Stef Ann Holm (26 page)

Drew almost couldn’t speak. “Well, I’m the one.” His throat clogged. “I am your dad, Mackenzie, and you’re my little girl.”

She began to sob, her shoulders shaking from the effort not to lose control, but it was too late. She buried her face in her hands, crying hard and standing there as if she was going to break.

He made a decision. He brought her close, enveloped her in his arms and held tight. She didn’t try and get away.

Mackenzie cried and cried. And he realized he was crying, too.

His nose tucked into her hair, that Mackenzie scent that was unique to her alone. There’d been moments in his life that were priceless to him, but he would trade them all for this one. Seventeen years had been a long time to reach this point.

Whispering against the strands, he dared to say, “Mackenzie, I love you.”

For long seconds, she didn’t reply. Then, with her wet cheek sticking to his shirtfront, she said, “I forgive you, Daddy.”

A
s the summer wound down and fall approached, the stores on Main Street advertised back-to-school clothes. On Overlook Dam, Labor Day was the final blow-out for docking and good times, the last call on coolers of beer, football, wakeboarding and gossip served up in warm weather.

Lucy lay out on the bow of Drew’s boat, face and body toward the gloriously warm sun. Eyes closed, she listened to water lapping against the hull, the laughter of children, Lloyd as he went on and on about who was constructing a gigantic house in the Knolls, the purr of outboard motors as they cut through the lake, the wet-rubber squeak of a blowup seal that Lloyd’s fly-swatting grandson was trying to stay afloat on.

The various sounds were that of life in Red Duck, Idaho. The flotsam chatter of a resort community heading back to normal after a full summer season.

Lucy was actually looking forward to the population thinning back down, even though that meant she’d lose some customers when they returned home. She’d gained several year-rounders over the last month, and her day planner was full enough that she’d started breathing easier.

“What are you thinking, sugar?” Drew asked, his voice close to her ear.

Lucy opened her eyes, shading them against the blinding sun. Drew crouched beside her, his hair damp and his upper body glistening with water. He’d been swimming with Mackenzie, and water dripped off his body, spilling onto the terry cloth of her towel. She was roasting and the cool droplets felt good on her heated skin.

“Hmm,” she responded, noncommittal. Earlier, she had been thinking about him. Fantasizing. She’d been watching him before lying down, eyes fastened on the way his back muscles bunched up and smoothed as he moved to tighten the cleat ropes, as he pitched a baseball to the boys and when his arm lifted to run a hand through his hair. She’d caught herself staring at his thighs, the strength and sinewy cords of hard definition in them.

His face had strong features. His thick, dark brown hair was made for a woman to sift her fingers through. His hazel eyes were a combination of golden flecks and olive-green…. Whenever he looked at her, she caught herself going from zero to lust in all of a few seconds.

Until today, she’d never noticed that he had creases at the corners of his eyes when he smiled. His face was tan, his mouth wide and his smile white.

“That’s not an answer,” he replied, his voice whiskey soft and filled with a drawl that was to die for.

When he touched her naked shoulder, she was shocked by the sensations that rocked through her body, the blood that rushed to all sorts of places that had been calm just a second ago.

She lied and said with a carefree tone, “I’m not thinking about much of anything. But that water dripping off you feels real good on me. It’s hot.”

“You’re hot.”

Laughter rose from her throat before she could stop it.

His hand cupped the curve of her shoulder, slid down her arm, and his flat palm laid on top of hers.

The atmosphere between them became charged and reckless. Lucy wanted to fill the silence, utter something witty and fun, but the words wouldn’t form.

She’d never been a flirt, but she found herself taking chances, saying and doing things around Drew she hadn’t done around other men. Through the years since her divorce, no man had ever interested her to the point of distraction.

Drew distracted her, made her crazy-nuts with carnal thoughts of ripping his clothes off. Resisting temptation had been a increasingly hard to do these past few days.

Something had been building between them, dangerous and exciting.

The hard calluses on his fingers were a stark contrast to her own soft hands. With a will of their own, her fingers curled into his and cinched tight.

His shadow fell over her bikini-clad body, the pungent scent of musk and man filling her senses. She wanted to bury her hands in that hair of his, and would have if nobody had been around. She had to get hold of herself.

“Want to go swimming?” he asked innocently.

“Yes, I think I better cool off!” She let go of his fingers.

