Derek felt extremely conspicuous as he stood outside the elementary school and waited for Rylie and company.

A single man staring at kids as they walked into a school. Oh yeah, there was no way that could go bad.

He’d come early, thinking that since the event started at six, he’d need the extra time to get a seat or something.

Apparently, he’d underestimated the school crowd’s on time tendencies.

At six on the dot, Samantha and Rylie came around the corner.

But where he’d expected two, there were really three.

Pepper’s arm was around Samantha’s waist and Rylie held her mom’s hand on the other side.

Samantha had the grim determination of a woman who was pushing through something completely unpleasant in order to put on a brave face.

Dark, almost black circles under her eyes, pale skin, disheveled hair.

Apparently the talk with Brian hadn’t gone well.

“Derek!” Rylie shouted when she saw him. “You came!”

“I couldn’t miss ice cream,” he said, carefully returning her hug when she wrapped her arms around his waist. Rylie was fragile and breakable, and he was way too big and gangly. He could hurt her just by breathing wrong.

“I’m so excited!” Rylie shouted as she did a little dance and ran ahead. “See you in there, Mom!”

“Stage fright, she does not have,” Samantha said with a rueful smile.

“You okay?” he asked.

Pepper shook her head violently.

He frowned. What the heck was wrong with asking someone how they were doing?

Samantha sniffed and her eyes filled. A little sob hitched in her throat. “Brian never—”

Pepper grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. “Not here,” she said fiercely. “Rylie is waiting inside, and you don’t want to be a red, puffy mess when I take a thousand pictures of you and your daughter later, okay?” She reached into her pocket and shoved a tissue at Samantha. “Wipe your eyes. Take a deep breath. And buck up. Your kid needs you.”

Samantha took a deep breath. “You’re mean.” But she was smiling. “And thank you. I needed that.”

“Wine. Ice cream. Tears. Later.”

“We’re already going to have ice cream.”

“So?” She shrugged, her red hair swishing around her shoulders. “We’ll run it off tomorrow.”

“I hate running.”

“We’ll pretend to run.” Pepper bumped her shoulder. “Now come on, you’re just being difficult.”

Samantha took a breath. “I know. I feel like pouting and stamping my foot on the ground.”

“We can do that later, too.”

“True.”

Derek was watching the exchange and trying not to laugh. He’d never really seen the fierce side of Pepper, and he thought that Samantha was pretty lucky to have a friend like her.

“If you two are done plotting then maybe we should . . .” He waved a hand at the school where kids were pouring in.

The kids jumped and screamed, running around like the little maniacs they were. The sight made him smile, almost as much as the two women in front of him starting when he spoke.

They’d forgotten he was there, but he wasn’t offended. A person often learned a lot more being quiet than dominating the conversation.

This time had been no exception.

Pepper was a good friend.

He’d known about her big heart and generous spirit. He’d been unable to miss the klutzy, troublemaker.

But she was so much more than that.

Samantha gave him a sheepish smile. “I guess we should go in, huh?”

He nodded. “Yup.”

“I hope you two are ready for some off-key singing,” she said.

Derek smiled. “Off-key singing sounds perfect.”

* * *

Derek was rethinking his statement not twenty minutes later.

Kindergarteners had the rare ability to sing at ear-piercing levels. Or maybe it was shrieking?

Either way, his eardrums had to be bleeding.

Wincing, he rubbed cautiously at one and the action caused Pepper to glance over. She smiled. A genuine one that made him feel seven feet tall.

“Thank you for coming,” she murmured, leaning toward him while turning back to face the kids. They stood at the front of the auditorium on risers, singing their little hearts out—or most of them did. Some were sitting down, others were picking their noses, a few were shoving their neighbors. Cacophony was really the only word for it.

And at the center of it all was Rylie. She wasn’t partaking in the nasal cavity searching, but rather, was singing her little heart out as she danced and wiggled in place.

How could her father miss it?

He shrugged when Pepper glanced over at him again. He hadn’t answered her, found that he couldn’t force any words as anger swept over him.

This little girl might not be hurting now, might not understand the context of an absentee dad.

But she would.

Someday she would.

A memory of Pepper popped into his head. It had been her birthday, her sixteenth or seventeenth, he couldn’t remember exactly which. He’d been in college, pre law school, but the LSATs had loomed over his head.

Paul had coaxed him away from his studies for the afternoon, and he’d been disappointed by the gaggle of girls clogging the pool.

His vision had been drinking a couple of beers with some friends, hanging out poolside, then watching the football game.

Seventeen, he realized. Pepper would have had to have been seventeen, because it had finally been legal for him to drink those beers.

He had hidden in the pool house, beer in hand, as Paul and the other guys had joined the pool party. Laughter and splashing competed for the top noise. Then had come the big, booming voice of Peter O’Brien.

“Everyone gather up. It’s time to sing Happy Birthday to Pep!”

That commanding tone had been enough to pull Derek out of hiding. He’d walked out just as the song began.

“Happy Birthday to you . . .” The group sang as Peter held a large cake just a few inches away from Pepper’s face where she gripped the pool’s wall, her head and shoulders above the water, while her body remained in. Candles flickered and danced, and it seemed like an awfully precarious location for baked goods.

The last notes rang out, and Peter extended the cake. “Make a wish.”

Pepper stilled, eyes closing. Her hair was wet, darkening the bright red to auburn. She wore an emerald swimsuit that Derek thought was a close match to her eyes.

Her eyes had always stood out to him. Open, brilliant green, and—

“Cannonball!”

Paul.

Pepper’s lids flashed open, her lips parted . . . just as a wave of water crashed over her and the cake.

Peter dropped the platter and jumped back as water splashed onto the pool deck. Plunk went the confection right on to Pepper’s head and chest. Frosting melted, slid into the pool, a cloud of purple and pink dye spreading through the water. The candles fizzled out.

“Wicked!” Paul said as he swam over to his sister and scooped up a dollop of frosting. “Yum,” he said, sucking it into his mouth.

Then he swam away laughing as the girls shrieked and scrambled to get out of the pool.

Of course, the guys were willing to help, chuckling and coping an extra feel here or there as they “assisted” the girls from the pool.

All except Pepper.

Who still clung to the wall.

Peter cursed. “Always you, Pepper. This always happens to you.”

“I—”

He scowled. “Now I need to change for my meeting.”

“But I thought you and I were going to watch the new film tonight.”

“We did? Hmm.” Peter ran his hands down his suit and made a sound of disgust. “Italian silk. Ruined.” Then he turned and walked for the house.

When Derek turned back to Pepper she was gone. A flash of green emerged from the opposite side of the pool, a sheet of red hair dripping down her back as she pulled herself out.

She wrapped a towel around herself and disappeared into the pool house.

Paul and the guys laughed and joked with the girls, the party having moved to the Jacuzzi.

Derek took a step in the direction of the pool house. He should check on Pepper, make sure she was all—

“Grab me another beer, D,” Paul called.

He hesitated a beat then turned away from the house. Pepper probably wanted to be alone. He snagged a couple of beers from the cooler and walked over to the Jacuzzi.

After handing the bottle to Paul, Derek found himself being coaxed into the hot tub and then soon after with a giggling girl on each thigh.

Not a bad place to be, all things considered.

And later, when they finally pulled themselves from the water, Derek remembered Pepper.

He went to check on her, but she was nowhere to be found.