Saving The Single Dad
“Sure have been friendly to the old guy at the counter. Flirting for tips?” he asked. The complete lack of a smile on his face made her a bit nervous.
“No, just an old friend.” Christina tightened her grip on the coffeepot. She’d left bartending for this reason. Give a man alcohol and he was convinced he was the World’s Sexiest Man capable of taking what he wanted at the same time.
Removing alcohol had made confrontations like this a lot less common.
That didn’t mean she’d forgotten how to make a weapon out of whatever was at hand, though.
“I’d like to be a new friend,” he said as he leaned forward. “Besides, heard him say something about somebody stealing your boyfriend. Now, if you can give me her number, I’ll go away. Any woman who could take a man from a looker like you must be the stuff of legends.” He grabbed her wrist as Christina moved to leave.
No matter how she turned her hand, she couldn’t twist free. Setting down the coffeepot to claw at his fingers would leave her with nothing but her pencil as a weapon.
Determined not to cause a brawl at this job, Christina said, “While I do appreciate the kindness, sir, I’ve got to get back to work.” And if I shove my pencil in your eye, I will probably lose this job.
“Feisty.” The guy tilted his head to the side. “Woman like you, dressed like that. Can’t imagine you ain’t in the market for something.” There was no doubt in Christina’s mind that her hot-pink shirt and tight jeans were gone in his mind.
Before she could swing the coffeepot or make a stab with her pencil, Woody eased off his stool, hitched up his belt and said, “You need help, Chrissy?”
The last thing she needed was for Woody to wade into this mess. She didn’t want his injuries on her conscience, and she couldn’t afford a bill for repairs.
Christina moved to set the coffeepot down on the guy’s arm and jerked away as soon as he let go of her arm.
“Oh my. I almost got you.” She shook her head as if she couldn’t believe how clumsy she was. “I do apologize.” Should she offer to cover his breakfast in order to get him out of there?
What would she do if he returned when the crowd thinned?
Call the cops before his backside hit the wooden seat, that’s what. Being nice as a solution didn’t get more than one shot.
When the guy stood up, she and Woody both shrank back a step. He was big. Of course he was. What rule of nature made it necessary for the biggest animal on the food chain to be the one with the fewest redeeming qualities?
Armed with her coffeepot in one hand and her pencil in the other, Christina squared off. “You go ahead and leave, mister. I’ve got your ticket covered.”
She would much rather lose the ten dollars than the job. And if the guy did come back, she’d gladly shut him down and kiss the diner goodbye. In the meantime, she was no one’s victim. Not anymore.
Before the guy could make up his mind whether to throw his weight around some more or skip out on his bill and count himself lucky, the door to the restaurant opened and the park’s head law enforcement ranger, Brett Hendrix, stepped in.
The relief that swept over her was immediate, yet enraging. He had the same golden glow he’d had as he sauntered the halls of Sweetwater High, everyone’s friend and role model. Why couldn’t he have gained forty pounds and lost all but forty strands of hair? Probably wouldn’t matter. He inspired trust and that would always be attractive.
They must have appeared as if frozen, caught in the instant before chairs started flying, punches were thrown and someone howled in pain, because Brett braced both hands on his belt, his gun holstered but within easy reach, and said, “Oh good. I made it in time for the brawl. I hate to miss the first minute because then I can never follow the rest of the story.”
Christina didn’t exactly relax, because Leanne’s ex was no fan of hers, but he knew right from wrong and never wavered from it.
Brett Hendrix believed there was no gray area when it came to life’s challenges, only seeing things as either totally black or white. It made life hard for those living in mostly those gray areas, especially for Christina. She knew he was a loving father, but she wanted to help her friend, too.
It was easy to hate him for all that, but right now, watching her would-be stalker fold before her eyes, Brett’s presence warmed a tiny corner of her cold heart.
Even better, faced with a park ranger in his officially official flat hat and everything, the guy yanked a twenty from his wallet, dropped the money on the table and stomped out.
Not only did she not have to cover his tab, but he’d left her the best tip of the day.
