“Yep, we can be funny. It’s the criminals out there who tell everyone we have no sense of humor. But that’s just a lie; most lawyers I know are hilarious.”
Kara leaned back against the building wall and looked up at him. For a minute, silence fell between them, and Kara suddenly felt herself staring into his hooded, hazel-green eyes and realized she was licking her lips.
Tearing her gaze away, she forced herself to take a shaky step away from his suddenly overwhelming presence. She liked him, she realized. No, correct that—she didn’t just like him. She was attracted to him. Although she had sworn off men forever after being so badly burned in her last relationship, she was now drawn to a man she barely knew.
Taking another small, shuffling side step away from him, Kara took a deep, steadying breath. “I have to go now,” she said, ducking her head and looking over at her truck. “I just wanted to drop off the planter and make sure it fit where you wanted to put it. Remember what I said about not overwatering it and, please, call the garden center if you have any questions. We’re always happy to help,” she added, carefully keeping her tone brisk, pleasant, and professional.
“Did I pay you for it?” asked Scott, letting a hand hover between them to stop her from leaving. He frowned and tried to remember if they had finished his credit card transaction before racing to get Maeve to the hospital. “And how is Maeve? Where is she? Did they release her from the hospital yet?”
Kara’s heart gave a happy little skip as she realized this gorgeous man was interested in her daughter’s health. She looked up at him and smiled. “She’s fine. Really, fine. She had a nap over the lunch hour, and now it’s like nothing happened to her. She’s completely back to being her rambunctious, giggly little self.”
“Well, that’s great news.”
Kara nodded. “It is. And the planter’s a gift to you from both of us. I had already run your credit card through, but I asked my staff to reverse the charge. The planter is just a small thank-you for driving us to the hospital and staying with us until Mark and Mary got there.” Her brow furrowed as she looked over at him. “I barely know you, and yet you helped me out in one of the scariest moments of my life. I just wanted to say thank you and let you know how much I appreciate what you did.”
“But Maeve’s okay?” Scott asked her again, his eyes bright with concern.
Kara nodded. “She’s fine. When I left her with Mary, she was chattering away. I’m actually surprised something like this hasn’t happened sooner. She’s super active most days but, until now, she’s been fine sleeping in the back room of the garden center.”
“It’s nice that she can be there with you.”
“It is, but you can bet I won’t let her sleep on that couch alone again until she’s at least thirty-five. I swear I aged ten years this morning.”
Scott heard the guilt in Kara’s tone and took a step toward her. “It happens all the time—kids get hurt and accidents happen. You can’t prevent everything, even though I’m sure you want to. And Maeve wasn’t badly hurt; you shouldn’t blame yourself.”
Kara’s heart swelled in gratitude at his attempt to reassure her. “Well, from now on I’ve got Rachel, my teenage employee, coming in extra early to keep an eye on her. No matter how fast asleep Maeve seems, there’s always going to be someone watching her now. I’m going to make sure nothing like this ever happens again,” Kara said firmly, crossing her arms.
Scott nodded. “I don’t have children or any family,” he said. “But I can imagine how precious she must be to you. I’m glad she’s okay.”
“You don’t have a family?” Kara asked curiously.
Scott shook his head. “Nope, I was an only child and my parents both passed on a few years ago. They didn’t have much family, either, or, at least, not any that was interested in keeping in touch, so that leaves just me.”
Kara frowned. She’d lost her mother at a young age, but she’d always had her brother and Mary as well as a whole town full of friends. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to be as alone as he claimed to be.
Looking up at Scott, she saw he had seen her look of pity. He put up both his hands in mock defense and laughed. “Now, don’t start looking at me like that. I’ve been alone my whole life, and I like it that way. Courtney, my law partner here, seems to think I need more family and friends too, but I’ve tried that and found out I don’t. I’m fine on my own.”
Ouch.
Kara took another step back and frowned as she looked up at him. Everyone needed family and people to belong to, didn’t they? To think of living any other way seemed too lonely a life to even be considered as far as she was concerned. Kara opened her mouth to tell him this, then paused and shut it firmly. Who was she to question a man’s idea of how to best live his life? Just because she was happy living with friends and family around her didn’t mean everyone else had to be.
“Well,” Kara said, shrugging, “I’m glad you’ve found a way of doing things that works for you. If you’re happy with the planter, then I’ll just say goodbye now and be on my way.”
Scott nodded. “Thank you again for the planter and for delivering it too.”
“Happy to. And thanks again for your help this morning,” replied Kara. After a quick second look at the planter and another nod of approval, she turned and ran to her truck. Biting her bottom lip, she took a peek back as she got inside and saw Scott was still standing outside his office, watching her leave. For an instant, she considered waving, but instead she drove away, stubbornly ignoring the dance of desire seeing Scott had created in her stomach.
