A Match for the Single Dad. GINA WILKINS

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СКАЧАТЬ a moment, reminding herself that she would be seeing the girls for birthday cake the next evening, which should probably be enough interaction with them—but then she heard words pop out of her mouth. “That sounds like fun, if you’re sure there’s enough.”

      Garrett laughed, such a nice sound that she wished she could hear it more often. “Trust me, there will be plenty. My mom doesn’t believe in cooking just a small amount of anything.”

      “Then sure, why not? My book club canceled this evening’s meeting, so I’m available. What time?”

      “Come now if you’re finished for the day,” he suggested. “My grandmother likes to eat early, so I’ll start cooking the burgers as soon as I’m back at the cabin. Won’t take long to have them ready.”

      “I’ll put away a few things and meet you in the store.”

      Garrett was paying for bags of sesame-seed hamburger buns when she rejoined him. She plucked ajar of organic squash pickles off a shelf to take along, showing it to her mother, who nodded and made a note of the purchase. The pickles were made and distributed by a local grower and were a popular item in the resort store. It was the least Maggie could contribute to the meal, since she didn’t have time to make anything.

      Garrett had walked from the cabin, but Maggie drove him back in one of the ubiquitous green resort golf carts. “So … book club, huh?” he asked on the way.

      She grinned. “Well, it’s more girlfriends-getting-together-to-drink-wine-eat-ridiculously-high-calorie-desserts-and-dish-gossip club, but we think ‘book club’ sounds more intellectual.”

      Garrett laughed. “Good call.”

      “Yeah, we thought so.”

      “What else do you do when you aren’t working?”

      “I try to make it to the gym a few times a week for Zumba classes, and go out to clubs with friends sometimes on weekends for karaoke or dancing. Single life. You know.”

      He grimaced wryly. “I hardly remember single life. Married too young, spent most of my life in the military, now a full-time dad. You know.”

      She couldn’t say she knew his life any more than he did hers. Another reminder of how little they had in common, she told herself somberly.

      “I should probably warn you that Payton’s mad at me,” Garrett mentioned as she parked in the driveway of cabin six. “She was barely speaking to me when I left. Maybe I had an ulterior motive inviting you to join us for dinner. She’ll be on her best behavior for you.”

      Maggie smiled sympathetically. “What did you do to get in trouble with her?”

      “She met a couple of teenage brothers hanging around the tennis and basketball court this afternoon. She said their name was Ferguson—Trevor and Drake Ferguson. They started talking while I was shooting hoops with Kix. They invited her to meet them down at the lake tonight to ‘look at the stars.’” He made ironic quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke the phrase. “Needless to say, I told her she wasn’t meeting a couple of strange boys by herself at night. She hasn’t spoken to me since, other than to mutter about how I keep treating her like a baby.”

      Maggie didn’t know all the guests registered at the resort at any particular time, of course, but she was passingly familiar with most of the occupants of the motel and cabins. Especially repeat visitors. “I know the family. Wayne and Melanie Alexander and her sons, Trevor and Drake Ferguson. They’re in cabin two, over by the motel. They’ve stayed with us several times before and they like being close to the pool. As I recall, Trevor is maybe fourteen, Drake a couple years younger, a little younger than Payton, I think.”

      Garrett nodded to acknowledge her identification. “Payton thought knowing the boys’ names would be all I required to approve of her hanging out with them unsupervised. She was wrong.”

      “The boys have always seemed reasonably well-behaved, but they aren’t supervised very closely. I don’t blame you for not wanting her to wander down to the lake with them alone at night.”

      “Not going to happen. No matter how much she pouts. So maybe having you there tonight will ease the sting some.”

      “In that case, I’ll do my best to cheer her up.”

      “Hope you have better luck with it than I do.”

      She smoothed a hand over her breeze-tossed hair. “I have an advantage. I wasn’t the one who told her no.”

      He gave a little snort that might have been a laugh and climbed out of the cart with the hamburger buns.

      “You are aware, I suppose, that Payton is a very pretty girl?” she asked as she accompanied him toward the porch. “You’re in for a lot of this sort of thing in the future.”

      He nodded, his expression resigned. “She looks a lot like her mother.”

      So his late ex-wife had been a beauty. She couldn’t help wondering what had gone wrong in the marriage, even though it was absolutely none of her business.

      They entered the cabin together and Kix squeaked when she saw Maggie. “Are you going to have hamburgers with us, Maggie?” she asked, dashing to her side.

      “Your dad invited me. I hope that’s okay with everyone.”

      “You’re very welcome, Maggie,” Garrett’s mother assured her with a warm smile from the kitchen counter, where she was slicing tomatoes.

      “That grandmother of yours isn’t coming, is she?” Esther demanded. She sat in a chair facing the view of the lake, surrounded by books, a knitting bag and a teacup, her walker nearby. It looked as though she had claimed that spot permanently for her own.

      “Mother,” Paulette scolded, even as Garrett growled, “Meemaw.”

      “My grandmother isn’t coming,” Maggie replied lightly. “Just me.”

      “Good,” Esther muttered.

      Garrett sighed heavily in exasperation with his grandmother’s rudeness, but didn’t bother to argue any further with her, saying merely, “I’ll start the grill.”

      “The patties are ready to go on as soon as the grill is hot enough,” his mother informed him.

      “Is there anything I can do to help?” Maggie asked.

      Paulette shook her head. “Everything’s almost ready. Why don’t you chat with the girls? They always enjoy visiting with you.”

      “I love your top, Maggie.” Payton studied the casual blouse closely. “That scoop neckline is very flattering.”

      “Thank you.” Maggie had noticed that Payton was increasingly into fashion these days, always taking time to examine and comment on Maggie’s outfits.

      “Come upstairs and we’ll show you where we sleep,” Kix suggested eagerly. “We have a view of the lake from our window and it’s really pretty.”

      “Maggie knows the cabin, Kix,” Payton said with a shake of her head. “She owns it.”

      “My СКАЧАТЬ