Drew held out his hand for her, but she didn’t dare take it. She practically flew off the boat and dived into the chilly water.

The shock of icy-cold after the blistering heat did her traitorous body good, muting the groan that had gotten stuck in her throat. She needed a bracing swim to clear her thinking.

She swam around the floating dock to where her boys were.

Mackenzie and Jason stood at the edge, Mackenzie wearing a string bikini and looking adorable. “Ya’ll want to go wakeboarding?”

Matt was with them. “Can you do it goofy-foot?”

“What’s that?”

“You put your other foot in front—the one that feels funny,” Jason explained.

“How do ya’ll know what that is?”

Jason stood in front of Mackenzie, put his arms out without touching her. “Okay—do this. Fall forward like you’re going to go flat on your face. Don’t worry, you won’t. If you do, I’ll catch you.”

Mackenzie giggled. “I don’t know about this.” She smiled, leaned toward Jason, then her left foot came out in front of her so she wouldn’t fall.

Matt said, “Your right foot is your goofy foot. So if you wakeboard goofy, you gotta put your right foot in front.”

The kids went to round up Drew to ask him if he’d take them all out. He got Dave Lawrence to ride along as flagger.

As Lucy pulled herself out of the water using the stair handles, she watched Drew and Mackenzie. The two seemed to have synchronized moves, a testament to their father-daughter relationship. Jason and Matt sat on the back leather seat, and Matt waved to her as Drew fired up the loud motor.

Drew had a camera with him. He took a random snap of the kids on his boat, then aimed toward her. She gave him a roll of her eyes, a parade queen wave and shake of her head. He’d been taking a lot of pictures lately. He said seeing Roger Lewis on his mantel wasn’t exactly the way he liked to start his morning. He’d admitted to getting used to all the personal touches, though. He wanted current photos of family who meant something to him. Already, many of him and Mackenzie were placed throughout the house.

As Drew motored away from the dock, the sight was one that Lucy wouldn’t soon forget. Drew and his daughter. Mackenzie elbowing him when he was sifting through CDs to play and she didn’t like his selection. Lucy’s two boys checking out the high-tech wakeboard. Smiling. Happy. Innocent.

There was no other way to define it: Contentment in the purest form.

Mackenzie was leaving on Wednesday morning, and school started that coming Monday for Jason.

This summer had probably been the best of his life. It hadn’t started out good at all. Him being hacked off at his mom for making him move up here. But he’d figured out that Red Duck wasn’t all that bad. In fact, he kind of thought it was rad now.

He missed Brian and the guys, but he’d made a couple of new friends here. Nutter was a dumb-ass, but he was the funniest guy he knew. Ryan and Brownie were fun to hang out with. His boss at Woolly’s wasn’t too bad, but he’d quit that now that he was going to start school. His mom wanted him to focus on getting better grades this year. He was gonna try.

One thing that he decided not to change was taking food to the Sunrise. Jason hadn’t seen that one coming. He liked it over there. He’d gotten used to the old people, liked a guy named Beansie. He was an old cowboy and he told Jason cattle drive stories.

His mom had said they could go car shopping this week
and
get him a cell phone. Badass! He was getting another truck he could fix up. He couldn’t wait.

They’d packed up everything from the dock, and Drew’s boat was back on the trailer hitch. Everyone stood around in the ramp parking lot, saying, “See you next year,” even though they’d still see each other in town. Funny how this place was like one big family.

At first, Jason hadn’t liked that about Red Duck. But now he though it was neat that people cared about each other. Even that gorilla-hairy guy who talked so much—Lloyd. He’d brought a plastic grocery bag filled with garden tomatoes to the Sunrise just because he had extras. And Opal, she was real nice to Ada, the dog groomer. Spin was funny when she’d sometimes swear. Jacquie was okay, too. She’d been hanging out at the Sunrise a lot. At first, he hadn’t liked her, but he’d seen her with Spin, and Spin was real happy to have the company.

As Drew and some of the dads got talking, Jason went up to Mackenzie, who stood by the Hummer.

“So…hey,” Jason muttered, unable to really think of anything good to say. He wanted to give her a hug goodbye, but there were people around and he was self-conscious.

“Hey,” she replied, smiling back at him.

She had the best smile ever. And he could listen to her talk for hours.

“So what are you gonna do when you get home?”