Chapter Four
Kara loved her weekly girls’ night out at Sullivan’s Place. Larkin Bay’s eclectically decorated Irish pub served not only a wide variety of draft beers and assorted cocktails but also great appetizers and a family-friendly menu of dinner options. It also had the added appeal of being owned by Kara’s brother, Mark Sullivan.
Sitting at a round wooden table at the far side of the pub, Kara leaned in to better hear what Jaycee, owner of the town bakery, was saying over the chatter from the surrounding tables. Kara was careful to arrange her facial expression so it appeared that she wasn’t overly interested in what was being shared, or at least not as interested as she really was now that her friend was discussing Scott Davidson.
“It’s sad. Courtney says he’s a great guy, and he’s definitely good-looking,” Jaycee said. She flipped her shiny hair back and moved her chair closer to the table. “She says she’s known him since their first day of law school. He went and got a law degree after everything in his baseball world fell apart. Supposedly, he’s not only really bright, but nice too.”
Amanda, a friend of Kara’s since elementary school, rolled her eyes. “Huh. Is he a unicorn underneath those tight 501s and Brooks Brothers button-down shirts, then? He sounds too good to be true.”
The women all laughed.
“Maybe.” Jaycee giggled. Looking around to see who might be in hearing range, she leaned toward the center of the table. Kara joined the rest of the group in shifting closer to hear better. “But there’s a sad part too. His parents were killed in a boating accident a few years back and the girl he was engaged to marry just up and left him about a month before they were supposed to go to the altar.”
“Really? That’s awful! Poor guy.”
Jaycee lowered her voice and nodded. “I know. Can you believe it? It’s terrible. I mean, who would accept a proposal and then dump a guy like that?” Jaycee stopped for a minute and thought about her rhetorical question. “I guess if you knew it was really the wrong thing to do, then backing out could make sense, but gosh, doesn’t a gal know that before it gets that far? I heard from Courtney that the woman broke his heart.”
Kara sighed quietly. Scott was another casualty of love. Poor guy. He seemed too nice to have it happen to him too.
“Well,” Amanda chimed in, “I heard it was even worse than that. I heard she ditched him right after he had the surgery that ended his career.”
Kara looked up from her drink in surprise. Seeing her confusion, Amanda elaborated. “Yep, didn’t you know? Scott Davidson is the Scott Davidson. The pitcher? You know, the up-and-coming rookie who threw his arm out in his first season in the majors a few years ago? He was supposed to be the next Cy Young winner, and then he blew his elbow out. He underwent Tommy John surgery—but somehow the doctor messed up the procedure. I heard he was still in recovery when his so-called loving fiancée found out he wasn’t ever going to pitch again or be a big hotshot baseball star any longer. She dumped him while he was still in the hospital recovering. I read it was awful, that he was all alone and she was horrible to him.”
“No, that can’t be true. He’s so nice! And even if he isn’t, how could anyone treat someone that way?” Kara asked, her eyes wide in shock. “That’s diabolical.”
The other women around the table all turned to look at Kara, who blushed when she saw their appraising looks.
“Nice?” Jaycee asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve only sold him a few things at the bakery, but I really haven’t talked to him yet. Is he nice? How do you know? What aren’t you sharing?” she asked with a teasing smile.
Kara blushed. “Nothing. He was just at the garden center a few days ago when Maeve fell and needed to go to the hospital for stitches—she’s fine now,” she added quickly as the other ladies interrupted her story with concerned questions about what had happened. “It was pretty minor, but I freaked out a bit—you should’ve seen all the blood. I didn’t know head wounds bled that much!”
Amanda nodded. “They do. Remember back in high school when Danny fell on the bleachers at the football game senior year?”
“Not now, Amanda,” interrupted Jaycee, rolling her eyes. “He’d just drank too much vodka—it’s a totally different thing. Carry on, Kara.”
Kara shot Amanda an apologetic look. “Yeah, well. Scott was at the garden center when it happened, and he drove us to the hospital so Maeve could get stitches. He stayed with us, too, until Mark got there. I was freaking out, but he was so calm. Down-to-earth and sweet, even. I never knew he was a famous baseball pitcher or anything, though.”
“But Maeve’s okay?” asked Amanda, reaching out and grabbing Kara’s hand. “And why didn’t you call and tell me? I would have driven you both to the hospital and stayed with you.”
Kara waved away her friend’s concern. “Maeve’s fine. I just totally lost it, and Scott kind of took over. I barely had time to register what was happening before he had Maeve bundled up in his car and we were on our way to the ER.”
Jaycee shook her head and frowned over at Kara. “And why are we just hearing about this now? You know we’re here for you if anything ever happens to Maeve, right?”
Kara waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Sure, and vice versa. But Scott called Mark, and Mary found out what had happened from Sasha, who was working in the ER that morning, and then Mary showed up at the hospital, and, well, you know how she is. She just took over everything from there.”
The other women nodded. Mary had mothered all of them at various points in their lives.
“Well, as long as Maeve’s okay. You know you can call us if you ever need help, though,” Amanda scolded.
