He missed his daughter.
Graham was a big sap, and even one more hour without Mattie felt like a year. Pathetic would be a good word to describe him right now. Even though Mattie was likely having a ton more fun with Lucy at dance and now going to get ice cream, he wanted her here. He wanted to look across his desk and see her at the credenza in the corner where she kept her art supplies and liked to color. He was selfish, that was what he was.
And he was getting nothing done.
With time to himself, his workload should be dwindling. But since Lucy and Mattie had left, he’d only dealt with a few charts and organized his pens. Who didn’t want to claim an accomplishment like that for their Saturday?
He wanted to ask Mattie about class. Sure, he’d got some answers from Lucy, but he wanted to hear from his daughter.
Graham checked his watch. Lucy had texted only a few minutes ago that they were going for ice cream. He could go meet them. But that would be overprotective of him. Which he wasn’t. He was more...curious. Another good word.
He grabbed his keys.
If he happened to be at the same place as them, nobody could fault him for that. And Graham knew just where his daughter would want to go.
* * *
Lucy judged the ice cream places in town by the level of excitement coming from the backseat. Clear River, a red storefront that boasted bakery, ice cream and deli signs, garnered the most response, so Lucy found a parking spot, and she and Mattie walked the short distance. If the smell of sugar and cinnamon that greeted them when Lucy opened the door was any indication, Mattie had impeccable taste.
Red booths with white tables lined the space, and a curved glass display case held mouthwatering treats with the menu hanging behind. When it was their turn to order, Mattie still hadn’t decided which flavor to choose, so Lucy ordered first.
“I’ll have a double-scoop cone. Chocolate peanut butter cup, strawberry cheesecake and... Let’s make that a triple. One scoop of caramel turtle fudge, too.”
She felt a tug on her arm. “Can I have that many scoops?”
Lucy imagined her answer should be no, but she didn’t know why. “Go for it.”
Mattie told Lucy the flavors she wanted and Lucy conveyed the order to the person behind the counter. She paid and they scanned the place for a seat. Once they grabbed a booth and slid in, Lucy tasted her ice cream.
“Mattie, why didn’t you tell me this ice cream was amazing?”
The girl’s small shoulders lifted. “I kind of did.” She gave a shy smile and took a lick of chocolate.
True. She had squealed.
Lucy had thought no one could top Josh & John’s—her favorite Colorado Springs ice cream—but she might be wrong. She’d probably need to return to Clear River and taste all of their homemade ice cream before she could make a truly informed decision.
Mattie pointed toward the front windows. “Daddy!”
Lucy turned to see Graham stepping inside the restaurant. He spotted them and headed in their direction.
“How’s my girl?” He slid into the booth next to Mattie, and she threw herself into his arms. For a second, Lucy had thought he’d said girls, as in plural. And for a moment, her heart had leaped.
Strange.
“You have some kind of tracking device on me?” Lucy patted down her arms.
“Ha. No. I knew where Mattie would want to go for ice cream and I just—” He shrugged, then kissed the top of Mattie’s head, accepting a bite of her ice cream.
Oh. He hadn’t been checking up on her. He’d missed his daughter. A forgivable trait.
“You just wanted some ice cream?”
“Something like that.” Graham’s answering grin absolutely did not make Lucy’s knees the consistency of Jell-O. She must just be out of shape or something. It had been a few weeks since she’d taught dance. “But it’s almost lunchtime. Shouldn’t we be eating lunch?” He glanced at Mattie’s cone, then back at Lucy. “Instead of a triple-scoop cone?” His voice had lowered to a growl. And that was why she should have said no. “She’s five.” He raised an eyebrow at Lucy.
“They didn’t have a quintuple scoop.”
He groaned. “You can’t have ice cream for lunch.”
“Um, whyever not?” Lucy finished the caramel turtle fudge and moved on to the strawberry cheesecake. Oh. My. If she could marry this ice cream, she would. “Haven’t you ever had dessert for a meal?”
Graham’s head tilted. “No. Can’t say that I have.”
“We’re going to have to change that.” Lucy winked at Mattie.
“I’m going to get us something to eat.” Graham pushed out from the booth. “Mattie, you’re going to get a stomachache if you only eat that.”
Mattie just smiled and took another lick of her cone.
Graham ordered at the counter, returning a few minutes later. When their food arrived, Lucy accepted the sandwich he’d ordered for her, digging in. Her first bite was absolutely to die for. She swallowed, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “What in the world is this sandwich? It’s amazing.”
“Smoked beef brisket on a jalapeño bun. They make their own sauce for it.”
“What if I was a vegetarian?” She took another bite.
“I’ve seen you eat at work.”
“True. You’re forgiven for making us eat lunch. This is really good.”
“Thank you.” Graham’s dry response made her tamp down a smile. He handed Mattie an extra dish. “Here, honey. You can put the rest of your cone in this while you eat some lunch.”