Christina couldn’t help the grin that slowly turned up her lips as she shoved her pencil back in her ponytail. “My hero.”
She waved the twenty-dollar bill and check at Woody. “You, too, darling.” His thin chest puffed out as if he’d done something besides stand behind her and bluster, but that was okay. Any thoughts of complaining about his cold breakfast and indifferent service were gone.
“What can I get you, Ranger?” Christina asked as she sashayed back behind the counter. She tried to always sashay when Brett was around. It made his scowl darker.
“First, tell me what that was.” He stared hard at the door.
“You know, one more guy who wants to hassle me,” Christina replied as she noticed Woody glued to the conversation. “New guy, so there was some excitement. All the others have learned where the boundary is.” She smiled at Brett.
“Business as usual, then,” Brett said with a nod. “Two coffees, two slices of pecan pie, to go.”
Christina saluted and turned to box up his order, happy to have her routine restored to calm the jitters.
The weight of Brett’s disapproving stare rattled her again, but it was familiar at least. When his phone rang and he turned away to answer it, Christina managed to catch her breath. As soon as Brett was on his way, she might even take Woody up on his offer of a ride home.
And if that didn’t illustrate how bad things were, that Christina Braswell was about to ask for help, she’d eat the pencil she’d been prepared to wield like a spear.
CHAPTER TWO
OBVIOUSLY THIS WAS going to be the Mondayest Monday of all Mondays. Brett had started the morning with a disaster before moving directly into a showdown and followed that up with a yelling match.
All before leaving the house.
In about two minutes, he’d be late for the meeting his boss, Ash Kingfisher, had called. Since he was at least ten minutes away from the ranger station at this point, he needed to come up with a logical excuse.
Any nature reserve staff who’d observed his drive in had probably already called to report him for reckless driving. The rolling stop he’d made at the first four-way off the highway had not been his proudest moment.
And now, instead of hustling to get his order, Christina Braswell was doing some kind of deep breathing exercises, her eyes closed, and his son was on the phone.
Since he’d just dropped the kid off at school, after calmly mopping up spilled grape juice that was all Parker would drink with his microwaved waffles, followed by changing his uniform, he wasn’t keen on catching up.
Then he realized Parker was his best source to tracking Riley, his daughter who was thirteen-going-on-thirty, and he answered, “What’s up, buddy?”
“Dad, Riley said she’ll give me ten dollars if I do her chores when we get home this afternoon. That’s a good deal, right?” Parker said, and gasped as if he was running down the hall. They’d been on time when he dropped them off, but Parker’s curiosity led him astray. A lot.
First grade was all about exciting new things.
“We’ve talked about this. Riley doesn’t have your best interests at heart, son. Remember that and try to think about her offers with that in mind.” Brett glanced over his shoulder to see that Christina had managed to shake loose of her meditation to bag up his order. She’d put two cups right next to the bag. He should have kept an eye on her. A wise man never turned his back on an angry woman.
Interrupting whatever little showdown she’d been caught in the middle of might be the first thing that had worked for him that morning. He hoped it wasn’t the last. She’d never thank him. She never had been the grateful sort, not even when he’d done his best to make sure she was safe. For a split second, he’d wanted to try that all over again, but the woman had more sharp edges than shattered glass.
“But it’s folding clothes, Dad. And she said she’d help me with my room.” Parker sneezed and Brett could almost hear the nurse’s phone call telling him his son needed to come home. Right now, no fever meant no sick day.
“What happened the last time she made that offer?” he asked as he pulled his wallet out. With one raised eyebrow, he asked Christina his total. She took a ten from him and turned to the cash register.
“She tricked me.” Parker’s sad voice made Brett smile. Having a daughter with an impressive criminal mind was scary. He’d only managed to stop her from shaving off her hair because Parker had asked him where his clippers were that morning. He’d had to learn to follow the trail to anticipate however Riley would act up next, and it often started with his trusting son.
Since her mother had gone off the deep end again, Riley needed careful attention. How to help her eluded him, but keeping her safe wouldn’t.
