Lakeside Family. Lisa Jordan
then let the two of them get to know each other with her nearby. “Let me lock up, and we can head to my house now.”
“She’s home alone?”
The accusation in his voice scored a direct hit. Did he think she was that irresponsible?
“No, Nonno—my grandfather—lives with us. Usually I only work until noon, but worked this afternoon to catch up from being away this morning.”
“Does she know about me?” The uncertainty in his voice nearly melted her anger.
She sighed and then shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I haven’t kept you a huge secret or anything, but she knows you as an ex-high school boyfriend. She’s seen yearbook pictures. That’s about it.”
“And my mom never contacted you?”
“Not once.”
“I’m sorry.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Sorry can’t erase the last ten years.”
“Regardless of what you think of me, if I had known, I wouldn’t have just left you to face everything alone.”
“Well, we can’t exactly turn back time, can we? So I guess we’ll never know. You have a choice now. Just don’t screw it up.”
Josie flicked off the dining room lights, leaving on a row above the front counter edged against the large storefront window. “I’m going through the kitchen and out the back door. I’ll meet you out front and then you can follow me home.”
“Fine.”
As soon as he headed outside, Josie flipped the deadbolt into place, hurried through the kitchen, grabbed her purse off her desk and snatched her coat off the chair. She slammed through the back door.
Her fingers shook so badly that she dropped her keys in the snow slumped against the back of the building. She fished them out with bare fingers and leaned against the door, staring at the night sky as she pulled in large gulps of frosty air. She locked the door and trudged through the snow to her car.
Five minutes later, Josie pulled onto Songbird Lane and into her driveway with Nick’s headlights in her rearview mirror.
“You can do this. For Hannah.” Taking a deep breath, she clenched the steering wheel. With a final sigh, she grabbed her purse off the passenger seat and climbed out, slamming the door behind her.
Nick’s shoulders hunched close to his ears as he blew into his bare hands. “Feels like January instead of March.”
They were going to discuss the weather? Seriously?
His eyes shifted to her house, his lips turning upward. “It’s something out of a Disney movie.”
Shrubs of various shapes and sizes clustered against the front and around the sides of the stone cottage. Brittle limbs sighed over a chipped picket fence as if they carried the weight of winter. Cleared cobblestones meandered in a haphazard path to the red front door.
“Wait until you see the fairy door knocker. Hannah fell in love with it when we moved here.” Maybe small talk would help her forget about the pain eroding her heart. Doubtful.
“When was that?”
“Once I graduated from college—about five years ago or so.” Josie shoved her hands in her pockets and started up the walk. “She was in her Disney princesses phase.”
She opened the door, stepped inside then moved out of the way so he could enter. A small candlestick lamp on the semicircle foyer table by the front door lit the entryway. Shadows stretched across the wood floor that led into the living room. Josie dropped her purse on the table, shrugged off her coat and hung it in an open closet. She didn’t offer to take Nick’s. He wouldn’t be staying long.
She stepped into the bathroom around the corner from the front door and washed her hands. Returning to the hall, she nodded toward the bathroom. “Please wash your hands. We have to be really careful about germs.”
Without saying a word, Nick moved past her and did as she asked. She marched into the large living room without checking to see if he followed.
She passed by the taupe leather couch with its aqua-and-chocolate pillows and crocheted afghan and crossed to the matching recliner to kiss her grandfather’s cheek. He rested with his eyes closed and a suspense novel open on his chest. The soft glow of the tall candlestick lamp behind his chair bathed his face, filling in the lines and wrinkles of life’s experiences. “Nonno, I’m home.”
Her grandfather started, adjusting his glasses on his nose. “Cara, mi avete spaventato. You startled me.” His eyes shifted over her shoulder.
“So sorry. I have a guest.” She waved her hand toward Nick.
“A guest, you say.” Her grandfather lowered his footrest and eased himself out of the chair. He straightened his brown knitted vest over his blue plaid shirt.
Josie placed a hand on her grandfather’s shoulder. “Nonno, meet Nick Brennan.”
“Nick, this is my nonno, I mean my grandfather, Vincenzo Peretti.”
“A pleasure, sir.” Nick extended a hand.
“Nick.” Nonno’s voice trailed off and his lips thinned as his eyes narrowed. “Are you...?” He shot a look at Josie.
She nodded, biting the inside of her lip. “Yes, he’s Hannah’s father.”
Nonno pulled his shoulders back, stepped toward Nick and pointed a finger at him. “You have some nerve. What kind of man puts an innocent girl in a family way and then disappears?”
Josie placed a hand on his chest. “Nonno, not now.”
Nick held up a hand. “Sir, you have every right to be angry. I’m sure I would be, too, in your place. In my defense, I didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know? Didn’t know? Why, that’s preposterous. I remember—”
“Nonno, we’ll talk later.” She linked her arm through his and pressed a kiss to his temple.
Nonno glared at Nick. Josie had to give him credit for not backing down. Her grandfather was the first to break eye contact. Muttering in Italian, he returned to his recliner and picked up his book, pretending to read.
Josie removed the novel from his hands, turned it right side up and smiled. “Ti amo.”
“Ti amo, cara.”
She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Where’s Hannah?”
“She’s asleep. I checked on her about half an hour ago.”
“Grazie.”
Josie motioned for Nick to follow her and headed up the stairs separating the living room from the dining room. Putting her finger to her lips, Josie pushed her daughter’s bedroom door open and tiptoed to Hannah’s bed where she lay curled in a ball, one arm clutching Duck, her stuffed purple alligator that had seen better days.
Josie looked over her shoulder to where Nick stood rooted to the threshold. His eyes didn’t waver from the bed. His brows furrowed and then a look she couldn’t interpret crossed over his face.
“What’s wrong?” Josie’s heart fluttered. He was probably
in shock about Hannah’s baldness.
“She’s beautiful.”
Chapter Three
After Nick left, Josie managed to fall asleep for about three hours before her alarm should have gone off. Except she had forgotten to set her alarm.
Josie arrived at Cuppa Josie’s late and found the back door frozen shut again. She and Hannah traipsed around to the front door.
The wind whipped the beige-and-blue-striped canopy