“I’m going to take a semester off before going to college. Me and my dad are going to take some trips together and get to know each other better.” The pink sunglasses she wore covered her eyes. He wanted to look into them in the worst way. “He wants to take me to California. I’ve never been. We’re going to Disneyland.” Her smile was perfect, just like a chewing gum commercial. “I’m going to college in January. I told him I would. That’s what my momma wanted.”

“What are you going to be?”

“I don’t rightly know yet. Maybe a photographer.”

“You’d be good at it.”

She laughed. “I don’t know about that. I’ve only been messing around with my dad’s camera. It’s fun to doctor the pictures up on the computer.”

Jason looked at his feet, the chunky rubber sandals and his big toes. He felt awkward and clumsy. Lifting his chin, he said, “Well, I liked hanging out with you this summer.”

“I liked it, too. We should call each other sometime.”

“Yeah. I think that would be cool.”

“Or e-mail.”

“We’re getting the Internet. My mom figured out the house can be wired for it.”

Mackenzie slipped her glasses off her nose. She stood barefoot, her feet perfect and toenails painted pink. He tried to put her out of his head because he knew that they probably would stay in touch for a while, then stop.

Sixteen and seventeen might have only been a year apart, but she was out of high school now, while he had two more years of tardy bells and morning announcements. He’d been held back in the first grade for being a slow reader, so he was just a junior.

“Thanks for taking me around. I liked watching you play ball. Too bad you guys didn’t go to the playoffs.” She sounded genuinely sorry.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t really into it that much this year, anyway.”

“I think I’ll get on a college softball team.”

“That’d be good.”

Jason felt as if all his muscles were too tight for his bones. This was effin’ awkward. All of a sudden, he was shy around her and was struggling with what to say. It sucked.

“Well…” She looked over her shoulder at Drew, who was headed toward the Hummer. “It looks like we’re leaving.”

“Yeah.”

“It was nice meeting you, Jason.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll call. You have my number.”

“Yeah.”

She grinned, then gave him a hug he wasn’t prepared for. Into his ear, she whispered, “I’ll bet all the girls are going to have a mad crush on you.”

Then she pulled back, waved and went around to her side of the SUV.

Jason watched her drive away, and he kept a stupid slap-happy grin on his face.

Oh yeah. She thinks I’m a stud.

He and Mackenzie Taylor weren’t destined to be boy- and girlfriend, but she sure knew how to make a guy feel like he could get any girl he wanted.

The Hailey Airport, small as it was, didn’t allow anyone, not even if your name was Hemingway, to wait with passengers beyond the security checkpoint.

Mackenzie stood next to Drew, her backpack over her shoulder. He felt strangely nervous. Part of him wished she never had to leave; part of him knew that she had a life in Florida.

About a dozen passengers waited to board her outbound flight. He could see her gate through the security area. She had about five minutes left and then she’d have to go through.

“So you’ll call me when you get to Salt Lake to change planes.” His voice sounded unintentionally clipped.

“I said I would. Don’t worry. I know how to change planes all by myself.” Brows raised, she gave him a placating smile, one filled with light teasing that warmed him to the core.

“I know, sugar. I just want to make sure.” Drew shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Earlier, he’d given her some cash so she’d have plenty of money to buy something to eat in the airport. He’d even bought a
Seventeen
magazine for her when she was in the ladies’ room. She’d looked at him as if he was silly, but she’d taken it and given him a hug.

“So you’re all set?” he asked.

“All set.” She patted her backpack. “I’ve got the money and the magazine, I have my iPod and my journal inside.”

“You going to write something on the plane?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”
Ah don’t know.

“About me?”

She grinned. “Maybe.”

“Well,” he said, not understanding why he was suddenly so self-conscious about letting her go. Maybe a part of him worried she’d never come back. That her trip had been a fluke, a one-time deal. Something not to be repeated. But they’d made plans and he was sure she wanted to head out to Disneyland and do some other things with him.

Just the same…

He reiterated, “So, Disneyland this fall.”

“Count on it.”

“Great. And maybe some camping in the spring. I’ve got a tent. It’s been awhile since I used it, but I have all the gear. We could take the boat up, find a good spot.”

“That would be fun.”

“Cool. Good.”

She laughed. “I’m coming back. I promise.”

He nodded, his throat feeling dry, and he licked his lips. Over the PA speakers, flight attendants made an announcement that Mackenzie’s flight was ready to board.