Mattie acquiesced, moving on to her sandwich while Lucy dug into her purse and found some cash. “Here.” She held the money out. “Will this cover it?”
“Cover what?”
“Lunch.” She waved the bills at him.
“I bought lunch, Lucy. I don’t want your money.”
“But you don’t need to pay for mine.” Again, she attempted to get him to take the money.
“Anyone ever tell you that being unable to accept help or gifts from others is not a good quality?”
Ouch. Lucy lowered her hand. If anyone had ever said that to her, she hadn’t listened. “Fine.” She shoved the bills back into her purse. “Be noble.”
His lips twitched. “Besides, I see that Mattie’s in dance clothes, which had to come from somewhere. I assume you paid for those. Now I owe you money.”
“We found some pieces in the giveaway box.”
“And the other ones Lucy bought for me.”
“Ms. Lucy,” he corrected his daughter, shooting Lucy an accusing look. “And that’s interesting information, Mattie.”
“Does she really have to call me Ms. Lucy? It’s so old lady.”
“Old lady would be Ms. Grayson.”
“Oy. Fine. Mattie, you’re welcome to call me Lucy when your father’s not around.”
Mattie giggled, and Graham shook his head while swallowing a bite of his sandwich. “You really don’t have a mature button, do you?”
“I hope not.”
“Look, Daddy.” Mattie leaned across Graham and pointed. “It’s Grandma and Grandpa!”
A couple approached the booth, both looking as though they should be going to a business meeting instead of out for lunch. Mattie’s grandmother was dressed in black dress pants and a yellow shirt, her perfectly styled brown hair shining, and her grandfather wore charcoal-gray pants and a white polo.
Mattie scrambled over Graham’s lap to get out of the booth. She wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s legs. The woman’s hair stayed in place as she hugged Mattie back. “Honey, it’s so good to see you.”
She looked at their booth, gaze resting on Lucy, then Graham. “This looks cozy.”
Cozy. Interesting word choice. But it wasn’t so much what she’d said as the way she’d said it. Lucy rubbed her bare arms. She hadn’t realized the temperature in Texas could drop so fast.
“Hi, Grandpa.” Mattie hugged him, also, and he visibly softened. “Do you know Ms. Lucy?” Mattie’s bubbling excitement regarding Lucy didn’t transfer to her grandparents. Two wary pairs of eyes swung in her direction. And stayed. They didn’t miss a thing, traveling from her messy bun to her bright green high-tops. She must look about twelve. Maybe fifteen on a good day. Perhaps Mattie’s grandparents would think she was the babysitter.
Graham made introductions, and Lucy received some polite nods from the couple, Belinda and Phillip Welling. Could their last name sound more regal? It definitely fit them. The name also meant they were Graham’s late wife’s parents, not his parents. That realization and the fact that they were looking at her as if she’d stolen their granddaughter made Lucy want to slide off her seat and hide under the table. Maybe Graham had called them this morning instead of the police. At least that would explain their tense faces.
Enough of this. Lucy could handle almost anything, these two included. “I’m Mattie’s dance teacher.”
“Mattie takes dance?” The woman’s eyes widened before landing on Graham with accusation.
“She just started this morning,” Graham answered. “Lucy’s working at the clinic, covering for Hollie while she’s on maternity leave.”
This seemed to placate them somewhat. Perhaps the temporary nature of the position pleased them. Lucy wouldn’t call them rude. They weren’t even antisocial. There was just something about the way they looked at her. They almost seemed...hurt.
Lucy could totally go for a hole in the ground right about now. But a better option would be to simply leave them to their family affair. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t finished her lunch. Her stomach had suddenly turned. Maybe from eating dessert first.
Or something like that.
“It was great meeting you.” Lucy pasted on her brightest smile and stood. “I’m going to take off.”
“Are you sure? You’re welcome to stay.” Though he said the right thing, Graham’s uncomfortable body language didn’t support his words. He looked as though he wanted to hide in the same hole as Lucy. Only that would make them far too close for his comfort, she was sure.
He certainly wasn’t confronting his in-laws about the way they were acting toward her. Not that she expected him to. After all, she was just the help.
Lucy would love to stay and keep feeling like a piece of gum stuck under someone’s shoe, but she really did have to go.
She offered Mattie a fist bump. “You did great this morning.” Mattie beamed, then switched to a pout with impressive speed.
“You’re leaving? But Daddy’s here and we’re not done with lunch. Don’t you want to stay?”
Her innocent question caused the tension in their small circle to triple.
“Actually, I’ve got to run. Graham, I’ll leave Mattie’s car seat by your car.” No one would steal it in this town, would they? And with that, she bolted for the door. Once outside, she struggled for calm, but even the quaint Main Street didn’t lighten her mood.
