difficult to stand.
Lucas reached for her hand and pulled her up, hanging on to her longer than necessary.
“You don’t have to say thank you.” He leaned against the bed of his truck, looking over at her house. “I think it’s great what you’re doing. Starting something new. Making your dream come true.” He focused on her, lips quirked with a secret. “It’s inspiring.”
“What d’you mean?” She couldn’t not smile back at him.
His fingers brushed her hair back, skimming her neck. “You’re going after what you want. Not letting anything stop you. Makes me want to do the same.”
She didn’t ask what he wanted. She feared the answer too much. What if she couldn’t give it to him? She had so much pulling at her already—with Gracie and Mark and the inn.
“Come on.” Lucas bent to pick up the sign. “Why don’t you show me where you want to hang this?”
He started to walk away, but in a move of desperation, she reached for him, clasping her hand on his solid bicep and towing him back to her. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Not just for the sign, but for believing in me.” For thinking she could actually do this.
It made her believe, too.