“Right. Don’t let her trick you again. This morning she almost got you, so watch her, P.” Brett took his change and shoved it in his pocket. “Now, be good. Pay attention. Call me when you get home this afternoon.”
“I will, Dad.” Parker heaved a huge sigh. “Girls are tricky.”
“Don’t you ever forget it, son.” With his wife’s best friend watching his every move, he couldn’t argue with that. “I love you, Parker.”
“Love you—” The call ended before he finished the rest of the sentence. That was Parker’s usual goodbye, so it was more reassuring than worrying.
When he ended the call, he considered calling Riley to explain again how much he disliked her attempts at tricking her brother. Then he remembered her annoyed stare when he’d steered her out of the bathroom and away from the statement she wanted to make with her hair.
Dinnertime would be soon enough to tackle that.
And since he was headed to Nashville for a weeklong training session, it might be dinner next week.
Looking forward to a class on managing a law enforcement department like it was a trip to Hawaii was a sign of how out of control his house had gotten. There would be no grape juice, no sullen teenage stares, and if he wanted to watch something other than the cartoon channel, he could. The business class hotel he’d booked on the outskirts of Nashville sounded more and more like heaven.
“Long day,” Christina drawled as she pushed the cups toward him.
“Yeah. And it’s just started.” He shook his head as she slid the sugar packets over. Then he ripped both open and dumped them in the coffee. He wadded up the paper and Christina slipped the lid on.
“How are Parker and Riley?” she asked as she tipped her chin up. She expected him to tell her to go jump in Otter Lake and he wanted to. Anything he said to her would go right back to Leanne. He didn’t have the energy for a confrontation.
“They’re okay.” Brett snatched up the bag and pointed at the empty table in the corner. “He going to be a problem?”
Christina twirled her pen as she considered his question. Even in the fluorescent lights of the campground’s dumpy restaurant, she was a heartbreaker. For a split second after he’d married her best friend, he’d tried to act the big brother and protect her. At seventeen, she’d run circles around him immediately and basically made him wish he’d never been born. More than a decade later, he could see the hardness in her eyes and wished he’d done a better job.
“I had it under control.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Woody had my back.” Out of the corner of his eye, Brett saw the old guy straighten on his stool.
Pretending to have everything under control was his move, so he respected it.
The glint in her eye was a warning, and it was always there. She’d never wanted his help, and she wouldn’t take him up on it if he offered to handle her problem customer for her.
If he wasn’t careful, his daughter would have the same calculating expression.
“You’ve got my number if he comes back,” Brett said as he dug around in his pocket for a dollar bill. He was ticked off at Leanne, and Christina was guilty by association, but he couldn’t walk out without leaving a tip or at least making the offer.
“I won’t call it.” She pointed at Woody Butler, frequent camp fly at the Otter Lake Campground. “I’ve got Woody.”
Since the last time Woody might have been able to throw a punch was forty years ago, Brett was almost certain he’d be a hindrance if it came to a real fight.
Now he was fifteen minutes late for that meeting with his boss, and he shouldn’t be wasting his time trying to tell her to do the right thing anyway.
He held up the bag and headed for the door.
“Hey, Brett,” Christina called.
He could pretend he didn’t hear her, like his mother had when he’d yelled at her to get out of bed before he left that morning. Diane Hendrix had come for a visit three years ago to help him out, and every day since, her patience grew shorter. Their yelling match over the imposition of him disappearing for a week and leaving everything on her shoulders had been the cherry on top of his Dumpster sundae.
But he was in uniform, so he did the right thing. “Yeah?”
“You’re probably wondering how Leanne is. Your wife.” Christina crossed her arms over her chest. “The wife you cut out of her kids’ lives.”
“Ex-wife. For good reasons, which most of the people in this room are very aware of,” Brett muttered as he glanced around the restaurant. The crowd had thinned, but he could see a few regulars. Anybody who knocked around Otter Lake or Sweetwater had heard their story already. Cheating, drugs and the epic court battle made for juicy gossip. His reputation would never recover, but he wanted better for Riley and Parker.
“She misses her kids.” Christina stepped closer.
