Falling For The Single Dad. Lisa Carter

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СКАЧАТЬ He was a terrible father.

      “Isabelle!”

      Panting, he plowed his way to the top of the dune. “Answer me.” The fronds of sea oats danced—taunting him—in the afternoon breeze.

      On the beach below, she windmilled her arms to get his attention. He willed his heart to return to a semblance of normal. She’d gotten his attention, all right. He scrambled down the dune toward his daughter.

      She clutched the straw hat on her head. “Look, Daddy.” With her free hand, she gestured to a set of tracks stippling the sand from the base of the dunes to where they disappeared around the neck of the beach. “Turtle tracks.”

      Izzie bounced in her flip-flops, a redheaded pogo stick. “Maybe turtle eggs on our beach, too.” She clapped her hands together. The hat went flying.

      He sighed, and watched it blow out to sea.

      “We could have babies. Just like Max.”

      His gaze flickered to his daughter. “If there are eggs, they won’t belong to us. Best thing we can do is leave them and their turtle mama alone.”

      Izzie’s face fell.

      He tickled her ribs. “Even Max will tell you to give new mamas a wide berth. They’re touchy. And ornery.”

      “Was Mama touchy and ornery with me?”

      “N-not when you were the most beautiful, wonderful baby who was ever born.” He nuzzled her cheek with the stubble of his jaw.

      “Daddy.” She giggled and pushed his shoulder. “You are so prickly.”

      He caught Izzie in his arms and gave her a bear hug. “Like a porcupine.”

      Laughing, Izzie wriggled free. “I’m gonna follow the tracks to the water.” She disappeared beyond the curve of the dune before he could formulate, much less express, a warning.

      One day she wouldn’t be so easily diverted from the rest of the story. And he could never tell Izzie the whole truth.

      Behind the dune, Izzie screamed. He jolted, his heart palpitating once more.

      “Daddy! Hurry...”

      Parenting—not unlike certain Coastie jobs—ought to come with hazard pay. Breaking into a loping run, he jogged around the point.

      He found Izzie at the edge of the surf, where the waves curled and skittered over her bare toes like a watery sand crab. She crouched beside a prehistoric-looking sea turtle. A metallic hook jutted from the creature’s neck.

      “Izzie, get back.” He waved his arm. “Injured animals are dangerous.”

      “The turtle mama.” Izzie sank to her knees. “She’s hurt.”

      He came closer. The olive-gray carapace on the turtle’s back was gouged and dented.

      “She’s just lying in the sand, Daddy.” Izzie’s eyes swam with tears. “I don’t think she can make it back to her babies without our help.”

      How to explain this? “Turtles spend their lives in the ocean. Females only come ashore to lay eggs and then they leave.”

      Izzie glared at him. “They leave their babies?” Her voice rose. “Mamas aren’t supposed to leave their babies.”

      “No, they aren’t,” he whispered. And he wondered what questions about her own mother he’d field later from Izzie.

      “It’s the turtle way, Izz.” He ran his gaze over this relative to the dinosaur. “If this turtle didn’t make it into the water by dawn, she’s been baking in the sun for hours.”

      He lifted his ball cap, crimped the brim and settled it on his head again. “It doesn’t look good for her, Izz.”

      “Please... Help her, Daddy.” In her face, the unspoken belief her daddy could fix everything.

      If only that were so.

      He pulled Izzie to a safer distance as the turtle’s flippers thrashed in the sand. He’d seen this before when he was stationed in Florida. One of the turtle’s flippers was mangled, probably from a boat’s propeller.

      “We’ve got to save her, Daddy.” Izzie tugged on his arm. “Save her so she can take care of her babies.”

      “Izzie.” He squatted to his daughter’s level. “Things like this happen. We have to let nature take its course. Mothers...” He gazed over the whitecaps. Izzie knew this better than anyone.

      He cleared his throat and tried again. “Mothers die, Isabelle.”

      “No.” Izzie jerked free. “You’ve got to do something, Daddy. Don’t let her die, too.”

      His breath caught. Was that what his daughter believed? That he’d let her mother die?

      But upon reflection of his many failures as a husband, perhaps he had. He stared at Izzie, this tiny replica of him and Jessica. And his heart hurt.

      “No guarantees.” But reaching a decision, he fished the cell out of his cargo shorts. “I’m an engineer, not a marine animal specialist, Izz. But I know where to find one.”

      “Thank you, Daddy.”

      How could he not try to save the turtle mother? Especially since it was his fault Izzie’s mother died.

       Chapter Three

      “It’s a critical time, Caroline. Peak season is approaching. I’m glad your team will be joining us seaside.”

      Caroline smiled at Dr. Roland Teague, a fellow marine scientist. They’d walked from the nearby Virginia Institute of Marine Science facility—VIMS—in Wachapreague to the Island House for a lunchtime meeting. Situated over the inlet on pylons, the bank of windows in the restaurant overlooked the tidal marsh.

      She’d known Roland since her undergrad days at Virginia Tech. The fifty-something scientist had been a friend and professional mentor ever since. Clad in an outlandishly tropical shirt, Bermuda shorts and boat shoes, Roland hadn’t changed much over the years. Except for the streaks of silver in his thinning Jimmy Buffet–style mane.

      Catching her staring, Roland laughed. “What’s gray, stays.”

      She laughed as he’d meant her to. “How’s Danielle?” She owed Roland and his wife more than she could ever repay. They’d been a blessing in an otherwise very dark time in her life.

      “Busy with the end-of-quarter classes at the community college. She said to tell you hello. She wants you to come over for dinner soon.” Roland paused to take a deep swig of sweet tea. “I’m excited about this plan you’ve spearheaded with the aquarium board of directors in Virginia Beach.”

      After what had happened this morning with her father, she was no longer so СКАЧАТЬ