Lucy really needed to shake off that encounter. She knew better than to let other people’s opinions affect her.
Back in high school when she’d overheard that horrible conversation that had reduced her to a pawn in a game, she’d instantly felt like a body—a shell—and nothing more.
She hated that she’d given Nate the power to impact how she felt. That was why ever since then she’d stuck to being carefree, to loving everyone without loving someone in particular. Because when things got serious, when she let herself get too involved, it gave far too much control to someone else. The encounter with the Wellings just now had brought back all of that turmoil. They’d treated her like an item that had outlived its shelf life and no longer belonged anywhere.
Lucy hadn’t felt that unwanted in a long, long time.
And she’d do just about anything to avoid that feeling.
* * *
Graham felt as though he’d walked into a freezer. The way his in-laws were looking at him made him feel about two feet tall. What was going on? He’d always had a good relationship with the Wellings, so this scenario didn’t make sense. They had to be upset about something.
He handed Mattie his phone, and she began playing a game while he stood and faced the couple. “Belinda. Phillip. What’s wrong?”
“Are you...?” Belinda studied her perfectly manicured nails, then looked up, tears pooling. “Are you dating that woman?”
“Lucy?” Graham glanced from one wounded face to another. That was what was bothering them? “No. I’m not. Why would you think that?”
Belinda looked out the front windows to where Lucy had recently disappeared. “When we saw the three of you together, it just looked...” She trailed off and shrugged.
Somehow catching up with Lucy and Mattie after dance class amounted to him being in a relationship. Perfect.
“You already heard Lucy works for me. She took Mattie to dance class this morning and then I met up with them afterward. It was nothing more than that.”
“How well do you know her?” Phillip’s brow furrowed. “If she’s spending time with Mattie, I assume you’ve checked her out?”
“Did I run a police report? No.” Graham stifled his irritation at their unwarranted intrusion. “She’s fine. Her sister is married to Cash Maddox.” Though the Wellings were sometimes overprotective—even more than Graham—this conversation didn’t need to continue. His in-laws should trust him.
Belinda touched his arm. “Be careful, Graham.”
Of what?
“You wouldn’t want to confuse Mattie or fill her mind with ideas.”
In the past five days, he’d been closer to losing his temper than he had in years. “Trust me, I’m not planning to date. Anyone.”
His in-laws nodded, and while their tension lessened, Graham’s grew. “Would you...?” He forced out the words. “Would you like to join us for lunch?” It was the right thing to say, but it came out wooden.
“Thank you for the invitation,” Phillip responded, “but we don’t have time. We’re grabbing something to go since we’re meeting with the foundation lawyers today.”
The foundation. A charity started in Brooke’s honor that raised money for cystic fibrosis research. One that always reminded Graham that he’d failed his wife. He knew it was for the best of causes, yet he’d never been able to help his in-laws with it when they asked. He attended only one charity function per year, and even that was a push.
The Wellings didn’t understand why he wouldn’t be a part of something that honored Brooke, why he wouldn’t accept a position on the board. It had been the one point of contention between them. Until today. Now he could add Lucy to the list. Though that thought was absolutely absurd.
They said goodbyes, and Graham fought the annoyance churning in his gut.
Why did he feel so frustrated? The Wellings had only questioned him about dating—something he didn’t have any interest in. So why did their interference bother him so much?
Graham slid back into the booth and Mattie put the phone down on the table.
“What was that about, Daddy?”
“How much did you hear?”
“Just Grandpa and Grandma asking if you were dating Ms. Lucy.” Mattie munched on a chip, studying him with those inquisitive little eyes. “Are you ever going to marry someone, Dad?”
Graham had just taken a bite, and it lodged in his throat. He coughed, then took a drink of water. “I loved your mom so much, I really can’t imagine that, honey. She was my best friend.”
“Like me and Carissa?”
The image of Mattie and her best friend, Carissa, playing together made him smile. “Something like that.”
“Only you kissed Mommy.”
Good thing he hadn’t taken another bite. He reached for his water again. “Right. When you’re married, you get to kiss your spouse.”
That seemed to satisfy her. Mattie went back to eating and playing her game, and Graham sorted through the day’s events. Compared to their normal, peaceful existence, today had been rather crazy. And it wasn’t even noon.
It seemed Lucy had that effect on their life.
The way she’d looked at the office this morning when she’d been ornery with him came flooding back. She did this thing when she was upset, though he doubted she realized it. She pressed her lips together, almost as if she was stemming whatever she really wanted to say from coming out. From what he’d learned about her, his assumption probably wasn’t far off.
“Are you thinking about Mommy?”
Graham stole a chip off of Mattie’s plate. “Why?”
“’Cause you’re smiling.”
“I was?”
Mattie nodded. Graham swallowed. “If I was smiling, then I was definitely thinking about Mommy.”
At least, he should have been.