“She should have thought of that a long time ago.” Brett bit back the rest of the answer that bubbled up.
“She wasn’t drinking at the Branch, Brett.” Christina glanced over her shoulder and he could see the frustration on her face when she turned back. She didn’t want this to play out in public, either. “You told her not to talk to me, but we’re best friends. She came to keep me company. That’s it. Cutting her out like this, have you thought what it might mean? What it means to Parker and Riley to lose their mother, or to Leanne to lose the most important things in her life, the kids who keep her grounded?”
Christina clenched her hands together in the apron tied around her waist. Instead of impassive control, her expression was a mix of begging and warning. He understood her message, too, but there was nothing he could do about it. He’d made his decision about what to do about Leanne the day the judge gave him sole custody. While she was in Sweetwater, he’d invited her over to visit the kids but only when he was around. What had been exciting and passionate when they were kids had become unstable and a problem when they’d become parents. He’d wanted his children to know their mother, but she’d left them behind.
Now that she’d gone? She was out of all of their lives for good.
That meant everything was on his plate. No matter how much the load weighed him down, he had to keep everything balanced.
Leanne had thrown away her chance to prove she was ready for more responsibility. He refused to admit any guilt, but his whole world was fraying around the edges.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Chris.” The old nickname slipped out and he watched her shoulders slump. “You know my priority.” He backed out of the door and watched her turn away. He was going to escape the town’s scrutiny; Christina would have to face it, this time alone.
She’d made her choice. He understood her loyalty, but that loyalty had made it easy enough for Leanne to make bad decisions. He was doing the right thing.
Once he was back in the car, he called the latest in a string of women he’d dated in an attempt to find another wife. If he didn’t have permanent help and soon with the kids, he’d have to give up his job.
He’d had a strict list of requirements for the women he dated, since the only thing he never wanted to have happen again was to be lied to and abandoned. This teacher from Knoxville was prettier than he preferred, but she was quiet and sweet and so boring that he couldn’t imagine her being the subject of the kind of wild stories that circulated about Leanne or Christina.
She also hadn’t grown up in Sweetwater. At this point, that was her strongest selling point. Living with people who’d witnessed his biggest failure from the front row was hard enough. He didn’t want his children facing that memory at home every day.
He was planning to leave a message, but Lila answered. “Hello?”
“Hey, I figured you’d be teaching,” Brett said as he maneuvered the curvy road that led to the ranger station and the overlook.
“Free period,” Lila said before clearing her throat. “But I’m glad you called.”
“Well, I wanted to remind you that I’ll be in Nashville this week.” Brett studied the parking lots as he passed. Low occupancy currently, but the numbers would grow later in the day. “When I get back, I’d like you to come out and meet my kids.” He’d decided their conversations had gone well enough that it was time to move to the next step. After four false starts, he had a good feeling about Lila. He’d show his mother he was making progress, so that he could talk her into staying until school was out for the year. That was going to be stretching his persuasive abilities, but he didn’t think Lila would want to marry in the middle of the school year.
“About that.” Lila cleared her throat delicately. “I don’t think that’s a good plan.”
Brett pulled into his parking spot and turned off the engine. “Why not? I’d love to do it sooner, but—”
“I’m seeing someone else, Brett. You and me, the two of us together don’t work. We have no spark.” Lila sighed. “I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. What I don’t understand is why you seem to think it’s still a good thing.”
Brett thumped his head on the steering wheel and closed his eyes. Hysterical laughter was going to be the next step, but he’d fight it as long as he could.
“Are you still there?” she asked softly.
“Yep. No spark, huh?” He’d never tried to stir up a spark. He and Leanne had been nothing but sparks, down to fiery explosions. He didn’t want that anymore.
He wanted someone nurturing for his kids, someone who wouldn’t flake when a better offer came along or desert him when Riley pulled whatever stunt she was planning next.
And he wanted peace.
What was he going to do?
“Okay, well...” Brett picked up the bribe, the critical bag of pie from the diner. “Glad I made the call.”
“You’re a great guy. I know you’ll find the woman you deserve,” Lila said before she ended the call.
