Single Dads Collection. Lynne Marshall

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СКАЧАТЬ laughed. “I’d rather pay for my food.” He rubbed his jaw. “You have a mean hook.”

      Gray eyed the side of Noah’s face and Noah was confident there was a bruise because he knew it was swollen. “How about some ice?”

      “I’ll take care of it when I get home.” Noah took a seat on the stool and rested his elbows on the bar. “Care to tell me what set you off, other than that guy was a jerk?”

      The muscle in Gray’s jaw ticked. “I saw his hands moving toward the hem of her skirt and she shoved him. Then he grabbed her and hauled her against him and I lost it.”

      “Before you lost it, was she aware how you feel about her?”

      Gray laughed and shook his head. “We have a history.”

      “Were you married?”

      “Hell no,” Gray declared. “We’ve been best friends since high school. Lucy, Tara, Kate and me. We grew apart when I went off to the Army, but since I’ve been back, we’ve reconnected. They come in here pretty often, but Tara and Lucy don’t push my buttons the way Kate does. It’s like she knows exactly how to irritate me.”

      Noah figured he may as well eat while his food was somewhat still warm. “She’s taunting you,” he stated as he picked up his burger. “None of my business. Just offering my unsolicited opinion.”

      He took a bite and nearly groaned. This was the best burger he’d ever had. No wonder the place was so popular.

      “Oh, she’s taunting me, all right.” A waitress came to the bar with an order and Gray grabbed two frosted mugs and filled them with beer before passing them over. “She knows how I feel and it’s like she thrives on it.”

      “Have you dated other women?” Noah asked. “I mean, maybe you should and see if that helps you get over her or makes her realize that she likes you.”

      Gray raked a hand through his hair. “I’m the bar owner. I give advice and opinions to my customers. Not the other way around.”

      “Yeah, well, I’m sure you’ll get your chance with me,” Noah replied as he picked up a chip. “I’m the new guy in town and I’m sure you’ve heard all about my life.”

      “Heard you had a tough time in Texas. Sorry about your loss, man.”

      Noah nodded. “Thanks. It’s hell trying to move on, but there’s little choice when you have a child looking to you for guidance and stability.”

      “We all carry our own hell,” Gray muttered as he glanced to the guy at the end of the bar.

      “What’s his story?” Noah asked.

      Keeping his eyes on the guy toying with his beer bottle, Gray replied, “That’s Sam Bailey.”

      Bailey… Bailey. “Isn’t that the same last name as the lady over there with Kate?”

      “Tara is Sam’s ex-wife. They’ve been divorced for a year. That’s a mess. Hell, he’s a mess.”

      Obviously. “So why is he here if she’s here?”

      Gray grabbed a rag from beneath the counter and started wiping off the pass-through where the waitresses came for drinks. “He comes here all the time for dinner and tends to stick around to talk to me. I think he hates being home, if I’m being honest. He kept the house in the divorce. They have a five-year-old little girl. Sam just told me she’s at his mom’s tonight for a sleepover.”

      Noah glanced to the man at the end of the bar. He had no idea what the circumstances were surrounding the divorce, but Noah knew the heartache of losing your wife, the empty feeling you couldn’t fill. But he had no idea what hell existed when you lost your wife but still saw her frequently.

      Noah finished his meal as Gray went about filling drink orders and randomly talking to Sam. This town was proving to be more and more interesting. No doubt Gray had seen it all.

      As Noah threw a tip on the bar, he called to Gray, “Stay out of trouble.”

      “What trouble?” Gray asked with a side grin.

      Noah headed out the door and figured he’d make his way back to Lucy’s, grab some cookies and Emma, then go on home to ice his jaw. In some ridiculously warped way, he almost felt like that was some male bonding experience between Gray and himself. It had been a long time since he’d been blindsided by a blow like that. But if that kept Gray from punching someone else and risking the reputation of his business, then Noah would sacrifice his face.

      Noah hoped Gray got his head on straight where Kate was concerned, though. Noah didn’t intend on lending the other side of his jaw next time.

       Chapter Nine

      Lucy was putting the cookies in a tin for Emma to take home when the back door opened. She smiled that he was so comfortable to walk in without knocking.

      “Just in t—”

      Anything she was about to say vanished the second she saw Noah’s face. Cookies forgotten, she stepped forward. She reached out to touch his jaw, but realized he must be hurting. Her hand landed on his shoulder instead.

      “What happened?”

      Noah smiled. Actually smiled as he shook his head. “It’s nothing. My face got in the way.”

      “Daddy, are you okay?”

      Emma scrambled off the bar stool and came over to stand between Lucy and Noah.

      “I’m fine, sweetheart,” he assured her. “It smells amazing in here. I hope you made something we can take home.”

      Emma nodded, but Lucy couldn’t take her eyes off the blue-and-purple swollen jaw. Noah threw her a glance that silently told her he’d talk about it later.

      Pulling in a breath, Lucy nodded and went to finish putting bread and cookies in containers for them to take home. Her kitchen was an absolute disaster, but she didn’t care.

      Tara and Kate were likely at Gallagher’s dancing but Lucy knew she couldn’t have had more fun if she’d gone with them. It wasn’t like she had ever spent the evening with a toddler, but she’d quickly found that she was having a blast staying in for a change and being silly, tossing flour at each other, cracking eggs, and having shells fall into the cookie batter. Each mishap caused Emma to laugh even louder so Lucy found herself purposely doing things wrong.

      Emma spoke of her mother, she spoke of the ranch in Texas, and how she and her daddy always worked together in the evenings when he came home from the police station. She said he’d helped keep bad people off the streets in Texas and he was going to do the same here. She wished he didn’t work at night, but Lucy had explained that because he was new, that was the only shift available.

      It must be difficult being a single father and at the mercy of your employment, but Noah hadn’t complained to her or anyone else that she’d noticed. He did his job, cared for СКАЧАТЬ