Texas Daddy. Jolene Navarro

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СКАЧАТЬ Vickie’s hug then stepped back. “Thank you. So you and Tommy moved back to Clear Water?”

      “Where have you been? I can’t believe your sisters didn’t tell you. I moved back to Clear Water without Tommy. We’re divorced and he’s, well... He’s not around.”

      For a moment, her brain shut down. Not a single neuron fired. “Oh, I...I’m sorry.”

      Vickie laughed. “Don’t be. Jake Torres and I are married now. Coming back was the best thing that ever happened to me. Maybe God has something great in store for you too.” She smiled, a real smile, not the smirk she used back in high school. “I finally got smart. So what brought you in today?” She glanced down at Nikki’s leg. “Anything I can get for you?”

      “I just need a cart.” She tried smiling again, but it felt tight. Between the pain traveling from her leg to her spine, and the emotions of guilt, her lungs burned from the lack of air. Vickie was married to Jake, not Tommy. All the horrible feelings when she was a teenager started crowding out the person she worked hard to become while she was away from Texas. Another reason she didn’t want to ever step foot in Clear Water again.

      The wood floors under her feet had to be over a hundred years old. How many people had walked through here, taking care of their families? People that didn’t run away. She needed painkillers. She needed them over an hour ago.

      Vickie brought a small wobbly wheeled shopping cart over to her. Leaning into it, Nikki almost cried from the relief of taking pressure off her leg.

      Stomping off from her dad had been a bad choice. Her whole leg throbbed, and it was her own fault. Yeah, that’s her, a living, breathing, limping example of pride cometh before the fall.

      The shopping cart pulled to the left again. She growled and yanked it back. Great, she had a lame basket too.

      “Nikki?”

      She dropped her head before plastering a smile on her face and turning to Adrian. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were stalking me.”

      “Maybe you do know better, and you’re onto me.” His heart-melting smile was highlighted by a wink.

      She glared at him. Did she look like the kind that invited flirting? Most of the men in her life didn’t even try.

      He dared to lean in closer and grinned. “Do you need help? What are you getting?”

      “I’m just getting some painkillers, almond milk and orange juice. But I’ve got it.”

      “Daddy! Look, they have a new horse book. Can I get it too?” A beautiful girl of about ten hobbled over on crutches, her long dark hair trying to crawl out of a French braid.

      Nikki froze. Her gut twisted. Adrian’s daughter.

      “Mia, this is Nikki Bergmann. She’s the long-lost oldest Bergmann sister. We went to school together. Nikki, my daughter, Mia.”

      “Oh, you saved Swift. She’s so sweet. Thank you for giving her to my dad. I promise to take good care of her and you can come see her anytime. So you went to school with my dad. Did you know my mom?”

      Adrian cut his daughter a glare. “Mia.”

      “Sorry. Daddy says you have a brace too.” The girl looked at her leg in confusion. “Did they let you take it off?”

      She watched Adrian walk the short distance to the cooler at the end of the aisle. He was a man now with a man’s filled-out frame, but he still had the I-own-the-world swagger that seemed to be in all bull riders. It was hard to believe he gave it up for his daughter. She glanced at Mia. Did he have regrets? Obviously Charlotte, Mia’s mother, was a banned subject.

      The silence didn’t deter the young girl. “I just got my cast off, and Tuesday I have my first day in full therapy. I have a rod and screws holding my leg together. Are you in physical therapy?”

      She was as talkative as her dad. Nikki blinked a few times to clear her thoughts. “I’ll be there at sixteen hundred hours.”

      Adrian tossed a bottle of orange juice and a carton of unsweetened almond milk in her cart as he laughed. “For us civilians, we need to translate.” He rolled his eyes up as he counted on his fingers. He looked back at them with a grin. “Four o’clock, right?”

      The girl’s face lit up. “Yay! We can be workout buddies. Daddy said you’re an adventure guide in the Grand Canyon and you were in the navy. That sounds really cool. I broke my leg in three places being drug by a horse in the arena. I hit my head, so I don’t remember any of it, but Daddy saw everything.” The same gold flecks her father had now flashed in her young eyes.

      “Mia.” Adrian looked as if he had lost some color to his dark skin and his eyebrows had a deep crease between them. He did not share Mia’s excitement over the story of her accident.

      Leaning closer to her, Mia whispered, “Daddy’s having a harder time dealing with my injury than I am.”

      “Sorry, she thinks everyone wants to hear her life story.”

      “Wonder who she got that from?” She winked at Adrian. He actually blushed. Without thought, laughter—good honest laughter—bubbled forth. It surprised her at first. She didn’t laugh often—not much to laugh about.

      Mia didn’t seem to notice her dad’s discomfort. “Did you fall while climbing cliffs, or smash against a rock in the white-water rapids? I’ve seen shows about it.”

      “No, just a boring car wreck.” She smiled at Mia. “I busted my ACL and damaged my meniscus.”

      “Oh no. Is everyone okay?” Her small hand went to her chest.

      “Yeah. I got the worst of it. A guy on his cell phone T-boned us. As the passenger, I took the main hit.” That wasn’t the only hit she took that day. She shifted her weight, trying to take the pressure off her hurt knee.

      “Why aren’t you wearing a brace?” The concerned look on Mia’s face mirrored Adrian’s. The child undeniably had more of her dad in her than her mom. All she remembered of Charlotte was the girl liked wearing black and never smiled—not at her, anyway. She couldn’t picture Adrian being with a girl like that.

      Since he apparently didn’t have a cart, Adrian just threw some fresh carrots, corn on the cob and spinach in hers. He also had a giant supply of painkillers and a bottle of water. “She was doing stuff she shouldn’t be doing and now she’s in pain and might have hurt her knee all over again. We had to cut her brace off so she could walk.” He opened the painkillers and held three gel tablets out to her. “Why don’t you take a few of these now. You look as if you won’t be standing much longer.”

      “I’m fine.” She wanted to refuse the meds he offered her, but she knew he was right. She had waited too long and now the pain was overwhelming. Without the cart she wouldn’t be standing. She took them from his hand and slammed them back without the water he offered. “Thanks.”

      With a gentle nudge, he turned her cart to the front of the old store. “Let’s get you checked out and drive you home. You need to elevate and ice that knee. No more walking.”

      Mia sighed. “Sorry he’s so bossy. He says that all the time to me. Daddy thinks СКАЧАТЬ