When he had a minute, he’d come up with a new plan. Right now, he had to go and make sure his boss didn’t fire him.
As he strode past the front desk, Macy Gentry, the woman who kept the ranger station operational while treating guests like VIPs, whistled. “He’s called twice looking for you.”
No doubt. Ash Kingfisher had a million different balls in the air as the supervisor for this ranger station. He didn’t need to be kept waiting.
Brett tapped on the boss’s door, and then entered, waving the white bag as a flag of surrender. “I brought pie.”
Ash grunted, and then pointed at the ratty seat across from him. “Thought cops were supposed to be about doughnuts.” They had this conversation at least once a week. Brett had started out as a cop in Knoxville. As a kid, he’d wanted nothing more than to get out of Sweetwater and the shadow of the nature reserve. As soon as Leanne had told him about their second baby on the way, he’d decided Sweetwater might be the only place that could save them.
In Knoxville, Leanne could get into too much trouble. In Sweetwater, any trouble she found would eventually make its way back to him. Unfortunately, that made it harder to love her.
“Doughnuts, pie, mainly pastries in general. We try not to discriminate.” Brett slid the second cup of coffee over and watched Ash tug the lid off and drink deep. He must have already had a full Monday, too.
“You all set for this management class?” Ash asked as he shuffled papers across his desk.
Brett grumbled. That was the best answer he could come up with. He’d been a ranger at the Smoky Valley Nature Reserve for more than five years. This promotion to senior law enforcement officer was nice, but it came with headaches he hadn’t anticipated. This step was required, though, so he’d get through it.
“Doesn’t matter. I’ve postponed the training as long as I can. Go, or...else.” Ash held out both hands. “Can’t change the rules for you, right?”
Brett understood that. Arguing about his personal situation or explaining how well he was already performing would accomplish nothing. “No, sir.”
“Before you go, I wanted to talk to you about this opportunity the chief ranger sent our way.” Ash pulled out a file folder. “State’s looking to set up regional law enforcement task forces focused on terrorist activities. I’m not sure how the nature reserve can be involved. I suspect the chief ranger is not certain, either. However, we both think you’re the best man for the job.” Ash leaned back in his chair and claimed one of the containers of pie.
Brett could understand their thinking. There was a good chance he’d worked with the other agencies involved in East Tennessee. After the day he’d had, all he wanted to do was put his head on the desk and rest. “I’d be happy to, sir. Whatever I can do for the reserve. You know that.”
Ash sighed as he took a bite of the pie. “Well, I figured you’d say that, so I already put your name in. It means monthly meetings in Knoxville.”
Brett finished off his coffee and wished for more. The pie was sweet, but only coffee would give him the kick he needed to go any further with this day.
“You look like a man who’s running on fumes, Hendrix.” Ash took another bite of pie. “Anything I need to know about?”
If Ash hadn’t already heard about his woes through the grapevine, Brett wouldn’t be the man to tell him.
“Nope, I’m going to stop by the office, make sure the patrols are set. Macy has all my contact info and I’ll have my cell.” Brett picked up his hat and stood.
“Keep me posted and thank you for your service.” Ash waved his empty container. “I learned that from a weeklong training session at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Officers Academy. See what an effective manager I became?”
“They do good work,” Brett said with a reluctant smile.
“Yes, they do. Make sure you get some sleep. I can’t have you napping in your car. Watch the speed limit on your way back down, and the stop signs here on the reserve mean full stops, not hesitations. Got it?”
Brett opened his mouth, but there was no answer to that, so he nodded.
“I see everything.” Ash dumped the plastic container into a garbage can.
“Recycle,” Macy yelled from her desk. Firmly.
“Eyes in the back of her head,” Ash muttered before cursing and fishing out the container.
“If that’s all you needed...” Brett stood next to the door, his hand on the knob as he plotted his next steps. He had to be in Nashville by three. He’d be cutting it close.
“Dismissed.” Ash nodded, and then added, “Hey, Hendrix, I know things right now are rough. If it gets to be too much, tell me.”